Dark Corners

by Darren O’Sullivan

  ‘I don’t have a drinking problem.’

  ‘That’s another thing they would say, right?’

  ‘Esther!’ I said, my voice sounding louder and more wounded than I intended.

  ‘Sorry, yes, now isn’t the time. I just worry about you.’

  ‘Well, don’t, OK? I’m all right. I’m on the mend.’

  ‘OK.’ She smiled. ‘So, I guess now all we can do is wait for the fingerprint people to come. Why didn’t you call me?’

  ‘Left my phone at home. Shall I make us a coffee?’ I asked, already getting to my feet as I knew what her answer would be.

  ‘Good idea. Neve?’

  I turned and glanced back at Esther, who – for a moment – looked smaller than she usually did, her petite frame somehow swallowed by the mess around us. Although she called my name, she wasn’t looking at me, not at first, her eyes were back to the small empty bottle of wine on the floor. ‘Things will get better, you know that right?’

  ‘Yep,’ I responded too quickly. ‘The insurance will cover it; we’ve got a crime reference nu—’

  ‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said, bringing her eyes to mine. ‘You’re not keeping something from me?’

  ‘What, no, of course not.’

  ‘You were drinking a lot back at uni when… you know.’

  ‘Esther. I’m fine. I’m OK.’

  I tried to smile, to show her I was all right, and she didn’t need to worry about me, she had enough on her plate. ‘I promise.’

  ‘OK,’ she said, not convinced. ‘I’ll find the insurance policy so we can give them a ring.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Esther,’ I said, although I had no idea why.

  ‘Me too,’ she replied before touching me on the shoulder as she made for the stockroom at the back. As I waited for the coffee machine to warm up, I looked at the door, the glass on the floor and I knew they wouldn’t find any prints. Kids were smarter than that, despite also being completely thoughtless sometimes. But, with only a few cakes missing, I knew no harm was really done. Kids just being kids.

  Chapter 5

  June 1998

  Six weeks before…

  ‘So, Baz and I were bored the other night and decided we’d go for a walk,’ Michael started as he took a drag on his cigarette.

  ‘You’re always bored,’ interrupted Holly without looking at him. She was keeping watch on the school, making sure none of the teachers were unexpectedly patrolling the field several hours after school had finished.

  ‘Holly, you don’t need to keep watch now, we aren’t going to get into trouble.’

  ‘My dad would kill me if he thought I was smoking.’

  ‘But you’re not. And anyway, as soon as the bell sounds at 3.15, the teachers don’t give a shit what we do.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘Holly. They care even less just before 8 p.m.,’ Chloe added, trying to reassure her twitchy friend.

  ‘Sorry, you’re right.’ Holly smiled, resuming her thoughts about Michael. Most of his stories began in the same way: either he was bored, or Baz was bored, or they both were. And usually, his stories culminated in them being in trouble. That boredom had meant he had been suspended on three occasions in their secondary school career, and instead of sitting all fourteen exams, he would end up taking only nine.

  ‘Anyway, as I was saying,’ continued Michael, shooting a mean but playful look at Holly. ‘We were bored, and we went for a walk, and we discovered something really cool. Wanna see it?’

  ‘Not really,’ Jamie chuckled.

  ‘Come on, I promise, you’re gonna love it. You’re all gonna love it.’

  Jumping to his feet, Michael urged the group to move.

  ‘How long will it take? I’ve got revision to do,’ Holly protested, and although Neve, Jamie and Georgia were thinking the same question, no one backed her up. It was typical of the group. Despite how closely knit they were, they still didn’t want to appear any different to Baz and Michael, who cared very little for anything besides having a good time.

  ‘I’m glad you mentioned the exams,’ Michael continued, ‘because what we found will help us with the stress of the bastards.’

  Without waiting, Michael turned and walked away from the group towards the back corner of the school field, where a hole had been cut in the fence so they could nip out at lunch and buy cigarettes from the local corner shop. It had been there for years, before any of them started the school, and everyone knew about it. Baz joined at his side, followed by Jamie and Georgia.

  Neve noticed Georgia was starting to change her look. Her usually unkempt hair was scraped back, and she could see the hint of make-up. It was subtle, and no one spoke of it, but Georgia was becoming one of the prettier girls within the group. And it changed how she walked. Instead of stomping like the tomboy she once was, she now held her head high, kept her gait light. It gave her a new air of confidence. She was blossoming, and although the boys hadn’t seemed to notice, Neve knew it wouldn’t be long before they did.

  Chloe and Neve picked up the end of the group, curious about Michael and Baz’s ‘discovery’. The pair were a liability, but a lot of fun along with it. Georgia linked arms with Holly, probably making sure she didn’t bail as she so often did. As they walked, Chloe and Neve chatted about how there was nothing left to discover in the village. It was too small, too samey. After only a few minutes of walking, it became clear where they were being led, and it piqued everyone’s interest – even Holly’s. Michael and Baz had led them to Mine Lane, and as they stepped foot on it, everyone stopped. Mine Lane, and what was at the end of it, was the place ghost stories were written about. As kids they’d told each other tales of dark shadows walking aimlessly at night, and hearing the cries of those who had died. As young children, they’d run past its entrance, too afraid to look down in case a spectre grabbed them and dragged them below. That fear was still there, still tangible.

  ‘You do know we aren’t allowed in there?’ Jamie said, shifting from one foot to the other.

  ‘Yes, we know.’

  ‘Then where are we…’

  ‘You’ll see, have a little patience,’ Michael said, smiling knowingly to Baz. ‘Come on.’

  Baz and Michael continued down the lane, and the group followed in silence, coming closer to the entrance of the old mine. They stood huddled together, and Neve looked back towards the main road, expecting someone to come and shout at them to leave things alone. The lane itself wasn’t forbidden, and there were no fences that stopped them walking down it, no signs – not like the mine. The ground was still sacred to the people who worked the pits and shouldn’t be tainted by anyone who didn’t. Everyone in the group had someone in their family who had once worked there, as did every soul in the village. But unless you’d actually descended to its belly, you were silently forbidden to go anywhere near it.

  The mine had only been closed less than a year, and already the road was showing the signs of neglect. Cracks lined the tarmac as seeds from hardy weeds forced their way through. Above their heads, the trees were beginning to form a canopy, turning the road into a tunnel as the branches hadn’t been artificially pruned by passing lorries. And below the canopy, the few lamps that still contained a bulb didn’t light up the evening sky. The electricity supply had been cut off. The place felt desolate, the atmosphere tense to everyone except Baz and Michael who continued to bounce down the lane without a care in the world. Neve could see everyone was a little jumpy at the sounds that emanated from the densely packed trees. Chloe held her best friend a little closer, and thought of ghosts. Eyes watching. Waiting to spook them. With each step, it felt like the lane was getting darker.

  Baz and Michael slowed as they drew close to the old entrance barrier that was still there, its paint faded and mossy. It was pointless it being there, as twenty feet behind it was the metal fence that surrounded the entire land of the colliery – a footprint that was larger than the rest of the village.

  ‘I’m not going in there
,’ said Holly shakily as they stood in front of the barrier.

  ‘Me neither,’ agreed Georgia, who for once wasn’t worried about what anyone thought.

  ‘Please, as if we’d be that stupid,’ said Baz, waiting for someone to agree. No one did. ‘We aren’t here because of the mine.’

  ‘Yeah, there’s no way we would go down there,’ Michael agreed.

  ‘I thought you two were fearless,’ Chloe teased.

  ‘We are,’ said Baz, haughtily. ‘But no fucking way would we go there.’

  ‘Then why are we here?’ said Holly, checking her watch.

  ‘Because of this.’

  Baz gestured to his left at the old security hut that once checked and allowed vehicles and foot traffic onto the site. The building, roughly the size of a large shed, was made of metal and concrete, designed to be hard-wearing and functional. The hut was positioned in front of a stand of trees, probably planted to act as a sort of barrier behind the hut. Its windows and doors were boarded up with sheets of metal that had been welded to the structure, intentionally impenetrable.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ asked Chloe, exasperated with the boys for wasting time and making her walk so far.

  ‘Well, we were thinking. You guys are so burnt out with exams and all that stuff,’ said Michael, not noticing Chloe’s annoyance. ‘So, we figured we needed a space to unwind and de-stress.’

  ‘Again, so why are we here?’

  ‘Come with me, I’ll show you.’

  Taking Chloe by the hand, Baz led her towards the trees and guided her to squeeze between them and the hut, Michael urging the group to follow. It wasn’t until they traversed between the wall and trees that the group understood why Baz and Michael were so excited. There was a small hatch that hadn’t been welded shut, probably forgotten or overlooked. Baz dropped to his knees and opened the hatch inward, sliding his wide frame through the gap, disappearing from sight.

  ‘Come on!’ he bellowed from within, his voice sounding like he was shouting through a hand clamped over his mouth.

  One by one the group followed and crawled through the small space until Michael, who was last, closed the hatch behind him. The darkness within was absolute, until Baz produced a small wind-up lantern, which created just enough light for the group to look around the small, claustrophobic space.

  ‘It’s not much…’ started Michael.

  ‘It’s a pit,’ said Georgia.

  ‘It’s technically breaking and entering. And it creeps me out, I wanna go home,’ added Holly, which was greeted with a scoff from Neve and an eye-roll from Georgia. Only Chloe nodded, spooked.

  ‘I mean, we all know the stories coming out of the mine,’ she said as a way of defence when Neve caught her agreeing.

  ‘Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts?’

  ‘No, of course not, Neve. But it’s creepy here.’

  ‘Yeah, it kinda is,’ said Georgia, nodding.

  Baz looked crestfallen. ‘But that’s part of its charm, and with a little imagination, and a little change, it could be brilliant.’

  ‘This is what you dragged us out here for, to climb inside a concrete box?’

  ‘Use your imagination, Holly. Picture a bean bag here,’ said Baz, pointing towards the furthest corner, ‘and a little table next to it.’

  ‘Do the electrics work?’ asked Jamie, with a hint of excitement in his voice.

  ‘You know, we’ve not checked. Why?’

  ‘If they do, my dad’s got an old fridge, if we can get it here.’

  ‘There you go! Jamie gets it.’

  ‘I still don’t,’ said Chloe sulkily.

  ‘Chloe, you need this place more than anyone.’

  ‘Why would I—’

  ‘Because you and your mum don’t get on.’

  ‘So? Our parents do all of our heads in.’

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Georgia quietly, and instantly wished she hadn’t spoken. She knew they all talked about her dad when she was out of earshot.

  ‘Exactly,’ continued Baz, oblivious to Georgia’s unease. The whole group knew her dad hit her, despite her denying it on several occasions. ‘And we are stuck, listening to them whinge and moan at us about not eating our dinner or doing the bins.’

  ‘My mum gets on at me because I don’t clean up the dog turd,’ said Jamie.

  ‘My dad makes shitty jokes about the music I like,’ agreed Neve.

  ‘And who is it this week?’ asked Michael.

  ‘NSYNC, of course.’

  ‘It was Boyz II Men last week. Both crap.’

  ‘Anyway,’ interrupted Baz before a debate about musical taste ensued. ‘No one cares about this place anymore. And those who might probably assume it’s sealed. No one will know we are here. This could be our space. Not our parents’ or Nan’s,’ he said, looking towards Michael who lived with his grandmother, for reasons the group still didn’t know. ‘There won’t be anyone telling us what to do here. This can be a safe haven, to help those of us who care get through the exams.’

  ‘And those who don’t get to have some fun,’ Michael added before removing his rucksack and placing it on the floor. The familiar sound of glass clinking against glass made several in the group smile.

  ‘And on that note: I think we need to raise a toast to our independence,’ he said as he unzipped his bag and pulled out a case of alcopops.

  ‘Where the hell did you get those?’ Holly asked, alarmed at the fact they were hidden from the world and armed with booze.

  ‘I nicked them.’

  ‘You nicked them? From where?’

  ‘The offie,’ Michael said.

  ‘How?’ Jamie asked, impressed and alarmed in equal measure.

  ‘I do the paper round, don’t I? Anyway, a truckload of stock came in last night, Mr Busby was busy doing the take and I saw my chance. He’ll never know.’

  ‘Michael!’ Holly exclaimed, shocked and upset.

  ‘Oh, chill out, he’ll never know, and anyway, what does it matter, he owns the shop. He’s got more than enough money.’

  ‘It’s still stealing. Baz, I can’t believe you let him go through with this.’

  ‘Hey, don’t look at me, I had no idea until it was done.’

  ‘Badass!’ Georgia said, shocking Neve who expected her to be unimpressed.

  ‘It’s not a big deal. They were just sat by the door, and I took them. It’s not like I shoplifted.’

  ‘You did shoplift.’

  ‘Not the same, Holly. I bet old Busby saw me take them and couldn’t be arsed to say anything about it.’

  ‘Michael…’

  ‘Holly, it’s done now. Chill the fuck out.’

  Baz nodded, as did Jamie, while Georgia gave Holly a look as if to say ‘stop being embarrassing’, and the conversation was over. He was right, it was done, and there could be no way to undo it. Michael handed out the bottles and opened each one with the bottom of his clipper lighter before uncapping his last. He raised his in the air, and everyone, including Holly, joined in.

  ‘Here’s to us, our space, and the freedom to make the choices we wanna make.’

  ‘So, what do we do now?’ asked Georgia, still unimpressed as they could just drink in the park, or Baz’s house when his parents were away.

  ‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Neve, eyeing Holly with a mischievous look that moved towards Chloe. ‘How about a ghost story?’

  Chapter 6

  20th November 2019

  Morning

  I finished making us a coffee – for Esther, a chai latte and a strong black Americano for me – and heard Esther swear angrily. She didn’t swear often, and the fact she had told me something was very wrong. Putting down the cups, I walked out back to find Esther on the floor, her face in her hands. At first, I thought she had banged her head on something and had called out in pain. I was just about to ask if she was OK, then I saw.

  Beside her, the safe I had put all of our money in the night before was open, and it was empty. They hadn’t just
stolen a few cakes. They stole half a week’s takings, a few thousand pounds. My legs felt like they were going to give way, so I stumbled to a chair and sat.

  ‘Why didn’t the police check in here?’ she asked, her voice barely audible.

  ‘I told them there was nothing missing.’

  ‘Then why didn’t you check, Neve?’

  ‘I… I don’t know.’

  Esther looked up at me, and I could see anger in her eyes. I almost told her to calm down, to remember we’re insured. After she’d spoken next, the words failed me.

  ‘They didn’t break into it.’

  ‘What? I don’t…’

  ‘They didn’t break into the fucking safe, Neve. Look at it. Look.’

  I looked once more to the open, empty safe. And she was right, there was no sign of forced entry. No scratches, no dents. The safe was simply open.

  ‘They either knew the code, Neve, or…’

  ‘How would they know they code?’

  ‘Or you didn’t lock it last night.’

  ‘No, I did, I’m sure I did.’

  ‘Neve, either you’ve given the code to someone…’

  ‘Why on earth would I do that? Are you saying I stole it?’

  ‘… or you left it open. Which is it?’

  I racked my brain, trying to recall if I shut the safe after returning the money. I remembered the rain, spilling my wine. Seeing the silhouette through the blinds. I remember taking the money out back, putting it in the safe. Did I shut the door? Did I lock it? Yes, I was sure I did. But I was so hungover, so tired, distracted by the person I saw outside. I couldn’t be convinced.

  ‘Neve!’ Esther shouted, snapping me back into the now.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘You don’t know?’

  ‘I mean, maybe, yes. I must have left it unlocked because how else could they have got in?’

  ‘Exactly! I go home for one evening. One evening to be with my little girl and you’re drinking at work and fucking things up.’

  ‘Esther! I wasn’t drunk…’

  ‘No, Neve, no!’ she shouted, silencing me. ‘I get that you’re having a tough time. I do. And I’m sorry Oliver left you, it’s really shit. But it has to stop affecting this place.’ Her voice became softer, harder to hear. She sounded hurt. ‘It has to stop affecting me and my life. I have bills to pay, a child to feed.’