Wenlock — Bill Stenlake

It's Dark in Wenlock. Well, it is in the middle of the night. I am walking through Wenlock in the dark and something has put my senses on edge. At the Bull Ring I crossed over the road and started walking up past the church. I heard a noise to my left. It was like a swooshing noise. I felt my heart rate go up a few notches. I could just make out the outline of the nearest gravestone and the shape of the big tree beyond that. Then she appeared from the doorway of the church and walked along the path and away from me. The whoosh, I took to be her movement. She had a long cloak on, as far as I could make out. Beyond the gravestones, she just blended into the rest of the darkness. I did call out to her, but she didn't slow down and she didn't respond. That was my first encounter with her. Later that morning I saw activity down the town. I found out that a body had been discovered in a house, near to the corner of Sheinton Street. A passer-by had found the front door open and ventured in. I mention that I walked past there in the night. I also tell about the figure I saw running away from the entrance to the church, less than 50 metres away.I am interviewed by a detective and that is that. But it isn't. About lunchtime I have been in the town again. I am on my way home when a car stops beside me. It is the detective. 'We need to have another talk to you.' Their stance is anything but relaxed. They take me back down to the house where the body was found. As we stand outside the house, one of his colleagues comes up to us and starts talking. I don't think I am supposed to be hearing this.'Something really odd happened. We stepped out of the front door and it slammed shut behind us. We had to break the door down to get back in.'What is going on in Wenlock? Who is this cloaked figure I saw when I was walking in the middle of the night? Why am I the one who is so deeply involved with all this? Read on: