This is my entry in the Elftown prose contest. I apologise now for punctuation errors. I have checked it over several times and had other people check it over too but punctuation has never been my strong point.


Over The Wall By The Lake
By Jessica McLean

I was sitting by the window in my grandparents inn, “The Woodland Archer”. It was a Sunday afternoon so the inn was closed for a few hours. I was trying to finish a letter to my brother out at sea, I was in the middle of a very important paragraph about the Jones moving out of Blackthorn Manor, that’s this absolutely huge house at the bottom of the street. It has these big black gates. I’ve never found out what’s beyond those gates, the Jones were very secluded people. Well I was distracted from my letter by the sound of horses along the Road. I looked up and what a sight I saw! There must have been about twenty black carriages coming along the road. They went on as far as you could see! They stopped by the large gates and 2 men got down from the leading carriage and opened them. They then mounted the carriage again and all of them began filtering in and up the winding lane to the house itself. I jumped down off the window seat and went through to the back where my grandfather was restocking the kitchen for when the inn opened again later tonight.
“Grandfather?” I said quite casually.
“No” was his immediate response”
“I didn’t say anything yet” I argued.
“I know you didn’t but usually when you come to me it’s because you want something.”
“All I was going to say was "Why are there carriages going into the Blackthorn Manor? “
“Oh” he replied. “Well the Blackthorn’s, the original Owners of the Estate, are moving back.”
I looked at him and crossed my arms. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked accusingly.
“Because…” replied my grandfather. “You’re nosy. I don’t want you to go poking around up there, The Blackthorns are very powerful people and I know how much your curious about that place.”
I was shocked, I’m not a nosy person not at all. “ I wouldn’t go poking around! Grandfather, I’m not stupid you know” but by this point he’d already disappeared out into the backyard to feed the chickens. I went back to the bar room and picked up my letter writing set and stalked off up to my room in the attic and sat there mulling over the situation.

I flopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, it was starting to get dark now, it gets so dark now on these cold winter nights. I could still hear noises coming from the manor, I slid off my bed and walked over to the window. From the attic I can see right over into the garden of the manor, it’s that huge. In fact from up here I can see the entire village. There were lights coming from the manor I could just see this glow at the end of the lane. As it started to get late I returned to bed but I found it hard to sleep, I kept thinking about the big house. When would the Blackthorn’s be moving in? I’d never actually met them but I’d heard stories. Apparently they were also a very secretive family, lots of stories surround that family. When I was younger my grandmother would tell me a different story every night about the Blackthorns.

In the morning my grandfather is incredibly busy and never really pays a lot of attention to me, I formed a plan. When I went down stairs I went into the kitchen, as expected my grandfather was rushing around as busy as his serving wenches. “grandfather?” I asked, picking up a tray of freshly baked bread and placing it in the basket on the side. “yes dear?” he responded, as I guessed he would, very absentmindly taking out the clean tankards from the box next to the sink in the kitchen and taking them through to the bar area, I followed him and busied myself refilling the ale barrels. Then quite out of the blue I said “when are the Blackthorns moving in?” Preoccupied with tankards and ale glasses he simply replied “ two weeks Friday Angel” I smiled and giggled “thanks” I said and ran off.

I wandered out into the village and walked towards the park. It was nearly 3 weeks until the Blackthorn’s moved in that wasn’t very long. I stopped by the big gates and looked through them. It’s a beautiful place if you really look closely at it. As I wandered on to the park I found myself wishing I could go inside that house, even just once. Just to see if all the stories were true. I stopped by the lake and looked across it, there was a wall, over that wall was Blackthorn Manor.

I headed back to the inn later that afternoon. Lunchtime is always a busy time and my grandfather often needed my help. I didn’t get a chance to think about Blackthorn Manor again until that evening. I was tired by the time the inn closed for the night and headed straight up to my room and fell asleep. I didn’t wake again until the early hours of the morning, I knew it was early because it was still dark. I wasn’t fully aware of what time it was until I heard the church tower clock chime. It was 2am. I wasn’t tired anymore and so I sat up a while watching the night go by. Around 2:30 something brought my attention back to Blackthorn Manor. That moment I decided to do something crazy. Since I’m awake and no one else is, it would be a perfect time to do some snooping around. I quietly opened my door and crept down the stairs, and into the kitchen. I grabbed my cloak from the hook by the door, threw it round myself, carefully slid the bolt back and slipped out of the backdoor into the night.

I’d never done anything like this in my entire life I was scared, but thrilled at the same time. I slipped along the dark empty village streets, over the low wall that surrounds the park and headed towards the lake. I didn’t go the way I normally go, I went left instead and into the trees. I’d discovered this when I was a little girl. Their was an old rickety bridge buried in these trees, it was a way to cross the lake. I’d done it before when I was much smaller, but now I’m 16 years old, not 6, as I approached the bridge nerves hit me again, would it hold my weight now? Carefully I put my foot on the bridge, it creaked under my feet. Not wanting to take any chances I took a deep breath and ran, crossing the bridge in as little time as possible. Once on the other side of the lake I collapsed on the bank for a few minutes to catch my breath and steady my nerves. Picking myself up again I stepped onto a rock and reached up gripping the vines and pulling myself up on top of the wall. For the first time ever I could look right at the house. It was made of stone and had huge oak door and beautiful arched windows I was speechless, it was fascinating. I was so lost in my thoughts that I lost my balance and slipped crashing down into a bushy hedge.

“Your lucky that’s a hedge and not a stone path” a voice said scaring me half to death. “it’s a long way to fall” I looked around me but couldn’t see anything, then I saw a shadow drop down from a tree a little way away from me. A hand reached down to help me up. Warily I accepted it. The hand was rough and big.
“What are you doing here anyway” the boy asked.
“Erm…”
“Wanting to have a look round before the house becomes occupied again?”
I realised there was no point in lying so I nodded.
“Me too” he responded, only I took a more graceful route.” He pointed towards the tree which now I could see, had branches that reached right over the wall into the park. As my eyes become more accustom to the dark I realised that the figure was older than I first thought, at least 20 I’d say, he was tall too, must have been at least 6ft, his hair was long, passed his ears but that was all I could make out. We walked through the darkness and stepped into the moonlight, now I could see clearly He looked some how familiar, but I couldn‘t place him. He had dark brown, almost black hair and these mysterious deep blue eyes, his face was tanned and worn, as if he’d been used to working. He didn’t look aggressive, but I could sense a power about him. He was dressed in leather trousers and work boots, he had a white shirt that was open at the neck and was also dressed in a thick woollen cloak.
“Well” he said smiling. “shall we have a wander?” He took my hands and we headed through the grounds. There were several gardens. I remember we walked through a herb garden, a rose garden, a wildflower garden, a vegetable patch and an orchard. We couldn’t get inside the house but looking through the windows we saw that each room had a wooden floor, a huge fireplace and soft luscious furniture. On the walls were grand paintings and various armour. I’d never seen anything quite like it. I was so distracted by the beauty of the place that I completely lost track of the time, it wasn’t until it started to get light that I became aware of the time. The stranger suddenly looked towards the sun
“look at the time!” he cried.
“I have to go” He let go of my hand and started running off.
“WAIT!” I shouted
“How do I know when I’ll see you again?”
“Tomorrow, here, midnight.” he shouted and in a flash he was gone.
Dazed and curious, I climbed back over the wall and into the park and started heading home. Who was this guy? I’d never seen him before and this is a small town, everyone knows everyone. As I walked into the inn my grandfather was awake and busying himself with the morning chores. He looked at me suspiciously.
“Where have you been?” he said sharply.
“I…I couldn’t sleep” I lied.
“I went for a stroll”
“I see” he said.
“Very well then, leave a note or something next time you decide to do that.”
“Yes grandfather” I agreed giving him a hearty kiss and headed up to my room.

The next night I sneaked out once more and went over the wall and into the manor gardens. This time I used the tree, as I jumped down into the grass he came out of the shadows.
“Well hello there, decided to be sensible today did we” my cheeks flushed as he spoke.
“Yes, I learn from my mistakes.” I replied. He took my hand and we went wandering again. Suddenly I thought occurred to me, I stopped and turned to face him.
“It just occurred to me that I don’t actually know your name”
He smiled and replied “indeed so”
“Well, what is it?”
“It’s Cade, just Cade, what’s yours?”
“I’m Angel”
“Angel? That’s a pretty name, and you’re a pretty girl”
My cheeks flushed again, unfortunately because I have a pale complexion, the curse of blond hair! It’s incredibly noticeable when I blush and Cade laughed slipping his arm around my shoulders.
“I’m really glad I met you, for once I can just be me”
I looked at him puzzled. “can’t you be you anywhere else?”
“unfortunately no, my family expect a lot from me. Since the death of my father, I’ve had to look after my sister and care for my mother, she’s distraught you know, my father died young. He was killed, by my brother believe it or not”
“your brother!” I said shocked at the thought of this. “How terrible”
“I have a messed up family Angel.”
“so I can see, you take such a light hearted view of things though, I don’t think I could ever do that.”
“I find it’s the best way, I can’t just mope around feeling sorry for myself, what example would that set?”
“I suppose so, you’re a strong guy Cade”


We met the next few days, but on one Thursday, a few weeks later, when I climbed over the wall and he came out the shadows he wasn’t smiling, he didn’t embrace me. I looked at him.
“What’s wrong?” I asked
“it’s Thursday” he said
“so what does…” then I realised. “oh god yes, the Blackthorns move in tomorrow!”
He nodded and looked away. I ran to him and took his hand.
“surly we can meet in a different place, can’t we?”
He looked at me his deep blue full of sadness.
“I don’t know Angel, things get pretty busy for me too tomorrow”
“But how do I know I’ll see you again?”
He took a deep breath and looked at me resting his hands on my cheeks and brushing away a tear.
“I have a few things to take care of, but I promise you, when that’s taken care of, I’ll come for you. Promise you’ll wait for me, I have something very important to ask you.”
I nodded and sniffed. “I’d wait for you, for eternity if I have to”
“eternity is a long time, believe me I know” he pulled me towards him and embraced me. “Take care Angel, until we meet again” and once more, as quickly as he’d first appeared to me, he was gone.

Over the next few weeks I felt so low, I couldn’t even bring myself to go out of the house, I just spent day after day in my room, staring out of the window, across towards Blackthorn Manor, despite the Blackthorn’s having moved in, the house seemed as dead as ever. Occasionally I saw movement in the gardens, or a shadow in the window, but no more. The Blackthorn’s were even more mysterious than the Jones’s were. As I was lost in these thoughts there was a knock on my door and my grandfather came in.
“Angel?” he said. I turned round and looked at him.
“yes grandfather”
“you’ve hardly left this room in weeks are you sure everything’s fine?”
“of course grandfather, why wouldn’t it be?”
“no reason, I’m just worried”
“don’t be.”
“Angel, I want you to go out today, go for a walk and get some fresh air”
“but grandfather…”
“no buts angel, go!”
I sighed and slid off the chair. “yes grandfather” I said stalking out the room grabbing my cloak and running off. It’s pointless arguing with my grandfather. I didn’t really want to be out here, but it would be worse in there if I didn’t obey.

I headed to the park and slumped down on the banks of the lake looking across at the big wall that surrounds Blackthorn Manor. Suddenly I decided to do something even crazier than before. I knew the house was occupied now but something just drew me towards it. I went back through the woods, over the bridge up the wall into the tree and dropped down into the gardens. I remembered from the first night here, there was a door down some steps nearly completely hidden from view, it must lead to a cellar or something. It might be open now. I crept round the outside of the house, down the steps and pushed the door it creaked open, I slipped inside and took my very first steps inside the house that’s haunted my dreams and filled my mind all my life. What I saw, wasn’t a cellar, no, it was a circular stone room, stone floor, stone walls, there was a stone platform across from me that was closed off with curtains, torches burning on the walls, there was also a fire burning in one corner, with a rug in front of it, a large chair in front of that, a table with various papers on and then my eyes turned towards the large portrait above the fireplace. What I saw shocked me, it was the picture of a man, in his early twenties I’d say he was tall and broad with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He was dressed in a red shirt and black leather trousers, he had gentleman’s boots on and a black velvet cape, but there was no doubt about who it was. “Cade…“ I breathed but I must have made more noise than I thought, because what I saw next was something worse. The curtains around the platform opened and there standing in front of me was the man in the portrait, only it wasn’t quite him. His skin was pale as a ghost, his hair was jet black and his eyes no longer an enchanting blue, no, they were red. Suddenly I remembered why he looked so familiar the night we met. He was the son of Lord Blackthorn, I remember his description so vividly from my grandmothers stories. The Cade I met, was the son of Lord Blackthorn, I remembered now that the story he told me was the story of the Blackthorn’s. and the Blackthorn’s were vampires…