Day 611

Briony and Lorna had never really done much outside of the bus trips to the local sixth form, the city and back to their middle-of-nowhere home. As they planned to follow these newfound tracks they never bothered to do any background research on it, such as the young often are.

With some forethought they brought rucksacks full of "provisions" like a small torch each, chocolate, water bottles and (for some reason) a can opener allegedly in place of the penknives they were too young to obtain.

Setting out on Lorna's scooter, they headed up the dirt path by one of the old farmsteads that never seemed to have anything going on but still stank of animal faeces. The track ran right through the woods - they almost made it entirely through but the mud on the far side was too hazardous for them to continue any longer by vehicle. Chaining it to a tree the two girls headed further away from their homes and onwards to the tracks that they hoped would lead them onto some great discovery.

Much to Briony's delight the tracks were still there - she hadn't imagined them! They were rusted to pieces in places and overgrown in others but they totally counted as an exciting find. Lorna wasn't quite as pleased with the "find", preferring to think about what could be on the other end of the tracks and whatever treasures they could get to. Maybe there was one of those old-timey trains, full of people's leftover things!

After briefly bickering they chose to head away from the city and deeper into the moors. The further they went the higher up the tracks rose until they levelled off about eight feet from the ground. This was confusing to the girls, after all, how could this possible support a full train and why did it need to be so far from the ground when the grass below looked perf.... looked to be about three foot high, judging by the height of the tracks and moving strangely.

Pausing briefly to look around for whatever the source of the movements was (birds maybe, or a stray cat?) they felt the quiet breeze around them die off sharply. Holding their breath they glanced about nervously, squinting at the grass like it held all the answers. Upon seeing nothing they carried on, trying to be as quiet as they could but not really knowing why.

The tracks continued to rise, as did the grass below, until the girls trod precariously at twelve feet above ground. Their nerves were getting the better of them at this point and they whispered to each other, wondering if they should go home and head back some other time until Lorna spotted something in the distance, around the tops of the trees, right where the tracks seemed to be heading.

The girl's pace picked up as they continued to climb upwards and ever upwards to the fairly large wooden building that stood on the same kind of framework that the train tracks did. It was in pretty good condition, considering they assumed this place had been abandoned for Lord knows how long and Lord knows why it was even made in the first place.

The first thing they noticed was that the doors were wide open. The next was that an old man was waiting inside, holding a box and looking impatient. He looked over, spotted them and smiled widely, inviting them to come inside and not gawk about like lemons. As they cautiously approached he asked which train they were getting - Ash Ragwood or Narrow Barkmoor.

The girls had never heard of either of those places, weren't even sure if they existed or if the old man had lost his mind and build some crazy treehouse place. Still they politely said they hadn't decided yet, wondering where this was going. The old man advised them to come back later, when they'd made their choice. After all, the trains will always be there.

Laughing nervously they went to make a hasty retreat but before they could the old man stopped them, saying that if they were taking the tracks back down they needed a Hawsey Stone. From the box he brought out what looked to be two brown stones, shiny and full of little holes. He told them to put the stone to their left eye and trust that what they were seeing had always been there.

As soon as they did so, squinting through the holes and glancing about them, they saw that the old man wasn't old at all - he wasn't even a man. Eight curved horns protruded from his head, his face a mass of lumps with tiny black eyes peering out. His body was much the same, one giant pile of lumps stuffed into a coat with large portions leaking out and throbbing slightly. He called himself a fae and  told them to never leave the tracks until they firmly touched the ground.

The next moment he was gone and they were left in a room that was suddenly full of beetle-like people, chittering and scuttling towards the counter. They fled for the tracks, stumbling down and down and further down to the ground. Stopping back at the point where the grass moved strangely they put the Hawsey Stones to their eyes once more and saw exactly what made the grass move so.

They were just heads on sticks, or possibly stick-like bodies. Their eyes, mouths and noses were gaping holes with a dark green fluid oozing out. They were staring at the girls, ducking in and out of the grass, following them all the way until the grass grew too short

It's hard to say what happened faster, the girls running for the moped or the creatures running for deeper grass.

It's possible they never met afterwards, then again it's possible they met one final time.