by Lee Hayton
I couldn’t even convince her father, and Vila – I’m so sorry – I tried.
Daina 2004
Aspirin, damp flannels, a long drink of cold water, and I started to feel human again. There was even a packet of rice crackers on the living room floor – half-full – that I made into my tea. They settled my stomach, tasteless but substantial. No wonder women in the throes of morning sickness kept crackers handy.
I couldn’t bring myself to look through the file I’d stolen from Vila’s Dad. I checked that the phial of fluid wasn’t about to leak out but then left everything in the corner of my room. I didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to acknowledge that I’d just broken a bond of trust.
No matter that Vila had broken mine. I still had my own moral compass to live up to, and it was pointing in the other direction on this one.
I wondered how hard it would be to see her in school tomorrow. Bad enough that I’d got her in trouble and then abandoned her to her fate. Worse that I’d stolen from her father. For some reason, the theft from his briefcase registered far higher on my internal scale than the attempted theft from the mall. Not just because I’d gotten away with one, either.
I wanted the Grey Man to come by and pick all this stuff up and then just leave me alone forever. Not only that, I wanted to tear a strip off him for giving me a gift card that wasn’t. Nice trick to play on a teenage girl. Indignation riled me and prevented the long evening slumber that my body cried out for.
So I was already awake when the pebble hit the window.
The sound jerked me off the bed and I pressed myself flat against the outside wall. For a moment, a long moment, I was convinced that Vila’s Dad had discovered my theft and had come around to seek retribution.
Why he would alert me to the fact by tossing a stone at my window was a second thought that was a long time coming. When it did, I peered around the edge of the curtain to try to make out who or what was outside.
The dim shapes of the evening all melded together. Trees, the half-collapsed wooden shed/playhut/death trap, the ivy-laden fenceline. Then I saw one shadow move and separate out.
Even from this distance and this time of night, the Grey Man managed to look grey. The thin moon reflected enough light to shine off his suit jacket and illuminate the planes of his face.
He made some sort of hand gesture, but I couldn’t see what. Presumably to indicate I should come down to him. I waved and stayed where I was. No way was I running downstairs to his command after the shit he’d put me through today. Gift card indeed.
The gestures grew more frantic, and then he whispered, ‘Can you come down?’
I smiled in the shadows and leant out the window slightly. ‘No. You’ll have to come up.’
He shook his head, and I shrugged my shoulders in response. The hand gestures again, but I just turned my back to the window and laid down in bed.
Stuff him. If he wanted me to do his bidding he should pay me as an employee.
There was a series of pops as another pebble hit the side of my window and bounced down the wall back to earth. I stayed where I was. Then there was a sharp crack as something larger hit the window followed by a thud on the floor near me.
What the hell?
A note wrapped around a stone.
I looked at the window and saw a line spreading out from a chink in the glass. The arsehole must have tossed it up on the inside of the open window. Its size had caused it to actually crack the pane.
I unwrapped the message. Come down. I need to see you.
I wrapped it back around the stone and threw it straight down out of the window. Not aimed at his head exactly, but not aimed away from him either.
‘I’m not coming down. You come up.’
‘Your door’s locked,’ he replied simply. When I didn’t respond he moved a step closer to the side of the house, ‘This isn’t a game, Daina. You need to come down here now.’
No, it wasn’t a sodding game. A game was fun. A game had excitement and laughter, not fear and nausea. A game gave you a feeling of achievement at the end, or a try harder next time mentality. Not a feeling like you just wanted everything to go away.
I pulled on a sweatshirt to counter the chill of the evening air and walked carefully downstairs. Timing each step to avoid all possible creaks and squeaks was a difficult job, I had to move slowly, slowly, but he could wait.
I turned the key, twisted the knob on the deadbolt, and let myself out the back door. I turned towards the back of the house, then gave a gasp as a hand gripped me on the upper arm. He must’ve snuck around the side. I pulled my arm back.
‘What?’ I asked. I didn’t bother to whisper any longer.
‘Do you have the stuff?’ he asked. And when I didn’t immediately reply he moved to grasp my upper arm again. I danced back out of his reach.
‘I have it,’ I said and shoved my backpack at him. ‘Help yourself.’
He shook his head and wouldn’t take the bag. ‘You need to hide that away. You’re in danger if you keep it with you.’
His voice had so little inflection in it that it took a moment for the meaning to register.
‘What danger? From Vila’s Dad you mean?’
He moved towards the street. After a second I followed, and he answered when we got to the footpath, his face lit by the streetlamp overhead. Strained. Wary.
‘Not from Mr Fa'amoe, no. In fact, he’s in danger too. There are other people about who may have twigged to what he’s working on. They may have found out he’s been digging around into things he shouldn’t.’
He stopped and looked up and down the street, then set off in the direction of the Main North Road. When I caught up with him, he was turning his head, scanning in all directions. That made me more nervous than what he’d said.
‘Where are we going?’
‘You need to hide that away. There’s a new subdivision near the old people’s home. We’ll be able to store it somewhere safely there for the meantime.’
‘Wait,’ I said and stopped walking. ‘Don’t you want to have a look at what I got before we hide it?’
‘I know what you’ve got. So do some other people.’ He turned back to me and for the first time I saw real fear on another person’s face. An adult person. A chill ran down my backbone and lodged in my kidneys like a cold stone. A cold ache.
‘What other people?’ I whispered. It felt like all my blood was pooling at my feet. A whine started in my ear, so like a siren that I jerked my head to the side before I realised it was a sound for me only.
He shook his head and started to walk again. His long stride ate up the distance with ease and I had to skip a little to keep pace. The backpack rubbed against my shoulder-blades, its weight more noticeable now that it had attracted danger.
We walked in silence for twenty minutes. The Grey Man led me down some backstreets, and then the crowded suburban roads started to be dotted with empty sections, and then fields. There was a house with its frame finished, but everything else wide open. A tarpaulin flapped where it had been tied to protect the bare wooden structure. The frame looked skeletal in the wispy moonlight.
‘Through there,’ he said and pointed at the floor inside.
‘Where?’ I said as I followed his finger, and found nothing but plywood floorboards on top of cold concrete foundations.
‘There’s a manhole through to underneath,’ he said. He pulled himself up onto the floor as well and scuffed his foot back and forth in a semicircle. I did the same and felt the edge of a wooden slat that didn’t quite fit level.
I knelt and located a small recess in the wood where my fingers could get purchase, and lifted. There was a half-metre square hole that dropped through to the ground beneath. My fingers slipped, but I stuck my foot in the gap, then got my hands underneath to tip it over.
The sound echoed off the trees at the far edges of the fields. I looked around, but there was no one anywhere around. Sound travelled, and we would be able to hear anyone out there who w
as moving around. There was no one.
‘Do you have a torch?’ I asked with faint hope. He shook his head. I tried to peer into the hole, but I couldn’t make out a thing. Just darkness. Possibly with spiders.
‘Move it into another room. Into a corner. We don’t want anyone accidentally stumbling across it.’
I snorted in derision. The house may be half-finished, but it had been that way for a long time. The tarp may keep the worst of the moisture out of the house, but there were still wide water stains spread across the flooring. Christchurch didn’t produce that much rain in a year. This had been abandoned for a while.
I turned so my back was to the hole, and then dropped my feet down in the blackness. My skin crawled at the thought of what could be lurking down there, but I forced myself to take off my backpack and kneel down on the cold ground.
I stretched a hand out in front of me and swept it back and forth. As I crawled forward, I kept doing it until I felt the beam of a wall join in front of me. I pushed the backpack through a gap, and then felt out the outline and squeezed myself through. My head scraped on the rough wood, a splinter lodged just above my hairline. Shit.
The hand supporting my weight on the ground found the edges of something sharp. I tried to sit back on my knees, but my head banged on the floor above me.
I swore as I picked up the backpack and pulled out its contents. They weren’t protected in any way, I didn’t even have so much as a supermarket bag with me, but the area was so dry I figured they’d probably be okay.
With the test tube inserted into the manila folder, I pushed it as far along as my fingertips could reach. I started to move backwards, trying not to hit the sharp object with my knee again, then worried that the papers would blow away. I felt around me, and located a piece of stone or brick, and moved back in the direction of the folder. When I could brush against its outside edge, I tossed the stone.
There was a soft tinkle, and I remembered the glass tube inside. Too late. If it was broken, then it was already gone.
Reversing myself I strained in the darkness to see where the manhole had gone. For a moment, I thought that it had been closed. That the Grey Man had played another trick on me and I was trapped. The squeeze of claustrophobia pushed the air out of my chest.
Then I made out the slight glow that differentiated the hole. I moved toward it, more quickly now that I was on my way out. When I got to the edge, I popped up and levered myself up onto the floor, gasping.
I lay on my stomach for a moment, then rolled over onto my back. I tilted my head back, the world appearing upside down, but I couldn’t see the Grey Man. I flipped the cover back into place and stood up, wiping my hands on the front of my jeans. Frayed and now filthy. He wasn’t there.
For Pete’s sake. First he gives me a crap gift. Next, he scares me half to death with hints and implications of the trouble that’s following me. And now he buggers off altogether leaving me alone in the middle of the night to make my own way home.
Man really knows how to treat a lady.
My mind flashed back to the night in the park and I pulled my sweatshirt closer around me.
I was miles from anywhere where people would congregate. What if someone had followed? I couldn’t even run the length of a mall without passing out, how would I run twenty minutes back to a main road?
‘Get it sorted, did you?’ came a voice behind me, and I cried out. My body flooded with relief and then flushed hotter.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, creeping up on me like that? You scared the shit out of me.’
‘Where did you think I’d be? Hardly creeping.’
‘Well, you’re certainly a creep!’
I sounded like a small child, and I stamped my foot in frustration, adding to the image. ‘Why did you give me that card? There was nothing on it. It was embarrassing.’
And damn if he didn’t back further into the shadows. I couldn’t see his face. Couldn’t make out his expression. If he had any expression at all. The guy had a blank look at the best of times.
‘Well?’
He stepped back toward me. ‘This isn’t the time.’
I took a step closer as well. ‘It is if I say it is. I’ve done everything you asked. There was no need to do that to me, it didn’t matter. I don’t understand and I want you to explain it.’
‘We need to get you back home. It’s late, and you need to get some sleep. You’ve got school tomorrow.’
‘Explain it quickly then. Explain it as we go.’
‘Daina, I…’ He trailed off and shrugged again. ‘I just didn’t have time to get it set up. I thought it would be nice, and then I forgot.’
‘You went to the shop to pick up the card, but you didn’t have time to top it up? What does that take, a minute, two? Stop bullshitting me.’
He pulled me forward by my upper arm, and force-marched me to the footpath. ‘I’ll explain it someday, but right now we need to go. We need to get out of here.’
‘Why? What’s the rush? We’re in the middle of nowhere.’
‘There were two men tailing us until we got across the Main North Road. When we cut through the alleyway, we lost them, but they’re not going to stay lost forever. The longer we stay here, the more chance we’ll be found.’
I followed along behind him feeling muddled more than fearful.
‘Why are there people after us? Why are you so scared? I don’t understand.’
‘You don’t need to understand.’
‘I do. I can’t stand this. Tell me!’ My voice had risen steadily and the last was a shout in the darkness. If there really were people on our tail, then they’d have a pretty good idea of which direction to try next.
‘Daina, there are forces at work here that are outside of your control. You’re not going to be able to know everything or even part of some things. Every piece of information places you in more danger, and I don’t want the murder of a teenage girl on my head.’
He walked a few paces in front of me, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. Then he spun on his heel. ‘I only agreed to get into this as long as you were kept as safe as possible. I’m not going to be the one to break that promise now. We need to go. We need to go now. And I’m sorry but I can’t tell you why or how or what or who. Just trust me and come with me.’
‘Why on earth would I trust you?’ I called back to him, my vision starting to wobble. ‘You turn up out of the blue and make me do things that I hate myself for doing, and then you won’t even tell me why. I don’t know you from Adam and you expect me to trust you?’
‘I told you I’d come back for you Daina. Here I am. I kept my word. Trust me just on that.’
I shook my head to clear it. Nothing he said made sense.
‘I’ve never met you before. What are you talking about?’
He came back, pulled me by the elbow, and this time I trotted next to him to keep pace. ‘You remember me Daina, I know you do. But just keep quiet for a while. We need to make sure we get clear of this area.’
We walked at a quick pace until we reached the inner-suburban housing again. And then the Grey Man made a series of weird roading choices until we were back outside my house.
‘I won’t see you for a while. It’s best we stay clear of each other until I’m sure that no one’s looking.’
He took a step and I called him back.
‘If I’m in danger, does that mean Vila’s Dad is in danger too?’ It had been bad enough stealing from him, I didn’t want to get him in trouble too.
‘Don’t worry about him, Daina. He’s old enough and knowledgeable enough to get himself out of anything he’s landed himself in.’
‘What about what I’ve landed him in.’
He patted me on the shoulder. ‘You haven’t landed anybody in anything. He’s taking risks for himself.’ He moved away again, his hands swinging softly against his coat.
I wanted to call after him again. I wanted to find out more. But he wouldn’t tell me. My arms wer
e shaking, though whether from the cold night air or a holdover from my earlier collapse, I couldn’t be sure.
I wished for a moment that I’d kept the files from the backpack with me. Maybe I could have deciphered something in them, worked out how much trouble I’d just stolen for myself.
Then again, I was tired and my brain didn’t seem to be sorting information in the right order. I slipped in through the back door to a house that didn’t even notice that I’d been gone. All I craved was sleep.
As my eyes closed and I started to drift off, I felt a shot of anger. It’s not fair, my mind thought as though it were independent of me, I didn’t tell anyone about the secret.
Coroner’s case file number 46782
Council Complaints Report 4th November 2004
Type of Service: Property
Body of Complaint: Caller identified as Mr Wilbur Burton called to complain of unlawful activities taking place in a subdivision site, lot 47, land parcel 6674.
Remains of an unlicensed fire, items of clothing, empty drink bottles and cans were located on the property. He and nearby residents would like the property secured so that it can’t continue to be used for squatting and/or parties.
The caller expressed concern that underage drinking and/or drug use may be happening on the property. Recommended to the caller that police be called if an urgent response is required.
Response: Council site inspection ordered
Status: Non-urgent – expected date 6 weeks
Coroner’s case file number 46782
Council Complaints Report 24th November 2004
Type of Service: Property
Body of Complaint: Caller identified as Mr Wilbur Burton called to complain of unlawful activities taking place in a subdivision site, lot 47, land parcel 6674. Further to a previous complaint he has noticed youths in the area camping out on the property. He is concerned that the underfloor area is being used as a site for unlicensed fires, and sleeping area. He would like the property secured. Recommended to the caller that police be called if an urgent response is required.
