by TM Watkins
“How interesting.”
Brad frowned at me. He knew the tone of my voice was insincere. After three years of being in each other’s pockets, the man knew me well.
“Not many in these parts will talk about things like that. They like to live in an oblivious world, but I don’t. My girls know the truth about this town and you’d be wise to listen to me as well. Be careful, don’t stay out late at night, don’t go wandering around by yourself.”
Ryan turned to Brad; the frown was heavier than it had been for me.
“You might want to raise her to be independent, and that’s great, but, in this town, we drive our kids to school.”
“Gee, you make it sound like you’ve got a pervert on every street corner,” I said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.
“Wouldn’t know about them, just the rules that my old man passed to me and that I passed to my girls. You don’t want to listen then that ain’t my fault. I’ll see you both in a week.”
And with that grumbling, the man walked out of the house.
Ryan was an odd person, a little gruff but seemed to have a genuine nature to his persona. That is if I didn’t see him doing something highly peculiar in the basement. Brad closed the door and turned to me.
“He sprayed something in the basement.”
“Yeah, deodoriser. The room stank of damp. I just hope he’s right about it. I don’t want to move again, not when we just got here.”
I nodded and turned away, only to have Brad grab my arm and pull me back.
“You know what we’re going to discuss, right?”
“Yeah, you’re going to lay down the law about going to school, wandering around the town. All this after a little scaremongering from a guy that was doing something shifty in the basement.”
Brad rolled his eyes, letting go of my elbow.
“He was not doing something shifty. Rules,”
I scoffed, picked up the kitchen box with the hope that he’d get the hint. He did not.
“I will drive you to and from school. If you want to go out with friends, you’ll need to notify me of where you will be going and for how long, what time I need to pick you up.”
“The friends that I won’t make, you mean?”
“Evie,” He snapped. “Be serious. We both got odd feelings at the school, this town clearly has some serious weirdness going on, so I want you to do the right thing here. I know that you’re almost an adult and you probably want to get out into the world, hang out with friends, get a boyfriend or girlfriend, whatever,”
Brad shifted uncomfortably, probably remembering the awkward conversation he’d had after I’d come home from school and said that I’d walked in on the headmaster and one of the teachers having sex in a classroom. He’d flustered a little and said that it was wrong to do that in a school where getting caught was highly likely considering I’d walked in on them and that he’d be having words with them the next day.
He’d said that love is love, even if it was the wrong place and wrong time. I smiled and said nothing. Then he asked if I needed a little context to which I replied that my mother was a prostitute so I probably knew more than he did. Brad nodded, looking a little sheepish.
Brad returned the next afternoon, snapping at me that I could have warned him that they were both males. With my smug grin that made life incredibly uncomfortable for Brad, I shrugged and said that love is love, no matter the genders.
“I get it. You want to make sure I’m safe because you love me and you’d feel bad if something bad happened.”
“I just want to do the year here and then get the hell out of this place. Okay?”
I nodded as I opened the box and began unloading the contents into the drawers.
“What if you’re made to stay longer?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure that out when we get there. You never know, we might come to love the place.”
“Doubt it,” I cooed as he walked away.
It took all of Saturday afternoon to get the boxes unpacked. In between the boxes, I had to help Brad get the beds upstairs. We had ensemble beds, so that meant that there were no frames to be put together, just a base and mattress. A life on the road, moving constantly meant that we had become smart with our purchases.
Pulling the linen out of the dryer, I picked up the basket and moved to the stairs. I could still smell whatever it was that Ryan had sprayed. Curiously, nothing was dribbling down the wall. He must have been incredibly careful, inserting the nozzle into the tiny gap.
Turning to the step, I saw the flashlight that I’d left there earlier. There was too much to do tonight, and I was too tired. Besides, Brad offered takeaway for dinner and I was not going to pass on that.
Climbing the stairs, I put the basket down and closed the door. Interestingly, there was a large slide bolt for the door. I shifted it across and wondered why it was necessary.
Brad was in his room when I reached the next level. I’d taken one of the bedrooms on this level rather than the attic. It was a bright and airy space, but the first few nights in a new home, I preferred to be close to him. I wasn’t scared, I just didn’t like to be too far away.
Dumping his linen on the bed, I wandered out of the room and into my room. I quickly made the bed and then took the towels into the bathroom.
The house was in good order. I’d seen some horrid places over the years and the longer they were let sit without someone living in them, the worse they became. This place was old but looked new. Nothing needed to be cleaned though I suspect that it was cleaned regularly with the hope that they’d be able to get tenants in and pay money.
“Are we done?” Brad said.
“Absolutely. Let’s get greasy.”
With a chuckle, we walked down the stairs. Brad grabbed the keys, and after checking the windows and doors were locked, we were out of there.
Driving through the town centre of Hades was definitely not the highlight of my evening. We have been to small towns before, we were used to shops being shut as soon as the sun hit the horizon, but this was ridiculous. Hades was large enough to warrant having restaurants open. Even a few takeaway shops would be alright.
Street after street, we searched for something and found nothing. Even the grocery store was shut.
“Well, I was going to suggest buying a roast chicken and bread rolls, but I guess that’s not happening.”
“Do we have any food?”
“No. How about we see if the bed and breakfast will cook a meal for us?”
“Sounds great.”
Because the nearest town was several hours away, and my stomach would not take that kind of wait.
Chapter 6
Waking to a new day, I smiled despite the annoyance at being stuck in this town. It was Sunday, and that meant that I could use Brad’s computer to play games.
Pouncing down the stairs, I inhaled the delicious scent of pancakes. The lovely couple at the bed and breakfast were more than happy to feed us last night and even sent us away with a breakfast basket. They searched and found a brochure that used to be given out to new residents. It had the opening hours, which were standard for all businesses.
Our window for grocery shopping was small, and once breakfast was over, Brad was going to do the shopping.
“Parcel arrived for you this morning.”
Sliding up to the breakfast bar, I pulled the package closer to me. It was wrapped in brown paper and twine, seemingly soft on top with a hard chunkiness to the bottom.
“From who?”
“The school. Apparently, it’s enough to get you through the doors tomorrow. You’ll need to see the lady at reception about your sports uniform.”
“They cannot be serious. I am not doing sports.”
“I get the feeling that you’re not going to get a lot of choices.”
Huffing loudly, I pulled the twine and opened the package. The uniform was simple. A white shirt with sleeves to the elbow, matched with a deep blue skirt that went
to the knees. White socks and that chunkiness was the black shoes. All of the sizes were correct which made me a little uneasy.
“Did they ask you for my sizes?”
“No, and if they did, I wouldn’t know what to tell them.”
“Then they are definitely weird.”
Brad flipped the pancake onto the plate, making a two-stack of fluffy yumminess. He then turned to put it in front of me. The package of creepiness was pushed aside for the plate of deliciousness. I had to use the syrup sparingly, and there was nothing else on offer but it was better than nothing which was the alternative.
One of Brad’s pancakes was already cooking. He had two frypans going. The man clearly liked to do the dishes. When he returned to the stove, the second pancake was slopped into the frypan. I had to give him credit, it was certainly a good way to get pancakes onto the plates in efficient time.
We didn’t have a dining table. Life was spent with a meal in front of the television, not the greatest, but it was how we did things. It suited us and to be perfectly honest, it was a complete improvement on what life used to be like with my mother. She might have made dinner before leaving for the street corner. If she did, there was a limit on what she did for me. I don’t recall a time when we had dinner together.
Breakfast was often spent with me in front of the television watching the morning cartoons, then being yelled at for making too much noise. She was trying to sleep, and I was a nuisance. Lunch was the only meal that we spent together, and that was just the weekends. That is if she didn’t decide to hit the street for a little early afternoon trade.
One would think that with all the time she spent on the street, we would have been rolling in money. I have no idea what she did with it. There was always food in the cupboard, but it was always a generic brand and what was in there was limited.
So, moving in with Brad had been a bit of a shock. Having him around all the time was just as bad and took some time to get used to. I could have said that I was used to being alone, and I might have done that quite regularly, but it was always done with a lot of hesitation. I wanted Brad to be at home with me. I wanted company. A parental figure that guided me through life rather than leaving me alone for hours.
She was not a good mother, but that didn’t mean that I loved her any less or didn’t miss her. I still cried, wishing she was here even if my life had improved infinitely. She was taken from me and even though I fell asleep every night expecting to wake to the sound of the cops knocking on the door, I never believed it would happen. But it did.
Moving the parcel aside, Brad slid up onto the stool and ate his breakfast. Between us was the meal plan for the next week, including lunches for me just in case they didn’t have a cafeteria like the other schools.
“Well?”
“It works.”
We finished our stack of pancakes in silence, looking at the week of meals. Brad liked to try and cook, even if he was mediocre at it. He’d had many successes and a few failures.
I didn’t mind. I’d happily take the good and the bad any day.
When breakfast was over, I stacked the dishes while Brad prepared the shopping list.
“You might want to wash that before you wear it. And because I cooked breakfast, you get to clean up. Have fun.”
With a merciless chuckle, the jerk left me to wash up. Before I did that, I took the uniform and made sure it fitted. Unfortunately, it was a perfect fit which did not help the situation any. After redressing, I took the clothes down to the basement and put them into the wash. They went in together, my aim was that the blue would leak dye and stain the white shirt and socks. Therefore I would not be able to wear them tomorrow.
Smiling, I turned and left the washing machine to do my dark bidding.
The dishes were done, and I got half an hour of game time before the washing machine started to beep at me. With a skip in my step, I made my way down to the basement. Disappointment soon found me; the damned skirt must have been colourfast.
“How rude,” I muttered.
Dumping them in the dryer, I said a silent prayer that the lint filter would catch on fire. Then I retracted that because the whole place would probably burn down.
Returning to the game, I lost track of time until Brad returned home. Pausing it, I ambled out to the car and helped him bring in the groceries.
“Sounds like your clothes are done.”
“Yeah,”
“The clothes didn’t discolour?”
“No.” I grumped.
Brad chuckled, making my frustration worse.
It was warm in the basement; I’d forgotten to open the vent. Pulling the clothes out of the dryer, I thought I heard something thump. Warily I stood, lifting the basket up with me.
“Brad?”
His heavy boots thumped overhead, making his way to the door.
“What’s up?”
“I think I heard something.”
He walked down the stairs, looked at me and around the area. It wasn’t a large area, enough to fit the appliances and a table if I wanted to fold the clothes down here. I wouldn’t, it was too stuffy for my liking.
“There’s probably a rat in the wall. I wonder if I can get a pest exterminator out on a Sunday.”
Brad turned to the stairs, muttering about Sunday rates. I wouldn’t worry about that. I’d be more concerned that the sleepy town of Hades wouldn’t trade on a Sunday at all. It was surprising that he was able to get groceries.
His heavy boots thumped up the stairs as I drew closer. My heart was racing as I looked at the crack that had grown overnight.
“Please don’t call the exterminator.” The wall whispered.
I screamed, dropped the basket and ran up the stairs.
Chapter 7
Brad ran down the corridor, fear in his eyes after hearing the blood curdling scream from me. Before I could get a word out, Brad gripped my shoulders, searching for whatever it was that had me sobbing hysterically.
“What’s wrong? You’re not bleeding anywhere.”
“There is something in the wall.”
“Yeah, I know, the rat.”
“No,” I quivered, pressing my back to the wall.
Escape was not that far away.
“Something that spoke.”
“Yeah, good one.”
Brad laughed but stopped when he saw the horror on my face.
“I’m serious. It said, please don’t call the exterminator.”
“Well, at least it was polite.”
His attempt at a joke was met with nothing but tears and snot bubbles.
“Fine,” Brad said with a heavy sigh and a roll of his head. “Let’s think about this rationally, shall we?”
I nodded though I didn’t want to discuss it. I wanted to get out of here. To go back to our last home. It was a new build, there was no chance of there being someone in the wall.
“The wall has been up since this house was built. If someone was trapped between it and the land, they would be very dead or very hungry.”
“It could be a camera and a speaker.”
“Why would they ask us not to call the exterminator? This doesn’t make any sense, Evie.”
Brad sighed heavily, leaning on the wall beside me.
“Look, I know it’s rough being moved around all the time, but this is the best that I could do while I had to look after you.”
“Geez, I’m not incapable. You could go back to your office job.”
“The woman from child services made it very clear to me Evie. I had to take complete responsibility and ensure that you did not take a path,”
“What? Did she say that prostitution was bad and that my mother was a selfish person?”
“Prostitution is illegal, and your mother was selfish. She never reached out to me; I would have helped her wherever I could. How many days of school did you miss because she passed out from drug use?”
I shrugged. Was I worried about her? Absolutely.
“Did she
ever thank you for it or try to clean herself up? No. What did she do, Evie?”
“Punish me,” I whispered.
“The woman from child services saw the bruises. There was one thick file on the two of you, and because of that, I’ve had them breathing down my neck for the past three years. They barely accept all these moves but understand because I had my employer submit a letter that said I was either in the office, on the road or out of a job. Look, my point here is that you’ve got one more year. Once you’ve finished high school, you can go off to college or university, get a job. I can go back to my office job and we can go home. So, can we get through this year? It’s a nice house, right?”
Again, I shrugged.
“I swear, I heard a voice. Am I a liar?”
“No, but,”
“What Brad? What could you possibly offer to make me think I’d misheard it?”
He stared for a moment, unable to answer me. Then he turned and walked to the basement door.
“Don’t go down there,” I begged desperately, tugging on his arm.
“Evie, I’m going to see what’s going on. This isn’t some horror film that has a creepy guy in the wall. The crack is barely big enough to get a screwdriver into it.”
The crazy man continued down the stairs, I remained at the top because I did not want to go down there.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
Brad knocked on the cinder block wall.
“Anyone trapped in there?”
Still nothing.
Brad looked at me, giving me a vague shrug. Leaning down, he picked up the clothes and put them back into the basket, then walked up the stairs. Once he was through, Brad put the basket on the lounge and gave me an uneasy smile.
“I don’t know what to say, Evie. I believe you when you say that you heard something but there were no sounds when I was down there. Maybe someone said something into the ducting. You could have a prankster sitting outside the house whispering into the pipes.”
And I’d just given them a great show. Well, that was just perfect. I’m sure it was some jock that would be telling everyone Monday morning, and by the time I got to school, I’d be the laughing stock of the entire place.