In today’s episode we read Chapter 30 – Crash - in which Magpie finds herself involved in a situation she had a psychic vision of years prior.
The Skylark Bell is brought to you by: Phaeton Starling Publishing and Things with Wings Productions.
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Author/Producer: Melissa Oliveri - http://www.melissaoliveri.com
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This week's Boopod Network podcast partner is Shittin' Bricks: https://linktr.ee/shittinbricks
FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Things with Wings Productions presents: Episode 30 of The Skylark Bell, Wingspan. I am your host, Melissa Oliveri.
In our previous episode, Magpie and Lucas tried to set their timelines straight by sending Magpie back to warn him not to step under the arch.
In today’s episode we read Chapter 30 – Crash - in which Magpie finds herself involved in a situation she had a vision of years prior.
Be sure to listen through to the end of the episode for a preview of a podcast I quite enjoy called Shittin’ Bricks – Hosts Dom and Kate are quite talented at balancing scaring people and making them laugh.
Now, it’s time to settle in… grab a blanket, and a warm drink… and let’s get started.
Magpie stands perfectly still, her eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the wave of nausea and dizziness to pass. She finally finds the courage to open her eyes and uses the light from the small sliver of moon in the sky to try and get her bearings. She is standing by the side of a desolate country road. Nothing around her looks familiar. Magpie shivers and realizes it is quite cold, and an icy drizzle has started falling from the sky. The quiet surrounding her is unnerving, the only sound being that of the freezing rain hitting the pavement and the wind blowing a few dead leaves around on the ground. “It must be late fall,” she thinks, noting that the trees are bare of any leaves and the grass in the field behind her is dry.
Magpie is pondering which direction she should start walking when she sees a pair of headlights coming around a bend in the road to her left. Judging by the position of the car on the road she is not in Scotland, where they would be driving on the opposite side. Magpie suddenly realizes the car is driving much faster than it should be. “Slow down,” she whispers to herself, “you’re going too fa-“ her breath catches in her throat, cutting off the end of her sentence, as the car hits a patch of ice and swerves back and forth. “No, no, no, no!” she shouts as the car flips over. She watches in slow motion as it goes barreling down the ditch by the side of the road. Magpie instinctively starts racing toward the car, paying no mind to her own safety. As she is running, a thought crosses her mind. An impossible thought. By the time she reaches the car, the reality of what is happening, where she is, and when she is, is abundantly clear.
Magpie wastes no time making her way to the back window of the overturned car. She stretches her leg back and kicks the window as hard as she can with the heel of her boot, the glass instantly folding into thousand little pieces. She pushes the glass into the car before peering in. There he is. The small boy with the black curly hair. “Lucas!” she says, clapping her hands, but the boy remains unresponsive. She reaches in and grabs him by the arm, awkwardly prying him up enough to get a hold of his torso so she can lift him through the hole where the window was, and out of the car.
Magpie lays the boy gently in the grass several paces away and walks grimly back to the wreckage. She already knows what she will find, but she feels it is her duty to at least try. One look at the front seat of the car tells her all she needs to know; the driver and passenger did not survive. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, hot tears streaming down her cheeks, a stark contrast to the cold rain falling from the sky. She takes a moment to compose herself, then walks back to the boy and pulls him onto her lap. “It was never Farfalla with you the night your parents died, Lucas. It was me,” she says, stroking his hair. “I’m old enough to be his grandmother,” she thinks with a bitter laugh.
Magpie has no idea how much time has lapsed when she suddenly hears sirens in the distance. Realizing she cannot explain her presence there, and not wanting to be asked questions she doesn’t have answers for, she stands up to leave. Just then the small boy moans and stirs.
Biting her lip while trying to decide the best course of action, Magpie turns him so he’s facing away from the wreckage and stands behind him, holding his shoulders. “Everything is going to be okay,” she whispers, leaning down close to his ear, “Don’t be afraid.” They stand together as the sound of the sirens grows closer. Finally, Magpie sees the headlights up ahead and knows she needs to leave. “These people are here to help you, you stay right here and wait for them, okay?” she says. The boy nods, his eyes fixed on the headlights coming toward them. “Goodbye, Lucas,” she says, giving his shoulders one last squeeze before retreating to the tall grass in the field behind them.
Chilled to the bone, Magpie cuts through the field toward a nearby farmhouse, using its porch light as a beacon to warmth and safety. She is greeted by a kind couple who take her in for the night, giving her hot soup and warm bread. She tells them she was riding her horse nearby when she fell off and got turned around. They promise to take her back to Pocket in the morning.
The following day, the couple drive her back to town as promised. She asks to be dropped off at the old farmhouse that she and her mother would move into in about a decade. She waves at them from the front porch, thankful that the current residents don’t appear to be home, then walks back to the road that leads to town. “Lucas said he thought the Oak tree in front of Meadow Lane is what brought him back,” she mumbles to herself, her words drowned out by the sound of the gravel crunching beneath her feet. She stops briefly at the bottom of Lucas’ driveway. The letters that spell out “Starling” on the mailbox are bright and fresh, having ten fewer years of being out in the elements than when she first saw them. Magpie glances up at the house, a tightness forming in her stomach at the thought of seeing Grandma Gemma again. All she has to do is walk up the driveway and knock on the door. Magpie stands immobile, hesitating. What would she say? How could she possibly explain who she is and her connection to the Starlings? No, it just doesn’t make sense, and it would only break her heart to see Gemma again after all these years.
Magpie shakes her head and turns toward Meadow Lane. She sees the large oak tree in the front field. The tree looks like an hourglass that someone has flipped. The branches that spread from the top of the trunk, void of any leaves, look like roots reaching toward the sky.
Magpie takes a decisive step onto the lane, and is instantly surrounded by thick, oppressive silence. “I’ve done this before, I can do it again,” she thinks to herself. She walks with purpose toward the Oak tree, and stands under it, looking up through the branches at a passing cloud. Taking a deep, silent breath, Magpie circles the tree with her arms. “Please, please, please take me home to Lucas,” she thinks. But nothing happens. Magpie feels a sense of dread wash over her as she recalls Lucas saying that when he traveled from 1925 to her present day, he heard the Skylark Bell ring, and the same haunting tune that Magpie herself had heard as she stood under the arch. Hoping to avoid having to collect the Skylark Bell from the house, Magpie squeezes her eyes shut and starts humming. In one of the second-story windows of the house at Meadow Lane, a woman watches her, and starts humming along. No sound comes out of the woman’s mouth, but Magpie can hear the song in her head. Magpie, oblivious to the mysterious woman’s presence, keeps humming the tune. Out of nowhere she feels the faintest movement in the air, it blows a strand of hair across her face. Encouraged, Magpie opens her mouth and starts actually singing “Fallalala Lalalalala…” again, hearing the song only in her mind. Suddenly, the familiar wave of movement, sound, nausea, and dizziness hits her, and she feels her mind separate from her body as it floats up through the branches of the oak tree toward the sky.
In the second story window of the house at Meadow Lane, the woman watches as Magpie disappears. The woman smiles, before also vanishing into thin air.
Thank you so much for listening. Join me next week for Wingspan chapter 31, Dealan-de, where Lucas has a terrifying encounter with the mysterious woman that has been flitting in and out of his and Magpie’s lives for years.
The Skylark Bell is brought to you by Phaeton Starling Publishing and features original music by Cannelle. If you are enjoying this story, please consider leaving a rating or a review, they’re both greatly appreciated. You can also support my work through a donation via my podcast provider or by subscribing to my Patreon page. There you will get early access to episodes as well as MP3 downloads of the music, artwork, writing. You can now also find The Skylark Bell merchandisem including tee shirts, postes, mugs, stickers, and more! Just visit my website, theskylarkbell.com, and click on the “shop” tab. All links are also available in the show notes for this and other episodes.
Before I go, I’d like to share this reel for a podcast I quite enjoy called Shittin’ Bricks. Kate and Dominic are fantastic hosts who take a deep look at things that bring people fear. If you enjoy the supernatural atmosphere of The Skylark Bell you’ll want to check them out.
Once again, thank you for listening. I am Melissa Oliveri, creator and host of The Skylark Bell podcast.
