Silent Treatment

by David James

  His feet kept catching in the uneven surface and he found himself longing for a pavement. He managed to catch himself from falling on several occasions, but only just.

  He found himself looking down at his feet more and more often. Each time he dared to look up he found himself pitching forward as he tripped on yet another obstacle on the path.

  He was beginning to think the forest really hated him. Maybe it recognised him as a city boy and wanted to taunt him. And all the while he was looking for the strange item that Sarah had shown him.

  As the time passed he became more and more desperate to see it. At least then they would be closer. Exactly what they would be closer to he didn't actually know. Sarah had kept the information close to her; he wondered if she trusted him completely?

  He had started with his own reasons for helping her; what journalist would turn down the possibility of breaking the news story about the children. That hadn't gone; but in addition he genuinely wanted to help Sarah. He only knew a little about her since she had so suddenly disappeared from university. But the more he had got to know her again, the more he wanted to help her as well as himself.

  And he had been worried by her appearance. She had seemed to deteriorate since he had met her in the pub, since she had left the institute. She was now barely recognisable as the person he had known at university. It wasn’t just her dishevelled appearance it was that he could see that she was struggling with something, there was something that she wasn’t telling him. Sometimes when he looked into her eyes he wasn’t sure she was seeing the same things he was.

  But he accepted that. Maybe, just maybe, if she got to trust him completely she would tell him.

  He was beginning to feel disorientated now; he realised how much he was relying on the increasingly erratic path in front of him. It was a path that at times could barely be described as such. At one point he thought that it had been completely reclaimed by the forest and he had to stop. The forest could stretch for miles and miles ahead for all he knew. He was beginning to feel increasingly uneasy.

  But the path reappeared within ten feet or so. He breathed a sigh of relief and continued trudging onwards.

  He looked down at his phone; he had been walking for nearly forty five minutes. He was glad that she had suggested they only walked for an hour now. But at the same time he didn’t want to return a failure. If he could find what Sarah was looking for, then maybe she would see that he was useful to her and begin to trust him more.

  He sighed and looked up.

  Something moved across his eyeline. He jumped. He had been so used to just seeing trees and greenery that he was shocked to see something else.

  He stopped walking and stared into the distance. The shadow moved again. It was no more than twenty feet away from him and moving between the trees. The light was beginning to fade, but he was sure he hadn't imagined it. He set off in the direction he had seen it.

  He began to stumble even more now and had to stop himself falling forward; but he kept his eyes straight ahead of him. There was nothing moving that he could see now. He kept half running, half stumbling until he decided that he had to stop and look around him. There was nothing but the darkness of the trees again. He let out a disappointed sigh and slumped forward to rest his hands on his knees. It was then that he looked down at his feet and saw that the path had gone. Following the shadow had led him away from the path.

  He looked around wildly, but there was no sign of the path. He had been so fixated on trying to see into the shadows that he hadn't been concentrating on where he was running.

  There was a sound from over his left shoulder; he turned sharply to see what it was and then he felt the sudden pain as something struck him on the side of the head. He reeled from the blow and looked down at the large tree branch that lay on the floor. He put his hand to his face where he had felt it strike him and there was the warm feeling of his own blood. He felt himself going light headed and could feel his legs buckling under him. As he slumped down onto the ground he saw the shadow above him just before he passed out.

  Chapter Forty Three

  Sarah looked down briefly at her phone. She only had ten minutes to go until she would have to turn back and meet with Ben and she didn't want to be late and leave him standing around.

  Ahead of her she thought she saw the shape again; she didn't panic this time, she was almost becoming accustomed to it being there. She would worry about whether it was real or not later on.

  The path was becoming less distinct now; and soon she reached a place where it disappeared completely in the undergrowth.

  She stopped walking and stood there. And then ahead of her there was a loud crack and the shape materialised for longer than normal. She could almost make out its form and the sound had come from ahead of her.

  She knew she should turn back now. But what would she tell Ben? She had found nothing. She had come too far for that.

  There was another sound from ahead of her. She decided to follow its direction.

  It was now or never.

  Against her better judgement and a lifetime of experience, she left the end of the pathway and pushed ahead towards where the sound had come from.

  She had to concentrate harder than ever on her footing, she could only manage brief glimpses to see what was ahead of her. She knew the hour was up, but she couldn't bring herself to stop.

  She tripped forward and couldn't stop herself falling. She clutched at her ankle, it was sore but she was sure that there was nothing broken. She hobbled upwards, slowly putting pressure on her ankle. She then looked ahead of her. It looked impenetrable. It was no good, she just couldn’t carry on.

  With a heavy heart, she turned around and was starting to walk back where she had come from, when there was a sound so loud and close that she jumped and instantly turned in its direction. As she looked she saw the shadow again. Except this was no longer just a shadow, she felt it had form and detail and it shot across her eyeline and suddenly disappeared.

  She started to stumble after it. Everything inside of her was screaming to run away from it. But she forced herself to follow. She had come this far. The undergrowth grabbed at her ankles, seemingly reluctant to let her into this part of the forest. But she careered forward, any pretence at control now gone.

  As she looked around the forest her eyes alighted on a shape much larger than the others. Even in a sea of trees it stood out. And somehow it didn’t seem to fit into its surroundings. It was only twenty feet or so away.

  She started to walk towards it, her eyes fixed on it as she felt that if she looked away it would disappear from view like a mirage in a desert. She reached up and rubbed her eyes, but as she opened them again it was still there.

  She stumbled along, pitching forward at one point and only just keeping upright; but she didn't care. She was now only a few feet away and she was sure it was what she was looking for, the description seemed remarkably accurate.

  And then she was standing in front of it. She reached out her hand to touch it. She half expected it to disappear somehow, but she was relieved as her hand felt the softness of the bark. She traced her hand across the rough surface and could feel that there were markings there.

  She stood back and could clearly see the strange outstretched shape of the arm pointing the way.

  She wasn’t sure if it was what she had drawn from her father’s notes, or the file Cynthia had shown her; or it was from somewhere else in her mind. But as she looked at the drawing on the paper and the figure in front of her, there was no mistaking that they were the same.

  She felt vindicated. She hadn’t imagined it all.

  As the elation of finally finding it began to subside, she realised she had two choices. She could continue past the tree as her notes had suggested and then, well, what exactly? She hadn't thought that far ahead.

  Or she could turn back and meet Ben as planned and return here with him. She knew what the sensible option would be. But she felt it was all tantalising
ly close now. She peered past the tree, if she really tried hard she fancied she could see something, but it was vague and she didn't entirely trust her eyesight in this light.

  She stood there, unable to decide.

  Sensible or risky.

  She closed her eyes for a moment as if to help her decide. Opened them again and set off.

  Ben began to notice his surroundings, slowly. He opened his eyes and could see nothing but the ground. He could feel the coldness of the soil on the side of his face, and for a split second his mind was completely confused. He sat up abruptly as he suddenly remembered the last thing he had seen before he had passed out. He turned his head sharply, but there was nothing there. Just the empty forest.

  Reaching to the side of his head he pressed gently and winced as he found the bruise that was making his head throb. Having played rugby at university, he had suffered worse. He rubbed it briefly before he realised he was making it hurt more. He brushed the soil from the side of his face and stood up.

  By the side of his foot was the branch, instantly recognisable with his blood still on its surface. He reached down, looked at it and hurled it into the undergrowth where it made a loud crashing sound. He had never liked the outdoors much, now he positively hated it. If the forest truly despised his presence, as it seemed to, then the feeling was now mutual and he longed to leave this place.

  His next thought was of Sarah. How long had he been on the floor?

  He scrambled around in his pocket for his phone. He had only been laying there for a few minutes, but it was long enough that he knew he was late for meeting Sarah.

  He just wanted to sit down and feel sorry for himself for a while, but he forced himself instead to start walking back along the path. As he half walked, half stumbled along he could imagine if he was late Sarah waiting there for him impatiently. Worse, she might think he had just wandered off and left her there. He increased his pace as much as he could. His head throbbed as he looked down, but he needed to look to avoid falling over the roots and uneven surface. He must have looked like a shambling drunk; he certainly had the headache, it was like the worst hangover.

  He also felt the urge to look behind him. In his confused state he couldn't be entirely sure what he had seen before he fell down.

  He wasn't really aware of how much progress he was making. He would just be grateful if he could avoid going around in circles.

  Eventually, after a final stumble, he recognised where he was. He paused, leaning forward with his hands on his knees, trying to compose himself; he didn't want Sarah to be too alarmed as she saw him. He even straightened his jacket, as if that would somehow make him look more presentable. He stood upright and immediately regretted it as the increased blood flow made his head ache unbearably. He walked the last few yards to where they would meet, turned the final corner and was already rehearsing his apologies.

  'Sorry I'm late Sarah, I was delayed. But I've got something to tell you.'

  Chapter Forty Four

  Ben stopped and looked around. Sarah was nowhere to be seen.

  He felt embarrassment at talking to himself, but this was quickly replaced by concern. Where could she be?

  He sat on the best approximation of a seat he could muster. He looked down the path that Sarah had left on, she could be just around the corner, he could then complain that he had been waiting for ages and pretend to be annoyed. Perhaps she had found something important, perhaps really important, and just needed some more time, or maybe she had found something and didn’t want to share it with him.

  He looked up again at the path, but there was nothing. He wondered how much longer he should give it. But then what?

  He could go get help he supposed. But how exactly would he explain what they had been doing and more to the point would Sarah thank him or chastise him. He decided to play it safe and leave the outside world out of it. His other option was to follow the direction Sarah had gone in and find her along the path. He decided he would wait another half an hour before he took that option.

  The time passed slowly and the nearer he got to his self imposed deadline, the more nervous he got. Eventually it was time. With a last listen to see if he could hear any sounds of Sarah's imminent arrival, he stood up, instinctively touching his throbbing head, and set off down the path to find Sarah.

  The pathway seemed even worse than the one Ben had walked along. He wondered how Sarah had managed. For a second he had the vision of her lying in a ditch by the side of the path. He quickened his pace.

  Despite his urgency, he had to stop every ten minutes or so. His head was beginning to throb again and he found himself having to bend over as he stopped and let his head recover. But still no sign of Sarah. He had been walking for forty five minutes, surely he should have found her by now?

  There was another sound from in the undergrowth. He stopped walking and found himself flinching slightly, the memory of the tree branch crashing onto his head was still very raw. There had been tree branches lying on the path at various points, but none as large as the one that had struck him. He cursed his apparent bad luck.

  He had learnt to ignore these sounds, there had been various sounds accompanying him since he had started walking. He had initially reacted to them, but they had become part of the background noise. But this was different.

  As he walked on the sound was lasting longer than the normal brief sounds. And it was getting louder. He suddenly felt exposed standing on the path. He decided to get off the path and scrambled and pushed into the undergrowth until he was positioned behind one of the ubiquitous trees. They were for once proving useful to him as he sat hunched down and waited.

  He heard a short scrambling sound and then the sound stopped.

  There was a slight bend ahead which blocked Ben's clear vision along the path, but he had expected that whatever was making the sound would have emerged around the bend.

  Now it was silent.

  He hadn't expected this, his plan as such was that he would see what was making the noise and then decide what to do. He would be in control of the situation. Now he was hardly in control as he sat there waiting for something to happen.

  He shuffled uncomfortably, his head began to throb again.

  Everything remained stubbornly silent. He almost missed the occasional sounds of the forest, but even that seemed eerily silent.

  It was no good, he had to do something. He looked around for a stout tree branch to use as a weapon. He wasn't sure where this instinct had come from; but something told him that he should find some sort of weapon.

  He found a short branch and held it tight in his hand and slowly stood up.

  Trying to be as silent as possible, he crept out of the undergrowth and walked onto the path again.

  Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves and brandishing the tree branch in what he hoped was an aggressive posture, he crept slowly along the path to the apex of the bend.

  He stopped, desperately straining to hear something, anything. But there was nothing to hear. He wondered about charging around the corner waving the tree branch; but he realised how ridiculous that might appear. He decided to creep slowly around the bend, inching forward until he could just manage to peer round the bend.

  There was nothing there. Just a clear path.

  He relaxed and let the tree branch fall by his side onto the ground. He had been imaging it.

  Then suddenly out of the corner of his eye a shadow emerged from the undergrowth and took shape. He scrambled to pick up the tree branch, but it was too late.

  Chapter Forty Five

  'I hope you weren’t going to use that Ben.'

  Ben spun round and confronted the shadow. He was too startled to speak.

  'What happened to your head?'

  Ben reached up to touch his head. 'Something fell on it,' he said.

  Sarah looked concerned.

  'It's not serious, it’s just that the forest appears to hate me,' said Ben.

  'Is that the tree branch that
hit you? I'm surprised you carry it round with you.'

  Ben felt extremely sheepish. 'I wasn't sure who you might have been.'

  Sarah looked puzzled. 'Who else were you expecting?'

  Ben thought for a moment. He could hardly say that he was expecting some form of shadow; some manifestation of the noises that he had been hearing since entering the forest.

  'Oh, you know, you can't be too careful,' he finally said.

  Sarah wondered if she should mention that she had been feeling uneasy about fleeting glimpses that she had seen, but she didn't want to appear foolish to Ben. She decided to change the subject.

  'Did you manage to find anything?'

  Ben was glad of the change of subject.

  'Nothing much really. Well, nothing at all actually. That's why I came to look for you,' he said.

  'Well, I have good news. I found what we are looking for,' said Sarah almost triumphantly.

  Ben smiled. 'Well done, at least it hasn’t all been for nothing then.'

  'It's not too far away,' said Sarah.

  'Let's go then,' said Ben with renewed enthusiasm.

  'Are you sure you are up to it?' said Sarah looking at his head.

  'Fine, fine,' and as if to end the discussion, he started to walk purposefully up the path.

  Sarah caught up with him easily and said 'You don't actually know the way.'

  Ben stopped, 'Oh yes, lead on.'

  She felt reassured having Ben back with her, even though he had looked less than terrifying with the tree branch in his hand.

  They walked in silence, Sarah slightly ahead of Ben. Around them the noises they had separately heard seemed less threatening now. They both began to accept them as the background noises of the forest again.