Time Portals of Norwich

On The Bus

At the roundabout she negotiated the Plumstead Road traffic to cross over to the bus stop, she couldn't be arsed to use the pedestrian crossing further up the road. There were several people already waiting and a number 23 arrived a couple of minutes later.

A fat woman wearing far too many clothes for the weather struggled onto the bus in front of her. The woman reeked of sweat but hauled herself inside so, after purchasing a single for Castle Meadow, Cassie went upstairs to the top deck. It was about half full and, despite all the windows being open, stunk nearly as bad as the woman downstairs.

The front seats where the cleanest air was were already occupied. She moved down towards the back past the usual collection of peasant wagon victims. Half way down, an empty pair of seats on her right weren't quite as empty as she'd initially thought.

"Damn," she thought, "here we go again."

The man was partially visible. At least I can see him this time, she thought. She'd seen him before. He was often on any bus she got on.

He turned empty eye sockets towards her and grinned. "Today's the day, time to play, eh, young Cass or is it old Cass?" His voice, the same bodiless one she'd heard a few minutes earlier, cut like sandpaper across a fresh wound though, of course, no one else noticed. She tried to ignore him and sat near the back but, although his shoulders stayed still, his head rotated 180 degrees to face her. "Hot enough for Hell, such a delightful smell," he cackled, adding, "'Specially with sonny Jim Grandad boiling the tea and you as well."

Cassie looked out the window. "Why me?" she thought. "Like what did I do in a previous life to deserve all this crap?" But she knew if she ever told anyone about the things she saw or heard they'd probably say she was mental or something. So, only she and her Mum ever knew about it – and Mum was no longer in a position to tell anyone.

She kept her gaze firmly out the window trying to ignore the whatever-it-was. It made several more meaningless comments like, "You feeling all elemental, Cassie?" and "There's no time like last week or 1988 or 2010, don't ya know, girl. Tickets please."

Cassie pretended to check her phone. Actually, she did check her phone but neither Snapchat nor Instagram were showing anything important and no more messages had appeared saying who was or wasn't coming today. She even checked Facebook but that was a waste of time as always.

Two stops further she looked up as several more people got on. Two boys sat where the almost-man had been, though she hadn't noticed when he'd left. There was now no sign of him and Cassie let out a short sigh of relief. The bus trundled down Kett's Hill and, once the traffic cleared, turned left at the roundabout at the bottom. Cassie clamped her teeth together and shut her eyes – she knew what was coming.

Despite the heat she suddenly found herself shivering. Out the window she caught a glimpse of Cow Tower and felt a crush as if she were surrounded by a press of dead and dying bodies. Damn it, she wished she'd never gone on that bloody ghost walk last year. She wasn't even sure what she learned about the tower was even true. The guy running the walk was quite theatrical and probably made most of it up. Still, the feeling refused to subside and was reinforced when they passed the Lollards Pit pub, named after the place where executions had taken place several hundred years ago. The ghost walk guy had told the most lurid tales about that as well, 'specially the bit about a woman who'd been sentenced to be burned to death. Apparently, she'd managed to escape with her clothes already alight but the locals threw her back on the fire. Cassie was sure she could feel flames licking at her legs while her top half still shivered.

But, even as a twelve-year-old, years before she'd gone on the ghost walk, this place had given her the creeps. It was only by the time the bus had passed Pulls Ferry that the sensation had finally dissipated.

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Also, if you are interested in the locations depicted in this novel then please go to my website via the external link (below next to the share icons) and download the Location Files which will pinpoint the various places mentioned using Google Earth. I have included more about each one and often included photographs and links to sites giving further information.