A short extract from a novel in progress. (I apologise for the grammar)
âHey, look what I foundâ
My peaceful sunbathing is interrupted by a shadow blocking the warm sun from my face. I opened my eyes to find my brother Archie standing over me with something tightly gripped in his fist.
âI found it in the pond. It looks expensive, I think itâs real goldâ
He then started dangling a pocket watch over my head, the sun reflecting off the shiny trinket and straight into my eyes.
I let out a frustrated groan and sat up on my elbows, the prickly grass scratching my arms.
On a hot Saturday morning, Archie and I decided to sunbathe in the garden behind our house. Archie got bored after 5 minutes and decided to swim in the pond planted in the middle of the garden. That pond was commissioned by my dad for my mother when they first moved in to this house. He thought the huge back garden needed something to fill up the space.
I suggested that it was a bad idea but my brother has never been a person to follow wise suggestions or use his brain.
âIs it seriously not possible to have just 5 minutes to myself â
I snatched the watch from his hand and tossed it back into the water. Not interested in knowing what his reaction is, I hauled myself up from the ground and retreated into the house.
It felt good to walk into the air-conditioned house, away from the scolding heat of the sun. My family is lucky enough to afford air conditioning, or should I say rich enough. Finding a house in England with air conditioning is extremely hard to come by, especially since the UK is not known for itâs hot weather.
I found my mother sitting on the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen. Her hand wrapped around a cup of tea and a newspaper is in the other hand. Her hair is a light blonde with loose curls, much like my hair except mine is natural and her curls are the result of heated rollers.
I study her face and notice the dark bags under her eyes that are being ineffectively hidden by concealer.
I sat myself on the bar stool beside her.
âAre you still working late? You shouldnât do that. You need your sleepâ I said.
She looked up from her newspaper and gave me a jaded smile.
âYouâre the one who needs sleep. Studying medicine is not easy. And itâs not going to get any easier if youâre tired all the timeâ
I want to tell her that her health is much more important to me than my medical degree, but I decide to let her have her âgood parenting momentâ since she rarely gets to have one those. Both my parents work at their own company office most of the week so spending time with us is a privilege they only get on the weekends. They do respectable work as lawyers for a firm, but the larger part of their wealth derive from their rich forebears. It is tradition to entrust that money to the next offspring in the family.
âIâm not tired, Iâm fine.â I said.
She chuckled softly and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
âItâs so endearing that you care about me but trust me when I say Iâm completely fine. Making sure you pass your exams are my top priority. Speaking of which, how well are you doing?â
âWell, you were not wrong about how difficult it is. I always thought it would come natural to me since Iâve been obsessed with biology and the human body for most of my life, but Iâm not too sure about it anymore.â A tired sigh escaped my mouth as I close my eyes and rest my head on my palm. I feel my mothers soft hand gently stroke my forearm.
âYou are the smartest women I know honey. Everybody knows you will pass those exams marvellously. Iâm sure you have nothing to worry about.â
I can feel a small lump form in my throat as she speaks. The praise my mother is giving me should make me feel grateful ,but it only me makes me nervous. As of now, everyone I know assumes I will do extremely well and eventually become a doctor. My expectations are not so guaranteed.
âHey mum, look what I found!â My mum and I both turn our to the sliding door that leads to the back garden. Archie is standing in the kitchen. His hair and clothes are dripping wet causing a shallow puddle of water to form around his feet.
âWhat the hell have you been doing!â Mum springs into action immediately.
âCathy, come here quickly!â She calls to Cathy our housekeeper. She is a stout old woman with streaks of grey in her brown, lifeless hair. She almost looks lifeless with her hollow, tired eyes but that doesnât mean that she is not always at the ready to clean up any little spill we make.
She comes scuttling in from seemingly nowhere with a mop in her hand and elbows Archie out of the way.
âI had to jump in the pond because someone had thrown my watch in thereâ Archie said.
âYou jumped in that pond for a stupid watch? How injudicious of you.â I spat back at him and crossed my arms over my chest.
âInjudicious? Who are you trying to impress with those âbig wordsâ This isnât one of your fancy college classes you know. There isnât any professors here to grade you.â He glared at me but there was a look of amusement in his eyes.
âCan both of you take your petty argument somewhere else please. Cathy has enough to deal with already.â
I let out a barely audible scoff and marched out the kitchen. Archie followed close behind, almost tripping on my heel. He followed me all the way to my bedroom until we got to the door.
âDonât you have anything better to do than follow me around all day?â
âWhat can be more fun than annoying you?â He winks and I shove his shoulder.
Archie is such a facetious person and because of that, I can never stay angry for long. A brother and sister relationship is often thought of as turbulent and emotional, however, our relationship is more stable and joyful than anything. Once and a while we have our petty arguments only to forgive and forget rather quickly.
âCan I show you my watch now or are you just going to throw it away again?â He said, dangling the watch in front of my face.
âWhatâs so great about an old watch?â
âAre you serious? It could be an old family heirloom or something.â He replied enthusiastically.
âWhat would an old family heirloom be doing in the bottom of that pond? Dad hired someone to build that just before we were born. Surely if it was that important, they wouldnât of just thrown it in there.â
âOk maybe itâs not an heirloom ,but it must have been thrown in there for a reason. Would you please just have a look at itâ He said.
I sighed and took the watch from his hand.
The golden pocket watch glittered as I held it in lamplight. Its aluminium hands were frozen in place, pointing at half past twelve. I flipped it over and saw a name was engraved in cursive writing.
âThereâs a name engraved on the backâ I turned to Archie and placed the watch in his hand.
âS.M.Parker? Iâve never heard of that name.â He said and I hummed in agreement.
âMe neither. It must a relative or an ancestor.â
I took the watch from his hand and inspected it again. There was nothing else out of ordinary about it but for some reason, I was determined to find something. I searched through the names I knew in my head but S.M.Parker didnât ring any bells.
âWe should go to bed, we will ask mum about it in the morningâ said Archie as he started towards the door and headed back to his bedroom. I watched him leave and placed the watch onto my bedside table. Grabbing the book that was also on the table, I plopped down on the bed and opened it. It was my one favourite books I always read before bed: Wuthering heights. You must think itâs very strange for 19 year old girl to be slightly obsessed with everything to do with the 19th century, however my interests have never been considered normal.
The history, fashion and politics were also very interesting in my opinion.
A lot of people, especially my brother, find the way I talk very amusing. The students, who I go to college with, also tend to snicker and ridicule me when they hear my voice.
Reading two books a month has extended my vocabulary and improved my knowledge tremendously well. Even though I feel quite proud of my intelligence, I canât help but feel somewhat dejected and withdrawn.
After five or so minutes of reading, I began to nod off. I closed my book and settled it in its original place on my bedside table. I admired the gold pocket watch next to my book as I proceeded to rest my head on my pillow.
When my eyes began to feel heavy, I continued to stare at the watch as I imagined what it would be like to live in 1865.
The peaceful silence in the bedroom did not last for long. A low humming sound started to emanate from the pocket watch. As the sound increases, the watch begins to jolt and tremor violently. Suddenly, a glaring white light emits and fills the room.
My pleasant sleep was rudely interrupted by a tedious tugging at my hair. My hands tried to bat away the obtrusive attacker. I continued to thrash my hands around aimlessly, until my nose picks up a very putrid scent that smelt specifically like cow dung. I wonder, what would a horrific smell like that be doing in my typically pleasant smelling room? My eyes flutter as they adjust to the light. Wait a minute, itâs light already? It feels like I barely slept 5 minutes. My eyes spring open and I sit up with a jolt. My head spins from the sudden movement and I attempt to take in my surroundings. Iâm sitting in, what looks like a grass field dotted with cows, harmoniously chewing grass. My brain struggled to process what was going on. Only a few seconds ago I was asleep in my room, now Iâm in a field I am completely unfamiliar with. What the hell happened?
âLizzie, Your breakfast is ready! What are you doing in that grass you silly-â A voice called from behind the girl, followed by a loud gasp. My eyes peered over the girls shoulder and saw a stout old women with her grey hair wrapped up in a white bonnet. She was wearing a filthy kitchen apron and a grey woollen dress.
Her shocked expression quickly turned into anger as she darted towards the girl, seized her elbow and pulled her up quite aggressively.
âYou are trespassing on private land! So I suggest you sling your hook before I have the coppers âround hereâ
I senselessly gawked at the old woman as my brain attempted to make sense of this absurd situation. Why is the old women shouting at me? Why do I not recognise this place? Where the fuck is my brother? As if on cue I heard a slurred voice that sounded very much like Archie.
âHey lady, can you shut the fuck up, Iâm trying to sleep!â
I turned my head to search in the direction the voice came from. My eyes landed on my brother lying in the grass behind me. His legs are curled up to his chest and his eyes were half closed.
Before I could react, the old woman marched over to Archie with her walking stick in her hand and started beating his head with it.
âYou better give me a good reason you two scroungers are sleeping on my lawn before the bobbies get here! Do you understand boy?â She continues to beat him as Archie howls and attempts to fan the stick away.
The sound of my brother wailing causes my protective sister instincts to kick in and I quickly rush to my feet.
âHey, get away from my brother you old bat. What makes you think you have the right to beat him like that. We have no idea how we got here either and hitting us isnât going to help.â
Her cane freezes in mid-air and she turns to look at me.
âYou donât know how you got here? Are you simple?â She asks.
âNo of course Iâm not simple. Iâm just as confused as you are. One minute we were sleeping in bed and the next we wake up in this field with no memory of how we got here. And speaking of which, where is here?â
She sighs and lowers her cane before walking towards the little girl who Iâd forgotten was stood there. Archie scoffs and hauls himself up from the ground while rubbing the spot on his head previously assaulted with the cane.
âWhy the hell was that old woman hitting me with a stick? And why does she look like a extra on âLittle house on the prairieâ? Where the fuck are we?â
âYou are in a place I call my home so you better watch your tongue, boy...You are in Hereford.â She said.
âHereford? But, we live in Harrogate.â I racked my brain trying to find a plausible explanation as to why we are so far away from home, and why I donât remember anything. There is no possible way we could have walked all the way to Hereford. Maybe we were kidnapped in the night or maybe we were sleeping walking and got on a bus or train. Archie and I were both sleepwalking last night? No. Absolutely not. That makes no sense. Mum would have woken us up or noticed we were gone.
âArchie, what about mum? Surely she is worried sick by now. We need to call her and tell her we are all right. Do you have a mobile?â I turned to the old woman who is still standing there looking very disgruntled.
âA mobile? Never heard of it.â She replied, her brows furrowing.
âOh, come on. Surely youâre not that old. You must have a mobile or at least a landline.â Archie said still rubbing his head and dusting the grass off his trousers.
âDid you two knock your heads or something? Youâre talking nonsense. Since you two seem quite disoriented, why donât we walk over to my house and sit down. Iâll put the kettle on the stove and weâll talk over a cuppa tea.
(If you found any grammar mistakes please reply and let me know)
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