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Stories & Imaginings >> Cookies & Drabbles >> Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2 
(Message started by: Vikki on Nov 15^th, 2003, 2:58am)

Title: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 15^th, 2003, 2:58am

Archived due to length
here's the link:http://ghostsatthecs.html

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 15^th, 2003, 12:33pm

The next morning Sylvia was astonished to be greeted with a friendly smile and a few words from Jack Lambert at breakfast.

"'Morning, Sylvia. Sleep well?" Sylvia blinked and answered briefly,

"Yes, thanks," but it was a start. The truth was that her short conversation with Sylvia had suddenly awakened Jack to the fact that the new girl - as she still seemed despite having been at the School for some weeks - was rather ostracised by the rest of the Form and that if they didn't do something about it someone in authority would be noticing. In addition, the fact that yesterday Sylvian had neither snapped, sneered nor sheered off when talking to her had warmed Jack's heart. So that evening she drew her own special friends aside and informed them of her decision.

"But why?" grumbled Barbara Hewlett, with whom some of Sylvia's words still rankled badly.

"Because it must be pretty beastly having no-one talking to you all day, every day," explained Jack. "And, as I say, I was talking to her yesterday and she was really quite decent. Peculiar," she added after a moment's reflection, "But decent. Can't we bury the hatchet and start over again? She probably didn't mean all that stuff anyway and would like to have a decent shot at School."

It took Jack all her time to persuade them, but it the end her leadership held good and the new campaign started the next morning - thus Sylvia's surprise at breakfast.

As for Sylvia, her latest experience had shaken her badly. She had begun to realise just where her feelings might have led her and now she was determined to leave them aside and be more pleasant - if the others would let her.

So it was that over the next few days, the hostile parties thawed towards one another and the Chalet girls found that Sylvia could be good company on occasion. As a matter of fact, while one problem was now very close to being solved, the other was far from this. And even as Sylvia grappled with it, another surprise was in store.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 15^th, 2003, 12:37pm

Ooh! More please, Abi! Who's she going to meet next?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 15^th, 2003, 12:58pm

One Sunday afternoon she discovered that she had no handkerchief and was given permission to fetch one from her dormitory. However, when she opened the dormitory door, she found - instead of rows of neat cubicles divided by patterned curtains, but a room, not large, but attractive. There was a small table and a few chairs with cushions to make them comfortable. The owner of the room evidently had artistic sense, for the pictures, small ornaments and pots of flowers were tastefully arranged and the homeliness of the room was completed by a full bookcase, a woollen rug on the floor and a few items of crockery on the table. In the centre of the room stood a girl - not very tall, but slim and with golden curls - with her back to the door. Beside her was another, taller and with brownish hair, who looked slightly uneasy.

Sylvia took all this in and instantly realised what had happened. Her first reaction was to groan inwardly and think "Oh, please, not again!" But she quietly closed the door and stood waiting. For a moment there was silence, then one of the girls spoke.

"I don't like it, Di." The other turned and faced her with a nasty smile.

"I don't see how you can help it. If I were to tell people what I know about you..." her voice trailed off menacingly.

"Oh, I'll do it," agreed the first speaker hastily, "But I still don't -"

"Shut up and get on with the job!" snapped her companion. She stepped forward, picked some cushions off a chair, and threw them into a corner, then turned the chairs themselves over.

"Come on!" she snarled at the other girl, who still stood hesitantly on the rug. She indicated the mantlepiece. "Chuck those things on the floor and pour the ink on them." While her directions were miserably being followed, she herself seemed to be in a frenzy of enraged activity. She swept the crockery off the table and pushed the table over, which landed on a deckchair. There was a loud crack that made the unhappy one jump and the deckchair collapsed. But Miss Curlylocks hardly noticed. She had gone to the window, gripped each of the curtains with a hand and yanked them down. Turning, she tossed them on top of the cushions and pointed to the bulbs.

"Do something with those. And quick." She turned her attention to the pictures on the wall, which were soon scattered over the floor. Only then did she pause, to look round with a grim scowl that marred the undoubted beauty of her face.

"Sh-shall we leave it now, Di?" began her friend. But "Di" had not finished yet.

"Just give me a hand with these books, Marian." And the books were torn from tho bookcase and flung carelessly about the room. Instantly this was done, the fair girl turned to the door and a moment later Sylvia was alone. A solitary page fluttered to the floor.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 15^th, 2003, 1:17pm

Oh nasty Diane Skelton - love this, more please!

Why does Sylvia keep seeing these? And is it any coincidence that we've seen one in Tyrol, one at Plas Howell and one at St Brievals?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 15^th, 2003, 7:43pm

*waits eagerly for explanation of the mystery!*
*resolves to archive more often if it inspires Abi to post! ;)*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 15^th, 2003, 8:29pm

Ooh, lovely choice of scene! The relevations of this are certainly going to be interesting! And I wonder if Sylvia will tell anyone else about them?

And on a more mundane topic, how is Sylvia going to get a clean hanky now?!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 16^th, 2003, 2:26pm

Thank for archiving it Vikki. I think the plot bunny was taking a few days off. However, he has made up for it by keeping me up until half past six this morning. Fortunately I do have a good supply of matchsticks...

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 16^th, 2003, 2:58pm

"But - you can't do that sort of thing! Not here!" she gasped feebly and most ineffectually since the miscreants were already far away. The only sound in the room now was the ticking of the clock that now lay face down in the fender. Sylvia picked it up, wiped a few drops of ink off it, and replaced it gently on the mantlepiece. Then, knowing that all this had happened years ago and that she could do nothing about it, she slowly went to the door, opened it, and passed through into her own Chalet School.

At the moment her thoughts were more on what had actually happened, more than the logistics of it.

"Heavens!" she thought, half angrily, "But people here just don't do that sort of thing. It's not done!" It hit her like a wet tea-cloth hits a fly and she stopped short and thumped her forehead.

"Of course! What a fool I've been. That's it. It's what's done and what's not done. That's what makes the School. And more than that - it's why it's not done." She sank down on the steps and sat there for nearly twenty minutes, trying to work the whole thing out.

That was it. Like Wandas had said, School was more than a place of learning. It was the people in it, and how they thought. And the Chalet School had a long tradition of thinking. Thinking about its past. Thinking about its present. Most important, linking the two. You couldn't have the present without the past, or the past without the present.

This and many other things went through Sylvia's head as she sat there, but at last she felt that she had it clear in her mind. As she rose and descended the stairs - having completely forgotten the handkerchief - the other aspect of the matter came back to her.

"It's no good," she told herself. "I'll have to talk to someone. If I don't I'll go mad." Entering the common room, she paused for a moment, looking round, then approached Jack quickly, lest her nerve should fail her.

"Jack - I need to talk to you. Alone, please." Jack looked up, surprised, and saw that she was in earnest.

"Now?"

"Yes, please, if you don't mind."

"Ok. Shall we go outside?"

Both clad in their big winter coats, Sylvia and Jack strolled through the shrubbery in silence. Jack was wondering what Sylvia was going to say and Sylvia was trying to work out the best way of saying it. At last she took the plunge.

"Jack, I wanted to tell someone this because I don't think I can work it out by myself. But first, will you promise not to tell anyone else what I'm going to tell you?"

"Well -" Jack was a little hesitant about making blind promises.

"It's not anything actually bad - just, awfully weird. If you don't I really can't tell you," urged Sylvia desperately.

"Well - all right then," promised Jack. Sylvia heaved a sigh of relief and began her story without any more beating about the bush.

"It all began quite near the beginning of term, when I'd been beastly about the School," she said and went on to tell the Juliet story.

"But - that's Madame's friend, Juliet O'Hara, surely?" exclaimed Jack. "I don't see -"

"I know. Neither do I. Only please let me finish first." And Sylvia described her encounter with the School at war and how she had felt about that. She finished up with today's experience and its results.

"You see, I suddenly realised what all these things meant, and that what Wanda said in the train was true. When I met Juliet it didn't have much effect, but now I know it showed me that from the very beginning the School's feeling was the same, although I didn't connect it with the School now. The war thing hit me a lot harder. It was so much more personal - I mean, that might have been me. It taught me a lesson about myself. But this last one - it showed me that I have to link myself with the community I live in - the School. And how that should be affecting me in every way, not just book-learning, because that is what this School is about, if you know what I mean."

Jack was not sure that she did and couldn't think of anything to say in any case, so they walked on in silence for a few minutes. Then Sylvia spoke again.

"I've worked all that out for myself, but what I'm really worried about now is - how on earth did all this happen?"

The two girls stared at one another. Jack shook her head slowly.

"I don't know, Sylvie. It's - well, strange. Are you sure you didn't dream it all, or imagine it?"

"I don't see how I could have done. I mean, I was standing up and walking around. I'd have had to be walking in my sleep. And I'd never heard of any of those people before, so I don't think I could have imagined it either."

There was a long, pregnant silence. Then,

"I'm scared, Jack," whispered Sylvia.

Had she known what the results of what she had just done would be, she might have been even more afraid.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 16^th, 2003, 3:43pm

Aarrgh! ABI! You can't leave it there! What has she done? What's going to happen to her? To Jack? To anyone?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by xanthe on Nov 16^th, 2003, 5:58pm

*scrabbling about on the edge of the drabble cliff*

Abi!!!!!!! Please come back and post some more of this!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 9:03pm

AAAAaaaarrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!

Splat!

That was me falling off the unexpected drabble cliff that you left lying around in my path.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 9:32pm

*grabs Xanthe's hand and pulls her back from the brink, and then rushes down to the bottom of the cliff to give Carolyn some first aid!!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:04pm

*Stunned - I was just thinking that the reason for seeing the ghosts was for her to be shown the error of her ways - then you drop that in!

*Now very scared - please don't leave this bit hanging on too long.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by xanthe on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:05pm

on 11/16/03 at 21:32:57, Vikki wrote:

*grabs Xanthe's hand and pulls her back from the brink, and then rushes down to the bottom of the cliff to give Carolyn some first aid!!*

*knew there was a reason Vikki's second prefect!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:24pm

*weakly, but bravely* Thank-you Vikki. Do you think you could tell me how bad it looks, I can feel a trickling on my left leg, but nothing at all in my right.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:39pm

Left leg has a bit of a gash, right may be broken, just off to call Dr Jack to have a look!!! ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:44pm

Swooning at the thought of Dr Jack.
Wishing I'd shaved my legs this week!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:48pm

*produces a razor to save Carolyn's embarrassment*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:51pm

Dry shaving with someone else's razor, yuk!

I think I'll rely on Dr Jack to not notice.

Think you might be right about the break. The pain is growing and I think it will only go away with more story.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:55pm

It's a brand new razor Carolyn, and here's some shaving foam....

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 10:57pm

Thank-you. Would it be too much trouble to ask you to shield me from prying eyes with your coat?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:05pm

*produces blanket and sets up handy privacy screen*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:07pm

*Drags self from behind the blanket.*

Thanks Vikki, I feel much more able to face Dr Jack now, although i almost passed out shaving broken and bleeding legs. The things we do!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:14pm

Vanity's a terrible thing isn't it? ;) ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:17pm

We suffer so much, just so that our looks don't cause other people to suffer.

Didn't Len somthing to Ruey about it being a duty to look good because other people have to look at you?

Not advice I normally follow, clean, tidy and presentable takes enough time...

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:22pm

Ah, how well I know that feeling!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:23pm

Carolyn - 8oo 8oo - I can remember years ago seriously spraining my ankle - before I limped off to the hospital I sat and shaved my legs! That really rang true!

MORE STORY PLEASE!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:27pm

Lesley!! What are you like?

(Okay, I'd probably do the same thing in that situation, if I could!!)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:29pm

Glad to have pleased you Lesley. I just typed the first thing that came inot my head. Luckily the purity pigeon is asleep, 'cos he wouldn't like me swooning over Jack, never mind shaving in public.

Where is Rachel by the way tonight? I haven't seen any posts from her, and for the first time in a week I'm completly up to date on all the threads that I want to read.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:33pm

Me too! Have spent a very strange weekend - far too much time and not knowing quite what to do with myself!

Some more people will have to start drabbles!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 16^th, 2003, 11:36pm

I know what you mean! It's not midnight yet, and I'm totally caught up on all the threads!!!
(mind you, that's probably because KB's only just turned up!!) ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:46am

*waves eagerly, prepares to disrupt Vikki's peace and quiet, and then starts hanging off the edge of this awful cliff* Hey, come on, I gave you all another part of Matey's Secret in less than 9 hours!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:50am

*offers KB a hand, and hauls her back up onto solid ground!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:57am

*thanks Vikki for the helping hand*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:03am

Well, we already have Carolyn badly injured, we can't have you done in as well!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:06am

Thank you for your concern. *comes over to see if there's anything I can do for Carolyn*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:10am

She's waiting for Jack to come and look after her! ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:17am

Is there anything I can give her in the meantime - like a cold shower? *g* ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 17^th, 2003, 1:22am

KB! Whatever are you suggesting? ;D

8oo 8oo

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 3:18am

*amused but unconvinced by Vikki's attempt at innocence*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 17^th, 2003, 9:06am

*highly amused by the antics of fallers-down-cliffs and subsequent activities*

I didn't really think about it being a cliff-hanger, it just seemed like a good natural pause, also I had just realised that I had a tutorial in precisely two minutes for which I had done no reading.... you'd be surprised how much reading can be done in two minutes, actually.

*wondering whether to post more now or leave cliff there dangerously ;D*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:11pm

Placing large trampoline at the bottom of the cliff so we can have fun whilst we wait..8oo

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:34pm

After their conversation in the garden neither Jack nor Sylvia mentioned the subject again. It was too uncomfortable. But there was a new warmth between them that was noticed by more than one person, including the Staff.

"Young Sylvia seems to be settling down better now," remarked Miss Yolland one evening in the Staff's own sanctum. Kathie Ferrars loked up with interest.

"Ah, yes. I'd been meaning to mention that. She seems to be quite pally with Jack and her gang now."

"That's what I meant," agreed the Art mistress. "I'm glad. I must confess I was beginning to get slightly worried about her." She might have said more, but at that moment Nancy Wilmot came over from the window. sat down and heaved a great sigh.

"Well, it looks like we wont be getting out for a day or two."

"What?" It came as a chorus and she waved her hand at the window.

"Just look at that, my dears. Winter's early this year." With one accord her colleagues gazed out at the scene. It was snowing. Lightly at first, then more and more and more, until there was nothing to be seen but a whirling, cavorting, dizzying mass of white flakes.

***

Three days later the snow had stopped and the ground frozen hard. The School was in a state of suppressed excitement, since they knew quite well that they would be permitted to ski or toboggan as they chose. Such proved to be the case and fairly soon Sylvia found herself between Jack and Wanda, being towed up to the big meadow that the School used for its winter sports. There the girls disported themselves with shrieks of merry laughter and many tumbles, especially those who, like Sylvia, had never skied before. That young lady was having as much fun as any of them, but at last she insisted that her tutors go and get some fun of their own. She had not found it as difficult as she had been led to expect and was certain that she could manage a little alone.

Now she was near the side of the meadow, and as she made another attempt to slide forward she felt suddenly dizzy and promptly and naturally fell over.

Even before she lifted her head she could feel a difference. The air was colder and stiller. Although she could still hear the ring of girlish voices there somehow seemed to be far fewer of them. Slowly, she raised her face and gazed round. She had been right. There were perhaps a dozen quite big girls and two or three Staff sledging on the slope of glistening white snow that was overhung by the black shadow of the mountain, athough when you looked up at that it too glittered like diamonds. To Sylvia there was something sinister about it. A stillness, waiting. Waiting for something to happen. Sylvia shivered.

Then she realised that she was still sitting in the snow, and scrambled to her feet. Looking down she discovered that she was no longer wearing her skis. For some reason, that was more chilling than anything else.

She looked round at the girls. One in particular interested her. She seemed unable to walk without a stick, but she seemed to be enjoying herself and the rest helped her as much as they could. That, thought Sylvia, was the Chalet School.

Once again, without warning, came that involuntary shudder, running through her body, and something warned her to look round. What she saw made her heart stand still for one terrifying moment - a moment that seemed to last for an eternity.

For it looked as though a whole chunk of the mountain detached itself from the rest. Not in any hurry, but deliberately, dramatically, it fell. Loomed over them for a second. Then came the noise and the action. A huge, crashing roar that filled the air, the ears, the head, with nothing but itself. It sounded like the sea, only many, many times worse. Then it hit the slope, just above them, and exploded into millions of small lumps of snow, ice, and rock, which all rushed down with a terrible fury. Suddenly shocked out of her frozen horror, Sylvia saw that the other girls were making for a hut some way below. Even as she tried to follow she saw that some of them were helping the girl she had noticed before. Then it was as though the whole mountain had hit her back and was crashing past her. Her consciousness was filled with the sight of snow, ice, rocks, earth and nothing else except the greatest and most terrifying thunderous sound that she had yet heard. The weight crushed her beneath it until she could neither see, nor hear, nor move. She tried to scream, but there was only the tons of suffocating weight. Then everything suddenly died away, and she knew no more.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:36pm

I'm hoping I have the details from Trials right, but I don't have the book with me at Uni so I was working from memory here. Anyway, feel free to tell me if I haven't. ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lisa_T on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:52pm

That's no excuse, Abi! What do you think the transcripts are there for? ;) If you need more of Trials before continuing, download it and get on with it! ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 17^th, 2003, 12:54pm

I knew thast the thought of all of us bouncing up and down on a tramploine would do it!

The avalanche in 'Trials' didn't actually take place place at the school's meadow, but it's good to see it brought in, that's if Sylvia survives.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 17^th, 2003, 3:37pm

Very good Abi, very dramatic - more soon please.

BTW, I've always been a bit confused about the aftermath of that avalanche, it was supposed to have happened when the girls were away from the school, yet, after they were rescued, in the pb at least, all the matrons are waiting to rush them back to school as quickly as possible - was this an EBDism or just very bad editing in the pb?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 17^th, 2003, 4:24pm

AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Trapped between two cliffs!! Esmeralda! What are you trying to do to us? :o :o

Edited to add; Sorry, I meant Abi!! Mixing my drabbles!! :-[

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Emma_N on Nov 17^th, 2003, 5:12pm

More soon please!!! :)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 17^th, 2003, 8:16pm

on 11/17/03 at 16:24:22, Vikki wrote:

AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Trapped between two cliffs!! Esmeralda! What are you trying to do to us? :o :o

???Totally baffled as to what it is she is supposed to be doing/to have done.

Very politely asks Abi to post more story very soon because
a] it's stupendously exciting and
b] it may help to restore Vikki's equilibrium

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 17^th, 2003, 8:36pm

*Echoes Esmeralda's request for more please, Abi - and thinks Vikki might have got off at the wrong drabble! ;D*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 17^th, 2003, 10:30pm

Abi, that was great. I loved the shift, and that Sylvia is slowly finding her nice in the school.

*wonders which bad girl will be next*

*makes a list but decides not to publish it, in case Abi doesn't want me to*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 17^th, 2003, 10:34pm

on 11/17/03 at 15:37:42, Esmeralda wrote:

It was very bad editing. The HB says they were taken back to the Tratschin place, where "by midnight, everyone was safe in bed, having had a hot bath, another meal and been examined by Matron, who, most surprisingly, was waiting for them at the Tratschin farm.
It was not until they were all safely back at school that they learned that the news of the avalanche and the trapping of a party of schoolgirls had been broadcast the day after it had happened and brought the Chalet School contingent hotfoot to see what had happened."

That, I suppose, also accounts for the bit where "each girl was seized on by a mistress from the school and hugged vehemently.", although I'd always taken it to mean Mdlle and Miss Ferrars.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 18^th, 2003, 1:56am

on 11/17/03 at 20:16:00, Esmeralda wrote:

Very, very embarrassed! (especially after the way I teased KB for doing something similar the other night!! :-[ :-[)
Lesley, you were right! I got my drabbles mixed, that'll teach me to post in a hurry!! ::)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 18^th, 2003, 4:52am

on 11/18/03 at 01:56:47, Vikki wrote:

Very, very embarrassed! (especially after the way I teased KB for doing something similar the other night!! :-[ :-[)

*giggles delightedly at the fact that I'm not the only person who seems to lapse occasionally*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 18^th, 2003, 11:17am

[quote author=Vikki link=board=drabbles;num=1068865107;start=40#48 date=11/17/03 at 16:24:22]AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
Trapped between two cliffs!! Esmeralda! What are you trying to do to us? :o :o

Edited to add; Sorry, I meant Abi!! Mixing my drabbles!! :-[/quote]

Well, I'm quite flattered to be mixed up with Esmeralda, so don't apologise!

Actually, I did set the avalanche at Trat-whatever-it-was-called, she moves in place as well as time, but it doesn't really matter.

As for wondering who will be next.......................

well, that would be telling ;D ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 18^th, 2003, 11:24am

Nobody's asking you to tell, Abi, just to post more, and soon!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by PatW on Nov 18^th, 2003, 11:25am

So tell!! 8oo Go on! Dare you!! Tell us some more!!! 8oo

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 18^th, 2003, 11:55am

I'm flattered to br mixed up with this drabble!

Please post more soon please Abi, please, please, pretty please

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 18^th, 2003, 12:21pm

Back in the meadow at the Chalet, Jack paused to catch her breath from the swift race she had just had with Wanda and one or two others. Wanda herself pushed a loose curl back from her face, and looked round.

"Where is Sylvia?" she wondered aloud, and Jack too began to scrutinise the area.

"Queer," she muttered, "Where can she be?" An inexplicable something was warning her that all was not quite right. "Come on, some of you. We'd better look for the kid." It did not take long for herself, Wanda, Barbara (who was finding Sylvia a little less obnoxious by this time) and Renata van Buren, (another of Jack's circle of friends) to ascertain that their protegee was nowhere to be found. Gathered once more, they looked at one another.

"What now?" asked Barbara. Jack was looking very grim.

"We'll have to tell someone," and she swung off abruptly in the direction of Miss Annersley, who was chuckling with Miss Dene over some joke of their own. The others followed.

"Please, Miss Annersley!" A breathless Jack came to a halt in front of the Headmistress, who raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, Jack?" with some concern.

"Please, we've lost Sylvia!" Pause.

"What do you mean? Please explain."

"We just can't find her. She isn't anywhere," said Jack, somewhat incoherently. At this point the rest came up to corroborate the story.

"It is true. We have searched the field and cannot find her," said Wanda urgently. Having taken the news in, Miss Annersley lost no time in dealing with it. Raising her whistle to her lips, she blew hard. In a moment every girl was still and looking over towards the little group. The eyes of the two mistresses were already roaming over them.

"Sylvia Lennox!" Silence. No-one moved.

"Sylvia Lennox, please stand forward!" Still there was no movement. Glancing at the Head's face, Jack was startled by its gravity. Miss Annersley called all her colleagues over and they conferred for a moment before spreading over the meadow and beginning a thorough search. In frozen silence, the girls watched. The cold hand of fear was beginning to close round Jack's heart.

"Please let them find her. Oh please, let them find her."

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 18^th, 2003, 12:22pm

It seemed like hours, yet was probably only ten minutes, before Miss Dene turned with a cry and almost at once Miss Annersley, Miss Wilmot and Miss Ferrars were beside her, while the two other mistresses who were with them, fearing what may be found, formed the girls into columns in preparation for marching them back to School.

The four mistresses had worked frantically to uncover their charge and quite soon they were successful. But when big Nancy Wilmot lifted her, Sylvia lay limp in her arms, her eys closed and face almost as white as the snow that so easily might have killed her.

[please note the noble resistance of still, grey......]

"Quick! We must get her back to School at once," said Miss Annersley firmly, and it was literally a matter of seconds before the unconscious girl was packed onto a toboggan in the arms of Miss Ferrars - as the lightest of those present - and flying in the direction of School.

***************************

All was quiet in the little room. Its occupants stood watching that white face, surrounded by fair curls that now lay lankly on the pillow. Its owner, an hour later, was still fighting for her life. Every remedy had been attempted to rouse her, and all had failed. Jack Maynard, Matron, Miss Annersley and Miss Dene were forced to stand by and watch. helpless to do anything.

A moment later Jack stepped forward with a mumur. His sensitive doctor's fingers felt for the pulse and the three women looked at him in sudden hope. The atmosphere in the room, though still silent, was nevertheless tingling with excitement.

Then Sylvia's head moved slightly. She sighed faintly, and her eyelids rose. She looked carefully at each person in the room and spoke in a tiny whisper.

"Did it hit anyone?"

They looked at one another uneasily, each one wondering what the child meant, and with a growing fear in their hearts. The whisper came again, stronger this time.

"Did it? Are they hurt?" Still no-one spoke. Then, suddenly, her eyes closed again. She moved a hand restlessly and murmured something unintelligible. Jack's face grew grimmer and grimmer. Sylvia murmured again.

"Jack - what is it?" ventured Rosalie at last. He didn't answer, but a few minutes later he swept them out of the room.

"Now, Jack," said Hilda. "We want to know what's going on." Dr. Maynard bit his lip.

"To tell the truth, Hilda, I'm not certain. So far as I can tell there is no injury - beyond cuts and bruises - to account for teh unconsciousness, nor is there fever. The only explanation I can think of is that she has been deprived of oxygen for long enough for it to have affected the brain. Yet, in that case I am not sure she would be capable of lucid speech. You say she could have been buried for up to twenty minutes?" Hilda nodded. "Then by rights she should not really be with us now. By the way, I was surprised by the number of cuts and bruises she has. Can you explain those?" Rosalie and Hilda looked at one another and shook their heads.

"So far as we can tell she simply slid into the drift. There was nothing near that could have done that to her. But I can vouch for the fact that they weren't there this morning. I saw her myself," said Rosalie with certainty.

"Hm," said Jack thoughtfully. Sylvia was unconscious again. Jack called in a Swiss doctor for a second opinion, but he too was baffled. I will not detail the rest of the discussion, as it merely went round in circles along the lines already described, with the one consensus that there was definitely something here that could not be explained.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 18^th, 2003, 12:35pm

Thanks Abi, this is getting really exciting, and a little bit scary too, I can't wait to see what's going to happen next....
(hint, hint)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by PatW on Nov 18^th, 2003, 12:37pm

Come on Abi, you don't want the chant to start, do you? ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 18^th, 2003, 3:57pm

Definitely scary. I hope that these lessons that Sylvia has to learn aren't going to get any harsher, or with possibly more tragic consequences.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by xanthe on Nov 18^th, 2003, 4:51pm

Oooooooooooooooooh *goes all wide-eyed* more PLEASE Abi!!!!!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 18^th, 2003, 5:56pm

Pleeeeeaasseeeeeeeeeeee don't leave us hanging Abi!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 18^th, 2003, 7:25pm

Excellent Abi - please post more soon!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 18^th, 2003, 7:46pm

Please post some more soon, Abi!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 18^th, 2003, 8:12pm

Oh, goodness! Poor Sylvia! I wonder if Jack will try to explain the situation to Miss Annersley, and whether she will be believed. And are we going to see her mother soon? I assume she will come to be with her daughter...

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 19^th, 2003, 12:05pm

Well......... *ducking to avoid hard and heavy objects thrown* I have this teeny-weeny problem. I had written it nearly up to the end, but having read it through again I have discovered that all of what I wrote was actually a load of rubbish, so now I'm going to have to re-write it all aaaaggghhhhhhh!!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 19^th, 2003, 1:54pm

Well what you have posted isn't rubbish, so take some encouragement from that.

Wonders wether to set up a subsidary camp here and stamping on the ground to see if tent pegs will go in.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 19^th, 2003, 5:11pm

*produces one of those newfangled tents that don't need tent pegs!!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lisa_T on Nov 19^th, 2003, 7:43pm

*hands Vikki all the bottles of Baileys to weight the tent down. Just in case. Can't have it wafting off*

More Abi!!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 19^th, 2003, 8:54pm

Abi, why don't you post it and let us be the judges of whether it's rubbish or not?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 21^st, 2003, 11:39am

Here is the re-written version...

Something that could not be explained.

Sylvia should either have been dead or swiftly recovering by this time. Instead she was drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. In her conscious moments she was increasingly lucid and quite lively - certainly not delirious. Yet these did not last long, anything between ten minutes and half an hour and as soon as they slipped away the pendulum swung to the opposite extreme and the doctors employed every remedy they could think of - but all to no effect until another period of wellness came, in apparently random fashion.

By six o'clock the unconscious spells were causing so much anxiety that it was decided to contact Mr. and Mrs. Lennox. Rosalie Dene, hastening to the office to perform this duty, was waylaid in the corridor - and this not entirely by chance - by Jack Lambert, who accosted her with little regard for ceremony.

"MIss Dene, how is Sylvia? Is she ill?" Rosalie was in a hurry, but a blindfolded mole with an eye problem could have seen that Jack was highly distressed, so she skidded to a halt to try to reassure her. Unsure of how much the Head, the doctors and the parents would wish to be told to the other girls, she also felt that it would be unfair to leave Sylvia's friends in suspense. She made up her mind.

"Yes, Jack. Sylvia is ill. I am just on my way to contact her parents."

Jack stared at her in horror. This told her how serious Sylvia's condition must be.

"Then -?"

"I can't tell you much, Jack, at the moment. I must go now." And she hurried off, leaving Jack to wend her way slowly back to the Common Room and inform the Form of the situation so far as she understood it.

In the meantime, Rosalie had telephoned the contact number given by the Lennoxes. It turned out that this was a town some thirty miles from the settlement in which they were living, but that since the weather was good, a message could be got to them within six or seven hours. Rosalie ground her teeth and asked the speaker to tell the Lennoxes to phone the School as soon as possible as their daughter was ill.

Thousands of miles away, Amy Lennox and her husband recieved the news that their only, loved daughter was ill at the Chalet School. Waiting for nothing but to gather a few necessaries they made haste for the town and the telephone, flying over the snow and ice as though their own lives depended on it.

And even as they raced through the night, Sylvia lay still in a white bed in a warm room, her life hanging in the balance and no-one able to do a thing about it, had they but known it.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 21^st, 2003, 11:41am

There are a couple of things I'm not sure about it the last bit - the medical side of things, which I know nothing about and have just used my common sense, which is apt to fail me at crucial moments, and the ease of communication to eskimo settlements, at which I have made a wild guess but - hey! ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Katarzyna on Nov 21^st, 2003, 11:44am

pretty sure that they would have had satellite phone

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 21^st, 2003, 11:49am

Was the technology that advanced in the 1950s? Anyway, Abi, another heart-stopping part. You write in a way that is guaranteed to draw the reader into the story and away from their own problems. Great work!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 21^st, 2003, 12:15pm

Abi, please post some more, and quickly. I really need to know what happens next, and you wouldn't disappoint me, would you? :)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 21^st, 2003, 12:56pm

Well, I haven't written any more yet - and believe me, I almost always write it first the good old-fashioned pen-and-paper way before typing it up (and I have a very evil pen that is under the impression that ink is for flinging around the room rather than writing with) errrr, where was I? I might try writing a bit more off the top of my head in a minute but I have to go and help my friend straighten her hair in the Uni toilets (she is quite vain and reading this over my shoulder ;D ) so when I get back perhaps.....

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 21^st, 2003, 1:16pm

Please write more soon Abi!! :)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 21^st, 2003, 1:47pm

ummmm, ok, that's not going to happen. I have a class in six minutes so tomorrow it will have to be as I will probably get bored ten minutes into the class and decide that it is much more fun to write about Sylvia on the brink of death than talk about Bloody Mary.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 21^st, 2003, 4:40pm

*settles down to wait for the next installment!!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 21^st, 2003, 9:21pm

*wonders whether perhaps Elinor has put herself into the pen to prevent Abi from writing* Evil ideas? Me??

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 12:31pm

Oh help! I'm getting a new pen this very afternoon! I can write with it, though, I just turn a fascinating shade of blue when I do.

Anyway.........

Although the Lennoxes barely lost ten minutes after a brief phone call to the Chalet School, and flew to Switzerland, it was still late in the following afternoon when they entered the small room where Sylvia lay. As they walked in, heads still spinning from their swift journey across the world, they glanced at one another in confusion.

Sylvia was looking relatively perky , with a healthy colour in her cheeks, a spark in her eyes, and wide, welcoming smile on her lips. The exact situation had been explained to them by the doctor who drove them up to the Gornetz Platz, but it was a shock after hearing the worst to see the best.

"Mum! Dad!" Her voice sounded quite normal and her parents made an attempt to pull themselves together. Yet even as they chatted both of them were noticing how Matron and the doctors hovered round, obviously waiting for the swing back of which they had been warned. For over twenty-four hours now it had literally been like a pendulum (albeit an irregular one) as Sylvia slternated between god health and high spirits and teetering on the very brink of death. By this time there were three doctors from the Sanatorium and a specialist who had been summoned from France. All were baffled. Nothing they did had any effect and it was unlike anything any of them had seen before.

They had wondered whether the presence of her parents would prevent the girl from slipping back again and their hope seemed to be borne out, as an hour later Sylvia was still talking and laughing. The doctors began to relax a little.

Another hour went by and she had eaten a light meal. Amy and Martin were beginning to think that the Chalet School authorities, the Sanatorium, the specialist and possibly even Sylvia herself, had been involved in a huge conspiracy to get them there for some unfathomable reason.

In fact, to sum it up briefly, hope was rising in the hearts of everyone present.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 12:33pm

Why do I get the feeling that this improvement is not going to last?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 12:48pm

Perhaps Abi has been influenced by your drabbles Carolyn ;D

More soon please Abi - I really need to know how this is all going to pan out.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 12:52pm

*Pendulum starting to swing the other way!*

Really enjoying this - more please!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 12:59pm

Please post some more, and don't leave us hanging off the edge of this cliff, Abi.

Eagerly awaiting more, more, more.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 1:28pm

Well, just to save your fingers for other drabbles like the Elinor one..................

But it was not to last. Until about half-past eight no-one who didn't know would have guessed Sylvia to be ill. But even as the mantle-clock struck the half hour she gave a gasp and suddenly went very white.

"Sylvie!" cried Amy and bent over her daughter. She was gently thrust aside as Jack Maynard and the other doctors bore down on the patient, wielding potions, smells, and needles which they applied in desperate feverishness. But all to no avail.

And this time it really was to no avail. Sylvia's breath became laboured, her eyes closed.

Ten minutes later, to put it bluntly, Sylvia was dead.

The real question now, was why?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 3:21pm

*wailing*

AAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NO! You can't kill her off!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by PatW on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 4:25pm

We've been fooled by a seeming death before!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by xanthe on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 4:59pm

What? What-what?? What-what-what-what-what-what-what!!??!!?? (And other expressions of my surprise and disbelief)

Abiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! *wailing in a fashion that belies her age*

what's going on!!!!!!!??!!!!!!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lisa_T on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 5:46pm

Give it half an hour and she'll come back to life, a la Robin and Joey! ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 6:01pm

Abi!!!!! What are you doing to us?? :o :o

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 6:44pm

If she is totally and irrevocabbally dead how on earth is any one going to find out how and why?
And why did the ghosts suddenly become malicious? Was it because Sylvia talked about them?
Please, Abi, come back and tell us what happens next.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 7:00pm

*Lesley would be very worried except she knows that other stories have included people apparently dying then not. Is prepared to wait and see, but must confess to being a little apprehensive. Please post soon!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 8:14pm

*giggles at the frequent use of 'to put it bluntly'*

*also willing to wait for confirmation that she isn't coming back*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 9:01pm

Ermmm, yesssss, wellllllllll, I wasn't expecting that, or at least not in quite so 'blunt' a fashion.

*waiting expectantly to see if all is as it seems or not*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 22^nd, 2003, 10:04pm

*wonders where on earth Abi has got to!* ???

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:45pm

on 11/22/03 at 20:14:00, KB wrote:

*giggles at the frequent use of 'to put it bluntly'*

Hey! I only used it once! I think... *wonders if senility is kicking in already*

*giggling at the effect Sylvia's death has had but impressed at one particular good guesser......*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:47pm

Just don't bring the Robin in to sing the Red Sarafan. That would be unforgiveable.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:48pm

Oooooh, good idea! I hadn't thought of that!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:49pm

Abi! Stop teasing and give us some more story!

Please?

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:52pm

Patience, dear, patience ;) I've written four lines and they're hardly going to be useful. It's coming though, all in good time.

*speaking in a soothing voice to calm catherine down*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 2:53pm

Don't want to be soothed! Want more story! :P ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:00pm

Ok, here you are..........

There was only one person who knew the answer to this question, and she would never be able to tell. For, contrary to the wild hopes of her parents (and other people), Sylvia was not about to suddenly return to life.

satisfied? ;D

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:04pm

NO! You can't let her die!

*thinks Abi is mean and nasty and goes off sulking* ;)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:06pm

*is unrepentant but wonders if this means I can stop writing?*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by catherine on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:19pm

Who said anything about you being able to stop writing?

Hurry up and post some more!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:24pm

*giggles*

But I am a kind and obliging person, so here's the next bit...

***
Half past eight
***

Sylvia was happy, and even she hoped that she might recover. It had certainly never entered her head that she might not live, for she had been told nothing about the seriousness and confusing-ness of her condition.

“And, Mum, ski-ing is unbelievably fun,” she was saying. “I’m not too good at it yet, but…” The chime of the clock rang through her head and the words stuck in her throat. A strange mist seemed to be hovering around the occupants of the room and her mother’s voice sounded a long, long way away as she bent over and said,

“Sylvie?” the sound lingered on in Sylvia’s head. One bit of the room suddenly stood out clearly. The door opened and a woman walked in. Sylvia had never seen her before, but she looked rather nice. Not very tall, with greying hair and a kind, not beautiful, face. She came over to the bed, and her presence somehow made that of the crowd of doctors fade away.

“Sylvia,” she said. Her voice was attractive, and Sylvia smiled up at her. “Sylvia, come with me now, please.” She held out her hand and, wondering, Sylvia took it, rose from the bed, and followed her to the door. She glanced back and found that her vision had cleared completely. Then she did a double-take.

It was a strange scene that she saw. Surrounding the bed were four doctors, all bending over, with Matron standing close by and handing them things, while her parents stood in the background, watching with terrified eyes. And on the bed, very still and lifeless, there she was.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 3:37pm

Well, I'm off to do some work and then cook my dinner cos I had no lunch and am VERY hungry! ta-ra!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 4:05pm

Is it Mademoiselle come to fetch her?? ???

Abi - more please!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 4:06pm

Hmm, interesting development. You don't stop there, lets have some more please. PLEASE, Pretty PLEASE!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 23^rd, 2003, 5:14pm

Abi!!!!!!
Haven't you finished your dinner yet?
Hurry up PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE we're waiting!!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 24^th, 2003, 11:12am

Ta-da! I went home, ate my dinner and thus gained valuable inspiration.........here is the result:

Sylvia stared at herself for a moment. Then she turned to the woman.

"What's going on? Why am I there - and here?" The woman looked at her gravely.

"Do you still not realise what has happened?"

Sylvia looked at her parents, at the doctors who by this time were almost despairing, at herself, then back at the woman.

"Am I - have I - who are you?"

At this point, the doctors stepped back, looking very grim. It was Jack Maynard who took on the unenviable task of announcing the situation.

"I'm sorry, Mr. - Mrs. Lennox. There is no more that we can do." Ashen-faced, Amy turned to her husband.

"She's dead, Martin," she said in a little, flat voice. "Sylvia's dead." Sylvia's lips trembled dangerously and she started forward.

"Mum!" she tried to embrace her mother, but Amy shivered and clung closer to Martin. Sylvia bit her lip and turned back to the strange lady.

"Come," she said, and once again she took the girl's hand.

"Wait!" said Sylvia. "Wait, I want to know a few things. Who are you? And why did I - have to die?" The woman surveyed her for a minute.

"You, Sylvia, have seen scenes of the Chalet School history, and you have learnt from them. There are few who have had this experience, but you are not the first, nor will you be the last. But you have done something else. You have spoken to others of what you have seen, and that is too dangerous. For yourself, for the one to whom you have spoken, and to all. And so it is necessary that you should come to us. As for who I am - have you heard of Mademoiselle Lepattre?"

"Yes, I think so."

"I was the first member of the Chalet School to die, and for that reason I am here to help those who follow me." Sylvia nodded slowly. It all seemed quite normal now.

"Now, come." For the third time, Mademoiselle took Sylvia's hand, and led her away.

Title: [u][Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 24^th, 2003, 11:51am

Epilogue
Many people mourned the passing of Sylvia. Her Form at the Chalet School, who had been becoming quite fond of her – especially Jack, who alone in the world had any idea why Sylvia might have died, and she said nothing. Also her friends at home and her relatives. But most of all did Amy and Martin Lennox sorrow for their daughter. After the funeral, held in the School’s own little Chapel, they tried to return to their normal lives and to a great extent succeeded, though Sylvia never lost her place in their hearts. A year later they adopted a six year old girl who had lost her parents in a ski-ing accident, and a few months after, a small boy.

And so life went on with the Lennoxes, and at the Chalet School, and Sylvia was remembered, and one day many years later she was reunited with those who loved her.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Jennie on Nov 24^th, 2003, 11:59am

Abi, this is truly tragic, I'm flabbergasted that you killed her off!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Abi on Nov 24^th, 2003, 1:39pm

Awww, thanks Jennie, I was really scared about writing the death cos I really can't do tear-jerkers, they just go sloppy if I try - I was so scared when I realised she would have to die, because really it was inevitable. That was why I had to re-write - the first version was awful! I'm quite excited because this is only the second story I've ever finished in my life! Wow!!

Please, people, tell me what you think of this and don't be afraid to say it was terrible - I'm quite prepared for that!

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lisa on Nov 24^th, 2003, 2:09pm

Abi, I'm sorry, but put it bluntly (!) this was terrible ...

terribly good, that is ! ;D

(I can't make that rotating blue smiley work)

I have just come back to this after about a week, and so I've had the advantage of reading it straight through - even so I found myself on the edge of a cliff frequently (& I'm scared of heights >:( ) You've wriiten a great piece which has really involved us! Well done to have the audacity to kill her off! I love the quite comforting idea of Mddle LePattre being there to take care of her. Hmm, who else will be keeping her company?

*goes off to try and make lists of past deaths and wonder what they're all doing in the CS afterlife!*

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Vikki on Nov 24^th, 2003, 3:21pm

Abi, this is really good! (Although that twist at the end wasn't what I expected!!)

And Lisa, to get the blue smiley, type in 8 oo, but without the space! 8oo

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lisa_T on Nov 24^th, 2003, 5:49pm

*experimenting*
8oo 8oo

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Carolyn P on Nov 24^th, 2003, 6:48pm

I think that you are probably right to kill her, and to do it 'bluntly' if you didn't like the way it turnrd out when you tried to do it any other way.

This was a good story, I remember the nerves I had when I posted my first story here, and killed Robin in the process. I look forward to reading your next story.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Lesley on Nov 24^th, 2003, 10:07pm

Abi - really enjoyed the story - wonderful twist - and to kill your main character - impressive!!

Please write and post more stories! :)

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by KB on Nov 24^th, 2003, 11:23pm

Abi, there's no need to worry. This was an excellent story. I think the death was inevitable (some character do die, even if we don't want them to) and you wrote it beautifully.

Title: Re: Ghosts at the CS ~ part 2
Post by Esmeralda on Nov 24^th, 2003, 11:35pm

That was really good Abi, to put it bluntly, I certainly didn't expect the twist at the end - it's nice to think of Mddle Lepattre being there to look after Sylvia though, but it was very tragic for her parents.