~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The House ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liz looked over of the balcony and sighs. Her and Max have escaped the hassle back in Roswell and have moved to the lovely countryside of Scotland, a mountainous small country in Britain, Europe. They had looked at the place last week and had fallen in love with the house, so they bought it. Maria and Michael had moved to France, and Isabel had moved to Sweden, as she was fast at learning languages, these are both in Europe too.
Her thoughts were of happy memories in Roswell, and of how she planned to spend the rest of her life with Max, out of harms way. Scotland was very cold at this time of year, according to the estate agent; the local people in the summer swam in the nearby loch. As it was winter, there would be no hopes for swimming. Max joined Liz on the balcony.
" You okay Liz?"
" Fine."
" Come inside, it's freezing out here."
" I thought I might go for a walk, it's such a lovely morning."
" In you pyjamas?"
" No, I was planning to get dressed first."
" Where were you planning on going?"
" To the lake and back, do you want to come?"
" Sure, lets go."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Road ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Five minutes later, they were walking out the door. Max grabbed his jacket and locked the door. He opened the high gate to see four young girls walking up the track. This was a surprise to him as the estate agent said there were very few young people walking around as most of them had grown up and moved away. The four young girls were chattering away as if they hadn't seen them. They looked about the same age as Liz and Max, maybe slightly younger. As they passed them at the gate, the girls stopped to say hello.
" Good morning. You must be the new folks up at the old cottage."
" Yes we are." Liz replied.
" The main village is just down the road, there's only one food shop I'm afraid, but the pubs' open for business all day long." Said another; she had short, dark brown hair.
" Oh yes, we saw it yesterday." Said Max.
" If you don't mind me asking, how old are you guys? Have you just graduated from school in America?"
" Em, no. We were in our last year when we moved. This is our year out."
" Well you picked a nice year for it. Oh, sorry, I'm Iona, this is Kate, Debbie and Anne." She said this as she was pointing down the line of girls. Iona had long, dark ginger hair with shades of blonde. Kate was the short, dark brown hair colour. Anne was exactly the same as Iona but shorter. Finally Debbie, she had light brown hair with red and green streaks in it.
" Oh, you've noticed my hair, Hallowe'en last night, you missed a great celebration, all the adults dress up here, and we have to say poems or rhymes to get our sweets."
" Do you four still go Trick n' Treating?"
" Of course! It's my favourite time of the year. How long have you been her? Couple of weeks?"
" No, we moved in two days ago."
" Where about in America did you come from?"
" Roswell."
" The alien town? Cool, I so want to go there, it would be so much fun, plus it would be so much fun. All those aliens, all we've got are ghosts."
" Ghosts?"
" Don't tell me no-body told you that the pub was haunted did they?"
" Well, we haven't met many people."
" No problem. Come down to the pub about eight. We'll tell you then. Sorry, but we've got to go, we're meeting a friend of mine off the train. But we can have a welcome drink with him and us."
" Are you sure that's wise Iona?" Iona nodded.
" 8 o' clock's fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Girls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Well, he was a bit of an alright, wasn't he Debs?"
" Okay, he was a bit."
" I thought you said you would never go near a guy with a barge pole."
" Well I didn't did I?"
" Almost. But he noticed your hair, and you blushed."
" I never blush."
" You do."
" Okay, okay! Who are we going to meet?"
" Well, before that Max came along, I thought we might like a bit of boyish company, so I asked a couple of boys to come down."
" No. 1, Max has Liz, No.2, you didn't answer my question, who are they?"
" Well, with the second sight powers I have, Max and Liz are in love unfortunately, and Max is a plain old cute alien."
" How can you tell that from a couple of minutes chatting?"
" Easy, it's in my blood."
" Anyway, who are the boys?"
" Oh, just some old school guys we used to know."
" We?"
" Debbie, Anne and me." Said Kate.
" Well, what are they like?"
" One's a swot."
" How could you invite him!"
" Who?"
" Just the person who's has had a crush on Debbie for umpteen years!"
" James. We had to sit together in first aid lessons. That's all."
" We all thought Debs here and James would make the perfect couple."
" Who else?"
" Touchy, touchy. A guy I used to like." Kate blushed.
" Ha, I know who that is! Robert!"
" How did you guess Anne?"
" Let's just say I'm good at guessing games."
" Have you picked someone for me and Anne?" asked Iona.
" Yes I have, just a guy who want's to meet a real ghost."
" Not so loud, do you know how many people could be listening, they could seek me out and do something to me."
" Ghosts can't die, remember that."
" This type can."
" Is there something you aren't telling us?"
" I can't tell you."
" You can. We're your mates."
" Okay, but you mustn't tell anyone, yeah?"
The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
" I'm only half ghost. Which means I can eat and feel things real ghosts can't."
" Cool. I know this is kinda rude, but how old are you, in both ...sides?"
" .....Thirty years old."
" Cool. So you've only been dead, how long?"
" Thirteen years. So I died when you guys were four."
" How did you become half and half ? "
" It's a long story."
" We've got eight hours."
" Well, I grew up in this village. I had a mum, dad, sisters, family who loved me. But I fell in love with this older man. For three years I went out with him until his wife found out. She didn't know who the affair girl was, so I hid myself from him and his family. But he came looking for me. You see, I had sent his wife a letter saying stuff about his affair because I wanted him to leave me alone, you see, he was one of those evil Warlocks. His wife was a witch and understood. I had all this love in my heart, and nobody to give it too. See, I fell in love with another man, my age. He was cute, and funny and nice to me. But the warlock found out that I loved the young man more than I loved him so he killed him. It was a really awful day, see, as the older man was my half uncle, I got pregnant and had a demon baby, and it was disabled, and the man blamed me for it and put a spell on me. The witch found out who I was and put a different spell on me. But the witch at heart was a kind woman and took pity on me. She lifted her husbands spell, and kept my baby as her own. Her spell was to keep me half -immortal, so when I meet my true love, I will feel the love flowing out of me. That is when the spell will be broken. My grave will disappear and everything. I've been waiting for the perfect man for so long. The only thing is, when I'm turned back to normal, I will be the age I died again. So, I'll be younger than you, if I'm lucky, I hope to find love this year so we can all stay the same age."
" Wow. That didn't actually take that long."
" What happened to the warlock?" asked Anne.
" It died of a heart attack when his heart physically split in two. That happens when two of that type of Warlocks baby's die before he or she does. He was killed instantly."
" Anne, to make it short, I've invited Luke. Duncan."
" You didn't!"
" I did, just so I can prove to you that he really did like you. Any you liked him back." Anne blushed tremendously."
" Anyway. Iona, we've to find you a man. What about that alien Max?"
**************************************************************************** **
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At The Pub ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max and Liz entered the pub. Liz sat down at a corner booth while Max went up to the bar to order. He ordered an orange Bacardi Breezer for Liz and a pint of Guiness Extra Cold for himself. This was the first time he had tasted Guiness as they did not sell it in America. He brought the drinks back to Liz and sat down.
" So."
" So, what?"
" So what do you think of this place?"
" It's quiet. They have nothing similar to the Crashdown anywhere near here, it's a bit of a disappointment, but I guess a fresh start has a new culture too."
" I guess. Do you like your drink?"
" It's different too. Everything's different. There's no Maria or Michael arguing, there's no Kyle or Isabel. It's really silent."
At the bar there was constant chatter and two small children chasing each other. There were few young adults as the agent had said, but two young girls facing away, with two young boys facing them drinking pints. They would rather be described as juvinile, as one of the boys had stuck to bread sticks up his nose. There was a gust of cold air and the four girls they had met in the lane walked in. Kate walked up to the bar and spoke to the barman. He then pointed to where Max and Liz were sitting. Kate said 'cheers Davie' and waved for the other three to join her. They walked over to Liz and Maxs' table.
" Hello, glad you could come." said Debbie.
" Where is your friend?" asked Liz.
" They're unpacking. They'll join us later they said." replied Anne.
" Ah, won't you sit down, I want to hear all about this ghost of yours." asked Max.
" Thanks." At this Iona motioned the girls to sit down, as she slid into the booth beside Max.
" So how long has the ghost been here?"
" I'd say around fifty years, wouldn't you Iona?" asked Anne.
" I think so. So the old lady says."
" What old lady?"
" The ghost is the old ladies sister. Twins so she said. Born in the village hospital, died on holiday."
" How'd she die?"
" An evil spell. Ran away five months before she died. The old lady said she was pregnant with another mans child. She said the man was evil. Died shortly after. He had a water grave, or so she said. We go to visit her often. She's in an old folks home, it's really strange, she always says that her sister is there with her. It's really spooky. It freaked me out. As she is my grandma. Her name was Iona, I was named after her. Everyone says she haunts the village, people see her walking about, we've all seen her, you'll see her soon if you're careful."
" Wow. Is that really true?" Max asked Iona.
" Yeah."
" So are there many aliens in Roswell. Like Real ones?"
" A couple. Not many. They're not like slimy with big heads and three fingers. They're not green and have big eyes. People say they take on human form when they're near people, or they've been in human form since they were born
Liz looked over of the balcony and sighs. Her and Max have escaped the hassle back in Roswell and have moved to the lovely countryside of Scotland, a mountainous small country in Britain, Europe. They had looked at the place last week and had fallen in love with the house, so they bought it. Maria and Michael had moved to France, and Isabel had moved to Sweden, as she was fast at learning languages, these are both in Europe too.
Her thoughts were of happy memories in Roswell, and of how she planned to spend the rest of her life with Max, out of harms way. Scotland was very cold at this time of year, according to the estate agent; the local people in the summer swam in the nearby loch. As it was winter, there would be no hopes for swimming. Max joined Liz on the balcony.
" You okay Liz?"
" Fine."
" Come inside, it's freezing out here."
" I thought I might go for a walk, it's such a lovely morning."
" In you pyjamas?"
" No, I was planning to get dressed first."
" Where were you planning on going?"
" To the lake and back, do you want to come?"
" Sure, lets go."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Road ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Five minutes later, they were walking out the door. Max grabbed his jacket and locked the door. He opened the high gate to see four young girls walking up the track. This was a surprise to him as the estate agent said there were very few young people walking around as most of them had grown up and moved away. The four young girls were chattering away as if they hadn't seen them. They looked about the same age as Liz and Max, maybe slightly younger. As they passed them at the gate, the girls stopped to say hello.
" Good morning. You must be the new folks up at the old cottage."
" Yes we are." Liz replied.
" The main village is just down the road, there's only one food shop I'm afraid, but the pubs' open for business all day long." Said another; she had short, dark brown hair.
" Oh yes, we saw it yesterday." Said Max.
" If you don't mind me asking, how old are you guys? Have you just graduated from school in America?"
" Em, no. We were in our last year when we moved. This is our year out."
" Well you picked a nice year for it. Oh, sorry, I'm Iona, this is Kate, Debbie and Anne." She said this as she was pointing down the line of girls. Iona had long, dark ginger hair with shades of blonde. Kate was the short, dark brown hair colour. Anne was exactly the same as Iona but shorter. Finally Debbie, she had light brown hair with red and green streaks in it.
" Oh, you've noticed my hair, Hallowe'en last night, you missed a great celebration, all the adults dress up here, and we have to say poems or rhymes to get our sweets."
" Do you four still go Trick n' Treating?"
" Of course! It's my favourite time of the year. How long have you been her? Couple of weeks?"
" No, we moved in two days ago."
" Where about in America did you come from?"
" Roswell."
" The alien town? Cool, I so want to go there, it would be so much fun, plus it would be so much fun. All those aliens, all we've got are ghosts."
" Ghosts?"
" Don't tell me no-body told you that the pub was haunted did they?"
" Well, we haven't met many people."
" No problem. Come down to the pub about eight. We'll tell you then. Sorry, but we've got to go, we're meeting a friend of mine off the train. But we can have a welcome drink with him and us."
" Are you sure that's wise Iona?" Iona nodded.
" 8 o' clock's fine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Girls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Well, he was a bit of an alright, wasn't he Debs?"
" Okay, he was a bit."
" I thought you said you would never go near a guy with a barge pole."
" Well I didn't did I?"
" Almost. But he noticed your hair, and you blushed."
" I never blush."
" You do."
" Okay, okay! Who are we going to meet?"
" Well, before that Max came along, I thought we might like a bit of boyish company, so I asked a couple of boys to come down."
" No. 1, Max has Liz, No.2, you didn't answer my question, who are they?"
" Well, with the second sight powers I have, Max and Liz are in love unfortunately, and Max is a plain old cute alien."
" How can you tell that from a couple of minutes chatting?"
" Easy, it's in my blood."
" Anyway, who are the boys?"
" Oh, just some old school guys we used to know."
" We?"
" Debbie, Anne and me." Said Kate.
" Well, what are they like?"
" One's a swot."
" How could you invite him!"
" Who?"
" Just the person who's has had a crush on Debbie for umpteen years!"
" James. We had to sit together in first aid lessons. That's all."
" We all thought Debs here and James would make the perfect couple."
" Who else?"
" Touchy, touchy. A guy I used to like." Kate blushed.
" Ha, I know who that is! Robert!"
" How did you guess Anne?"
" Let's just say I'm good at guessing games."
" Have you picked someone for me and Anne?" asked Iona.
" Yes I have, just a guy who want's to meet a real ghost."
" Not so loud, do you know how many people could be listening, they could seek me out and do something to me."
" Ghosts can't die, remember that."
" This type can."
" Is there something you aren't telling us?"
" I can't tell you."
" You can. We're your mates."
" Okay, but you mustn't tell anyone, yeah?"
The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
" I'm only half ghost. Which means I can eat and feel things real ghosts can't."
" Cool. I know this is kinda rude, but how old are you, in both ...sides?"
" .....Thirty years old."
" Cool. So you've only been dead, how long?"
" Thirteen years. So I died when you guys were four."
" How did you become half and half ? "
" It's a long story."
" We've got eight hours."
" Well, I grew up in this village. I had a mum, dad, sisters, family who loved me. But I fell in love with this older man. For three years I went out with him until his wife found out. She didn't know who the affair girl was, so I hid myself from him and his family. But he came looking for me. You see, I had sent his wife a letter saying stuff about his affair because I wanted him to leave me alone, you see, he was one of those evil Warlocks. His wife was a witch and understood. I had all this love in my heart, and nobody to give it too. See, I fell in love with another man, my age. He was cute, and funny and nice to me. But the warlock found out that I loved the young man more than I loved him so he killed him. It was a really awful day, see, as the older man was my half uncle, I got pregnant and had a demon baby, and it was disabled, and the man blamed me for it and put a spell on me. The witch found out who I was and put a different spell on me. But the witch at heart was a kind woman and took pity on me. She lifted her husbands spell, and kept my baby as her own. Her spell was to keep me half -immortal, so when I meet my true love, I will feel the love flowing out of me. That is when the spell will be broken. My grave will disappear and everything. I've been waiting for the perfect man for so long. The only thing is, when I'm turned back to normal, I will be the age I died again. So, I'll be younger than you, if I'm lucky, I hope to find love this year so we can all stay the same age."
" Wow. That didn't actually take that long."
" What happened to the warlock?" asked Anne.
" It died of a heart attack when his heart physically split in two. That happens when two of that type of Warlocks baby's die before he or she does. He was killed instantly."
" Anne, to make it short, I've invited Luke. Duncan."
" You didn't!"
" I did, just so I can prove to you that he really did like you. Any you liked him back." Anne blushed tremendously."
" Anyway. Iona, we've to find you a man. What about that alien Max?"
**************************************************************************** **
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At The Pub ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Max and Liz entered the pub. Liz sat down at a corner booth while Max went up to the bar to order. He ordered an orange Bacardi Breezer for Liz and a pint of Guiness Extra Cold for himself. This was the first time he had tasted Guiness as they did not sell it in America. He brought the drinks back to Liz and sat down.
" So."
" So, what?"
" So what do you think of this place?"
" It's quiet. They have nothing similar to the Crashdown anywhere near here, it's a bit of a disappointment, but I guess a fresh start has a new culture too."
" I guess. Do you like your drink?"
" It's different too. Everything's different. There's no Maria or Michael arguing, there's no Kyle or Isabel. It's really silent."
At the bar there was constant chatter and two small children chasing each other. There were few young adults as the agent had said, but two young girls facing away, with two young boys facing them drinking pints. They would rather be described as juvinile, as one of the boys had stuck to bread sticks up his nose. There was a gust of cold air and the four girls they had met in the lane walked in. Kate walked up to the bar and spoke to the barman. He then pointed to where Max and Liz were sitting. Kate said 'cheers Davie' and waved for the other three to join her. They walked over to Liz and Maxs' table.
" Hello, glad you could come." said Debbie.
" Where is your friend?" asked Liz.
" They're unpacking. They'll join us later they said." replied Anne.
" Ah, won't you sit down, I want to hear all about this ghost of yours." asked Max.
" Thanks." At this Iona motioned the girls to sit down, as she slid into the booth beside Max.
" So how long has the ghost been here?"
" I'd say around fifty years, wouldn't you Iona?" asked Anne.
" I think so. So the old lady says."
" What old lady?"
" The ghost is the old ladies sister. Twins so she said. Born in the village hospital, died on holiday."
" How'd she die?"
" An evil spell. Ran away five months before she died. The old lady said she was pregnant with another mans child. She said the man was evil. Died shortly after. He had a water grave, or so she said. We go to visit her often. She's in an old folks home, it's really strange, she always says that her sister is there with her. It's really spooky. It freaked me out. As she is my grandma. Her name was Iona, I was named after her. Everyone says she haunts the village, people see her walking about, we've all seen her, you'll see her soon if you're careful."
" Wow. Is that really true?" Max asked Iona.
" Yeah."
" So are there many aliens in Roswell. Like Real ones?"
" A couple. Not many. They're not like slimy with big heads and three fingers. They're not green and have big eyes. People say they take on human form when they're near people, or they've been in human form since they were born