Barrier

by Mary Victoria Johnson

  “Oh, very funny,” I snapped, humiliated and exasperated. “I didn’t…these…”

  He raised a fair eyebrow as my words trailed off into an irritated silence, limping over to retrieve the paper bag from the muck. “Do you know what these are?”

  I listened to the wooden things clink together as he shook them, racking my brain for similar objects that they had used at the school. I drew a blank, and admitted in a small voice, “No.”

  I folded my arms and waited for an explanation, but Andrew stood there frozen for a moment, speechless. It was then I realized that he had been asking sarcastically, and had assumed that I knew what those commonplace items had been. Ashamed, I turned around and began picking the dirty clothes up off the ground so I wouldn’t have to face his judgement.

  “Evelyn,” he said finally, and I was surprised by the softness in his voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you…I suppose you never had use for pegs at the boarding school, did you?”

  I shook my head, focussing on the clothing. He must have thought I was a useless, spoiled little princess. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been wrong.

  “What about your mother? Didn’t she help you with these things?” he pressed, sounding genuinely intrigued but still careful, as if I was a wrong word away from crying, which, honestly, I probably was.

  “I don’t know who my mother is,” I replied in a hoarse whisper. “I’ve never seen my parents. I don’t even know their names.”

  There were no more clothes to distract me, and I was forced to stand up. I averted my eyes from his, afraid I would see that awful patronizing look that I had grown so used to.

  Please don’t ask me. Don’t ask about my past.

  “Well, for a start, we need to get those clothes clean before we hang them back up again,” he decided briskly, and my head snapped up in surprise. “Most of them we can probably just shake the dirt off, but the ones which fell in the puddle need washing again. I’ll get Kitty to give us a hand, then I’ll show you how to use pegs to pin them to the line.”

  “Thank you?” I phrased it as a question, unsure of why he was taking time out of his own chores to help me. “Will Julia not be angry you’re not doing your own job?”

  “The old boys have finished with the field, so they helped us tend to the animals. Besides, this has all the makings of an emergency.” Andrew winked, jogging as fast as his injured leg would allow back into the house, hollering for Kitty.

  They both emerged a few minutes later, hauling a great tin basin of lukewarm water between them.

  “Stars above, that’s ’eavy,” Kitty grunted, massaging her sore fingers. “You got everythin’ dirty again? Aunt Jule shouldn’t be back for another hour, so we’ll ’elp sort this mess. Didn’t spare no expense in gettin’ things mucky, did ya?”

  “Finished?” Andrew rolled his eyes. “All right. So, Evelyn, all we’re going to do is rinse off the dirt instead of going through the whole procedure, but if Mum ever asks you to help her do the washing, you’ll need to use much hotter water with soap. So all we’re going to do now, is Kitty will rinse, I’ll wring, and you can peg everything to the line.”

  I stared between him and the tin basin as if he was speaking foreign language.

  “Anybody home?” Kitty giggled, waving a hand in front of my blank face. I blinked, and reflexively pushed her away.

  “See these things?” Andrew explained patiently, showing me a curious contraption with two rollers, a few feet over from the line, which appeared to be controlled with a thin metal handle. “This is called a mangle. You feed the clothes through one end, and the rollers squeeze out most of the water so we can hang them up without dripping. I’ll show you.”

  I watched in fascination as Kitty quickly rubbed all the dirt from a shirt, then handed it to Andrew, who wedged the collar between the rollers and began to turn the handle. As the rollers rotated, the shirt moved seemingly by itself forwards, and emerged at the other end significantly less wet.

  “Neat, isn’t it?” Andrew smiled, waiting for a reaction. “Makes staying at home whilst my brothers bring glory to England seem like the better option!”

  He was joking, of course, and Kitty chuckled.

  But just like that, I was back in Boundary. We’d had a contraption with two rotating rings like that, something that was designed to let one—and only one—of us into freedom. It was supposed to be Penny. I knew that, we’d all known that. Yet, somehow, I’d reached that machine first, and I’d been too scared to let her have the prize she’d deserved.

  “Stop it!”

  “Are you okay?” Andrew and Kitty asked in alarm at the same time.

  The mangle was nothing like the contraption in Boundary, but there was something about those two rotating rollers that brought back a flood of unwanted memories in terrifying clarity. This was precisely why I needed to let go, because until I did, I would never be able to belong to this world.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, taking a deep breath. “That…that wasn’t you. That machine—the mangle—just reminded me of something.”

  They both nodded slowly, curiously. Eventually, after I managed to get my breathing back under control, Andrew mutely demonstrated how to use the pegs to secure the clothing on the line.

  We worked quickly and somewhat efficiently after that. Like a well-oiled machine, Kitty quickly rinsed off the muck, passed on to Andrew who wrung out excess water using the mangle, who in turn gave it to me to peg on the line.

  I was rather proud of our handiwork. By the time Julia arrived home from the town, the clothes had all been hung out straight, and thanks to vigorous wringing had nearly dried.

  As we heard the car pull up, Kitty uttered the first words since my little slipup.

  “You know, Evelyn, you’ve done so well, Aunt Jule might just promote you to head clothes washer.”

  “What?” I whined, sickened by the idea of redoing the whole awful process over again. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” She nodded wisely, and then added with a sly smile, “But I can ’elp you pull them all down again if you want.”

  I realized she was teasing and offered a forced laugh, but inside, I knew that I’d sell my soul to the devil without hesitation before I ever hung out the laundry again.

  Chapter Four

  Kitty’s prediction nearly came true. Julia was thrilled with my work, saying that the garments had dried cleaner than they’d looked after she washed them.

  “I had my doubts about you,” she admitted, praising a shirt, which had been pressed perfectly with the mangle. “But you’ve done well. In fact, I might just have another job for a girl like you. We need to impress this surveyor who’s coming, and I’m hoping to make a beef casserole for him, but I simply don’t have enough time to make it myself. Apparently the twins are struggling in school, so the teacher gave me some extra homework I have to go over with them before Monday, plus one of our cows is pregnant and I need to have a look at her. Oh, and I must help Charlie fix the hole in the horse stalls too…”

  “Don’t worry about it.” I smiled, trying to ignore the mounting panic beginning to build up again. I couldn’t refuse to help, and, admittedly, I rather enjoyed the praise I received after doing tasks well. “Can…can Kitty help me, though?”

  “Of course!” Julia seemed taken aback. “Have you much experience with cooking? I wouldn’t want to pressure you into anything. I only thought your school must have an excellent domestic program, based on what you’ve done here…”

  “If I have help, I should be fine.” I tried to smile again, hoping it wouldn’t result in a grimace. All I wanted was to sit down somewhere and doze off, but this place seemed to have no end of ridiculous chores waiting to be completed.

  “You’re an angel, thank you.” Julia beamed, picking up a mountain of shopping bags she had put down on the ground.

  “Need a hand with those, Mum?” Andrew called, appearing from inside having just disposed of the washing basin we’d used. “Any news?”


  Julia passed him a paper bag full of boxes and cans, a line furrowing her brow. “Of your father? No, nothing. No one has heard anything, but that only means he’s busy. He’ll be home by Christmas, I’m sure.”

  We all went in. It seemed very dark inside, compared to the brilliant sunlight outside which reflected off the frost like a mirror in the fields. It took a while for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I saw a sight that nearly made me scream again. Curled up in a ball by the fireplace, there were two enormous piles of black-and-white fluff. The creatures had protruding tongues, their eyes hidden under voluminous shaggy coats.

  Andrew must have felt me freeze, for he gave a low whistle, and the two creatures came padding over obediently.

  “Do you like dogs, Evelyn?” he asked, hand disappearing under the miles of fur. “These are Rosie and Tinkerbell.”

  “Those are dogs?” I found myself exclaiming.

  “Old English Sheepdogs,” Julia affirmed, and began to put away the contents of her shopping trip. “You’re not allergic, are you?”

  “No, no, not allergic,” I mumbled, shuddering as one of them started to slobber on my feet. How foul. “But, um…”

  “Here, try patting them like this.” Andrew demonstrated.

  “I…I’d rather not,” I said, not making much effort to hide my disgust.

  “My girls!” Kitty yelped, scooting around the corner and throwing her arms around one of their necks like an excited child. “Who missed their Aunt Kitty? Hmm? Who’s gorgeous?”

  I gagged as that slimy pink tongue licked her cheek, leaving behind a shimmering trail of saliva.

  Andrew turned away, and I suspected he was covering a grin at my discomfort.

  “Anna and Harriet?” Julia called, no sooner having finished one task moving on to another. “Can you come down here and help fix dinner?”

  “Already?” Anna shouted back. A few seconds later she sauntered through the door with Harriet trailing behind. “It’s so early, and you said we had to—”

  “I don’t care what I said then, I’m telling you this now,” Julia ordered. “Mr Farrington must be impressed if we want to keep the funding, and I want you to use the beef I’ve put aside for a casserole, all right?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” came the reply.

  “Right.” Julia flashed Kitty and me a ‘look-what-I-have-to-deal-with’ expression before bustling out towards the horse paddock. “You know where the recipe is!”

  A cool silence settled. Andrew excused himself, leaving us four girls standing alone, no one in any hurry to start the task. I kept my eyes firmly trained on the two dogs, not trusting them one bit.

  “This is so unfair,” Anna complained, finally moving over to the kitchen and beginning to rummage through the cupboards for ingredients. “Mum doesn’t seem to realize that not everyone enjoys running themselves into the ground through chores like she does. We have schoolwork, and I’m exhausted from tending those blasted cows all day. James doesn’t ever have to do anything, and he’s only five years younger than us!”

  We all watched her blabber, our expressions blank, no one volunteering to join in. Harriet moved silently to the pantry, but Kitty was still petting the dogs and I wasn’t in any hurry to perform a task I’d never been required to do in the past.

  “You two!” Anna summoned shrilly, turning to see us hovering about. “You came here to help, not observe!”

  “Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Kitty retorted, giving the dog one last pat before joining the glowering, younger girl. “Comin’, Evelyn?”

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked, having no idea where to start.

  “Wash your hands,” Harriet, who was closest to me, instructed softly. “The meat is in the larder. Perhaps you could go and fetch it for us?”

  I thanked her, unnerved by her transition from crazy to calm. Perhaps Julia was right, and she had only been trying to scare me.

  I returned with the meat as fast as I could. I still wasn’t over the idea that meat came from animals, and being at a farm surrounded by them only drove that truth closer to home. Even now, it still made my stomach turn.

  No one else noticed my disgust, as they were too busy doing their own jobs. It didn’t take long for the vegetables to be peeled, chopped and thrown together into a pot with the meat. Harriet grabbed a tea towel and bending down slid the pot in the stove

  A flame flared up inside and she screamed, dropping the dish so that it shattered, sending shards of pottery everywhere and the contents of our hard work sliding across the dirty wooden floor.

  “Harriet!” Anna shrieked. “What was that for? Now we’ve wasted all the food, have nothing for the surveyor, and have this mess to clean up before Mum arrives and skins us!”

  “I didn’t mean to!” Harriet’s blue eyes were wide with shock, hands still outstretched as if frozen. “It was the heat—”

  “It’s a bloody oven!” Anna hissed at her sister. “What did you expect?”

  “No, no,” Harriet said frantically. “The Others are attracted by heat, and I—”

  Something changed in Anna’s eyes. Her expression switched from anger to an emotion beyond that, a feeling that I couldn’t quite place but of which I was glad I wasn’t on the receiving end. Kitty and I watched from the sides, unsure of how to handle it.

  “I told you,” Anna said, as if the world contained nothing else but Harriet and her imaginary tormenters. “I told you to stop acting this way. There are no ‘Others’. I don’t know why you do this, but it isn’t funny.”

  “They made me jump, that’s all. I don’t like it. I never meant to ruin anything, I was just scared.”

  “You know,” Kitty interjected, her tone falsely cheerful, “we can probably still save this. It’s such a waste to just throw it out. Here, I’ll ’elp you clean everythin’ up, then we can forget it ever ’appened. Want to grab a broom, someone?”

  “No,” Anna snapped, still glaring at her twin. “She can clear it up.”

  Anna gave a little huff and flounced out of the kitchen, in a manner that I might have once. Kitty flashed us an apologetic grimace and hurried after her, trying to calm her down, leaving Harriet and I alone with the mess.

  I bent down on my knees and began scooping all the mess into a pile, deciding on sight that there were too many small pieces to save anything.

  “They don’t like Anna,” Harriet whispered, making no move to help me. “They can hear what she says about them, and I’m scared they’ll do bad things to her.”

  “I can’t see anything,” I said uncertainly.

  “They’re in the corner over there.” Harriet nodded towards to where the fireplace was, and a chill crept down my spine. The dogs had moved to the opposite corner, and were growling softly at something I couldn’t see. “They’re watching you.”

  I opened my mouth to ask the next obvious question—what did they look like—but the front door burst open and Julia came hurrying in, face flushed from the cool night air.

  “He should be here any minute so…oh my gosh, what happened?” she gasped, reeling at the sight of the dinner all over the floor.

  “It was dropped,” I explained, not sure if I should cover up for Harriet or not.

  “Yes, I can see that.” Julia ran a hand through her dense, curly hair, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples. “Oh, God. What a perfect disaster this is turning out to be.” She flopped down upon the nearest chair and let out a huge, stressed sigh.

  Kitty quietly came back downstairs and helped me scoop the mess into the bin, pulling a face. “Are you all right, Aunt Jule?”

  “I’m fine.” Julia lifted her head and got to her feet. “I only hope we make a good impression on the surveyor. It will make a big difference to how much help we get from the government. Plus we just wasted the last of the meat and shattered my biggest pot…”

  I got a cloth from the sink and wiped up the remainder of the gravy, wiping my hands on my already soiled dress. As I rose, the room started to s
pin slowly around me like a merry-goround, faster and faster until I had to catch hold of the table so I wouldn’t fall over. My head was fuzzy, my ears ringing, and I felt sicker than I had in days.

  “Julia…” I gasped, swaying.

  “Get some fresh air, honey,” she said, in a voice that sounded like it was coming from far away. “I think I can see the surveyor’s headlight, he’s here already! Oh no, oh no…”

  I stumbled blindly to the side door, blood pounding in my skull and breathing harsh.

  What was wrong with me?

  In the murky twilight, I saw the man get out from his car. Then I knew why I had suddenly become so sick. The man getting out of the car was Madon.

  Chapter Five

  Madon. Overseer of all that went on within Boundary. Keeper of order—usually through torture. Strong opponent to the idea of any of us escaping. And, to boot, the most powerful Ripper I’d ever had the misfortune to cross.

  I covered my mouth to keep me from screaming. He wouldn’t kill me now. He couldn’t. Not with all these people who would know.

  He seemed different. Standing there, surrounded by manure and run down outbuildings, he seemed more human than when he had in the moody backdrop of Boundary. There were deep bags under his eyes, and he was much thinner, so that his dark grey trench coat hung off his frame, several sizes too large. That being said, he was still the living image of ‘sinister’ and I was petrified.

  “Madon,” I whispered.

  I must have spoken louder than I intended, for his head snapped around and for a moment, we stood staring at each other, suspended in time.

  Run! I screamed at my legs, but they too were frozen.

  Slowly, deliberately, with all the elegance of a cat stalking his prey, he began walking towards me. My breath fogged up the chill night air, my eyes widened in terror, my entire body shaking with a mixture of fear and cold.

  “Evelyn?” Madon asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow. “Good Lord, you’ve really come down in the world, haven’t you?”

  I realized dried mud, gravy stains, and possible some squashed potato chunks, covered my dress and the wind had blown my hair wild.