Chapter Three :

You are driving the woman’s car down a country road 

It’s really fun 

The road is bumpy and you jump up and down in the seat as the wheels hit the potholes

Your feet only just reach the pedals - but that doesn’t seem to be a problem

You take your first corner 

The tyres squeal  

You turn the steering wheel quickly the other way – crossing your hands over and over

Then the road straightens out  

You keep driving 

The road gets busier 

No-one seems bothered and you get more confident 

You turn on the radio

They are talking about the train

You change to another station 

You like the song and you start to dance along as you drive 

In the distance you see a sign 

“airport” 

– there  

down the road on the right 

Brilliant  ! 

You slow down 

You indicate 

You turn right 

And then drive straight 

This is easy  !!    you think 

But not for long…

Behind you - you see a flashing blue light

You hear a siren 

The police.

You hope that they are after someone else 

But no.

they drive alongside you and the police officer in the passenger seat winds down her window and waves for you to pull over 

You look straight ahead and avoid her eyes

They try to pull in front of you but you speed up 

They speed up 

You put your foot hard on the pedal and you zoom off into the distance, overtaking cars as you go

This is a nice car

Watch out there’s a lorry in front of you  !

Phew you just missed that by millimetres

The police car is now way behind you   

You take a sharp left turn  

spinning the wheel and skidding across the road just missing a bus coming towards you 

Everyone is beeping their horns at you 

You have never had so much fun 

Look   !

There’s the airport  !

You weave between the cars coming in both directions 

Everyone gets out of your way 

You slow down as you approach the entrance 

A man waves at you that you can’t park there 

You pull up 

You pull on the handbrake 

You leave the car running and you run into the airport 

You stand and look at the departures board 

You check that you still have your passport

You go up to the desk and you ask for a ticket to Bristol

You’d better hurry it’s about to depart 

You run to the check in

‘Passport’ 

Thankyou 

‘Whats your name ?’

‘How old are you ?’

‘What do you do for a living ?’

Can you sign here please

They check your signature against your passport, nodding. 

Then they look at you and back at your picture – comparing 

You smile

‘Very good thank you’ 

and they wave you through  

You’ve made it 

‘Hang on - stop’ they shout 

You turn around 

‘You must spend your whole life travelling - you have so many stamps on your passport – I’m dead jealous’ 

You laugh and nod and you carry on your way 

You see the small plane on the runway and people boarding 

Nearly there 

A man checks your boarding pass

You climb up the stairs onto the plane

You sit down at the back. 

You look at the cuts on your arm that are starting to sting

You close your eyes

The flight attendant checks everyone’s seatbelts and hands out the in-flight magazine 

You squeeze the arms of the seat tightly as the plane takes off 

Then you open your eyes and stare at the magazine in front of you 

On the Front cover is the picture of a Raven     

You look closer 

In the beak of the Raven is a butterfly  -   What a horrible image 

You look again 

You get out your wallet 

In your wallet is a magnifying glass in the shape of a credit card   - You noticed it on the train

You look more closely at butterfly’s wings 

The colourful patterns are not random 

They are a map 

They are a map of the UK

And there is a black dot – right on top of Bristol 

You look up from the magazine because it suddenly seems dark 

Maybe someone has closed the blind on the window across the plane from you

People start to talk louder 

And the flight attendants move up the aisle looking flustered

And then you see it ahead of you 

In the distance 

A massive black cloud

But this is not a storm cloud 

This is a swarm of Ravens 

Thousands and thousands of ravens 

Blocking out the sun 

And you hear the noise of wings beating    

And their collosal Kraa Kraa rattles the windows of the plane

You stand up in your seat 

The flight attendants scream at you to sit down   

They try to lean over people to shut the window blinds so they cannot see 

What is it ?  people cry out

The pilot comes on the intercom 

Ladies and gentlemen   he says  

Please stay calm

People start to panic 

We are going to make an emergency landing 

Please sit down and make sure your seat belts are on 

Don’t worry    he says    I know what I’m doing 

The plane starts to drop rapidly and make a very worrying noise.

You are falling fast through the air

Your stomach is in your mouth 

You don’t know which way is up 

The ground tips underneath you and the windows are filled with the image of the sea and sand 

Brace ! Brace !

shouts the captain and you put your head on your knees and your arms round your head and wait for the impact 

With a creak and clank the plane suddenly rights itself and you hear the wheels drop down and you sit up to see in front of you the boardwalk of a seaside pier

Like a tiny wooden runway stretched out into the sea

The plane banks round steeply and heads straight for the pier, as it comes into land

The cabin shakes with the colossal sound of the engines reversing

You put your hands over your ears 

Then 

Bang – 

You bounce like a trampoline in your seat

The wheels hit the decking 

Then you rebound and land again.

Bang

The people walking along the pier see the plane hurtling towards them and jump into the sea to get out of the way.  

The plane careers down the walkway just missing them and skids on its belly towards the huge arcade at the piers end.

The brakes scream as the plane grinds to a halt and its nose bursts through the doors of the arcade with an almighty crash

You slam up against the seat in front of you 

The glass of the arcade shatters and the lights explode 

There is a sound like thunder

And as the front of the building buckles and collapses to the ground in a cloud of dust - it opens up and reveals to the world the dark secrets that have been hidden inside