[Wordsmiff]

We now return to Amy and Melanie where we left them at the end of chapter eleven.
I hope you’re keeping up with this.



Unlucky For Some

CHAPTER THIRTEEN


“We should be getting back,” Melanie said.

Amy thought about her camcorder. She was conscious of the fact that, even though it had been fully charged, it had limited battery life; possibly about five or six hours according to the manual. She didn’t want to use too much of the battery because she would need it during the rest of the weekend.

She was fully aware that Becky and Kirsty might just be sitting and talking, and that would be a serious waste of camcorder usage.

On the other hand, she could be recording some priceless footage right now.

She had a dilemma... Should they go back now or should she bide her time?

“Ames?” It was Melanie. “You look out of it. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Amy said.

“You thinking about Edward?”

“Er...” Amy couldn’t tell Melanie about her hidden camcorder, so she went along with the Edward thread. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“I know you were upset when he died, Ames,” Melanie continued.

“Yeah, I know,” Amy said, “He scared me when I first saw him. I thought he was a ghost...” She paused. “You know all the stories about the house being haunted?”

Melanie pursed her lips and nodded.

“But when I spoke to him he seemed really nice and everything.”

“Is that why you were late getting out of the house?” Melanie asked.

Amy nodded. “I lost all track of time and I forgot about the dare completely.”

“Why didn’t you tell Kirsty that?” Melanie asked. “You might not have had to do the dare.”

“Yes, I would,” Amy said. “You know Kirsty.” She paused. “Anyway, he asked me not to tell anyone he was here.”

“Why?” Melanie asked.

Amy just shrugged. “What do you think happened to him?”

“When?” Melanie asked, “Thirty years ago or last week?”

“Well, both, I guess,” Amy said.

“I could always look him up on the web,” Melanie said. She took out her phone. “Although, if I Google the name Edward Sutton, I’ll probably end up with hundreds of them.” She opened up her web browser and typed the name into her search engine.

Sure enough, there were several pages of results for Edward Sutton’s. "Hmm, the Baron of Dudley."

"Really?" Amy sounded interested.

"No, that's another Edward Sutton," Melanie said.

"Oh."

“I’ll need more info about him.” Melanie refined the search by typing in ‘Shady Lane, Birmingham’. The list of results was drastically reduced.

The girls suggested some key words that they remembered from the article and Melanie typed them in.

“Well, well,” she said, looking at her phone, “If this is the same right Edward Sutton, it looks like he’s even got his own Wikipedia page.” She studied the screen.

"Read it," Amy said.

“I am.”

“I mean out loud,” Amy clarified.

“Oh, okay.” Melanie read from the phone: “Edward George Sutton, born Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, on January the First Nineteen hundred.” She looked at Amy. “That would make him a hundred and fourteen.” She continued reading: “Attended Lea Hill Primary School until the age of ten...” She sighed. “It’s just about his early life.”

“What else does it say about him?”Amy said. She was really keen to find out more about Edward now.

“Not a great deal,” Melanie said. “It’s only a short entry. Needs a lot of editing.”

“Go on.” Amy found a folding chair, opened it up and sat down on it.

“He was the eldest of nine children...”

“They didn’t have contraception in those days,” Amy interrupted.

Melanie sighed in frustration. “Do you want to hear it or not?”

“Sorry.”

“The eldest of nine children born to Sarah and Albert Sutton,” Melanie continued. “His eight sisters, however, all died mysterious deaths before the age of sixteen. On attaining the age of twenty-one, Edward inherited his father’s estate.” She started to read silently again. “Hey, this is interesting.” She looked at Amy. “One of his sisters was called Meredith.”

“Meredith?” Amy said, “That’s what he called his blow-up doll.” She tapped her foot, waiting for Melanie to continue. “What else does it say?”

“Not much more. I’ll bookmark it, “ Melanie said, as she did so. “We can have a look when we get back up with the stuff,” Melanie said, “Although I’ll need to watch the battery on my phone. If it runs down...”

“Yeah, of course,” Amy got up off the chair. “Anyway, let’s sort out what we need,” she said, looking at the stockpiled supplies again, “but only our immediate requirements. If we need more, we know where to get it from.”

Amy and Melanie started to gather together a few mixed items for breakfast, a few other canned items for later, the camping stove, several bottles of water and a large saucepan. As a last thought, Melanie grabbed a small first aid kit and added that to the haul. They sorted out an empty box to put it all in and then argued about who was going to carry it.

In the end, they decided to share the load and took one side of the box each. They lifted the box and tried to carry it outside, walking sideways with it, so that they could both see where they were going. Crab-walking, however, was not Melanie’s best skill and, with all the path overgrown with weeds, it was awkward to avoid tripping over something. They put the box down on the path and went back into the shed.

“We might have to have a rethink,” Melanie said, “It’s too heavy for just the two of us.”

“If we take a few items at a time,” Amy suggested, “It might take a few trips but we can get it...”

She was interrupted by a loud shuffling sound outside.

“Is that Becky and Kirsty?” Melanie said.

Amy opened the door but closed it again fairly quickly when she heard a male voice shouting.

“This way,” It said. “Watch the brambles, though.”

Amy held the door closed but just open a slight crack. “It’s a man,” she whispered to Melanie, “Stay quiet.”

There were a few moments of silence and then they heard what sounded like a female shriek.

“I said, be careful,” the male voice said. “Follow where I go.”

“Who is it?” Melanie whispered.

“How should I know?” Amy whispered back. She closed the door again. “Someone’s coming.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Melanie said. “What do we do? We’re trapped here.”

“Wait here till they go, I suppose, “Amy said.

“What about the box outside?” Melanie said. “If they see that, we’re screwed.”


To be continued...