HORROR STORIES

Uncle Montague´s Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly

The apple tree

Uncle Montague orders more tea and cakes and begins another of his stories:

“It was October and a boy called Simon Hawkins was leaning on de cold damp garden wall staring at Old Mother Tallow. She couldn’t see him because she was blind. This old, ugly woman always wore a thick grey coat, a heavy long dress, black boots and fingerless gloves. People said she was a witch and the village children didn’t dare go into her garden. At Halloween they threw eggs at her house and then ran away.

As Simon was leaning on the wall he heard her shout:

Who’s there? I may be blind but I’m not deaf or stupid.

My name is Martin, Simon lied. What are you doing?

Martin, is it? she said, suspiciously. I’m pruning my apple trees so that they give me delicious apples. If I didn’t prune them they would waste all their energy growing new branches and leaves… they need to be tamed.

As she said this last word the secateurs snapped quickly open and shut.

Now go away!

Why should I? I’m not doing anything, said Simon.

When she heard this, the old woman came fiercely towards him. There was something so horrible in her marble-like eyes he couldn’t bear to look at her and quickly ran away.

When Simon asked his mother about Old Mother Tallow she remembered her very well from when she was a child. All the children said she was a witch and that she captured children who came into her garden and ate them.

They used to say she was immensely rich… and they used to say that if you put one foot in her garden she flew at you like a crow and pecked out your eyes.

Promise you won’t go up to her house, Simon.

Promise, he said.

But Simon was greedy and disobedient and he was also quite prepared to steal from the old blind woman. The next day he went back to Old Mother Tallow’s house. As soon as he put his foot on the grass over the garden wall she came out of her house:

Who’s there? she cried.

Simon kept quiet and she went into the garden. He crept into the dusty old house which was full of cobwebs. Simon looked around and suddenly he saw an old wooden box full of pound notes. He put them in his pocket and just as he was closing the box he noticed the carved picture on the front. It seemed to be moving! It was a picture of five apple trees – how strange as there were only four in Mother Tallow’s garden – and the old woman. But how could she be moving?!

He decided to run out of the house but as soon as he reached the garden a white flash immobilized him. It was as if he was rooted to the ground. He couldn’t move his feet or arms and suddenly a bird landed on his forearm. At first he thought he was tied to an apple tree but very quickly he began to realise the awful truth-he WAS an apple tree! Ad there was Old Mother Tallow coming towards him with the secateurs!

Now then, I think we will need to do a lot of work on you, she said. A lot of work.

As Uncle Montague came to the end of this chilling story, he showed Edgar the box that Simon had seen, with the moving figure on it. Once again, Edgar wanted to ask the question: How did it get here?.”