Dwell

by Lynda O'Rourke

  Jude opened up the boot and I placed the satchel inside along with the leather jacket that Max had been wearing. I was about to shut it when I heard Jude swear.

  “What the fuck? Look at this.”

  I joined the others at the front of the car.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, looking at Jude’s angry face.

  “My tyres, that’s what’s wrong,” he moaned. “How are we gonna leave now?”

  I crouched down. Both front tyres were as flat as pancakes.

  “How the hell did that happen?” I said shaking my head. “They were fine yesterday when you drove the car up onto the driveway.”

  “Looks like someone’s let them down,” said Max. “They couldn’t have both got punctures at the same time.”

  Raven looked around as if expecting to see the culprit jump out from one of the shrubs. “Mrs. Gables did it,” she hissed. “Her poisoned food didn’t work on us and now she wants us back to finish the job.”

  We looked at each other as if silently considering what Raven had just said could be possible. We all knew now how Mrs. Gables felt about us but would she really come out here and let down Jude’s tyres? I knew she wasn’t happy about us being here, so I wouldn’t think that she would try to stop us from going. But we also knew that she didn’t want us leaving and mentioning her or the bishop to anyone who would bring trouble back to Dusk Fall Retreat. I turned back to face the old house with its tall, looming chimney stacks. My stomach somersaulted when I spotted Mrs. Gables peering out from one of the bedroom windows at us. She turned away when she saw me staring up at her. I looked over at Raven. Maybe she was right. Maybe Mrs. Gables was out to finish us off.

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  “We’ll walk,” said Raven, her face dark and gloomy.

  “Walk?!” said Max. “Do you have any idea how long that will take us to reach Derbyshire?”

  Raven shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t care, as long as we don’t have to stay here again.” She looked back at the bishop’s house and shivered.

  “We need to pump up the tyres and then get on our way,” said Jude. “We can’t walk. It’s not just the distance that’s the problem. We stand more of a chance if we go by car. On foot, we’ll stand out like a sore thumb. Any police cars that happen to go by while we’re all trekking to Derby will check us out – especially as they’re looking for us.”

  I stood up. I had been checking over the tyres and the news wasn’t good. “The tyres weren’t let down,” I said. “They’ve been slashed.”

  “What?” Jude bent down and closely inspected his wheels. “Shit, you’re right.”

  “So now we know for sure that this was deliberate. That kind of changes everything,” I said. “Who do you think did it?”

  “The cleaners,” hissed Raven, coming to stand closer to us.

  “No way,” said Max. “This isn’t something they would do, this isn’t their way. They wouldn’t bother playing silly games like this. They’re demons – they don’t need to do this. And if they were here, don’t you think they would have got us by now? We’ve been standing outside for the last ten minutes – they don’t hang back and wait for the right moment. You heard what Doctor Fletcher said to Kassidy. They’re relentless – one mistake made by us and they’ll take you, me, Jude, and Kassidy.”

  “Well it couldn’t have been the police,” said Jude. “If they knew we were here then they would have just come into the house and arrested us.”

  “I guess that leaves Mrs. Gables,” I whispered, removing the satchel from the boot of the car.

  “Even more reason to just leave and go on foot,” pushed Raven. “They’re gonna kill us.”

  “Don’t be so fucking stupid,” said Jude. “Kill us? They could have done that last night when we were all asleep. Why bother slashing the tyres and getting us to stay another night? He’s a bishop for fuck’s sake, he preaches from the Bible. He doesn’t wander around with a kitchen knife slashing tyres and killing his guests – this isn’t a scene from Psycho and the bishop isn’t Norman Bates.”

  I looked back up at the window where I had seen Mrs. Gables watching us. It must have been her who had damaged the tyres. I was with Jude on this one. I couldn’t believe that the bishop meant us any harm. He had seemed genuinely concerned about Robert and had shown us nothing but kindness by letting us stay the night. I could only assume that Mrs. Gables wanted to keep us here through fear that her and the bishop would come under Doctor Middleton’s radar if we left and spoke about them. Still, it did make me feel uneasy. I was sure that Mrs. Gables wasn’t the type to harm us. After all, Robert, Alex, and Sylvia had left here unharmed. We knew that for sure as Sylvia was now in a mental institute, and if Mrs. Gables was the murdering type, she wouldn’t have let the others leave. But it did make me feel a little on edge.

  “What are we going to do then?” I asked. “We don’t really have many good options – if any.”

  Max lent against the car and ran his fingers through his long blonde hair. “We go back to the bishop and ask if there’s anywhere nearby where we can replace the tyres.”

  “How are we gonna pay for them? Tyres aren’t cheap and we only have £80 left,” I reminded him.

  “We’ll ask the bishop for the money,” said Jude, closing the car door and locking it. “I’m sure he’ll help us out.”

  “A bishop who uses torchlight at night isn’t gonna have the money to give us for tyres,” hissed Raven. “We’re wasting time. We should just go now and find Robert and Alex.”

  “Hey, I want to find my brother more than anything but walking is dumb,” said Max, heading back toward the house. “If we can get the tyres fixed then it’s worth a short delay.”

  “The longer we stay here, the more chance we give the cleaners of catching up with us,” moaned Raven, reluctantly following behind Max.

  “I know,” said Max. “But it’s a chance we’ll have to take.”

  As we reached the front door, it was suddenly swung open. The bishop stood just inside, a look of bewilderment across his face.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you all so soon,” he smiled. “Have you changed your minds about staying?”

  “No,” glared Raven. “Some freak has knifed up our tyres.”

  “My goodness,” tutted the bishop. “We’ve never had a problem with crime here before. The village has always been a safe, friendly neighbourhood to live in. Who would have done such a thing?”

  Before Raven could open her mouth and accuse the bishop or Mrs. Gables, I stepped in. “We don’t know, but we need to get two new tyres and we don’t have enough money to pay for them. Is there any chance we could borrow some money from you? I know you’ve already helped us out by giving us a bed for the night, but if we don’t get new tyres then we’re stuck.” I looked at the bishop with pleading eyes.

  “The money isn’t the problem,” the bishop said, stepping aside and letting us back into the large hall. “I’m afraid you won’t find anywhere open today – it is Sunday after all. Everywhere around here is shut.”

  Sunday - I had lost track of time. With everything that had happened to me I had completely forgotten the day of the week. Now what were we gonna do?

  “Are you sure there’s no garages open nearby?” asked Jude. “Or someone in the village that might be able to help us out?”

  The bishop closed the door behind us and turned the key. Then bending down, he slid the bolt closed and then slid the one at the top of the door. He must have seen the confusion in our faces at him locking up so early on in the day as he said, “Better to be safe than sorry – if there’s someone about committing crime then we don’t want them getting in here and doing goodness knows what.”

  “Is there someone in the village who could help us?” Jude asked again.

  “I wouldn’t think so,” answered the bishop, placing the key inside his pocket. “Most of the locals rarely leave the village. There isn’t much need for having a car here.”

  “But
they must have to go out and do their shopping,” I said. “They can’t all live like hermit crabs here.”

  “Most of the locals are elderly, they have shopping brought to them,” smiled the bishop as he ushered us into the snug. “I’m afraid you won’t find any help here today, but there is a bus that runs along the main road just outside the village. You could catch that tomorrow morning at 10:30 and go into the small town of Rane. There’s a garage there and I’m sure you will be able to get your tyres sorted.”

  “A bus – 10:30?!” hissed Raven. “That’s no good, we need to go now – today.” She glared at the bishop and then flung herself down onto one of the sofas like a child having a tantrum.

  “I’m very sorry, but it looks like you will have to spend another night here,” the bishop said, combing his fingers through his beard.

  A scattering noise came from the chimney and made me jump. The bishop spun around and scooped up some coals throwing them onto the fire. I sat down on the sofa next to Raven and remembered that it was the same noise I had heard during the night. Maybe it wasn’t just the third floor that was falling apart. Maybe the chimneys were crumbling down also.

  “I do hope I don’t have another bird that’s got stuck in the chimney,” said the bishop, turning to face us. “I’ve had five already in just this month.”

  Not overly interested in birds stuck in chimneys, Jude sat down and looked at the bishop. “Do you have a car we could use?”

  “I don’t drive,” answered the bishop. “Never could get the hang of going round all those roundabouts.”

  “What about Mrs. Gables?” asked Max. “How does she get about?”

  “She only has a push bike,” said the bishop, taking the armchair by the window. He sat down and stared at the fire. “I’m sorry I can’t be of any more help. I know you all want to be on your way but everything happens for a reason – I’m a firm believer in that and maybe the Lord saw fit to keep you all here for another night – maybe He thought we would be much safer.”

  “So the Lord knifed our tyres, did He?” said Raven, her dark eyes peering through the greasy strands of her hair.

  “Like I said, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we don’t always see it at first, and it isn’t always clear, but maybe if you had left today then you could have ended up in a worse situation than you are in now,” the bishop said, standing up and pulling on the cord which summoned Mrs. Gables.

  I leant back against the cushion. I had a mixture of emotions bumping around inside me. On one hand, I felt safe in knowing that having another night here would mean not having to look over my shoulder every couple of minutes for the cleaners, but on the other hand, I was worried that spending too much time here would allow the cleaners to get nearer, making it harder for us to distance ourselves from them when we left. I hated not knowing how close to us they were – it was impossible to gage. I stared into the fire at its hot seething flames and thought of Ben. Where was he? Had he gone back to Cruor Pharma? Had the demon inside him taken over and was now searching the countryside looking for me – wanting another chance to make me beg? Would I see him again? I wanted to. Those guilty feelings I had felt yesterday were now ravaging my insides and fighting against the sensible thoughts I had about staying well clear of him. Those traitorous ideas made me feel bad when I looked at the others. Why couldn’t I just shake these emotions away? Why go looking for trouble when I was already stuck in so much already? I closed my eyes. Perhaps it was too late – maybe trouble would come looking for me in the shape of Ben.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  I woke to the quiet sound of music. Feeling somewhat disorientated, my eyes adjusted to the room and I spotted a small radio placed on a coffee table. It played It’s My Life by Talk Talk. The room seemed dark and it was only when I looked at a small clock on the mantelpiece that I realised I must have fallen asleep for a good few hours. It was 3:45 and the autumn evening was already drawing in, casting shadows across the room.

  I lifted my head from off the cushion and saw Jude standing by the window. He seemed lost in thought as he gazed out. I looked around the room. I wasn’t the only one who had fallen asleep. Max lay sprawled out on the other sofa, his eyes shut and his mouth slightly open. I couldn’t see Raven. She wasn’t in the room. Maybe she was in the bathroom.

  “Hey,” I whispered, careful not to disturb Max.

  Jude turned away from the window and came to sit down next to me.

  “You’ve been asleep for hours,” he whispered. “Dream of anything nice?”

  I sat and thought for a few moments as I tried to remember. Fuzzy pictures entered my head as little snippets opened up into larger images.

  “Mrs. Gables,” I frowned. “She was floating around on fire.” I shook my head, feeling a little puzzled. If I could interpret dreams I wondered what that would signify. A sense of sadness came over me. “My dad, I remember him in it.” The sadness I had just felt swept away and was replaced with dread as I remembered what my dad had been wearing – a Cruor Pharma uniform. I shuddered. I wasn’t sure which image I preferred of my dad. The pissed-up one of him in his armchair surrounded by bottles of whisky or the disturbing one of him, obviously having worked for Doctor Middleton at some time in his life. Neither were great.

  “You miss your dad?” whispered Jude, taking hold of my hand. His eyes stared at me intently, like he was trying to see into my mind.

  “In a strange kind of way.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Although he was always drunk, he was kind of company. I could always tell him anything – my worries, when I was sad, when I’d got into trouble at school. You see, you can tell a drunk anything because they never remember – you can sound off as much as you like, and they’ll never tell you off – never judge you. He was good for that but… when you really needed advice, comfort, a shoulder to cry on, and just someone to tell you that everything will be all right… that was when I realised that I was just talking to an empty shell – that I had no one to hear me – I was on my own.”

  I stared at the fire. It was almost out. Plumes of smouldering smoke whispered up the chimney. The scattering noise came again and I stood up and threw more coals onto the fire. Bits of crumbling brick fell down and I kneeled on the rug and angled my head so I could peer up into the chimney without getting burnt by the flames. Jude came and knelt down beside me screwing up his eyes so he could take a look also.

  “Birds?” said Jude. “Sounds more like a freaking ostrich stuck up there.”

  I laughed at his comment.

  “That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile – the first time I’ve heard you laugh – it’s nice.” Jude grinned with a smile that lit up his face – made his eyes sparkle and his smooth tanned skin glow with a warmth that I hadn’t seen before. I felt a little closer to him even though I didn’t really know too much about him – hadn’t had long enough to get to know him. Last night had been a start of some kind, and it felt good to have the beginning of a bond between us – a reassurance that we were both playing on the same side. I already felt a connection between me and Max. Stuck in that chapel at Cruor Pharma with Max reading Father Williams’s diary with me – we had got on straight away. I hadn’t once doubted Max – I trusted him to watch my back and I knew he wasn’t the type to do anything stupid – anything that would get us into trouble. So now as I looked at Jude, I felt comfortable believing that Jude was as sincere as Max – not just a guy with sex and booze on his mind – well, almost. His flirty, playboy ways had died down and a more sensible, dependable personality was shining through. It made Jude more appealing to the eye. That just left Raven. I trusted her in a sense that she wasn’t a bad person but she made it so difficult to get to know her. She had these walls built around her with tales of ghosts and seeing the dead that it seemed impossible to break through and see the real Raven that was really under there. All I had picked up from her was a life travelling from one place to the next with a mother who happily sent her daughter to be injected with a dr
ug they knew nothing about. It was quite obvious that Raven’s mum was more interested in money than her own daughter’s welfare. Maybe that explained the walls built around Raven. Maybe that’s why she seemed so detached from everyone – she probably never had a chance to build any kind of relationship moving from one place to the next. But weren’t we all like that in a way? We seemed to have come from families who were either dead or may as well have been dead. But at least, unlike Raven, we were trying to get along – making an effort to pull in the same direction and get to know a little about each other. I would have to try and be more patient with her, try to break down some of her walls and form some kind of friendship. After all, I had a feeling that we would all be stuck with each other for some time. Maybe even forever.

  I looked at Jude. He was still staring at me with that warm smile. I suddenly had the overwhelming need to tell him about my dad. I reached behind me and pulled out the photo of my father that I had found pinned up in the locker room back at Cruor Pharma. It had bothered me ever since finding it and I wanted to unload the burden that had been weighing me down – the uneasy feeling that my dad may have played a part in those terrible drug trials or had known about them and turned a blind eye like all the other staff at Cruor Pharma.

  “Look at this,” I whispered, handing him the photo.

  “Where did you find it?” asked Jude, turning it over in his hand.

  “The locker room,” I answered. “One of those porters was… my dad.” I looked away, unwilling to see Jude’s expression. I didn’t want to see the look of disgust over his face when he realised that my dad had worked for Doctor Middleton. I felt ashamed and worried that he would think bad of me – think I was a part of all this.