Steph scrunched up her face. “Strange… Maybe there’s a problem with the pumps. Not surprised, the amount you lot drink. They probably couldn’t take the strain.”
Lucas chuckled. “Looks like I’ve come to the right place. You’re men after me own heart, and now that I can see a little bit better, I can also admire what a fine young wench we have ourselves behind the bar.”
“Hey, less of the wench!” Steph objected. They all laughed and she got to work handing them their bottled beers, each of them swigging deeply as though it was their first of the night. Perhaps for Lucas it was.
The Irishman pointed a finger. “So, who’s the beefy fella down the end of the bar?”
“My name is Nigel.”
“Well, Big Man, come and suck ale with the rest of us.”
“Maybe later.”
“What’s wrong with you, man? There a gal down there with you?”
“Huh, I wish.”
“Get your mardy britches down here then! A fella shouldn’t be lonesome on a night like this. The cold out there could kill a man stone dead, no word of a lie.”
“Okay, okay,” Nigel conceded. He slid down the bar and joined the rest of them, dumping his heavy mass down onto a creaking stool beside Lucas. Harry nodded hello. Lucas certainly had a knack for bringing people together. Magnetic personality was the phrase that came to mind.
Lucas spoke again. “You know something, fellas? I don’t think that snow is gonna let up any time soon.”
“Great,” said Steph. “We’ve all got to try and get home tonight somehow.”
Lucas put down his beer with a clink! “What? Are you drunk, lass? Ain’t no man getting anywhere in that winter blanket.”
Steph’s face dropped slightly, the dull candle-light making her expression seem grim. “How did you get here then?”
Lucas smiled knowingly. “I was nearby and realised things were bad, so I thought to meself: ‘where’s the best place to be stuck on a night like this?’ Well of course there was only one answer, wasn’t there?”
“The boozer!” Old Graham shouted gleefully, clearly delighted by the Irishman’s philosophy. “Anyway,” the pensioner added, “don’t you worry, young Stephanie, there’s always room upstairs at my place to keep warm.”
Cheeky sod, thought Harry. Wonder if the old guy even has enough lead in his pencil to get it up these days?
Steph laughed defiantly, the air from her nostrils slanting the flames of the nearby candles. “The only way you’ll get me up there, old man, is if you’re sleeping on the roof.”
Everyone cackled and swigged their beers merrily in the dark. Everyone except Damien, who remained alone, staring into the fire like he was looking for answers.
Chapter Four
“Dude, just sit the hell down! If you break something my Dad will freak.” Ben didn’t need this from Jerry tonight. Not with the power going out and such shitty weather. It was like a dozen winters rolled into one and he was stuck in his father’s video store not knowing what to do for the best.
“Chill out, B-Dog!” said Jerry, shining his key ring torch into his own face and contorting his skeletal features into a ghoulish grimace. The DVD cases on the cluttered shelves behind him shone with every movement of the light. “You need to stop worrying about your old man. It’s not like he ever does anything for you. I can’t believe he made you come in today. As of anyone is going to come out and rent a movie in this weather. This place is the Video Store of the Damned even on a good day.”
Ben frowned, though it was too dark in the store’s dusty back-office for Jerry to see it. “Stop calling it that! The place is doing just fine. It’s not every day that Dad trusts me to look after Blue Rays on my own, so the last thing I need is you making my life difficult, okay? Just behave and don’t mess anything up.”
“Okay, okay,” Jerry conceded. “What would you like me to do with myself, oh wise Gandalf?”
Ben threw his head back and cursed. “I told you to stop calling me that!”
“Get rid of that gay beard and I will. Either that or I’ll get some hairy-assed Hobbits in here so you can feel more at home.”
“Just…” Ben took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sit down will you, while I try to get the power back on.”
Thankfully, Jerry complied, hoisting his stick-like figure up onto the service desk and remaining quiet. Ben could still hear him fidgeting away for anything to get his spindly fingers on, but at least for now he was rooted in one place; his area of recklessness limited.
Sometimes Ben didn’t know why he put up with his friend. They’d known each other since they were peeing in pre-school sandpits, but for some reason his friend had never seemed to mature like he had. Ben had gone to college, whilst Jerry sponged off his mom and stepdad. Ben started dating girls, whilst Jerry brought an Xbox. Eventually, Ben had started to shoulder some of his dad’s business responsibilities, ready to one day take them on as his own, and Jerry…? Well now Jerry spent most his days hanging around Blue Rays Rentals bothering him and making fun of his beard or his ‘jelly-belly’. Still, they were best friends and Ben knew that if it ever came down to it, Jerry would do anything for him. There was something comforting about that. Not like anybody else cares. Besides, deep down, Ben liked having Jerry around. Despite the odd annoyances, they had a lot of fun together. Even the Ben and Jerry jokes didn’t really bother him too much anymore. Tonight however, Jerry was stretching his patience paper-thin.
“When you gunna get the lights on again?” Jerry asked. “It’s like Saturday Night Fever in here.” He swept his penlight around the room, illuminating the low-hung, suspended ceiling like a disco ball. A movie poster of a disgruntled De Niro and an awkward looking Ben Stiller lit up and disappeared as the light passed over it.
“If it is,” said Ben, “then you’re no John Travolta!” He walked across to the far side of the office, behind the IKEA computer desk and towards the fuse box. He didn’t know anything about electrics and he was hoping to flick a switch and be done with it. Likely, it would be more complicated than that.
Before the power went off, Ben had been watching the news with Jerry – well, to be more honest, Jerry was waiting for a re-run of The Matrix to come on. The reports had said that the country’s infrastructure was expected to be affected by the snow for several more days and that blackouts were likely as people’s heating usages rose to monumental levels. It didn’t bother Ben too much, so long as nothing happened to his father’s store whilst he was in charge of it. Business came first.
Before anything else.
Before silly little friendships with that imbecile, Jerry.
Ben shook his father’s words out of his head and pulled out his keys from his pocket, sifting through them one by one. Earlier, he and Jerry had become concerned by the amount of snowfall – and more than a little anxious that the bed weather was spread throughout most of the globe. Having watched so many disaster movies, Ben couldn’t help but get the heebie jeebies about how the snow seemed to be falling so endlessly. When it had piled knee-deep, Ben and Jerry had hurried to the supermarket on the corner, to stock up on snacks and beers in case they got stranded in the store. They were willing to wait things out if they had to. Ben just hoped Jerry kept his exuberance under control during. His best friend had a knack for breaking things. Ben called it the Jerry effect.
Ben swung open the fuse cabinet and flicked open his monogrammed lighter. He’d stopped smoking months ago but it had been a present from his father – and they were too few and far between to discard. His eyes glazed for a second as they adjusted to the light, and once they did he was confused by what he saw. The fuse box appeared to have burned and melted.
It made no sense. Wasn’t the whole point of having fuse boxes to prevent electrical fires?
There wasn’t anything Ben could think of that could cause such severe heat damage on the fuses, while leaving the surrounding cabinet completely untouched. Ben plucked at his scruffy brown beard rhythmic
ally as he tried to find a thought that fit, a thought that didn’t worry him. But all that came to mind was…
Das is going to blow a fuse of his own when he finds out about this.
At that moment, Jerry shouted out from the shop floor. “What’s happening, Gandalf? You stroking the salami back there?”
Ben shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Dude, I swear, not now, okay!”
“Okay, okay,” Jerry said. “Don’t get your beard in a twist. It’s not like it’s the end of the world – although we are missing The Matrix.”
Chapter Five
Kath wasn’t prepared to stay there all night in the dark. She tried her mobile phone again and hissed when it still refused to dial out.
Everyone else in the country had been skiving off and throwing sickies since the snow started; why hadn’t she? It would have made life a lot easier. Because I have integrity, she told herself. Unlike most people these days. Luckily, Peter and Jess lived within walking distance of the store and had had no excuses not to come in. They knew she wouldn’t stand for any absence.
Kath glanced toward the fire exit. The doors were closed, but she could see the drifting snow outside, piling up against the glass.
It was beginning to feel more like the North Pole than the West Midlands.
Shivering, Kath pulled her arms away from her sides and groped around the cashier desk for the phone again. The thought that someone may have been responsible for the power going off still worried her and all she wanted to do was talk to someone in authority. Mr Campbell. The power company. The police. Anyone.
Peter stood nearby, she’d insisted on it, and the intermittent glow of his mobile phone made her feel a little safer, but it was only enough to take a slight edge off her nerves. She plucked the phone from its cradle and prodded the keypad.
Still no dial tone.
Kath slammed the handset back down.
“Is okay?” Peter asked in his horrible broken English.
“Everything is fine. I just dropped the phone. Do you know where Jessica is yet? I need to close up, but not before I’ve done a staff search. Its night’s like tonight when things go missing.”
There was silence for a moment and Kath’s heart rate rose. A few seconds later Peter made himself known again. “I not know where she is. Do you?”
Kath sighed. “Would I have asked you, if I did? Last I knew she was out front checking if anyone knew why the power was off. I don’t think she’s come back.”
“Should I go look for her?”
The thought of being alone made Kath shout out. “No! Stay here. The last thing I need is you both getting lost.”
Pete began walking back toward the counter. “You think she is lost?”
“That girl would lose her head if it wasn’t sewn on. I’m sure whatever she’s doing out there, she’s managed to find her way into trouble. Just lea-”
Kath’s body was suddenly wracked with shivers, cutting her words off mid-sentence. It hadn’t seemed anywhere near as chilly just an hour ago when the power had first gone off. Without the heating things were going to become freezing. She glanced at the fire exit again. The snow outside swirled intently. The wind picked up and stared to howl.
Kath wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “For God sake, Peter, will you hurry up? We need to leave.”
We need to leave right now.
***
Jess could barely see an inch in front of the freckles on her nose. The snow whipped her face relentlessly, filling her nostrils and blurring her eyes. It felt like she was going to suffocate, yet she had no choice but to persevere and find her way back to the supermarket. It was embarrassing that she’d managed to get herself so disorientated – it could only have been been ten feet before she’d found herself turned around and lost - but every direction led to a white, blossom background that seemed to creep on endlessly. She shivered, partly from anxiety but mostly from the fact she was freezing.
Really smart, Jessica. A+ for common sense.
She cried out for help and was unsurprised when she was met with near silence – the only other sound being the shrill whistle of the increasing wind. Despite the lack of reply, Jess called out again, lacking other ideas. Still silence. Jess paused to gather her thoughts. The biting cold was worse when standing still.
Jess fumbled amongst her loose change and pulled out her mobile phone. It was slender and metallic, painted pink with silver sequins. Her intention was to use it to call Peter at the supermarket and get him to shout out of the doorway. She’d follow his voice, feeling like a fool, but as long as it was only Peter she wouldn’t mind too much. He would keep things to himself and not tell the super-bitch, Kathleen.
The phone lit up as soon as she pressed its keypad, but it became immediately apparent that something was wrong with it. It still had power, but the display was garbled, distorted by vertical lines and random squiggles. She tried making a call but was unsuccessful. She put the phone away and resumed her directionless searching.
As a child, Jess had loved winter and wished for snow every Christmas – her favourite time of year – but this worldwide inclement weather made her nervous. There was a sense of foreboding in the howling wind that made Jess wonder if it would ever stop snowing at all. She’d heard on the radio that people had already begun to perish from the crushing cold, and it had only become worse since then. Now that her mobile phone wasn’t working, it left Jess even more uncertain.
Of course her phone could have been faulty. “Yeah, that’s it,” she said to herself, hoping it would calm her nerves to hear a voice, even if it was just her own. “It’s just faulty.”
Somehow, she didn’t believe it.
***
It was almost thirty minutes before Peter had finished. Kath heard his footsteps coming from the BOOZE & SPIRITS aisle. “Is everything secure?” she asked him.
“Yes, Ms Hollister.”
“Let’s get going then.”
“Where is Jess?”
Kath grunted. “She’s responsible for her own well-being. I can’t afford to wait around any longer. If you’re so concerned, you go wandering around in the snow for her yourself.”
“Thank you, Ms Hollister. I go now.”
“Peter, wait!” she shouted after him. “Perhaps, you’re right. We shouldn’t just leave Jess to her own devices.”
Peter’s footsteps halted. “Okay, Ms Hollister. Please, hurry!”
The fact that she was being given orders by a staff member made Kath furious, but the increasing howl of the wind made her feel uncharacteristically subdued. “Coming,” she said.
Chapter Six
Harry shivered as he started his next beer. It was getting colder and the scar on the back of his hand started to ache in response. He swigged deeply from his beer bottle and tried not to think.
The Irishman, Lucas, turned his attention to Old Graham at the end of the bar. “So, Father Time, you must have been around a fair few turns of the world? You ever see snow like this before?”
“Well,” Old Graham began, visibly delighted at being the centre of attention. “There was a time in the sixties where things got a little chilly as I recall; and me old man told tales of winter in the Ardennes that sounded a might more hellish than this.”
“That’s the Ardennes,” said Nigel. “It’s normal to have snow there. The amount we’ve had here the past couple days isn’t natural. Not to mention it’s snowing everywhere. All over the world. In every country. Maybe it’s because of the ozone layer or something?”
Lucas chuckled. “Give over, man! You think a couple of cow farts has the ability to change the weather?”
Harry smirked. “What do you put the snow down to then, Lucas? I mean I haven’t known it to snow like this before. It certainly seems like something has narked Mother Nature.”
“The world is a gazillion years old,” said Lucas, putting his beer bottle down on the bar as if to make a point. “I bet there’s been weather like this before, just n
ot in your lifetime. It’s a tad unusual, no doubt, but I don’t buy all that ozone layer nonsense.”
Nigel bristled in the light of his candle, maybe even turning angry. “That’s just your opinion,” he said. “Don’t mean I’m not right. We’ve been abusing this planet for decades and it can’t go on forever.”
Lucas put up his hands. “Calm down there, fella, no need to get your hackles up. It’s just the beer talking, you know? Makes me feel a thousand times older and wiser than I should ever admit to. You’re probably right, though, humanity has been abusing the earth, and it can’t go on forever. Right now, my only concern is having a good time with a tipple to keep me warm.” He looked at Steph and winked. “And maybe a good woman wouldn’t go amiss either.”
“You’re a letch,” said Nigel, but the candlelight lit a good-natured smile on his face.
“Again, I’ve come to the right place, then.” Lucas laughed out loud, hoisted his bottle up into the air and said “cheers!” The others joined him in the toast.
Harry took another swig from his bottle and sighed at the burning satisfaction it left in his chest. When he pulled it away from his lips it was two-thirds empty. It seemed he’d been taking larger and larger swigs lately.
“So what’s your story, fella?” Lucas asked Harry. “What’s the meaning of your life?”
Harry swigged the last of his beer then pushed the bottle toward Steph, who was already on the case with a replacement. “My life,” he said, “has no meaning. Not anymore.”
Lucas frowned. “Come now, everybody’s life has meaning. We all have a purpose.”
“Really? Then why don’t you tell me what mine is, because I sure as hell don’t know.”
“I can’t tell you that.” Lucas smiled. “Every man has to find his own path and his own destination. Who knows though, maybe you’ll find yours tonight.”
Harry started on his next beer with a hearty swig, gasping for breath afterwards. He looked Lucas square in the face. He knew he was getting drunk, but couldn’t stop himself, as usual. “Sorry, but I find that hard to believe.”
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