by D K Bohlman
It was then that she saw the black fabric move. More exactly, it swelled. Like an inflating balloon.
Then the swollen area sank quickly. Then rose again just as fast. From somewhere inside the hatch, a strange noise made her jump and move further backwards.
Another noise. This time she heard it for what it was. A grunt.
Then came the realisation that froze her to the spot and stopped her breathing with the same instant iciness.
She was looking at a human frame. It was squeezed impossibly into the narrow dimensions of the hatch.
She realised it was the first time she had been so close to a real person for a long while. Now, she could smell the body odours, as her brain relaxed its pre-programmed anticipation of food and allowed her to deal with the reality sitting squarely in front of her.
Whatever was expected of her, she was unsure. But it was pretty clear the person in the chute was stuck and wouldn't get out without some help.
She put her hands out in front of her, towards the breathing black fabric, as she tried to work out how to start to help the person get out. She realised she was looking at the person’s back, and the legs were pushed upwards into the hatch, on the far side, so she could only see the rear waistband of some denim jeans. Her movements were tentative and it was a few seconds before she placed her fingertips on either side of the person. It triggered a rapid inflation again and a higher-pitched grunt, followed by a sort of wiggle of the black material. The body had recognised another human’s touch.
Katalin placed her hands more firmly on the body and tugged. Nothing moved. She pushed her hands further round and curled her fingers into the person’s buttocks. They were soft. Felt like a woman’s bum. She pulled again, moving things an inch or two but then felt resistance from the hatch frame.
She released her hands and stood back, looking around the room for some idea on how to get this person free.
Free her … but into her room, though? She hadn’t thought of that. What was that going to mean? Did she want this person … woman … girl? … in her room? How could she be sure she wouldn’t be a threat? She paused, uncertain what to do next.
More wiggling and grunting emanating from the hatch brought her thoughts back to the here and now.
So, she was grunting which probably meant her mouth was gagged. Which also implied she wasn’t his friend. And being squeezed into that space wouldn't be a voluntary thing. Most likely it would be hurting too. And then the clincher. If she stayed in the hatch, how would any more food get delivered?
With that thought making her decision for her, she picked up a wooden chair and hammered the back against the floor. It was enough to break a couple of the more decrepit spindles and gave her leverage to twist and pull the top bar off the remaining ones.
She poked the smoothly curved bar of wood into the side of the hatch, between the frame and the body. There were a few inches of space either side of the person, so once she had the bar well inside the hatch she pulled against it hard, shoving the body sideways. It grunted and growled viscerally, with pain in its complaints.
Now there was space enough on one side to try to tilt the body that way, get the head a bit lower so it might be able to slip out of the hatch. Katalin grabbed the upper part of the back and yanked it sideways, keeping the bottom jammed down against the opposite corner. Now she could see most of a girl’s head. Tangled hair, jet black, almost reaching her shoulders. She placed her hand up and around the head, feeling the heat of the skull and dragged it down and outward. There was a brief muffled yell and then a sudden, springing release, throwing Katalin backwards and the girl halfway out of the dumb waiter.
Katalin jumped back to her feet, ready to deal with whatever happened next.
The girl was writhing and growling violently, having banged her head against the floor as she poured the rest of herself out of the waiter. She lay in front of Katalin, bound and gagged tightly, clearly in a state of wild distress.
Katalin stared, wide-eyed and heart pounding with the closeness of this bundle of humanity lying in front of her. A few years younger than Katalin by the looks of the part of her face that was visible. Pretty, medium frame.
Now her food delivery route was open again, there was a choice to be made.
Driven mostly by a need to self-preserve, Katalin decided on a course of caution.
‘Nyugalom, ez OK,’ she said to the girl. She tried to smile softly at her, to try to calm her writhing, but the girl just continued to roll around, pulling at the bindings around her wrists.
She would wait an hour. See how the girl reacted. Then decide what to do. But maybe she could ungag her first, that couldn't do any harm, could it?
First encounter
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Katalin reached down towards the girl’s face and tugged tentatively at the mouth gag. The girl pulled her head sideways a little, perhaps trying to help wrench the tough, sticky tape away from her face. There was no knife or pair of scissors in the room. Perhaps he’d thought she might buckle under the solitude and end it all with a piece of culinary steel. Even her food was delivered chopped up and with plastic cutlery. Whatever, it made this task too hard. All she could do was drag the layers of tape downward enough so that the girl’s mouth was cleared and there was some movement possible with her jaw.
It meant she could speak. The first words that came out were surprising; because they were in English.
‘Who the hell are you? And get this tape off my hands!’
Katalin’s English was poor now. She’d learnt it at school and had used some in her career. Well, what there was of it before he’d kept her here. She watched some American TV shows occasionally too. But lack of practice had let it decay. This sudden outburst was hard to comprehend.
‘Sorry. I not speak English very good. Hello, I am Katalin.’
The girl on the floor took a moment to consider this.
‘Katalin who?’
‘Katalin … Sandor.’ She wasn’t sure she wanted to mention her family name, but it just came out. ‘And what is your name?’
The girl pursed her lips and hesitated before replying.
‘Sarah. Sarah McTeer.’
‘Why you here Sarah?’ enquired Katalin, entirely unsure of what the response might be. All the more reason to keep her bound up for now.
Sarah looked around the room before she answered.
‘I’m not sure. I came to see Marton. Now I’m here.’
At the sound of his name, Katalin visibly recoiled, drawing her arms more tightly across her chest. Her eyes were sad. No passion, no hope in them.
‘Why? Why you see Marton?’
‘I came to see him about … the war.’
At the mention of war, Katalin’s attention clicked up a gear. The war was the reason she herself was being kept here. Maybe this girl could be trusted. She knelt down by Sarah’s feet, tentatively grasped the layers of tape around her ankles and worked her fingers slowly under them, then pulled them laterally, trying to stretch the tape to free enough space for her feet to slip through.
It took Katalin a while, but the girl seemed to understand what she was trying to do and moved her ankles to try to help the process. After ten minutes of wrestling the tape, finally, there was enough room for a foot to slip out. Katalin pulled the trainer off Sarah’s left foot and helped push her foot back up through the tape loops.
Katalin dragged the broken chair towards Sarah and then watched as, now able to at least spread her legs out, Sarah somehow pushed her body upwards into a standing position, then sat carefully on the chair-stool. She winced and straightened herself as one of the splintered spokes scraped against her back.
‘So what about the war, Sarah? What you want to know about Marton?’
‘I wanted to know what he did. You know … when Germany was in Hungary. With the Arrow Cross.’
Katalin felt shocked. She struggled to stop it turning into panic. It was a long time since she had talked about t
his. At first, it had been all she could think of, the reason she came here. And the reason she stayed here. But over time, she found she coped better by not thinking about it. So it had become stowed away, perched quietly on an innermost shelf in her memory.
Now, here was a mind librarian, plucking it back out again.
She moved away from Sarah, sat down on the bed and leant against the wall. She pulled her feet up under her. This was going to be a long conversation.
Getting to know you
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‘So you are here to find out about Marton? How did you find out his name?’
‘No, no. Not Marton specifically. Just the Arrow Cross party. We kind of stumbled across Marton along the way and went to meet him. That’s where it all started to go wrong, I think.’
She nodded at Sarah, knowingly.
‘Yes, I’m sure that may be problem. Marton is not be happy talking to you about Arrow Cross.’
‘But he agreed to the request for a chat! He agreed to see me.’
Katalin looked thoughtful.
‘Well, maybe he wanted to know more of you. Understand if you are dangerous for him. Sorry, my English correct?’
Sarah waved a hand at her, dismissing the apology. ‘No, your English is good enough, I can understand no problem. Anyway, I’m Scottish myself.’
She wondered if that joke made any kind of sense to a Hungarian, but pressed on.
‘I’m trying to understand the background to the Arrow Cross party. I came here to read about it and meet some people who can tell me more about it. It’s my work, I’m researching … studying, at a university in Scotland.’
She peered into Katalin’s eyes, ‘How long have you been here Katalin?’
Katalin looked away. Sarah thought she looked … ashamed. She looked down at the floor as she answered.
‘I think eight years.’
Sarah threw a hand up over her mouth, stifling a gasp of shock.
‘Eight … years? God, you poor thing.’ She leant forward towards Katalin, to try and embrace her, but Katalin backed away a little. Sarah’s eyes started to tear up. Not just because of Katalin’s plight either. She was beginning to worry about what that meant for her own future. She remembered her mobile phone and pushed her hand into her jeans pocket, searching for its comforting shape. Not there. It must have been taken from her in Marton’s apartment.
‘So haven’t you tried to get out?’
Sarah immediately knew that wasn’t the most sensitive thing to have said.
Katalin’s reaction reinforced that thought. She threw her arms wide, pleading for understanding and common sense. ‘Of course! But he is clever and there is no way out here!’
Sarah looked around the room. ‘But there must be a door. Even if you can’t see it, maybe it’s boarded up?’
‘No. No. I think was filled with stone. I can’t see it.’
Sarah nodded. She felt herself break into a sweat as the reality of Katalin’s situation became absolutely clear. There was no way out of this room. It really was a prison.
‘I tried to get out in the lift. Where you came down. But it’s very hard. No space, I am too big to get in and doesn’t move.’
Sarah peered behind her at the dumb waiter. There was no obvious switch to launch it, for sure. As she continued to scan the area, though, the lift’s motor started to operate and the bottom shelf slowly disappeared up into the shaft above the entry hatch.
‘Maybe food. No food today,’ exclaimed Katalin, looking brighter. The motor stopped.
Sarah realised she was hungry herself, a combination of nothing to eat for hours and now a subsiding adrenaline flow.
Sure enough, after a brief delay, the waiter motor restarted and the shelf frame returned into the hatchway.
Katalin skipped over, opened the hatch door and found the shelf loaded with two small trays, each carrying three covered dishes.
She pulled a tray out. ‘Maybe this yours,’ she indicated, pointing at the one remaining.
Sarah was interested in the food. But she was more interested in what had just happened. Clearly whoever had restarted the waiter had probably been aware she had got out of it. Because they’d heard her talking to Katalin? How else? So someone was listening to them in all probability. She needed to watch what she said. It struck her that Katalin wouldn’t have had to worry about that, with no one to talk to.
She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen laying on a table near the boarded-up window and scribbled.
I think Marton or someone can hear us. They know I am out of the lift. That’s why they sent the food. We must be careful what we say. Understand?
Sarah held the note in Katalin’s line of sight. She studied it for a while and then nodded her understanding vigorously.
‘Yes. You are right.’
Sarah went to retrieve her food tray. Katalin had uncovered her dishes by now; there was some soup, a meaty-looking dish and some fruit in the last bowl. They both ploughed into it with some relish, sat side-by-side on the edge of the single bed.
It was at that point that Sarah wondered where she would sleep in here, assuming this was not a fleeting visit. What’s more, how could Katalin have survived down here with no access in or out, other than the waiter? It didn’t make sense. If she was ill, how did she tell anyone, never mind get treated? And if something went wrong, like the lighting, how did it get fixed? There was something missing from her understanding of this situation: but for now, she resolved to keep her questions to herself.
‘Paprikas krumpli,’ Katalin said, pointing at the meat dish. ‘Sausage, spicy.’
Sarah nodded and smiled. She was hungry and sausage sounded good.
After they’d eaten most of the food and were lazily attacking the fruit, the conversation picked up again.
Sarah had noticed the television. ‘Does the television work?’
Katalin looked up. ‘Yes. I watch television many times. Only way I can see world. Except for window.’
Sarah noticed the tiny crack in the boarded-up window for the first time and wandered across the room to inspect it. Through that sliver of visibility, she could see the street and the daytime traffic cruising along it. Frustratingly close for someone who’d been here for so long.
She turned back towards Katalin. ‘So why did he imprison you? What did you do to make him do this?’
Katalin hesitated for a moment. Then spoke firmly.
‘I find out something about him. By mistake really, well at beginning. But he found out I know. To do with the Arrow Cross. He had done some bad things.’
Sarah started to understand her own mistake. Letting Marton become aware of what she thought she might have uncovered, had led to her being dumped down here. She felt stupid and naive. How could she have got this so wrong? She should have been far more careful in the way she’d interviewed him the second time. But even so. To be this concerned after more than half a century … it felt bizarre.
Sarah considered whether to ask the next question, then just went for it.
‘So, what exactly did you find out about Marton?’
Katalin looked down and shook her head slowly. She was still for a moment or two.
‘I can’t say today. Maybe another time. I not know much about you. So, sorry, sorry but not now.’
She looked up with a plaintive ask on her face.
Sarah knew she was right. Who was this woman who had dropped into her life after eight years, through a serving hatch? She’d probably be just as wary herself if the roles were reversed. She needed to build some trust first. Then maybe she could get her to open up.
‘OK. I understand, Katalin. I suppose we will get to know each other a bit better in time, unless he decides to let us both go anytime soon.’
Sarah threw a rueful smile at her. It was quickly reflected, with more than a little warmth. Maybe they would become bound by a common cause. She needed to build on that start. Katalin had been here a long time. Sure, she would be ner
vous with someone new in the room after so long alone. But she’d be lonely too, wouldn’t she? She needed to become Katalin’s new best friend.
Reality bites
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It was sometime after their meal that Katalin and Sarah began to think, separately, about the reality that there were now two of them in a room designed for one. The obvious upcoming issue was the sleeping arrangement. A single bed, albeit probably one of those halfway between a single and double size, looked a bit of a squeeze. In Sarah’s mind, it was a risk too. She really had no idea how stable or trustworthy Katalin was, despite some promising early signs. And Katalin probably felt the same about her.
She looked around the room. There was a large wardrobe at one end. She wondered if it might hold something to sleep on.
‘Is there any more bedding, Katalin?’
Katalin nodded at the wardrobe she was looking at. Sarah walked over and pulled a spare duvet and pillow from the top shelf.
She looked at Katalin for acceptance.
‘Of course. You can put over there.’
She pointed to the space under the window, away from her own bed. Clearly, Katalin felt nervous about this first night too.
Sarah threw the bedding down. It was early really but she felt tired, the adrenalin had subsided and her body was ready for some rest … but her mind was still ticking along briskly so she knew she wouldn't sleep straight away.
‘Shall we watch some TV?’ she said, looking at Katalin. It would be an easy way of avoiding struggling for more conversation. That had become slower in the last hour and she sensed they both needed a break from the strain of learning about each other.
Katalin seemed to brighten at this, grabbed up the remote and switched the small set on.
As a Hungarian soap opera flashed onto the screen, Sarah’s mood sank as she realised she wasn't going to be able to follow much of the action, given the lack of subtitles. She watched it as best she could, feeling a tension between them as they both stared at the screen … and thought about the night to come.