A Woman Digging

I had to write 1,000 word continuation of the line 'A woman digging in her garden discovered something unexpected' in order to be accepted at Manchester University. i got accepted and turned that Uni down anyway!

A woman digging in her garden discovered something unexpected. Her brow furrowed with perplexity as she stared at a large metal ring poking back out at her from the ground. It appeared to be attached to a large piece of wood, so in an attempt to satisfy her curiosity, she kept on digging. After some time, she’d managed to clear away enough of the top soil to reveal a trapdoor. She thought about getting her husband, but decided against it because she was still furious at him for staying out drinking the previous night.

She reached down to the handle and gave it a tug, but it did not move. She planted her feet either side of the hole to gain better leverage and tugged once, then twice. On an almighty third yank, the trapdoor swung open, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the dirt, backside first. After uttering a few swear words under her breath, she pulled herself up to see what she had found. To her amazement there were steps leading down into the gloom. She thought about her husband again, but she didn’t need him. Instead, she went to the garden shed to get the torch.

After trying to rationalise with herself, she mustered the courage to venture down into the darkness. She clicked the torch on and counted a total of thirty steps until she found herself in front of an old oak door. The woman muttered to herself about how ridiculous the situation she found herself in seemed, as she examined door. There was no handle, however a gargoyle-face door knocker hung in the centre. She observed the way the ugly metal face sneered, as if the taste of the round knocker hanging from its mouth was bitter. The woman grabbed it and knocked three times. Her rising cautiousness gave way to bewilderment as the door creaked open. The woman felt so absurd and wondered if the herbal tea she’d drunk that morning had been a touch too strong! When a voice from inside invited her to come in, she expected nothing less!

As if in a trance, the woman floated inside. Her mouth dropped open, astonished at her discovery. She found herself in a dull lit living room, like something out of a fairytale. There was old wooden furniture, a grandfather clock clanking in the background and an open fire blazing. Two armchairs were positioned next to the fire and she wasn’t surprised to see one of them occupied. The same voice she’d heard at the door beckoned her to come in, grab a cup of tea and take a seat next to the fire. She looked at the figure in the armchair and it appeared to be an old woman, not too dissimilar to the old hag into whom the wicked Queen of the tale ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ had transformed.

Apprehensively, but obediently, the woman did as she was told. Tea was already poured into the teacup, and she wondered if it was poisoned. Regardless, she took a sip and it tasted just like her usual stock of tea; so she took a mouthful, because her earlier digging really had been quite exhausting! As the woman relaxed, the hag put her own cup and saucer to one side and spoke with a cackle in her voice, “Don’t be afraid of me, my dear, for I am your greatest ally.”

 

“This cannot be real,” said the woman, wondering if she was dreaming.

“Oh, but it is!” the hag said. “Time is short, so I must get straight to the point. Your husband is having an affair with the woman next door.”

The woman looked down at her tea and tried to stop her trembling as the cup and saucer rattled together. She said, “It’s not possible. How do you know?”

“I know because you know it’s true,” replied the hag. “Look at the evidence. Your neighbour had a party last night, your husband came home drunk.”

“He went to the pub!” snapped the woman.

The hag continued, “He frequently goes around there to do odd jobs, doesn’t he? Whilst you’re folding the washing in the bedroom, you hear noises from next door, don’t you? The walls are thin, aren’t they?”

The woman frowned. She’d never wanted to believe it, but when checking at the window for him the previous night, she did catch him trying to drunkenly sneak over the fence! The woman nodded in agreement and asked, “So, what do I do?”

The hag replied, “Bring him down here, we’ll sort him out, once and for all.”

The woman sighed and calmly put down her cup and saucer. She knew she couldn’t continue living in denial, so she swept away from the room like a ghost. She drifted across the garden, through the kitchen and into the living room, where her husband sat reading the newspaper. “You must see what I’ve found in the garden, it’s quite amazing!” she said with much enthusiasm.

“What is it now?” her husband groaned, annoyed at being disturbed.

“Something quite special!” she said with exuberance. “You really have to see it for yourself to believe it!”

With a begrudging moan, the man stood up and followed her, hoping to appease her pestering. She pointed at the flowerbed, so he trudged over to the side of an enormous hole. “What is this?” he said confused, peering into the dirt.

“Take a good look inside,” she replied.

He bent over the hole and said, “There’s nothing here other than a big hole in the grou…”

Before he managed to finish his sentence, the woman swung the shovel she’d been using all afternoon and struck her cheating husband on the back of the head. Into the grave he fell. The woman stood over him and struck him several more times until she was satisfied he was dead. With a deep sigh she started to fill in the hole, burying her troubles, once and for all.

Author's Note

This is an old piece of work which is exactly 1,000 words long and was assessed for my past course.