A WYTCH STORY

Upside down in Brambles

UpsideDown in Brambles

'It was a fine nightfor motorcycling' thought a man with his feet up reading the paper,while a lone motorcycle splashed past his window. The rider was nowbeginning to regret his poor choice in waterproof trousers. He'd longsince crossed the five mile limit specified by the manufacturer. Andthe water which had been steadily running down on to his lap had nowbegun to form a little pool of cold water. Curiously, this was thesame area chosen by the manufacturer to install a seam. Which he wasnow increasingly aware of wasn't actually watertight. Whilecontemplating all of this, he failed to notice that he was about tohave an accident.

Suddenly there was analmighty crash as everything went into slow motion. The rider seemedsuspended in mid-air before landing headfirst in a large bush! Thenjust as suddenly as it had begun, everything went quiet. The onlysound to be heard was the gentle 'tick, tick, tick' coming from themotorcycle as a cloud of steam rose from the hot engine as it lay onthe cold wet grass.

Slowly the rider beganto regain his senses. At first he considered that perhaps he wasdreaming? However if he wasn't dreaming? Then why was he upside downin a hedge? Suddenly he heard a voice

"AAAMAHEED!"

He wasn't alone!

Waving his legs aroundseemed like a good way of getting the attention of whoever it was. Hecould hear the voice getting closer

"OOHMAHEED!" itcontinued.

Then to his relief heheard rustling before suddenly being dragged out of the hedge,backwards.

Sitting up, the firstthing he noticed was his motorcycle lying on the other side of theroad looking a bit sorry for itself. Things didn't get any betterwhen he noticed his 'rescuer'. As he looked up he was metwith the sight of a menacing black hooded figure towering over him,its silhouette big enough to block out the night sky.

"Argh!" heexclaimed clutching himself.

The black hoodedstranger appeared motionless above him for what seemed like an agebefore it began to speak.

"SORRYABOOTHAT..."its voice reverberated right through him, yet he was sure he detecteda hint of an apology. "HADABITO'BOTHER" it murmured in a lowrumble, and gestured towards the motorcycle lying on its side.

Still unsure as to whathad happened, the rider asked cautiously

"Did I fall off ?"

The stranger in blackreplied "YESSSSSS" in a voice full of dread. Then there was ahesitation, before it added "WELLNOTREALLY"

Sitting on the wetgrass Raymond thought to himself 'I'm definitelygoing to be late now' Working late shift at the local bus depotwas a real pain and he always seemed to be running late. If he'd lefton time he wouldn't have needed to try and make up time by taking theshort cut across the lanes. And if he hadn't been riding this quicklyat night he wouldn't have come off his bike...

His thoughts weresuddenly interrupted.

"ITWIS... AWEE ...SORTI'ACCIDENT" said the dark hooded figure still standing overhim.

"An accident?"replied Raymond.

"MMM... " repliedthe hooded figure sounding evasive and held out what appeared to be avery bent golf club!.

Throwing the club tothe ground it declared "NAAYISS !!"

Then after aparticularly heavy sigh it began rummaging deep inside some hiddenpocket from where it produced a gas lamp marked 'property of AuldBent Gowf Course – DO NOT REMOVE'.

Carefully lighting thegas lamp, the stranger pushed back the hood of its cloak beforebeginning to unwrap a long black scarf. Raymond couldn't make out anyfeatures but was beginning to fear the worst. As the last of thescarf was removed a large mass of dark hair tumbled forward.

Shaking the head ofcurls from side to side a young girl's face slowly emerged. The gaslamp reflected warmly against her pale skin and he could feel theatmosphere around him change as she inhaled deeply.

Turning to him shesmiled "I'm Evelyn... Evy for short"and she held out a hand helping him to his feet.

She was shorter thanhe'd first thought. And appeared to be wearing a thick black cloakwith long sleeves and a pointy hood. And was holding a broomstick.

"A Broomstick?"Raymond pointed.

" Ahhh ...yes, it wasan accident" she replied.

"You?...." hereplied pointing at the bike, then the broomstick.

Explaining how she'dbeen having difficulty with the damp affecting the wood of her'stick' she had to land on the golf course to try and find some drywood to fix it. Since when did golfers start to use metal sticks?Where's the logic in that?

"That just madethings worse and I only just cleared the tops of those big trees overthere" she said pointing towards the distant tree line. "Nextthing I knew, I was out of control and headed straight for the road...that's when we met?"

Even though she soundedcrazy at least she was cool in an off-beat kind of way, thoughtRaymond to himself. Even if she robbed him at gun point, at least itmight be fun.

"What are thechances?" he replied.

"I know, I'm justgrateful you weren't driving a bus" she replied cheerily.

Raymond smiled. If he'dactually arrived at work on time he'd probably be under a bus rightnow. Instead he was talking to a 'magic flying Wytch' who'd got intodifficulties over central Scotland and somehow managed to 'clip him'while she plummeted towards earth.

Raymond was consideringthe probability of this happening when he realised he'd been staringat her.

"Whats the matter?"she said worried.

Quickly Raymond replied"Nothing, I was just umm... thinking" he said looking slightlyembarrassed because he knew he'd found himself enchanted by her wildhair and sparkling eyes. Eyes that shone like stars when she smiled.

Thinking he shouldreally be going as it was getting late now he looked up to see Evycarefully examining herself in a small mirror (just in case). Shequickly snapped the lid of the mirror closed and smiled

"Think I might havepicked up a small piece of dirt back there" and she rubbed the topof her nose.

"No, you look great"replied Raymond complementing her.

They chatted for aminute or two before finally walking over towards the bike stilllying on its side.

"I hope it's okay?"asked Evy looking concerned.

"It tends to crashquite well..." replied Raymond with obvious previous experience.