Clockwork Dolls - FF

by R. W. Whitefield - FF

  “What did you do with the bits?”

  Dave kept drinking, pouring the last glass from the bottle.

  “They’re in the waste paper bin. Or rather they were. I put it out this morning and…”

  But Maggie had already left, hurrying out of the door.

  * * *

  He found her out in the alley between the buildings going through the garbage skips.

  “You’ll never find anything,” he said. “There’s five families with kids sharing here. There’s always a huge pile of bags.”

  Maggie ignored him, raking through the bags, tossing garbage out of the skip into the alleyway.

  “I’m not going to be popular,” Dave said, dancing back to avoid being hit by something wet and rancid.

  Maggie paused, hands full of lettuce and vegetable peelings.

  “It’s a bit late now to be worrying about that, isn’t it? Now get up here and give me a hand.”

  “What’s so important?” Dave said, clambering into the skip and realizing, too late, that he was still wearing his best suit trousers and shoes that he’d worn to the funeral earlier. Maggie seemed to have no qualms about getting her own clothing soiled. She was knee-deep in garbage, already stained with a variety of kitchen waste products. Undeterred, she kept digging.

  “I need to know what you asked for,” she said. “Exactly what you asked for.”

  They scrambled around in the rubbish, tearing open bags and sifting the contents. Dave stuck his hand on a cold, half-eaten, slice of pizza.

  “Tell me again why we’re doing this?” he said, trying to wipe the goop off his hand onto a piece of paper that was already slightly slimy, coated with something Dave didn’t particularly want to think about too closely.

  “I’ve already said,” Maggie replied, not stopping her scrambling amid newly opened bags. “We need to know exactly what you asked for.”

  “Why?”

  She stopped what she was doing and looked Dave in the eye.

  She’s scared stiff.

  For the first time, he started to feel a tingle of fear himself.

  “I need to know how bad it’s going to get,” Maggie said, and went back to the search. Dave looked down at the pile of garbage bags beneath him, thought of the booze waiting for him back in his apartment, then saw that Maggie’s efforts had got even more frantic.

  I may be a shit, but even I draw the line at leaving a woman alone to go through garbage in an alley.

  He bent and tried to help. They sifted almost every bag in the skip over the next twenty minutes. Every time they opened a new bag a fresh batch of noxious smells hung around them.

  We’re going to stink for a week.

  Dave had almost reached the end of his tether when he pulled open what he had vowed would be the last bag…and saw a torn piece from a white envelope. There was a smudge of red on the corner.

  From when my wound oozed blood from the bandage.

  “I think I’ve found a bit,” he said.

  “Good. Hold on to it. Is there more?”

  Dave looked down. There were a lot of small pieces of paper among the rubbish under his hands.

  “Most of it I think.”

  He bent for a closer look.

  A wind ran through the alleyway, threatening to disperse the scraps of paper. The noise of an engine started up, but there was no sign of a vehicle in the alley.

  “Maggie? Did you hear that?”

  Maggie looked around.

  The wind got stronger, the hum of the engine louder.

  “Oh shit,” Maggie said. “I think we’re in big trouble.” She bent to lift the scraps of paper Dave had found and stuffed them in her pockets. “Get as much of it as you can. And be quick.”

  The wind started to howl through the alley. Garbage was picked up and swirled everywhere around them. The noise of the engine revving rose until it was almost deafening.

  “Have we got it all?” Maggie shouted.

  Dave couldn’t take his eyes off the swirling garbage; it danced, like a small tornado whirling and spinning through the alley. Paper and rotting vegetables were sucked into the vortex. It grew larger, noisier, ever more violent with each passing second.

  Maggie grabbed Dave by the shoulder and turned him to face her.

  “Have we got all of the fucking thing?”

  The profanity finally shocked Dave into action. He looked down. There was no trace of any white paper below him. While he was checking, a layer of frost ran over the garbage underfoot. He felt cold creep through the thin soles of his shoes. His breath steamed as the temperature suddenly plummeted. The revving engine echoed loudly in the alleyway, like a kid getting ready to race a hotrod away from the lights.

  Full-beam headlights swept the alley from side to side, although there was no apparent source of origin. The engine revved even louder, contending with the whistle and roar of the still growing wind.

  Dave was rooted to the spot.

  I’ve heard that same sound before.

  “Time to go.” Maggie shouted. Without waiting for Dave, she jumped out of the skip. Dave followed but landed awkwardly, his left foot sliding on some rotting vegetables, sending him falling, off-balance to the ground.

  The engine roared louder, like a lion sensing a faltering prey.

  Maggie grabbed Dave’s hand and dragged him to his feet. Headlights washed over the alley, throwing huge black shadows on the walls to loom menacingly above them.

  “We need to get out of here. Right now,” Maggie said.

  The engine revved behind them as they fled, the noise seemingly chasing them down the alleyway. It was only when they reached the main street that the noise started to lessen.

  “Where are we going?” Dave asked.

  “Anywhere that’s not here,” Maggie replied.

  Behind them the wind dropped as quickly as it had come and the garbage fell in a heap to the ground. The alleyway fell silent except for the hum of an idling engine.

  June 11th

  The cop looked at Dave and raised an eyebrow.

  “If you’re planning on trying for an insanity plea,” he said. “You’ll need to come up with something a bit more creative.”

  Just as Dave was about to reply an engine revved nearby. Dave jumped and started to rise, thinking of heading for the door.

  “Sit down, lad,” the cop said. “You’re not going anywhere until I can make some sense of all of this.”

  Dave sat still, listening. There was no repeat of the engine noise. He allowed himself to relax slightly, and laughed bitterly.

  “It’s sense that you want, is it? I think you’re going to be sorely disappointed. It’s all downhill from here. Things got seriously weird almost as soon as we got to Maggie’s place.”

  June 10th

  They finally caught a cab four blocks away from Dave’s place. For almost half an hour they’d jumped at every shadow, cringed at every engine noise. Even after they were inside the cab, Dave didn’t feel safe; the shadows seemed to gather and creep around him, and he was sure if he just listened hard enough that he would hear the whistling and roaring of the wind.

  Maggie kept hold of his hand throughout the ten minute cab ride to her place, and after she let go to pay the driver, he quickly grabbed hold again as they walked up the short driveway to her house.

  “I need to get my key,” she said. “So you’ll have to let go. But I promise you, we can hold hands as much as you like once we get inside.”

  She smiled, but Dave couldn’t muster one in return. He was thinking of booze again. An ocean of the stuff, enough so that he could lose himself.

  And the Cosmos can go to hell.

  Maggie showed Dave through the front door, along a hallway and into a room full of New-Age paraphernalia; every available space was filled with crystals, dream-catchers, scented candles, and incense.

  This time Dave managed a smile.

  “Don’t tell me. Your parents lived in a camper van and your real name is Galadriel Moonchi
ld?”

  Maggie grinned in return.

  “Actually, my dad was an accountant. But we don’t have time for Ask the Family. Phone Jane and Jim. Get them over here.”

  She gathered crystals from a display cupboard while Dave stood in the center of the room, bemused.

  “It’s going on midnight. They’ll be in bed.”

  “Then wake them. In case you haven’t noticed, we are in serious trouble here, Dave.”

  “I don’t understand,” Dave said. His mind was full of the sound of a revving engine, the dazzle of headlights that appeared out of nowhere. He wondered whether the drinking had finally caught up with him.

  Maybe this is what they mean by ‘delirium tremens’.

  Maggie pointed him to where her phone sat on a table by the sofa.

  “I’ll try to explain if I get a chance,” she said. “But I’m going to be busy for a few minutes. Just make the fucking call, Dave.”

  Dave moved to the phone. He paused before dialing.

  “What do I tell them?”

  An engine noise filled the room and Maggie stiffened, but it was just a car passing in the road outside.

  “Tell them anything you like. As long as it gets them here fast.”

  Dave dialed the number from memory. Jane answered on the second ring.

  “Sorry, Jane. It’s me,” Dave said.

  “Do you know what time it is?” she said. She sounded bleary, barely awake. Dave heard Jim shout, as if in the distance.

  “It’s Dave again, isn’t it? What’s he fucked up this time?”

  Just about everything, by the look of things.

  “Sorry, Jane,” Dave said again. “I need a favor. A big one.”

  “Can’t it wait till morning?”

  “I’m afraid not. Maggie says it’s important. It’s about the Cosmos.”

  “Come on, Dave. You of all people wouldn’t wake us up for that.”

  “I don’t have time to argue, Jane. Please? Can you and Jim get over here to Maggie’s place?”

  “What, now?”

  Dave heard Jim shout again.

  “Tell him to fuck off. I’ve got work in the morning.”

  “Please Jane? For me?”

  Dave hung up the phone and turned to see that Maggie had set up some crystals in two concentric circles on the floor.

  “Are they coming?” she asked.

  “Jane will. But Jim…”

  He made a see-sawing action with his hand.

  * * *

  Jane and Jim stood in the hallway of their house. Jane pulled on an outside coat. Jim stood, coat in hand, showing no sign of putting it on.

  “Tell me again why I’ve got to drive out to the sticks in the middle of the night.”

  “Dave said…”

  “Oh yes. Fucking Dave. What does he want this time? Let me guess. He’s fucked his life up again?”

  “He says it’s important.”

  “When he’s drunk, everything’s important.”

  “He didn’t sound drunk.”

  “Well, that’ll be a first then.”

  Jim started to put on his coat. A white envelope fell out of a pocket. He bent to pick it up, then realized what it was.

  “How did this get here?” he said.

  “I’ve no idea. Is it what I think it is?”

  “Fucking hocus-pocus, that’s what it is. Wait a minute. It’s not about this crap, is it?

  Jane put her hands up defensively.

  “Dave said…”

  “Can we please forget about Dave for a second?”

  He waved the envelope in her face.

  “Please tell me it’s not about this crap?”

  “He said that Maggie thought it was important.”

  “So it is about this crap. I’ve had enough. I’m going back to bed.

  He tore the envelope up and let the pieces flutter to the ground. As the first piece hit the floor, the light bulbs in the overhead fitting all blew at once with a fizzle and pop.

  “Oh for fuck’s sake,” Jim said, loudly. “That’s all I need.”

  Everything fell quiet, then from nowhere yet everywhere a wind blew through the room. The noise of an engine started up.

  “Jim?” Jane said, more than a hint of fear in her voice.

  “It’s just the fuse panel.”

  The room went icy cold, frost running across the carpet. The wind rose to a near gale. As if from nowhere, bright light flooded the room, and just as quickly cut off.

  The Barrs fled, rushing outside, heading for the SUV in the driveway. The noise of an engine revving filled their house as they drove off in a screech of tires.

  The sound of the SUV receded into the distance, but engine noise continued to run in the empty house before it was finally cut off and silence fell.

  June 11th

  The cop interrupted Dave’s story

  “Wait. How do you know what happened after you phoned them. You weren’t there.”

  Dave shook his head.

  “I don’t. I’m just guessing, based on what a dick I was to them over the years, and what I know happened to them on the way to Maggie’s place.”

  “But it was you who called them from the house in the country?” the cop asked.

  “I said that already, didn’t I?”

  “I’d just like you to confirm, for the record, that you invited the Barrs to that house.”

  Dave sighed.

  “OK. For the record. It was me that invited the Barrs to that house. Happy now?”

  “Not yet. But some pieces are starting to fit together. Tread carefully from here on in, Mr. Burns…you’re getting to the bit I’m interested in.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. You’re never going to believe me.”

  June 10th

  Maggie motioned Dave over to the two concentric circles of crystals on the floor. She stepped over, into the inner circle, and held out her hand.

  “In here. Quick.”

  Dave looked down.

  “What is this? Magic hour?”

  Maggie held her hand out again.

  “We don’t have time for twenty questions. It’s coming. And don’t ask what. You’ve already experienced it. Are you going to give me grief over this?”

  Dave took her hand and stepped into the circle. He motioned at the crystals at their feet.

  “OK I’m here. Now, please, tell me what this is for?”

  Now that she had Dave where she wanted him, Maggie seemed to relax slightly.

  “The crystals act to focus my mind, to give us protection against whatever that was that nearly got us in the alley.”

  They stood there side-by-side in the quiet semi-darkness.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” Dave said.

  Maggie squeezed Dave’s hand, gently.

  “I told you on the night this all started. I don’t know a lot about how the Ask the Cosmos principle is supposed to work.”

  Dave squeezed back.

  “Smart move that, getting your excuses in early.”

  Maggie gave him a weak smile back.

  “But I believe it’s happened because of the strong emotions around the table that night,” she said.

  “Emotions can’t affect reality.”

  “Why not? Yours have been affecting your reality for years.”

  That hit home, and Dave came to the realization that maybe, just maybe, the fault had been his all along.

  “That’s different,” he said. But in his heart, he knew she had got straight to the nub of the matter.

  “Is it Dave? Is it really?” Maggie said. She held his hand tighter. “Looks like we’re not going anywhere in a hurry. Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of what really happened that night at the dinner party. Tell me about the accident, Dave.”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “I only know the fact that you had one. And that it’s important.”

  “Oh, it’s important all right. But maybe not in the way
you think. Before it, I was in charge of my own destiny. I was a smart medical student, on the way to a good degree.”

  “And Jane? Where does she come in to this story?”

  “She doesn’t. Jane and I had already split up by then. There’s a whole other tale to be told there, of friends lost, and jealousy causing me to push away the only good thing that had ever happened to me. But that’s not what you need to hear tonight.”

  Dave looked Maggie in the eye.

  How much do I tell her? How open do I want the wound to be?

  “I was drinking, but I had it under control, mostly, except for when I had to see Jim and Jane together. Then they invited me out for a beer.” Dave stopped, and had to brush away sudden tears. “I spent a long, miserable afternoon, watching them together. I so wanted her to be happy. But I wanted her to be happy with me, not him. So I drank, more than I should have. Then they made me stay for another beer, after I was ready to go.”

  Maggie looked about ready to say something, then changed her mind. She saw that Dave was lost in a time far away.

  “It wasn’t the beer anyway, it was an accident waiting to happen,” he said. “It was a bad night. The wind howled like a banshee. Then the snow came down. I never even saw what I hit.”

  He stopped talking. Fresh tears ran down his cheeks. Maggie gripped his hand tight, but kept quiet. Dave was about to say something when she put a finger to his lips.

  “It’s starting,” she said, quietly.

  A wash of light ran across the ceiling.

  Dave whispered. “I’m not sure I like this very much.”

  A cold wind blew through the room. An engine revved, twice, then fell silent. Dave remembered to breathe. They stood there holding hands for several minutes, neither of them speaking.

  Eventually, Dave whispered again.

  “Is that it?”

  As if in answer, the temperature plummeted. A web of frost crawled across the inside of the windows with an audible crackle. Maggie’s hair blew in Dave’s face as a wind gusted out of nowhere. The engine noise revved louder, an impatient driver just waiting for the signal to accelerate.