by Cenz Barone
Chapter 12 - An Unexpected Phone Call
Nobody in the room looked convinced at Elise’s point, so Grant unable to take the sound of the ringing phone complained "Is someone going to answer it?" Grant, himself at this time was unsure what to do and it was so surreal especially after the light flicking in the opposite house was obviously in sync with them all, and the fact he had come out of his own inner breakdown from less than 10 minutes ago, and now he was trying to get a decision made, even though Grant still felt groggy from his epileptic fit.
Kenny seeing nobody else was stepping forward, slowly moved from the window and walked towards the bedside table, his back was to the group and he took a moment before speedily picking up the phone. Kenny turned and stared at the group around him and said into the phone earpiece “Hello! Who is this?” he heard no immediate reply and waited for a while, and then heard a voice replied saying “Hi, this is Alvin from across the street, in the house which was flicking the lights”.
Kenny who was the only one privy to what the person who identified themselves as Alvin said immediately turned to the side, looking out the window across the lane to the opposite house. Frustrated Elise asked "What did they say?" Cherie was intuitive enough to know it was someone from the house flicking the lights across the lane, she suspected this just from where Kenny had chosen to look, which was outside the bedroom in the direction of the house towards the room which had lights going on and off. Kenny had to take a moment because this was unexpected for him. Alvin on the phone shouted "Are you there, I saw you flicking back at us. Can you hear me?"
The slowness in both Kenny's reply to Alvin and almost dazed facial expression was confusing to those in the bedroom, so Grant whispered "What is going on?" Kenny in reply to Grant's question pressed the loud speaker icon on the phone dial and straight away spoke up, having found his voice after processing what he was told by Alvin "Yeah I am here. We...uh...did see you flicking the lights”. Grant stared at Kenny uncertain and mouthed "The ones who were flicking the lights have phoned". Kenny just nodded, letting this scene play out. Grant, Elise and Cherie glanced towards the window where Kenny was pointing towards briefly to let them know it was those from the other house.
Alvin's voice was heard over the speaker, his voice shaky “I need help over here mate. There are people outside the front of my house. You are not the Johnson’s are you?” Kenny stared at the phone and then at the opposite house where the lights were being flickered. Cherie, Elise and Grant were themselves scared at what was happening remained silent. So Kenny considering he answered the phone spoke back over the loudspeaker to Alvin “No, I...I mean we are not the Johnsons. If they lived here they are not here now and we do not know where they are. We are. I mean the people I am with, we just came in looking for help. We came here looking for a place to hide and to stay off the streets". Alvin was sniffling throughout this time. Kenny answered slowly, his chosen words added up making him somewhat sound incoherent.
Softly Kenny asked "Are you alone Alvin?" There was a long silence until Alvin replied, his voice excitable "No I am not alone. There are 13 of us here”. Kenny was shocked and said quite loudly “13 of you. You have got a big family Alvin”. Cherie thought it was a strange thing for Kenny to say and looked sideways at him but Kenny just shrugged his shoulders in retort as if saying he was doing his best. Alvin in reply to Kenny said, clearly emotional "No it is not my fucking family. I don't know where my family is. There is a party here. We had a party last night. Please Mister, you have to help us we need you to help us”.
This demand from Alvin was way outside the remit of the groups own capabilities and Kenny did not know what to say. Grant, Elise and Cherie were all looking at Kenny for his reply, their gazes spread between the phone and the house across the lane through the window. Alvin unable to take the slowness of Kenny's response pressed "Hey, are you there? We saw the light in the house you cannot hide from us. I will keep fucking ringing you. So can't you help us?" eventually Kenny answered aloud for all to hear in the room with him. Reluctantly Kenny confessed "I can’t Alvin, I am waiting for help myself". Alvin countered instantly and said “I saw more people in the house with you, how many of you are there?” Alvin talking about the flicking lights from what he saw across the street. Kenny honestly answered and said "Just four people Alvin, including myself”. Alvin hopefully stated to Kenny in reply “Are you a police officer? Or with the military” Kenny did not know how to answer the hopeful Alvin who seemed to have the wrong idea about their presence in this house, plus did not seem to be appreciating what Kenny was telling him. Once more Kenny reasserted “No, none of us are the police or military. I am just a student”. Alvin took a while before replying "Oh great, a fucking student! We are fucked!" and with those words Alvin hung up the phone.
Those within the room with Kenny heard the dial go dead and Kenny out of nerves could not help but say "I did not know being a student was so bad, I did not even tell him what I was studying". Kenny appeared amused but he was scared, it was visible enough on his face how unsure he was. Grant, Elise and Cherie did not say anything to him in reply, nor appreciate his attempt at humour. Defensively Kenny said to them "I cannot help making comments like that. I am nervous". Kenny then lowered his head and stated "What the fuck was that about anyways" in reference to Alvin suddenly hanging up on him.
Kenny turned back to looking through the window in the direction where Alvin said he was calling from. Cherie was near the light switch tempted to play with it again but Elise pleaded with her "Do not touch it again, just leave it. Please Cherie". Cherie was not intending to hit the light switch again as Grant spoke, Grant himself now bringing some sense to what was happening, he disclosed his thoughts "They are just like us aren't they. They are stranded here. How many more people do you think are in the other houses around here” Grant moving near the window, looking at other houses where there was some lights on and others off, but none as animated as the house Alvin identified himself as being.
Kenny answered Grant with what he thought made sense “Who knows who is like us Grant. I suppose the houses without lights on inside are like us, or maybe they are wiser than us and keeping a low profile in the dark. And not playing light switch code game. How the fuck should I know. Only Alvin's house has any light activity so..." before Kenny could finish his sentence the phone rang again and interrupted him.
Straight away Kenny picked the phone back up before anyone could advise him not to. He also hit the loudspeaker option again and said knowing who it was “Alvin”. Only it was not Alvin who replied, because this time another voice was heard “No it is not Alvin. My name is Andrew. I am sorry about my friend Alvin. We are all afraid over here, if you’re not the police or military you must be like us, right?" nobody replied to this person who called himself Andrew, so Andrew stated "Do you have any guns over there?”. Kenny again could not help but reply to the desperation in the voice on the other end of the phone and said "Only a hunting rifle and some steel bars”. Andrew paused and then after some time stated “We have nothing over here mate. Can you come over to us, to get us out of here” Cherie whispered "Get them out of there, to where. To here, another house like the one they are in. How does that make sense" Elise nodded in agreement, herself also whispering "What is the point. This is not a place of safety".
Picking up on Cherie and Elise words, Kenny saw sense in them so he told Andrew, trying to be calm was he “I don’t know if we can do so mate. We are kind of safe here. We have boarded up the front of the house with wood and the windows are secure. We have barricaded the front in tightly and the back, well the back is the same for you over in the house you are in. The walls won't let those things inside”. Again a silence until Andrew stated “Is the van yours outside? Some of the people here said they saw you arrive in a van. Alvin said so”.
Kenny responded after some hesitation “No we...yeah, yeah it is" Kenny sounding incoherent because he was suspicious for some reason about the people across the lane as
king so many questions. He looked at Grant, Elise and Cherie who were willingly letting him speak to Andrew while paying attention to what was shared. Kenny then said urgently "But there is hardly any petrol in it! So it is useless to you as it is to us. It is why we sought out shelter here, why we came to this house”. Kenny trying to tell them the truth and then Andrew said back “Have you enough petrol to take me to my house in Bridgefield?”. Kenny was unsure where Bridgefield was replied, again his voice sincere "No I am afraid not. I really do not know the area at all Andrew. This is my first time in Oxford”. Kenny's sentence without confidence between his pauses but Andrew was fast in thinking and stated “What about your friends, do they know Oxford well?”. Again Kenny answered truthfully “None of us are from around here, at least not enough to know where Bridgefield is. We have been driving around the streets for ages and this is the first place we have found that is secure”.
There was a long pause until Andrew started to cry over the phone and between his crying Andrew said “I want to see my parents. I have to see them! None of our mobile phones work mister. Do yours? We have been trying to phone out for ages and all of a sudden the landline fucking works, what is going on” again a long pause. The four in the group had finally had contact with other people who were in the same position as themselves, and it appeared it was not just their own mobile phones and also the landline within the house they were in that was playing up. But now they knew they had to make a decision in what Andrew was outlining. This was not like the chaotic streets they had come from which meant decisions were made for them by changing circumstances. They had a controlled environment relatively, to make a decision right now, but by the sounds of the people across the backstreets, these people were trapped and had been for so long. Hearing how helpless they were put some perspective into the foursome.
The group with Kenny felt like they had been together for longer than they had, after all they had endured together. The weariness of the same company was telling and it was as if they were the only ones left in the entire world as they moved around in that van, at least until this point which was far more personable than listening to a radio or watching a television. But at least there were people equally as frightened and lost as they were. The phone conversation went on throughout this silence of the foursome. These strangers essentially were just keeping each other's spirits up. But then the phone line went suddenly dead. "Did they hang up?" asked Cherie to those around her.
Grant shook his head, his voice trembling "I don't think so". All four looked out the window to the direction of the house those on the phone said they were from. Alvin’s house put the light on, waving frantically were certain bodies in the window afar. Kenny, Cherie, Elise and Grant could see this weird motion. "What the fuck are they doing?" Kenny wondered aloud as the group observed the house across the street with lights on in certain rooms, then put off in other rooms in the house. It was like they were signalling with the lights but why. At this point the phone rang once more and this time Grant picked it up and pressed the speaker so all around him could hear.
It was Alvin who was heard this time, his words scolding towards those around him "Stop fucking around!" But then Andrew could be heard shouting in the backdrop as though arguing with Alvin. Alvin shouting for calm over many voices on his end stated "Just be quiet, I will ask them just stop shouting. For fucks sake! Tell the others to stop switching the lights on and off. What are they doing? Are they trying to lure those things here? Alright I will ask". Andrew then aggressively was heard demanding of Alvin "Just fucking ask them man". A girl’s voice was then heard in support of Alvin "How can he ask if you keep pestering".
The foursome listening to this could tell just how fortunate they were to be relatively calm and composed as a unit compared to those across the street of the lane. It seemed like the house opposite was in bedlam. Eventually calm swept out the noise on the other end of the phone, Alvin's voice was heard through the silence "How much petrol have you really got in the van?”. Despite those on the other end being already told how little petrol they had, Alvin's tone of voice sounded as though he did not believe the foursome. Grant replied “Not much, I don’t know how much if I am honest. We certainly do not have enough to be going around looking for places that do not exist. We are saving what little we have for an emergency, if something comes up and we need to get out of here, but we don’t know anywhere that is safer than here and we can get to the van in an emergency”. There was a long pause and then Alvin lost his temper and shouted angrily at Grant “Emergency! A fucking emergency are you serious mate. What the fuck do you think is going on right now? Does that not qualify as an emergency?”
The attitude was brazen and once more those with Alvin were heard arguing amongst themselves, the panic set in once more and erupted into fury, it was such a hectic sound. Elise whispered to those around her "Those people are crazy, we should be careful about talking to them". And they did all sound insane with their insults and swearing, it was like they were fighting for control over the phone, everyone having lost their heads. Through verbal commotion it was clear Alvin’s group were arguing about what to do next. At this point another person got on the phone and through his panicky voice identified himself “This is Mark. I want to come over your side. I cannot stay here. You have a hunting rifle don’t you?” Cautiously Grant replied “Yes we do but it is nothing special. Besides we have boarded everything up”. Mark sounded quite angry and upset, there was another scuffle heard over the phone, Mark shouting for those around him to leave him alone with the phone. Until finally it had all quieted down, it went so quiet it was as though the line had been broken.
“Is everything okay over there” asked a concerned Grant, then they heard whimpering, and a girl came on the phone, her voice trembling she said “The boys are just trying to control Mark in another room, he has gone nuts”. The girl’s voice became calm and relaxing, this was reassuring to Grant and his group oddly, she then asked, pleadingly “My name is Traci. I don’t like it over here. Everyone is so tense and snappy. You all sound like you know what is going on, please can I come over”. Kenny hit the mute button on the phone pad and said to the group around him “I don’t think we should bring them over, any of them. Listen to them. Do we really want that mess over here?” Grant seemed swayed not to agree with Kenny and he wanted to speak more to the group across the lane. Grant hit the mute button off without replying to Kenny, which annoyed Kenny who was just scared.
“Believe me Traci we do not know what is going on. Listen, have you boarded up the windows downstairs and the doors, to the front of the house. I assume it is like the house out here with the front facing the street. The backyard I can see has a large wall which should keep you safe, but what about the front of the house?” Traci went quiet and was heard whispering then she replied her voice breaking “No, no we have not done anything to board up the house”.
The four people inside really felt worried for them, even Kenny wiped his forehead in despair. Grant with authority demanded “Traci what have you done to defend yourselves”. Instantly Traci stated “We are locked in the door that gives access to the upstairs. It is really spacey upstairs, we brought all the food we could from the kitchen but it has been running low because people are eating too much” she sounded annoyed and then Grant hearing Traci getting anxious asked her tenderly “Please try and stay calm”. Traci apologised and answered “I’m sorry, it is just difficult you know”. Eventually Traci continued “Nobody wants to go downstairs, we can see those people walking from the windows upstairs and some of them were banging on the front windows but they have gone now. The police should have been here by now, for fucks sake why the hell are they taking so long”.
“If they have locked a door to the upstairs they should be okay, right?” Kenny stated but Grant shook his head “No, if those things get in, I bet that door isn’t strong, it is probably some thin wood”. Traci asked unable to hear their whispering conversation “What did you just say?”
Grant then went back to focusing on Traci as he said “Traci listen to me. You and your friends need to go downstairs and try and board up the windows and doors, any windows facing the street. Even if you put cupboards in front of them, the door needs to be reinforced. There must be some wood you can find, anything. Maybe in the basement, this house has a basement so I imagine the one you are in does so to”. Traci was confused and answered “I don’t understand. It is a gang, they don’t care about us. They are just causing trouble. Looting, right?” Grant lowered his head feeling distraught and then asked knowing they were not going to listen to him “Have any of you got any real weapon to defend yourselves?”
Again Traci felt queasy because none of what Grant was saying was making sense so she asked sounding naive “Defend ourselves. What do you mean? The TV said it’s a gang right. They are looking for money, just looters on drugs, right. If they want to raid a house they can pick any house. They are violent but if we hide we won’t be seen so they will ignore us”. Grant could not speak anymore so he just shook his head and walked away, and then Kenny spoke up but Kenny’s tone was far more severe than Grants “No Traci its more than that, they are not interested in looting they only want to…” Kenny did not want to say it the way he was going to but there was no other way. Elise looked at Kenny wondering what he would say. Cherie was resting near the wall, just listening in. Traci demanded “What, they only want to what?”