Dark Night of the Soul

Chapter 23

The wind whistles around the hillside bunkers and Seamus wraps his arms tightly around himself. The events at the skatepark seem so long ago and yet so horribly fresh. He needs to talk to the others, partly to explain why he had to jump and partly to come up with some sort of plan.

His stomach grumbles and he wonders how long it will be before Bob and Kristen return with food. They must surely be due back soon.

He pulls his mobile out of his pocket and calls Dave for the tenth time. This time it doesn't even ring, it just goes straight to voicemail. Biting his nails anxiously he stares at the goats, trying to figure out what to do next but finding it really hard to focus. He looks up Dave's blog, thinking perhaps that the lazy git is back gaming.

Seamus frowns. Something isn't right. Dave's blog links to a live video of the sky, with a ragged quarry edge discernable in the background. Clouds scud and the occasional seagull flies past the camera but otherwise all is still. He taps on the video and gradually moves the slider back, allowing himself a childish smile as he sees the seagulls flying backwards. 'God, it can't all be sky and seagulls can it? What's he put this up for?' he mutters. Speeding up the rewind, he sees a flash of a familiar face looking down at the camera; stern, with piercing blue eyes.

Seamus blinks and shakes his head. 'I really need to get some sleep soon,' he thinks. He scrolls mindlessly through endless footage of sky and clouds. As the image moves, he slows down the slider, stepping backwards almost frame by frame. He sees red liquid on gravel, trainers, jeans and two young boys slumped against a rock. With horror, Seamus follows the trail of blood up to the teenagers' necks then a glint of sunlight reflected from a knife. Further back, he sees two terrified but motionless faces. Seamus takes a deep breath and, with trepidation, taps 'play'...

'I know what you're up to. You think you can talk me out of this and keep my money. Well, it is already being broadcast live. Whatever you do, the world will know.'

Christ, it's Dave. Seamus looks away.

When he finally looks back at the phone, the only image is the now-familiar sky. He hears scuffling shoes on gravel, a car door slamming, a revving engine and a distorted bang. Moments later, the stern man appears. Leering into the lens.

Seamus stares back in disbelief, jumping when his phone beeps. He has a new voicemail. Shaking, he listens to the message. 'It's Anna. I don't know why you left or where you are but I thought you should know that Dave's boys have been kidnapped. Everything turned rotten when you jumped ship. I am losing my mind. I am standing under the bridge waiting for Dave to come back in time to meet the aliens. If he is late, I don't know what they will do. I am so scared. So angry with you for leaving, again. But scared. I need to talk to you. I can't wait here much longer.'

Already running down the hill to his cottage, Seamus zips his phone into his jacket pocket, ducking under drooping branches thick with ripening apples. As he nears the cottage he sees the front door open, swinging in the breeze. Feeling the blood rush to his face he gingerly peers around the flapping curtain to see his ransacked front room. 'Those fuckers. I'll deal with this later, I'll deal with them later,' he sneers. 'They'd better not have... ah here it is.' Scooping up his skateboard he pulls the door shut behind him and rides headlong down the path towards town.

Seamus glides past the park and turns into the road towards the bridge just as a light drizzle starts to precipitate in the air. As he gets near he flicks up his skateboard. There is no sign of Anna. Yet. As his eyes adjust to the gloom he sees a glint of light from under the door where the nightmare had begun. He glances anxiously around to see if there's any trace of Anna. Still nothing.

Batting away anxious thoughts, Seamus gives the door a very gentle push before easing himself through a small gap. Steeling his nerves, he flattens himself against the wall, slides up to the internal door and peers around it. He holds out his phone to illuminate the scene.

Three fluffy costumes hang against rusty corrugated walls. A large metal table in the centre of the room is strewn with papers. Seamus steps inside to get a closer look. He finds sheets of tracing paper covered in strange markings, which look almost like words but not in any alphabet he has ever seen. He scoops up as many papers as he can fit into his pockets and runs back outside. Blinking into the daylight he kicks off on his skateboard, frantically trying to zip up his pockets as the papers flap in the breeze. As he reaches the track up to the bunkers he pauses to call Anna one more time. No answer. Wiping the sweat from out of his eyes he marches up the hill, glancing backwards every few seconds.

He throws himself into Kristen's bunker and pulls the papers from his pockets, spreading them out on the dusty floor and turning them all ways round to try to decipher the markings. Squinting, he can just make out what could be a stylised picture of a bridge, with otherworldly text running over the top. He reaches across to the side of Kristen's makeshift bed and rummages through her pile of books to retrieve his notebook. Flicking through it he finds the page he was looking for. He tilts his head to compare it with the sheets on the floor. 'DNOTS.' 'What does that mean?' Seamus ponders. 'Why did I write that? It must be an acronym I suppose. All I can think of is "Dark Night Of The Soul",' he chuckles to himself. 'May God have mercy on my soul. I hope I am not spiralling into a spiritual crisis.'