The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

reared up over her like a sweating beast as rain beaded its brickwork. The door was closed, as were the windows and curtains. Flies abounded, caught in the reveals, and as she neared she could see that the sills were littered with scores of their dead and dying brethren; the dying like little whirligigs amongst the corpses as they lay on their backs, their wings flitting pathetically in the final throws of death. Stopping, she swung her eyes around her. There it was again, that uncomfortable feeling that someone was nearby, watching her. Was Elsa hiding somewhere, just out of sight? A yellow streak shot up her spine, making her whole body tingle with trepidation.
    Straightening her shoulders, she swung right, deciding to check the yard, in case Elsa was there. She didn’t want to be caught prying in the house. Tabby appeared from nowhere, strutting towards her on muddy feet. Stooping down she ran her hand over the damp head, flattening her ears to her wet fur. With an unexpected snarl, Tabby shot into the air as though on an up draught of air, turned a somersault and then leaped onto the corrugated roof of the nearest outbuilding. Meli spun round, jumping when she saw a low-flying black spear with a set of bared creamy teeth flying towards her.
    “Quassi,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?” Ignoring her, Quassi sprang along the cobbles, keeping pace with Tabby as she began bounding along the rooftops, leaping from building to building. Meli ran, trying to catch up with them, her sandaled feet squelching, skin against leather as they washed through growing puddles. By now rain was dribbling down the back of her top. It was no longer pleasurable. She lost sight of them, just for a moment, but rounding the end of the barns she found them, side by side. The hairs down both spines were bristling. Meli felt hers do the same. Cat and dog had lost all interest in one another. They were both staring through a doorway into a barn. Creeping forward, Meli peered in. All she could see was darkness. Feeling the need for an escort, she grabbed Quassi’s collar as she passed, and tried to take him with her, but digging in his heels, he surprised her by refusing to budge.
    “Fat lot of good you are,” she berated him, letting her fingers slide away from the slippery collar. “You just make sure that if anyone grabs me you run and get help.” She hoped he understood enough English by now to know what was required of him. Taking that gigantic, reluctant step forward she found herself in the opening, then with another step she was inside, and the shadows engulfed her. Instantly, something leaped from the pillar of darkness to her right, cannoning into her with such force that she was sent crashing sideways, landing heavily on her hands and knees. Motivated by total terror, she scrabbled around, trying to find her feet, certain that at any second the cold honed blade of a large axe would ram itself into her skull, or worse still, through her neck, parting her head from her body, which would drop onto the floor and roll around in the dirt. Would Quassi pick it up by the hair and carry it home, hanging from his jaws like some prize bone with blood dripping from her severed neck? Or would he bury it somewhere, never to be found?
    Suddenly she realised that she was on her feet. Lifting her hands, she encased her head with them, before gingerly moving her neck. Her head didn’t fall off. That was promising. Her entire upper body was quivering like a human jello, but where her blood had drained into her legs, they felt like concrete girders. Despite this, she somehow stumbled to the door and stared out, round eyed, her chest straining. The yard was totally void of any sign of life, the only movement the curtain of rain that slashed into the puddles and ran between the cracks in the cobbles. Had Quassi gone to get help, she wondered? Twisting her neck, she glanced behind her. What had been in here? What had assaulted her? Man or beast or Elsa? She had no idea, just a vague impression of a black shapeless thing that had solidified in the shadows.
    Stepping back inside she forced herself to work her way around, looking for clues, her feet silent on the spongy carpet of soggy straw and other unidentifiable detritus that tried to infiltrate her sandals, while above, the rain beat itself on the corrugated metal roof. A number of dissected bicycle parts, straw bales, large metal bins and half filled sacks, mingled with the full