Eleven New Ghost Stories (29 page)

Benjamin was still a little
scared. But the voice from the depths was friendly; it was the
voice of a boy, just like him, only, maybe, a bit older.

“My name is Benjamin. What’s
yours?”

“That’s a good question
Benjamin. I don’t think I’ve ever had a name. I’ve been down here
such a long time…”

“But what shall I call you?”
Benjamin asked.

“Oh – nothing,” said the voice.
“I’m just the boy in the well. Can I ask you something Benjamin, my
friend? I can call you that can’t I? I don’t have any friends you
see, no one ever comes to the well.”

“Yes,” said Benjamin, with a
touch of uncertainty. “I’m your... friend.”

“Oh thank you Benjamin. I get so
lonely up here. Do you have many friends?”

“No,” said Benjamin sadly. “No I
don’t.”

“Well then, that’s even better.
We can be friends together. I could tell you were unhappy, that’s
what I was going to ask you. Why are you so unhappy Benjamin?”

Had anyone else asked how he was
feeling, Benjamin might well have just said, “Fine!” and then
refused to elaborate. But for a moment he was disarmed by the boy
in the well’s friendly manner and he could barely stop himself from
shedding a tear.

“Because everything’s so
unfair,” he said. “I’m always being shouted at and beaten, and for
things I didn’t do! And my mum’s always throwing tantrums and my
father’s never there to stop her. Then there’s the vicar who hates
me. Everybody hates me and I’ve done nothing wrong, nothing,
nothing wrong!”

Benjamin cried. The voice was
silent for a moment.

“You’ve had a rotten time
haven’t you?” it said after a moment.

Benjamin nodded; he wiped the
tears from his eyes.

“Do you want to know
something?”

“What?” he sobbed.

“I hate the vicar too.”

“Really?” Benjamin cried.
Everyone seemed to love the vicar, especially all the town’s
women.

“He’s horrible,” said the boy in
the well. “I may live in the dark, but I can see so much Benjamin,
more than you could ever know. I know what he’s like, he’s been
terrible to you hasn’t he?”

“He’s always causing trouble.
Father hates him too, he doesn’t want him to come to the house, but
he comes anyway, because he’s mother’s brother. I try to avoid him,
but Penelope Green’s always getting me in trouble.”

“Penelope Green... she’s that
little blonde girl that everybody likes?”

“She’s horrible, horrible! I
hate her.”

“Oh I know. I told you, I can
see all kinds of things you wouldn’t even know about, there are no
secrets from me.”

Benjamin had started to cry
again.

“Don’t cry Benjamin. Do you want
to know a secret? A secret about Penelope Green.”

“What?” Benjamin’s eyes became
bright for a moment.

“She’s a little thief. She
steals from Mr Wittle’s shop!”

“From Mr Wittle’s?” Mr Wittle
was the grocer, a fat, jolly man who Benjamin actually liked and
who was kind to him and always gave him a few extra sweets when he
bought them.

“Every week, her mother lets her
spend the change from the shopping and she buys sweets. But while
Mr Wittle turns to get them, she takes a bar of chocolate from the
shelf in front of the counter and slips it into her coat
pocket.

“Mr Wittle’s such a nice man;
stealing’s such a horrible thing to do isn’t it?”

“You shouldn’t steal.” Benjamin
was deep in thought.

“You’re going to catch her
aren’t you? Catch her in the act. That would be a just revenge,
wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah. I can make everyone see
what she’s really like”. Benjamin could barely contain his
excitement.

“That’ll show her, won’t
it?”

“Yes!” Benjamin was suddenly
full of energy again. He was practically jumping with
excitement.

“You feel better now don’t
you?”

He nodded vigorously.

“Good. I knew you would. You
see, this is what friends do. They help each other out don’t they?
I mean, if I needed you to help me with something, you’d do it
wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, of course I would,”
Benjamin declared.

“You’re such a good friend
Benjamin. We’re going to be really good friends you and I. But you
should get a move on. Your father will be leaving Parson’s farm
soon.”

“How do you know?”

“I told you, I can see all kinds
of things from down here. Who knows, Benjamin? Maybe one day I
might show you how to see in the dark too.”

Benjamin turned and began to
run.

“Thank you so much.”

“Don’t forget to come back and
visit me soon,” said the boy. “Don’t forget…”

It was as if from that very
moment, things started to look up for poor Benjamin. His father was
still there at the farm and he told him all that had had happened,
or at least a close version of the truth. Even his father was taken
in by Penelope Revile, so he had to alter the facts accordingly.
His lie was that he had thrown the ball in class, but had meant it
for one of the other children. He had not meant for it to knock
over Miss Claxton’s plant. That was just an accident…

His father might not have
believed him in full, if it were not for his mention of the vicar,
for whom his father shared a similar enmity. This swayed him to
Benjamin’s side. When they went home that night, Benjamin waited in
the kitchen while his father calmed his mother and seemed to
rectify the situation. Benjamin was sent to bed with only an apple
and some stale bread for his dinner, but at least he was spared
another beating.

The next day was a Saturday and
Benjamin could not wait for his chance to see if the boy in the
well was right about Penelope’s stealing too. He awoke especially
early and snuck out to go down to Mr Wittle’s shop and wait for
her, though he knew not when she would actually appear.

He loitered outside the bakery
next door, until he was chased off by the baker. He then stood
waiting across the road in front of the post office for his quarry
to arrive. He waited a long time before Penelope finally came
skipping along, happy as pie. Benjamin watched as she went into the
bakers before finally going into Mr Wittle’s shop, right into his
trap.

He went swiftly across the road
and peered through the shop window. Penelope was reading her
shopping list to old Wittle and he was showing her where the right
wares were, or retrieving them himself for her.

Benjamin snuck himself into the
shop quietly, not wishing for Penelope or Wittle to see him. He hid
behind the end of some shelves waiting for his chance. Wittle rang
up Penelope’s bill and she calculated how much change she would
have from the money her mother had given her. When she worked out
how money sweets she could have, she asked Wittle for some sweets
so conveniently placed on a high shelf. The shopkeeper reached for
his stool, stood on it and reached up to the jar.

It was at that moment that
Benjamin saw it; he saw Penelope silently lift a bar of chocolate
from in front of the till and slide it behind her coat buttons into
her inside pocket.

Benjamin leapt into action,
screaming “Thief, thief!”

Penelope screamed at him,
denying it. But she was caught red-handed…

Mr Wittle was horrified. Who
would’ve thought it? Good little Penelope Lucinda Revile, stealing
from him. He sent Benjamin to fetch her mother – stealing was a
very serious crime. With his nemesis crying, Benjamin skipped to
her home positively triumphant. Penelope’s mother didn’t believe
him, but when she arrived at the shop, she had no choice but to
accept her little angel was not so angelic.

Benjamin watched with
satisfaction as his goody-two-shoes enemy was dragged away. He had
won an important victory, and what’s more, he had found a new
friend. A very special friend…

So excited was he of his victory
over Penelope he ran straight back to the well, to thank the
mysterious boy: “It worked, it worked!” Benjamin cried.

“I knew it would,” said the boy
in the well. “No one is going to look at her in the same way again.
Her disguise has been uncovered; she was not what she seemed.”

“No, she’s horrible and I hate
her and she got what she deserved.”

“Yes Benjamin, many people are
not what they seem. They hide behind disguises and pretend to be
what they’re not. But we’ll uncover those disguises won’t we? Show
the world what those people are really like”.

Benjamin was so excited, but the
boy told him he must run on home because his mother was looking for
him. Benjamin asked the boy in the well how he could see beyond his
home, but the boy said it was a secret he couldn’t tell him yet.
But soon he would. Soon he would show him the world inside the
well…

In the meantime, Benjamin still
had more scores to settle, and the boy promised he would help him
to settle them. After horrid Penelope, the next on the list was
Miss Bones, his horrid teacher. The boy had an idea how he could
get his own back on her too, and Benjamin positively couldn’t wait
to put the plan in action.

It was but a few days after he
had caught out Penelope that he put in practice the boy’s new plan.
It was on a rainy Wednesday afternoon that Miss Claxton was doing
multiplication revision – barking sums at her assembled pupils,
insistent that they must deliver the answer back to her almost
instantaneously, or receive a ruler strike across the knuckles.
That very afternoon, we know that a boy named Richard Price, a mere
boy of seven, had his hand turned red from the merciless teacher –
she did not alter the punishment, regardless of age.

Fortunately, Benjamin had a good
memory, and like most of the class, he knew his tables well to
avoid any punishment. Benjamin was fortunate that day that the rain
was falling, otherwise he might not have been able to see Miss
Bones get what she deserved. Because of the weather, they would not
have to eat their sandwiches outside, or cross to the church hall.
They sat indoors, eating their lunches quietly, permitted only to
play the quietest, calmest of games.

As Benjamin opened up his lunch,
he did not take his eyes off of his teacher, waiting impatiently as
she fiddled around her desk, adjusted her hair, tidied away some of
her papers…

Finally, she reached for her
bottom drawer and lifted out the tin box where she kept her own
lunch. Benjamin raised his head, gripping the desk in his palms
with anticipation.

She opened the box distractedly,
and placed her hand inside. But almost instantly, afterward, she
withdrew it, and then her jaw dropped open. She stood up abruptly,
scraping her chair against the floor behind her. She started to
scream and gasp for air simultaneously, warming up for an almighty
screech, one that raised goose bumps on all the children’s
skin.

She tried to climb out of the
window behind her; she started to scratch at the glass, screaming
“Get away, get away.” She kicked at the desk from her place on the
window’s ledge, knocking it over. And then the children saw what
she so afraid of: the lunchbox slid across the floor, and from its
inside hopped a great big toad!

The girls in the glass screamed,
scattering the desks and chairs as they ran away from the creature.
Of course the boys were not afraid – they thought it was so
comical. Still, none of them wished to take hold of the toad and
they had to send for the caretaker to remove the slippery
creature.

Benjamin tried not to get
involved, but he must’ve struggled to hold in his glee. Her
reaction was better than he could’ve possibly hoped for. He thought
that Miss Bones wouldn’t like finding a toad in her lunch box very
much, but her absolute terror was something he could not have
predicted.

But the boy in the well had told
him so, said that she had been terrified of toads and frogs and
lizards ever since a frog had jumped into her pram as a child and
hid beneath the blankets. It had taken Benjamin two days to find
one near the river, and it was no easy task to catch and keep hold
of him once he had found him.

He relayed his delight to the
boy in the well that very evening. “You should’ve seen her face!”
he said.

“I heard her scream,” said the
boy. “I think half the valley did.”

“How did you know about her fear
of toads?” he asked.

“I told you, I can see all kinds
of things from down here. See all and know all. It’s amazing what
you can see in the dark. There are no limits, or walls.”

“Can you teach me? I want to see
in the dark.”

“One day Benjamin, one day. You
must be patient; there is still much work to be done.”

“But we got Miss Bones and we
got Penelope – they really got it.”

“What about your worst enemy?
What about the vicar?”

Suddenly Benjamin was quiet.
Getting his own back on Penelope and his teacher was one thing, but
the vicar, he was something else entirely.

“I said I’d help you to get
revenge on all those that had done you wrong. And he’s the worst
isn’t he? The nastiest and meanest of them all.”

“But what if he catches me?”
cried little Benjamin. “He’ll thrash me, beat me.”

“Brave heart, dear Benjamin. You
needn’t worry about the vicar. In fact, he’s the easiest of them
all. All it will take is a letter.”

“A letter?” said Benjamin,
surprised.

“Yes, just a short simple
letter. Have you got your school things with you my friend? A
pencil and paper?”

Benjamin reached into his
satchel and pulled out some paper and a pencil.

“Write this down for me,” said
the boy. “It’s all you need to get your revenge on your uncle.

All you have to write is, ‘I
know what you did’.”

Benjamin scribbled it down.

He looked at the words and then
he looked at the well.

“Is that it?”

“Trust me my good chum. That’s
all you need to write. Everyone has secrets, the vicar more than
most.”