“An Itchy Throat, A Feverish Head
Take A Tonic and Go Straight to Bed
Or Mr Camphor Will Bring You Dread
And Take You Away, ‘Cause You’ll Be Dead”
Handbridge Village
Chester, England
11:00pm
Sam was sat on her bed typing away at the keys of her laptop when her phone on the windowsill buzzed with a notification; her glanced at it then picked it up seeing the notice which read NEW POST FROM @MrCamphor. Sam’s eyes lit up “Oh shit!” she moved the laptop to the side and tapped the pin on her phone to unlock it then opened her twitter app finding the post:
@MrCamphor
Solve my next riddle:
This disease leaves your head in a buzz.
Get a water and horse sport and then try
To add the simple letter i
What is it?
Solve it; summon me, ring the bell twice and I will come
Save yourself from the pestilence my children
Sam was excited it had been a couple of years since the last post, Mr Camphor was something of an urban legend in the area it began years ago with people throughout Chester reporting sightings at night of a man dressed like a Plague Doctor wandering throughout the city, the media lapped it up posting the blurred phone shots in the local papers and news sights, the thoughts of a unknown person walking about in a beaked masked freaked out many of the locals but also attracted many fans as well. It was a long time after the sightings that the Twitter page was found someone online happened to come across it and the find went viral gathering 200,000 followers in just three days. The posts were always the same Mr Camphor would give everyone a riddle that people would need to solve and when they knew the answer they would be able to summon him to give him the answer, the post would also have a picture of a location somewhere in the city. A lot of people assumed it was just some guy in a costume just trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame, for a time no one paid the posts any real attention until one local did that’s when the bodies first appeared. The legend began to take hold from eyewitness accounts and rumoured survivor stories which all claim the same thing, should you summon Mr Camphor and give him your answer two things will happen: If the answer is correct you will be given a gift, if your answer is wrong then you die, over the span of six years five people were found dead across Chester all of them in the location from a Twitter post by Mr Camphor. The Police tried to have the Twitter page removed but days later it would return, they even tried to trace the account but there hasn’t been any evidence available to lead to a suspect, but Sam wanted to see if everything about the rumours and stories was true.
Sam reread the riddle trying to figure it she then went to her contacts and found James’ number and sent a message:
Sam
JAMES! James his back on Twitter Mr Camphor is back!
James
Shit are you serious?!
Sam
Can you get over here?
James
Give me fifteen minutes
The two of them were sat in Sam’s looking at the twitter post rereading ever word Sam turned to James “Do you know the answer?” James shook his head “No clue Influenza maybe?” Sam shrugged her shoulders “I’m not sure”. James checked the time on his phone then sat on Sam’s bed “Has he posted the location yet?” Sam shook her head “Not yet…so what is the plan if he does?” James gave a smirked and casually spoke “Well what if we go and see if he’s real?” Sam spun on her desk chair looking at him with same excited curiosity “Are you serious?” he nodded in reply “Actually go and find him?” James stood up “Hey either he's just some guy fucking with everybody and in that case we expose him for who he is or he’s really is some sort of ghost” Sam saw another notification on her phone and opened it “Shit! Shit, shit, shit! He’s posted a picture of the location!” James rushed over and stood behind Sam looking over her shoulder at her phone “Where is it?” she tapped on the Twitter post and loaded up the picture Sam recognised the location “That’s the Roman Garden”. Sam looked to James, both of them were quite excited of the thrill of finding out if Mr Camphor is actually real, they grabbed their coats and set out into the night.
The Roman Garden
Chester City Centre
1:00am
The two of them arrived at the entrance way that was situated at the bottom of the garden that led out to the riverside, but the gate was closed. Sam looked to the gate with frustration “Dammit! How are we going to get in?” James stepped over to the gate eyeing it up then turned to Sam “Come on I’ll boost you up and over then I can climb over after you” he crouched down low and cupped his hands ready to lift. Sam stepped closer she placed one foot in James’ hands he nodded to her “Ok you ready?” she nodded and with a count to three he lifted her up and Sam was able to climb over and drop down to the other side, as she composed herself James was able to lift himself up and over with ease.
They slowly made their way up the hill following the winding path, the gardens looking so much more eerie in the amber glow of nearby streetlights casting streams of light against the shadows. The two eventually reached the top of hill and looked at the long garden and the ruins that had been used to decorate it, Sam glanced up to the old city walls to see if anyone was lurking high above watching but apart from the sound of partygoers laughing somewhere in the distance the area was empty. James stepped forward wandering about looking for any sign of someone “So what do we just wait for him?” as Sam walk by the sitting area something caught her eye, on one of the stone benches was slightly rusted bell with a wooden handle Sam slowly approached it “Summon me…ring the bell twice and I will come”. She picked up the bell “An itchy throat…a feverish head…take a tonic and go straight to bed” James turned after hearing the words and saw Sam with the bell, she continued to recite the rhyme “Or Mr Camphor will bring you dread and take you away ‘cause you’ll be dead” she paused for a moment then rang the bell twice. As the last bell ring echoed in the night Sam and James looked to each other with anticipation but also with a slight hint of fear, a few moments passed Sam glanced at James “Well maybe there is going to be no one, come on…” a noise caught both of their attention from above somewhere on the wall was the loud sound of footsteps.
The footsteps continued loudly, Sam’s eye widened as she watched the walls James was also feeling the panic he spoke quietly “Can you see anything?” she shook head but remained silent. Down along the wall was a large stone gateway to which a stairwell led down from the wall to the garden, they heard the footsteps reach the top and stop for a brief period but then they could hear each step begin to descend the stairs. Sam flinched when the sound of a crow cawed screeched out her sights quickly whipped to the left and saw that a group of crows was beginning to perch along the border of the wall, eight of them were perched silently watching the two people down below as if they were patiently waiting for something to happen, they all craned their heads in unison towards the stairwell as the last steps reached the bottom. Another pause of silence was enough to start putting doubt into both young adults, however even when the figure appeared they remained steadfast but the fright had something to do with that.
The figure was tall about six foot five, from the bulky physical shape it was definitely a man and the sighting descriptions where right on the money of him wearing the plague doctor mask but the rest of the outfit didn’t fit the usual 17th Century appearance that everyone knew from history books. It looked like the man wore a suit shirt with a tie along with a black waist coat and over the smart looking clothes was a long black leather trench coat, the hooked beaked leather mask hid his face which was top with a large brim black fedora style looking hat, he looked towards Sam and James and then began to approach them slowly.
Boots clunked against the paving stones as Mr Camphor made his way closer more crows appeared swirling overhead, Sam was shaking her head in disbelief “No, no this isn’t real?” James was speechless all he could do was watch the plague doctor coming closer towards them. The bird faced figure continued forward Sam grew more afraid of the masked man, James however gained a bit more courage to speak “Are you Mr Camphor?” the man spoke in a deep grumbled voice that was slightly muffled by the mask “I am Camphor, the warden of the sick and the condemner of dying…have you an answer to my riddle?” James nodded in reply as the man stopped a few feet in front of them bit still loomed over them.
Sam could smell dirt and bunch of smells from herbs including some sort of unknown scents that were strong hitting the back of her throat, the expressionless mask looked down to her then looked back to James “Very well give me your answer first…This disease leaves your head in a buzz. Get a water and horse sport and then try, to add the simple letter i…what is it?” James paused to be sure of his answer an illness that begins with the letter i, he nodded then looked to Mr Camphor with certainty “The answer is influenza” the man just stared at him silently. James began to feel incredibly hot from a sudden fever his breathing began to quicken and wheezy, Sam looked to her friend with panic “James? James what’s wrong?!” James couldn’t speak he struggled to breath and foam began to bubble from his mouth, Sam told hold of James’ arm looking to the man “Holy shit! STOP IT, STOP IT NOW!” Camphor remained silently he watched as James collapsed to the floor. Sam had tears in her eyes as James began to choke and convulse on the ground Sam screamed out “HELP! HELP ME PLEASE!” James eventually stopped moving and gargled out one final breath, Sam was knelt down next to him sobbing when suddenly she had noticed the man had moved closer to stand in front of her “Please…don’t hurt me” the man looked down at her “I wish to save all from the disease…answer the riddle and the disease may not consume you” Sam hesitated for a moment replaying the riddle in her head “Head in a buzz…water and horse sport and add…add an i” she whispered under her breath “Polo” she quickly looked to Mr Camphor “The answer is Polio!” there was another pause then Mr Camphor crouched down and pulled out a silver coin from his pocket and handed it to her.
Sam cautiously took the coin as Mr Camphor spoke stroking the side of her face “A touch piece…congratulations my dear, you are safe the disease shall not consume you” he stood upright as the sound of sirens began to shriek into the air getting closer, Sam saw Mr Camphor slowly walk back the way he came he spoke one final time “I will not take him, bury him as you wish” he continued walking away and left Sam crying over James body.
The police managed to break the lock on the main gate to the garden entrance on Pepper Street and entered the garden as a crowd of people began to form wondering what was going on. Two officers stepped across the mosaic floor and could see Sam down the path and could hear her crying, one officer spoke out “Hey are you alright?!”as they got closer they noticed what was lying on the ground the other office whispered to the other “Fuck is that a body?!” his counterpart nodded “Call it in get an ambulance team as well” the second officer reach for his radio and called it in.
After the ambulance paramedics arrived Detective Erika Marshall arrived at the main gate and saw the two officers she spoke softly “So what happened here?” the first officer replied “People at the nearby bars heard someone screaming for help coming from the gardens, when we entered we found a young girl huddled over a dead body” Erika was curious about why two people were in the gardens at night “I’ll speak with her”. The paramedics were zipping up the body and began wheeling it away as Erika found Sam sat with another unnamed police officer she sat down next to her “Samantha Wheeler?” Sam nodded hunched under the blanket to keep her warm “I’m Detective Erika Marshall with the Cheshire Constabulary can I ask you some questions?” Sam nodded again. Marshall took out a pen and notepad and ask question after question about how the two kids came to be in the Roman Garden at such a late time when suddenly Sam broke down crying “We didn’t think he’d actually be real!”, Marshall looked at the girl with confusion “Wait who’s he?” Sam kept crying “We rang the bell and he showed up then James just died” Marshall was still wondering who the third person was “Who showed up Sam who killed James?” Sam turned to Marshall eyes red with tears and an expression of terror “He’s real detective…Mr Camphor is real!”. As the police and paramedics finished off their duties clearing the area the flashes of blue siren lights flickering against the stones of the old city wall, along the edges the crows were still perched watching everything before flying up into the dark of the night vanishing along with their mystery master, Sam was sat muttering the old rhyme “An itchy throat…a feverish head…take a tonic and go straight to bed…or Mr Camphor will bring you dread…and take you away ‘cause you’ll be dead”.
END
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