Vote! Which Story?

Well, the poll has now closed and the winner with 3 votes is...'The Dreaded Tabitha!' I will move the other chapters from the competition to the bottom of the page so you can still read them, but they are away from the main focus. So, I shall continue with the story of 
'The Dreaded Tabitha'...

The Dreaded Tabitha 

Chapter 1
"This is going to be the worst school trip ever," moaned Izzy. She was sitting next to her friend, Jasmine, and they were on the bus to Dartmoor. "There'll be no toilets, no shelter, and it's raining. Could this day get any more fabulous?" 
"You wait," said Jasmine, "We're hiking up one of the tors. It's right on top of a hill 6 miles from the car park." Izzy sighed, and opened a bag of sweets.
"We might as well enjoy our time on this warm, dry bus. We'll be on here again in 5 hours, muddy, tired and cold." She offered the sweets around, avoiding Simon Clarke. He was not her favourite class mate. But Simon noticed her.
"Oi, Isabelle! Give us a gummy bear." he shouted across the bus. Izzy groaned, and said,
"These are for people who shared their sweets with me, not for noisy idiots with no manners." A few students sniggered.
"Fine," Simon muttered, scowling. He added in a low, spooky voice "But don't expect my help if the Dreaded Tabitha gets you." Jasmine whipped around.
"The dreaded who?"
"The Dreaded Tabitha," Simon said. He had the attention of half the bus now. 
"A few years ago, a mining family had to leave their house because the police were after them, and they hid in a cave. It had been made by the dynamite the miners used to blow up the rocks, and a small hidey-hole had been created. The family hid in there, but someone was loading the cliff-side with more dynamite for another explosion. The parents escaped in time, but their 6-year old daughter wasn't so lucky. 
"Her name was Tabitha. She got trapped in the cave, and had to eat the mosses and plants that grew in the rock, and drink the rain that dripped through the crevices. She became hardy and tough, pulling away the rocks to free herself with her bare hands. When she eventually found her way out, her parents were long gone - caught by the police, and jailed for the crime they had tried to run away from. Tabitha still roams the mining areas of Dartmoor, kidnapping children and throwing them over the cliff if they have no news of her parents.
 And that is why you don't go to Dartmoor alone." 

There was a silence that followed this haunting tale. Izzy shivered, but Jasmine had the courage to laugh and say scathingly,
"Yeah, that's likely. Why don't you go to Cornwall and look for pixies while you're on the subject!" A ringing laugh swelled in the bus, a cacophony of taunts and jeers.
"They're called piskies in Cornwall, Jaz." whispered Izzy.
"I don't care," Jasmine grinned. "Just wanted to point out that we're not as easily fooled as he thinks we are." Izzy still felt uneasy about the story, and felt there was some truth behind it.

"You never know, though. As daft as he is,  Simon could be right. You never know."

Chapter 2
 
The bus pulled up in a small car park. A groan filled the bus - they had arrived. Mr Goodwin, the Geography teacher in charge of the trip, stood up and said,
"Right then 8Q. Don't bring anything with you apart from your lunch. You will want a coat and wellies too, 'cause it's cold out there. Any questions? No, you can't take your phone Phillips. Take that hoodie off Clarke, do you really think that slogan is suitable for school? I don't care, take it off NOW."
Izzy picked up her boots. Great, she thought. They are far too small for me. And I've got to walk 6 miles in these. Oh well. There's no going back now.

                                                                      ***
 The girls trudged on to the tor. Jasmine was trying to stay cheerful, but it was clear she was just as cold and miserable as Izzy felt. Finally, after what seemed like endless walking (and slipping), Mr Goodwin shouted, "Here's lunch. We are leaving in about an hour to walk back, so you've got plenty of time to muck about. Don't walk off though, else you'll get lost." He walked to a nice sheltered outcrop of rock and sat under it. Jasmine sighed and said,
"Sir's just gone and taken the best spot. What'll we do now?" Izzy looked at her friend. Jaz's hair was stuck to her face with sweat and rain, and her hands were going blue. She looked defeated. 
"Hang on, there's some sheltered woodland over there," Izzy smiled. "It'll be drier and less windy in there."
"What about sir?" Jasmine said worriedly. Izzy pointed. Mr Goodwin was busy eating a large pasty and drinking tea from a thermos flask, oblivious to the students jumping from rocks and trading packets of crisps.  "Let's go, then!" Jaz grinned. They grabbed their bags and ran to the woods. It was still cold, but there was no wind whistling around them and worming into every gap in their clothing. Izzy found a small rock for them to sit on. The two companions opened their lunchboxes and ate their sandwiches in silence. Trees rustled, and a single bird sang a mournful tune before slowing to a halt as a twig snapped. Izzy whipped around. There was no-one there...but who stepped on the twig?
"Did you hear that?" Jasmine said nervously. Izzy nodded, frightened. Another twig broke, followed by someone swearing under their breath. The two girls looked at each other and grabbed each other's hands. "Who are you? Show yourself!" Jasmine yelled bravely. A tall skinny figure rose out of a clump of ferns just a foot from the terrified pair. She had stringy dirty blonde hair, and wore a very tattered jumper and jeans that were at least six inches too small for her. Long legs covered in cuts and bruises supported a thin torso with equally spindly arms. Her face had a feral look, and two mad, hazel eyes were burning with laughter. 
"So you found me," she said in a deep, scratchy voice.
"Who are you?" repeated Jasmine, although not as bravely as before. The girl laughed insanely.
"Haven't you heard the stories they say about me? I'm Tabitha. Or, as the call me now, 
The Dreaded Tabitha."

Chapter 3 

Izzy was terrified. Simon had been right; there really was a mad, evil girl who lived on the plains of Dartmoor. She stood, shivering, in front of the monster that was glaring at the two frightened school kids. Tabitha sighed, frustrated, and pulled something large and hairy out of one nostril.
"Well? What's wrong with you?" she demanded, "Most people run screaming. Am I losing my touch?" Jasmine bravely stood on tiptoe and looked Tabitha right in the eye.
"No." Jas declared, "You are scary, but we know what happened to you. We know that you were left on your own, abandoned, as a small child." The skinny terror before the friends stopped scowling. "We know that your parents didn't come back to look for you." Tabitha sat down and twirled some of her dirty hair around one finger. "We know that you spend all of your life looking for them, but they still haven't come for you." Izzy looked on, shocked, as the legend of the moors started to sob. A large tear fell onto the moss in front of them.
"I want them back," Tabitha said, still sniffing. "They don't love me, but I love them. And I won't rest properly until I'm in my bed at my house, being tucked in by my mum."
 Jasmine looked upset. Her parents had divorced a few months back, and she knew what it felt like.
"We'll help you. We'll get you back home safely, won't we Izzy?" Izzy nodded fervently. She put her arm over the older girl's shoulder. Tabitha sniffed violently, and gave her a watery smile.
"But we'll never find them. They're in jail now, that's how we got separated." 
Jasmine grinned fiendishly.
"They are at a new house in Kent, actually," she said triumphantly. "When Simon started waffling on about that story, I did a little research on my phone. A newspaper from a year ago says that John and Samantha Silvest were released from their 5-year imprisonment early, due to some evidence against them being proven false. Basically, someone lied about your parents to get them locked up." 
"But who would do that?" said Izzy, horrified."Lying in court is illegal!"
"Never mind that," said Tabitha fiercely, "for now, anyway. I've got to get to Kent as fast as I can. Living on the moors ain't much fun, you know. Where do we start?" Izzy grimaced at the sound of a voice hollering down the slope.
"Mr Goodwin's on the prowl, we'd better go. Follow behind us if you want. Just stay close and we'll do our best to get you back to school with us." 
So Tabitha bid them farewell, and disappeared into the trees. Jas and Izzy got a good shouting at, but managed to avoid detention. They walked at the back of the group, glancing at the thinning woods. But Tabitha was too good. She slid around behind the rocks on the pathway, ducking and diving under the ruined walls. It was going very well, until Simon Clarke slowed down and waited for them.
"So... Anyone seen the Dreaded Tabitha yet?" he jeered, wriggling his fingers like some sort of worm. Yes, thought Izzy. We've seen her all right.
"Shut up, Clarke,"she scorned, however, "Still haven't grown up enough to know she isn't real?" 
Jasmine kept glancing at the rocks, though, and Simon got suspicious.
"What's over there?" he inquired.
"N-Nothing," said Jasmine unconvincingly. "It's a... um..."
"Deer!" said Izzy, a little too brightly. "You get tonnes of them round here in autumn."
"Yeah right," Simon sneered. "I'm gonna look over there and see what you're hiding."
"No, no, no, no, no..." moaned Izzy softly as Simon looked down, beyond the dip in the hillside...
"There IS nothing there." he said, disappointed.
"You scared the deer away, of course." Jasmine smiled, relieved. Tabitha gave a thumbs-up from a nearby bush - naturally she had slipped off at the last moment.
Their secret was safe - for now.

Chapter 4

So Izzy and Jasmine boarded the bus, relieved and exhausted. The walk wasn't quite as bad as they had anticipated, but it had still been hard work. Tabitha had managed to stow herself away in the luggage compartment above the girls' seats, and was able to stay hidden, although a little squashed.
"Mission accomplished!" Jasmine whispered triumphantly to her partner in crime, who grinned back in reply. Izzy was pleased that they had got this far undetected, but the journey from their little Devon town to Kent was haunting her. It would be very difficult to get there, and how would they travel? What would Tabitha's parents say when they arrived? And could they even begin? If they were caught before they'd started, there was really no hope. But they had plenty of time ahead of them, so they could afford a few little mistakes. 
They took the wellies off their aching feet, and relaxed with their headphones on. Simon came stamping onto the bus, covered in mud. He'd fallen over in a ditch at the last stile, which had put him in a very bad mood. Izzy snorted as he passed, earning a glare fit to kill. Jasmine noticed and called over to him, 
"Did the Dreaded Tabitha shove you over? Or were you just being an idiot, like usual?" Sniggers arose in the bus once more, and Simon's neck went scarlet with suppressed annoyance. He sat down without saying anything, however, and pulled his phone out of his bag.  



Here are the other 2 stories that didn't win the competition. 

Abra-class-dabra

Charlotte Rebecca Caroline O' Doline was very spoilt. Very spoilt, very rude and very, very naughty.
Even her father said so. She was very rich, but never went to school and therefore didn't learn manners. She had had so many home tutors it was unbelievable. Short ones, tall ones, thin ones, fat ones, strict ones, relaxed ones... They had all taught her for one day, and said she was impossible. 562 teachers with the best intentions had driven home, shocked and appalled.
Not that Charlotte was stupid - oh, no! She was very bright, but spent her time thinking of tricks to play on the next tutor, rather than her French infinitives and her algebra homework. 

One day, after the 563rd tutor had rushed home with mice jumping out of his pockets, Charlotte's gran came to her house. 
"Charlotte, this is an outrage," Gran said. "You are a clever, able girl but you are lazy and troublesome too. I will choose your next tutor myself, and he will sort you out."
 Charlotte looked up from her bone china tea set. "No he won't. I'll send him away like all the others, and I shan't have any tutors ever. I don't want to learn, and I won't. So there."
Her grandmother left the room, and went to the telephone. Alaric Boricius Spark was an old friend, and he could make that terrible child become a nicer person. Charlotte would meet her match in him.

Mr Spark, wizarding extraordinaire was filling his spellbook with new charms when he got Elizabeth's call. Her grandchild needed help, and that was for sure. Alaric promised to come tomorrow, and start right away. His wand was tingling; it could feel its master's excitement. Mr Spark opened his bag and piled it with ingredients, cauldrons, potions, books... 
 Alaric knew what he needed to do, and he set about it right away. 

Stowaway!

17th August 1782
Dear Diary,
I've done it. I've left the village. It was so dull, just feeding animals when I know that out there, somewhere, sailors are having a right lark. I, Arabella Edwards, am a stowaway. When the merchant's ship docked in the harbor, I told mother I needed to get some cabbages from the local market, and ran to the boat. I slipped in unseen; all the sailor's were in the pub! I hid in the store room, under the coils of spare ropes. After a few hours, they all came parading back on deck. No-one came down to the store room once. I'll stay down here until I've had enough. 
I didn't take anything with me apart from half a loaf of Baker's bread, and this diary. If mother asks where I am, Toby will tell her what I told him to say; I've run away to sea. That's close enough to the truth. 
Hang on, someone's coming. I'll put this basket of onions on my head, they'll never see me then. Oh. One of the sailors is looking for something. Onions. He's lifting up the basket! He's spotted me!