Three Journeys of the Scary Kind Read online

Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

  By

  Philip R Benge

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  Published by

  Three Journeys of the Scary Kind

  Copyright Philip R Benge 2016

  Cover Art Copyright Philip R Benge 2016

  Thank you for downloading this eBook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form, with the exception of quotes used in reviews.

  Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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  Table of Contents

  The Pirates Treasure

  The Haunted Abbey

  Sucked Through a Wormhole

  About the Author

  Other Books by this Author

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  The Pirates Treasure

  Now this is a story about a Pirate, a Priest, a cave on a Greek island, and three boys. Now caves abound on Crete, which is the particular Greek island in question, but only one cave remains unexplored. Hells mouth, which is the name that this particular cave goes by, is a sea cave with a very dangerous welcome mat. Very strong currents plus a whirlpool around the entrance to the cave make it suicidal to go anywhere near it. The cave entrance is a two-metre circular ragged hole in the rock face, mostly under water. If you dare to get close enough you can see the first few metres into the cave, but that is as far as the sunlight can enter, then an inky blackness prevents you from seeing any further. Many have tried to gain entrance to it during the long distant past, to discover how far in the cave goes, but all have died trying, all but one that is. That one person was the pirate captain Black Jack, and it was rumoured that this was where his treasure was hidden. Black Jack though has taken the secret to his grave, for he was said to have entered the cave one day, but never to have reappeared.

  Two of the boys mentioned before were named Joseph and Samuel, Joseph who was thirteen years of age, and Samuel who was fourteen years old. They lived in Hastings, a seaside town in England, with their two brothers, Isaac and Reuben, plus their sister Millicent, and of course their Mother and Father. The family was not in Hastings now though, now they were holidaying at the children’s` Grandparents home on the Greek island of Crete. The house was in a small village near to the blue seas of the Mediterranean. For the first week, the family had spent all their time playing on the beach or swimming in the sea, and they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Today though the boys were not on the beach, or swimming in the blue seas that surrounded Crete, no today they were in the large town of Hania. Their parents were dragging them and their siblings around the shops in the old part of town while they searched for something or other, but Joseph had long forgotten what it was. He had tried to relieve the boredom by teasing his sister Millicent, but his Father had given him a glance that told him to pack it in. Now he was wondering if it was possible to walk around the shop with his eyes shut, and to feel the presence of the many things around you with just the power of his mind. He had seen Sam trying to manage it with some degree of success and if Sam could do it then so could he. Joseph was making good progress, but his feet became entangled with Sam’s feet. Joe fell over and he only managed to stop himself from being hurt by grabbing frantically at a large mahogany desk that took up most of one wall of the shop. Joe hurriedly clambered to his feet, checking to see if his parents had seen his antics but no, only his brother had seen him, and Sam was laughing at his clumsiness. Before Joseph could rebuke his brother with a punch, something else caught his eye, he noticed what looked like a secret drawer, and it had sprung open at the rear of the desk. Somehow, when he had grabbed at the desk he must have activated the mechanism that controlled it. He also saw that there was something within the drawer, and reaching over he withdrew a parchment that had lay hidden within it for some five hundred years. Joe looked at his find and saw that what lay within his fingers looked like an old map, excitement showed within his eyes as a score of scenario’s immediately sprang to his young agile mind. Warning Sam to silence, for he had also seen something of the old map, he popped it into his pocket to read at a more opportune moment.

  Later that day the house was comparatively quiet, and finally the children were asleep, except that Joe and Sam were not. Their parents and grandparents were in the front room watching something on the television and the two boys decided that now was that opportune moment. Joe switched on his torch, and with Sam at his shoulder; they opened up the map that Joe had found. It showed the outline of part of some coastline, the island`s name was written in a copperplate script ‘Kriti’ Joe had heard that name before but Sam was slightly quicker at remembering where.

  “Kriti,” he whispered in an excited voice “that’s where we are.” As soon as Sam spoke, it immediately came back to Joe; of course Crete was also called Kriti.

  “Look” Joe said, “It shows the way to a pirate`s treasure, shall we tell Dad?” Joe whispered and looked across at Sam for agreement.

  “No! We will check it out first Joe.” Sam decided, even though he had not been the one to find the map, as he was the older brother, he was in charge of this new adventure. “Dad may not even let us go to look for it, if we tell him before finding out where the church and the altar marked on the map are. No we will keep it to ourselves for the moment.”

  Should we tell any of the others?” Joe asked of his older brother.

  “No they are much too young for anything like this.” Sam replied for he was fourteen, and Joe was thirteen, but the others were only kids. Isaac was twelve, Reuben only seven and Millicent, Sam reasoned, was of course ‘only a girl’, and she was only ten years old anyway.

  The next morning the two boys were up early and as luck had it their sleeping quarters were in their grandparents’ library, and in the library, there was a map of Crete.

  “Where are we staying asked Joe?”

  “Here” replied Sam “in the small village of Ayios Georgiou.”

  The two boys stared intently at the map in front of them. Then Sam took out the parchment and looked first at it and then at the map and then once again at the parchment. He looked up at his brother`s face and in a hushed voice.

  “Look Joe, the small village shown here on the map is also called Ayios Georgiou, it must be the same one because look, it also shows Kalives, and that is where we have been swimming. We must be staying only a hundred or so metres from the entrance to the treasure.” Sam and Joe exchanged looks that would have told their parents volumes, if only they had been witness to them.

  The next few days sped by as they swam and played the days away, but the map was never far from Sam or Joe`s mind. Now it had been the job of the two boys to go for the bread each day, and each day they had been exploring the countryside about their grandparents’ home. It had been the day before that they had found the old ruin that had once been the ancient church of Ayios Georgiou, and it was today that their adventure would begin. The boys had risen extra early, eaten their breakfasts, washed and dressed, and as soon as they saw their siblings were now outside in the garden playing, they asked their parents innocently if they wanted any bread that morning, and after being told yes, and given the money for the bread, they were off. Sam and Joe were soon on the track of the treasure.

  They had found the church of Ayios Georgiou within an olive grove just outside of the village in which they were staying. The two boys approached th
e ruin with some trepidation, for it was a very spooky place. The church sat in the middle of an overgrown olive grove that seemed more dead than alive, shadows shrouded the church and it seemed that even the bright Cretan sun could not enter here. A large black bird squawked its anger at them for interrupting its peace, just before it flew away, just missing their heads as it hurried away. It seemed to both Sam and Joe that this was a sign of ill omen. If one or other of the two boys had dared ask to call everything off, the other would not have hesitated, he would have agreed willingly with his brother. However, neither wanted the other to know that he was scared, so they did not say a word, and as Sam reasoned, now they had found the first of the clues shown on the parchment, should they not continue on, for what could go wrong? The way into the church was easy, as one end of the old building was missing, but the all-important altar was still there, looking enormous and forbidding inside this ruined shell of the old church. As Sam and Joe approached the altar they could hear things scuttling around inside the old church, their minds transforming mice and small birds into horrors of the unknown, as the dark atmosphere of the church coloured their imaginations. Then they were standing before the altar, looking up at its heavy stone lid that topped this giant construction, at its massive stone sides, which they saw with horror were covered in horrific looking gargoyles. The gargoyles appeared to the two boys to be glaring out at them personally, as if they thought the two boys were trespassers, or maybe even dinner. The fear that had already been present increased, to grip the insides of the two boys as they heard more rustling amongst the undergrowth, they both refused to look anywhere but at the parchment, and its few instructions, but all the parchment said was that the way lay beneath the altar.

  “Sam, what do we do now?” Joe whispered, although why he spoke so softly, for there was no one else about.

  “Let’s try moving the top.” Sam said.

  Putting their hands onto the large lid of the altar they tried to budge it, but try as they may the top was far too heavy for two young boys, or just plain stuck by centuries of sticky Cretan clay. Joe was for giving up the quest immediately, for he was getting quite scared now. The ruined old church and the dying olive grove looked really scary, and coupled to that he was also worried about what they might find within the altar, a skeleton, or even something worse that would reach out and grab them. Now Sam was just a little scared too, but as the elder of the two, he felt he should hold out just a little longer.

  “Let’s look at it one more time”

  It was as if fate did not want to lose its grasp quite so easily on the two boys, just as Sam was going to suggest that maybe they should leave, Joe found that one of the gargoyles was in fact a pirate.

  “Look at this gargoyle Sam, it is a pirate.”

  With that, his hand latched on to it as if on its own accord. He gave the gargoyle a tug, a twist, and a shove, and with a loud grating noise, the top of the altar moved aside, a cloud of dust long trapped within the altar was caught by the light breeze and drifted down onto the boys making them cough uncontrollably.

  It took a minute or two before they managed to stop their coughing, but then a red-faced Sam asked “Wow! How did you do that Joe?”

  A bewildered and just a little frightened Joe said with a shrug. “I don’t know, just clever I suppose” However, the smile he managed after this display of modesty was rather weak.

  However, it was this success that brought the excitement back to the two boys` eyes, and with it a little of their earlier bravery. The two boys clambered up the sides of the altar and looked down, past the now missing top, and into the open altar. Within the altar a stone staircase led down into the depths of an inky blackness.

  “You go first Sam” Joe said as he pushed Sam forward “I found it so you should go first” This logic seemed odd to Sam, but as he was the older of the two he didn’t argue, lest his brother call him a coward.

  “Ok, Joe” Sam said these words being whispered in a very nervous tone, but swallowing hard Sam clambered into the open altar and stood on the top step of the staircase that disappeared into an inky blackness. Looking round at his brother he gave a large gulp “Well Joe are you coming then?” What could Joe do, and so a very pale Joe joined Sam on the top step, stopping nervously to look inside for a skeleton or something worse. He should have been happy to see that it was completely empty inside, empty that is except for the narrow stone steps that wound down into the dark cavern below. However, an evil, imaginary or not, seemed to emanate from this blackness, and now Sam was beginning to see some sense at last, as his fears mounted by the second. He could only just keep control of himself as he stammered out the feeble excuse that had sprung miraculously to his mind

  “Maybe we ought to tell dad about it before we go down there Joe.” Sam`s eyes shifted to the blackness, and he could almost see the ghostly hands that could even now be reaching up for them from the depths to clutch at their feet.

  Joe looked at Sam and Sam looked at Joe, however, fate once again took a hand, for the stonework of the altar was very old, and the last earthquake had weakened it considerably. As the two boys both decided to agree that maybe, they should tell their parents, the altar shook, cracked, and threw the two boys down the staircase to deposit them in a pile upon the waiting floor of the cavern, deep within ground. The two boys screamed in terror as they were swallowed up by the inky darkness, and just as the stone staircase collapsed at their feet. The large altar above had collapsed into a pile of stones, and blocked out most of the light from above, as well as sending a cloud of dirt cascading down upon the two boys.

  “Where are you Sam?” Joe called out as his eyes tried to pierce the inky blackness.

  “I`m over here Joe, how are you, are you hurt?” Sam replied, feeling much better now he knew that he had not caused the death of his younger brother by not telling their father about the treasure map, even so his words came out somewhat shakily.

  “I`m all right Sam,” Joe answered. “I only got a few bruises and scratches, how are you?”

  “I`m ok Joe, but I don’t know how we will get out.”

  It was then that the boys heard a noise that echoed inside the dark cavern making it seem even more scary.

  “What is that noise?” Joe asked. The two boys stood up nervously, their fears doubled, as they listened to the loud noise that was coming out of the blackness that surrounded them. The noise that Joe referred to was a roaring noise accompanied by the sound of water splashing. It took a long scary minute before they remembered that they had brought torches along with them, and luckily, they were both still working, even after the fall. Two beams of light sprang out illuminating their surroundings. They saw that they were in a large cavern, and in the middle of which water splashed over the edge of the rocky shelf, the one upon which they had been dropped. The water surged out of a hole in the wall of the cavern, fed by a tunnel that connected to the sea, and the boys now heard the roar of the waves as they crashed against the far off cliffs that were hidden behind the dark walls of their cavern.

  Joe turned his torch back to the cavern walls, and he was puzzled when one part of the cavern sparkled as the light of the torch went over it. Joe crossed the cavern to see what was sparkling, and there before him stood a large open sea chest, and it was full to the brim with gold and jewels, but this was not all that awaited Joe. As Joe took in the whole scene before him he began to tremble, for draped over the sea chest was the skeleton of a seaman, his clothes still hanging loosely about the bones, his face set in a ghastly grin, and his left arm reaching out to Joe in greetings. A dirty brown patch surrounded a hole in the breast of his clothes, and Joe could plainly see that he had been shot. Black Jack died guarding his treasure with a cutlass in his other hand, and centuries later, he still stood at his post. On the floor at his feet lay the skeleton of another man, a priest, for Joe could still make out the tattered remnants of his priestly robes, in his hand was a rusty old pistol. There was another dirty brown patch surrounding a
long jagged hole in his clothes, Black Jack had killed the priest with the cutlass that he still grasped in his bony hand.

  Joe`s trembling increased as his young agile mind created nightmare scenarios out of the unearthly scene before his eyes, ones involving skeletons coming to life, ghosts trapped within the cavern for centuries, destined to haunt the scene of their deaths. He nearly fainted when Sam, who had followed him, let out a scream that had Joe thinking that all the demons of hell were coming for him, and so Joe screamed until he realised that Sam had not seen some creature from hell, just two more skeletons, these were of children. Sam managed to get a grip on his fears, and now sought to reassure his brother that it was impossible that the noise of their screams could awaken the two dead men before them, or bring something even worse to investigate the noise.

  “It’s all right Joe, they’re both long dead, they cannot hurt us.” Said a trembling and not too sure Sam as he put an arm around his brother’s shoulders to comfort him.

  Although Sam was not completely convinced of what he had told his brother, something told him that things like that could not happen in the twenty first century. The two boys stood there, both trying to control their fright, but if they could have run away they most certainly would have, but the way out was gone, the ancient stairway lying in pieces at their feet.

  “I am scared Sam, how will we get out?” Joe looked up at his older brother hoping to hear the words ‘No problem Joe, come with me’.

  However, all Sam could do for the moment was look back at his brother and say in a quavering voice “I don’t know Joe, but someone is bound to come and find us.”

  Joe did not seem convinced by these words for he said “But no one knows where we were going.” And his pulled the old cutlass away from the dead pirate, just in case a demon suddenly appeared. Instantly he felt himself being pulled towards the walls of the cavern.

  “Sam, help me, it`s got me, the skeleton has come to life and has grabbed a hold of me, help.” Joe screamed.

  Sam could see that the skeleton had not moved from its position against the sea chest, all he saw was a terrified brother, but even so he grabbed hold of the outstretched arm of his brother and instantly he too felt the force pulling at them. Before he could think just what to do, to let go or not, they were both pulled through to another time, another place, one where they are standing aboard an old merchantman, one using sails to propel it forward, not engines.

  They stood on the wooden deck looking at one another in a state of surprise; however, this only lasted for two seconds, for a cannon ball zipped past their noses making them scream out in terror, the ship was under attack from pirates. All around them they could now hear the sounds of a battle; it appeared as if magically, one second all was normal and the next madness.

  Joe threw himself flat against the floor, and he was closely followed by Sam, down here Joe now noticed their clothing, they were dressed in period clothing.

  “Err, Sam our clothes have changed?” Joe called across to his brother quizzically.

  Sam looks at his brother as if he was mad, and then he saw that he was not the only one.

  “Joe, when you touched the pirate`s cutlass, you must have activated an ancient spell, it brought us here and somehow changed our clothing.” Sam said venturing an explanation of all the curious things that had happened to them.

  A tall seaman suddenly appeared behind them and grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks and pulled them to their feet.

  “Get below you two young idiots; do you want your heads knocked off by a cannon ball?” He shouted at them and dragged them to a set of doors at the rear of the main deck, as musket rounds zipped by them. He opened the doors and pushed them through, and then returned to the battle.

  Sam and Joe saw a flight of steps going down to a lower deck and they quickly scampered down and prayed that they would come through their ordeal unscathed.

  “Sam, I saw a dead man, he was all bloody, and did I say that he was dead.” Joe moaned.

  “I saw him too Joe, Joe, how are we going to get home?” Sam whispered.

  They hid below decks for another thirty minutes, and then all was quiet, until two very nasty looking sailors appeared.

  “We have been looking for you two boys, come with us, Captain Jack wants to meet you.” The taller and beefier pirate said. He had two pistols stuck inside his belt, a large wicked looking knife in a scabbard, and a shiny cutlass, stained red with blood, in his hand. The other pirate was similarly armed, but he also had an eye patch and a nasty looking scar running down the side of his face.

  Sam and Joe allowed themselves to be led back up to the main deck, not that they could argue about it, both wondering just why a pirate captain would be anxious to meet them, and both worried that it had something to do with the skeletons under the old church.

  “At last, good work Carling, these two boys will fetch us a tidy sum in ransom from their father. Have Scarface put them in chains aboard the Sea Dragon, and give them something tasty to eat, we must keep them both alive and healthy.” Captain Jack said and then burst out in an evil sounding laugh that sent shivers down the two boys’ spines.

  A tall man who had a cutlass against his throat, called out to them desperately. “Michael, John, have no fear, I will pay your ransom, just hang on.”

  Sam and Joe looked across at him and wondered who Michael and John were, and why the man was looking at them when he called these two names. They both smiled sadly at the man who seemed so afraid, and then at one another, searching for a little comfort, but found little of it in the face of their brother, only fear.

  “You two lived the high life, being the sons of the owner of this old vessel, now though you can have a taste of the life of normal folk; see how we all have to live.” The sailor with the scar hissed, and he pushed them towards the side of the merchantman. They had to climb down a rope to a large rowing boat that was waiting for them, escape was impossible, for there was only the open sea all around them.

  “Your father will be put ashore tomorrow, he will have one month to collect the ransom money, after that your lives will be terminated.” Scarface told them with a grin. “Or perhaps we will sell you to a slaver, and you will likely be turned into eunuchs.” Scarface said and laughed at them.

  “What is a eunuch Sam?” Joe asked.

  “I am not sure Joe, maybe a servant of some kind, but whatever it is I do not like the sound of it.” Sam replied doubtfully.

  There was a rope ladder to climb up when they reached the pirate vessel, and then they were led to the ship`s brig and pushed inside, and then the door was locked. They both fell asleep in the cold dark damp brig, wondering how a happy holiday could turn out so terrible, and how their lives as eunuchs would be.

  Their dreams were full of skeletons and slavers, but the two boys woke suddenly to find themselves being shaken, they were standing upon the main deck of the pirate ship, and without remembering ever walking up to it. The ship had anchored near to a small rocky island, high cliffs prevented them seeing any more of the island, and there was no place to land. Across the deck, two of the officers from the captured merchantman were crying out in terror, begging Black Jack to spare their lives, for they were both about to be forced to walk the plank. Sam looked down into the water and was horrified to see that sharks were swimming around the ship.

  “The sharks know that when Black Jack arrives then dinnertime is not far off.” Black Jack said with an evil smile upon his ugly face.

  “Please Captain; my father will pay a ransom for these men too, please do not kill them.” Sam begged.

  “Your father, Sir Percy, would not have paid for your life; it is only the fact that I have both of his heirs that he will pay now.” Black Jack snarled.

  A bright flash blinded the two boys, and when their sight returned they saw that somehow time had moved on, although they were still standing upon the main deck of the pirate vessel.

  “You two are to scrub the decks, make a good jo
b of it and you will be fed, otherwise you can go hungry.” Scarface said to them.

  He then forced them to the wooden deck as another pirate brought them two buckets full of soapy water, and two old and much used scrubbing brushes.

  “Put your backs into it, and scrub as if your lives depended upon it.” Scarface ordered. “For they just might.”

  The two boys were forced to scrub the deck all that day, under the eyes of the pirate crew who laughed at them and joyfully pointed out any parts of the deck that needed cleaning. Finally as the sun began to set the two boys were taken back to the brig, here food and fresh water was provided, and after eating their meal they both fell fast asleep, exhausted as much by the hot sun as the hard work. Their next few days were much the same, being forced to clean various parts of the ship, and then being returned to the brig where after a sparse meal they always fell into a deep sleep.

  One morning the two boys awoke to find that time had again leapt forward, and as before they were standing upon the main deck of the pirate vessel. It was now laying off the coast of some strange land, one much larger than the small rocky island where the ship had been before. Joe looked across at his brother, wondering how time had moved forward, and if the two officers had been forced to walk the plank, to die a terrible death. However, as before, he saw that Sam too was looking as surprised as he was, he too was wondering what was happening to them. All of a sudden they were picked up by the scruff of their necks and shaken yet again, it was the pirate Scarface, he looked down upon the two boys, upon his face was his usual evil smile.

  “You see the red stain upon the captain`s cutlass, that is blood, the blood of your father, Sir Percy. The captain ran him through seconds after he was paid the ransom money, it is in a small chest that the captain has with him.” Scarface said with a large hint of relish.

  Scarface dragged the two boys to the side of the ship, down below they could see Captain Jack in a dingy. “You see boys, Sir Percy had Captain Jack`s father hanged for stealing a loaf of bread and some cheese to feed his wife and son, they were starving, but Sir Percy did not care about that. Young Jack swore by the soul of his dead mother, she died of malnutrition soon after his father was hanged, to avenge the death of his father, he has almost done it now.” Scarface said. “Now climb down to the Captain, boys, before he gets angry at being kept waiting.”

  They quickly climbed down the rope and into a small dingy, Captain Jack was the only man in the boat, he scowled at them, in front of him was a small chest. The story told to them by Scarface kept repeating in their heads, would the pirate captain now kill them, as part of his revenge plan, or did he have other terrors in mind for them.

  Once on land, Captain Jack made them carry the money chest, he led them inland to a small church, one that was certainly not ruined, but it was the same church, for the pirate captain used the gargoyle to open the stone cover of the altar. Inside were a number of torches, Captain Jack first lit one and handed it over to Sam, then he lit another which he kept for himself.

  “Walk down the stairs boys, the torch will light your way, quickly now.” Captain Jack ordered in a syrupy voice that was so false that it scared the two boys witless.

  Trembling now, but with no other choice available to them, they entered the secret stairway and walked down into the cavern, the flames from the burning torches flickering madly, lighting up the walls of the cavern in a strange and rather scary way. They could see the treasure chest at the bottom of the stairs; however, there are no skeletons to be seen in the cavern. Sam and Joe both had a bad feeling about this; for they had both remembered the two children’s skeletons, were they about to meet their deaths, were the two skeletons they saw their own!