Flashes: Part Three

by Tim O'Rourke

  Tom – Thursday: 00:33 Hrs.

  Idon’t know how long I’d been out for, but I guessed it hadn’t been long as the back wheels of the police car were still spinning and the side of it was yet to be covered totally in snow. I could hear a faint voice. My head hurt and I felt groggy. Next to me in the snow lay the handset from the car radio.

  ‘X-ray-five-one from control, what is your location?’ The control room operator was calling through the handset.

  I reached for it and placed it next to my mouth. ‘I’m not sure of my exact location. But I’m somewhere near to Oakgrove Road . . .’

  Another voice cut over me. ‘X-ray-four-six to control, I’m near that location. Tell him to stick the car lights on to guide me in.’

  I recognised Jackson’s voice. What was he doing out here? I wondered. Deep inside, I was very glad that he was.

  ‘X-ray-five-one to control, my car lights are on,’ I said, trying to get to my feet.

  ‘Not the headlights, you muppet!’ I heard Jackson’s voice groan through the radio. ‘The emergency lights.’

  I propped myself against the upturned car, reached in and hit the switch on the dashboard. The night pulsed with the strobes of blue and white light.

  ‘I’ve gotcha!’ Jackson shouted. ‘X-ray-four-six to control, I can see him. I’m making my way to him now.’

  ‘C’mon!’ I shouted into the night. Then, as if it might make him get to me more quickly, I reached back into the car and flipped on the sirens.

  The sound was deafening. I covered my ears. In the distance, I saw two faint beams of light heading towards me. I pushed myself off the side of the car. With the snow driving hard into my face, I waved my arms back and forth above my head. Then, to acknowledge that he had seen me, Jackson switched on his own lights and sirens. To me, in that moment, it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

  I waved my arms frantically in the air. ‘C’mon! C’mon!’

  Jackson drew up alongside me and I opened the door.

  ‘What are you playing at?’ Jackson shouted, as I slammed the car door shut behind me. ‘And I’ll tell you something else for nothing, the Governor is going to go ape-shit when he sees what you’ve done to that car.’

  ‘Screw the car,’ I breathed, trying to catch my breath.

  Jackson saw the blood on my face. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Do I look all right?’ I gasped.

  ‘What I meant is, are you injured? Do you need to go to hospital?’ he asked.

  ‘No,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Just get me as close as you can to the railway tracks.’

  ‘Why?’ he said, moving the car forward again through the snow.

  ‘I haven’t got time to explain. Where’s the Guv? Is he on his way?’

  ‘The old fart was having trouble getting the car out of the yard,’ he said. ‘Lois is with him, they’re some way behind.’

  ‘Did you tell him what I told you?’ I pushed.

  ‘I didn’t get a chance,’ Jackson said. ‘I found him in the office holding a fax printout. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack or something. Then, he starts shouting that we’ve got to get out here. He nearly knocked me flying as he went racing out the office and . . .’

  ‘There!’ I shouted, spotting the opening to the dirt track. ‘Stop the car!’

  ‘Whose car is that?’ Jackson asked, pointing through the window. There was a car parked on the opposite side of the road. It was white and the roof was covered with such a thick layer of snow it was barely visible. I screwed up my eyes and peered through the windscreen. Then, seeing the dent in the back of the car, my heart sank.

  ‘I know who that car belongs too. I need to get out,’ I shouted, yanking on the door handle.

  ‘Hang on, will you?’ Jackson shouted back at me, bringing the car to a halt.

  I clambered from the car. ‘Thanks, Jackson.’

  ‘For what?’ he asked.

  ‘For coming after me.’

  ‘That’s what coppers do, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘We watch each other’s backs, because if we don’t, no one else will.’

  ‘I guess,’ I said, before running into the dark.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Jackson roared. ‘Should I wait for the Guv? What’s going on?’

  I didn’t stop to explain. With my legs still feeling like rubber and with blood in my eyes, I ran as fast and as hard as I could through the snow towards the railway tracks.

  CHAPTER 39

  Charley – Thursday: 00:42 Hrs.

  He held me so tightly, I was sure I could hear the sound of his pounding heart over the noise of the approaching sirens. With his hand clamped over my mouth, I was finding it difficult to breathe. I felt as if I were suffocating. I wrapped my fingers around his hand, and tried to pull it away from over my mouth.

  ‘Stop struggling,’ he whispered; his voice sounded cold, just like it had in my flashes. He didn’t sound like my dad – he wasn’t my dad any more. This wasn’t the man who I’d listened to Elvis with by the Christmas tree while I sipped pink lemonade. That man had gone now. Perhaps he had never really existed. It had all just been some kind of act.

  With my mouth covered by his hand, and his other arm coiled around me like a snake, he hurried me towards the hole. I could hear the sirens coming nearer. I tried to dig my heels into the ground, but they just slid over the icy surface. When that failed to slow him, I reached out with my hands and grasped at the thorn bushes. My gloves were thick, but not thick enough to stop the thorns piercing my flesh. My eyes rolled in their sockets as I stifled a scream behind his hand.

  We reached the fence. Pressing my face against the metal mesh, he brushed his cheek next to mine and whispered in my ear. ‘I’m going to take my hand away now. Don’t make a noise, Charley, or struggle. Don’t draw this out. This is as painful for me as it is for you. Your suffering will soon be over and so will mine. Be quiet and let’s get this over with. Do you understand me?’

  I nodded and felt his hand slip from over my mouth. He pulled an old plastic bottle from his coat pocket and unscrewed the cap.

  ‘Here, drink some of this,’ he ordered, thrusting the bottle at me. Some of the black liquid splashed over the neck of the bottle. ‘It will numb the pain . . .’

  I threw my head back and screamed, ‘Tom! Tom! It’s my dad. He’s going to—’

  Before I’d finished, my head snapped backwards. It wasn’t because of the flashes; it was the sheer weight and force of my dad’s fist smashing into my face that threw my head back. For a second everything went black and I felt the coppery taste of blood in my mouth as it gushed from my nose. My head rolled forward again, and before my chin had hit my chest he was pulling my hair.

  ‘I told you to be quiet, didn’t I?’ he hissed, his breath hot against my face. ‘I’ve been nice and reasonable with you up until now. Can’t you see I’m just trying to help you?’

  I opened my eyes and looked into his. Then, through a throat full of blood, I screamed again. ‘Tom!’ But it came out as a muffled gargle as my father upended the bottle and poured the foul mixture into my mouth.

  With his fingers entwined in my hair, he yanked my head backwards. ‘Swallow,’ he hissed.

  Flash! Flash! Flash!

  Feet running. Railway tracks. A set of railway points closing.

  Flash!

  I opened my eyes to find myself being dragged through the hole in the fence. The ground beneath me felt like a bed of hard broken stone. It made a rattling noise as I was pulled over it. The air smelt of grease and oil. I glanced sideways, and only inches from my face, I saw the gleaming steel of the railway tracks.

  ‘No!’ I tried to scream, but with my head rolled backwards and my throat clogged with blood and burning with the taste of strong alcohol, it sounded as if I were drowning more than screaming. I could hear the sound of my dad panting as he dragged me over the tracks. Once he had me positioned between them, he pinned my arms down so I couldn’t move.

 
He leaned over me, lowering his face so the tips of our noses were almost touching. My heart was racing so fast in my chest it seemed to be beating in my ears. ‘You won’t get away with this,’ I gargled. ‘They’ll know you left me here to die.’

  ‘They’ll think you tripped and knocked yourself unconscious,’ he whispered.

  ‘Please,’ I choked, a bubble of black blood popping on my lips. I thrashed and kicked my legs, raising my pelvis in a last attempt to throw him from me. But he was too heavy – too strong.

  He seemed to enjoy the struggle, as he stared down into my face and smiled. ‘Good night, Charley,’ he whispered. ‘Have sweet dreams.’

  The tracks beneath me began to vibrate. A train was coming.

  ‘It would be so much easier for both of us if you’d had just a little more of my brew,’ he said.

  The tracks began to rattle. I knew he couldn’t risk being seen by the driver of the approaching train. I screwed my eyes shut and thought of Tom. I had just formed a picture of his smile in my mind, when my dad lifted my head off the track, then slammed it back down again.

  Tom’s smile faded as everything went black and I slipped into unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER 40

  Tom – Thursday: 00:42 Hrs.

  Ithought I heard the sound of a scream, but I couldn’t be sure. The wind was blowing so hard around me it drowned out everything, even the sound of my own breathing. I raced down the dirt track. My feet crunched deep into the snow, which now covered my ankles. With my hands shielding my eyes, I peered into the darkness searching for the gap in the hedge that led to the old house.

  ‘Where is it?’ I shouted aloud. Why hadn’t I brought a torch? Behind me the lights from the police car blazed on and off like streaks of lightning. Then, in one of those sparks of light, I saw the broken down bushes that led to the path and the house. I stomped through the snow towards it, the blood above my eye congealing in the cold.

  With the night sky lit by the distant emergency lights, I could just make out two sets of footprints in the snow. One set looked fresher than the other. I guessed the first set had been Charley’s, the newer set, her father’s. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing out here as well. Maybe he had also discovered that Charley was coming to the house. But who had sent her the messages?

  Bent forward, I headed up the hill, my face and hands numb with the cold. I followed the footprints to the open doorway of the house and peered inside.

  ‘Charley?’ I shouted. ‘Can you hear me?’

  My calls were only met by the sound of the wind that screamed around the building. Then I saw it, shining back at me from the corner of the main room. Charley’s torch. I picked it up and, heading back to the door, saw that the glass and bulb inside had been smashed. Had Charley been involved in some kind of struggle? Had she dropped her torch in fright? If so, what had scared her so much?

  I headed back out into the snow, and saw footprints leading down towards the railway lines. Two sets of prints: Charley’s and her father’s. But why would her dad take her down to the tracks?

  In the distance, I heard the sound of a train. But there was something else, another sound. The noise of the driver blowing his horn, as if giving a warning.

  ‘Charley!’ I roared. I dropped her torch and tore through the undergrowth as I raced down the hill.

  CHAPTER 41

  Charley – Thursday: 00:53 Hrs.

  The noise roused me. It was loud and very close, and getting closer by the second. It came again; it sounded like a scream. I was cold and my head hurt. It felt swollen and raw. My throat was painful and I found it hard to swallow.

  Whatever I was lying on dug into my neck and shoulders – and it was shaking. It was like my whole body was rattling. Had I thrown another fit? Had I seen more of those flashes and collapsed?

  The sound had a rhythm to it. Like a heartbeat. Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! But there was another sound. This one was louder, violent sounding. Like some kind of warning signal.

  I opened my eyes and glanced in the direction of the noise. Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! There was a bright light racing towards me out of the darkness. I put my hands over my eyes. Between my fingers I saw a black shape behind this bright light and it was growing bigger with every passing second. It made that sound again, and it was so loud now I flinched. It came again and again and again. And then, as if seeing those flashes, I remembered my dad dragging me on the . . .

  Tracks!

  The driver blew his horn. The train was so close now; I could hear its wheels squealing against the steel of the tracks. I tried to get up, but collapsed again, it was like all of my strength had been sucked from me. I tried again, but my head felt so heavy it was as if it were pulling me back towards the ground.

  Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack!

  Nearer and nearer! Louder and louder!

  I gripped the rails. Scraping my knees over the sharp chips of stone between the tracks, I tried to get up. With my back arched and the glare of the approaching headlights blinding me, I took a step forward, but collapsed again across the rails.

  The driver blew his horn again and the noise was deafening.

  Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack!

  Faster and Faster! The light, brighter and brighter!

  I looked up one last time, and the train was so close now I could see the driver sitting in his cab, his face a white mask, hovering in a sea of darkness. The horn sounded again and wrapping my arms about myself, I rolled over the tracks and out of the path of the train. I hadn’t even completed my roll when the train screamed past, just inches from me. It travelled at such speed I felt my whole body lift off the ground. For one frantic moment, it felt like I was being sucked beneath the wheels. The sound was like a giant beast, howling and roaring its guts out in anger.

  Then it was gone, speeding away into the distance, a trail of snow billowing in its wake. I lay and watched the snow settle, gasping in lungfuls of ice-cold air. As the huge white flakes floated before me, I saw something move on the other side of the tracks. With every one of my survival instincts screaming at me to get up, I peered through the blizzard. My dad was crossing the tracks towards me.

  Body trembling in shock and fear, I cried out in pain and staggered to my feet. Every inch of me ached and throbbed, and I wondered if I had been hit by that train after all. But the sight of my dad racing across the tracks told me otherwise. I staggered away from him, the loose pieces of stone between the tracks and beneath the snow making me wobble and lose my balance. With my hands outstretched, I lurched forward. I could hear my dad behind me, his feet stomping over the snow.

  I glanced back over my shoulder. He appeared like some dark apparition. ‘Get away from me!’ I screamed. Then as if he had punched me in the face again, my head snapped backwards.

  Flash! Flash! Flash!

  Feet running through snow, crunching over stone. A train in the distance. Track points closing. Screaming. I was screaming! Tom! I could see Tom! More screaming.

  Flash! Flash!

  No, Tom! I screamed. Blood spraying over white snow. No Tom! I screamed again.

  Flash!

  I opened my eyes to find myself lying on my back. My dad was leaning over me, reaching for me.

  ‘Get off!’ I yelled, drawing my knees up to my chest and kicking out at him. My boots landed in his soft belly and he staggered backwards. His arms wheeled and he fell onto his back, making a belching sound as the air rushed from his lungs. He clawed at the sky as he tried to get up.

  I scrambled to my feet. I didn’t know which way to run. Panicked, I followed the tracks into the white wall of snow that fell all around me. In the distance I could see a light. It grew brighter with every passing second. The rails beneath me started to rattle again, and I knew there was another train approaching. I left the tracks, hoping I was heading towards the hole in the fence.

  There was a grinding sound beneath me,
and I looked down and blinked. The tracks were moving. How was that possible? Tracks didn’t move, did they? Then I realised what was happening. I was standing by a set of track points, and they were closing. I glanced up and saw the train as it raced towards me. It wasn’t far away now and was approaching at an incredible rate. I turned away to head back towards the fence when I was grabbed from behind.

  ‘Charley,’ Dad whispered in my ear, and then he screamed.

  He released his hold on me and looked down. I followed his eye-bulging stare. The points had closed over his foot, trapping it between them. ‘Help me, Charley,’ he gasped. ‘Please.’

  The train was coming.

  Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack!

  ‘Please, Charley,’ he pleaded, the anger in his voice gone. Instead, he just sounded scared and desperate. His voice reminded me of Kerry Underwood’s as she had begged for her mother.

  The train was just seconds away.

  ‘Please!’ he screamed.

  I looked into his eyes, and I could see his fear. I couldn’t watch him die, whatever he had done.

  Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack!

  The driver blew on his horn. I lunged forward and took hold of my dad’s hands. I pulled at him, desperate to drag him free. However much I tried to set him free, it was impossible.

  Realising his fate, my father pushed me backwards and out of the path of the oncoming train.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I screamed. ‘I’m trying to save you.’

  ‘Run, Charley. Save yourself,’ he smiled. It wasn’t a cruel smile, it was like the smiles he’d had the day we’d decorated the Christmas tree together. It was a kind smile.

  ‘No!’ I cried out.

  Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack! Clackerty-Clack!

  I tripped backwards and was thrown clear of the tracks.

  ‘Stay back,’ someone roared in my ear. It was Tom. His face was covered in dried blood.

  ‘Tom!’ I screamed over the sound of the approaching train. ‘Tom, we’ve got to save my dad.’

  Tom looked at me and shouted, ‘It’s too late, Charley!’