Our grandparents have moved back to the city.  We inherited their grand house in the country.

I was walking back to the house for the first time in years, through the wood that had brought me so many nightmares.

I glanced back at the forbidden tower – it was the same dangerous place as when I was a child, and the window was still shattered.  Then, all my memories came flooding back to me.

It all began during our summer holidays many years ago…….

It had been raining recently, but today was the first sunny day.  The six of us lived in London, but had gone to visit our grandparents.  They lived in a big house in the country.   All the aunts, uncles and cousins were there.  We didn’t want to waste our time indoors, so we decided to go out for a picnic to explore the woodland.  We caught a glimpse of the sun reflecting off a lake.  We decided to settle down and have our picnic there.

As we were about to start our picnic, we noticed an ancient, abandoned tower, covered with ivy.

Suddenly, an old woman appeared out of nowhere and started hobbling towards us.  “Go back!” she squawked hoarsely, “stay away from the tower.  Nobody who goes in there ever comes back!”

Evie suggested, “maybe we should tell our parents what we heard”, so we rolled up our picnic rug and headed home.  When we got there, we told our parents about the mysterious old woman.  They said she had given us good advice.  We could tell they were holding something back but we didn’t ask.

That night a storm occurred and the wind howled mournfully around the house and the rain bounced off the windows.  The next day we dressed hurriedly because we were desperate to explore the gloomy tower we had discovered the day before.  We sneaked downstairs and slipped quietly through the door.  As we were running towards the wood, we saw the tall tower looming in the distance.  When we got closer, we saw it was no longer covered with ivy, as it had been blown away in the storm.  We now noticed the sunlight bouncing off a shattered window.  A thick, wooden door lay at the bottom of the tower.  “Let’s go in!” said Robbie, excitedly.  “No, no, it’s too dangerous!” chorused Evie and Georgie.  “Oh, come on!” pleaded Matty.   “Too late to go back now” mumbled Clodagh. Conor and Robbie sprinted towards the tower, so we had no choice but to follow. When we got there, they were already turning the handle on the door.

As soon as we turned the handle, the door creaked open. We nervously stepped inside. We looked all around. The room was dark and gloomy. There was a shattered, broken window in the corner. Only a small glimmer of light came from it.

“Don’t worry,” said Matty producing a pocket knife. “It has a torch attachment to it”. He shone the torch around the room and we discovered that the only thing in the room was an old table with a dusty surface. We wandered gingerly around the room, the floorboard creaked beneath our feet. Without warning, Robbie tripped and landed with a thud. Matty shone his torch at Robbie. “Ouch… that did hurt,” groaned Robbie.

“I really do think that we should get out of here,” said Evie, wearing a worried expression. “What did you trip over? The floorboards are perfectly stable. Was it a stick or a box? Or was it just you?” she questioned endlessly.

“It was this,” replied Robbie, holding up a dusty black brief case. Evie took it from him and opened it.

Suddenly, a scream came from upstairs. None of us had seen the staircase in the corner of the room and we realised that there was a second level to the tower.

“What do you think is up there?” I asked.

“Let’s get out of here,” panicked Evie.

“We can’t the door handle just fell off in my hands,” I replied.

Just then we heard another loud scream. This time it seemed to be shouting for help. “Do you think it might be a ghost?” whispered Georgie nervously.

“Whatever it is, we have no choice, there’s no way out down here, so we’ll have to go up there!” Matty answered impatiently.

Slowly, we all sidled, one by one, up the winding staircase. I was so scared I could hear the pounding of my heart through my chest. Every minute of moving up the staircase, we wanted to turn back. We were all quietly regretting coming to the tower.

When we reached the top of the staircase, we could just about make out the outline of a rotten wooden door. The yelling and screaming started again, this time even louder. Matty tried the rickety brass door handle. The door was locked!

Suddenly Matty had a brain wave. He carefully took out his penknife, picked the padlock and leant against the door. The door flew open. There in the corner of the room sat a small scrawny child. When he saw us, he jumped up and scuttled away.

“It’s ok,we’re here to help,”  Evie said reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. We are all scared too!” added Georgie.

“Who are you?” trembled the child, who was now anxiously backing up against the wall.

We all introduced ourselves and the little boy said his name was Eddie. In the dim light, I could just about see that his clothes were shredded and dirty. He was painfully thin.

After a long silence the boy started to tell us how he had been imprisoned in the tower for many days. He said an old woman had warned him not to go there and that he regretted not listening to her advice.

“We were warned by her too,” I said sadly.

Together, we wandered around the small room, looking for an escape route. Robbie was passing his hand along the stone wall, looking for a secret opening or another way out. Eddie sat very still but shivering in the middle of the tiny room. It was freezing cold.

“There must be a way out,” mumbled Clodagh.

We carefully crept back down the stairs. The light was vanishing fast. It was starting to get dark outside. However in the dimness, we noticed the open briefcase.  Inside was a velvet pouch.  Pulling at its drawstring, Georgie discovered a smooth silver key with an engraving. Unable to make out what it said, we all wondered hopefully which lock it might fit into.

I looked up at the shattered window. It was now dark and gloomy outside. At that very moment, just for a split second, a flash of lightning lit up an eerie despicable face. Its monstrous green eyes beamed in, onto us. We were terrified. Our curiosity started to drip away from us like a leaking tap.

Suddenly there was a thunderous knock at the door.  We all jumped in fright. Eddie screamed and hid behind Evie’s leg. Creaking footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. We all dived under the table. Then we heard that familiar, hoarse squawk as the door unbolted. “Oh no we’re done for, she’s coming in!” Evie whispered frantically.

“Calm down children, I’m sorry I scared you.” Yes, it was the old woman, but she seemed less scary this time. “I warned you not to come here, it is a very dangerous place.” Her voice, although still croaky, was now more kindly. She went on to tell us that the tower was forbidden because of the evil spirits there. She explained that many years ago, the tower had been a place of interest, for tourists or holiday makers. One day, while exploring it with her three children, she had had her back turned for one minute and then they were gone! All three of them: Rachel, Jacob and Edith. With tears welling up in her eyes, she admitted that she had become ragged with worry and had, since that dreaded day, always endeavoured to warn children away from the tower, even if it meant frightening them.

“What do you think happened to your children?” enquired Robbie anxiously.  “Do you think those evil spirits snatched your precious children?”

Alarmingly, another bright green flash of lightning flooded the gloomy cold room.  By its light we saw a deathly figure gazing at them from the back of the room.  We froze with terror; shivers of fear cascaded down their spines, our hearts beating like a drum.  Into that silence a deafening roar and a blood curdling scream echoed inside our brains. Clasping our hands over our ears, which seemed to be exploding, we heard the old lady shriek, “Hide, children, the spirits have returned to their lair!”

Diving under the table we discovered the key which had been dropped in terror.  The lightning struck again, this time lighting up the engraving on the key. The words seemed to appear on the wall, however before we could read them, we seemed to attract a ghastly figure who yelled, “Give me my beloved  key!”

The dazzling light of the full moon suddenly shone through the cracked window, illuminating the engraving on the key. It was a warning telling us to listen to the voice as it was there to help us.  Immediately a hovering door began to appear on the stone wall of the dusty room.  As we approached it cautiously, the door swung open, shockingly, inside we could sense the spirits guarding the frightened children of the old lady…

The old lady ran into the room and hurriedly embraced her long lost children. The ghostly figure drifted to the far side of the hidden room, where he indicated the outline of a spectacular door with a silver lock.  Moonlight glinted through, inviting us to fit the key into the lock.  “If you leave now, I can rest for eternity”.   Nervously, Matty tried the key in the lock. It worked: the door creaked open into the green and fresh wood.  Hearts beating, we tumbled out of the eerie place, hoping we would never set foot in that tower again, we sprinted to the grand house.

After that, we always avoided the forbidden tower, but never spoke about that terrible day.  It shattered my dreams. What should I do with the tower now that it’s mine?

“That place has so many bad memories for me, I could never step foot in there again.” croaked the old woman hastily.

“How about we burn it down?” questioned Evie

“Great idea Evie,” I commented.

“I definitely agree with that!”

“I guess there is one thing to do,” suggested Conor quietly.

We all looked at each other. We all knew that tower could no longer survive. It had too much of an eerie, scary feeling about it. So later that day we crept back to the tower during the dark night, and set fire to the base of the tall tower.

Next morning we woke up, surprised to see the tower standing as it had been before it was burnt down to ashes.

“I think the tower will never go away, but whatever you do warn people away from it as long as you live.” screeched the old woman .

The memories of the tower are now distant, but now I am safe and sound… Or am I?

by Year 4 pupils from Orleans, The Russell, Sheen Mount, and Stanley primary schools