World of Blyton

Anatoly and David turned quickly on their heels, though they knew what it would be. “That would the ghost then!” David said, pretending to swallow and take a step forward towards it. “What’s your problem?” he asked it as Anatoly pushed the girls behind him.

“We shall soon find out,” Anatoly said. “You girls stay here,” he added before starting to run at the figure. “Come on, David!”

He knew that in this building it would be easy for Julian to lose them. He and David ran after Julian, careful to look as if they were putting all their effort in. They chased him into the stairwell at the other end of the long corridor where Anatoly hissed out an instruction. “Go down, then up the other stairs to meet the girls,” he said, dragging David up the stairs instead.

Julian nodded, and thrust the sheet in Anatoly and David’s direction and hurried off to the other stairway, wondering if they would fall for it. He hadn’t really liked making Darrell scream, but it would be worth the frights in the long run. He hoped the girls would see the funny side. He reached the stairs and began to climb them. He saw the girls at the top and said to them, “there you are! I couldn’t find you!”

“Where were you!” Sally almost wailed, hurtling into his arms. “That ghost appeared again!”

“What?” he asked in surprise, listening to Darrell as she explained exactly what had happened. “So do you think he snuck behind the curtain while you were in the room, and waited for you?” he asked. “I want to take a look then, see if there are any clues.”

“Don’t go up there!” Sally said, holding him tightly. “Please Julian! The others may have caught him!”

“Hey, it’s all right,” he soothed. “I just want to look behind the curtain, see if there’s anything there. You two can come with me.”

Sally gulped and gripped his hand tightly. “I don’t want to,” she whispered as Darrell stood next to her to rub her arms so that she calmed down a little.

“It’ll just be some silly first year playing a joke,” Darrell said briskly. “It is Halloween after all. Some people like to go around scaring other people. I bet this chap has been pulling this prank all right, and we were just unlucky to get it twice. In fact,” she added, after a moment’s thought. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a group of pointing ghosts out there tonight. Don’t you think the last one seemed a bit shorter than the first?”

Sally swallowed and nodded, “I suppose you’re right. It’s just a prank. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I just got spooked.”

“Well it is the scariest night of the year,” Julian said. “But on the plus side you have an Einstein like me to protect you,” he joked, an arm around her as they made their way back towards the law professor’s room. They met Anatoly and David along the way, returning the way they had gone.

“We lost him on the next floor,” Anatoly lied.

“That’s a shame,” Darrell said. “Sorry I screamed,” she said, reaching for his hand to give it an affectionate squeeze for looking after her even if she had teased him horribly about his moustache.

“I was just going to have a look behind the curtain and see if there was any clue to who it may be,” Julian added, glancing at David and Anatoly. “Can you show me where he was hiding?”

“It was behind this one,” David said, pulling the curtain aside a little and peering in.

“You do not need to apologise, dorogoy,” Anatoly said, pretending to peer interestedly behind the curtain too.

“Are you sure?” Julian asked as he peered round the curtain into the alcove, wondering if he was being convincing.

“Yes, it was definitely this one,” David said. “We were in that room,” he added, pointing to the door from behind which was coming a lot of feminine giggling.

Julian looked up and nodded, “And he came out before you left the room?” he asked, playing dumb. “As in, he was in front of you?”

“No, he appeared once we got to the end of the corridor, where you found us,” Sally said.

“So he might have come down the corridor behind you?” Julian asked.

“It’s possible,” agreed Darrell as Anatoly turned to look down the corridor.

“Let’s go and have a look,” Anatoly said. “Are you girls coming with us or going onto the next room?”

“We’re all going to the next room,” Darrell said firmly. “I for one don’t want to let this idiot, or idiots, ruin our night.” She quickly explained her theory about there being more than one ghostly figure, and how they weren’t deliberately targeting their group, to David and Anatoly who had missed it before. “And we want to win the grand prize, don’t we?”

They all looked at each other and nodded. “She has a point,” David said with a nod. “Where’s the map? You have it, don’t you Tol?”

Anatoly nodded and dug it out of his pocket. “So we have a choice of geography, literature, mathematics, history, chemistry and art,” he said. “Maths or history would be the closest to where we are right now.”

“Shall we do maths first? Before my brain falls out of my ears?” Julian laughed.

“Maths it is then,” Anatoly agreed. “We need to go… down to the ceeeellarrr,” he told them, putting on his scariest voice.

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Julian ran his hand through his hair and took a step back from the mirror to check that the chalk dust hadn’t fallen too heavily on his shirt, bow tie and tweed jacket. He took the finishing touch, a bushy whitened stick on moustache out of his pocket and carefully began applying it to his top lip as there was a knock on the door and David Morton barged in.

“So how do I look?” demanded David with a grin, extending his arms to show off his own costume to Julian.

“Like a hairy fruit bowl,” Julian laughed. David had sourced the most awful wig from somewhere and somehow pinned a large apple to the top of it. “The apple is supposed to prove gravity, you know, not defy it!”

“Ah, but watch this!” David said holding up a hand. He pulled at a thread by his face and the apple slid down onto his head with a soft thump. “Simple pulley system to demonstrate gravity in action!” He grinned. “I bet your costume can’t do anything quite as brilliant as that! By the way, have you see Toly’s costume? He wouldn’t let me in his room earlier!”

Julian rolled his eyes. “And I don’t suppose it defies gravity when it rises back up?” he muttered, not ready to lose the point. “And no, I haven’t seen Toly. I swear if he decides he needs to work tonight, or that he is going to dress as a secret agent, I’ll swing for him.”

David carefully let go of the string and the apple slid back up the pin. “You wouldn’t be the only one. Darrell would be way ahead of you with a right hook!” He sat down in Julian’s desk chair and stretched out his legs. “One thing I am not keen on are these tight things that they used to wear. Makes me look sissy!”

Julian snorted. “That’s nothing to do with the costume,” he said.

Shooting him a dark look, David retorted with, “Well at least I don’t look like I’ve been white washed in a paint factory!”

It would have descended into chaos if there hadn’t have been a smart rap on Julian’s door once more and then their friend, Anatoly Petrov was standing in the doorway, looking very unlike himself.

Julian and David looked at each other and laughed. “Well, the ‘tache seems a bit more fitting now,” Julian said. Having decided on their costumes a few weeks in advance Anatoly had decided to grow his own moustache for his ‘disguise’ as he kept calling it.

“So, who exactly are you supposed to be?” chortled David.

Anatoly rolled his eyes. “You know who I am,” he said, holding up the largest lightbulb he had been able to find. “The father of the alternating current electrical system!”

David and Julian shared a glance. “You would go for Nikola Tesla,” Julian said after a moment. “Anyone Russian!” he laughed.

“Tesla was Serbian-American, for your information,” Anatoly corrected him. “And anyway, you can hardly talk, you stuck with an Englishman, David!”

“Yes but without Newton there would be very little science!” argued David. “Anyway, Ju broke the mould and went with a German!”

“Which he is already starting to regret,” Julian said, brushing more chalk dust from his jacket.

“I do not expect Sally will be kissing you very much tonight,” Anatoly said slyly to his friend. “You will probably ruin her dress, whatever it is she is dressing up as!”

“Oh shut up you,” Julian groaned. “You’ll be no better off, Darrell can’t stand the monstrosity on your upper lip.”

“And your wig is ridiculous,” David added helpfully, pointing to the side-parted hairpiece covering Anatoly’s curls.

“Darrell loves it really,” Anatoly defended himself. “And your wig is hardly much better Morton! It is not my fault I cannot get my hair to lie flat!”

“A shilling says Darrell calls it a monstrosity or worse before we get to the party,” David said to him.

“Deal,” Anatoly said firmly, holding out his hand for David to shake.

“Who decides if her word is worse than monstrosity?” Julian asked, checking his watch.

“You can,” David said with a smile. “As it doesn’t see you’re joining in the betting?”

“Well I know better than to bet against you on this one,” he said with a smile. “Ill save any wagering for later.”

Anatoly sighed and checked his own watch. “I think we should go if we are going to get to the girls on time. Are we going to do anything to wind them up tonight?”

“Exist?” David suggested with a dead-pan face.

“Speak for yourself, Isaac,” Julian said.

“That’s SIR Isaac to you,” David said haughtily.

Julian pulled a face at him and turned back to Anatoly. “I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it. Maybe we could pretend we have found a mystery or something and annoy them with cryptic phrases and things?”

Anatoly’s mouth grinned under his wiry moustache. “That sounds like fun.”

“What sort of mystery were you thinking Ju?” David asked as he got up to check his own costume in Julian’s mirror.

Julian thought for a moment as he picked up his slate board which read E=MC 2. “I’m not sure. We don’t want Darrell thinking you’re working, Toly. That wouldn’t go down well.”

“Maybe something like, we think we’re being followed?” David suggested as Anatoly nodded seriously.

“Well that could be believable,” Julian agreed. “There will be lots of people in similar costumes, so we pick a common one and go on about that ghost that keeps appearing?”

“We could even take a ghost costume out with us and share it between us, disappear occasionally so we actually have something to lookout for?” Anatoly said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“Now that’s why they made you an agent, clearly,” David grinned, pleased enough with the idea to actually praise the Russian.

“Where are we going to get a ghost costume at this time on Halloween?” Julian asked practically. He watched both David and Anatoly turning to look at the white sheet on his bed. “Oh no, you’re not nicking my bedsheet!”

“Where else are we doing to find a ghost costume?” Anatoly asked him with a smirk.

“And what happens if it gets ripped or dirty? Matron will lose her rag big time!” Julian pointed out.

“I’m sure you could stand up to matron,” David said. “She likes you!”

“Not that much!” Julian shot back. “She likes you more Morton, you goodie two shoes!”

Anatoly rolled his eyes and shook his head as the boys bickered. He folded his arms and eventually said; “Shall I go and get one?”

“Where are you going to get one from?” David asked, trying to remember if he had locked his door when he had left. He didn’t fancy coming back from the party to find his bed stripped, or to trying to wrangle a new sheet from matron either.

Anatoly grinned. “The linen cupboard, of course.”

Julian eyed him suspiciously for a moment. “You can… What am I saying? If anyone could break into Matron’s supplies it would be you.”

Anatoly grinned suddenly. “I can indeed, it helps when she has given you a key!” He held up the key for them to inspect.

“She GAVE you a key?” both Julian and David echoed in disbelief.

“She actually gave you it?” Julian asked.

“You didn’t steal it?” David asked.

“No, I did not,” he said smugly. “My superior pulled from strings in case I ever found myself in need of supplies.”

“Jammy git,” Julian muttered. “Where else do you have keys for?”

“The larder,” Anatoly shrugged, knowing that both boys would be instantly even more jealous than they already were.

“And you kept it a secret all this time?” David exploded. “I mean it’s bad enough you’d be willing to leave one of us without a bed sheet when you’ve got a key to the linen cupboard, but you’ve sat and heard us go on about how hungry we are and you could walk into the larder at any time you like!?”

“I promised not to abuse it,” Anatoly said with a contrary air.

David snorted. “Well that’s convenient for you.”

“Do we want to have a sheet to scare the girls with or not?” Anatoly demanded trying to get to the point.

“Well yes! But it’s the principle of the matter,” David said grumpily.

“At least we know now,” Julian said. “The occasional snack wouldn’t be abusing the privilege,” he said meaningfully to Anatoly.

“Maybe, we can talk about it,” Anatoly said with a sigh. “All you two ever think about is your stomachs!”

“Just because you can go months without food,” David exaggerated, rolling his eyes. They all knew by know that Anatoly could go without food, sleep, water, shelter and any human comforts for as long as necessary, or so he claimed.

“I cannot go months!” Anatoly sighed. “Are we going to get a move on or not?”

“Right, you go help yourself to a sheet and then we’ll get going for the girls,” Julian agreed.

“You get some scissors and I will get the sheet,” Anatoly said with a grin as he went to head out of the door.

“Well I hope Matron doesn’t revoke his special status when she finds out he’s cut up her sheet,” Julian said.

“I wouldn’t worry about him, clearly he’s the golden boy,” David said, still a little grumpy. “It’s us that will get chewed out!”

Julian shook his head. “He’s the one with the key, he can take the blame,” he assured David, knowing that Anatoly’s secrets were not the real reason for David’s dark mood. David always got morose a month or so into the term, missing his girlfriend, Peter. It was worst when he had been at university long enough to really miss her, but not long enough that there would be a holiday soon for him to look forward to seeing her again.

“Well I suppose as long as she doesn’t catch us with it, then I suppose it will be alright,” David admitted after a moment.

“Like Toly would let us get caught,” Julian assured him, digging out a pair of scissors and a bottle of ink. “We should draw some eyes on or something, I think.”

“And a mouth?” laughed David.

“Do ghosts have mouths?” Julian pondered aloud. “We don’t want it to stand out too much from other people’s.”

“Well, they must do, otherwise how to they make a noise?” David laughed as Anatoly knocked on Julian’s room door again.

“Magic, ghostly power?” Julian suggested as he opened the door to re-admit Anatoly, a fresh white, folded sheet over his arm.

“Well in that case, we shouldn’t have a mouth on it then!” David said as Anatoly handed over the sheet.

“Mouth?” Anatoly inquired.

“David thought we should draw a mouth on it,” Julian said, brandishing the pen.

“No mouth,” Anatoly ruled. “Let us just keep this simple.”

“Simple, right,” Julian said, putting down the pen and picking up the scissors. “So who’s modelling this so I can work out where to cut the holes?”

“Morton!” Anatoly said immediately.

“Why do I have to do it?” David grumbled. “If either of you two do it, it will end up looking like a scarecrow!”

“And if you do it, the model will end up with his eyes gouged out probably,” Julian said.

“It’s more likely to happen if you did it, Kirrin!” Laughed David.

Julian snapped the scissors open and shut. “Don’t be such a baby.”

David sighed and, after removing the wig-and-apple device from his head, pulled on the sheet. “Happy now?” he asked resigned to his fate.

“Well it is an improvement on your looks, certainly,” Anatoly needled him.

“Oh, go away Petrov!”David groaned as Julian started drawing on eyes.

“Hold still,” Julian warned him. “Or you will end up missing an eye!”

“I’m not moving!” David protested as Julian pressed the pen a little heavier around his eyes.

“You move every time your mouth opens!” Julian said.

David rolled his eyes a little as Anatoly laughed. “The day Morton stops opening his mouth is the day I come back from working without a bruise.”

Julian snorted with laughter and reached for the scissors. “You’d better not argue with that, David, or I really will scar you for life.”

David pushed Julian away, “Take it off before you take the scissors to it!” He protested pulling off the sheet. “I don’t trust you with scissors that close to my face!” Julian laughed and took the sheet and began to cut out the eye holes, while David replaced his apple on his head and hid the strings in his wig.

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