Lily went back into the boot to get a magazine when she found out she still had no signal on her phone, ‘how could people live without Facebook’ she thought, she would need something to occupy her in the car, even if it was to blank out the noises of Nathans silly game, daylight seemed to have got amongst them quickly and it did indeed look as if it was going to be a nice day as the sun shone through the trees, she could feel the heat of the sun as she found the magazine she wanted and turned to get into the car.
Lily was suddenly frozen to the spot, the fear she had felt the day before was back, only this time it wasn’t the weather she had feared, for the weather was real, and now she thought ‘this can’t be real’. Her heart missed several beats and her stomach dropped, she thought her mind was playing tricks, but something told her that wasn’t the case.
‘Dad’ she screamed when she saw what was behind them,’ look’ she said as she pointed, her whole body was shaking as she stood frozen to the ground, and then they all looked, and stood opened mouthed with fear etched on every ones faces, there was no horrible monster, no dead bodies, nothing horrific in anyway, which made it seem even more surreal, for the road that they travelled down in the wind and rain the night before wasn’t there anymore, in its place there was nothing but trees that appeared to go on for ever, no pathway, no dirt track, no lane that they travelled up on, just thick dense woodland.
‘That’s fucking impossible’ said Peter’ not really believing his eyes, looking around to see where the road had gone, as if he was expecting one just to appear from nowhere, there was nothing logical about this, his stomach tightened, the feeling of wanting to do something urging up inside of him, frustration and anger pent up, he needed someone to blame, or at least an answer.
‘What’s happening dad’ Lily shouted, in a voice that was full of panic and fear as her whole body shook, she was still frozen, still pointing to the trees to where there was once a road.
Eileen just stood staring with her mouth wide open, not quite taking in what she was seeing, she kept opening and closing her eyes again, each time expecting the road to re-appear, she rubbed her eyes thinking that would make the road come back, but it never did, still there was only trees,
‘Where’s the road gone’ asked Nathan, who was now shaking, he eyes reverting to Lily, then the woods and then to his father, and he said it in a manner that suggested that all roads disappear,
‘It was there yesterday’ said Lily, and they all just stood and stared at the road that never was,
’who’s fucking taken it’ she added, and she looked at her father for answers, her frozen stance broken and for some unknown reason known to him, the logic of that made Peter laugh, but it was a nervous laugh, no one chastised her for swearing, how could they?, after all, who had taken the road?
‘Roads don’t just flipping disappear’ Eileen added,
And of course she was right, roads don’t just disappear, they all just stood around by the car looking at the road that used to be and looking at the road in front of them, Peter was thinking that there must have been some mistake and he must have come up that road and that’s what he told his kids, trying to reassure them, he wasn’t sure it was working, because it certainly wasn’t working on him.
‘so why is my car facing the wrong way ‘ he asked himself ‘Eileen just looked at him, fear etched on her face, he could see Nathan and Lily looked scared to, we’ll go this way ‘ he said, pointing to the only direction he could go, he wanted to pretend he was in charge of the situation, but he wasn’t because he had no logical explanation where the road went, unless someone turned the car around when they slept, and that thought scared him more, he tried to shake it from his mind but he couldn’t, he remembered how scared they all were the night before when they were caught in the storm, but somehow with the sun beaming down on them and the birds singing, this appeared a lot worse, and that’s what scared him most.
‘What’s up there dad ‘lily said with a tremor in her voice, she didn’t want to go any further as she thought the trees would just follow them.
Peter didn’t answer because he didn’t know, he really didn’t want to know but had no choice other than to find out, but he fathomed it was a place called Underwood and it felt like something was forcing them to go, because as far as choices go, he didn’t have any, and suddenly the trees didn’t seem friendly anymore as they seemed to be beckoning him along the road to the unknown and it didn’t feel like the starlings were singing anymore, it sounded like the swoosh of a vulture as it set about its catch.
They drove very slowly through the muddy lane, anxiety building up in everyone in the car, for no other reason than the taste and smell of fear that the human body installs upon itself when they themselves don’t know what it is their afraid of, it felt like they were driving into the middle of nowhere, and Peter thought that soon the road would run out and they would have nowhere to go, then they would have to get out and face the wrath of the woods, and that thought chilled him, the tension was unbearable for all of them, the mud squelching under the wheels and the trees either side stood still in the morning sunshine, but it still felt like the trees were watching them and there long branches were arms ready to pick them up and take them deep into the woods forever, Peter tried to convince himself that all this was ridiculous and they had just got lost and soon they would be on the way to Cornwall, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it, something inside him knew something was wrong, there was nothing natural about this place, in fact it all felt to unnatural, to Nathan the gremlins that he thought were in the woods had come back, and this time they were going to get their prey.
A few minutes later and the lane appeared to be widening and the tree’s thinning and an overwhelming sense of relief came over all of them as their worst nightmares seem to disappear, or at least part of them did, Eileen forced a smile, Peter opened the window and lit up a cigarette, he would suffer the wrath of his family, he needed the nicotine, but there were no protests as he wound down his window, they just wanted warm food and a hot drink and set themselves off to the caravan, even back home would be better than this, they would think of an logical explanation later if there was one, because at that particular moment logic didn’t exist.
At least now it looked as if they were safe, the roads now had grown pavements that looked as if they hadn’t been tended to for years as the kerb stones lay loose and potholes everywhere, but at least it looked like a sign of civilisation was coming, or even a derelict town, anything other than the stare of the woods, then they saw a sign it read.
Welcome to Underwood
Peter noticed what was written underneath and crossed out, it sent a shiver down his spine, he didn’t know why and he hated not knowing why.
Although there was no flooding around that part he drove slowly looking around all of the time as if they were waiting for something to jump out at them, a feeling that the nightmare was not completely over, the brief relief of being safe had now diminished because of the sign they had passed, Peter could not stop thinking about the words that were crossed out ‘no way out’, and what was worse was the bit that said ‘one way in’ he had a feeling they were about to stumble upon that ‘one way’ then they noticed a sign that said “Waltwood road” the letters fading, and on their right they saw the first buildings and Peter stopped the car to stare at the derelict buildings, they were huts but most of them had either been destroyed or vandalised, what roofs were still in place were made of corrugated sheeting, what walls were intact were made of concrete, they could see a tall building in the distance, what Peter guessed at some time was a water tower, in the distance but almost out of site were similar huts that appeared to be more intact, in the far distance was trees, nothing but trees, the terrain between the wrecked buildings that were closest were unkempt ,it looked like they had been stood there for decades, a glimpse into the past, it had something aged about them, they looked as if the stories they could tell would not be good ones, then a fox appeared from nowhere and it stood looking at them for a moment as if ready to pounce, or eyeing up its prey, before it run off into the huts, Lily and Nathan arched their necks to see where it run off to, the wild animal somehow making things feel more normal, until they were all interrupted by a loud bang on the bonnet, it made them all jump and look ahead as four hearts missed a beat.