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Table of Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Book Details

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

About The Author

Acknowledgements

The Haunted Pub

Melanie Tushmore

Dedication

To a dear friend

Much missed

THE HAUNTED PUB

Copyright © Melanie Tushmore 2012

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor transmitted, nor translated into a

machine language, without the written permission of the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real locales or real people are

used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual events, localities or persons, either living or dead, are

entirely unintentional.

Chapter One

Grabbing whatever clothes he could lay his hands on, Fizz jammed everything that would fit into

the only two bags he had. His packing was a mess, but it didn’t matter; he’d run out of time. Glancing

at his dresser, he snatched down the framed picture of Luke, his older brother, along with his fiancée

and three month old baby. Holding the picture, Fizz gazed at the familiar smile on Luke’s face. Luke

was happy now; he had his own family. But ever since he’d moved out things had been…different.

Fizz had always known that his parents had a favourite…that it was Luke. Hard to ignore, when

their mother always referred to Luke as “the bright one”. Their father had been more blunt, and often

joked “Get it right the first time, ‘cause the sequel is never as good”. Fizz swallowed hard, and placed

the picture carefully in his bag.

No sooner had he zipped it closed when his door burst open, making Fizz jump. No knock; just his

father barging in, looking pissed off as usual. Fizz looked up at him, waiting, hoping he’d change his

mind.

His frown was set as he said, “You ready?”

No! The plea never made it out of him. Despite being terrified, Fizz knew that begging his parents

for another chance wouldn’t do any good. As his father led him downstairs, carrying one of his bags,

Fizz saw a flash of his mother, darting into their bedroom, handkerchief in hand.

“Don’t hate me, Jamie!” she wailed after him. “I just can’t take it anymore!” Her voice echoed

down the stairs. Fizz kept his eyes down, making sure he watched where he stepped. The last thing he

needed was to trip.

At the front door, Fizz’s bags were placed outside. His father dug in his pocket, then pulled out a

twenty pound note. “This’ll get you a bus fare,” he said gruffly, shoving the money at Fizz.

The crinkled note unfolded in Fizz’s hand as he stared at it. Twenty pounds. The significance

wasn’t lost on him; he’d had his twentieth birthday only last month.

“This has been a long time coming, Jamie,” his father informed him. “Your mother has had enough.

I’ve had enough,” he snapped. Fizz flinched. “It’s time to get yourself a job, and then maybe you’ll

have something worth moping about for.”

Fizz found the door slammed shut on him before the words fully registered. He’d heard his father’s

tirades before, but never had he expected this. To be thrown out. Not when each time after his father

had shouted at him, his mother would find him and whisper how she understood, because she’d been

through “a difficult patch” when she was younger.

“You’ll grow out of it,” she used to tell him, along with a brief pat on the hand. “I did. And I’m

much better for it.”

Except, Fizz hadn’t grown out of it. At least, not yet.

Taking a shaky breath, he picked up his bags. He didn’t look back at his family home as he walked

away. He couldn’t bear to.

* * *

Sitting on the curb, alone, with no more than two bags of belongings to his name, Fizz didn’t know

what to do. The early morning cloud had cleared, and bright sunlight heated the pavement. Cars drove

past him, even mothers pushing toddlers in prams quickened their pace as they hurried past. Fizz

didn’t have any friends. He’d lost contact with those he’d known from school years ago, when he’d

stopped attending. He had nowhere to go, no one to call on. Maybe some other members of his family

could help, but Fizz was altogether too shocked to think straight. He did the only thing he could

manage, which was take out his very old model mobile phone, and called Luke.

Thankfully, he picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Jamie. You all right?”

At the sound of his voice, so reassuring and familiar, the shock finally thawed and sobs bubbled out

of Fizz’s throat. His eyes burned with hot tears, and he wished with all his heart that Luke would know

what to do.

His brother’s sigh was audible in his ear. “Where are you, Jamie?”

Less than twenty minutes later, Luke’s car pulled up by the curb. He carefully got Fizz into the car,

placed his bags inside, then sat in the driver’s seat. He expelled a long puff of air. “Oh-kay. You know

I can’t invite you to stay with us, right? I mean, with the baby an’ all, and Maz’s hormones.” Luke’s

eyes went wide as he pulled a face, trying to laugh it off. “Well, hormones ain’t the word for her mood

swings, but either way, there just isn’t space, mate. I’m sorry.”

Fizz fought hard to keep the sobs down. He nodded silently. He hadn’t expected to live at Luke’s

tiny bedsit; the baby had to come first, of course. Fizz wouldn’t have dreamed otherwise. Just as he

was about to work up the courage to ask what next? Luke cranked the car into gear.

“Well, there’s just one place left. Buckle up, mate, we’re going to Brighton.”

* * *

Luke drove them the hour’s journey down the motorway to Brighton, and that was how Jamie ‘Fizz’

Fitzherbert found himself at The Queen Anne’s Revenge public house, at ten o’clock on a Sunday

morning.

The pub wasn’t due to open until twelve, so Luke got out his phone and made a call. As they waited

on its doorstep, Fizz tried to ignore the steady rush of traffic on the road beside them, tried to block

out the real world and what was happening. He focussed on the building, the pub, remembering the

times he’d visited before, with Luke.

The pub had originally been a hotel, which was why it was so tall for a pub of its day. In the 1930s,

the hotel was converted into a themed pub inspired by Disney’s first feature film, Snow White & The

Seven Dwarves. Fizz had always remembered that part because, even now, the building looked

something like a life-size gingerbread cottage from a children’s story book. Plaster cast models still

stood over the main entrance; eight foot figurines of a king and a queen that impassively gazed out at

the Old Steine and Victoria Gardens.

They were a sight worth stopping to look at…if a little creepy.

The first time Fizz had seen the figures, he’d been interested enough to ask what they were. He

remembered the bare facts; in the 1930s, a lot of themed pubs had sprung up in Europe, including this

one in Brighton. Unfortunately, when the Second World War erupted, anything with a German

connection lost its popularity. Not many themed pubs were left now but, miraculously, this one was