Terry Forster
A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT
Alan was sound asleep when he was awoken by the loud laugh. It wasn't just any ordinary laugh as the sound of it tore through his very soul. He awoke with a start and a shudder that ran through his whole body from his head to his toes. Behind the laugh was a haunting caulking sound, a sound that came from every where and nowhere, he looked at his beside clock and it was 5:21am.
Sandy, his wife lay beside him sound asleep, her head on her soft white expensive Dunlap pillow with the open book she had been reading clutched tightly in her left hand and undisturbed by the scream.
“You obviously didn't hear the scream last night, you were sound asleep but it definitely was a very loud scream.” Alan said as they sat at the table eating eggs on toast for breakfast.
“I never heard a thing at all Alan, are you sure you weren’t just dreaming and woke up with a start. It's happened to me before a few times in my life, in-fact it has happened a lot really, not a scream though, just a dream that awakes me with a start. Its usually something that has happened to me during the day, a broken cup or plate from my best china tea set or something you had said that upset me”
“This was no dream” exclaimed Alan. I was wide awake at six-o-clock, you know I always wake up early in the morning, I was wide awake before just after five as usual and just as I was about to get out of bed, I heard the scream as plain as day. It was a haunting scream, a scream that scared the life out of me and seemed the envelope the whole house.”
“Well I didn't hear anything at all, We had a late night last night watching the The Dam Busters film that you have watched umpteen times. I was so tired I only read part of one chapter of my book before falling asleep.”
Three weeks passed by and the memory of the haunting scream had passed through Alan's mind and was gone forever, or so he thought.
5:20 am a week later on a Wednesday morning and Alan was downstairs making toast and coffee. He knew for sure that he had placed his cup with the coffee, sugar and a spoon in it on the kitchen bench next to the kettle, when the kettle was boiled his cup was on the side of the sink and not beside the kettle where he knew for sure he had left it. “Must have moved it” he thought as he picked up the cup and filled it with boiling water.
Milly, their youngest daughter came to stay for a week while she was on holiday away from the bustling city and her ever more demanding job as a fashion designer. Only a week ago she had been in New York and the previous week in Atlanta, the long hours with literally hundreds of meeting had taken its toll on her and she was worn out. It was almost 4:pm when she arrived downstairs looking somewhat fresher than she looked last night when she had arrived around 10:pm.
“Tea or coffee” Sandy shouted from the kitchen to Alan and Milly.
“Tea please” was the reply from both and Alan added “And a couple of ginger snaps as well please.”
Sandy opened a new packet of Ginger snaps and placed two of them on the tray along with the two cups of tea. She placed the ginger snap packet back into the cupboard twisting the open end and placing a wire around the end to keep the contents fresh, when she picked up the tray, there was only one ginger snap on it.
“Must be old age” she thought so she retrieved another biscuit from the pack, placed it on the tray and carried it into the sitting room.
“It's nice to be back home mum, it's been a nightmare these past two weeks but worth it. My business is doing well mum and I now have over thirty people working for me. I might have to hire more people as new orders are flowing in from all over the world so everyone must like my new seasonal designs. I have a very important meeting in a few days time. If I take the early train to London I can be back here with you just after 7:pm and then I can enjoy the rest of my two weeks with you and dad.”
Wednesday morning and Milly had packed all the clothes she needed in a large trunk to be modeled on the catwalk the night before. Alan drove her to the station and helped her with the trunk filled with Milly's new designs.
“I will be here to collect you around 7:pm sweetheart, if you are running early or late, call me at home and I will make sure I am here to collect you and help you with the trunk.”
It was just gone 10:30am when Milly opened up her trunk in the girls dressing room to find that the clothes she had packed last night were not the clothes in the trunk.
“What in hell's name is going on here, I packed this trunk myself last night and locked it but none of the clothes in here are my clothes.”
“Are you sure it's your trunk” asked one of the girls.
“Yes it is, there's my name on the label and on the trunk, they are there all the time, I never remove them.”
One of the girls picked a dress out of the trunk, it was pure silk in a cream colour with a fresh red rose pinned on the left shoulder.
“Wow, this is absolutely beautiful, it's all hand stitched with silken thread, there are, 1, 2, 3 4 silk under garments as well and I want to model this dress. Milly checked the rest of the garments in the trunk and all were made from silk and all in different designs.
“Well, there is nothing I can do about it now girls, just pick out something you fancy and get yourselves ready for the show.”
Lord Andrew Bevasham, the owner of the largest most talked about boutique in London and in many other countries around the world, sat in a leather recliner chair smoking his expensive cigar. Milly peeped through the side of the curtain at the end of the catwalk and closed her eyes. This was going to be the biggest farce ever displayed in the history of clothing and she would never be able to show her face ever again in the fashion business.
The curtain opened and Elsie, one of the models waked along the catwalk. There was a deadly silence from the audience, it was so quiet that if someone was to drop a pin it would sound like an explosion. When all six girls had walked the catwalk twice, every person stood up clapping, whistling and shouting “On chore, On-chore”
Lord Bevasham was the first to walk up the steps onto the catwalk and walk straight to Milly with the broadest of smiles on his face.
“I want the whole collection” he said. “I have no idea where you get your inspiration from but this is the very best I ever seen. How on earth you managed to create such a delightful show with old world designs I have no idea. I think, no, I know that silk will now be on everyone’s agenda in the women's clothing world and I want to have the lead over everyone else. I will send you my people this afternoon to sign the exclusive contract. Nothing is going to be the same in our business from now on, you have created a masterpiece my dear.”
Alan was at the station to collect Milly and he could see that she was overjoyed as she looked out of the train window.
“So how did it go.” he asked her as he loaded her trunk into the boot of his car.
“I will tell you and mum all about it dad when we get home.”
“Somehow the clothes in my trunk were not the clothes I had designed and packed last night. You must have changed them mum while I was asleep but all was not lost as everyone loved them, Lord Bevasham and I have signed an exclusive contract worth millions of pounds and we will start production in a couple of weeks time. So thank you mum for what you did as it was overwhelming.”
“I'm sorry Milly but I had nothing to do with your clothes in the trunk. I assume you would had locked it after you packed the clothes into it. It's really none of my business to interfere with what you do or where you go in your profession. I do worry about you, of course I do, just like I worry about your brother Tim, but I would never interfere with either of you.”
“If you didn’t change the clothes then it must have been you dad.”
“Listen here young lady, I get the blame for everything damned thing that goes wrong in this house and never anything that goes right. I had no hand in doing what I am being blamed for so get that out of your mind right now. I even get blamed for stirring the tea in the tea cup anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. How on earth your mother knows how it is stirred is beyond my imagination.
There was a sudden loud scream inside the house and a joyful cackling laugh that lasted for almost twenty seconds.
“There it is again” Alan blurted out. “That's the same haughty laugh that awakened me from my sleep a week ago.”
As always it was Alan who was blamed for the sudden laughing.
“It must be from someone from your side of the family Alan” said Sandy with a smile on her face that turned into haunted hysterical laughter.
1,695 Words
A SCREAM IN THE NIGHT
Alan was sound asleep when he was awoken by the loud laugh. It wasn't just any ordinary laugh as the sound of it tore through his very soul. He awoke with a start and a shudder that ran through his whole body from his head to his toes. Behind the laugh was a haunting caulking sound, a sound that came from every where and nowhere, he looked at his beside clock and it was 5:21am.
Sandy, his wife lay beside him sound asleep, her head on her soft white expensive Dunlap pillow with the open book she had been reading clutched tightly in her left hand and undisturbed by the scream.
“You obviously didn't hear the scream last night, you were sound asleep but it definitely was a very loud scream.” Alan said as they sat at the table eating eggs on toast for breakfast.
“I never heard a thing at all Alan, are you sure you weren’t just dreaming and woke up with a start. It's happened to me before a few times in my life, in-fact it has happened a lot really, not a scream though, just a dream that awakes me with a start. Its usually something that has happened to me during the day, a broken cup or plate from my best china tea set or something you had said that upset me”
“This was no dream” exclaimed Alan. I was wide awake at six-o-clock, you know I always wake up early in the morning, I was wide awake before just after five as usual and just as I was about to get out of bed, I heard the scream as plain as day. It was a haunting scream, a scream that scared the life out of me and seemed the envelope the whole house.”
“Well I didn't hear anything at all, We had a late night last night watching the The Dam Busters film that you have watched umpteen times. I was so tired I only read part of one chapter of my book before falling asleep.”
Three weeks passed by and the memory of the haunting scream had passed through Alan's mind and was gone forever, or so he thought.
5:20 am a week later on a Wednesday morning and Alan was downstairs making toast and coffee. He knew for sure that he had placed his cup with the coffee, sugar and a spoon in it on the kitchen bench next to the kettle, when the kettle was boiled his cup was on the side of the sink and not beside the kettle where he knew for sure he had left it. “Must have moved it” he thought as he picked up the cup and filled it with boiling water.
Milly, their youngest daughter came to stay for a week while she was on holiday away from the bustling city and her ever more demanding job as a fashion designer. Only a week ago she had been in New York and the previous week in Atlanta, the long hours with literally hundreds of meeting had taken its toll on her and she was worn out. It was almost 4:pm when she arrived downstairs looking somewhat fresher than she looked last night when she had arrived around 10:pm.
“Tea or coffee” Sandy shouted from the kitchen to Alan and Milly.
“Tea please” was the reply from both and Alan added “And a couple of ginger snaps as well please.”
Sandy opened a new packet of Ginger snaps and placed two of them on the tray along with the two cups of tea. She placed the ginger snap packet back into the cupboard twisting the open end and placing a wire around the end to keep the contents fresh, when she picked up the tray, there was only one ginger snap on it.
“Must be old age” she thought so she retrieved another biscuit from the pack, placed it on the tray and carried it into the sitting room.
“It's nice to be back home mum, it's been a nightmare these past two weeks but worth it. My business is doing well mum and I now have over thirty people working for me. I might have to hire more people as new orders are flowing in from all over the world so everyone must like my new seasonal designs. I have a very important meeting in a few days time. If I take the early train to London I can be back here with you just after 7:pm and then I can enjoy the rest of my two weeks with you and dad.”
Wednesday morning and Milly had packed all the clothes she needed in a large trunk to be modeled on the catwalk the night before. Alan drove her to the station and helped her with the trunk filled with Milly's new designs.
“I will be here to collect you around 7:pm sweetheart, if you are running early or late, call me at home and I will make sure I am here to collect you and help you with the trunk.”
It was just gone 10:30am when Milly opened up her trunk in the girls dressing room to find that the clothes she had packed last night were not the clothes in the trunk.
“What in hell's name is going on here, I packed this trunk myself last night and locked it but none of the clothes in here are my clothes.”
“Are you sure it's your trunk” asked one of the girls.
“Yes it is, there's my name on the label and on the trunk, they are there all the time, I never remove them.”
One of the girls picked a dress out of the trunk, it was pure silk in a cream colour with a fresh red rose pinned on the left shoulder.
“Wow, this is absolutely beautiful, it's all hand stitched with silken thread, there are, 1, 2, 3 4 silk under garments as well and I want to model this dress. Milly checked the rest of the garments in the trunk and all were made from silk and all in different designs.
“Well, there is nothing I can do about it now girls, just pick out something you fancy and get yourselves ready for the show.”
Lord Andrew Bevasham, the owner of the largest most talked about boutique in London and in many other countries around the world, sat in a leather recliner chair smoking his expensive cigar. Milly peeped through the side of the curtain at the end of the catwalk and closed her eyes. This was going to be the biggest farce ever displayed in the history of clothing and she would never be able to show her face ever again in the fashion business.
The curtain opened and Elsie, one of the models waked along the catwalk. There was a deadly silence from the audience, it was so quiet that if someone was to drop a pin it would sound like an explosion. When all six girls had walked the catwalk twice, every person stood up clapping, whistling and shouting “On chore, On-chore”
Lord Bevasham was the first to walk up the steps onto the catwalk and walk straight to Milly with the broadest of smiles on his face.
“I want the whole collection” he said. “I have no idea where you get your inspiration from but this is the very best I ever seen. How on earth you managed to create such a delightful show with old world designs I have no idea. I think, no, I know that silk will now be on everyone’s agenda in the women's clothing world and I want to have the lead over everyone else. I will send you my people this afternoon to sign the exclusive contract. Nothing is going to be the same in our business from now on, you have created a masterpiece my dear.”
Alan was at the station to collect Milly and he could see that she was overjoyed as she looked out of the train window.
“So how did it go.” he asked her as he loaded her trunk into the boot of his car.
“I will tell you and mum all about it dad when we get home.”
“Somehow the clothes in my trunk were not the clothes I had designed and packed last night. You must have changed them mum while I was asleep but all was not lost as everyone loved them, Lord Bevasham and I have signed an exclusive contract worth millions of pounds and we will start production in a couple of weeks time. So thank you mum for what you did as it was overwhelming.”
“I'm sorry Milly but I had nothing to do with your clothes in the trunk. I assume you would had locked it after you packed the clothes into it. It's really none of my business to interfere with what you do or where you go in your profession. I do worry about you, of course I do, just like I worry about your brother Tim, but I would never interfere with either of you.”
“If you didn’t change the clothes then it must have been you dad.”
“Listen here young lady, I get the blame for everything damned thing that goes wrong in this house and never anything that goes right. I had no hand in doing what I am being blamed for so get that out of your mind right now. I even get blamed for stirring the tea in the tea cup anti-clockwise instead of clockwise. How on earth your mother knows how it is stirred is beyond my imagination.
There was a sudden loud scream inside the house and a joyful cackling laugh that lasted for almost twenty seconds.
“There it is again” Alan blurted out. “That's the same haughty laugh that awakened me from my sleep a week ago.”
As always it was Alan who was blamed for the sudden laughing.
“It must be from someone from your side of the family Alan” said Sandy with a smile on her face that turned into haunted hysterical laughter.
1,695 Words