A World Apart (23 page)

Six and a half freezing hours later, Neville zipped up his jacket and head for the one small ray of light that was coming from a living room in the hut. He was so tired from wondering around the restaurants and amusements that he sat and admired the view for a few hours until it was closer to midnight. Neville walked stiffly, for his legs felt bound together, he was stationary for such a long time that the muscles and blood had come to a standstill and for a second he thought he had lost the feeling forever. He was glad to feel the blood circulate and his legs tingle, which made it just as difficult to walk.

The journey took around forty-five minutes to reach the small hut and on arrival Neville wasn’t pleased at all by the sight of PC Volt parading the docks. Quick thinking enabled Neville to scramble out of sight behind the hut just as PC Volt turned around to make his way back down the dock. The freshly sawn woodchip smell greeted Neville with ease as he stood with his back against the wall of the hut, waiting anxiously. The light clocking noise of PC Volt’s shoes made Neville readjust and edge slowly towards the edge of the brick, climbing and walking across, near to a window which occupied a man inside. PC Volt passed the wall where Neville had just been standing, stopping for a second and then carrying on down back towards the main centre of Sunnyside. Neville crouched and shimmied along the narrow brick that had a hut one side and a massive plunge on the other, right into the dark soul of the wild sea. Neville watched the waves crashing against the rocks, imagining that it could be him in there if he wasn’t careful. The man inside the hut saw Neville and immediately started to reach for something in his pocket, when Neville quickly found his note and slapped it against the window. The small chubby man with a messy arrangement of stubble wobbled over to the window and squinted as he tried to make out the smudged words. The man stopped and read the contents of the note and then started to undo a latch on a window and helped Neville get inside, closing it as he entered.

‘There is a policeman outside don’t you know’ said Neville to the man, who lent back and lifted the middle of the curtain a few centimetres and surveyed the area.

‘I’m vel evare of zat boy!’ spoke the man, his accent completely taking Neville by surprise. The man acted rather shady as his face was covered and he looked like he was in pain. Neville struggled to lift his leg over the windowsill and place them down. Now at room level he could dry himself with a part of his fleece underneath his coat that wasn’t completely rain ridden. The room was very messy and the smell wasn’t very tasty either, books, clothes and food everywhere, along with dead rodents and fish chucked in a basin quite close by which made Neville heave. The man had disappeared leaving Neville alone in the room. He wondered over a desk that sat opposite him, covered with papers, charts, ropes and nets he noticed clippings and started to browse them. The newspaper clippings ranged from the nineteen fifties to present day and were particularly linked to things such as odd sightings of UFO’s, ghosts and planets which fascinated Neville. Neville jerked and quickly placed the papers down as he spotted the man in a doorway to his left wearing a black wide hat, his face lit with moonlight and there was a moment when Neville thought that maybe PC Volt was right and maybe he shouldn’t be here at all.

‘You ar here becoz ov Roger arnt you?’ asked the man, who up until now hadn’t thought to be anyone but finally realising who it must be, Michael Duesbury.

‘Yes’ replied Neville nervously as he starred right back at the man trying to catch hold of his face or eyes, failing consistently.

‘I take it you have ze money zen? Leave it on ze table and vollow me’ said Michael, whose accent now is recognised by Neville as part French. Neville silently placed the money that he suddenly realised must have been the last three digits on the note. The thought of getting caught ran through Neville’s mind and there was a split second that Neville had to go through with it all, he accepted and counted the money out and placed the folded euros onto the untidy desk. Neville follows the short scary man into a dark room that preceded the room that he was standing at previously. Neville turned to ask more details to the man but was shocked to see the heavy metal door slam shut and the light surrounding it vanish as he was left in a spacious empty room where nothing was visible. The room was filled with an infectious metal stench. Moments later Neville felt a judder from the earth below, reminding him of the earthquake in England back in 2008 when he was a boy, striking in the middle of the night. This one scared him all the same but there was something uniquely different. Neville’s mind becomes overloaded with so many weird encounters and suspicious coincidences that made him feel bewildered as he started to fall asleep. What seemed like ten minute’s sleep to Neville was actually two hours and fifty-three minutes. One eye peeked from its compartment, viewing an array of boxes in the dark that had fallen over, Neville taking a while to realise where he was. He awoke and stretched his busy limbs as he began to wonder the pitch black cold room, searching for anything of existence, tripping over and fumbling into a crate that collided with his toe harshly. He fell to the floor, breaking part of the drop with the use of his hands and briskly standing up and wiping off the dust and debris that was scattered over him. He started to notice his eyes becoming used to the dark as he could make things out slightly. The room was filled with steel cargo compartments, a desk and an office in the far right corner. The room resembled that of a disused docking bay Neville saw earlier that afternoon, unoccupied and dingy. The cargo holds were carefully arranged and preciously placed at equal proportions to one another. The dust was etching its way up onto Neville’s face, giving his face a stubborn texture and tickling his nose which made him realise he was about to sneeze, he raised his hand but it was a false alarm. Neville eventually sat down on a singular box that just happened to be perfectly placed, although as he sat down the sides buckled and the cardboard gave way, resulting in Neville being plonked on the floor once again. He didn’t bother to rearrange his proximity, feeling deeply regretful all of a sudden about coming to the docks or for even meeting Roger as he replayed his misfortune lately. His emotions were crushed like the box before him, although curiosity sent the feelings flying away as he looked towards the office, dimly lit by single surviving ray of light from a small lamp. The light from the lamp was unsuccessfully trying to reach the other side of the room in desperation to share its endless energy. The office door had parts of a name printed upon the criss-crossed glass pane, Neville assumed from wear and tear over the years.

‘M…R…L’ said Neville aloud to himself as he read the remaining chipped white paint. Underneath the name it said ‘The alliance of the future’. Neville turned around as he heard something coming from a nearby crate, sounding like a whisper he waved off the thought and looked around in dismay, thinking he was losing his mind. He sat back down as his eyes were covered in a film of dust that hindered his sight, making him feel restless and congested along with the infectious raw steel taste that was now airborne. Neville reached down to see what was causing him pain on the lower part of his leg, on glancing down Neville sighed at the sight of the withered grey tagging device attached to his leg, a small unhealthy beam of red light shooting from a tiny hole below. 

A day and fourteen hours later, Neville was perched on his box still unaware of where he was or what he was doing. He had so little sleep in the night and remained tired from the potent surroundings and consistently dark atmosphere. The night was drawing in and the room was getting even darker than ever, until there was a sudden jolt as if something had exploded. Neville heard boxes and crates rumble past the office, his nerves were now bouncing around at a rapid rate until he stood frozen, capture by something he had longed to see. A shooting beam of daylight shone from a small opening somewhere behind a crate, filling the room in an instant. He crept over to investigate, moving boxes and crates on his way to unveil a circular steamy window, wiping it clear in exhilaration. He squints as he leans to view outside the window, seeing misty land that for some reason brought back so many memories.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Light and Sound

‘What’s the matter Fran, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?’ said Pennie as Francesca came running over to her and Edward, who were now covered in soil that strangely dropped off onto the ground.

‘I…saw something…I think…’ replied Francesca, just hearing her voice as it was said at first sight of her.

‘You look as pale as my dog Fetch’ observed Edward, looking her up and down as he imagined his bright white dog wagging its tail and running towards him.

‘Thank you Ed, I think it was just a creature in the bush, a big hairy one’ said Francesca, avoiding telling the others at what she had just witnessed at fear of being bombarded with insults and jokes as her confidence wore thin these days. The group headed along a part mud part stone path with twigs and weeds randomly propped here and there. The rest of the groups had split up and were visible in the distance, as well as a few laughs and shouts that Edward recognised as his class mates. The groups were well into their tasks and Edward noticed a similarity in the look that Pennie was pulling, one of concern for their performance. Edward is a very competitive person and doesn’t take kindly to defeat so he was trying to form a plan of action to present to the group.

‘So…what exactly do we have to do then?’ said Francesca, annoying Edward considerably. Pennie rolled her eyes and buried her head into the documents and maps that were given by Mr Johnson, keeping out of a potential build up for an argument.

‘Fran, what do you mean, you’re the captain, you should know’ replied Edward sternly which he felt guilty of as soon as the words left his lips.

‘Ed, if you had paid attention you would have found that I was being tormented by a creature in the bush so how could I possibly know what we’re supposed to do’ replied Francesca sarcastically as she stood with her hands on her hips and waved her finger a lot. Pennie was now peeking from the top of the documents to observe the other two, watching steam come from their ears and their cheeks flourish with an angry red. She wasn’t the type of girl who would perform her feelings to the world, she tended to keep life’s troubles at bay until it reached a high level and she would then result in either crying or having a tantrum with absolutely everyone.

‘Yes I know you were, but I thought you would have paid attention to what Mr Johnson was saying’ said Edward sympathetically.

‘Anyway, let’s try and work it out. From the map it looks like we’re at the bubbling broadsheds’ said Pennie as she showed Edward and Francesca the map. They all looked around the forest, noticing a small sign on a nearby tree that was placed there by the teachers. The fact that Pennie spoke surprised the other two as their argument was eliminated with thoughts of their route.

‘It looks like the activity is made up of two types of puzzles, one is a general knowledge and the other is one about wildlife. There are several crocodile, butterfly, dragonfly, ladybird, spider and bird’s signs around the course, although it doesn’t say what they mean’ detailed Pennie as she deduced from the documents and the maps.

‘Oh, and there are also things to discover, there are signs for a black hole, asteroids and planets. I think maybe the signs are what the question will be’ added Pennie. The other two was pleased with Pennie’s work, feeling bad for bickering in the first place.

‘Right ok then, where shall we head first?’ said Edward after a pause of silence between them all.

‘I’m guessing that we should start off that way. It’s the longest but we can tackle the puzzles that look harder first and make our way back with the easier ones’ said Pennie, mastering the map and now in control which seemed to agitate Francesca.

‘Yeah, sounds like a plan Pen!’ said Edward, making her smile which reinforced Francesca’s hatred of Pennie.

‘Well, I don’t think it’s good at all, and I’m the captain so we will have to follow what I say’ interrupted Francesca, wiping Pennie’s smile onto the floor.

‘That’s not fair!’ replied Pennie, making Francesca feel very powerfully at her plea.

‘What way do you suggest then?’ said Edward concerned, unconvinced of her ability to lead a herd of sheep let alone a group activity.

‘Erm, well…we can start at the bubbling thingy and then go to the fields of fly’s and make our way across to the snapping lake, missing out hippo feet and bats from hell to make our time up’ said Francesca, fumbling as she grabbed the documents off Pennie and started to improvise.

‘Sounds like a plan Fran!’ replied Edward instantly after she had finished.

‘That is utterly barbaric! Why should we miss them out, they have deep colours next to them so they must be important, don’t you know anything!’ cried Pennie, now well and truly into the discussion although she felt a victory on her side and confident.