Secrets and Ties

Carys Of course, if you’re a fish in the ocean you don’t know what water is. And if you’re a lobster in a pot, you don’t realise the water is boiling until it’s too late. None of us realised that anything was about to change. Things seemed tense sometimes at the council meetings, some tempers had always been shorter than others, but things seemed relatively normal. We continued to run our businesses, go to our schools and greet our neighbours. We lived in a fairly rural location, near a couple of small villages. Although we had settled somewhat apart, we weren’t a closed community. My parents often went to the nearby shops and pubs. Maintaining a normal presence in the community was a key part of our strategy to avoid drawing the eyes of those that could make life difficult for us. And life could easily get pretty difficult for us. Although we walked and talked like everyone else around here, we were different. Wolves in sheep’s clothing. Keeping your distance was an essential part of the strategy, but it’s hard to remember that when your useless car has packed up on you again, and you’re stuck by the side of a badly lit road in the middle of the night, in the arse end of nowhere. With no phone signal. Finding someone to help becomes pretty damn attractive. After kicking the tyre a few times in frustration, and letting out a very inhuman sounding growl, and some very human sounding swear words, I hefted the rucksack onto my back and struck off for some lights in the distance. I could have got further and faster, but the contents of my bag were required back at my own village urgently, so hoping for the kindness of strangers, or at least better phone signal, I set off grimly. To the casual observer, I’d have seemed an unlikely candidate for a late night hike. On the slighter side, the bag looked too much for my frame. I didn’t even have a torch with me, not that I needed one. One of the perks of being unlike the natives; 20/20 vision and no need to rely on artificial light. My parents would be getting concerned around about now. I picked up the pace a bit, zeroing in on a well lit white building, with a quaint thatched roof. Light from small lead-paned windows flickered over the picnic tables outside, and the general murmur of voices and laughter could be heard from inside. I hesitated briefly outside the door; this was going to invite questions. Before I could bite the bullet and grab the handle, the door swung outwards, and a group of laughing men spill out onto the paving. One knocking right into me. “Oh, sorry, didn’t see you there!” He laughs. Mortified at being caught off balance, I look up at him from my position on the floor. And then I had to keep on looking up. I stood up as gracefully as I could manage with the bag still attached to me, ignoring his outstretched hand. He regarded me with amusement, while his friends clustered around one of the picnic tables, drinks in hands, lighting cigarettes. I tried to step around him, shrugging off his apology. He stepped in front of me. “I really am sorry” he looked down at me intently, then his mouth quirked into a grin. “And that really is a massive bag. Can I help you with that?” “It’s fine, really” I said stiffly. Now that I was upright, I could see him more clearly. He didn’t look like the men you usually see in these parts. Tall, broad and sun tanned, I couldn’t tell where he normally lived, but it sure wasn’t one of the towns in this corner of England. “Are you looking for somewhere to stay? I don’t think they have rooms here..” “No, that’s not, I mean, I had car trouble”’ I couldn’t get my words into a sensible order. The stranger flashed a friendly smile, but his eyes had a predatory gleam. “I’m just looking for a phone” I finished lamely. “So..” I made to step around him again, and this time he moved away with a flourish. “Have you got someone that can come get you?” I hesitated, and he held up his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. “Sorry, sorry. Only curious. I’ve not seen you round here before, and you’re more interesting than that lot” he indicated his group of friends a short distance away. “Go on, call for your back up.” He leaned back against the wall. “Come wait out here for your ride with me if you get lonely in there.” The smile looked like as predatory as his eyes now. It provoked a odd feeling in my chest, and an urge to get away from him quickly. I should be the most dangerous thing in this average place, and yet I had the strangest sensation that this man wasn’t like the others. There was some kind of threat there that I wasn’t yet fully aware of. As soon as possible, I was going to move past him without a backwards glance. I wouldn’t be taking him up on his offer, and with any luck he’d soon just be an unnerving memory.