by Carys Jones
‘Amanda,’ his smile was gone, his expression serious. ‘I’ll always come back.’
*
‘He’s gone?’ Jake shook the water out of his hair like he were dog as he emerged from the bathroom, a cloud of steam chasing after him.
‘Just to get some food,’ Amanda raised her hands at Jake from where she was blocking his path towards the front door.
‘We don’t need food.’
‘We do. The cupboards are literally bare. Unless you want to eat cobwebs and dust.’
‘When are we having tea?’ Ewan ceased being hypnotized by the fire long enough to gaze up at them, his eyes bright and inquisitive.
‘As soon as Shane gets back with the food,’ Amanda grinned brightly at him.
‘I don’t like it. I don’t want him going out. We should stay up here, away from whoever might be watching.’ Jake stalked around her towards the nearest window. He carefully pulled the curtain back and looked outside. Amanda could see from where she was standing that night had descended. Shane had barely been gone twenty minutes and already the day had been eaten away by the darkness.
And it was so dark. With the thick clouds overhead there wasn’t even the sparkle of stars or the glisten of moonlight to shine down on the log cabin. It was like they’d been sucked into a black hole where nothing escaped, not even light.
‘Jesus, it’s dark out,’ Jake muttered with disdain.
‘All the more reason to stay nice and cosy in here.’
‘We should kill the lights.’ And he did. He strode around the cabin flicking every switch until the only light came from the flickering fire. Ewan loved it.
‘Ooh, are we telling ghost stories now?’
‘Not yet.’ Amanda sat on the sofa and the little boy immediately jumped up beside her. The warmth from the fire reached out to her in a tender caress. She was still so desperately tired. She could easily just sit on the sofa while the fire crackled and snapped and slip away into a deep slumber.
‘Where did he say he was going to get food?’ Jake was still hovering near the windows, blending into the shadows.
‘Um… the nearest town.’
‘The one forty minutes away?’
‘That’s the one.’
‘And when did he leave?’ Jake’s questions were becoming sharper, more urgent.
‘Twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago. Why?’
‘Then that’s not his car heading up here.’ Jake was backing away from the window, anxiously looking around the cabin.
‘What?’ Amanda left the comfort of the sofa to go and look for herself. It made no sense that Shane would have turned back so soon. Unless he’d found a grocery store nearby, but there was nothing for miles. Amanda had made sure of that when she booked the cabin. Drawing back the blue gingham curtain, she looked out and saw a pair of lights climbing their way up towards the cabin. The road they were on led directly up to the little wooden structure, no diversions. The lights were brilliantly bright and relentless in their ascent, like an owl locked on to its prey and swooping towards them. ‘I mean…’ Amanda tried to piece it all together. ‘That must be Shane coming back, but I thought he’d be much longer.’
‘He must have gone to tip someone off.’
‘What?’ Amanda was appalled by the accusation. Shane had done nothing but support her ever since she’d first told him about her husband’s disappearance.
‘Do you trust him?’ Jake demanded, standing so close that she could smell the generic shower gel which still clung to his skin. ‘How well do you even know the guy?’
‘I’ve known Shane since forever,’ she stepped back from the man mountain she used to share her bed with. ‘I trust him with my life.’
‘Well I don’t,’ Jake was doubling back through the cabin, heading for the sofa. ‘We’re getting the hell out of here.’
‘You’re being paranoid,’ Amanda spoke quietly, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that the hairs on the back of her neck had stiffened. Jake’s fear was contagious. She gave a fearful glance towards the little boy sat beside the fire. He was almost lost to the vast shadows in the room, but the orange glow against his cheeks kept him visible.
Jake grabbed her arms and pulled her deeper into the darkness, away from the warmth of the fire. ‘I’m not going to take a risk on his life,’ he spoke with such urgency. ‘If I say we need to leave, then we need to leave.’
‘But—’
‘And I won’t take a risk with you,’ his hand was upon her cheek. The sudden warmth of his touch made Amanda feel like she’d stepped into the fire and that her whole body was being consumed by flames. ‘I was supposed to protect you.’ His eyes shone in the dim light with the tears he was fighting to hold in. ‘I let you down, Amanda,’ he stroked her cheek and stepped closer to her. ‘When I met you I saw the rest of my life in your eyes. I never wanted to leave your side.’
Jake wiped away a tear which rolled down her cheek.
‘But I did leave,’ his voice was a whisper. ‘I left and I ran and still you chased after me. Still you believed in me.’
Amanda’s lips quivered. ‘You’re still my husband.’
‘I envy your strength. And your good heart. It was what made it so easy to fall in love with you.’
The fire crackled behind them.
‘I’ll never stop loving you.’ Jake placed his other hand against her cheek and stared deep into her eyes. ‘You’ll always own my heart, Amanda. But I need you to listen to me, to trust me. I can’t let anything happen to you. To either of you,’ he glanced at the little boy patiently sitting cross-legged by the fire.
‘Fine,’ Amanda conceded, her heart pounding in her chest, trying to escape its cage of ribs. ‘Let’s go.’
Jake moved away from her, taking the heat with him. Once again Amanda was in the shadows of the cabin, in the cold as she watched Jake stoop down and grab his son, lifting Ewan up into his arms.
‘Hey!’ the little boy protested, kicking against his father.
‘Quiet,’ Jake shouted at him. But Ewan refused to be subdued. He kept kicking and squirming as he remained locked in his father’s grasp.
‘Hey, hey,’ Amanda hurried to the boy’s side as Jake made for the front door. ‘We’re going to play a little game, okay? We’re going to see who can be quiet for the longest.’
‘We are?’ Ewan instantly brightened.
‘And whoever wins gets pizza.’
‘Pizza!’
‘We need to go now before the car gets any closer.’ Jake was stepping through the front door, his voice a whisper.
‘But it might be Shane,’ Amanda hissed at him, lingering at the cabin’s threshold.
‘I’m not willing to stick around and take that chance.’
‘Jake!’
‘If it’s him he’ll go inside, realize we’re gone and come out hollering.’
Amanda knew Jake was right. And a strange feral instinct was telling her to leave the cabin, to go out into the cold. Jake was already snaking his way down the side of the building when she made up her mind and left. She hurried after him, keeping her body low. The dense shadows clustered against the cabin kept them hidden from view. She followed Jake into the trees and up a steep incline. The ground was slick with mud and she struggled to keep her footing. A woodland carpet of fallen leaves and scattered twigs made her progress precarious without a guiding light. She could so easily topple over a stone or protruding root.
Behind them the rumble of the approaching car grew louder. Amanda quickened her pace, reaching Jake at the crest of the hill where he’d dropped behind a fallen log with Ewan tight to his chest.
‘Get down,’ he ordered.
Amanda scrambled to the ground and knelt beside him. ‘What now?’
‘Now we wait.’
Through the lines of trees, Amanda saw the dual beams of light approach the cabin. After the engine died a door opened. Then another. Whoever was in the car wasn’t alone. She felt panic lock around her heart like a vice causing eve
ry breath to become laboured.
‘It… it can’t be Shane.’ Her voice trembled in the brisk night air.
‘Daddy?’ Jake clamped his hand over his son’s mouth. Tight enough to silence him but not too tight to alarm him.
‘Remember the game we’re playing?’ Amanda whispered to the little boy. Ewan nodded.
It was so quiet amongst the trees. Too quiet. There was no birdsong, no gentle rushing of a nearby stream. There was silence and Amanda’s panicked breaths filling it. She was certain that she was breathing so loud she was going to draw the attention of whoever was in that car.
The cabin door opened with a creak and Amanda knelt closer to the ground, praying that Shane was about to come out and shout for her. Perhaps she’d misheard that second door opening? Maybe it was just Shane?
There was no shouting. No one came running out into the clearing by the cabin hollering her name.
A minute passed. Then another.
‘We need to move.’ Jake was getting to his feet, hugging Ewan to his chest.
‘Okay.’ Amanda got up, cringed when a twig crunched underfoot.
‘I’m going to take us up and over this hill.’ Jake was speaking so softly she struggled to catch his words. Her entire body was tight with fear as she stumbled after him in the darkness. She could barely see her hand in front of her face. She was mainly relying on the sound of Jake’s footsteps crunching up ahead.
She moved in his wake, silently seethed as a branch scratched at her cheek. She could moan about the pain later. Right now she needed to blend in with the silence all around her.
‘The fire’s still going, they must have just left.’
The voice carried to them up from the cabin. It was vaguely familiar. It was—
‘Dammit.’ Jake muttered as he recognized the voice of the red-haired man from the petrol station just before Amanda did. He quickened his pace.
‘Let’s split up and search the area.’
Amanda’s heart plummeted all the way down to her feet. They were like ducks in a barrel just waiting to be shot.
‘Jake?’ she whispered his name just loud enough for him to catch it.
‘I heard,’ was the only response she got as he kept walking. Kept moving deeper into the woodland.
Looking back, Amanda felt something within her die when she saw a slim beam of light cutting through the trees, through the darkness.
They had torches.
‘Just keep going,’ Jake ordered. And so Amanda did. She matched him step for step as they descended through the dense woodland. All the while her heart kept racing, the hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention, painfully aware that they were being pursued.
Back at university Amanda had been fascinated by Einstein’s theory of relatively. She was always trying to understand it, to apply it to daily life. And now more than ever she understood it. In Shane’s old bedroom, beneath his faded Star Wars covers as they eagerly explored each other’s body an hour felt like a minute. Here, in the dark wilderness of the Scottish Highlands being hunted like a deer a minute felt like an hour. Amanda had no idea how long they’d been walking. Had it been ten minutes? More? Less? And how soon was Shane due back? What would those men do to him if they were still there to greet him?
‘I need to go back for Shane.’ Amanda was saying the words before she’d truly had chance to make up her mind. She turned and her feet slid out from under her. Damp earth slammed against her cheek as she collided with the ground.
‘Amanda!’ Ewan squeaked in horror. He must have seen her drop.
‘What was that?’ a voice from below shouted.
‘It came from over there.’
Both beams of light cut through the nearby trees, seeking her out. Amanda remained flat against the ground whilst Jake stepped behind a thick tree, cupping Ewan’s mouth as tight as he dared.
‘You really think they got this far on foot? There’s no car here, maybe they just drove away.’
Amanda dared to release a ragged breath of relief as her hands sunk into the cool earth.
‘No. You saw the car when it left. Just the one guy in it.’
So they’d seen Shane leave. That was why they’d come up. They knew there was no escape route for them anymore.
‘So we keep searching?’
‘We keep searching.’
Amanda was hauled up by her right arm. She scrambled to her feet and glimpsed Jake beside her in the shadows.
‘We have to keep moving.’ His voice was low but the order still contained all the urgency it needed. Amanda nodded, not that he’d be able to see. She followed Jake deeper, higher into the woodlands. The light rain which had previously seemed inconsequential had now soaked her to the bone. Her hair was flat against her head and she could hear Ewan whimpering softly to himself as he clung to his father. Clearly he’d realized that they weren’t playing a game anymore.
The beams of light kept threading their way through the trees, refusing to relent.
‘Just give it up, Jakey boy,’ a raspy voice shouted, rolling up the hillside like thunder. ‘We’ll search all night for you if we have to.’
All night.
Amanda squeezed her eyes shut in despair. If only they’d just leave. Not only were she, Jake and Ewan in danger but so was Shane. He could be driving back right now, completely oblivious to what awaited him at the cabin. Had he found pizza? Or fish and chips? Was his car now stocked full of food, wafting delicious aromas around him as he smiled to himself and hummed along to his music?
‘We need to make for the road.’ Reaching forward, Amanda clasped her hands around what she hoped was Jake’s shirt. ‘If we go back and get to the road we’ll meet Shane. He can get us out of here.’
Jake must have agreed as he changed course, brushing against her as he moved past. But then he stopped short as the beams of light crossed through his path just a few feet away. The men were getting closer.
‘How do we reach the damn road?’ he lamented.
‘We just need to pick our way down.’ Fumbling in the darkness, Amanda took the lead. Rather than heading back to the cabin they needed to take the more perilous route of going straight down. As the ground steeply inclined beneath her feet she imagined she was back home, navigating the cliffside with Shane as they made their way down to the beach. They’d laugh and taunt one another as they carefully planted each footstep. It was so often a race between them.
‘I’ll get there first!’ Shane would brag as he hopped from rock to rock.
‘First’s the worst, second’s the best,’ Amanda would counter, cementing her feelings by sticking her tongue out at him. But the long-legged brunette boy wasn’t looking. He was too busy trying to beat her. ‘Hey,’ Amanda would hurry, desperate to claim victory. The winner often got the greatest of spoils – like choosing their pizza topping for that evening or what movie they were going to watch. She’d give anything to be safe inside those memories now.
‘It’s a race,’ Amanda hid the tremor from her voice as she quietly addressed Ewan.
‘What?’ Jake sounded angry. And afraid.
‘I’m racing your daddy down to the road,’ she continued. ‘And whoever gets their first gets first pick of all the food Shane’s bringing back.’
‘Okay,’ Ewan’s eyes were enlarged, the word muffled against Jake’s hand which remained locked over his mouth.
The slope was getting so steep that gravity was keen to take over and finish her descent for her, but she couldn’t let that happen. In the dark she could smack against a tree trunk or worse, a rock. She needed to take care. Each time she dropped a foot down she braced herself for her inevitable tumble into darkness. But somehow she managed to stay standing. Reaching forwards, her hands clutched against the thick trunks of nearby trees for support.
They had to be getting close to the road. Didn’t they?
There was so little light that Amanda wasn’t sure she could trust her eyes anymore. But just up ahead the trees seemed to part. It was ei
ther the road or—
It was a clearing. A little patch of grass within the hillside. Perfect for grazing sheep but currently unoccupied. Amanda pressed her hands against her knees and doubled over, sucking in long, uneasy breaths.
‘Are we there yet? Who won?’ Ewan’s mouth was briefly freed as Jake also filled his lungs with the clean night air.
‘No one yet,’ Amanda gasped. ‘We’re nearly there.’
Her legs were like jelly. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to go much further.
And then something chirped. Loud and artificial. It broke through the silence like an alarm and Amanda felt herself melt with despair.
Her phone. Her fucking phone was ringing. Linkin Park’s Waiting for the End blared out, blissfully unaware of the silence it was shattering.
Fumbling in the dark, she plucked it from her pocket and quickly hammered on the off button, causing Shane’s name to disappear from the main screen. The silence that followed was deafening.
‘Did they… did they hear?’ she wondered desperately. Jake was frozen in the centre of the clearing, his head bent up towards the sky like a hunter checking the direction of the wind. Ewan was still in his arms, his head resting against his father’s broad chest.
‘Jake?’ she hurried to his side, tugged at his arm as he lowered his head to look at her, his face like thunder.
‘Oh, they heard all right.’
Sure enough there was a scamper of someone rushing through the trees. It sounded far too close.
29
As they’d descended down the hillside, creeping through the dense vegetation like the hunted creatures they’d become, the rain had relented. Ashen clouds were swept aside by a rough breeze which allowed silvery strands of moonlight to reach the clearing. The open space was bathed in a gentle, eerie light. But the shadows which gathered in the bordering trees were still dense. Still ominous.
‘Take him.’ Jake grunted the order as he untangled Ewan from his arms and passed him across to Amanda. The boy was muted by fear. He too must have sensed the nervous energy which radiated out from his father and crackled around him, filling the clearing with electrical current.
