Beware of Drop-Bears! A Short Story

As Aussie kids we all grew up hearing tales of the mythological creature the "Drop-Bear." A mysterious and ferocious man-eating koala that would drop from the top of gum trees to attack unsuspecting bushwalkers. We tell the story to overseas tourists as they embark all excited on hikes through our countryside and warn them that their only form of protection is vegemite smeared behind their ears. Vegemite being that all Australian favourite spread that we have on toast for breakfast that only a true Aussie can appreciate the taste of. With my new book "Alien Shenanigans,"due to be released next month, I wrote a short story with our reluctant hero David Bradberrie and his brothers, Brian and Simon. I put them camping in the bush one night just to see what might happen?

Below is the result. Hope you enjoy. :)

"Beware the Drop-Bear" was awarded First Place in the We Write For Kids Contest - Mar 2015.

Beware the Drop-Bear!

David yawned, reached for the roll of loo paper, the small shovel and torch, turned from the campfire and headed towards the line of gum trees not too far in the distance. He hadn’t walked far when his younger brother Simon, called out.

“Beware the drop-bear!’

David stopped in his tracks. He really needed to go. Was Simon teasing or should he ask what he meant? David chewed a fingernail, inhaled a deep breath and shuffled back towards the warmth and light of the fire. With a huff he sat back down beside his brothers.

“Need some company?” Brian, his older brother sniggered.

“I'm ten Brian, I can go to the loo on my own! I don't intend to go too far into the bush. Just tell me about the drop-bear before I go anywhere,” David glared at Simon. “Make it quick though, I really need to go.” David squirmed on the log where he sat. Brian handed him a stick with a toasted marshmallow and winked at Simon.

“Haven’t you heard of drop-bears? They’re kind of like giant koalas but scary man eating ones that drop down from the top of gum trees at night and attack when you least expect it.” Simon’s eyes popped as he raised his hands to gnash at the air. “People say they have really sharp fang-like teeth and razor sharp claws.”

“Best to spread some vegemite behind your ears before you go. Drop-bears don’t like vegemite.” Brian added.

Simon and Brian rolled on the ground laughing as David took a deep breath and crept back towards the trees, torchlight shining as wide as he could high into the treetops. He wasn’t prepared to walk quite as far in amongst the gum trees as he would have preferred, nor was he going to give them the satisfaction of needing Brian to go with him. The further in David crept, the darker it became. Privacy was optimal, but then again so was safety.

He chose a spot, left the torch shining upwards against a tree so that he could see above into the branches and began to dig his hole. He whistled a tune to try to calm his nerves.

When David reached to retrieve his torch it was no longer where he had left it. Light still lit the area, so where was the torch? He scanned the ground around the bottom of the tree but then realised the light was coming from above him. The tree branches swayed but there was no wind. He heard a scratching, clawing noise along with a low growl. David stepped back careful to watch where he trod and slowly raised his eyes to peer high into the branches. Sure enough a furry koala-like monster with pointed fang-like teeth sat huddled near the tree trunk and grasped within its jagged sharp claws was David’s torch.

The monsters beady eyes stared down at David with a ferocious glare. They seemed to glow in the torchlight as the monster shivered and made a loud groan that sounded to David like the noise came from deep within the pit of the monsters stomach.

David reached for the shovel and went to run but something made him stop and turn around for another look. The monster cuddled the torch as it spread a glow around the bush. The growl had changed to more like a hum.

David wasn't sure, but he thought he could see a hint of a tear trickle out of the corner of one of the monsters eyes.

“You don’t look so scary.” David took a step closer. “You do look a bit bigger than a normal koala and those claws do look awful sharp, but you don’t look like you wanna hurt me. Do you?” David reached out a hand to try to encourage the monster koala to climb down. There seemed to be an eternal pause while the monster stared at David. It refused to move.

David placed the shovel back on the ground at his feet. "See, I'm not gonna hurt you. It's ok to come down." He held his breath and glanced at the shovel to make sure he could grab it if he needed to.

The drop-bear didn’t drop on David’s head, instead it simply climbed down the trunk of the gum tree and stood to stare at David. “Can I have my torch back?” David asked as he tried to reach for the torch. The drop-bear shook its head and held the torch high and tight away from David.

“Are you afraid of the dark? Is that it?” David crouched and tried to reach for the bears paw. It nodded and cradled the torch close to its chest.“Would you like to come and sit by our fire where there's more light?” David continued to hold out his hand and took another deep breath. The creature blinked but refused to move. “You don’t want to hurt me,” David crossed his fingers behind his back. “And I promise not to hurt you. We’re all afraid of the dark sometimes, in fact I admit I don’t like it much myself. That’s why it’s good to have family and friends to keep you company.” David gave the monster a hesitant smile. He hoped the creature felt safe to join him. Again it didn't answer, or move.

“Ok then. “ David stretched and slowly turned away. “Tell you what, I’m going to walk back to camp now. If you like you can follow.” David took a few cautious steps forward.

He smiled as the torchlight began to follow all the way back behind him.

When David made it back to the campfire he sat on the log without a word. A little monster sat beside him and snuggled close.

Brian and Simon’s jaws both dropped. They jumped up and moved to the other side of the fire.

“Who’s afraid of drop-bears now? Have you got your jar of vegemite?” David laughed. “He’s just a bit scared of the dark that’s all." David reached for the stick he had used earlier and placed two marshmallows on the end of it. Happy to have made friends with a creature just as scared of the dark as himself he leaned forward to point the stick into the fire until they were both toasted nicely. He smiled at the drop bear beside him and handed him a toasted marshmallow.

A Renovator's Delight

On my home page I mentioned I would be posting some of my short stories for you to enjoy. So I thought it was about time I shared the first one and what better story to begin with than the story  that won first place in a Halloween Contest and ended up in an anthology alongside some other amazing scarey writing. A Renovator's Delight came about after hearing a ghost story in the perfect setting, arounf a bon fire one cold winter evening. I mulled it over in my head, added a little twist or two, shortened the time frame and before I knew it a spine tingling tale was born. So sit back with a hot chocolate, be prepared for goosebumps up your arms and whatever you do, don't forget to leave on a night light. 

Bill was the one who insisted we buy the old English pub. 'A renovator's delight,' he had said. 'Just a little TLC and we would be making money in no time.'  It stood deserted on a lonely corner at the edge of a tiny country town. Run down, it had been empty for many years.

We moved in on the morning of All Hallows Eve, so again, Bill had the brilliant idea to invite the townsfolk to a Halloween party that very evening. Afterall he argued, 'What better place to get to know the neighbourhood than in a spooky looking old pub before we begin to fix it up?'' There were already webs and spiders aplenty. The curtains were faded and shabby, the shutters broken and worn. The floor boards all creaked. The carpets were covered in mildew and stank of must. Not to mention the paint was peeling from the walls both inside and out. Lichen grew all over the broken tiled roof and moss grew through the cracks in the concrete floors in the downstairs bathrooms. Other than supply the food and drinks we only had to add a few candles and pumpkins and the scene was set for a perfect spooky Halloween night. I handed invitations out around town and posted a few on the shop windows.

Darkness engulfed the countryside quickly that evening as thick grey clouds swept across the plains leaving no hint of the moon or stars to guide our visitors down the street. Bill hung a lantern on the pub's verandah  and watched with eager anticipation to greet our first guest's arrival. Gradually they began to file up the stairs, shook hands and entered the bar, all eyes ablaze with curiosity. There were ghosts, ghouls, vampires and witches galore. A mummy and even a zombie or two, it was great to see everyone had come prepared for the occasion.

The party was in full swing when I noticed a group whispering in the corner. I grabbed a plate of chocolate coated noodle spiders, jelly frogs and other assorted treats and wondered over to join them in the pretext of offering them something from the platter. A young girl dressed in the cutest devil's costume stood looking quite horrified as she listened to a tall man in a vampire's outfit.

'Is there anything wromg?' I asked feeling somewhat concerned by the expression on the faces of the entire group now that I glanced at them all.

'You do know the reason why this pub was such a bargain, don't you?' the vampire replied. I shook my head, I assumed it was because it was so run down. The tall vampire figure leant closer to my ear and whispered, 'It's haunted!'

'Don't be ridiculous!' I laughed.

'No, it's true,' he nodded.  'People who stay here overnight hear doors slamming and someone screaming, then there's the constant flooding of the sinks for no apparent reason.'

'Bad plumbing is all,' I offered, after all, what other explanation could there be?

'Just you wait. You'll see!' He grinned, turned and walked away. Either he was a superstitious fool, or townsfolk were playing tricks as they didn't want outsiders buying into their local businesses. I was just about to go and find Bill and discuss my thoughts on these turn of events when I first heard it.

A blood curdling scream came from somewhere in the hotel rooms above us. Everyone suddenly froze. You could hear a pin drop. Another door slammed shut and the piercing scream shrilled out again.

'Stay here!' demanded Bill as he raced up the stairs towards the hotel accommodation that was attached to the pub. No one moved. The only sound we could now hear was Bill's footseps overhead as he ran from room to room. The silence was deafening. Time seemed to stand still.

Gasping he evetually came rushing back down. 'There's nothing up there!" he sounded surprised. 'Someone's playing a very good joke, well done,' he laughed in an attempt to calm everyone down. I looked around at the crowd huddled together at the bottom of the stairs, none of them were laughing. They all looked terrified. 'Come on!' Bill encouraged. 'We're all here to have fun. Start the music back up, let's get this pary rocking!'

Slowly our guests began to relax and enjoy themselves once more when Bill burst back into the room and rushed over to me quite annoyed. 'Damn kids are playing more tricks.'

'What's wrong now?' Although I needn't have asked as he dragged me towards the main bathroom fascilities I could see the problem. Water was spilling out over all the sinks onto the floor, out the doors soaking the already musty carpets.

'Someone stuck all the plugs in every sink in every bathroom of the hotel and turned on all the taps full blast!' Without another word or hesitation we ran through the building making sure all the taps were off and collected all the plugs. Bill locked them away in the safe in the office. 'Let's see them try that again,' he said triumphantly rubbing his hands together rather smuggly.

We rejoined the party and tried to calm down but it wasn't long before the blood curdling scream returned. Doors banged and water poured from the bathrooms once more. 'This is ridiculous!' Bill was really getting annoyed now. While I ran to the main bathroom to see what I could do, Bill raced back upstairs to try to catch the culprit in the act. The screaming and banging grew louder and more persisitant uptairs. Whenever I heard Bill at one end of the building, the screaming would start at the other. It seemed no matter where he was the noise harrassed us from the opposite end. Our guests had obviously reached the ends of their limits, they also started screaming in terror and began to pour out the front door.

I found the bathroom sinks had all been blocked again but this time with toilet paper and rags. Shaking somewhat I cleaned up the mess as best I could then staggered back to the bar to collapse. Bill also returned exhausted.

'Nothing,' he shook his head. "I just don't understand. Who could have done any of this or how?'

'Well,' I hesitated. 'I hate to say it, but I was told this evening that this place is haunted.'

'I think I need an energy drink,' mumbled Bill. 'I put a box down in the cellar. Come on. I'm not going down there alone.'

When we reached the bottom of the cellar stairs, Bill stopped and looked around. 'You know, this room doesn't look big enough.' He started to pace it out across the floor. 'The room above is twice the length of this one. Most pubs this age had a cellar the same size as the floor above.' He stepped it out again to confirm his suspicions. Then before I knew it Bill had picked up a sledge hammer and begun slamming into the brick wall in the middle of the room. A thick dusy cloud billowed around us and engulfed the room as brick after brick crumbled at his feet.

It was strange, I hadn't heard anyone come down the stairs behind us, but all of a sudden a young girl stepped up beside Bill. She wore very old tattered clothes and no shoes. Bill saw her at the same time I did and stopped breaking down the wall.

'I'm sorry love,' he gasped a little out of breath while he looked her up and down. The party's over and you shouldn't be down here. It's a bit dangerous. Did all the noises you heard tonight frighten you?' She didn't reply though. Instead she simply stared for a few moments as Bill wiped the sweat from his forehead. Then she turned and to our shock she walked right through the brick wall as if it wasn't there.

'What just happened?' I whispered unable to believe what I had just witnessed. Bill shone a torch to gaze through the hole he had just made. We could see the rest of the cellar stretched out in front of us, racks of old dusty wine bottles lined the cobwebbed walls.

'You're not going to believe this,' he said as he pointed the torch towards the floor. 'There's a skeleton lying on the floor on the other side of the bricks directly opposite where we watched the girl just walk through!'

We put the pub back on the market the next day. We may have found the ghost's body, but we weren't prepared to share the pub with a restless, mischievous spirit.

Note:If you enjoyed this ghost story you may like to read the others in the anthology, however unlike this one, most of them are not recommended for children.

http://www.amazon.com/Satans-Holiday-Yvonne-Mason-ebook/dp/B00FJOYLRK