by S. T. Boston
She reached the heavy front door with no recollection of the trip across the lobby. It was locked. Carol didn’t have to kid herself that Ellie, being the security conscious eighteen-year-old she wasn’t, must have taken the key and locked the door after they’d left. Lucinda had given them one key and it hung on a hook by the door, in a place where no one – not even Rob, who in the time she’d known him had managed to lose more sets of keys than she cared to remember, would be able to misplace it. No, the key hung on the hook where Rob had left it after locking them in for the night, before the argument, and the door was still deadbolted from the inside.
Maybe she did go home, maybe she took her brother, too, maybe she is doing this to purposefully scare you. The thought was dismissed as fast as it had formed in her mind. No matter how bad the argument - and it hadn’t been that bad, Ellie would never do such a thing. Sure, there were times when her daughter, now a strong-willed young adult, would come to blows with her, but it never got to that stage, never to the point where she would do something so cruel and reckless.
She grasped at the key, her hands shaking so badly that the little leather keyring caught on the hook before finally coming free. Using her left hand to steady her right she fumbled it into the lock and turned it and in one fluid movement, unlocked the heavy oak door. She then disengaged the deadlocks and swung it wide. Stepping out onto the gravel forecourt the morning heat hit her with a fist of humidity, the likes of which would have been more akin to the tropics. From its distant perch in the heavens the sun glowered down at her, threatening a day of more unrelenting heat. Hardly noticing the small stones as they prodded and bit at her bare feet, she rounded the chapel and found the lawn. Above her the silent bell tower loomed, the brass of the de-commissioned bell shone brightly as if it too possessed heat which added to the day. The lawn, green and lush thanks to a timed sprinkler system, and not like that of Lucinda’s was empty. It ran as flat as a putting green to the trees where shade and shadows lurked as if afraid to venture out into a sun that would surely melt them away to nothingness.
Clinging to a last hope that Ellie had taken Henry for a morning walk she ran the length of the drive, her feet growing unignoringly sore from the unrelenting shingle assault. By the time she reached the faded tarmac road her chest heaved, her lungs burned, and her heart raced like a jackhammer. She scanned frantically left and right. The road was empty. Carol felt a loneliness wash over her. The stillness, the unnatural quietness, and the emptiness consumed her and for a moment she felt as If the rest of the world had disappeared and that she’d somehow slipped into a realm where only she existed.
Carol got herself moving, more hobbling on the stones now than running. By the time she reached the step, her bare feet left small spots of blood on the warm stone. The door was still open, and she slid into the coolness of the chapel, pushing it closed behind her.
The note, she remembered. Maybe they went out and left a note. Carol hobbled to the kitchen, scanned the side. Nothing. Back in the lobby, she scaled the stairs, reaching the lounge where Rob still slept in exactly the same position. For a brief second, a new fear installed itself like malware into her brain. Rob didn’t look as if he was breathing. Crouching down beside him she looked in earnest at his chest, breathing her own sigh of relief when she finally picked up the shallow but regular rise and fall of his chest. She scanned the coffee table behind her, no note. Nothing.
Carol had no clue what to do next, she let her legs give out and she slumped to the floor next to the recliner where Rob slept, unaware. She envied that unawareness and hated that she had to wake him, but she needed to. Not knowing what else to do and feeling more helpless than she ever had in her life, she shook her husband awake, and into what she knew would be a nightmare.
Chapter 17
Rob listened intently as his wife spoke, her words coming quickly, conveying the panic that was so evident in her eyes. As she spoke, and as his foggy head cleared away sleep a feeling of unease grew inside him like a brick wall, each word she spoke saw another block slapped in mortar and added to the pile.
“And you’re sure they’re not outside?” he asked as she finished talking. Her eyes whilst wide with fear, were also reddened with tears that were yet to fall.
“I told you,” Carol said as a storm brewed on her face and her voice flushed with frustration. Rob watched as her fists clenched, ragged and bitten nails no doubt biting into her flesh; he just hoped she wouldn't clench them hard enough to draw blood. “I have been around the grounds and down to the road, nothing.”
He nodded, aware that she was looking to him for guidance, looking for him to be the strong one. He could and had been her emotional rock in the past, but he felt useless now and couldn’t really think what to do. “They will probably be back inside the hour. I bet that Hen woke her up early, she saw we were still sleeping and took him for a walk,” he finally said, feeling sure that it would all be what his mum used to call ‘a big fuss about nothing.’
"You really think she'd have left us zonked out in the lounge like a couple of old drunks, or would have taken Hen out without leaving so much as a note?"
He didn’t and hadn’t considered that fact. He looked around the large open-plan lounge as if it would yield an answer. “What the hell happened? I don’t even remember going to sleep. I do remember us in the kitchen making tea after you argued with Ells, then we brought the tea up here.” He looked at the solid oak coffee table where two mugs sat half full. The tea inside, now cold for hours, had paled on the top. He ran his hands over his face as if trying to wash away the problem. “I know we’d had a drink but-“
“We weren’t drunk, Rob,” she placed a cold, clammy and shaky hand on his. “We weren’t neglectful if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“It’s not at all what I’m thinking, and Ellie is technically an adult,” he said. “Henry is fine in her care; she is a trustworthy kid. I am just trying to figure out how the hell we managed to sleep here all night. If I fall asleep at home in the chair I wake up after an hour ‘cos my neck and back are giving me jip.”
“That’s not important now,” Carol said as frustration returned to her voice. “Ellie and Hen are not here; it’s knocking on for mid-morning and there is no note. In Ellie's room, the beds are unmade, Henry's tablet is on the bedside table on charge and Ellie's phone is next to it. Her bag is even hung on the back of the chair. It just doesn’t feel right.”
“Like I said, they have likely gone for a walk and lost track of time, she is eighteen now and despite what you may sometimes think she is more than capable of looking after her younger brother.”
“Don’t you think I know that! But, going out, if she – they – did go for a walk, then I know she’d have left a note. I just have this terrible feeling.” Rob watched as the lines at the sides of her eyes creased, and now the tears did fall, not a downpour but two large bulbous teardrops escaped the corners of each frightened eye and raced down her cheeks as if in a bid to see which could reach her jawline first.
“This isn’t the city,” he reminded her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, stop. This is the countryside,” he was about to add that the worst thing that could happen is some kind of road accident and stopped himself. What if Ellie had taken Henry out for a walk and on those narrow lanes they'd been struck by a fast-moving car or a truck? No one would know who they were, not being local kids and if they had no ID on them, which Hen certainly wouldn’t have, and Ellie had left her purse and bag behind then it could take hours to ID them. Hell, probably not until a missing person’s report had been filed with the police. He didn’t voice this thought, knowing that his wife had probably already visited that possibility and a hundred others. He checked his watch, it was almost ten AM. Yesterday evening whilst walking home they’d talked about going to Charlestown and the beach, something that Henry was particularly excited about. Reading wasn't as far from the coast as some places, but they didn't
go to the beach much and such a trip was a real treat. There was no way under the sun that Henry would have allowed anyone to sleep in on such a day. By eight AM at the latest, he would have been waking everyone, his voice shrill with excitement and asking every few minutes when they were leaving. The more he thought about it the less likely it seemed that he’d even have wanted to go for what he’d see as a boring walk with his sister, but what other explanation was there?
Rob closed the recliner by applying backward pressure from his legs and used his hands to help haul himself up. As he stood his knees cracked, old cartilage damage from his rugby playing days in college. Not quite bad enough to warrant an operation, but bad enough to give him shit if left in one position for too long or worked too hard in exercise. His back felt surprisingly good and none of the aches and pains from what he classed as a chair sleep hindered him. His head swam briefly, causing him to sway but as he reached out for the back of the chair with a steadying hand it passed.
“Where are you going?” Carol asked, pulling herself up off the floor where she’d been knelt since waking him.
“I’m going to walk to the Horners’ place, get the car and see if I can spot them on my way.” He turned to face his wife and wiped a tear away from her upper cheek with his thumb. The left eye was still brewing its next one, the growing drop not quite yet of a size where gravity would take over and cast it down her face. “You’re right to worry,” he reassured her, taking hold of her by the upper arms and looking into her eyes. The summer dress that had looked both pretty and stylish on her last night now looked crumpled and he noticed for the first time how she stood uncomfortably on dirty and slightly blood-stained feet. “But like I said, the most rational explanation is that they went out and are not back yet. The whole village is covered with woodland. Henry was eager to go exploring it last night at the barbeque, maybe they went in and got lost. That would explain why it’s so late and they’re not back. I bet you right now he is whining at Ellie to get him back, so he can get to the beach. Maybe they didn’t even come through the lounge this morning and just assumed we were in bed, and if they’d not planned to be out long then Ellie wouldn’t have left a note.” He pulled her forward and kissed her forehead, her skin felt cool and clammy, just as the skin on her hands had.
“I’ve just got this terrible feeling, Rob,” she replied sounding helpless. “I had it as soon as I woke up. I could feel they weren’t here.”
“I don’t understand how could you feel that?” he asked his face creasing into a frown that drew his dark eyebrows together.
"I don't know, I just could. It was so quiet. Ellie had been trying to tell me all day that there was something odd about this place, she could feel it, but as usual, I wouldn't listen despite what happened in our bathroom yesterday.”
“When you dropped your moisturiser?” he asked confused, not sure how this was at all relevant to the current situation.
“I never dropped anything, I wasn’t even in the room, and then there was that banging on the bathroom door when I got out the shower.”
“That I never heard and never woke me, even though I was asleep in the same room?”
“You think I imagined it?” her voice now had an edge to it that suggested if she was pushed much further, she’d erupt. Carol shook her head and her face changed taking on a doubtful and defeated look. “I don’t know,” she whined helplessly. “I’m just trying to make sense of it all.”
“I never said that you imagined it,” Rob defended
“You didn’t need to!”
“I’m just trying to figure out what all this has to do with what is happening now, that’s all ‘cos so far I’ve not got a fucking clue!”
Carol shrunk away from him, he rarely swore in front of her and when he did it always shocked her. His hands that had been on her shoulders fell to his side as she backed off. She looked at him, her eyes pleading and said. "I'm just saying, Ellie tried to tell me yesterday, more than once that something felt odd to her about this place, that's all. She was adamant that Henry had seen someone in his room, too.”
“Utter rubbish,” Rob cut in. “No one can get in here, the door is locked from the inside, all the windows are shut, and don’t even ask me to entertain that he saw a ghost. How the hell any of this has anything to do with them not being here this morning is beyond me. Like I’ve said I’m sure they are both fine, just a little lost.”
“If you’re so sure that no one got in and that they went out please explain to me how the hell they magically got out of such a secure place. I hope you can because I’ve been trying to work it out. The front door was still locked from the inside when I went out and the key was still on the hook. The back door in the games room as well, that key is by the front door, too. How did Ellie take Henry out and lock the door, leaving the only two keys we have on the inside? Did they teleport? Walk through the wall?” her voice brimmed with anger.
“You’re more rational than this, Carol,” he said trying to keep his voice calm, because as she spoke, he realised she had a point. Just how the hell had they gotten out? There was always a window, he was sure she’d not checked every single one. Any window could be pushed shut from the outside making it appear secure at a quick glance, but why would you climb out the window if all you were doing was going out for some air? You wouldn’t. Whatever the explanation he felt sure that when he finally found them it would be clear and something obvious they’d both missed. “Now I am going to walk to the Horners' place, get the car and have a quick drive around. You stay here. If they’re not back by the time I get the car, which once I’ve walked there and had a quick drive around will be about half an hour, then we will call the police.”
“We should call them now, this isn’t right, Rob and you know it.”
"If it were just Henry missing, yes. But he is with his sister, who is an adult. I know you're stressing here, believe me, I am not feeling overly calm myself right now, but we have to keep a cool head and think logically. There is a rational explanation as to how they got out, we’re just not seeing it.” Rob sat on the sofa, and put his Adidas trainers on, tying the laces in quick and deliberate movements. "They'll be back soon, I know it." He knew no such thing, but he could tell his wife was riding the razor's edge of a full-on panic attack and allowing himself to show his worry would just fan the flames, the situation needed making better, not worse. He stood and put an arm around her shoulder and bent down, kissing her on the cheek. “I won’t be long.”
“Please don’t be,” she pleaded. Her voice wavered as she spoke, her anger gone and replaced by vulnerability.
“I won’t be,” he promised. Rob descended the stairs two at a time with Carol on his heels. He opened the door and she held it ajar as he walked briskly across the forecourt. “Half an hour, maximum,” he said raising his voice enough for her to hear and looking back.
“Find them,” she called after him.
In a walk that was just shy of a run, Rob traversed the drive, the sound of his trainers crunching a quick rhythm on the shingle. Tall oaks lined the way and cast morning shadows that consumed his as he passed from light to shade and back again. At the top of the drive, where his wife had stood not five minutes ago, he hung a left and his feet found tarmac. It was no more than a ten-minute walk to the Horners’ place - maybe just over five if he kept the pace up, yet the distance he had to cover felt vast. the panic in his wife had spread to him as if it were a communicable virus that he’d contracted just by breathing the same air as her. They were right to worry, but the chances of something bad having happened had to be slim. Reluctantly he slowed to a stop a listened. There were no sirens to hear, and no traffic moved through the village. Even if Ellie had taken Henry out and God forbid an accident had happened, he felt sure there would be emergency services vehicles in the area. He put the thought to bed and got moving, his breathing labouring a little more with each passing yard. Moving as swiftly as he could Rob kept an eye on the fallowed fields opposite and the thick da
rkled woodland to his left. Occasionally he glanced back with a feeling that someone was following him a short way down the road, each time he did he expected to see them behind him, but the road was always empty.
In all, it took him just under eight minutes to reach the Horners’, by the time he headed down their long drive his right knee throbbed and sweat dampened his brow. Ignoring the pain from the mangled cartilage he kept pace, wiping his brow with the back of his hand and transferring it to his jeans. He could feel sweat running in beads down his back, too.
The front door to their picture postcard cottage still held the sign that informed guests to come on round to the back garden. He briefly surveyed the windows, noting the curtains were still drawn; not a surprise if it had been a late night. Unfortunately, this was an emergency and if Seth and Lucinda were still asleep then he’d be their alarm call, something he’d have felt more awkward about doing if they’d not gotten to know them a little better at the barbeque. He reached the door and knocked hard twice, then twice again with more gusto when no one answered. After what felt like an age, but in reality was no more than a couple of minutes at the most, he heard the door being unlatched from the inside and the sound of a key being wrestled in a lock that seemed reluctant to yield.
“Rob,” Lucinda said as she swung the door open. She was dressed in a long red silk dressing gown that looked expensive, the kind of thing he’d always want to buy Carol but could never justify the cost of. She instantly noticed his reddened face and in turn, hers creased with concern. "Is everything okay, you look – flustered?"