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Deadline Rock by A. Richardson©2005

Every day people passed by the cottage on the edge of the village mostly just glancing at the slightly overgrown garden with its ramshackle wall on their way past. Noone gave a thought to stopping for long since there didn't seem to be much to look at, nor anyone to pass the time of day with. However, as the saying goes, "There's always one". Thus it was that when Jeremy took the dog for a walk on that fateful Sunday it was just his luck that Bella, his hyperactive Jack Russell cross , decided to stop at the wall for a prolonged sniff along its length , before sitting down, and gazing at the upper reaches of the stone , where she then began to howl. " Come on girl", Jeremy coaxed. " We havn't got all day". He pulled gently on her lead , but Bella just got up, dug her toes in, turned towards him and snarled. So he stood back a bit with a frown on his face wondering what had come over her. She had always been a gentle soul and loved her owner dearly. In fact Jeremy often boasted that she would protect him with her life, which made this sudden change in her behaviour all the more peculiar.

He was about to forcibly drag Bella away from the wall, snarling or not, when he thought he heard something odd, like a voice. No. It was a voice coming from the wall. Jeremy's first thought was one of disbelief. Maybe some kids are on the other side playing a prank, he thought, but he still moved nearer the wall to find out. Yes, it definitely was a voice , a deep male one at that, and it was whispering right next to his ear as he leaned against the wall. " Hello," it said," Can you get me out of here? I've been here for so long, but noone ever sees me. Will you try to unstone me "? "Unstone him indeed ", Jeremy thought shaking hie head rather angrily. What a stupid expression. He was, however quite puzzled, so he quietly asked ," Where are you, all I can hear is your voice near the wall, but I can't see you". "I'm in the wall", was the reply.

Looking very carefully at the stone wall Jeremy could not distinguish any male features at all, nor was there anyone about, so he climbed up onto the wall to peer over to the other side to see who was hiding there. Nobody lurked on the other side either, and, more puzzled than before, he jumped back down from the wall, taking a step back to look once again at the spot where he had heard the voice. It was then that he noticed what seemed to be an eye looking at him. He shuddered. The eye blinked. Bella growled once again, circling his legs as she did, with her body shaking uncontollably. Bending down to pat her head Jeremy reassurred her by saying, " It's okay , old girl, we'll go home now", and with that he picked up her lead, turning to move towards the path to home. As he and Bella moved away the voice grew louder, calling out, "Please don't leave me, get me out of here". Angry now, Jeremy called back, " You can stop playing games now mate I'm not interested, the fun's over, and we're going home". A sigh and a moan were the last things he heard before reaching the road to continue homeward. " Ah well", he told Bella, " We'll go another way on our walk tomorrow. I doubt the kids will be up to their tricks again, but I don't want to take the chance. He couldn't accept the message his brain had received telling him that there was an eye in the wall. So he just switched it out.

Next morning , though, found him walking Bella once again along the road that led to the walled garden. Maybe he was only trying to reassure himself that there wasn't anything odd at the place he'd heard the voice yesterday. Then it was upon them, The Wall. He later called it the Winking Wall, but for now it was just a weird happening. However, he couldn't resist stopping at the same place as before. He listened. Nothing. Not a sound. He turned to go, and as he moved away he heard the voice again. "If only someone would see me . If only someone would get me out of here", it said. Jeremy shivered........

It was just too much for Jeremy who was now becoming addicted to the idea that there was a person hidden somewhere nearby and he was determined to find them. He leaned right against the rock , placing his ear next to the spot where he was sure the sound was coming from. If he had shivered once, then what happened next actually made the hairs on the nape of his neck stand up and crawl away in terror! He felt the warmth of breath blow into his ear as he hear these whispered words, " You don't believe I am here in this wall, but I am , and I wish you'd stop disbelieving your senses so that you could try to help me. Just look closely at the rock, then you'll see my face". So Jeremy , startled and scared, pulled his head back slightly to peer closley at the wall . There was no doubt that the eye was still there , blinking, regularly, but he could now make out the outlines of a man's face with enough wrinkles to place the age at about 70 years. " Now , do you believe me", said the voice from the wall. Jeremy's reply of "Yes", was accompanied by a feeling of innate terror, but this time he stayed where he was, determined not to be spooked by something so obviously unable to do him any harm.

"So, how did you get in there," he asked," or maybe I should ask why you are in there, and who are you"? " My name's Kieran", answered the voice, "but as to how I got in here, well that's not such an easy story to tell.I expect it was my own fault really. You see I used to live in the house next to here.Every day I'd get up about 6.30 a.m. to begin my day in the garden. I watched everything that went on in the street, knew everyone who went by, and kept a close eye on the occupants of the house next to this wall. I couldn't help it, I just had to see what they were doing, so I clipped the bushes to get a better view, but they put up a fence, so I climbed up my ladder to keep an eye on them, but they soon stopped me doing that. Eventually, in desperation, I climbed onto their roof and pretended to be working so that I could watch their every move. It was like I had to watch them all the time, but they didn't like it". Anyway, the woman who lived in the house caught me so often she lost her temper and reported me. That made tings awkward because I needed to be more careful. So I hid behind the wall every day to listen at her window and watch inside her house. Even my wie began to get fed up with me doing it, but I just couldn't stop. Anyway, one day the woman came out just as I was throwing stones at her cats. She warned me that if I didn't quit bothering her she'd set a curse on me. Well, as you can imagine , I just laughed at her. That must have been the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. For three nights afterwards I had terrible nightmares, then on the fourth day when I woke up I felt heavy, couldn't move, and thought I must be coming down with 'flu or something. I was wrong. My wife's screams told me the truth. Looking down even I could see that my legs were losing thier flesh and turning to a rocklike substance. It took a whole week before the transformation was complete, but by then my wife had suffered a stoke and died, and I was gradually amalgamated into this wall. So, I've been here ever since".

" Have you spoken to anyone else before now", I wanted to know. "I tried in the early days, but the locals felt sorry for the woman I'd been snooping on, so not one of them cared what happened to me. In fact the only person who might have helped me because she was a kind soul, was the woman herself, but I'd disturbed her life so much that all she wanted to do was move away, or so she said. She left and never did come back, but the house was kept empty ever since, so noone else ever came near enough to me for me to catch their attention. Indeed , you are the first person I have spoken to for about 25 years."

"So you're a peeping Tom at best,", I told him, " and what's to say that even if I could help you there wouldn't be a repeat of your old ways as soon as you're free"?. "I give you my word", he promised, "Not another one peek at a window or woman in her house would I ever do".

"Mmmm, well, I'll give it some thought", was all I could think of saying, as I rose to go, "I'll stop by tomorrow to let you know how things are going though". With that Jeremy took Bell's lead once again , and sauntered jauntily down the road, whistling as he went. He had plans , plans which could be very much to his advantage if they worked, greed can be a pressing master, so there was much to ponder on, he decided. The first thing to do was find out how much of the stone man's story was likely to be true, but he'd have to be careful how he gleaned his information, or they'd be locking him up for being crazy with a story like this one........... To be Continued.