Chapter One

Chapter One         

                                    There was a sound on the wind, at first it was just a whisper fluttering hither and thither upon the breeze. It danced through leaves and grass, it whirled past rabbits, cats and mice, it cast its magic breath on to the earth and shimmered in the morning dew.
                                    The sound it grew and grew gathering speed and momentum like a chugging train. It steamed through villages and through towns, it marched up hills and then ran down, it flowed like a river torrent bubbling and babbling. Onwards and upwards it giggled, forwarder and forwarder it sniggered as it ebbed and flowed towards its goal.
                                    The sound grew louder still, like a yell or a shout or a bang. It crashed through houses and through shops; it smashed through gardens and through ponds. Splashing and sloshing it gaggled and gurgled and gathering speed it whipped and slipped up drainpipes and through windows. It tickled the toes of sleeping girls and boys as it danced and sang and laughed, but they could not hear it for they were fast asleep, dreaming of pink and purple sheep.              

Only one could hear its naughty laugh and catch it haughty tone.

Only one could hear the whispering and wicked little moan.

Only one could feel it calling, from down at gardens end.

Only one could feel the pull and twitch of something round the bend.

Only one could hear the whispering, the gurgles, slurps and sups,

Only one could hear the shouting now,

“Wake up, wake up, wake up”.

            Evie awoke with a start. She was sure she had heard her mother calling her to get up, but as she looked around her room, still dark with mornings light and rich with eerie shadows; she knew it was far too early for her to wake. Perhaps it was a dream she thought, and laid her head back down to slumber.

She closed her eyes, and the reality of early morn faded into soft dreams. She floated on a bed of soft, sugary sweetness, all pink, fluffy and warm. She could almost taste the sweet, sticky Candy Floss in her mouth, but that sound, there it was again......
            “Wake up, wake up, wake up”.
            She was furious. She did not want to wake up; especially when her dream was so delicious she could almost taste it.
            “Wake up, wake up, wake up”.
            Again it called to her.

Enough already, she thought, I must have that candy floss. She reached out her hand. She could almost touch it ...... a..l..m..o..s..t. She was so close her mouth was watering now, dribbling and dripping as she thought of that sweet candy.
            “Wake up, wake up, wake up” it whispered again.
            “Oh my goodness, what on earth do you want?” she shouted, waking with a start and almost jumping out of bed. Positive now it was not a dream, she waited and listened.
            It was frightfully cold in the house. Her breath plumed out in front of her like a fiery dragon’s. She huffed gently and watched it swirl about her face. It seemed form little clouds in the shape of monkeys, elephants and tigers.
            “Wake up, wake up, wake up”.
            There was that sound again.

Curiously it was coming from outside. It was terribly faint, but at the same time very distinct. Evie was confused. Who on earth would be calling her this early in the morning?

She looked at the clock; it was only 4.23, a particularly naughty time for anyone to be awake, she thought, let alone yelling at me from the garden. Worried that she would get in to trouble because of this naughty garden yelling thing, she quickly popped on her slippers and her big, cosy red jumper, and crept to the window. Her breath fogged it up and she had to wipe it with her sleeve to peer outside in to the darkness.
            It all looked pretty normal to her, nothing unusual to report. She scanned the patio and planting pots, which were all present and correct. She spied around the pond and through the bushy garden borders, no yelling things there. She swept her eyes across the shed and towards the back gate, and at first glance nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary, but just then she froze.
            A pair of yellow eyes peered out from the shed window, at first Evie thought it was just a reflection of the moon but it was the wrong shape and colour, and last time she checked the moon did not have any need to blink. The staring eyes bored a hole in her, she could not move frozen to the spot. She told herself that she was not afraid, but she shuddered under the gaze.

The window had fogged up again, she frantically wiped it with her sleeve, but the yellow eyes were no longer peering out from behind the safety of the shed windows. Anxiously she searched the garden with her gaze. The eyes were now behind the pot with big yellow sunflowers on it. This was much nearer than the shed, and they continued to move towards her. She trembled, although she convinced herself it was just with cold.  She wiped the window, but the eyes had gone again. She was a little frightened now; she did not know of anything friendly that had such large yellow eyes and moved with such a pace.
            This time the eyes appeared at the bottom of the drainpipe: this was extremely close to Evie’s room and she was no longer amused by this game of peek-a-boo. She held her breath, determined not to let the eyes advance any further disguised by the fogged up window, but it did not help. They mounted the drainpipe with speed, climbing nearer and nearer with every step. Evie dared not even blink, let alone breathe, but the speed with which the creature ascended made her let out a yelp, and in doing so she fogged up the window again.

Almost too scared to look, but feeling compelled to do so, she wiped the window with her sleeve which was now cold and damp, and there they were right outside, huge and yellow and gaping, and staring right at her. She let out a scream that was so shrill all the glasses in the cabinet downstairs rattled and shook, and Evie's eardrums nearly popped out of her ears.    The eyes blinked wildly in shock, and the creature fell backwards off of the drainpipe and down in to the blackness of the garden.
            “What on earth is going on in here?”
            Evie’s mother turned on the bedroom light, and looked puzzled by the sight of her daughter dressed in giant red jumper and slippers, peering out of the window in to the early morning light.
            “What is the matter poppet?”
            Evie stared out of the window, really not sure what to say to her mother. After all, who would believe that a yellow eyed shouty thing had climbed up the drainpipe to her window? Her mother would certainly think she was going bonkers.
            “There was some kind of animal outside my window” she reasoned “I thought I heard a noise and went to look, and some kind of large animal, with big yellow eyes, was outside my window, and it made me jump and yell a little”.
            She blushed, as she knew she had actually yelled a lot.
            Evie's mother crossed the room to the window and stared out in to the blackness, her daughter’s conviction such, she half expected to see a yellow eyed monster licking its paws on the lawn, but alas there was nothing.
            “I can`t see anything” she sighed, as if disappointed “It was probably just an owl or something”.
            “An owl!” Evie exclaimed, and was about to continue when her mother shot her a look that warned her not too, and she deflated.
            “Evie it is too early for this sweetie, go back to bed and have a nice lie in. It is the weekend after all, and perhaps later on we can go and watch a movie or something, how does that sound?”
            Evie did not normally let such things lie; they usually festered and pestered until she could contain them no longer. An owl, honestly! How many owls did her mother know that climbed drainpipes in the middle of the night because Evie would certainly like to meet any that could, but she was tired from the shock and the screeching, and despite being extremely curious her eyes drooped as she laid her head on the pillow, and that sweet, delicious cotton candy would not wait forever.

Evie fell back in to uneasy sleep; enormous yellow eyes stared at her wildly from the darkness as she fell. Eventually she came to a stop with a loud splashing sound and a whopping Kerthump. Trying to get up, she realized that she was stuck in something terribly sticky; her bottom would not budge an inch. It was quite dark, but she could make out shapes moving ahead of her. There was a rich, sickly smell all around her choking her nose and throat. She tried to move again but slipped a little, and her hands mushed in to the sticky blackness. Oh no, she thought; now I am even more stuck. A little panic crept over her as tiny spiders tickling her skin. She would surely be stuck here forever.
            The shapes in the distance were moving closer now. Perhaps, she hoped, someone was coming to rescue her from this sticky catastrophe. But it was not rescue that approached her it was the sticky stuff, it moved in waves picking up momentum as it crashed ever nearer and closer. She could almost hear it whispering and laughing as it forged its way towards her.

Evie was horrified, the ground began to tremble all around her, and she shook and rattled back and forth before being lifted high in to the air. The sticky stuff surrounded her, and a large and hideous creature made out of drippy, sticky goo formed out of the gunk, and when it was fully formed it opened its immense yellow eyes and stared at her intently. As if to take a better look, it leaned in its head until their noses were almost touching; Evie held her breath, for the stench was atrocious. The monsters gaping mouth opened wider than Evie thought possible. I will be swallowed whole she imagined as she squirmed against the monsters grip, her hands and bottom still stuck fast.
            “Mmmmmmmm” the monster bellowed, “you smell good enough to eat”.
            “Eat me” Evie screamed, not able to contain the sheer desperation in her voice. If only her hands were free she could pinch herself awake. “You are going to eat me!”
            “Why yes my little scrummy morsel, for you is humans and humans taste even better than toast”.

It laughed, a laugh that haunting it rattled Evie’s bones, and she realised she was sobbing.
            “Please don`t eat me” She cried, pleading with her eyes as best she could. It usually worked just fine on her Daddy, but strangely never so well on Mummy.
            “But I is a Marmitagan, and eats the humans for breakfast. They are just soooooooooooo yummy in my tummy”.
            “You’re a what?” Evie quizzed.
            “No time for chatter, little miss” he replied “it is times for eating”.
            Evie was afraid to look as his slippery tongue and teeth surrounded her, she could feel the goo in her hair, in her eyes, well, pretty much everywhere.
            As she floundered, she thought about all the things that she would never do. After all, she was only 8 years and 223 days old. She was extremely sad she would never kiss a boy, ride on a motorcycle, climb a mountain or go in a rocket to the moon. These were things she planned to do by 21, not 8 years and 223 days old. She thought it was a tragedy that these events would never be accomplished, and that no one would even know she had been swallowed whole by a Marmitagan. If it were not such a catastrophic occurrence, it might have been a phenomenal adventure.
            She opened her mouth, and the deathly gloop flowed in to her, it hit her taste buds with a resounding thought.
            “It is Marmite” she shrieked. “You are made of Marmite”.
            The blackness surrounded her, and she began to slip away.
            “But I love marmite” she whispered.

 

Reviews

[Kate]

I really enjoyed your writing style. You describe things very well and I found myself not knowing if the girl was dreaming or if it's real. Great job!