Harvest

by Steve Merrifield

  “This isn’t a bonding moment.” Cat snapped.

  “It looked like it was dressed as an undertaker. Albert Taylor was the first to disappear and he was an undertaker.” Craig cut in, he didn’t want their debriefing to be derailed, it felt good to be talking about what had happened, it might even help to piece together a better understanding of what was going on. “Kelly, his absence made him a suspect when the first Chamber’s girl went missing didn’t he?”

  Kelly hesitated, and he guessed it was some left over resistance at sharing what was confidential police information, but when she did answer him her tone was easy. “Yes, but it can’t be Albert though, I mean, not any more.”

  Rachel nodded. “Whatever it is it’s not Albert anymore. It was emaciated… Dead and rotting.”

  “And there was the other thing – that came for Jason and you Cat.” Craig added.

  “Yeah.” Cat avoided eye-contact and sought her mug in distraction, but her hand quaked, and she returned the mug to the table and hugged herself in a play of being cold. “It was different to the undertaker.”

  “We’re told as kids that there are no monsters, but not only do we have to accept that mum and dad were talking bollocks, but were actually up against two monsters.” The reality tainted the humour in the irony for him.

  Cat frowned. “How did you know me and Rachel were in trouble anyway?”

  Craig and Kelly shared an uneasy look, which Kelly broke from, “Craig dreamt it.” Kelly stated flatly, she looked back at him and this time it was apologetic. “I think anyway. I don’t quite understand it.” She said, clearly trying to distance herself from the absurdity of the explanation, even though it was in a conversation where monsters where being discussed.

  Craig sighed and shrugged. “In light of what just happened at the flats I guess I don’t have to feel stupid about how that sounds,” Craig defended, although the uneasiness remained. “I keep dreaming about things at The Heights – and they happen. Horrible things.” The heat of his embarrassment washed away with an icy quicksilver as the memories returned to him. “It messed my head up for a bit. I kind of felt responsible for what was happening.” Kelly’s hand rested reassuringly on his arm, but the touch grew hot, it fidgeted and was quickly withdrawn. “Each nightmare seems to drain me, making me physically weaker and weaker.”

  Cat leaned closer, her face furrowed with interest. “I had terrifying dreams when I was in my coma. I saw horrifying things happening at The Heights too. Even though I was in my coma, I was always fighting to become conscious, but after each nightmare I was always weaker and the struggle was always that more difficult. What was going on in your dreams? Did you actually see me and Rachel?” Suddenly her keen interest vanished at realising she had become more involved than she had wanted, and she dropped back on her chair and folded her arms tightly as if she had given up on the question.

  “No – I saw it; the undertaker. It came from the abandoned fire escape onto your floor. Moving down flat by flat under the cover of darkness. Killing people.” Craig stared into the dark still surface of his drink seeking distraction in its depths. “And that other thing, taking people.” He took a swig of his drink and let his words sink in while the alcohol took its numbing affect, “If my dreams are right then maybe everyone on your floor is dead or gone now.”

  After what Kelly must have considered a suitable wake she spoke. “The staircase is meant to be locked; it’s a fire escape that led down into the old shopping arcade at the base of the flats and out onto the street, it also goes down into the basement where the shops had stock rooms. It’s been locked since the shops were burnt out and went out of business. The undertaker-thing could be using those doors to travel between floors unseen.”

  Rachel joined in. “Or maybe it can just appear out of nowhere like that creature that came for Cat.”

  “Mr Sparky.” Jason said.

  He sounded distant and Craig knew it was because it was the name that the twins, Jason’s best friends, had used for the creature that had taken them away. Craig thought of Vicki. “I took a photo earlier – I looked at it after I developed it and there was someone in the background; just a silhouette, but I think it was that undertaker, lurking on the stairwell.” Helplessness weighed upon him at the uncertainty of Vicki’s safety or fate.

  “So maybe the thing that tried to snatch Cat can just appear then disappear. That would certainly fit with what happened to Jason, and from what we have seen the undertaker walks about stalking its victims.” Rachel made sense to Craig and it felt good to be talking about their experiences and possibly piecing things together, even if it was just guess work, but Rachel’s confidence seemed to wane. “There’s so much I don’t understand – like how we got out of that corridor back there. That door was locked: stuck solid. Yet it disintegrated and folded away as if a hurricane had swept through.”

  Cat didn’t volunteer any ideas or answers but stared intently at the mug she cupped in her hands, although through the blankness of her stare Craig could tell she wasn’t seeing the mug or her hands, she was lost in memory. Undeterred, Rachel pursed her lips and folded her arms on the table as she leaned forward into Cat’s line of sight. “There’s a lot we don’t know here. Maybe you could share your insight?”

  Cat snapped out of her thoughts, glanced briefly at Rachel before returning to stare at her mug. Fortunately Rachel didn’t allow herself to be riled by her and ignored the behaviour. “What happened to you at the flat that led to you being in a coma? We never got the chance to finish that conversation. You started to talk before we had to make our escape.” She smiled pleadingly. “Now we are away from that place and we are safe will you tell us?”

  “I didn’t ask to be here!” Cat exploded like a jack in the box, startling to kitten on her lap. “You turn up at the hospital, and fair enough, you saved my skin by getting Malik sent away, but then you bowl up to my flat as if I owe you something.”

  Rachel slumped dejectedly in her chair with a hand to her face as if she was pained.

  Kelly jumped in. “Yeah, like you said. We saved your skin, so maybe you do owe us a little something.”

  Craig winced and braced himself.

  “I don’t want to talk about it!” Cat barked back at her.

  Kelly threw her hands up in frustration. “Oh that’s okay, why don’t you go home and give us a call when you’re ready. I’m sure if anyone should go missing in between that time they will understand!”

  Cat shoved her chair back and stood up sharply, the kitten yelped and leapt to the floor as the lap was whipped away from under her. “I didn’t ask to be here! Thanks very much for saving me but I don’t have to stay you know.”

  Kelly made a play of being confused. “I think that was my reminder to you earlier.”

  Craig got up from the table and sat on the armchair next to a very worried looking Jason. “Don’t worry, mate. They’re just letting off a bit of steam,” he whispered to the boy.

  “Cat, why won’t you talk to us?” Rachel appealed.

  “Because I don’t want to be here with YOU!” Cat stabbed a finger in Rachel’s direction, her face torn up in hate. “You’re loving all this aren’t you? I told you to stay away and ever since you’ve been waiting for a time or a way to get into my life again.” Cat’s eyes narrowed. “You must have been so glad when you saw your chance.” Rachel jumped up and dashed to the kitchen. “Go on, avoid hearing the truth!” she called after her with satisfaction reinforcing her tone. “– you were glad to get back in again you’re so sad and lonely.”

  Although Rachel had fled Cat’s eyes remained wild, she jerked her attention between Craig and Kelly and continued her tirade, but louder so that Rachel would be able to hear from the kitchen. “She’s a sad old woman, who’s just glad of the attention because she spends most of her time with dead people.”

  Kelly got up and waved Cat down. “Hey, come on. Settle down.”

  “She lost her own baby and she thinks I can take its place.
Well she’s not my mum.”

  Kelly rounded the table to Cat, and Cat responded by retreating a few paces, Craig realised he was holding his breath. He had an unsettling intuition that things could easily get out of hand.

  “None of this is about you and Rachel, it’s about kids going missing, about people being murdered and killed in horrific ways!”

  Kelly offered a placating hand to Cat’s arm but she shrugged it roughly away. “It might be for you, but she’s just using this as an opportunity. She was always hanging around my mum, trying to be a second mum to me.” Cat’s voice rose higher. “My mum’s gone and Rachel is not taking her place! Rachel’s just a sad old dyke who needs a crutch in life – and it’s not going to be me!”

  Craig blinked in surprise as Kelly met Cat’s hysteria with a slap across the face. He could see that Kelly was just as shocked by her reaction and was instantly regretting the decision, moving closer to Cat to comfort and apologise to her.

  Cat recoiled from the slap and snapped her head back to face Kelly, and suddenly Kelly was thrown away, toppling over a dining chair and onto the floor. Momentarily stunned and unsure what had happened, Craig dashed to Kelly’s side and helped her into a more comfortable position; she looked dazed and nodded that she was okay.

  The kitten pressed itself to the floor before Cat, its fur bristled and its ears angled back, and it unleashed a protracted rolling mewl that ended in a spiteful rasp and hiss.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Craig held up a hand, warning Cat from coming any nearer to Kelly. “Cat, back off. Come on, leave it.”

  “I just wanted to see if she was ok.” Her face was ashen. Was it concern or fear that Craig saw there? It was quickly replaced with angry indignation. “She hit me!”

  “I know, and she shouldn’t have. I am not taking sides, but we are all under stress and I think it would be good to take five and just chill out. We are meant to be here to help each other understand what is going on, not slap each other around.”

  Kelly struggled to her feet, wincing with obvious discomfort. “It’s okay Craig. Cat I am sorry. I shouldn’t have slapped you.”

  Cat postured and stabbed a finger in her direction, and spat her words out vehemently, “Yeah, too right you shouldn’t have!”

  “I have said sorry and that’s it. Done. You have your issues with Rachel, but we don’t. It’s not important to us. You and Rachel might be the only ones that can help us figure out what is going on, and that is all I care about. And to be honest considering people have gone missing and died, and hundreds of others could be at risk of the same fate in that building I hoped you might feel the same.” She smiled a thank you at Craig and limped towards the doorway and a distraught looking Rachel, who helped her through to the kitchen.

  With both older women gone Craig returned to Jason’s side and asked if he was okay. Jason nodded looking a little scared and Craig sat on the arm of the chair and draped an arm across the lad’s shoulders. “Sorry you had to be around for all that mate.” The kid shrugged under his arm.

  The kitten had retreated away from Cat cowering on its belly but still wild. It unleashed another whine and hiss, sensing something from her that terrified the animal, and that unnerved Craig. When Kelly had been knocked to the ground Craig had felt a phantom spike of otherworldliness that had teased the hairs on the back of his neck and goosed his skin. He was sure that Cat had made no contact with Kelly, but for Kelly to be thrown from her feet there had to have been some kind of blow. It had all happened so quickly it was easy to think that he had missed a part of the action, yet he had already seen the man at the hospital crushed by a bed with a force that Cat could not have physically summoned. No, Cat had not physically lifted a finger against Kelly for her to end up on the floor. It had not been a hurricane that had torn down the doors for Cat and Rachel to escape. Cat was more than a nineteen-year old girl with a chip on her shoulder.

  Cat snapped at the hissing kitten. “What?” she stamped her foot in its direction, it turned tail and clawed its way out the room, and Cat appeared to instantly regret the action and swore. “Oh, come back Girl.” She pleaded.

  Craig thought she looked as if she would cry. “You okay?” he broached warily.

  “What do you think?” She snapped back.

  “You know I don’t think Kelly meant to hit you. She was trying to bring you round. You were getting a bit hysterical,” Craig dared.

  Cat shrugged scowled, and tightened her crossed arms stoically, looking anywhere but at him. The tears had gone.

  “You were really giving Rachel a hard time there. We have only known her a short while and it’s hard for us to hear that when she has been so good to us. Especially with what we have been through together lately.”

  Cat snapped at Craig. “You don’t have to explain. Don’t go all ‘Mr Sensitive’ knowing your girlfriend is in earshot. Don’t try and use me to score points.”

  “She’s not my girlfriend. It’s not like that; she’s just a friend,” he shot back, floundering and flushed, very aware Kelly was only in the other room.

  Cat broke eye-contact and raised an eyebrow in contempt. “Whatever! I didn’t ask for your life story.”

  Craig shook his head and flopped back against the support of the armchair, she clearly wasn’t going to be responsive to any attempts to restore the status quo and he gave up trying, it wasn’t worth the hassle.

  “You call your cat Girl?” Craig was just as surprised by Jason’s question as Cat looked to be.

  Cat’s face wrinkled up in a frown. “Huh?”

  “You called the kitten Girl earlier.”

  Her face softened into blankness. “That’s her name. I’m a girl and everyone calls me Cat, so I called my cat Girl.”

  “That’s funny,” but Jason didn’t laugh. “Seems like you have pushed her away too.”

  Cat dropped back in her chair and studied her arms with a blank face. After a time she spoke. “Yeah I know.”

  “In a way I have lost a parent too. My granddad is terminally ill and he’s going to die. My best friends have been taken by the monsters, and they are probably dead. I can’t tell my mum about the danger we are in living at The Heights. Rachel, Kelly and Craig have taken me in to keep me safe. You people are the only people I know that believe me or have any idea what is really happening so I need you all to work together. Because at some point I am going to have to go home with mum, and we both might go missing and end up dead like the others.”

  Craig watched Cat wilt with shame. Even he had forgotten about the degree of Jason’s predicament, at least Kelly and Craig had a choice about whether they stayed at The Heights. They had the freedom and the resources to run away and no one else to convince to do the same. Jason couldn’t just run and abandon his mum, and even though bad things had happened at the tower he was unlikely to convince her to leave their home. Crag squeezed the boys shoulder as he continued undeterred, his tone firm and even.

  “We get the idea that you and Rachel don’t get on, but what do you want to hurt more? Her or the ‘thing’ that tried to get at you?”

  She doubled forward on her seat as if his words had caused her to fold in on herself, and she rubbed her face roughly with her hands as if she could re-arrange the thoughts and feelings within like a Rubix cube.

  In the brief time since Craig had met Cat, he had seen her terrified, hysterical, angry, attacked several times, and come in contact with someone she clearly wanted nothing to do with because of childhood issues, she could easily breakdown any moment and that wasn’t going to help them or her. “Look, Cat, try not to worry about anything that’s happened here. You got it off your chest, but like Jay said. We are all trying to work to the same aim, if you could put any differences aside just for now, maybe the quicker you can get away from us.” Craig got up and reclaimed his seat at the table and offered her a disarming smile. She didn’t rip his throat out so it seemed Jason had had some effect. “You can kill each other later, on your own time,�
� he joked unable to help himself, but he was surprised that he got a half-laugh from her, even though she tried to hide it by looking into her lap. While she picked at her rashes he gave a discrete nod to Jason as recognition for his intervention. Rachel and Kelly must have gathered from whatever they could hear from the kitchen that this would be a good time to return to the group.

  Cat stated an apology with little depth, but Kelly took it, she seemed grateful for the absolution and apologised herself, while Rachel simply delivered a curt nod in Cat’s direction, her eyes were red and swollen from crying. They all took back their seats and Jason dragged a footstool to the table this time so he could join them, probably assuming (and rightfully) that after his intervention he deserved to be in the thick of whatever was going to be discussed and decided.

  Cat flashed Craig a grin as everyone settled back down around them. “About what you said earlier: I’m glad to hear you’re single,” she whispered for everyone to hear and gave him a playful wink.

  While the apologies had been made this was clearly only a momentary truce on Cat’s behalf and she was still up for playing more games. He couldn’t help but like her though, she had Vicki’s mischief in her. Fortunately Craig didn’t have to think how to respond because she carried straight on. “Jason is right. Smart kid,” she complimented with warmth that dissolved before she addressed the others. “I am grateful that you have helped me out, but I’m just not usually a team player. It has been just me for quite a while and I have gotten used to that.”

  Kelly gave an exaggerated nod. “That’s accepted.” Although Rachel looked momentarily saddened before she could hide her reaction. “No one is expecting us all to get along. We just need to get some idea of what’s happening. You can tell us what you know and go, or stick around and see what we can do with whatever information you can give us.”

  Cat shrugged, “It got in my head, it feels like it has rooted around in everything, none of my thoughts feel private anymore. Like I have spoken all my secrets. But, as much as it looked into me I think I have sensed something of ‘it’. You know, like when you look into an old person’s face, you can see their age in their eyes, and it’s like they are looking back at you from another time? Well, I got that feeling from whatever was in my head. I think it is old. Very old.”