The Owls Who Watch

Chapter 14 - The Dark Lady

Night-time arrived earlier than usual in Arumlily. Thick clouds shrouded the stars in the sky, while white fog, not unlike the lowland's black smog, rendered nearby homes as mere silhouettes. The persistent monotony of the village apartments lifted once Daniels drove towards a large building almost as hideous as the abomination. The road ran straight through a long, dark tunnel at the centre of the building's base. Above, was a bridge connecting two sides of the building. Its windows were either smashed or poorly boarded up. Street lights on both sides of the road were the only source of illumination. Inside the tunnel, shopping trolleys, heaps of scrap metal, and signs decorated the sides of the road. On the dark walls were sealed doors and giant pipes. Wide huts with smashed glass defined each side of the road. Daniels' headlights shone on the outdated signposts above them, revealing them to be the remnants of long-forgotten bus stops. The abandonment of such buildings, decades old, continued to fuel the prevalent fire of uncanniness throughout Arumlily.

The road after the tunnel was free from the typical apartment complexes, instead, fields of grass stretched on for miles to Kevin's left-hand side, while only briefly to his right, only to be met by streets of small stone houses, much sparser than the compressed streets which Kevin now lived amongst. Daniels took the next right, driving through them until he reached a houseless road whose street lamps on both sides were connected by rows of multi-coloured fairy lights. Banners flew here and there in a lazy effort to appeal to Arumlily's younger generation. A welcome change from grey for sure, yet the street, the young folk and their escorts walking through it, and the looming pub at the end of the street, looked like an incredibly budget Amsterdam.

A row of cars defined one side of the wide, straight road. Daniels found a space and parked, then escorted Kevin out of the car. "What do you think? Reminds me of a town fare".

"Anything to get me out of that flat", Kevin responded as he walked with Daniels towards the pub.

"Don't be so ungrateful. You get everything handed to you on a silver platter here", Daniels snapped.

An extremely rusty platter more like. "You're right. It isn't what I expected. Living here, I mean".

Daniels stopped walking and raised an eyebrow. It was Kevin's cue to cover his true feelings, "It's a lot easier than where I used to live. Treated way better than I was back there, I suppose".

Daniels grunted, and the pair continued to walk down the luminescent street. Other people Kevin's age were escorted by their own equivalent of Daniels towards the looming pub, only to leave them at the pub's fencing. The pub was surprisingly comely, a stark contrast from everywhere else he had seen here. Above the main doors were the words 'The Dark Lady', an odd name for a pub. The garden and its picnic tables were understandably left untouched by the punters. Inside the garden were empty stalls. Only two were up and running. One seemed to sell candy floss and hot chocolate, while another sold cigarettes. Only a couple of young folk were outside having a smoke. A few patrollers were surprisingly smoking with them.

Daniels left Kevin by the main gate, "I'll come back for eleven and wait out here. Behave yourself and watch the drink. And don't cause trouble", he warned, as he stared at the patrollers guarding the main doors, and spread throughout the street. Kevin nodded, and walked up the stairs and into the path, forcing a smile for the patrollers guarding the doors. One nodded at him and gestured for him to enter the opened doors.

Kevin emerged into a wide hallway, whose stone walls were adorned by plants, bottles of alcohol, figurines of ships, and many paintings. Two patrollers stood at the end of the corridor, guarding a closed set of doors. Kevin followed a punter into the room on the right, revealing the main room of the pub.