Halloween Fairy Tale

It all seemed to be going wrong for Ella after the fancy dress party... but maybe she had cast her own spell?

- JAN SNOOK

EIlla looked at her two half-sisters in alarm. "Shouldn't we just ring the police or something?" she asked.

"The police? They won't be interested!" Angie scoffed.

Angie, at eighteen, was two years younger than Ella, but always bursting with the confidence Ella lacked.

Rachel, the youngest, nodded sagely.

"She's right. They'd never get here in time, even if they believed us."

"But why shouldn't they believe us?" Ella asked.

"Look at us! We've obviously been to a Halloween party. They'd probably think we were messing around."

"But a light, in the church, at half eleven at night? They could be thieves stealing the silver or anything!"

"It's probably just the vicar," Angie said. "Checking... something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, do I? I'm not a vicar. He probably thinks he left the gas on."

"In a church?”

Angie and Rachel weren't listening. They were hurrying through the dead leaves towards the hulk of the building.

"Come on, this way," Angie said, creaking the ancient wrought iron gate open. They walked quietly up the path.

"What will we do when we get there?" Ella whispered.

The others didn't answer. She suspected they hadn't thought that far.

The heavy oak door was very slightly open. It made a loud grating noise and someone muttered crossly.

A light shone in their eyes. Ella had just opened her mouth to speak when something flew past, touching her hair.

The others had felt something too. Rachel clutched Ella's hand, and without a word they ran outside, hearts thudding. Ella caught a heel on a gravestone and lost her shoe, just as the church clock began to strike midnight. She ran on regardless, sure she could hear footsteps.

"I suppose we should go back," Angie panted when they reached the safety of the brightly lit High Street. "Ella can't walk all the way home with one shoe."