The Watcher in the Woods Page #2

- Tell that to Nerak.

- I mean it! Now!

- Come back, you little...

Jan!

- No!

- Let go of me!

- Stop! You're drowning her!

- Let me go!

- Stop!

- Get out of my way!

She had to. She had to push you down

to get you loose from the branch.

She saved your life.

- I thought she was trying to drown you.

- Ellie...

Go and fetch some dry clothes

for your sister.

Yes, ma'am. Come on, Nerak.

Dry your hair or you'll take a chill.

I don't know how to thank you for saving me.

What kind of name is that? Nerak?

Ellie just made that up.

It's the name Karen spelled backwards.

What is it? What's wrong?

That was my daughter's name. Karen.

Mrs Thayer told us

you'd lost your daughter. I'm sorry.

Drink this.

- Mrs Aylwood?

- Yes?

Was anything wrong with Karen's eyes?

Why do you ask?

The night she disappeared...

was she blindfolded?

How do you know about the blindfold?

You asked me once if I sensed things.

Well, I have. And Ellie's been hearing things.

It's like someone is watching us.

- And the day we moved in, I saw something.

- What?

An image in a mirror.

A girl... about my age...

with long blonde hair.

And she was blindfolded.

- You saw her?

- I'm not sure.

Could you...

Could you tell me what happened?

How she disappeared?

My husband was killed in the war.

And Karen was everything to me.

She was soon to be 17,

and I stayed up late... finishing her present.

Karen wasn't in her room.

She was always so considerate,

I couldn't believe

she'd gone off without telling me.

Then I remembered there was an eclipse.

She might have gone to watch it at the pond.

Karen?

Karen, where are you?

Mary! John!

Tom? Tom Colley!

Karen?

Karen!

Karen!

They searched the ruins...

but there was no sign of Karen.

No sign at all.

Didn't the other kids

know what happened to her?

Why was she blindfolded?

They said it was part of a game.

They used to meet in the chapel.

Sometimes there seems to be

something out there.

Sometimes... I hear someone

whispering in the wind.

Mrs Aylwood, what do you think

happened to Karen?

I think she's still out there.

- What nonsense.

- I told you there was a ghost.

As long as it keeps out of the house,

I can live with it.

For heaven's sake! I knew Mrs Aylwood

was strange, but this is ridiculous.

I did see something in the mist at the pond.

That's why I fell in.

We'll always be grateful

to her for saving you,

but I won't have her filling your head

with these far-fetched fantasies.

Excuse me.

- I'll catch you later. I want to watch Mike.

- OK.

She seems less moody today.

This is what she needs. It'll do her good.

Knight on shining motorcycle.

- How many sandwiches do we have?

- Four for me and one for you!

Come on!

Come on, Mike!

- Hi, guys!

- Hi.

Grab a sandwich

before your sister eats them all.

Ellie, let's get closer.

Well, be careful now.

- There he is!

- There's Mike!

Jan! Come quick!

What is it?

Quickly!

Jan, quickly!

Wow! Did you see that?

- What did you want?

- I didn't want you. Nerak did.

- It's lucky you moved off that rock.

- It wasn't luck.

- What do you mean?

- It's nothing. Forget it.

- It's just been a crazy kind of week all round.

- Do you want to talk about it?

Mrs Aylwood told me that Karen,

her daughter, disappeared years ago,

when she was about my age,

and was never seen again.

If Karen was murdered, that would explain

her haunting the woods, wouldn't it?

Mrs Aylwood said there were three kids

with Karen that night.

One was John Keller,

and there was a Tom something. Collier?

Tom Colley. He lives in the woods

in the old lodge. Kind of a hermit.

And there was a girl. Mary... Mary Pierce.

- Mary Pierce?

- Yeah.

That was my mother's name

before she married Dad.

It was a long time ago. It's best forgotten.

- How come you never told me?

- It happened years before you were born.

I remember your dad saying it's important

to live in the present and leave the past.

There's something about those woods

that bothers you.

You never go near them,

not even to take the short cut to the village.

Across that rickety old bridge?

I should say not.

Mum, what do you think

really happened to Karen Aylwood?

I think she ran away from home.

I don't know why she did,

but it's the only logical explanation.

What were the four of you doing?

We were just... just larking about.

It was John Keller's idea.

It was... just a game.

Then there was a... sudden summer storm.

Lightning struck the belfry.

The whole thing was aflame.

We ran out.

At least... three of us did.

I've never been back to that place again.

Look what Daddy made me

to watch the eclipse on Saturday.

- I can show you how to make one.

- Not now. Mike's taking us riding.

I'll get ready.

- Mom said she'd only be a minute.

- That means ten.

- I wish you didn't have to go.

- So do I.

But if I don't, singers, dancers

and musicians will be unemployed.

- Jan, I'll be back in time for supper.

- OK.

- See if you can find some peanut butter.

- Crunchy or smooth?

- Smooth!

- Crunchy!

OK, I'll handle it. Have a good ride.

- Bye.

- Bye.

- Bye!

- Bye!

Good riding, Ellie. Ride ahead

and make sure the path's clear of Indians.

It gets me out of the way so you two

can be alone, doesn't it? See you.

Come on. Come on, Snowball. Let's go.

I tried to talk to Mum about Karen.

She was very evasive.

She really didn't want to talk about it at all.

Come on, you guys. Hurry up!

Let go back through the woods.

- No, Mike, I don't think we should.

- Oh, come on!

Help! Help me!

Help! Mike, help!

- Stop, Snowball!

- Hang on!

Cocoa! Help!

Mike! Help!

Stop! Cocoa, stop!

Cocoa!

Anybody there?

Is anyone in there?

Mike!

Are you OK?

- That man!

- It was Tom Colley. He didn't hurt you?

I saw Karen's face again!

In the chapel. In a coffin!

It's only a reflection.

It couldn't have been my reflection.

I wasn't standing here.

I was back there. It was Karen, her image.

She was lying in that coffin

as if she were dead.

I think I was sent here for a reason.

You were on a runaway horse.

He could have bolted in any direction.

He bolted because

something in the woods spooked him.

Don't build it up into a...

Mike!

What made the windows break?

The wind. It just came

blasting through the chapel.

But there wasn't any wind outside.

Overlapping circles. What does it mean?

- Can't we go now, Jan?

- Sure we can, Ellie. Come on, Jan.

Mike. There was a shadow of a triangle

on this coffin when I came in.

The same triangle

that's on the window in my bedroom.

These circles, they must mean something.

There was a circle

on the water at the pond, too.

It was strange.

I've seen her, Mr Keller.

As God's my witness, I've seen her.

- She was in the chapel, she was.

- You're drunk.

Not then, I wasn't.

She was there, I tell you.

She come in and went right to the coffin

and looked inside.

- That's impossible.

- Listen!

It's thundering.

There was thunder and lightning

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