SEVEN BUNTING AND THE BEAST #2
But if it’s such an evil place, why be anywhere near it? It doesn’t make sense. ‘Why would anyone choose to settle there?’
‘And that is the great question, why indeed,’ she says, closing her notepad. ‘Personally, I’d say go with the high vantage point and rivers theory.’
I scoff. ‘You don’t believe in the ley line version?’
‘It’s certainly the more exciting story, and Old Sarum and Sarumbourne do have their fair share of odd tales and strange history, but no, I’m a realist.’
I somehow have more questions now than I did before, but without wanting to take up any more of Miss Williams’ time, I turn and leave.
‘Bright and early Tuesday, Liam,’ she calls after me.
The storeroom door is already open when I arrive. With the event setup going on, I bet many people have been in and out of here all day.
The room is stale, cold, and dark. I flip the switch on the wall, but nothing happens. Great – it’s the start of every horror movie I’ve ever seen.
I get out my phone and tap the torch. The little white beam lights the long but narrow space. The room is so long that the far end is still in complete darkness. There are three aisles of large, steel industrial shelving units in front of me, all filled with cardboard boxes and plastic containers.
Bunting, where are you?
I begin looking through the first box.
There’s a noise at the other end of the room. ‘Hello?’
No response.
I continue, removing the lid from another box. Then another noise, a scratching sound.
‘Is someone in here?’
I start walking further down the central aisle.
Great idea, Liam, follow the scary noise into the pitch black. Not really the thing to do when you’re on a Dark Friar hit list.
I’m about halfway down when the noise happens again. Sandpaper being dragged along rough wood.
I freeze.
A cardboard box to my right juts out and crashes to the floor in front of me. I jump as hundreds of multi-coloured highlighters spill out across the concrete.
Someone giggles.
‘Fuck’s sake, Lily!’
Lily pokes her head through the gap where the box of highlighters lived. ‘Sorry, I came to give you a hand and saw you chatting to Miss Williams, decided to find the bunting myself, and then you showed up. The light wasn’t working. I couldn’t help myself,’ she says, still giggling.
‘Well, nice job, I nearly shit myself. Now come give me a hand with these.’ I place my phone on the shelf to keep the immediate area in light. I start grabbing the highlighters from the floor and putting them back in the box.
‘Sorry,’ Lily says again as she joins me in my aisle. ‘If it helps, that is the most fun I’ve had all day.’
She bends down to help me.
‘What’s that?’ she says, reaching out and pulling at the chain that I’d assumed was tucked out of sight.
I pull it back, attempting to conceal it under my hoodie. ‘It’s nothing.’
Lily rolls her eyes. ‘Liam, I just saw it, it is some sort of necklace?’
Crap. As if explaining away last night was going to be challenging enough, now this.
‘Come on, show me. Is it from your new lover?’ She beams.
I know she won’t let this drop until I show her. I pull out the pendant and lay the stone in my palm.
‘Liam!’ Lily’s eyes light up. ‘Is this from the crystals shop in town?’
I shrug. ‘I don’t know.’ Except I do, and it’s not. ‘It’s a—’ ‘A seresberi stone. I know. I’ve always wanted one,’ she says, picking it up.
Lily used to have a huge collection of various stones and crystals on a shelf in her bedroom, but she boxed them up over the summer to make room for her college certificates. Talk about jumping the gun.
‘Can I try it on?’
‘No.’ I try to soften the blow with a smile. Tariq’s warning echoes in my head.
‘No?’ Lily says. I rarely refuse her anything.
‘I… er…’
‘Oh, go on, just for a minute. You know I love me pretty things.’
I sigh. What can a minute hurt?
I lift the pendant off and hand it to Lily. She puts it on, throwing back her long golden hair to make way for it.
‘It’s so light!’
‘Can I get it back now?’
‘Take a picture of me, will you?’
She hands me her phone. This is classic Lily, any new item of clothing results in a new photo for the ’gram. After a couple of poses and flashes from the phone, I hand the phone back to Lily.
‘Thanks. I’m going to caption this “sexy storeroom explorer”.’
‘That’s great, Lily. Can I get the pendant back now?’
A girl appears in the storeroom doorway. It’s Amy, another student council member.
‘Lily, there you are!’ Amy says, out of breath.
Lily is still wearing my pendant, which is all I can currently think about.
‘What’s up, Amy?’ says Lily.
‘The balloons have just arrived, but Becky says they should be pink and purple, not green and yellow.’
Lily throws her hands up. ‘That girl. Where is she?’
‘In the refectory, currently having a meltdown because Jacob forgot to order the vegan cupcakes.’
Lily groans at me. ‘I’ll be back in a sec.’
‘Wait…’ I begin, but Lily’s already running out of the room with Amy before I have a chance to stop her.
Perfect. I’ve somehow managed to do the one thing Tariq asked me not to do.
Surely he must take his pendant off from time to time? What’s the problem? I’ve gone seventeen years without one; I can go a little longer. Besides, Lily will be back soon.
I let out a deep breath and pack the last of the highlighters in the box before putting it back on the shelf.
‘Okay, bunting, bunting, wherefore art thou bunting?’
Many of the boxes are actually labelled. This is good. I shine my phone torch along the sides of the boxes. Textbooks… headed paper… folders… more textbooks… ‘Ah ha! Bunting!’
It’s a brand-new unopened box and it’s resting firmly on the top shelf, about two feet above me. Need a stepladder. Maybe I could dash back to reception and grab the one Lily was using. Or I could take the lazy route and climb up there and get it.
Putting my phone in my mouth to keep the light around me, I put one foot on the bottom shelf and pull myself up.
The unit wobbles but stays in place as I climb.
My head is now level with the bunting box.
I reach around to pull the box from the back.
There’s a clang, and the metal unit vibrates, sending shudders up my fingers and down my arms. Before I know it, my back is on the floor and the unit is on top of me.
I throw an arm over my face to protect my head from falling boxes.
The unit has my body pinned to the floor. I try to push and wriggle myself free, but it’s no use.
‘Is anyone there? I need some help in here!’ I cry out, but get no response.
Come on, Liam, you got this. You’re supposed to have enhanced strength, right? Well, let’s start using it.
I steady my breathing and grasp the metal frame, which is currently lying across my chest. With all the might I can muster, I push. My arms shake. Beads of sweat fall from the sides of my head.
‘Aaaaaaah!’ I shout, but the unit barely rises an inch above me.
My heart begins to race. My breathing is rapid.
I give up and let the metal fall back on me.
That tingling feeling I’ve had before. The heat beneath my skin. It’s rising, somewhere inside me.
I try again.
My arms don’t feel so strained, and the unit feels like I’m pushing open a door.
This is amazing. Is this really happening? I continue to push until I’m onto my knees. I keep going until the shelves are back upright and I’m standing. I breathe out hard, and the warmth within me fades away. I fall back down to the floor, exhausted. My hands are suddenly brand new to me.
Something shatters the silence. A high-pitched whisper, followed by a guttural screech. The noise swells, and there’s movement toward the back of the room. It’s almost as if the darkness is growing, and it’s going to swallow me whole.
My hand trembles as I reach for my phone.
Then nothing.
The screeching stops. Just the sound of my quickening breath remains.
I squint, trying to get a better look at the black void.
I slowly twist my phone in my hand as I attempt to pick myself up off the floor.
Everything in me is telling me to get out of here, but I can’t help myself.
I quickly point my phone outward.
‘Holy shit.’
My words seem to bring the creature to life. Its half-human, half-beast form arches up onto its hind legs. Its limbs seem to ooze a slick, black substance. I haven’t seen anything like it before.
I scramble for the door, but as I do, there’s movement. I flick my torch back at the creature to find that it has crawled closer. Its bladed talons are scratching the concrete beneath it. Death and decay is in the air. I want to be sick, but my need to escape is the only thing holding that back.
I need to get out of here.
Reaching out, my arm shaking, I grab hold of the nearest set of shelves and pull as hard as I can.
No powers are needed this time, and the unit topples to the floor, separating me from it.
The creature retreats backward for just a moment, staggering onto its hind legs once again and letting out an ear-piercing shriek.
A moment is all I need. I take my chance.
Metal crashes around behind me.
Using the door frame as an aid I pull myself out into the light of the corridor. But I’m jerked back. It’s tugging on my leg.
‘No! Somebody, help me!’
I cry out as I’m dragged back into the storeroom.
The scent of the beast is overbearing. If I look back I may just let it take me. Instead, I kick out and try to break free.
But its grip on my legs only tightens. My fingers grasp the door, my last saving grace.
I shut my eyes, willing it to stop.
The screeching stops, and for a moment, I’m falling, but no, it’s just release. I open my eyes and I’m blinded by white light. The storeroom is lit.
Behind me there’s nothing. Except a whole lot of mess.
‘What on earth is going on in here?’
Miss Williams is in the doorway. She’s quickly joined by Lily, who is out of breath.
‘Liam!’ Lily says, seeing the state of the room. ‘I could hear you shouting. Are you alright?’
‘I… er…’ I take another look behind me. No creature. ‘How is the light on?’
Miss Williams reaches around Lily. The storeroom light flicks off and then on again. ‘Switch is on the outside of the room.’
‘Oh,’ Lily and I say together.
‘I think, Mr O’Connor, you should go home and get some sleep,’ says Miss Williams.
I can’t tell if her tone is one of anger or concern, but either way, she’s right. I don’t want to be anywhere near this room right now.
‘I’ll make sure he does, Miss Williams,’ Lily says, helping me up off the floor.
‘Good. Now, where is Miss Whittaker? She’s around here somewhere. I’m sure she can help me clear this mess up.’ Miss Williams casts a final look over the room before heading back down the corridor.
‘Becky’s going to lose it.’ Lily laughs.
‘Lily, can I please get my pendant back?’ I say.
‘Of course,’ she says, returning it to me. ‘Sorry.’
I quickly put it around my neck, tucking it back under my hoodie. I release a long breath, letting the stone’s warm comfort wash over me.
‘Liam, did you have another dream last night?’
She’s giving me the same look she gave me in Smokers’ Clearing yesterday.
I shake my head. ‘No… I… I guess I’m just tired.’
Lily still looks concerned, but she seems willing to drop it. ‘Come on, I’ll see you out.’
As we walk away, I take one last look at the storeroom. Just in time to see claw marks on the floor. What happened to that… thing? Why was it there one minute and then gone the next? What did it want?
I need answers. I hope that Tariq and Nathaniel will be able to provide me with them.