Ring-a-ring- a Rosie, a pocket full of posies. A tishoo! A tishoo! ... We all fall down.

There is so much good in this world we live in, so many people willing and able to lend a hand for no reason other than the fact one is needed, willing to do good whenever they can, help out others in need for no other reason than it being something they want to do. Many people devote their lives to helping others without wanting anything in return. Though for all the good there is in the world there is just as much evil.

What is evil, if evil does not even truly understand its own nature?

One main difference between good and evil is that when good is done or finished then that is generally it until a new need arises, but evil, there will always be evil. Evil comes from evil and leaves behind evil. It never ends, it never completely goes away. It continues for eternity. Of course, not much can be done when a natural disaster occurs though it can be an amazing thing to witness when many get together to help out as much as possible after such tragedies occur. The human spirit is strong and at times it will take a lot to break that human spirit and such spirit is most definitely within us all even if we do not even necessarily believe it.

A lot of evil can be policed, with those enforcing what control they can, spending their lives either personally or professionally to finding evil and bringing it to justice. Unfortunately, not all evil can be policed, not all evil can be directly found and brought to any kind of justice or even any kind of end, and it would need a special kind of person or a special breed of people to face it head on and tackle it to a point where some kind of ending could possibly be reached.

1.

There is a rather large house abandoned out on the edge of Castletown, a house which has not been lived in for a fair few years. It is a dark house completely detached and away from anything else at all. It is thought that evil lived within this house on more than one occasion and despite the fact that no life now resides within, evil still remains.

This is a place which is well talked about among those who live in Castletown so much so that hardly anyone ever goes near the place, and this goes even to the point where the grounds around the building have not been cared for at all. Some people say that the place should be burnt down to the ground, others think that it should be left well alone. Why risk bringing harm on the town? Why risk releasing evil if indeed evil is confined to that place.

The house is in a remote location so leaving it be just may be the wise thing to do. Wise however does not always come into the equation.

With this house being what it is and being where it is, then it would only be a matter of time before someone or other would want to go investigate, or even go out there as part of a game or dare. So, two young couples, all in their late teens would agree to spend the night camping out on the grounds by where this dark abandoned house stands.

Audrey and Marie didn't particularly want to go but they did anyway, their partners Steve and Gerry were both big enough guys so if anything were to go wrong then the girls would be glad of their company as long as any arising problem would be something physical then that's one thing, something supernatural on the other hand ... well that is something else. Does anyone really believe in such things?

The four friends would make camp out by the back of the ground, a spot within where the back yard would have been. The place may be unkept, but they would find a spot where there would be a bit of a clearing, though the girls would be a little freaked out by the presence of a nearby tombstone, the guys of course thought that this was kinda cool and that it added to the whole experience of being where they are.

They all had torches and candles though a campfire had been set up before the night-time darkness had set in. It wasn't a particularly cold night but given the circumstances, a campfire really added to the whole atmosphere of an eerie challenge. To add to it even more a lantern was lit with the purpose of whomever so held the lantern would be the one to hold the discussion and tell of a story ghostly in nature.

At this point there was laughter in the air, the girls had settled with the thoughts that they and the guys were to spend the night in the camp they had built. The lamp was shining bright, and Gerry would be the first to take it.

'Settle down guys; settle down, for I, your friendly neighbourhood storyteller, have a story to tell.'

It was so quiet at this moment that not even a breeze was stirring; the sound of the fire crackled away, and Gerry had peace and quiet, and the attention of the other three to tell his ghostly tale.

'On a night not so long ago, there was a man out on the town in the town of Castletown. That night was not too different from this one, being dark and peaceful with the one main exception that it was cold, quite cold, rather chilly in fact. To make his way home, this man needed to pass through Castletown Park for if he made his way around the park then his journey home would be all that much longer ... so through the park he would go.

Now all this man had for light were the streetlights either side of the park as well as from what the full moon provided shining over the lake within the park to his left. In this lake to one side was a single swan. This swan would disappear from where is rested at one end of the lake then reappear in an instant along the opposite side of that very same lake. The swan would vanish again only to appear directly in front of the man who up to this point had yet to stop moving ...'

'Ooooohhhh spooky' speaks Steve with a laugh grabbing at Gerry's arm.

Both girls giggled as they linked arms. They sat together on the far side of the fire. The boys or lads as they preferred to be called sat with their backs towards the house though before Gerry could continue his story the lads would have reason to turn around, for there was a crashing sound coming from within the house. This crashing sound made everyone jump and also made the girls scream. The lads turned on their torches. The existing light from the fire and lantern was enough to everyone to see some dust exiting the house.

'What the hell was that?' asked Gerry raising up the lantern.

'Maybe we shouldn't have come up here' says Audrey; the quiver within her voice was clear for all to hear.

'Yeah, maybe we should just head home' spoke Marie.

'Don't worry ladies; I am sure it is just someone who has followed us up here in a silly attempt to scare us' spoke Steve.

'Errum Steve ...' says Gerry sitting next to and looking towards Steve, 'I don't recall telling anyone that we were coming out here tonight, so unless someone else has then I do not think that it could be someone attempting to scare us.'

Gerry looked back at the girls.

'I didn't tell anyone, not even my folks' spoke Audrey.

'Neither did I' says Marie, 'I am ready to go now ...'

'C'mon' spoke Steve as he stood, beginning to take a few steps towards the house, he stopped to look back at Gerry.

'Err ... I will just stay here and keep the girls company. I'm sure that there is nothing in there that needs my attention.'

Steve moved back over to Gerry and took the lantern, 'wuss'. Steve made his way to the house and went inside.

The ground inside the house was covered with bits and bobs, broken wood, excess pieces of carpet and the likes. It's more or less a dump site. If it weren't for the lantern Steve would be moving in complete darkness. Though bringing a light whatever the source may be would not make much of a difference for only after being inside the house for less than thirty seconds the lantern went out. There had been no wind either inside or outside the house to cause this to happen, the light had gone out all the same and it wasn't from anything that Steve had done.

From within another room, Steve could see a glowing orange light begin to shine; pretty soon fear would set in even for the usually fearless Steve. He would hear a sound, a very quiet sound that slowly got louder and louder. What that sound was, it could not in no way actually be happening. It sounded like there were children in that other room and it sounded as if they were playing Ring-A-Ring-A-Rosie.

Ring-a-ring- a Rosie, a pocket full of posies. A tishoo! A tishoo! We all fall down.

This singing had begun as a quiet murmur, and it gradually got louder. It would get so loud that it seemed to be all around Steve. The glow of the orange light faded and was replaced by short flashes of white light that seemed to be coming from no one place in particular. The singing and playing had been replaced by something else, something moving, and this moving sounded as if it were in the same room as Steve where there had been nothing but mess and darkness before.

Steve was frozen still. Frozen in reaction all he sees. The sound, the moving sound was like that of a child, a child skipping around the room but how could that be? How could any of this be?

The sound stopped and it appeared to stop right next to Steve. Darkness returned in an instant. He could sense something in the pitch darkness, he could almost feel something. There was most definitely something right next to him. Another flash of white light illuminated what had come right up to him, a flash of light that lasted slightly longer than any other flash that came before.

It revealed the sight of a young girl with a pale face, long hair and dark clothing. She simply looked up and Steve and said 'hi'. Steve let out a scream and that was enough for the other three to make a run for it though Steve would not follow. Surely, he must have been following, but he never joined his companions.

None of the other three went back and none of them could be sure as to if Steve had actually managed to leave the house at all though it is likely that he did not. Gerry did not want to leave his best friend, but there was nothing that could make him want to go back to that house. The sound of what he heard; the intensity of Steve's scream is a sound that would never leave Gerry's thoughts. Steve would never been seen or heard from again.