Silent Treatment

by David James

  He edged forward into the room, carefully stepping over the remnants of the door.

  The rest of the room was in a similar condition, there was very little that hadn't been damaged. Sarah came up alongside him. He whispered 'Best check the rest of the house.'

  They walked slowly and carefully across the floor. Every few steps one of them crunched on some broken glass which made a sound that seemed as loud as a gunshot.

  Ben pushed at the kitchen door and it swung slowly open.

  The kitchen was a complete mess as he had come to expect. Pans and parts of broken plate were strewn everywhere. He was about to speak to Sarah, when he noticed something slightly odd.

  The kitchen table had been upended, seemingly deliberately positioned on the floor like a barricade. As he walked closer he could see that behind the upended table there was the back door. The glass in the door had been completely smashed, with the remnants lying inside the kitchen.

  Ben turned to look at Sarah and said 'What the hell happened here?'

  Sarah was simply staring at the carnage.

  Neither of them moved for what felt like an age. Eventually, Ben said 'Are you up to checking upstairs?'

  Sarah nodded and they walked across the kitchen floor.

  Ben had given up all pretence of going unnoticed as the sound of broken glass under his feet reverberated around the bare walls of the kitchen.

  Sarah took the lead and climbed the stairs first. As they reached the landing, there was at least one benefit to the houses being unimaginatively built – they knew where they were going. They walked across the hall to what was the equivalent of Sarah's room in their house. The door was already open.

  Ben watched Sarah's back to gauge her reaction as she entered. He was relieved that there was no sudden movement from her.

  In fact as he stood alongside her it was like looking into Sarah's room. It was eerily almost identical. Except for the items that were on the floor. And the case they had found under her bed was laying opened on the floor. Ben looked inside but it was empty.

  They walked back until they were outside what would be Ben's room. He turned the handle slowly and pushed the door open.

  It was surprisingly still tidy; no signs of destruction at all.

  He turned to talk to Sarah, but she was across the hall and about to open the other bedroom.

  As they opened the door he was ready for the explosion of pink, and he wasn’t disappointed. It was almost as if the colour had been poured into the room. Bedding, dressing table and lampshade were all the same colour.

  Sarah walked slowly across to the dressing table; but Ben's attention was drawn to what was strewn across the bed. He had thought it was part of the pattern of the bedding at first as its pink colour had blended into the bedspread. He reached down and picked one up.

  It was the torso of a doll.

  He picked up another one from the bed and looked around the floor. Just sticking out from under the bed was the eerie spectacle of a severed doll's head. He bent down to pick it up and found that there were others alongside it. He gathered them up and holding them in front of him approached Sarah and said 'What do you make of this?'

  Sarah took some time to respond, she had the drawer open of the dressing table and was staring into it. Eventually she turned round and looked towards Ben.

  Sarah took some from his hands and turned them over in her own hands.

  'They look like they have been torn off. And this one looks like it's been burnt.'

  Sarah turned them over in her hand again.

  'Anything interesting in the drawer?' said Ben.

  Sarah continued to stare at the dolls and eventually looked up and said 'Nothing that interesting, really.'

  'Strange there are no photos around,' said Ben. 'Shame, as it would have helped us to get more of a picture of what it was like here.’

  He paused for a second before continuing 'Mind you, looking at the state downstairs, whatever it was like here it doesn't look like it ended well.'

  He placed the doll heads back on the torsos, somehow he felt that he should, and placed them neatly on the bed.

  They left the room, Ben closing the door quietly behind them.

  As they emerged from the house he let out a sigh of relief.

  'Makes our place seem a whole lot better now,' said Ben.

  They approached the last two houses and peered in the windows.

  They were all the same as the last one. And they were all empty.

  As they turned away from the last house, he wondered if he had been seeing things yesterday, because what he thought he had seen made no sense.

  But as they got closer to the next building Ben could hardly believe his eyes. They stopped walking and were standing outside the first of the two premises.

  'Is that…' said Ben, '...really?'

  On a sign hanging above the door of the building the words Post Office were clearly there in large unmistakeable letters.

  Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

  Finally, Ben felt he must break the silence. 'Shall we go in?'

  He reached forward and pushed the door open.

  There was the sound of a loud bell. Ben looked above the door and lo and behold there was a bell that was noisily announcing their arrival. Sarah followed him in.

  To Ben it certainly looked like a Post Office. There was the counter with stacks of envelopes; a rack of helpful leaflets and to the right a rack of birthday cards. He walked across to them and leafed through them. He picked a couple up, opened them and winced at the verse inside. They were exactly as he would expect post office cards to be.

  'I don't understand,' said Ben as he walked across the post office until he was alongside Sarah.

  'Why do they need a post office here?' his tone hinted at bewilderment.

  'And who would post anything here? I mean, what would the address be?' he said.

  They stared around them for a few more minutes before Sarah walked slowly towards the door. The bell clanged again and they emerged from the post office. Sarah turned immediately leftwards until she was standing outside the next building.

  Only now that Ben was standing alongside her could see that it wasn't a normal building at all.

  It was a restaurant.

  'This makes no more sense than the post office,' said Ben under his breath.

  They both peered through the window, this time Sarah opened the door first. There was no sound of a bell.

  The restaurant had four tables, two with plates, crockery and glasses on. The other two tables had just cutlery and glasses.

  The place was a mess.

  As Ben looked down on the floor he could see that there were broken plates and glasses strewn around.

  He walked forward and heard the unmistakeable crunch underfoot of broken glass.

  'What happened here?' said Ben, seemingly addressing the restaurant itself, hoping for an answer.

  Sarah didn't reply, she was still trying to take in the sight of the destruction. Finally she said 'We can look in the kitchen if you like.' And she set off, turning towards the left where a partly concealed door swung open as she pushed it. Ben scuttled after her.

  The kitchen area looked remarkably small. It was smaller than the one he had at home, and he suspected that his one at home was better equipped. It was barely well equipped enough to cook anything at all.

  They emerged from the restaurant into the open air. To their left were more and larger buildings.

  Ben had been trying to rationalise things. He had failed. But what he was sure of was that he was in the presence of the biggest story he would ever cover. And he wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

  The next building was set back from the rest. They had to walk for a few minutes until they got near. As they approached it he also noticed that it was actually a fair bit larger than the houses. It was also surrounded by a fence.

  'Maybe a problem getting into this,' said Ben. As they got nearer he realised that the fence
would be presenting no problem, the gate that he thought would be locked was open. There was a push button control panel that was still barely attached to the gate.

  'Problem solved,' said Ben. 'It looks different from the other buildings, it looks more businesslike rather than the houses.'

  As they got nearer to the front door his initial suspicions were confirmed. This was certainly a different type of building to the rest. As Ben reached forward and tried to turn the door handle, there was one other thing that was different as well; the door was firmly locked. He tried pushing the door with his shoulder, hoping it was simply stiff, but to no avail. As he looked closer at the door he could see scuff marks around the lock and what looked like a burn mark.

  He hadn't been the first one to try and open the door without a key.

  'Any luck?' said Sarah.

  'Locked.'

  'Maybe we could find a way in round the side,' said Sarah.

  They began walking around the building. The windows were small and had metal meshing on them. To Ben's eye it looked like it should be situated in a rougher part of an inner city.

  'It doesn't seem to fit in around here,' he said, 'everything else is so quaint and picture postcard.'

  They tried the windows as they walked around, but it was clear that they weren't going to open. They had reached the back of the building now, but there was no entrance here.

  'So, only one entrance,' said Ben.

  'And exit,' said Sarah.

  Ben looked around and found a small half broken box. 'This will do,' he said, and leant it up against the building, stood on top of it and peered in through one of the windows.

  The glass was darkened and it was impossible to make anything out clearly. But as the sun suddenly appeared over his shoulder he got a momentary glimpse inside as it penetrated the darkness. It confirmed his suspicions.

  He could see desks and what looked like computer monitors. He screwed up his eyes to see what was on the wall, he just caught a glimpse before the sun disappeared and all he could see was blackness again.

  'Looks like an office of sorts,' said Ben.

  They walked around the rest of the building until they were standing looking at the locked front door again.

  'We can come back later, see if we can find anything to break the lock,' said Ben reluctantly, but he couldn’t see any way of getting in.

  They turned away from the building and Ben decided to follow the road. He walked down the middle of the road to the end as it ended abruptly and suddenly became forest. He wondered if the road had somehow been swallowed up by the forest. But as he stood at the end he could see that there were just trees at the end of the road. No remnants of a previous road. It had never gone any further.

  ‘The road to nowhere,’ he said quietly to himself.

  They turned and started to walk down the road and back to their house. This led to them approaching what Ben knew was a bus stop. He was beginning to almost get used to the strangeness of this place, and as he walked up to the bus stop he wasn’t completely surprised that there was a timetable attached to the post.

  Apparently, there was a bus due in two minutes time.

  He toyed with the idea of standing there and waiting to see what happened in two minutes time.

  ‘Maybe we wait a few minutes here,’ he said.

  Sarah looked puzzled.

  ‘We can get a really good view of the whole village from here,’ said Ben.

  They stood together looking across the whole scene before them, Ben looking down expectantly at his watch.

  What did he expect to happen exactly? Was a bus going to appear magically out of thin air? Or would it somehow push its way through the forest and emerge onto the road. And who would be on board?

  This place was getting to him.

  Ben waited impatiently. The scheduled time arrived.

  Nothing happened.

  Ben let out a loud sigh and turned to Sarah.

  And then from over his shoulder he heard a sound.

  Chapter Forty Nine

  ‘What was that?’ said Sarah as she turned to look towards the forest behind the office building.

  Ben turned to follow her gaze, his heart rate rising in expectation.

  They both stared where the noise had come from.

  And they both watched as a large flock of birds appeared noisily from the forest.

  Ben let out an even louder sigh of disappointment.

  ‘Are you okay Ben?’ said Sarah.

  Ben continued to stare into the forest. ‘Yes, it’s just that I, well hoped...’

  Hoped what exactly? Had he really expected to see a bus magically appear coming down the road. This place really was getting to him.

  He smiled and turned away from the bus stop and they headed back home.

  Sarah had watched as Ben had guided them around the strange village. She had watched as he had reacted in a surprised and almost shocked manner at each revelation.

  But somehow, and she wasn’t sure entirely why, she had been less shocked than Ben. To her things didn’t appear so outlandish.

  As they walked back into their house she found herself saying 'Good to be back home.'

  'Home?' said Ben as they settled down in the chairs. Sarah didn’t react.

  'It's strange not having a television in a front room,' he said.

  Sarah didn’t miss it. Back at her other home she had got little but grief from the television with its almost daily taunting of her failure over her treatment of the children

  ‘Must be food time I suppose,’ said Ben to distract him from the lack of a television.

  As they walked into the kitchen Ben opened the remainder of the cupboards and located plates, cutlery and glasses. He laid them out on the table, manoeuvring them until they looked reasonably organised. He stood back, pleased with the effect. Moments later, Sarah was dishing up the food onto the plates.

  'Don't suppose you found a bottle of wine in there?' said Sarah.

  'Sorry, no. Just water I'm afraid. We'll have to use our imagination.'

  They both sat down at the small kitchen table and started eating.

  It wasn't the greatest meal. In fact most people would suggest it wasn't a meal at all.

  As Ben pushed the empty plate away from him, he looked out of the window and said 'It always seems on the point of going dark around here.'

  Sarah looked out of the window. 'Too many trees maybe.'

  'Probably the lack of street lights. Some people would pay good money to be this isolated,' said Ben.

  He suddenly leant forward and looked Sarah straight in the eye and said 'You don't suppose it is some sort a weird holiday camp do you?'

  'What sort of holiday camp looks like this?' she said.

  'Maybe not exactly a holiday camp, but hear me out, maybe a back to basics retreat, you know getting away from everything,' he said.

  'It might explain the restaurant and the post office as well I suppose,' said Sarah doubtfully.

  They sat in silence for a few moments until Sarah said 'Ben, would you mind if I had a lie down upstairs. Just for a while.'

  'Fine, sounds like a good idea. I think I'll maybe have a wander around outside a little. Then see you later?'

  Sarah stood up and made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She partially undressed and slid under the covers and closed her eyes.

  Ben sat on the sofa staring at where the television should be. If this was a holiday camp, wouldn't they at least have a television? Oh, that's right, in his holiday camp they didn't have any mod cons.

  He tapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa until it began to annoy even him.

  Ben was the sort of person that if there was a button saying “DO NOT PRESS” he would inevitably press it. He needed to know what would happen. Equally if there was a door marked “NO ENTRY”, he needed to know what was behind it.

  And now there was a whole building across the green that had a virtual “DO NOT ENTER” sign emblazoned across it.

/>   He started to drum his fingers faster and louder until eventually he could stand it no longer. He jumped out of the chair and virtually ran out of the front door.

  The walk across the green to the final building gave him time to remember that it was locked. That was the problem before and it was still the problem now.

  He slowed his pace; he needed more time to think of a solution. The front door had seemed pretty secure and he certainly had no idea how to pick a lock. He would have to take a different approach. Brute force. He was sure he could manage that. And he would abandon the door; the windows looked a better bet. What he would need was a decent lever.

  He walked past the post office; he couldn’t imagine there would be much of any use in there for him. But the restaurant, that had a kitchen. That was more hopeful.

  He opened the door of the restaurant and walked through the back to the kitchen. He looked around; nothing obvious.

  Opening the nearest cupboard he saw various overalls and cleaning items. He closed the door and opened the next one. This looked more promising; there was a large brush. As he picked it up it felt quite sturdy. It may do the job.

  He left the restaurant and headed towards the house.

  It suddenly occurred to him that he had left Sarah alone in the house. He stopped walking. He had been so obsessed about looking into the building, he hadn't considered it. He started to turn back, but stopped. Sarah had said she wanted to rest, wasn't the best idea that he left her there rather than disturb her?

  He turned again. If he was quick he could gain entry to the building, look around briefly and be back to tell her about what he had found. Maybe before she even woke up.

  He quickened his pace and as he arrived at the building he walked straight around the back. The window he had earmarked had protective meshing across it and as he looked at it, it seemed to be more sturdy than he had remembered.

  He pushed the pointed end of the broom handle into the small gap between the meshing and the window. It made no impression. He tried again, only more forcefully this time and he felt that there was a slight movement. He tried forcing the handle in and pushing at the same time. This seemed to work better and soon he had created a gap in the meshing big enough to put his hand through. It was a small gap, useless really, but it meant that he could force more of the handle in as he hoped.