by Cross, Amy
His voice trailed off.
“I'm talking to myself, aren't I?” he muttered with a sigh. “Damn it, where the hell is he?”
For the next few minutes, he took another look around the hangar and in the office, before finally realizing that for whatever reason, he'd been left high and dry. He called Derek's name a couple more times, and then he wrote a note letting him know that he'd had to go home. Once that was done, he made his way back over to the plane and took one last look up at the nose area, before turning and wandering out into the cold night air. Just as he was about to head toward the distant gate, however, he heard a shuffling sound nearby, and he turned to look toward the side of the hangar building.
“Derek?” he called out, before heading over to take a closer look. “Listen, I -”
Stopping suddenly, he saw that a bicycle had been left leaning against the wall.
“Huh,” he muttered, as a dark figure stepped up unseen behind him. “That wasn't there before.”
Chapter Twelve
“You know what?” Kath said as she tipped a second cube of sugar into the mug. “Everything'll be alright after a nice cup of tea. You'll feel so much more settled.”
Carrying the mug through to the living room, she stopped in the doorway and watched for a moment as Tom sat completely still in his favorite armchair. At first a faint smile lingered on Kath's face, although the smile began to fade as she watched her husband for a moment longer and realized that he seemed lost in thought. In fact, the more she watched him, the more she realized that he hadn't seemed like himself ever since he'd come home from work early. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she saw that it was almost 4am. This time, when she tried to smile, she couldn't quite manage.
“I don't know what you think you're playing at,” she continued, heading over to the coffee table and setting the mug down. “Waking me up at this hour. I've got half a mind to go straight back to bed and leave you down here all alone. You're lucky I'm not on at the Co-op until two, eh?”
Stepping back, she waited for him to say something, but he was still just staring into space while gripping the arms of the chair. After a moment, Kath followed his gaze and looked toward the far corner of the room. For a few seconds, she nervously watched the shadows, just in case there was any sign of whatever seemed to have captured her husband's attention, and then she turned back to see that Tom's gaze hadn't shifted at all. In all their years of marriage, she'd never quite seen him acting so strangely.
“You're right giving me the willies,” she told him, before turning and heading back into the kitchen. As soon as she was through the doorway, however, she stopped and peered back at her husband. She watched as he simply sat in his armchair and stared at the corner.
After a moment, letting out a faint sigh, Kath made her way to the counter and finished making a second cup of tea, and then she carried it back into the living room.
“So are you gonna tell me what all this fuss is about, then?” she asked. “In all the time you've been working at that place, I've never once known you to bunk off early. You're not starting to think about packing it in, are you? I honestly don't know if I can handle having you under my feet all day. You're a good few years off retirement yet, let me tell you.”
She settled on the chair next to his and tried to sip from her tea, only to find that it was too hot.
“When that taxi pulled up outside and I heard the garden gate squeak, I didn't know what to think,” she continued. “I peered out through the net curtains, and I saw you walking all slow along the path. I'll have you know, my mind was racing with the possibilities while I was coming downstairs. I thought maybe there'd been an accident, or you'd been taken seriously ill, or -”
“Do you see her?” he stammered suddenly.
She hesitated, with her mouth hanging open.
“You what, love?” she asked finally.
“Never mind,” he added, his voice sounding tight and tense.
Kath stared at him for a moment, before looking over at the corner of the room and then turning back to her husband. The room was so still and quiet now, she could even hear the faint creaks every time either of them shifted their weight slightly.
“So why exactly did you come home early?” she asked cautiously, before trying again to take a sip of tea and finding that it was still too hot.
They sat in silence for a moment.
“I hope you're not coming down with something,” she said eventually, before blowing on her tea. “If you're off sick and I have to deal with you hanging around all day, I don't know what I'll do. I'll probably go spare. I've said it before, Tom, and I'll say it again. Our marriage is better off for you working night shifts all these years. In all the time we've been together, I've only once -”
“Are you sure you don't see her?” he asked.
“Who?”
His eyes flicked toward her and he opened his mouth to continue, but the words wouldn't quite leave his lips. He paused for a moment, before looking back toward the corner.
“Never mind,” he mumbled.
Eyeing him with caution, Kath took a sip of tea.
“I reckon I'm going back to bed for a few hours after this cup,” she told him with a sigh. “All this business at four in the bleedin' morning is gonna be no good for my digestion. Are you coming with, or are you gonna sit up for a while? There's no point coming unless you think you can sleep. I don't want you tossing and turning next to me for hours, keeping me awake.”
She waited.
No reply.
“Suit yourself, then,” she added, getting to her feet. “Remember to turn the lights out when you come up, though. Except the lamp in the kitchen. That's for burglars, so leave it on. The timer switch'll turn it off at dawn. I know it's a waste of power, but it puts my mind at rest.”
She waited again, for her husband to say something, and then she rolled her eyes as she began to carry her mug of tea toward the door.
“Kath.”
Stopping, she looked back at him.
“I need you to...” He swallowed hard, still staring at the corner of the room. “I need you to tell me something.”
“And what's that?”
“I need you to look over there,” he continued, raising a trembling hand and pointing at the corner, “and tell me if you see...”
His voice trailed off for a moment, as tears gathered in his eyes.
“Tell me if you see her,” he whispered finally.
“Eh?”
She looked over at the corner, where the standard lamp stood next to an old painting she'd inherited from her mother. The lamp wasn't on, of course, so the corner was mostly shrouded in shadow. She could make out the pattern on the curtain, though, and she was quite sure there was no-one else in the room.
“Do you see her?” Tom asked again.
“See who?”
“Just look. Tell me if you see a... Do you see a woman, wearing a kind of black dress? It's slightly damaged, torn and maybe burned. She's staring straight at me. She doesn't have much of her face left. She's been burned.”
Kath looked at the corner for a moment longer, before slowly turning and watching her husband with a hint of fear in her eyes.
“Just tell me,” he continued. “Do you see her?”
“What the bleedin' hell are you talking about?” Kath asked, starting to feel a little uncomfortable now.
Tom sat in silence for a moment, before turning to her again.
“Never mind,” he said, as his voice trembled with fear. “I'm sure you're right. It's just me. There's nothing there.”
“You haven't been having a drink, have you?” she asked. “If you're drunk and -”
“I'm fine,” he replied, gripping the arms of the chair a little tighter. “Go to bed. I'll join you soon, I promise.”
She watched him for a moment, before rolling her eyes again and heading out into the hallway.
“And Kath?” he added. “I love you.”
Furrowing her bro
w, she looked back at him. “What?”
“I love you.”
“Are you dying, or something?”
She waited, but now his attention had turned back to the corner, and he seemed once more lost in thought.
“Bleedin' hell,” she muttered, as she began to make her way up the stairs. “Something's gotten into you tonight, alright. I hope you're back to normal in the morning, that's all I'm saying. I don't know how much longer I can take it if you're acting all peculiar around me.”
As his wife went back to bed, Tom continued to sit stock still in the armchair. His eyes were wide open, barely blinking at all, and his hands gripped the rests as his mug of tea continued to go cool on the nearby table. Kath could be heard climbing into the creaking bed in the room above, but Tom failed to react at all. He didn't even flinch when she called something out from upstairs. Instead, he simply remained in the armchair and stared at the far corner of the room.
A burned woman was standing in the corner, staring right back at him with dead, angry eyes.
Chapter Thirteen
The signal box blinked red again, as snow continued to fall and gather all around. There was more ice than ever on the edge of the box's casing, and part of the top had become warped by freezing water. Still, the light's housing remained protected, and sure enough a few minutes later the red light light blinked to green again.
A couple of hundred meters further along the side of the terminal building, white markings on the tarmac showed the way toward the deicing pad in the distance, where another light was blinking in the darkness, flashing yellow. All the deicing equipment had been carefully stowed away for the night, with nozzles slung over the edges of cranes. The pad itself was empty, although come morning there'd be a line of planes queuing to get their wings treated.
Nearby, thick red pipes ran into the service building. The door to the building was usually locked every night, but this time it had been propped ajar. An old paint tin had been placed in the way, keeping the door from closing. As snow continued to fall across the airport, a faint flicker of light could just about be seen coming from inside the service building's main room. Somebody was in there, using a flashlight.
***
Struggling to get the door open as a strong gale blew across the tarmac, Casey had to put all her weight into the effort. Finally she managed to struggle outside, although the door slammed shut as soon as she let go. This time, at least, the handle didn't hit her. Taking a moment to lean back against the wall and recover her breath, she looked both ways along the side of the terminal building, and then she began to struggle through the strong wind, determined to carry out her usual inspection.
Reaching the building's far end, she stopped and shone her flashlight around. She'd been careful to avoid stepping on any particularly obvious patches of ice, but she'd still been very slow as she'd made her way through the piles of snow. The snowstorm was starting to close in, although she could still see for several hundred meters in every direction as she looked around, and finally she stopped and stared for a moment at the maintenance hangar in the distance.
For a fraction of a second, she spotted a sliver of light under one of the hangar's side doors. The light was gone quickly enough, but she watched the building for a moment longer before sighing and heading over to one of the parked security carts. Climbing on-board, she switched the engine on and began to drive out across the tarmac, making her way carefully between the looming planes that had been left parked near the terminal. The cart wasn't exactly speedy, and the wheels bumped over patches of snow and ice, but progress was steady enough and Casey kept her eyes fixed firmly on the dark maintenance hangar ahead, where there was now no hint of light at all.
“It's probably just a badger,” she muttered under her breath, although she knew that wouldn't explain the light. Then again, she figured the light might just have been in her head.
By the time she brought the cart to a halt on the concrete apron at the front of the hangar, the snowfall had become a little heavier. Glancing over her shoulder as she climbed out of the cart, she looked back toward the terminal building and saw its bright lights burning through the night air. Turning, she kept her flashlight off as she approached the hangar's huge open entrance, and now she could hear her own footsteps echoing ahead. Finally she stopped and shone the light straight into the hangar's main bay.
The nose of a commercial airliner was just about visible high above, looming out of the darkness.
“Hello?” she called out, seeing the vapor of her own breath in the process.
She waited, but there was no reply.
“Is anyone here?” she continued.
Silence.
Stepping around the side of the hangar, she made her way toward the side access door, which was where she'd spotted the light a few minutes ago. The door was shut, of course, although when she tried the handle she found that it had been left unlocked. Pulling it open, she looked into the little office where – on the previous night – she and Tom had sat talking to Derek. The desk lamp was still on, but the place appeared deserted.
Nevertheless, she stepped inside and let the door swing shut behind her as she took a look around.
“Hello?” she said finally, raising her voice a little. “Is anyone here? It's okay, I just need to know, that's all.”
She waited, before shrugging and turning back to the door.
At that moment, she froze as she heard the clanging of metal against metal, as if somebody somewhere in the hangar had dropped a tool. Turning back to look across the small office, she waited in case the sound returned, but now everything was silent again.
Heading over to the door in the corner, she pulled it open and looked out into the hangar itself. There was no sign of anyone, but she still stepped forward and made her way past the tool benches. Ahead, the airplane stood unlit and untouched, with all its panels in place. The metal steps were near the front, although they'd been pulled back and the plane's doors had all been left shut.
As she made her way over, Casey looked around at the darkness, but there was no-one nearby. Finally she stopped near the front of the plane, and then she turned to look into the huge engine that hung down from the wind just a few meters away.
“Good job it's not on,” she remembered Tom telling her. “You'd be dead by now. You're in the danger zone. You'd be sucked in and ground up to mincemeat, and spat out the back.”
The thought sent a shudder through her body, although she still stepped closer to the engine and looked inside. Resting her hands on the rim, she seemed mesmerized for a moment, as if she was imagining what it would be like to get sucked in and chewed up. Taking a deep breath, she tilted her head slightly.
“Careful!” a voice said suddenly.
Turning, she saw a dark figure standing just a few meters away.
“It's only me,” Derek continued with a smile as he stepped closer. “You want to be very careful around this type of machinery. Never approach an engine unless it's absolutely necessary.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“You'll think I'm an idiot.” He sighed. “I got home tonight and I started worrying that I'd left one of the burners running in the office. Now, I know it's best to just put things out of your mind, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Eventually I had to get on my bike and come out here. Of course, the bloody thing was off, so the whole trip was a waste. I was just about to head on home when I spotted someone in here. I figured it'd be security, but I thought I should check to make sure.”
“You were worried about the burner again?” she asked.
“I'm sorry?”
“That's why you said you came back last night, too.”
Derek hesitated, before stepping closer and squinting as he took a better look at her.
“Oh, right,” he said finally with a chuckle, “it's you! Sorry, I didn't think. I don't always think straight, and sometimes I forget things. You were here last night, weren't you, with whatshisnam
e?”
“Tom.”
“Tom! Yeah, you were with Tom. Sorry, I just assumed you'd be someone new.”
“So you were worried about leaving a burner on again?” she replied, with a hint of suspicion in her voice. “That seems very... conscientious of you.”
“What can I say? I'm something of a worrywart. I can't help it, it's just the way I was made. Truth be told, I have to come back quite often like this, just to make sure I left everything in good shape. I must bike out here once or twice a week.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah. Huh. What an idiot, right?”
She opened her mouth to reply, before spotting the metal bar in his right hand.
“What's that for?” she asked.
“What's what for?” He stared at her for a moment, before looking down at the bar. “Oh yeah. This. Well, to be honest with you, I figured that while I was here I'd catch up on some work I missed during the day. How crazy is that, huh?”
“It's a little odd.”
“Strictly, it's against regulations,” he continued, stepping a little closer as Casey kept her back to the engine. “Still, nobody cares too much, not so long as the work gets done. And it does get done, you know. Not only that, but it gets done to the highest possible standard. After all, we have lives in our hands every single day. If we let things slip, the consequences could be catastrophic.” He chuckled again. “There I go, getting all morbid. Listen to me, eh? The thing is, some guy said he'd help me carry a few things. I know I shouldn't have let him in, but this stuff's really heavy and I just needed a hand.”
“I think maybe you should head home,” she told him.
“Absolutely. I just have a little more work to get done first.”
“It's four in the morning,” she pointed out. “Can't it wait?”
“Well, there's a lot of snow rolling in.”
“Exactly. Won't they shut the airport?”
“Not unless it gets really thick. They're pretty firm about these things.”