Everyone stared to the laptop screen wide-eyed.
The YouTube channel was showing a night scene; nothing much was happening really, there were two boys on a motorbike, one wearing a gopro camera showing that it was late at night, only one was wearing a helmet, neither wore any kind of protective gear, just t-shirts and jeans, the bike appeared to veer to one side and then began swerving and leaning to the opposite side, it was obvious to anyone watching that these were two young lads messing about, and doing so with a cacophony of noise, there was in fact a whole lot of a whooping and a hollering.
What could possibly go wrong?
"What happens then?" asked Jo.
"Shut up" complained Billy.
"SShhhhh" hissed Wendy.
"Be quiet" came a couple of voices accompanied by a dig in the ribs from her brother.
"Just watch for gods sake!" growled Kay.
The sound of screeching tires filled the room, and wild laughter was heard from the laptop as two boys on a motorbike drove too fast, down roads that were too dark, and the bends were too sharp.
The road was challenging even for an experienced driver, one sharp corner would follow another, then another, there were no clouds in the deep, black, midnight sky and it was hard to tell when trees had replaced buildings as the scenery whooshed past.
"What was that?" whispered Ann.
"Did you see that?" said Jo.
"I didn't see nothing" complained Billy.
"I think I did , just then, looked like some woman I think" muttered Jo's brother.
"I did! Right back before they took that last bend" exclaimed Wendy, then her face drained of colour and her jaw hung open, she was staring at the screen not wanting to believe what she was seeing.
"Oh jeeeeez" she said as she took in the horror of the moment.
The laptop loudly broadcast the stomach churning scrunching sound of buckling metal, as the bike hit the tree.
The YouTube channel went black.
One girl began to cry, strange quiet sobs uttered still half in shock, and the tears streamed down her cheeks, another began moaning the name of a boy repeatedly as she hugged herself tightly, others still stared at the YouTube channel now showing a cute cat video thanks to the wonders of autoplay.
"You going to the funeral then? Think everyone in towns going" asked the young lad.
"Yeah course I am. I knew both lads, both mates of our 'arry weren't they, they was always round our place. I kept telling them to stop nicking stuff, specially bikes, always thought something would happen" replied his friend.
"Aye, well now it as, hasnt it? Poor beggars, they was only young lads, having a bit of fun, too young to go dying and all" said an older man as he flicked a cigarette on to the ground.
"Did you hear what caused the crash? Was they drunk or something?" asked the young lad.
"Haha daft lads" scoffed his friend "Probably off their heads take all sorts they do!" he finished and chortled to himself, he appeared to be reminiscing.
"Nah, it was nothing like that, honest, I know I saw the video, it was the ghost! You know 'the white lady' she is always hanging about up that road, won't go up there me not for no one" said the older man and all turned and looked at him with scorn.
The momentary silence was broken as everyone began laughing.
"You need your head looking at mate" said the lad.
"No I seen it, go watch it yourselves if you don't believe me" protested the older man and his indignation showed in his face as it reddened. His protests went unheard as the rest had already dispersed back into their mundane lives. He wandered into the town telling himself he knew what he had seen and surely if it was on YouTube then everyone would see it, and they couldn't argue with proof could they?
"Have you seen Auntie Dot?" asked Janie.
"No love, I think she is still in bed. She is not feeling so well, here you can take some toast up for her, bit of toast, some milk and honey. That will do her some good, she will be right as rain" her mum said and smiled warmly as she handed the tray to Janie.
"Ok, it will be nice to wake her up, I bought her a present, look, isn't it cute?" said Janie as she showed her mum a tiny ornament.
"That's sweet, I am sure she will love it" replied her mum..
Janie went upstairs and knocked quietly on the bedroom door.
"You awake Auntie Dot?" asked Janie.
"Yes" came a soft voice from behind the door.
"Hiya" Janie said and entered the room with a huge smile "Good morning" she said and placed the breakfast near Auntie Dot.
"Good morning and how is your day going?" said Auntie Dot in the sweetest soft voice, though she looked frail her eyes still held a shine that showed despite her age she would go on an adventure the moment you asked.
"So far it's going really well Auntie, and I bought you something" said Janie grinning in pleasure; she loved buying Auntie Dot presents, it didn't seem to matter what the gift was, no matter how much or how little it cost, she was always excited and happy to receive it, and if anyone went to the effort of making her a gift she would love and treasure that gift showing it off at every opportunity. Janie smiled at Auntie Dot and said "but you're not allowed it til you eat all your breakfast, mum says you're poorly"
Auntie Dot showed mock horror and exclaimed "Oh not really! No it's just a wee head cold that's all, nothing more than sniffles and gripes, it was so cold last night you see, just a wee bit of cold got into my old bones is all, I will be right as rain by tomorrow you wait and see" and with that Auntie Dot made the best display she could of a healthy person; enthusiastically eating toast, in the vain attempt to prove that she was fine.
"Well that's your fault Auntie. You know you really shouldn't go wandering around outside late at night now" at this point Janie attempted to show an effort at scolding her Auntie affectionately she continued "and only wearing that daft wedding dress, seriously you are too old for such shenanigans! Really its like you don't even know you're 89!" Janie, like everyone else, could not even pretend to scold such a sweet old lady, and at her age, Janie thought, well there aint no harm in having a late night wander. They lived far from town in a remote part of the forest rumoured to be the residence of 'bigfoot' It always made Janie giggle, in all her life she had never seen anything remotely like the so-called big foot and often joked the only dangerous thing in the woods was Auntie Dot, her late night wanderings had probably scared a few bears in the past.
"Anyway you don't want to go frightening the bears now do you, poor bears trying to live in peace in the woods don't need no little old ladies wandering around scaring the bejeezus outta them"
Auntie Dot giggled as she thought of last night, those two young lads did make quite a mess didn't they.
thank you for reading
all artwork.images, and writing original works by Velveteen 2018
