Why Were You There?

‘GREAT IDEA. We come out here in the freezing cold for what?’ asked Mandy.

‘Because I need you to see,’ answered Pippa.

‘See what? There is nothing out here.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘What are you talking about? I’m going back home.’

‘Look again.’

‘There is still nothing.’

‘Now follow me slowly and quietly. There, through the branches, see.’

‘Have you gone mad?’ asked Mandy.

‘Can you see anything moving behind that Robin?’

‘I can see some smoke. Is that what you mean?’

‘My God, it is not smoke. Can’t you see a face?’

‘Have you been drinking?’

‘Of course not. I promise you that somebody or something is there,’ Pippa said as she dragged Mandy forward.

‘Mind the twigs. You’ll lose an eye.’

Pippa held the bare branches to one side. ‘Come on.’

‘If you think I’m going in that house, you have another think coming.’

After working their way through the trees, a rusted iron fence was ahead, protecting an overgrown garden.

Mandy slumped down, back to the railings and shook her head. ‘You must be joking.’ She wanted to shout but didn’t, and her statement came out as a whisper.

Pippa held her friend’s arm as she stooped down. ‘See that mist,’ she pointed at the home’s back door.

Mandy’s head was facing the opposite direction. ‘No, and I don’t want to.’

‘Please look.’

‘Why?’

‘Because that mist has been watching me.’

‘How can October fog watch anything?’

‘I’m telling you, every evening I get this feeling, a feeling someone is studying every move I make.’

‘That half-wit boyfriend of yours playing tricks, I suppose.’

‘Steve? No, it’s not him.’

‘What then?’ asked Mandy.

‘I’ve been getting this feeling, and when I look outside, there is a little cloud of white. When I went out, it backed away. Each day, I get closer. Yesterday, I followed it here. I need you with me.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I want to go into the garden. I’m worried to go alone, with all the stories about the owner.’

‘No way. I am not going in there,’ Mandy said as she pushed her friend away.

‘Please. I don’t ask much of you, do I?’

‘You want to climb over, and then what?’

‘That spirit needs to show us something,’ Pippa said, her doe eyes pleading.

‘Oh, it’s a spirit now?’

‘I don’t know what it is, but it wants us to witness something, of that I’m sure.’

‘Please, count me out. We probably can’t climb in for one thing; for another, it is illegal to break into someone’s property.’

‘No one will know. It is miles from anywhere.’

‘It is also getting dark; it will be pitch black in a few minutes.’

‘I brought a torch.’

‘Fantastic, you think of everything. Why not go to the gates and ring the bell?’

‘The gates are locked, and nobody answers. It has been empty for years, looking at the state of the place.’

‘So, you’ve been before?’

‘Yeah, I’ve cased it, haha. As all good burglars do.’

‘Don’t joke about it. You’ll get us arrested.’

‘Don’t be stupid. Who will know? There is no one for miles.’

‘Alright, you’ve got ten minutes. We jump the fence, wander around the place, then scarper. Okay?’

Mandy pulled herself up and grabbed the top of the railing.

‘Not there, come with me.’

Pippa leads Mandy past a bush to a broken rail. ‘Here is easier.’

‘Have you been in before?’

‘Only once, for a quick look.’

‘Christ, what else have you been up to?’

The girls scampered across the grass. ‘Come on, look, there’s the mist again by the door,’ said Pippa.

‘Yeah, I can see it this time.’

Pippa lifted her hand to signal a halt. Then, a click shattered the silence.

‘That sounded like a key in a lock?’ said Pippa.

The door inched open. Mandy grabbed Pippa’s arm and froze.

‘Come on,’ Pippa said.

‘You are not going in?’

‘Yes, the mist wants us too.’

‘I’m scared, let’s go home.’

‘We are here now. I promised we’d be ten minutes, and we will.’

‘Ten minutes in the garden, not in the house!’

The orange light of the torch flashed in the hallway.

‘I can smell cigarette smoke. Is that what made the mist?’ said Mandy.

‘Come on, follow the mist. It’s moving along the corridor.’

The girls stopped, no more fog. They looked at each other and then at the stairs leading down.

‘Oh, no, I’m not going down there.’

Suddenly, with a push from behind, Mandy’s feet left the ground, and she bounced step to step. She fell face first, smashing her nose onto the cellar’s concrete floor. Dazed and in pain, she called, ‘Why push me?’ Dribbles of blood spat out with each word.

Pippa skipped down and smiled, ‘Come on, Steve, tie her up.’

Steve appeared from behind the door. ’Enough’s enough,’ he said.

‘It’s enough when I say it’s enough. I want her strapped to the surgeon’s table. Do it now.’

Working on a building site had toughened Steve, but he struggled to lift Mandy. ‘Give us a hand, then,’ he said.

Pippa grabbed her feet, swung her onto the padded bench, secured her legs on either side and loosened her jeans.

Steve tied Mandy’s arms in the shape of a cross at the far end of the table.

‘Jesus, what the hell did the doc do down here?’ he asked.

‘Wouldn’t you like to know,’ said Pippa.

‘Do you mean? You know?’

‘I was born down here. My mother was tortured to death right there.’ She pointed at her “friend”.

‘What did your father do?’

‘The doctor was my father, idiot. I was adopted by the people you know as my mum and dad.’

‘You’ve lived a lie all these years?’

‘No, I’ve always known.’

‘How did you know?’

‘My adoptive mum had promised to give me a small chest when I reached twenty-one. A key and a diary were in the box, written by my birth mother. She was only fourteen when the doctor delivered me. You have the key to every door here in your pocket. I’ll have that back, please.’

Mandy stirred and screamed as if spiders were crawling over her. ‘Untie me, let me go. Now!’

Steve stepped towards the captive girl as a pestle clubbed him. He staggered towards the bench, blood burst from above his ear, as Pippa moved quickly and leant into him, pushing his upper body onto Mandy. Pippa laid his body on her friend and tied them face to face.

‘Get him off me. Let me go, and I promise I won’t say a word.’

‘Sorry, Mandy, can’t do that.’

‘Why the hell not? I won’t tell anyone.’

‘You and Steve are my gifts to my father. He can continue with his experiments.’

‘He’s dead. And has been dead for twenty-odd years, you stupid girl!’

The key twirled between her fingers as she slammed and locked the cellar door. On the way out, she secured the back door and whistled all the way home.

‘Hi, mum.’

‘Hello darling, had a good evening?’

‘It was okay, but Mandy and Steve didn’t show.’

The END