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Warning:** Horror, s ***upernatural elements, poisoning.*

[Disclaimer: Any names portrayed in this story are completely fictional. Any resemblances with actual people or characters are completely coincidental.]

A QUESTION OF TIME

Katie, Josh, Jessie and Kyle were having the time of their lives. They had been very lucky and had been granted a permit as well as a scholarship to study abroad. They had all met at campus and almost instantly formed a strong friendship with each other and werea tightly knit group. They had all come from different parts of the US to study in Sweden for 1 year. The trip had taken themto Uppsala, a city more or less built around its university. It had been the religious capitol of Sweden for centuries with its massive cathedral, the biggest one in Scandinavia. It was also the church that had founded the university all the way back in 1477, and its halls still stood to this day. The city had a proud historical ancestry with its core around the river dating back to the iron age, and if you followed the river upstream into the countryside, you would find ancient sites dating back as far as the bronze age. Many buildings down town were still medieval and really brought a certain character to the city. Many of the university's buildings dated back to the 19thand 17thcentury and it felt rather special walking through their halls and corridors.

But it was not for historical studies that this group was here. They were studying psychology at a much more modern institute on the south side of the city. There was even a large asylum nearby that they all had visited and all of them had gotten a little chill from it. The modern part of the asylum was a nice building but had a fenced yard where patients were moving around like dogs in a pen, some of them even wearing straight jackets. But even more eerie was the old asylum buildings from the 19th century, with their walled yards and fenced windows. It was all a museum these days, but the thought of locking people into such a place gave them the chills. It served as a note to remind them of the darker side of human history.

But now it was June and a lovely spring time had turned into summer. The city was bubbling with life. The days were filled with sunshine, and the bridges and harbours along the river werefilled with people celebrating, drinking, eating ice cream, fishingor just sunbathing. River boats slowly steamed up and down the river, taking passengers to the lovely countryside south of the city which was riddled with mansions, parks and beautiful nature. Some tours even went further and took people to castles that still stood tall over the river and its wakes where it ran out to the sea. Even when the night fell over the city it did not rest, for its many bars and clubs were blasting music and people were always on the move. Not that the nights were very long up here anyway; in June it didn't really get dark until midnight, and dawn came already at 2 am. It had been hard to get used to at first, but now they all found it charming. It was indeed a city that never really slept.

The semester was over for now and a warm and lovely summer time was before them. A time filled with parties, excursions into the many nature preserves, and swimming in the many lakes and rivers around the city. The municipally had made sure to prepare small beaches that were accessible to the public almost everywhere. This morning they had all packed and prepared a picnic before taking the bus out to a nearby castle, Wik. It was a 40 minute ride, but the farmland and nature on the way there was lovely. Katie and Josh had been here before and knew of it. The area was absolutely lovely. While it had started out as a watchtower over the river wakes in the 12thcentury, it had been built on and added to over time. In the 15thcentury it had been a mighty castle with high walls, towers, moatsand even its own walled harbour. It had only been besieged once, but its walls had held out against the attacking forces. Later on as culture and warfare changed however it had been changed and rebuilt, and in the 18thcentury it had more or less turned into a luxurious palace with massive gardens. Today, the keep was almost all that remained of the old castle, the walls that had once stood to its defence had crumpled and toppled over, torn down by time. However the castle gardens was a lovely walk to take as they stretched far along the slopes to the sea. To keep the grounds well kept, herds of sheep wandered them and they were always curious about visitors.

The plan was to stay late, end the evening with a nightly swim under the moon, and take the night bus back into town. It was exciting too, for Josh and Katie had spoken to people working there and had been told that both the castle and its grounds were confirmed to be haunted.Strange things always happened across the grounds, but especially around the keep that still stood tall over the sea. The ghost stories had been many, everything from apparitions to the sound of horses that hadn't been kept there in 200 years, to lights going on and off in the castle and things in locked rooms beinginexplicablymoved over night. What if they all were to see a ghost tonight? The talks had ledto a lot of jokes between them, and on the bus out they kept telling each other horror stories. When they arrived they started by takinga walk around the grounds.Itwas truly beautiful and peaceful here -- almost no people and so many green hills and lush forests that sloped down into the green glittering water. Fishes jumped in the water and birds flew above. Kyle picked some berries from a nearby grove and shared them with the others. They passed by an old church thataccording to a signwas from the 14thcentury. They took a look around, and Josh took a jump over the low stone wall that surrounded it. He accidentally landed right on top of a gravestone that was almost hidden in the grass and knocked off a small, crackedpart of it.

"Damn." He cursed to himself and stepped off, taking a lap around the church before re-joining the others on the other side. It was a beautiful church of white plaster that was placed atop a hill overlooking the farmland beyond.

Eventually they came back around to the castle and walked around the ancient keep. Its massive grey granite walls were cool to the touch and as they walked along them a thin fog swirled around their feet. The ground here must be very moist--perhaps it was a mote.They all got an uncanny feeling of being watched. They couldn't really place it, but it was an eerie feeling of someone following them. They all noticed that they all turned around and looked behind them a lot and finally Katie was the one to voice it.

"Hey guys... do you feel that too?"

They all stopped and looked at each other. Then Jessie nodded, and thereafter the boys too. They turned and started to walk again but the feeling just grew stronger, almost as if someone was poking their backs now. They all stopped and turned around again. They stood in the shadow of the keep now and it felt endlessly tall and oppressing over them.Suddenly, Josh shouted:

"Hey! Get lost!"

The words were aimed at the air behind them. They all took a few more steps, but the feeling persisted.

"I said get lost!"

Josh had turned around again and looked angry this time.

"If you're gonna fuck with me, I'm gonna fuck with you!"

"Josh, I don't think you should..." Katie started but then fell silent as Josh turned to the wall, grabbed a loose stone and started to wiggle it free.

"Josh, no! Y-you really shouldn't do that! Don't challenge them!"

Katie was suddenly looking very scared. She had seen a lot of TV shows on the paranormal, and she had understood that challenging a ghost that already felt angry with them was a bad idea.

"Josh no!"

Katie shouted as Josh wiggled the stone free and threw it into the air behind them. For a moment she was dead afraid of what would happen, but nothing did. They all stood there, just breathing for a moment, but all thatwas heard was waves and birdsong. Slowly, the summer warmth seemed to return to them. Had it really been this cold under the shadow of the keep? They turned and started walking again and the sensation of being watched was gone, and so was the fog.

They came around the corner of the keep and went up a small hill where there was a statue along with some tables and chairs. It was round and must be the foundation of one of the now destroyed towers that once stood guard. From it on two sides stretched crumpled and ruined walls and on the other side of them steep slopes down towards the water. Josh stepped out on one of the crumpled walls and looked down. The slope beneath him wasfilled with large amounts of large flowers, fallen rocks from the ruined walls and ivy. A small path down there lead down to what had once been the walled harbour, and then more slopes filled with flowers and fallen over rocks all the way down into the water.

"Hey, look here!"

He turned to the others and pointed out over the slopes.

"It's like nature is taking over again, growing over the walls!"

He made a sweeping motion with his hand, and before he realized what was happening, the ring he had gotten from his dad slipped off of his finger. He just had time to follow it with his eyes as it fell down, bounced on the remnant stone wall he stood on with a clink, and flew out over the slope. It was like a small glittering ball in the sunshine before it disappeared into the hedges of flowers. "No! No no no nooo! Crap!"

Josh leaned out over the wall and looked for it in desperation. That was a very fine ring, an heirloom from his father's side of the family. Not only was it his responsibility to care for it now as it had passed on through generations, but it was beautiful silver and gold handcraft that was worth a lot of money. The others came up to him.

"Hey Josh, what's up?" "My ring! I dropped my ring! We have to find it!"

"Down there? Good luck." "No, its a family heirloom! I have to find it." Josh started to carefully climb down the crumpled wall and search through the thicket of flowers and ivy.

"Hey, careful where you step!" Kyle called after him.

They all looked at Josh, and then sighed in chorus. He was really going for that ring.

"Well, we might as well get this done faster." Katie said and shrugged.

Kyle pointed to the path below.

"Hey, lets go down there and look instead of climbing the slope."

Josh heard the sound of the others as they came heading down the small path. He was still carefully climbing down the slope. Some stones from the wall wiggled under his feet, and others were sent tumbling down as he tried to step on them. And there were so many flowers here, God! With thick green leaves thatalong with the ivyhid the ground well. Cursing, Josh started to shove them around, ripping some of them away and kept searching. At least they smelled pretty lovely. Behind him, Kyle, Jessie and Katie grumbled between themselves as they started bending and ripping flowers too, looking for that damn ring. Suddenly, a large rock that Josh was standing on slipped and came tumbling down the slope. Josh yelled as he lost his footing and came tumbling after. It all happened so fast that Katie barely had a chance. She managed to dodge the stone just enough for it to miss her head and grace her hair - but instead it slammed against her shoulder and sent her flying and tumbling across the path and into the sea of flowers and rocks. It must have weighed several hundred pounds!Josh landed with a heavy thud in the path and laid there, gasping. Kyle came over to him.

"Hey Josh! Josh, are you alright?!"

He rolled Josh over and looked at him. A few bruises and cuts, but otherwise seemingly unharmed. Jessie looked down the slope after Katie and saw her lay further down, almost by the water.

"Katie! Katie are you okay?!" Jessie started down the slope as fast as she could, stumbling between fallen rocks and more flowers. Closer to the water they were even bigger and soon it was like breaking through a tiny forest of them. Kyle and Josh soon came after and they reached Katie. She too was bruised and had a good deal of cuts, but wasotherwise fine, just a bit beaten up. As they gathered around her and helped her upshe managed a weak smile and held up a small ring.

"Hey... found it." Josh smiled at her and could feel himself blush a little. He had been interested in Katie for a while - as in more than friendship - and he was pretty sure she was interested too. But as Josh put it back on his finger, something felt wrong. It came with a very eerie feeling and he turned around. In the shadow of the keep was another shadow that seemed to disappear into nothingness as he looked at it. He blinked, but the shadow was no more and he was not sure if he actually saw something in the first place.

Soon they were all helping each other climb back up the slope to the path leading to the harbour. As they reached the path they were all panting with exhaustion and looked at each other.

"I think now is a good time for dinner?"

All agreed. The sun was already setting so they grabbed their bags and followed the path to the harbour, where another path lead to the beach. Soon they were all settled around a table and had a fireplace next to them where some burgers were nowon the grill. The mood was back up, and after cooling their feet in the water they were all very hungry. Soon, beers were opened, music played from a Bluetooth loudspeaker and burgers were being put together. As they ate, they all thought that the burgers had a bit of a peculiar taste to them, but not enough to cause any serious wonder or worry. It was probably just a little too much lighter fluid on the coals and would be pretty harmless.

After dinner, late as it may have been, dusk was on them. Feeling refreshed after the dinner and drinks, they were all eager to get into the water and get a good swim before it was time to head home. They all got undressed into their swimming gear and dove in. The water was still rather cool but warm enough to swim in. As they were all gathered together in the little wake, splashing water and laughing, they suddenly heard the sound of neighing horses. They all stopped, swam on the spot and looked at each other. There were not supposed to be horses here, and they all recalled the ghost stories they had heard. Then it was heard again, and they all could hear the sound of hooves.

"Hey, somebody's coming!" Kyle stated.

"Hey, our stuff! My phone and the speaker is up there!" Katie yelled.

They all started swimming back to the shore. They got up from the water and huddled towards the table with all their stuff, but then slowed down. Josh felt his head spinning slightly after the rapid swim and run. How much beer had he had actually? He couldn't really be drunk already could he?

Not a single sound, not a single movement but their own. Kyle stopped and looked around. Suddenly, everything was dead silent. He turned around to the others and they all looked at each other. They all knew that they had clearly heard the horses coming closer.

"Uhm, guys..." Jessie said and looked around. Suddenly her breath turned to steam and she held her arms around herself. From the water a fog started to rise and crawl in over land like a menacing cloud of poisonous gas.

"Did it just get... very cold?"

In that very moment, the neigh was heard again, and it was right next to them. They all jumped and Katie looked down and shrieked as she suddenly saw hoofprints form in the sand, and they all could hear the sound of it as it stepped closer to them. They all stared at it, whatever it was, and started to back away towards the table. Theirhearts were pounding in their chests, breaths were caught in their throats.Katie suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her gut and grunted, bending over and holding her hand over her belly. She panted and took a few deep breaths. Was her world spinning a bit? She had only had one beer, it couldn't be, surely? There was suddenlya rattle behind them. They all turned around to see the loudspeaker and some food items slide over the table and down onto the ground.

They screamed. No one had believed the ghost stories really, but now they were in one. Josh stumbled and almost waddled for a moment as theystarted to run up the slope towards the castle, leaving their stuff behind. Suddenly that no longer mattered, they just had to get away. They were all running, when Josh looked up towards the keep. The dark shadow was back. He blinked, but this time it remained. Suddenly he staggered, lost is footing and fell over. The others slowed down and turned to look at him. He crumpled up and started to shake violently. His eyes were wide, his mouth was filling with froth. Katie ran over to him and tried to hold him.

"Josh?! Josh, what is going on?!

She looked down at him. His eyes were wide with fear and she could see the panic in them. He gurgled and twitched and it seemed as every muscle in his body started cramping. She turned to the others.

"Get help! Quick! The phones, the table! Get help!"

Her words were interrupted by another violent stab of pain in her belly, and Katie gasped and bent over Josh. She took a few rapid breaths before she threwup several times, followed by a painful groan. Jessie and Kyle looked at each other and Kyle started running back towards the table and all their stuff, while Jessie continued up the slope to find the groundskeeper--he must have medical supplies. In the meantime, Katie managed to sit back up and held Josh in her arms, strokingher fingers through his hair.

"Help is coming Josh! Help is coming."

She tried to speak calmly, but her throat thickened. She had never been so afraid in her entire life. She then looked down in horror as a shadow seemed to come over Josh, and his eyes slowly turned fully black, as if they were two empty sockets in his skull. She screamed in horror and shuffled away from him and watched as he crumpled up and started to throw up violently while his skin slowly turned a nasty shade of purple. She screamed and screamed while clawing at the ground beneath her, until the screams were interrupted by yet another throw-up, followed by yet another stab that made her roll over and curl up with a shriek.

Down from the beach, Kyle heard her screams. He had reached the table butit was covered in a thick fog. He could barely see his own hand in front of him and suddenly couldn't remember what he was going for. He stopped, scratched his head and then recalled. He threw their items around in his blindness, barely able to see more than a foot in the thick fog.He managed to find his phone, but as he picked it up and tapped it, it suddenly felt as if the world around him slowed down. He blinked several times and could not understand what he was looking at. "Enter passcode." What was this? He just needed to make a phone call. What the hell was a passcode?!He started to swipe his finger across the screen in desperation, but he couldn't for his life remember why he needed it again.Then thephone dropped to the ground as he started to shake, and in the next moment he too fell over. He felt the wet sand against his back and saw the dark starry sky above him. It was a beautiful sight, but then the cramps hit him. He tried to scream in pain, but only a groaning gurgle came. He felt his entire body twitch violently before everything got very bright and very blurry, and thenit went dark.

Jessie had reached the top of the hill when she heard Katie's screams. She looked around. Exactly where were the groundskeepers cottage again? She knew they had seen it on the way, but couldnotfor her life remember where it was. She stepped up on a small hill and suddenly realized she was back on top of the wall where Josh had lost his ring. She spun around and suddenly felt howher legs trembledand gavein. She managed to think to herself "no, not here" before she fell over the edge. She felt herself tumble and bounce over the flowers and the rocks, almost bounce across the path and down the second slope. Suddenlyshefeltthe cold wet feeling of water against her body, and whenshe breathed in shefelt the salty taste of the sea water. She could no longer see properly, everything was blurry and spinning. She reached up, felt her hand grab a rock, and pulled herself upwards. She tried to spit the water out, but when she did she found herself throw up violently. It felt as if her insides were burning. She looked up and saw the massive dark keep amass above her, and under it, a dark shape stood. She felt its gaze burn into her and in the next moment, everything got dark and she felt herself fall backwards. She felt the cold water surround her head, but could no longer move. Her skin slowly turned purple as herbody twitched in the water, before the fog swallowed it and she disappeared.

When the groundskeeper came out the next morning to take care of the sheep, a gruesome sight met him. On the slopes down towards the beach, two young adults laid not far from each other. They laid in pools of vomit, their eyes completely black and frozen in time. Their skin was crumpled and purple. He stopped in his tracks and just stared for a few seconds before he with a trembling hand reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out. While talking he reached down and touched them. Cold and stiff, there was no question about it. A while later police and paramedics arrived at the scene, and a patrol took the groundskeeper with them to check the premises. Down by the beach they found a third body in the same condition, its hand outstretched for the young lad'sphone. One of the officers had to take offhis hat and throw up in a nearby bush. As they came around, they saw the fourth one in the water. One of the officers was about to head down when the groundskeeper suddenly grabbed her and pulled her back. He shook his head and looked down at the last body and then at the plants. The large white and beautiful flowers that smelled sweetly and brought a warm thought about summer. But as warm and sweet as they seemed, the groundskeeper knew that these plants were stone-cold killers. They grew wild all around the area, and despite him clearing them out down in the gardens, a few of them always managed to kill a few of his sheep every summer. He looked between the police officers, and then at the flowers.

"Water hemlocks." He said and sighed bitterly.

Looking around, he could see that many of them were torn and broken, some of them ripped up, their oily sap dribbling over the roots and stems.

"What madness brought them to whack and pick water hemlocks?!"

He shook his head again.

"Whoever goes down there to fetch her needs full protective clothing. They're not dangerous to the touch, but their sap is extraordinary deadly. Why on earth would they try and pick them?"

He shook his head again and backed off and the officers followed him. Getting the sap on the skin was bad enough, but if they had had sap on their fingers and then eaten something... the thought gave him a shiver and he felt cold as he turned back and continued the patrol with the officers to see if there was yet more to be found. Meanwhile, a shadow swept over the hemlocks, and they glittered eerily as if hit by moonlight. They had taken another life that night.

[Disclaimer: Any names portrayed in this story are completely fictional. Any resemblances with actual people or characters are completely coincidental.]

W __hen you visit places you have never been too before, especially abroad, it's always a good idea to read up on flora and fauna -_ especially if you manage to make otherworldly forces furious. W hat is everyday life to the indigenous population_ _might not be so to you, and you might have no idea that you're stepping into something deadly. Such as this authors lovely little garden, with Wolfsbane flowers as v iolet_and beautiful as they are deadly~