Under a Ghostly Moon (Jerry Moon Supernatural Thrillers Book 1) by William Moore, Beverley Moore Read Free Book Online

something positive about it and, in desperation, he caught a number 54 bus up to the top of Whiteladies Road.  This was a busy shopping street on the side of a hill, which started at the city centre and came to its crest where the University rubbed shoulders with the high value residential areas of Clifton and Cotham.  Once there he popped into a bakery and bought himself a couple of filled rolls and then took the most direct route he knew to St Andrew's Cemetery.
     
    The now disused cemetery was close to Queen's Road, a fairly busy thoroughfare which ran between Whiteladies Road and the affluent area of Clifton Village.  The most recent graves there dated from the early nineteen hundreds and the bombed out ruins of the adjoining St Andrew's Church had long since been demolished and converted into a park-like area bordered by ancient trees.  The cemetery itself had a secluded feel to it, being sheltered by several large yews and other smaller trees.  One side of it was closed in by a Georgian red-brick wall, the opposite by a formidable hedge and a paved avenue ran through its centre.  This shady path was separated from the cemetery proper by spiked iron railings and covered over by small trees trained to ironwork arches, which had earned it the name ‘Bird Cage Walk’.  Moon had discovered it by chance one day, when he had decided to do a bit of exploring in the bits of Bristol that he didn’t know, and now it was one of the few places he knew he could go if he wanted a bit of peace.
     
    Until recently the graveyard had been quite overgrown but a local volunteer group had taken up its cause.  They had cleaned up the graves, which Moon applauded, but they had also cut back the trees or in some instances even removed them. This had saddened him as it had diminished the cemetery's secluded atmosphere.  However they had planted wildflowers, which had mollified him a little.  As he entered through the first archway the twenty-first century seemed to slip away and his spirit relaxed in the peace of the place.  He leaned on the fence and started to eat one of his rolls, watching a fat squirrel playing among the graves.  It eyed him brazenly then scurried through the bars and, resting one foot on his shoe, gazed up at him demandingly.  Chuckling at this boldness, Moon broke off a morsel of bread and gave it to the squirrel, which grabbed it between both front claws and devoured it daintily.  "No wonder you're so chubby!" laughed Moon.  Obviously, being so cheeky paid off in tidbits.  The squirrel, startled by his outburst, ran a short distance back into the graveyard then turned and scolded him loudly.  Moon laughed again, he loved visiting this place; it seemed to patch over a hole in his spirit that was created by the stresses and strains of urban living.
    As he threw another morsel to the squirrel he noticed a strange ripple that passed through the grass and wildflowers and felt an odd buzz of energy, which filled his extra senses with the essence of roots and flowers, of soil and growing things.  He often suspected this was the reason why the place had such a positive effect on him.  He hesitated to think of the beings that now surrounded him as 'fairies', perhaps 'nature spirits' was closer to the mark but, regardless of classification, their presence always had a healing touch to it.  He had never felt drawn to communicate with them because they always seemed busy - not in any kind of driven sense, if anything there was a constant sense of enjoyment and play to what they did - but they obviously had a job to do and he respected that.  For their part they seemed quite happy to share their energy with him, just like they did with any other piece of nature they encountered while they worked at maintaining the fabric of life, or whatever it was they were doing.  Since his first visit he had grown to realise that the graveyard was quietly swarming with them and he treasured the unique mystery of their