What We Saw

by Ryan Casey

  When I reached the discoloured brown wall at the back of the launderette, I heard a rustling to my right. The wind picked up, whistling its way through the branches. I saw someone walking their dog at the bottom of the hill and smelled the faint hint of washing as a wave of steam tumbled through the vent. I don’t know why I waited or what I waited for. What was the point? Adam said that sometimes women just needed ‘space.’ Like he had a load of experience. Still, I nodded and took his advice on board. It didn’t stop me from turning up at the launderette at the same time and the same spot as we’d held each other and confided in each other a few days before.

  I looked to my left and realised how alone I was. How stupid, out here all by myself, especially after the note we’d received the night before. Donald could have captured Emily and found out our meeting spot. Next thing I knew, I could be choking on dirt, screaming as the mud and the worms and the roots cut their way into my skin. Maybe that’s why Emily’s dad had been waiting? Checking to see if Emily was playing with us? I wasn’t sure.

  I don’t know how long I’d been contemplating, but when I turned to my right, I saw Emily’s dad standing with his hands on his hips, staring into my eyes. I jolted to my feet and, by instinct, I smiled and turned towards him, lifting a hand to say hello. Nothing came out of my lungs. A thousand questions ran through my head in a single second. Why would he be here? How would he know that this is where I’d be? Why was he staring at me, as he had before? Could something be wrong with Emily? My heart began to beat a little faster.

  The next thing I knew, he pinned me up against the launderette wall.

  ‘I think it’s time me and you had a little chat, don’t you?’ he said, his breath like rotten vegetables. I tried to back up into the wall, tried to squeeze my way through it, but I knew it was no use. My feet dangled above the ground. Emily’s dad’s eyes bulged back at me wherever I tried to turn. I was trapped. This was it.

  He tightened his hand around my arm, and I remembered the way he’d gripped Emily and how much it must have hurt her. My whole body itched and tickled and I couldn’t feel my feet anymore.

  ‘Okay, so you ain’t a talker,’ he said, his spit peppering my lips and chin. ‘I’ll do the talking then.’ He was whispering, but he had the angriest whisper I had ever heard. I whimpered, my arms going limp.

  ‘I hear you’ve been meeting my little girl out here?’ he said. I couldn’t speak. He tightened his grip round my arm. ‘I said, you’ve been meeting my girl, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, yes, we’re just friends and—’ I squirmed like a trapped animal with nowhere to run. My mind froze. The words didn’t really make sense as they splattered off my tongue.

  ‘Yeah, oh yeah. I bet you’re just friends, you and a little girl, yeah you’d like that wouldn’t you, friends?’ He panted and his eyes bolted around my face.

  I said whatever came to my head. I wanted to disappear. ‘She’s only a bit younger… me and my cousin, we’re friends with her… please… I’m really sorry.’

  ‘But I thought you had nothing to be sorry about, kid?’ He dropped me, and I fell to my knees, my legs refusing to prop me up any longer. Emily’s dad shuffled around, plucking at the bottom of his jumper.

  ‘I bet you had her out here, lured her out here, and did all sorts to her. Made her feel special. Well that’s not your fucking job.’ He threw his face towards me, snapping out of his momentary calm. He was frenzied, like a wasp in a jar. One minute he wandered around, fidgeting with his jumper, the next he threw himself at me, pushing his fingers into my chest and his big face into mine. I curled myself into a ball and wrapped my hands around my legs. ‘I said it ain’t your fucking job, you fucking scrawny cunt,’ he spat, his foot almost brushing against my knees.

  I felt the warm tears begin to sting my eyes. He pulled himself back again in a flash, like a tape measure, and shuffled his eyes around in every direction. He really looked like he was about to explode. I tried to move my feet, move my legs, scream for help, but nothing worked. I was trapped in my own body. He was silent for a few minutes, his eyes darting around me. He was desperate not to make eye contact with me. His knuckles were dark red and bruised.

  He backed off and rubbed his hands against his face. He looked at me, wide-eyed. ‘Oh God…’ he said. ‘Oh God. Oh God.’

  My thoughts clouded. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, why he was so upset. He hit his face, smacked it three times, and looked at me wide-eyed. His mouth twitched, as if he was trying to say something, but he couldn’t. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, in a soft whisper. His eyes peered at me. ‘Just stay away, from all of us, alright?’

  My feet began to move again, and I jumped up, my head cracking against the window ledge at the back of the launderette.

  Emily’s dad started clambering away, walking backwards but staring at me. He looked scared. I wondered if he’d killed me and I’d turned into a ghost and if that was why he looked so shocked. ‘Just stay away from my girl, okay?’ he said, before disappearing behind the trees in front of me.

  I was glued to the wall. I wondered whether it was even real. Nothing made sense.

  A bird landed in front of me, catching my eye and snapping me out of my trance. I don’t know how long I’d been stood there. I wandered round the front of the launderette, where a younger couple was carrying a load of washing in bags. They looked at me with concern and whispered to each other. I could tell that I was shaking. My eyes stung. I didn’t want them to ask me if I was okay, because I wasn’t sure how well I’d be able to lie. In fact, I didn’t really know how I felt. My stomach hurt and my arms hurt, but not from where Emily’s dad had held me. They felt heavy and useless.

  What the hell had we gotten ourselves into?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I decided not to tell anyone about the incident with Emily’s dad yet. I’d told Adam the mystery was over. Why even bring it up? We were in too deep as it was. Maybe Emily’s dad had thrown the rock after all. I’ll shut your mouths for you. It seemed like something he would say. We had to keep away from Emily and Donald. Just for another few days.

  Adam knew something was wrong when I got back. He must have assumed it was Emily’s no show that had got me down again. I’d taken a bit longer outside to calm myself down and clean myself up.

  ‘You need to get over that bitch,’ he said, arms folded and head nodding, as he chewed the end of his blue coloured pencil.

  ‘Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be seeing her anymore,’ I said. I took a red pencil and began scribbling out a picture I’d drawn of me and her earlier. My hands were still shaking, so I couldn’t do much other than scribble. I thought about the way her dad had pinned me up, his grip around my arms like a vice, tightening with every flinch and struggle. And his grief, his sadness. Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t even begin to piece it all together. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to.

  Later that evening, Granddad confronted me about what had happened. I hadn’t spoken much. I worried I would stammer and burst into tears or run off in embarrassment if I opened my mouth. I needed to keep this to myself.

  ‘You haven’t spoken all evening, lad,’ he said, chewing on the end of a green bean.

  ‘Dean,’ Gran said, making sure to swallow her food before opening her mouth.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t speak with your mouth full. It’s rude and disgusting. And you can stop grinning, Adam.’

  Granddad rolled his eyes and sarcastically mimicked her when she looked down at her plate. She spilled some juice down her chin and onto her light green cardigan.

  ‘Oh for goodness sakes, today is not my day,’ Gran said, before leaping out of her chair and waddling as best as she could into the kitchen to rinse the stain away. Carla followed her on a mission to scavenge leftover food. We all smiled in silence. Adam looked at me and smiled, probably pleased to see the grin on my face. I’d told everyone that I was tired, but I think it was easier to fool Adam because he thought I was just down about the i
ncident with the rock and the note. The end of our mystery.

  Granddad brushed past me as he rose from the table and patted my shoulder. He leaned down to my ear. ‘We’ve all got problems, lad. If you want to chat, you know where me and your gran are.’ He patted my shoulder again and headed into the kitchen. Carla followed, and he scooped the leftover carrots and peas into her bowl. She demolished them in seconds.

  After our meal, Adam and I decided that we would go for a walk around the caravan site. We decided we should attempt to start a new adventure or solve a new mystery.

  ‘It won’t be the same,’ Adam said, his shoulders slumped. ‘I just can’t believe we’re missing that one clue. It feels like there’s something we’re not getting.’

  I gulped, trying not to remember the way Emily’s dad had clutched my throat. ‘Come on now, Adam. We’ve been through this a thousand times.’

  Adam frowned towards me as I tried to smile. ‘You would tell me if you’d seen something else, wouldn’t you?’

  I fluttered my eyelashes. ‘No,’ I said, with a deep breath. ‘But I haven’t seen anything anyway.’

  Adam turned away. ‘Well, back to finding ghosts and other shit. Pity we can’t go to…’ He stopped himself.

  ‘Donald’s… I know,’ I said. ‘A part of me wishes we hadn’t seen any of this stuff.’

  ‘But it’s been fun,’ Adam interrupted. ‘Messed up, but like… you’re pretty cool really, cuz. For a wuss.’

  I felt my legs wobble and battled to find something to say in response. ‘Well, erm—you’re alright too, for a shortie.’

  Adam rolled his eyes and held his arms out at either side. ‘Whatever.’

  The caravan site looked rather pretty in the orange glow of the setting sun as we headed down past the site repairman’s caravan. We noticed a severe lack of sheep in the field, which was strange considering there were at least eleven there the day before. I pulled out my notebook and wrote: ‘Sheep-stealer? Look into it.’ Adam seemed more interested in the phone box, now painted a strange shade of blue. He contemplated the chances that it was some sort of Tardis and briefly pressed the idea that Donald was an alien before I slapped him on the leg and told him not to say ‘the D word.’

  ‘We can’t rule him out of everything though, Liam,’ he said, desperate.

  ‘Yeah, but not today. Today is about new mysteries and new adventures. We’ve gotta try and keep our mind off what happened for a day, remember?’ I felt myself getting closer to telling him everything, about Emily’s dad and the threats. I was almost bursting.

  Adam kicked at a bunch of stones in front of him. They pelted through the air like missiles towards one of the resident’s cars. ‘It all seems so false.’

  We slowed down and sat on the old rocky fence.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  Adam rested his chin in his hands, swinging his legs as they dangled above the ground. ‘I mean, us, giving up. Should we not at least tell somebody? It just annoys me.’

  I sighed and looked around the caravan site. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see this place in the same way again. ‘We leave it to someone else now. We’ve no choice.’

  Adam grunted.

  ‘What?’

  He shook his head and hopped off the wall.

  ‘What are you grunting about?’ I asked.

  He turned round and faced me. His eyes were bloodshot as he scratched at his forearms. ‘It’s easy for you to say. You’ll be off home soon. I’ve got to stay here. You get the easy way out.’

  He headed off in front. I suppose he was right. The truth was I didn’t really care much about anyone but myself right now. I wanted all this over with.

  We approached our den. Something caught my eye in the distance. ‘Adam, I think there’s an intruder.’

  Adam turned to me for a second and scanned the den before it clicked, his eyes widening. The leaves stuck out on our door when it hadn’t been closed properly. Unless we’d forgotten to close it last time, which was very unlikely, someone had been in there. He began to sprint towards the den. I grabbed him and held him back.

  ‘Stop it, you idiot, we could be onto something,’ I said, holding him by his jumper.

  ‘What the fuck you on about, cuz? We’ve gotta get them out of our den!’ He shook me off.

  ‘Think about it for a second,’ I pleaded. ‘Maybe someone’s out to get us. Or spying on us. We need to sneak up on them, be stealthy, y’know?’

  I grabbed hold of Adam’s jumper again, stopping him from going on. He didn’t look impressed at my resistance, at my reluctance to follow his lead, but I stood tall above him. He shook his head, and brushed my arm from his shirt. It felt strange being the one in control.

  ‘So, what do we do?’ he asked.

  I still wasn’t quite used to this sort of question. ‘We… we go and see who’s in there. Have a peek inside. But only from a distance, okay?’ Emily’s dad’s words flickered in my mind. ‘Stay away from us.’ We had to be careful.

  Adam rolled his eyes. ‘Okay.’

  I walked ahead of Adam, holding my arm out to stop him whenever he tried to sneak in front of me like an overtaking car on a motorway.

  As the two of us closed in on the entrance, I heard a rustling like a trapped animal. I saw a thick, brown creature holding onto something in its mouth. My heart erupted at the thought of a live animal catching its prey in our den and bringing it here to feast upon. I kept my arm in front of Adam as I pondered how we would deal with our new pet, trying to make sense of its long body and its white head behind the fence of twigs and leaves.

  The more I focused, the less sense the creature made. It nudged backwards and forwards, letting go of whatever was in its mouth, before vanishing and reappearing. I edged closer, my knees wobbling as I tried to stay crouched down, like one of those presenters on nature programmes.

  I realised the thing I’d been staring at for the best part of a minute was no animal.

  When the thing closed in for a third time, I spotted the claw of a hand. A human hand. All of a sudden, it all came together: the brown, snakelike skin of the coat on the arm, the clutches of the hand, and the prey. Someone else was in there.

  I turned to Adam, who stared into the distance, his eyes frozen on whatever it was. The memories began to fly back—it was like when we’d seen the body being buried. Adam’s eyes were the same. He put his finger to his lips and pointed towards the side of the den entrance. His mouth was expressionless, his eyes burning holes in whatever was in front of him. I turned my head towards where he pointed. Nothing, nothing but leaves, branches, and…

  When I saw it, without a moment’s hesitation, the pair of us ran. Sprinted back in the direction we’d come from, cutting through caravan gardens and charging through private hedges before ending up on the lower road, parallel to where we’d been. My heart thudded against my chest as I battled for breath. Adam stood with his hands on his knees, that same lack of expression still sprayed across his face.

  ‘What the hell do we do now?’ Adam asked, looking up towards me, his voice shaky.

  I tried to catch my breath, but a thousand thoughts crawled through my mind. The arm and how it clutched on to the other arm. It all started to make sense; a sick, twisted sort of sense. What was he doing? Adam and I had been so tied up with our own little mystery that we hadn’t even noticed that anything had been happening. I don’t know what he was doing, but all I could think about was Donald’s walking stick, perched outside the entrance of our den, camouflaged against the leaves and the branches.

  ‘We need to know for sure, Adam,’ I said.

  Adam jolted up, red in the cheeks. ‘What more proof do we need, Liam?’ His bottom lip quivered. ‘We’ve just seen him in there with someone. In our den. Who knows what he’s been doing to them. You trying to say he has a new friend we don’t know about?’

  Adam was right. I think he was thinking the same thing as me. Maybe he’d seen it too. I was trying not to believe it, but there was
no denying it. Her brown hair was unmistakable as Donald’s arm pulled away from her.

  ‘You don’t think…’ I started, before Adam interrupted.

  ‘No. Don’t say it. We have to find out for ourselves. We can’t run away from this mystery now, cuz. We’re in too deep. We’ve seen too much, and we can stop this.’

  I slumped, defeated. He was right. We were in too deep, and it was our own fault. This was everything we’d wanted—a real, solid mystery. We’d asked for it, and we’d gotten it. I felt sick. I wished we could go back to ghost-hunting and fossil searching.

  ‘We go back, and we wait,’ Adam said, looking at me straight in the eyes.

  I nodded my head, as he checked to see I was following him.

  Adam stopped, and I froze behind him. She walked out of our den, skinny and broken. Her eyes were dark underneath, and her sweaty hair gripped to her head like an octopus. Bruises coloured what flesh she still had on her arms. Donald walked out behind her, frowning and saying things to her. He reached down to hug her and she let him, before he turned to pick up his walking stick.

  ‘Liam,’ Adam said, his jaw drooping. ‘I—I think we need to talk about the mystery again.’

  I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.

  Emily walked back to her caravan as Donald watched her every step.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Adam and I didn’t eat very well that night. Even by Adam’s standards, a bite of ham was pretty ridiculous. Gran fussed and asked him what was wrong, but his mind was elsewhere. I tried my best to eat the fish and chips Granddad had brought back from Bareslow for us, but it was more out of respect than anything else. I wasn’t hungry. In fact, I was the exact opposite—sick to the bottom of my stomach. And anyway, how could I just sit here and eat while Emily suffered at the hands of Donald? Who knows what he could be doing to her right at this moment.

  Maybe he was the one kissing her now. I clenched my eyes together. I couldn’t let myself think about that. We had to tell someone before it was too late. But wouldn’t that mean that we were the ones to blame? We knew he was in the wrong and that he’d done something, and we hadn’t reported it. The back of my throat felt warm and my eyes stung.