Vanished

About the author

Gillian was born in Alexandra Palace Road, Muswell Hill, London, in 1958. She then, at the age of 4 years, moved with her family to Buckinghamshire. During the early ’90s, she completed a writing course where she realised she had a talent for writing fiction stories and began writing them as an interest, and not until some years later did she try.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mother, Jean Alice. She would have loved to be here to see this happen.

Vanished

Published by Austin Macauley at Smashwords

Copyright 2018 Gillian Alice Lock

The right of Gillian Alice Lock

to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is

available from the British Library.

www.austinmacauley.com

Vanished

ISBN 9781788782753 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781788782760 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781788782777 (E-Book)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

First Published in

AustinMacauley

CGC-33-01, 25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf, London E14 5LQ

***

***

***

Acknowledgements

Thank you Tom for all the support and help you have given.

***

***

***

Chapter 1

Home Alone

Andrea twisted the key in the lock, it had been a bit hard to open lately. Something else to put on the ‘to do list’. She could hear Muffin, her four-year-old Border Collie, getting excited at her return.

‘Okay, let me just get this blasted key to work,’ she moaned, knowing that any day soon she wouldn’t be able to get in at all. She’d only been downtown to pick up a few things, you would think she’d been gone weeks, the amount of yelping and barking that was going on behind the door.

‘Okay, I’m coming,’ she shouted, finally shifting the key to the right position. Muff, as she called her, jumped up smelling the bag of dog treats she had in the bag.

‘Patience!’ she demanded and Muff sat down swishing her tail on the polished wood floor.

She hauled the bags to the kitchen and dumped them on the floor.

‘Phew, it’s getting harder.’ She felt worn out and really had to stop talking to herself, it was one of the perils of living all alone, and working at home meant it was all too easy to just dip into the fridge when she wanted, or the cake tin. Food was always running out, she really must keep to a better eating plan.

Being Saturday, she kept to her usual ritual of food shop and dog food shop would be on Sunday, cleaning the house would follow, and she’d take Muff for a long walk across the fields nearby to the village of West Holme, a 16th Century village that was still kept to the standard in which it was built so long ago. Cobbled streets and tiny houses all with rickety walls and very old beams, the old horse yards and stables still stood, it was amazing and could be seen nestling in the valley from the top of the hill, it was a hidden world. The people all long gone but Andrea couldn’t help but day dream of what it was like in those by gone days every time she saw it.

It was Muff’s favourite walk, as sheep were often kept in that field and being a sheep dog, loved the smells of the sheep that she was not allowed near. Andrea made sure there were none in the field, she didn’t quite know what Muff might do. Rabbit warrens were another interest to her, and so the whole area was one of fun and games for Muff, and one of stress for Andrea, as it was trouble if your dog was found to be in a field worrying sheep.

It had a bonus though, a great way to meet people and most local people knew her and Muff, who had many doggy and human friends. Andrea loved it especially because it seemed to have an ancient feel to it. It was so peaceful and there was a mystical old feel to the area. Thousands of people had more than likely walked those hills and fields, doing the very same walk as she did, over years and years. It was fresh and cool in the summer, with long grasses as high as your waist that were home to millions of buzzing insects and butterflies.

Wild blue cornflowers grew in abundance to her, it was just a perfect place to be. In the winter, the trees in the woods that surrounded the field were a mass of autumn colours, reds and orange, yellow and dusky pinks and browns. Blackberries grew in abundance there along the hedgerows and cob nuts were a treat, that’s if you got there before the squirrels, it was a place full of activity for all and sundry.

Muff sat wagging her tail, her little doggy face a picture of impatience, every now and then a muffled whine would try to escape, the excitement to much.

‘Okay, in a minute just have to find your lead.’ She had spent the afternoon cleaning and she had a special reason for it. Jason was coming that evening, he was handsome and young, too young for her maybe. She’d met him at the local dog and cat superstore. He was manager and because she was there an awful lot, he had begun to notice her, and one day while she was standing at the checkout, he leaned over the barrier and asked her out. Why not, she had thought, getting a bit tired of evenings in and one way conversations with Muff, though she was convinced she understood every word, she just could not reply. Poor Muff, if only she could talk, it would be the answer to thousands of lonely people, if their dogs could just talk.

She found the lead tucked down the side of the sofa and secured it around Muff’s neck and checked if she had put the wine in the fridge to chill. It was such a lovely hot day, she thought, it would be perfect to sit outside on the small patio she had. She had made a prawn cocktail salad to go with the new potatoes, all prepared. But right now she’d to take Muff for a long walk to tire her out, if that was possible. Her energy was always there, morning, noon and night, she had been told when she first picked her up that Border Collies never stand still, how true that was.

Ready to go in her summer top and cycle shorts, she put water, and an apple and chocolate bar in her ruck sack, not forgetting her phone, and digital camera, and some cash in case of emergency.

‘Goodness, it’s like going on a major hike!’ she said as she swung the ruck sack around her shoulders.

‘Have to be prepared for every eventuality,’ she muttered, picking up a few tissues and more sweets to suck.

‘Okay, let’s go!’ Muff’s eyes shone with anticipation. It was just a short walk through a couple of roads to the fields that stretched as far as your eyes could see. She was lucky really to be where she was. It was a built up area and yet in just a few minutes, she was totally free, over the style, and there was peace and tranquillity.

Muff pulled her down the front steps where she was trying to get to neighbour, Mike, who had a Greyhound.

‘Hi, Andy,’ he called.

‘Hello, Mike. Lovely day.’

‘It is. You off to the woods?’ he asked as Muff and his dog, Tango, were playing.

‘Oh, more like a very, very long walk across the fields, trying to tire her out,’ she laughed.

‘You should have got one of these. He runs away if I get the lead out, just loves to lounge,’ Mike grinned.

‘Oh well, we’d better get going.’

‘Yes, and Andy, I will come round and put the gutter back for you.’

‘That’s okay, Mike. It’s great of you to do it.’ A section of the gutter had fallen away during the winter, causing flooding on Mike’s driveway when it rained hard, so he had offered to go up and fix it for her.

‘Are you in tomorrow?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, all day. Just pop ’round.’

‘See you then.’ He waved and crossed the road to head for the playing area.

The heat was getting worse and it was beginning to cloud over, maybe a storm was coming. It had been sultry for days, that would put an end to the patio dinner, she thought.

They reached the edge of the field and climbed over the style. Muff always managed to squeeze under it, even though there was room to go around the side.

‘Here we are,’ Andrea said, breathing in deeply the aroma of sweet sun dried grass and wild flowers. The bees were busy buzzing around them to get the pollen and huge Red Kites circled above screeching loudly, the swaying sandy coloured grasses looked wonderful against the cloudless blue sky, she took out her camera.

‘Come on, Muff. Stop sniffing, let’s get a few photos of you.’

Muff was a sniffer, anything and everything was of interest to her. She bounced off past her, jumping up every so often to make sure Andrea was still there.

Reaching the top of the hill, Andrea turned to look over the valley. She saw old Mrs Brent and waved as she took the other way out of the field. Muff began to whimper and bark at a strange mist that seemed to be collecting in the lower field.

‘What is that? Andrea could see a yellow haze that seemed to swirl and was creeping up towards them. The sky was also turning dark, the clouds had gathered.

‘It must be some sort of heat mist,’ she said out loud and got her camera out to get it on film. It seemed to shimmer and dance, and she couldn’t see through it. Muff seemed to sense danger and pushed herself close to Andrea.

‘Oh, come on, girl. It’s not going to hurt you. Look, it’s only a fog, come on, let’s walk the other way.’

She began to move out of its way as it gained momentum up towards them. Suddenly, they were engulfed and she grabbed Muff’s collar.

‘Oh, what is this?’ She felt she couldn’t breathe, and waved her arms around to try to disperse it but it was thick and had a strange musty smell.

‘Come on, we’d better run, Muff.’

As she put her foot forward, she felt a strange sensation as if she were falling, but where to and how she was walking on flat ground? Her mind was racing as she looked up and saw a kind of funnel above her. She looked down and it was the same, she was suspended in some kind of funnel. She could see Muff further down and tried to get to her but she was stuck.

‘What’s happening?’ she cried as she punched the side of the funnel, her hand going through it, there was nothing to grab or hold on to. Looking down, there was no end to it and looking up, she could see glints of blue sky. It was whizzing around her fast and yet she felt she was moving in very slow motion, but fear was gripping her. Was she ill? She was feeling sick with the motion.

Suddenly, she could feel a wind blowing up from the end beneath her, tossing her and Muff around, then a sudden and abrupt stillness. It was as if a tornado had picked them up and disappeared. She could feel the grass she was kneeling on, Muff was beside her panting as she watched the fog fade into nothing.

‘Muff, are you okay?’ She bent to hold her trembling dog and her voice sounded like it was echoing, as if her voice was bouncing back. She felt disorientated and dizzy, she was still on the top of the hill where she had been, but everything seemed to be in a watery haze. She looked at her hands that seemed to be a few feet away from her.

‘What is this?’ she yelled, feeling afraid.

She tried to stand but her legs felt like jelly so she sat down and decided to wait a bit, hoping someone would come along, but no one did.

After a while, she began to see more clearly. The sun was shining and the sky was blue again but she needed to move. Her legs still wouldn’t work, so she crawled a little way along the top, calling Muff to try, she also appeared to be having trouble standing up. Reaching a tree, she propped herself up against it and took out her water bottle, Muff had made it to her side.

‘It’s okay, girl. We’ll be okay.’ She looked around her and was surprised to see the farmer had cut the grass on this side, but she hadn’t noticed before, and it was fresh and green, dotted with buttercups and daisy flowers. It didn’t seem right but it must have been. Muff had crawled to her side and she could feel the warmth of her body against her, she held her close.

‘I think we should make our way home,’ she said, feeling able to stand, but Muff had other ideas and raced off down the hill towards Coal Lane, a track that led to a farm on the other side.

‘Muff, hey, come here!’ she called hauling herself up and feeling much better, more solid and stable. She looked over to the village to see small plumes of smoke puffing from a few of the chimneys.

‘That’s weird. It’s been a smokeless zone for years.’ She knew that as a paper had reported that coal fires were letting fumes eat away at the ageing brick work of the old houses.

‘Bonfires, I expect,’ she said, trying to convince herself. She could see Muff searching for rabbits at the bottom of the hill but the light was strange sort of hazy, as if there was a film of smoke lying in the air. She glanced at her watch, as she felt it was getting late and she needed to get back as Jason would be there at 6pm. But her watch seemed to have stopped at 2pm, about twenty minutes in to her walk. She tapped it but nothing happened. She began to follow the path down to where Muff had found a huge heap of horse manure and she saw someone had taken down the fence along the road, that had suddenly turned in to a dry mud track.

‘What the hell? It was a tarmac road yesterday.’ Alarm bells were ringing and she stopped to check on her surroundings. It all seemed the same, maybe the trees along the main road that ran along the bottom in to town were not as tall and she couldn’t hear the traffic either, something was wrong, very wrong.

She took out her phone and tried to dial Jason’s number. The battery was still live but it was dead, she couldn’t phone anyone, or maybe she was out of range of a signal. Anxiety gripped her, then she remembered the garage on the corner of the road. She couldn’t see it from where she was. It was on the main A32, a road that went through the village and right through to town. She calmed down as she knew a couple of people who worked there, they could help.

‘Muff, come here,’ she called her away from the rabbits that were hiding in there warrens.

‘What are you doing?’ she scolded her and fastened the lead to her collar. Horse manure littered the track that she was convinced was once tarmac and Muff seemed to have found an acquired taste for it.

‘Leave it!’ she shouted as Muff went for a tasty morsel.

Nearing the end of Coal Lane she realised, she had not passed under the bridge that took the train in to the station in town, she turned to look back, it wasn’t there.

‘Oh god, what’s going on?’ Her mouth was suddenly bone dry with anxiety but she kept walking. The