12. A Cosy Drink
A significant area of the pub was set-aside for the Band’s meeting. Lauren had put reserved signs on all the tables.
Rick there, texting someone on his phone. Liz and Andy had come early. Maurice, Ernie, Gary, Sue, Tony, Jackie, Pat, Wee Renee, Freddie and Brenda were already there. Alan turned up and had decided to bring Ann, after her insistence.
Terry brought Sally and Carl over from Melden. After some deliberation, Wee Renee had spoken to Hazel, the new cornet player, who had decided not to come. She said she was very interested but would prefer to have an update about the whole matter in Friarmere previously before she embarked on this one.
The truth was, Wee Renee thought it was probably for the best not to involve her. Why put someone in danger when they could be oblivious and happy? But she felt that there was a possibility Hazel would find out that she hadn’t been invited to the pub and would get upset. Hazel said that she would come the next time that they had one. She had made previous arrangements for tonight, and Wee Renee was quite happy about that. If it got solved, Hazel might never have to hear what a frightening place she lived in.
When everyone got their drinks, including Lauren, they all sat down. Like conspirators, they leaned forward to listen carefully. The fire behind them, they glanced every so often all around them and to the window. They had been here before.
‘So, I have a couple more pieces of evidence,’ Wee Renee said. ‘Firstly, there has been an occurrence near the High School. Don’t panic, Sue and Tony.’ Sue did panic almost immediately with an involuntary squawk.
‘This is exactly why no-one tells us anything, Sue,’ Tony said crossly.
’Listen, something was in the bushes and dogs were barking at it. Yes, Bob and Adam saw it but thought it was probably nothing to do with our mystery and as two thoughtful boys, didn’t want to alarm you. I went there and found exactly the same fur as I found on the Moors. I have checked it under my microscope, and it is identical. I also found another dropping. Again, the same size and colour I might add,’ Wee Renee said. Liz wrinkled her nose and looked at Sally, who rolled her eyes.
‘Now what I found out about the fur, is that it is not from a native creature of the British Isles. In fact, the fur matches nothing known on Earth really. It is nothing that we know. It is a real fur, not synthetic. This is not a man in a fancy-dress costume. It’s not human either, and that is all I can tell you.’
’So, we have two sightings now?’ Ernie asked.
’No actually,’ Wee Renee took a deep breath and smiled. ‘We have three. Hence me picking this place, and not The Grange for this meeting,’ Wee Renee said. ‘I will let Alan tell you his tale.’
Alan didn’t realise that he would be put on the spot. He flapped for a minute then told them his version.
‘I am always happy to tell my side of the story, which wasn’t much, but here you go,’ Alan said.
He told them he had gone up the to the Bandroom to look at music because he didn’t want to say he was snooping around. He had seen something exit out of the front gate when he was leaving and then he had seen it for real when he drove off in his rear-view mirror.
All the time he drank his beer pretty fast, and Lauren shouted to one of the barmaids to bring another one over. Ann kept stroking his arm as he described his trauma.
Joe entered now, a little late and apologetic. Lauren called for another drink to be brought over, and Rick quickly updated him on the matters.
’We have three sightings. What is everyone making of it?’ Gary asked.
’Well it’s been seen at the Secondary School, the Moors and The Grange. There are some of us at two of those places. At the School, there was only two of us, but all of us up at The Grange. It must have smelled us,’ Ernie said.
‘Smelled the Friarmere gang? Are you saying that it’s after all those that killed the vampires?’ Liz asked.
’Yes, but it can’t have gone particularly after Alan, because he wasn’t with you in the past fights. There was only him that night,’ Ann commented, trying to reassure herself more than anyone else. ‘And what about poor Tilly, can you imagine if I had lost her!’
’To be quite honest Alan,’ Terry said, ‘maybe it just smelled you as its potential victim but didn’t attack you because you had the dog with you.’
’That’s a good point Dad,’ Sally said.
’So, do we think it lives on the Moors?’ Lauren asked.
‘I think so,’ Wee Renee said.
‘So that’s where we’ll find it,’ Jackie said, ‘but it is also roaming quite a long way down here.’
‘We don’t know how far up it lives on the Moors.’ Freddie said. ‘What if its lair is very high on the tops, and it’s coming down further than we think. What if sometimes it goes the other way? What if it goes over into Melden?’
’That’s a thought,’ Carl said, ‘but I haven’t heard of anything over there.’
’Neither have I,’ said Terry. Sally shook her head.
’There’s something else you lot. It may or may not have anything to do with it. I heard something today on the grapevine. Last night, around that time, a man went missing with this dog. And he usually walked it up near The Grange,’ Lauren said. The whole lot of them gasped.
’We know it was there, and we now know someone’s missing. I don’t think it takes Einstein to put two and two together,’ Pat said.
’Let’s just hope they turn up,’ Joe commented.
’Anyway, what I wanted to say was, after I had heard Alan’s story, I went up to The Grange, and I found some evidence,’ Wee Renee said.
’Inside the Grange?’ Alan asked. ‘I’m positive I locked the door. Yes, I did lock the door. I had locked the door before I even saw it.’
’No, I had a good snoop around. I have an eye for those kinds of things,’ Wee Renee said. ‘And I went through into the graveyard at the back through the metal gate, which was wide open. I can’t ever remember seeing that open, so I knew it had been there,’ Wee Renee said.
’Rene, what are you playing at? That graveyard’s unsafe. You could have been lost. We might never have found you! We would never have looked for you there, and the beast could have got you,’ Pat said, clearly upset.
’Well I ended up walking with someone else, they didn’t know anything about it. I wasn’t on my own let’s just say that,’ Wee Renee said. ‘And what it amounted to was that I did find something. Right at the back of the graveyard. More evidence. Another dropping.’
‘You mean a big poo again?’ Jackie asked.
’Yes, I do,’ Wee Renee said
’That could be anyone’s,’ Liz said.
’No there was other evidence that showed me that it was the creature. It’s quite clearly our beast, I have no doubt,’ Wee Renee said, doing a long blink and then taking a drink of her sweet sherry.
‘The plot thickens,’ Ernie said.
Late that night, on the way to the Pub, the beast picked up another smell. A strong scent of the match. Its target had been here and had been here for a while. The beast had never been down here next to this slow running water. The rain started to fall, but the beast didn’t mind that.
It walked down, against the side of the water. It enjoyed the musty dampness of the night-time. Watching the rats scurry away in terror. They wouldn’t come out while it was there. Rats knew it. The beast wasn’t bothered, there wasn’t much in a rat. It was still full from its meal of human and terrier.
The beast continued. Enjoying the damp, smelling the scent, watching the rats swim, listening to the gentle water sounds. These were simple pleasures that it relished.
It became aware that the scent of the match was gone. It just needed to check. The smell ended in an area where humans rested. They had stopped here. He must have turned and gone back. It still couldn’t pick up where the match’s lair was. The box it lived in. Once it did, it would take it straight away. As long as it had no other humans with it.
The creat
ures squatted in the bushes for a while. When it was sure that Friarmere would be empty, it went to check on the place that held its mate. It walked back along the side of the canal and onto the High Street and into Friarmere.
It was foggy and rainy. Very quietly, it looked longingly inside the pub. The pub was now dark and locked up. There was no chance of getting in. Their love was still in there. It would retrieve it sooner or later.
That night, Matt had the same nightmare as before. This time it was more vivid, he could smell himself, and it wasn’t good. He smelled like a wet dog with a strong hint of raw meat.
He saw everything in a different light. The cold meant nothing, the grass and peat were all he felt or needed to feel. The pleasure was immense and immediate. A thrill with every step. Matt was at one with the earth, the sky but most of all he was attuned with himself, his needs. Not wants. He didn’t know what that was. Need – take – have – these were the rules he lived by.
He felt so strange in the dream like he wasn’t Matt. Like he had never been Matt. What worried him is that it felt so good.
13. Sunday Breakfast
Tommy and Suzanne felt like a walk. It had rained in the night but was now clear. The weather forecast said rain later, so they thought they would take their chance with Bella while the going was good.
Tommy had suggested taking her on a walk down to the canal – way away from the Moors, then afterwards, a spot of breakfast at the Coffee Shop. Suzanne was very much up for this, and they were out by 8am, hopefully, to arrive at 9am when the Coffee Shop opened.
They were talking about what they wanted to plant in the allotment this year. Tommy was looking at the ducks on the canal as he walked, and Suzanne was holding Bella’s lead.
They had been on the canal path at least ten minutes when Tommy finally looked down. What he saw horrified him, and he had no doubt as to what it was.
‘Suzanne, stop!’ Tommy shouted.
‘What?’ Suzanne said alarmed. Tommy looked at the enormous footprints in the mud, stretching in front of their path and behind, where they had just walked. He could see them ahead clearly, unfortunately, their two footprints and Bella’s pawprints, slowly were obliterating the evidence at the rear.
’It’s been here, Suzanne. Look at the footprints. Those are the ones I saw the other side of the fence. I mean who else walks around with bare feet and a size 15 foot?’ Tommy asked her. Suzanne looked down herself she couldn’t imagine who else it could be, especially seeing as Tommy had seen the prints up on the Moors.
’What shall we do?’ Suzanne asked, wringing her hands.
’Let’s see where they go to,’ Tommy said. ‘But try and avoid the prints so that if Wee Renee wants to look at them, she can examine them.’
‘Try to avoid them! I don’t want to go anywhere near them!’ Suzanne said. ‘What if it’s further on?’
‘Well it didn’t attack us before when we were with Bella, why should it now?’ Tommy reasoned.
Trying to keep out of the unspoilt prints, they walked along another few minutes and saw that they stopped at the bench.
‘They don’t go further,’ Tommy said. ‘Just wait for a sec.’ Tommy walked around the bench he couldn’t see droppings anywhere or any other evidence as to why the creature would have been there.
’What shall we do then?’ Suzanne said.
’Do you have to ask me every five minutes Suze? This is as new to me as it is to you,’ Tommy said, Suzanne didn’t say another word.
’These are a good set of prints, which are pretty clear. Wee Renee should be able to see them even if some people walk over the others. After breakfast, I’ll call round to see her. As far as I can see it will just be a confirmation of the same print. I can’t believe it’s been all the way down here. This is far away from the Moors.’ Tommy said. He carried on looking out the prints. ‘There’s no mistaking it Suzanne. It was here.’ Suzanne bit her lip. He could tell she wanted to go.
’We’ll have a talk about it when we get to the Coffee Shop,’ Tommy said.
When they got to the Coffee Shop, there was only one other person. The man sat mooning over a cup of coffee, and a bacon and egg croissant.
Suzanne and Tommy sat a few tables away from him. They ordered their breakfast, but the fact was that the whole trip had been spoiled after finding those footprints.
On the other table, Matt saw the couple come in with the collie dog. He had to get out of the house again. He still had bacon and bread at home, but just wanted to be with people.
Matt was thinking about his dream too much. He had made sure to eat nothing that would give him a nightmares tonight.
Last night was so much more than a bad dream, unbelievably he thought he had actually experienced the nightmare. To distract him from his thoughts he tuned in to the couple’s conversation. He knew he shouldn’t, but it was a distraction and his need was greater this morning. They were whispering so he had to try hard. At least the concentration would take him away from his own thoughts even more.
He could only pick up a few words from them. They kept saying the word footprints. He heard the word canal once or twice. The man kept putting his hand on the woman’s arm as she was clearly stressed about something.
This distraction helped Matt eat his breakfast. He started to pick away at the croissant and bacon. Matt could tell the man was going to go somewhere on his way back home and he told the woman not to worry.
There was obviously something wrong as the woman was quite pale and the man’s facial expressions told him that he was extremely concerned too.
Everyone had their own problems he supposed. It wasn’t until he heard the word monster, that he wondered if they had the same problem.
It had crossed Matt’s mind that he could have been sleepwalking and doing the things he was dreaming about, that it was actually happening. It seemed so real.
He disposed of that idea when he woke up in his bed, and saw that his feet weren’t dirty. He was still in exactly the same clothes that he had gone to bed in.
The only way that this would be real would be if he had taken his clothes off, run naked through the Moors, come back, had a shower and put the same clothes back on.
He even went so far as to check whether the shower had been used in the night and if there were any wet towels. No, he had definitely not been out.
Now that he had heard the word monster he wondered whether it was some kind of mass hysteria, with these people having the same dream. Matt thought about what they had said. Footprints on the canal did not feature in his dreams, only the Moors.
This detail didn’t matter, it was just a little difference. Maybe this wasn’t something happening just to him, and he wasn’t going crazy. Maybe this was something else, a Government mass gassing? No, that was even scarier.
Being in the same boat as other people was very comforting. The couple got themselves together and left. Matt got up and ordered another coffee. Perhaps things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
When Tommy and Suzanne got up to Wellmeadow Lane, Suzanne took Bella inside, and Tommy went to call on Wee Renee. She was looking on the computer at large beast sightings around England, in the hope that she would see one and they would have the same fur. It was a long-shot but she was trying anyway. As soon as there was a knock on the door, she just knew it was more evidence. She was surprised to see a lone Tommy there, wearing a worried expression.
‘Oh hello,’ Wee Renee said, ominously. ‘You’d better come in.’ Tommy came in, and following her outstretched arm, walked straight through into her living room.
’I found more evidence,’ Tommy said.
’Where?” Wee Renee asked.
’The canal,’ Tommy stated plainly.
’The canal!’ Wee Renee exclaimed.
’Yes, footprints. It’s bare size 15 foot, going up the side of the canal in the mud. It must have walked up, gone to the bench nearly at the end, and then it walked back,’ Tommy said.
’Very interesting
,’ Wee Renee said. ‘Did you look around the bench?’
’I did,’ Tommy said, ‘but I found nothing. You will probably find loads. So now we know that it has been in two places.’
’I’m sorry Tommy, I should have updated you guys. There have been more developments. We have found evidence that it has been in another two places since we last spoke,’ Wee Renee said genuinely.
’That was just a couple of days ago, wasn’t it?’ Tommy commented. ‘Where has it been seen?’
’On the donkey path, looking in at the High School, in the daytime unbelievably, and up at The Grange, but actually round the back. At the old graveyard through the gate. Very spooky it is. You can see inside the caskets in places,’ Wee Renee said in mysterious tones.
’Oh no,’ Tommy gasped. ‘This is getting worse.’
‘I have reason to believe that it might have taken a man, walking a dog after The Grange sighting too,’ Wee Renee said. ‘So please be careful.’
’There is nowhere we can go now. If it’s down by the canal and it’s down on the donkey path, well that’s where we walk apart from the Moors,’ Tommy said, despairingly.
’Until this is solved keep to the streets, Tommy,’ she said. ‘I would walk there in the light and early evening only. I think it’s late at night that stuff is mainly going on.’
’Are you going to go down to the canal?’ Tommy asked.
’Yes, I am,’ Wee Renee told him.
’Do you want me to come with you?’ Tommy asked.
’No, I’ll take my friend Pat, or someone else. Don’t you worry. You just go home to Suzanne,’ Wee Renee said, putting her hand on his shoulder. She could tell Tommy was relieved.
’I’m not going to tell her about the other sightings. I’ll just avoid those areas. Please let me know if you find any others,’ Tommy said.
’I will. That’s up to you if you don’t tell her,’ Wee Renee said, ‘I always think that knowledge is power. She’ll find out sooner or later.’
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