by Power, Max
“You don’t smoke!” He spoke slowly and clearly and pointed directly at Iggy as he did so.
The statement was as much a self-realisation to Bill, as it was to Iggy and it was delivered at the very moment when the small gathering had fallen into a rare silence. The words hung in the air and everyone looked at Bill. Most didn’t understand the statement or felt they had misheard Bill, because it seemed not to mean anything or make any sense. He had been drinking quite a bit. However whatever the meaning, Bill was clearly speaking to Iggy who sat opposite and he seemed to be waiting for a response. Iggy tried to ignore the remark but then Denis piped up.
“What are you spouting on about?”
His tone suggested that he thought Bill was talking nonsense, whatever it was that he might be trying to say. Bill pointed and sat back a little further from the table. He was amazed by his discovery and could not quite believe it himself.
“You don’t smoke, do you?” he again repeated his question to Iggy.
Iggy froze and a light crooked smile crossed his face as if to say ‘are you mad?’ but inside he was genuinely shaken. What had begun as a light hearted self-fulfilling joke, had turned him into a liar in that moment of discovery. It wasn’t even a small lie now, it was a massive one. How many people had he lied to and for how long? His discomfort and the scale of his lie grew and grew with each nano-second of silence, until it filled the room. Yet he didn’t answer, he couldn’t.
“What?” Bill’s brother Richard asked, as everyone realised what Bill was asking of Iggy.
“He doesn’t smoke!” Bill declared to the gathering, then turning to Iggy once more finished with “Do you?”
All eyes turned to poor Ignatius. How could he have been so stupid as to carry on this ridiculous charade for all of these years? How could the whole town have been so stupid as to fall for it? It was that thought which made Iggy realise just how serious this little joke might be. He had made fools of an entire town, each and every one of them and he figured they would not be happy. How could he explain away his actions? Ah sure, it was only a little joke. Who would be laughing? They might think he was a twisted lunatic. What sort of a man would do such a thing? Perhaps they would think him the fool. What weird sick mind would pretend to do such a thing for all that time?
The things that crossed Iggy’s mind, as the room closed in around him. Silence filled the void and he could feel his temperature rise and his face flush. What could he do? Should he try and explain? There wasn’t enough time or any adequate words for Iggy to use to talk his way out of this one. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.
Whatever thought’s crossed Iggy’s mind his explanation was not forthcoming. He simply could not find a way out. His actions however, spoke volumes as he stood up, abruptly pushing his chair from the table, before storming out of the pub without saying a single word. Iggy was in such a hurry that he stomped out into the cold night without taking his coat, leaving his friends to stare after him in amazement.
To say the strange revelation was a shock was an understatement. For the rest of the night, Iggy and his odd behaviour was discussed, dissected and digested by his friends in the pub. The following day it was all over Cranby, as one person after the other listened to the facts in utter disbelief. Most took some convincing that Ignatius Pipe never smoked. It was perhaps the most bizarre if not juicy piece of gossip that the townsfolk had heard for many a year and it caught hold like wildfire.
In the midst of the rumour and speculation, no one really noticed that Iggy had not resurfaced since his humiliation in the pub the night before. It was perhaps an absence that was understandable. After all if it were true, Iggy would be mortified. Of course he would keep a low profile. How was he going to show his face?
But Iggy’s low profile quickly became a cause for concern. He didn’t return home for two nights in a row and failed to appear at work. The pub missed his witty banter and quickly concern turned to worry. When questions were asked and Bertie Blackburn told everyone that he had seen Iggy head up in the direction of Darkly Wood just after he left the pub on the night his lie was discovered, worry turned to something much more troublesome.
Not for the first time in its history, Darkly Wood was invaded by a hoard of locals searching for one of their own. Iggy was a man beloved, despite the revelations about his silly fraud and the search was taken on, with great seriousness and with no lack of determination. No one spoke of their suspicions, but all knew the stories about the Wood. It didn’t matter to them that he had been pretending. Had Iggy realised just how much he was loved and respected in the town, he might not have gone out into the night, his head held low with shame. No one actually took it badly. In fact, had Iggy stayed that night, he would have quickly realised that if anything, his friends got the joke and admired him all the more for it. Once it sunk in of course.
But Iggy did go into the night. He vanished off the face of the earth and was never found. No trace existed, he simply disappeared. Well, not any trace exactly. One of the search party came across a pack of cigarettes just a few yards inside the Wood. They of course, could have belonged to anyone. But locals liked to believe that they belonged to the man whose story added to the legend that was Darkly Wood. If not the most infamous of their stories, it was a story about one of the village’s most popular inhabitants, a man who vanished without a trace, Ignatius Pipe, the man who never smoked.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN – CONTACT
Time passed slowly in the dark of Darkly night. It had threatened to envelope them for some time, teasing them with the last lingering remnants of light. When night finally landed it was mercilessly black. The cold gradually took hold of their bodies, fingers toes and faces at first, but eventually it became a much more dangerous thing and Daisy could feel the cold in every part of her body. The cold and damp dug in deep, taking away any hope of comfort. In the dark, she clung to Benjamin unselfishly, unable to even see his face just inches away, but as night closed in he had become weaker.
Whatever had taken hold of Benjamin knocked more than the wind from his sails. In the fading light she had seen the dark shadows on his face which was so very pale. But now as they huddled in their make-shift shelter he was fading and she knew that he needed her body heat to keep him warm. As he weakened rapidly just before the darkness completely took control, Daisy knew that it was more than just a matter of keeping Benjamin warm. It was becoming, she feared a matter of keeping him alive.
It was an enormous responsibility and it was one for which Daisy completely unprepared. Being lost in the forest was a bad thing, but it was something she thought, that could perhaps happen to pretty much anyone. However she know that being lost in the forest as night fell was much more serious. They knew that they would have to spend the night out in the open, in the cold with virtually no protection from the elements and no protection from the things in her imaginings that might be out there in the dark. Having to look after Benjamin who was clearly very ill indeed, not knowing what was wrong with him and with no real idea how to help, that was altogether terrifying. What made matters worse was that she could literally not even see him. Daisy couldn’t properly assess how bad he was. Although she felt the burden was too great, Daisy did what she could to monitor his condition, so she tried to get him talking.
At first he was reluctant, but eventually he made an effort although it was difficult to keep him going, that is until she brought up one very particular subject. Daisy had tried all manner of small talk but Benjamin had been reluctant to engage with her in his weakened state. All he wanted to do was sleep and something told her that she couldn’t let him do that. But then, she asked him to tell her what he knew about Darkly Wood and he moved in her arms.
“What do you want to know?” he asked, tired, cold and light headed, trying his best to be responsive. The peril in their predicament was not lost on Benjamin either, despite his condition.
“I don’t know, tell me about the stories. You’re from around here; y
ou must know most of them?”
Although she could not see his face resting on her shoulder, he smiled, but it was a short lived little smile.
“I know them all.” he told her quite matter-of-factly in his now timid voice.
“Go on then, tell me one.” she encouraged him, hoping he might perk up. Daisy wanted to get him talking so that she might know he was alright. More importantly she needed the company and distraction to keep out the cold and the fear. Fortunately Daisy had hit on the one subject guaranteed to get him talking
So he started to tell her a story. He told her it was a very special story. It was a story that was not even in her little book, Tales of Darkly Wood. It was a story that began with a fine young man, he told her and he seemed to liven up for a moment, shifting up straight to tell her face to face, even though neither one could see an inch in front of them. For a moment by the way he suddenly came to life a little, Daisy thought it might be his story, but it wasn’t.
“Some time ago,” he began, “a stranger came to Cranby, someone like you in a way.”
His voice was soft. Not a whisper exactly, but not far off.
It felt strange listening to somebody tell you a story when you couldn’t see their face. It felt just as strange telling it that way. Daisy held onto Benjamin and closed her eyes. She listened to his soft gentle voice and it was a soothing sound. Benjamin’s voice carried on through the darkness, as they held each other to fight the ever growing coldness, to stay brave in the night.
“The man had never been to Cranby before,” he continued, holding Daisy close, “but he pretty much felt like he had found a home, as soon as he arrived. The new stranger in Cranby had lived an altogether ordinary life. There was nothing he could point to that he had done, that would indicate he was a man of anything more than someone of average ability. But that didn’t really matter, for the man was happy. He was very happy.”
Benjamin paused for a moment. He coughed clearing his throat and Daisy wished she had water to give him. The thought reminded her, that she herself was very thirsty and very hungry. It had been a long time since breakfast. They were both aware of their growing hunger and thirst but they chose to avoid the subject for now. They had enough to contend with as things stood.
“You Ok?” she asked in the dark.
Benjamin did not answer her question. He just continued with his story, in his ever weakening voice, in his best story telling voice.
“The man, the stranger, did not come to Cranby alone you see. He arrived with his wife and young son. They were a perfect, happy little family and their house was always filled with love. Perhaps that’s why he could find home in a new place with such ease. Home you see is where the people you love are.”
It was Daisy’s turn to smile. She kept her eyes closed to help her imagine the story he told. He spoke beautifully and the words he spoke were beautiful too. The cold was still there, the hunger and the thirst too, but with Benjamin talking to her now, Daisy felt a little better. But then the whisper that brushed her cheek with the wind changed all that and cut his story short.
“Daisy May.” the voice called.
It sent a shiver through her already cold spine and from the way that Benjamin stiffened in her grip; she figured that this time, he had heard it too. Daisy gripped him tightly and opened her eyes. The dark of the night had not improved; she could still see absolutely nothing. The voice whispered her name again, but this was not the voice from earlier in the day. This voice was different. Then Benjamin spoke in a whispered, frightened voice and he surprised her by what he said.
“I heard it too.”
They were chilling words, although it reassured her to know she wasn’t just hearing things. But then there was the sound of a twig breaking. It was the single most frightening noise that Daisy could have heard at that moment. They both snapped to attention, clutching each other more tightly than ever. Combined with the voice that called her name, the sound of a snapping twig in itself was scary, but what was even more blood curdling about the twig snap was that it wasn’t a distant vague sound. It was a certain, foot tramping twig snap and it was only yards away.
Daisy listened on high alert, frantically trying to figure out what it was that stalked them and from which direction it might come. Every inch of her scared young body was tensed and ready. All of her senses turned up a notch. Every hair on her body stood to attention and she strained her ears for the next sound, hoping it wouldn’t come. But still the darkness left her completely blind.
An unfamiliar, unpleasant smell alerted her to another presence. She whipped her head from left to right, and then she heard it. There was definitely someone there in the dark. The heart stopping, stomach churning sound that she heard was someone breathing. There was someone or something, breathing so close to them, that she could hear the sound of its breath over the whistling of the wind in the night. It was someone who knew her name, someone who whispered her name in the dark of the Wood and they both knew that it could only mean them harm.
Petrified, Daisy reacted with an instinct and she didn’t know why. She clung to Benjamin with one arm and flayed wildly with her free arm randomly in the dark, afraid she might touch someone, terrified not to try. Benjamin was quiet. He was too quiet and in that same moment, he went limp under her hold, falling away to one side. It was not a time to lose him and the thought panicked an already terrified Daisy. It took all of her strength to keep him upright and she had to use both arms to do so. As she did, something reached through the assembled branches of their lean-to and brushed against her face. Daisy screeched and swiped at the unseen hand that touched her face in the dark.
“AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!”
She flayed like a crazed person, slapping her hand into the branches of their shelter and some of them fell away with a clatter. In lashing out, Daisy was forced to release her grip on Benjamin and when she did, he began to fall away once again. Her instinct drove her to lash out at her attacker, but she had let Benjamin go in the process. It was a terrible dilemma. He was clearly unable to support himself and she feared the worst. Once more she turned to her new friend and groped in the dark, pulling Benjamin upright but when she did, something bounded across the front of their make shift lean-to, clipping it in the process and knocking what remained of the flimsy structure down.
Instinctively, Daisy clutched her arms around her head to protect herself and once again, she completely let go of Benjamin. For the second time, instinct caused her to abandon him for her own safety. He slid away from her and there was a clatter of wood collapsing all around them, amplified tenfold by the terror of the moment and the dark of the night. Almost immediately, she realised what she had done and let go of her head to reach out for Benjamin.
To her horror, this time she couldn’t feel him in the dark. All she could find with her blind hands were the remains of their collapsed shelter. She grappled with sticks, ferns and leaves afraid of what she might touch. How could she have let him go?
“BENJAMIN!”
Daisy screamed his name fumbling through the broken branches scattered across the floor of the wood, trapping her in the hollow of the tree. Something snarled at her and whatever it was, whatever creature or beast that was there hunting them in the dark was close. It released a gurgling raspy hungry snarl. Daisy scrambled around on her hands and knees still trying to find Benjamin, refusing to give up. It didn’t matter that there was a snarling, grunting thing, somewhere in the dark. She knew that she must find Benjamin. He had to be there beside her. In the confusion and utter inky blackness, Daisy could barely tell which way was up. The sky above rumbled a hungry rumble as its belly filled with thunder. It was a sound that came from nowhere and with it; a sudden breeze ruffled the forest floor debris. The sound was most disconcerting. Her confusion and sense of fear were complete. She called his name again, now in total desperation.
“BENJAMIN!”
Once more there was a rumble in the black sky somewhere overhead, a precursor to the in
evitable crash of thunder and the breeze became a wind. Daisy’s hair blew in her face but it didn’t matter. She was a blind girl now, scratching around in the dirt and danger of the forest floor as fallen leaves whipped up around her.
Unbelievably, Benjamin seemed to have vanished and then the whole Wood lit up. It was only a blinking moment and the shadows cast by the flash of silent lightening, showed the forest in its eeriest light. Weird shapes and angular branches seemed to claw at her from all around but worse still, just as she got some sense of her surroundings in the half of a moment that the lightening offered her, the last things that Daisy saw before the darkness took over again were Benjamin’s feet.
It was a gut curdling moment. The light played tricks as shadows moved all around her, but she was certain that the feet were moving away from her. His boot clad feet were limp with toes pointed skyward and they were moving slowly, as though he was being dragged away. The fright was great but her instinct for survival and her fear of being left alone were even greater. Daisy lunged into the darkness as the silence of the light flash was followed by a clatter of thunder so great, it hurt her ears. She threw herself in the direction of the moving feet, but completely missed in the dark. Daisy smacked her chin against something hard and cut her elbow. Frantically, she clawed and scrambled forward on her knees. They were cut and bleeding from the rough detritus of the forest floor even through her thick jeans, but she could feel nothing over her fear.
Desperately she screamed his name again.
“BENJAMIN!”
In a moment of utter and almost miraculous relief, she somehow managed to catch hold of his left leg. But to her horror, it was indeed moving. She had not imagined it after all. Someone or something was dragging him away. Daisy clung to his foot, slowly now being dragged along with him. Whatever the thing was that had a hold of Benjamin, it was very strong. Daisy clawed up along Benjamin’s leg to get a better grip, to try to stop him from being dragged away from her. She clambered to her knees and secured his left leg under her right arm. She pulled with all her might and he stopped moving. It had worked!