What We Saw

Chapter Nineteen

We spent the following morning talking about the next step in our mystery. Adam attempted to come up with some new sort of plan, some masterful way of taking things forward. Truth is, we were pretty stumped. When the afternoon rolled around, I thought I should probably make good on my agreement to Emily.

‘I’m off to, y’know—’

‘Yeah, I get it,’ Adam said, grinning. ‘I am pleased for you, cuz.’ He couldn’t look at me when he spoke. It must have been a difficult thing to admit.

I smiled back at him. ‘You get mystery cracking,’ I said, before leaving to meet Emily.

*

I arrived at the launderette at our usual time, three o’clock, but Emily wasn’t there. I stood underneath the shelter, gazing at the trees as they danced in the wind, checking my watch and pacing around as ten minutes became thirty. I kicked stones. The passing adults smiled on at me and whispered to one another. Should I walk round to her caravan? It would seem weird with me being on my own. And I wasn’t sure what to make of her dad. Something wasn’t right, the way he always seemed to be around. But we didn’t have enough to join the dots together, not yet.

I decided to leave at around quarter to four, accepting that it was beyond the time where Emily could merely dismiss it as ‘a little late.’ I slumped down the hill, dodging the trees, and headed back down the spiralling road towards our caravan.

As I turned onto our road, something moved in the corner of my eye. I peered into the bushes, but there didn’t seem to be anything there. Maybe it was a squirrel. Why would somebody be spying on the launderette? I felt a cold shiver make its way down my arms. I looked over both shoulders and jogged back towards our caravan.

It was probably the wind.

Probably.

When I got home, I picked at my dinner and mashed up the potato in front of me. Adam chewed his cheese sandwich and watched me with wide eyes, turning away whenever I looked back at him. Gran and Granddad didn’t seem to notice my strange behaviour. They were going out for tea tonight and were focused on choosing their clothes, so it was easier to get away without eating.

Adam poked me on the arm. ‘You okay?’ he mumbled.

I nodded and spiralled my fork in my mash. ‘Emily’s not turned up.’

Adam opened his mouth in realisation and nodded. ‘Tried calling on her?’ He said it almost as if it was the obvious solution.

I shook my head. ‘Don’t want her to think I’m obsessed.’

Carla wandered over and hovered around my uneaten food like a vulture. Adam rubbed his hands together. ‘Don’t give up, cuz,’ he said. ‘She’s probably busy with her parents. You know what she can be like.’

I half-smiled and turned back towards my food, taking a mouthful of mash. I swirled it round my cheeks and swallowed it. It felt really heavy and stuck in the back of my throat.

‘I’ve got something for you later, anyway,’ Adam said, winking.

‘What—’

‘You’ll just have to wait and see.’ He smirked again, before throwing a piece of ham over at Carla.

Gran sprayed her perfume and muttered under her breath as she wandered into the living room. ‘Oh, I don’t know… what’s he like, eh, what’s he like?’ She leaned down to stroke Carla’s head. ‘You okay, boys? Good food?’

I smiled as I tried to disguise the mash still wedged in my cheeks. She patted our heads.

‘Dean, come on!’ she shouted, before turning back to us. ‘Now remember, don’t answer the door to any strangers and don’t you dare let Carla out of your sight, okay? Good. Good lads. Dean, where are you?’

Granddad waddled through, battling to do up the top button on his white shirt. He held his arms out at either side, waving them around. He looked uncomfortable in smart clothes, and I coughed as his sharp aftershave hit the back of my nostrils. ‘I’m here, I’m here,’ he said. ‘See you later, lads. You be good.’

Adam fluttered his eyelashes and smiled angelically. ‘We will be, Granddad.’

They pulled the door shut and started muttering and bickering as they made their way towards the car. Adam peeked through the window as the car pulled away, kicking up stones. He dove off the sofa and pulled a large, rolled up piece of paper from underneath.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

‘This,’ he said, pausing as he opened it like a magician revealing his trick, ‘is just what we need right now.’ It was a large poster of a lady with her hands on her sides. She wasn’t wearing any clothes. Her breasts looked big, and I thought about how nice it would be to touch one of them. Adam rocked back and forth like a dog, licking at it. Carla sat in the corner of the room, unimpressed and acting more civilised than Adam.

After drinking more milkshake than we were allowed and eating Granddad’s favourite sweets in a matter of minutes, Adam, fuelled by sugar, mentioned Emily for the first time in a while.

‘Have you seen hers?’ he asked.

‘You what?’

He prodded the tits on the poster. ‘Emily’s! Emily’s boobs! Have you seen ‘um yet?’ His grin was wide and his eyes were almost bulging out of his skull. But it didn’t matter how much he fished; I hadn’t seen Emily naked. The thought of it made me feel a little dizzy. ‘Don’t tell me you’re gay or something,’ he said, frowning.

‘No, it’s… it’s not like that. We’re just really close. We talk to each other about things.’

Adam shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the poster, disappointed. He looked back up at me, squinting at me as he spoke. ‘Well, if it was me, I’d f*ck her.’

I blushed and looked away. Adam’s stare made me feel a little uncomfortable. I could see the red in his eyes, like Donald’s eyes when he buried the girl. I thought about getting up and going to the toilet. I needed an escape. I didn’t know what to say.

‘Nah, it’s not like that,’ I said, not daring to look back at Adam.

‘You should. You really should,’ he said.

I knew he wasn’t going to let this drop. I cleared my throat. ‘Nah, it’s not right yet. We’re not ready for—’

The sound of smashing glass pierced the air. I saw the rock flying through the room from the direction of our front window, and shards of glass flew towards our face. I couldn’t move. My chest felt tight. I wanted to run into my bedroom and put my head under the covers, but I couldn’t.

Adam’s jaw dropped before he leapt up and ran towards the door. He put his shaking hand on the handle and prepared to pull it down. I could see him breathing heavily. He stopped and stepped backwards.

‘Adam, what’s… what’s up? Come back. Are they there?’ My whole body shook now as my voice stuttered.

Adam stared outside. ‘Liam, there’s something out there.’

My stomach turned. I felt a lump in my throat and began to whimper. Adam walked over to me and pulled me up. I tried to shrug him off but he dragged me towards the darkness of the door.

I could see something on our doorstep. It was round and there was something else underneath it. I turned to Adam, who rolled his lip and stared on, too. Carla carried on barking and our alarm raged.

I turned the lock and dragged the door open slowly. A gust of wind whistled its way into the house. I shuddered. I looked around to check nobody was there. Things looked like they moved in the dark. Nearby, lights began to switch on.

A rock sat on the doorstep. I could see now that a note was wedged underneath. There was something scrawled on it. It was hard to make out in the darkness, and it could have been just a series of doodles. But as I crouched down, the sound of Carla’s barks ringing in my ears, it became a little more visible in the dim glow of the living room lamp. I grabbed the cold rock in my right hand and lifted the note from underneath with the other. I could hear voices close by now; people flocking to see what all the fuss was about.

I read the words on the note and felt my legs go weak. I blinked to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and read it again. Somewhere behind me, Adam asked me what it was, his words jumbled in my ears.

I turned round towards Adam, who clutched at Carla’s collar, determined not to let her go again.

‘Adam, I—I think you should see this,’ I said.