Friends and Secrets

by Grace Thompson

  She would have to face meeting her brother, Mike, and then her husband, Bryan. Poor Bryan. How could she have treated him so badly? She had shown no understanding towards him when their children had died, so how could she expect understanding from him, or Mike or Meriel for that matter? She was so busy berating herself that she lost concentration for a moment and didn’t see the huge tree that had fallen across the lane.

  She clamped down both feet on the pedals, feeling the bite of the safety belt across her chest. The squeal of the brakes seemed to go on for ever. Leaves on the smaller branches covered the bonnet of the Saab and the miraculously intact windscreen before she stopped.

  * * *

  Sophie had the lights off and was looking through the window wondering where Evan had gone and when he would be back. She had foolishly offered to look after Toby, while Vivienne went out with friends and he was crying, and wouldn’t be comforted. Not that she had tried very hard. So he was frightened of the storm? So what, there was nothing she could do about it. She put him into bed and let him cry, covering her ears when his wailing penetrated the sound of the storm. Irritably, Sophie looked at the clock, squinting at the dial in the darkness. She couldn’t see and that irritated her more but she didn’t switch on the light, she hoped that with continuing darkness, Toby would eventually sleep. It must soon be time for Vivienne to collect him? And where was Evan? Impatient, bothered by the little boy’s distress which she had no idea how to deal with, she grabbed a coat ready to go out. Evan was sure to be with Meriel, she decided with growing anger.

  She was aware of a low moaning sound and to add to her alarm a window cracked and broke. Slivers of glass tinkled down on to the floor and the wind burst through the house. Pictures fell from the walls, shelves slithered to the floor. The staircase twisted with a fearful groan and banisters popped out and threw themselves across the hall like champagne corks. The whole building was out of true, up was no longer up, and the house seemed to shudder before slipping sideways.

  She started up the stairs to fetch Toby but her nerve gave out as the house shook under the onslaught of a violent blast of wind. She ran to the door but it wouldn’t open. Screaming she tried the door at the side which resisted but finally gave way and she almost fell from the house. She ran away from the shelter of the damaged building where the wind buffeted her, throwing her playfully against a wall. Leaving Toby in the bedroom, she ran across the field to find Evan.

  The sound which began as a low murmur increased until the air around her seemed to be a part of it, making her stop and crouch on the ground, afraid but with no idea of what. The sound became a roar and filled her ears so she couldn’t think. When it slowed, then built up again as loudly as before she knew she had to run. But when she stood up and looked about her, everything was dark and she had lost her sense of direction. She tried to go back to the house, guessing by the direction of the terrifyingly powerful wind, which way to turn, but the ground in front of her had disappeared, she was on the edge of a gaping hole. Screaming but with no hope of being heard, she ran first one way then another, until she recognized the path leading to the drive of Meriel’s house, from where she could hear the barking of the two dogs.

  * * *

  Meriel was standing listening to the furious storm when there was a loud banging on the back door. Thinking that this time it had to be Cath, she ran to open it, thankful that the hardboard had remained in place. It was Evan.

  ‘What are you doing back?’ she demanded ungraciously.

  ‘Come and listen to this,’ he said.

  In the distance, fearful in the darkness and the fury of the storm, there came a sound like thunder. But it didn’t stop, it went on and on, so loud that it was clearly heard above the wind that lashed the trees around them.

  ‘I don’t think that was thunder,’ he said.

  ‘What can it be?’

  ‘I don’t know. Perhaps lightning struck a building?’

  ‘It sounded more like a dozen buildings.’ Then she added in alarm. ‘Evan, what about Sophie? It’s coming from the direction of your house!’

  ‘And Joanne’s and Cynthia’s. Could this talk about subsidence have been real?’ He turned to go inside. ‘I’ll have to phone to see if Sophie is all right.’

  ‘I’ll phone Joanne.’ Then she added. ‘You first.’

  The door swung wildly as they re—entered the kitchen and the bottom panel dropped, making it difficult to close it. They were panting when they finally made it secure.

  The telephone produced no reply. ‘The lines might be down.’ she said. Not knowing what else to do, she pulled on an anorak and prepared to follow Evan out into the night.

  ‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘You wait here. There’s no point in us both walking into danger.’

  The night was torn with the sound of distant sirens approaching and, as they stood undecided, they saw the flashing lights coming along the roads from several directions.

  ‘Police, fire and ambulance, I have to go!’ Evan tightened his jacket around him when someone appeared at the door which was being held open with difficulty, by Meriel.

  ‘Cath?’ Meriel said, as the figure loomed out of the darkness. But it was Sophie.

  ‘The house,’ she shouted. ‘Come quickly. The western side of the field has collapsed!’

  ‘Where’s Toby?’ Meriel demanded.

  ‘I was just about to leave the house to look for you,’ Sophie sobbed, ignoring Meriel’s question. ‘Then everything went wild.’

  ‘Where’s Toby?’ Meriel shouted.

  ‘The house has fallen sideways and Toby is upstairs,’ she sobbed, ‘And you’d left me on my own.’ Afraid to admit that she had been too scared to go up the damaged staircase to rescue him she went on, ‘I came to fetch you, before going with him to find Vivienne, I didn’t want you to be worried by finding the house damaged and me not there.’

  Meriel didn’t wait to hear any more. She squeezed her way past them, pushing unnecessarily hard against the cowardly woman, and ran, almost oblivious of the gale, across the field to the houses on the cliff.

  Sophie tried to stop Evan from following her. ‘Stay with me. Why is she always your first concern!’

  ‘Out of my way you selfish bitch!’ In a frenzy, Evan ran into the violence of the night calling for Meriel, pleading with her to wait.

  The storm was at its height and when Meriel and Evan reached the cliff path they were soaked several times by the waves crashing abnormally high. In a panic, worried for the little boy alone in a damaged house, they ran on.

  * * *

  Cath was walking. At first she tried to look for danger from falling branches but soon realized it was impossible to see clearly enough to save herself from anything in the darkness. She walked as fast as she could, heading for the houses on the cliffs. On the far side of the estate was Meriel’s house and to her that was sanctuary. Then she saw the flames.

  Memories came flooding back. The fire, her children dead, then running and running and running. Now she pulled her thoughts away from that tragedy with difficulty and wished she had a mobile phone.

  A car approached, and she flattened herself against the hedge, wishing she had chosen the ditch on the other side. The lane was narrow at this point and gave very little room for a car to pass.

  Ken was driving too fast. He was unable to see much of the road ahead, but hoped that there wouldn’t be anyone about on such a night. The headlights shone on the startled face of Cath and he turned the wheel too far and ended with the front wheels in the ditch.

  He got out prepared to shout at the figure still standing against the hedge, but seeing her face and aware that the fault had been his own, he asked instead if she was all right.

  ‘You won’t be able to move that without help.’

  Switching on a torch he had taken from the car, he shrugged and replied, ‘This won’t be the only road blocked tonight. Where are you heading?’

  ‘I’m trying to get to Meriel Parry’s.’
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br />   ‘I’ll walk you there. I won’t be going anywhere tonight. Not in this,’ he said looking at his car, tilted at an angle, front wheels in the ditch.

  Bending low against the wind, they linked arms for strength and pushed past the car and continued along the lane. Stopping for a rest when a heavy shower made walking difficult, she said quietly, ‘I’ve been running away, and tonight I decided to come back and face it all. What a night to choose, eh? I wish I’d waited a while longer.’

  Ken turned his head to peer at her in the gloom. He said nothing for a moment, then said slowly, ‘That’s what I was doing, running away, but perhaps in my case the storm helped. I know now that running away won’t solve anything.’ They continued on, linked like friends, Cath to face Meriel and Mike and her husband Bryan, Ken to face Christian and Cynthia, and the police, but nothing more was said.

  During that walk through the wildness and danger of the storm, clutching the arm of a woman he did not know, Ken made his decision. He wouldn’t run away. He had to face the people he had tried to destroy. At least that way there was a time in the future when he would be free, having taken his punishment. To start again was sobering but he had a feeling that Christian wouldn’t completely abandon him. One day he would get everything sorted and be able to hold his head high.

  * * *

  Meriel and Evan reached the pair of semis and saw that Sophie had not exaggerated. Both properties were damaged but rescue teams had arrived incredibly quickly. In the glow of flood-lights, with shadows of rescue workers adding their eerie presence to the scene, Meriel ran panting to one of the policemen and asked about Toby.

  ‘Toby who, madam?’ he asked. ‘We have only two names for this property, an Evan Parry and a Sophie Hopkins.’

  ‘Toby Robertson is in there! He’s three and was being looked after by Sophie!’ She tried to push past him but he held her back.

  ‘You’re mistaken, Miss. The place has been searched and there’s no one there. No,’ he added firmly as Meriel tried to pull away from him. ‘You can’t go in there I’m afraid.’

  ‘I have to! Toby is there I tell you. He must have hidden in fright when this happened.’

  Still holding her firmly, the policeman called to someone and told them to search through the building again. ‘This time,’ he added, ‘Look in every place big enough to hide a mouse. There’s a child missing.’

  The shout about a missing child passed around the rescue workers and investigators and a team went in to search with greater care but they came out shaking their heads.

  ‘There’s a camp-bed in the back with the covers thrown back as though someone has just got out of it, but no sign of the child.’

  * * *

  Henri had called to see Rupert and Oliver and Marcus earlier that evening and, without telling Cynthia, who might have been worried, the twins had set off to walk her home. Marcus, listening to the howling wind that was increasing in ferocity, lay in his bed watching television, thankful that they had refused his request to go with them.

  He heard the telephone and listened as his mother spoke to his father but didn’t take notice of what was being said. He hoped his father would be home soon, though. It sounded dangerous out there. Then he heard his mother shouting and realized that their conversation had been inexplicably ended. Then the lights and his television went off. The sudden darkness and loss of sound was alarming and he ran down to see his mother.

  ‘Daddy has broken down,’ she told him. ‘He’s somewhere on Gower, but the phones went off before he could say any more. His car went into a branch of a tree that had fallen across the hedge and jutted into the road.’

  ‘He’ll be all right,’ Marcus said, reaching out and clambering on to her knee.

  ‘Yes, it’s only this old storm that’s pulled down the line I expect.’ She kissed him then stood him down. ‘Go and call your brothers and we’ll make some hot chocolate.’

  ‘No we won’t, Mum.’ He was about to tell her that the twins were out but instead, said, ‘No electricity is there?’

  They sat together listening to the storm raging around them, then they heard the roaring sound that had signalled the collapse of the cliffs near the semis, only yards from the end of their garden.

  ‘What on earth was that?’

  They looked out but could see nothing, and began to think it had been thunder, although the sound had been different from the usual crackling and thumps.

  They were standing at the window looking towards the cliffs, from where the terrifying sound was continuing, when they saw the first of the flashing lights telling them something serious had occurred. Cynthia looked in the direction of the phone, wishing she could be told that Christian was safe.

  ‘I’ll have to go and see what’s happened,’ she told Marcus. ‘You stay here with your brothers.’

  ‘Mum, they aren’t here,’ he said, his eyes wide with anxiety. To reassure her he said, ‘They won’t be long, any minute now they’ll be back and you can tell them off. They didn’t want Henri walking home on her own.’

  Cynthia felt the cold chill of fear. Something terrible was happening out there, and Christian and the twins were out in it. She hugged Marcus and, in a choked voice, said, ‘We have to be brave, darling, and wait for them to come home.’

  * * *

  Vivienne was listening to the radio in Tom’s house on Holly Oak Lane and was alarmed to hear the announcer say. ‘Reports are coming in of a landslip near Abertrochi…’

  She didn’t wait to hear more. She reached for her coat and Tom grabbed his car keys.

  When they reached the scene, it was quickly established that Toby was missing. The police assured her that every policeman available was out searching. ‘He couldn’t have gone far. He must have woken when the house was damaged and ran off to find you. He’ll be found soon, I’m certain of it.’

  Tom and she went to the cliff path. It was the way she and Toby often walked when they went to see Meriel and she had an idea that was where the little boy would have been heading. They heard someone calling her son’s name and recognized a distraught Meriel on the same errand as themselves.

  ‘That stupid woman left him alone after the house was damaged to come and find Evan. Oh, Vivienne, when will you learn that it’s your job to see that he’s safe!’ The necessity to raise her voice to be heard added to the anger she felt.

  ‘We couldn’t have foreseen this,’ Tom said, with a calmness he didn’t feel. ‘Now, where have you looked?’

  ‘Only on this stretch of the path. I dodged the police and tried to clamber down the fallen area to make sure he isn’t down there. I went as far down as I could and called, but I doubt he could hear me in this storm.’

  ‘Wouldn’t he have cut across the field?’ Tom asked.

  ‘We could try there but much of it is already cordoned off and in any case, several people have already looked, with more powerful torches than we have,’ Meriel said, still shouting. ‘We should separate. I’ll try the rest of the path and—’

  ‘No,’ Tom said. ‘We have to stay together. It’s safer, and we stand a better chance of our voices being heard.’

  * * *

  Joanne wasn’t worried by the storm at first. Apart from the rattle and clanging of a dustbin outside she had no presage of disaster. Jeremy and Justin had gone to the cinema with friends straight from school and should be home soon. She was enjoying the solitude, aware of the storm increasing, comfortable in the sensation of being safe from its fury.

  The television went off and the lights failed but it seemed nothing more than a mild inconvenience. Then she heard the rumbling roar as the semis were damaged, the sound of the path shifting and rocks and gravel falling into the sea. The sound went on for what seemed an age and whatever had caused it was close at hand. Very close. She looked up as a trickle of plaster fell from the ceiling and a crack appeared.

  Subsidence! Christian was guilty of a cover-up. He had lied and they were going to be killed. Oh, where were the boys?
She felt her way to the telephone to try and phone the cinema and the parents of the friends they had gone with, trying to remember the number as she couldn’t read the phone book. The phone was as dead as the television and the lights. Where was John?

  Leaving a message for the boys, she went out to see what had happened. Perhaps she’d be lucky enough to find a telephone still working and ring the cinema, then John. Feeling through the drawers, she found a notebook and took it with her; it contained most of their regularly used phone numbers.

  The car started first time and she sighed with relief. She had to drive right into the village before finding a telephone box that was working. There were several people waiting to use it, anxious to report the loss of communication to the outside world. When it was her turn, she telephoned the cinema and they promised to flash a message on the screen telling the boys to wait for her to arrive and not go home with anyone else.

  She tried three numbers but couldn’t contact John. Crying with frustration and anxiety, she fumbled in her handbag for the notebook which she had grabbed before leaving the house. It was John’s. In her frantic haste she had picked up the wrong one. She had to shine a torch to read the pages and couldn’t find any place listed where he might be found at such time of night. There was a number without any explanatory name beside it. It wasn’t a number she recognized. It was worth trying. Anything was worth trying, to reach him and tell him what was happening.

  People outside were getting impatient and were knocking on the glass and miming for her to hurry. She opened the door a crack and said, ‘I need to get in touch with my husband. our boys are out in this.’ The faces relaxed with sympathy and they resigned themselves to wait. She dialled the number.

  At first, she didn’t recognize the voice. It was one she hadn’t heard for many years.