Читать книгу The Crowmaster - Barry Hutchison - Страница 8

Chapter Two OF MONSTERS PAST

Silence filled the room like a void. Caddie was still standing at the foot of my bed, still making the doll wave at me. Her dark eyes watched me, unblinking, but she made no attempt to move closer.

A thousand thoughts crashed together in my head. I reached out and plucked one at random.

‘How did you get here?’

She didn’t answer.

‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded – more loudly, but not loud enough to wake anyone up.

‘She doesn’t want to play with us any more,’ the girl spoke softly.

I hesitated, trying to figure out the meaning behind her words, if there even was one.

Caddie looked just like she’d done four days ago. The smear of lipstick was still a red blur across her lips. Her face was still a rainbow of badly applied eyeshadow and blusher and whatever other names they give to make-up. Beneath it all her skin was still as pale as bone, and her lifeless stare still gave me the willies.

‘Who doesn’t—’

‘Oh, you remembered,’ she said. Her face broke into a wide smile.

Again I paused. ‘Remembered what?’

‘She won’t play any more,’ Caddie said, apparently fighting back tears. ‘We were having so much fun, but then she just wouldn’t play.’

Confusion had taken over from terror now. I had no idea what the girl was talking about, although there was something about her words that seemed familiar.

‘S’not fair,’ she muttered. ‘Every time I find a new friend to play with they get broken.’

Broken. A circuit connected in my brain and I realised why I felt like I’d heard this before. I had heard it before. Caddie was repeating everything she’d said to me in the school canteen – the first time I’d seen her here in the real world. I remembered Mrs Milton, my head teacher, lying on the floor. Sobbing and babbling. And broken.

I ran back over the meeting in my head. If I could remember what she said next then I could prove to myself I was right. What was it she’d said? What had I said? Something about Billy.

‘Not telling,’ she spoke.

Of course, that was it.

‘I told you, silly, I’m not telling,’ I blurted out, as quickly as I could. She started to speak before I was half finished.

‘I told you, silly,’ she giggled. ‘I’m not telling!’

It was as if I was looking at a recording. Every word, every inflection of her voice was exactly like it had been in the school. Any second now she’d ask me if I wanted—

‘Tea?’ she enquired.

And now I thought about it I realised it wasn’t just Caddie. When Mr Mumbles appeared on Christmas Day I’d first seen him in front of the living-room window. He’d stood there, hat pulled down, coat swishing in the breeze, beady eyes boring holes in mine.

He’d looked exactly the same when I saw him again tonight. The same stance in the same position in the same room. It was as if my encounters with both him and Caddie were being somehow replayed or re-enacted.

I detached myself from the corner of the room and cautiously moved towards the bed. Caddie’s eyes followed me, but she made no other movement. She was still talking – telling me I’d get a cake if I was extra good – but I was no longer really listening.

The bedsprings squeaked when I stepped up on top of the mattress. It was impossible to walk around the bed without having to go through Caddie and her doll, but I could go over it and reach the door without having to pass too close to them.

I thudded down on to the other side of the bed. The closed bedroom door was just a few steps away now. My eyes remained locked with Caddie’s as I backed towards it, my hand searching for the handle.

‘Raggy Maggie likes sugar, don’t you, Raggy Maggie?’ was all she said as I slipped out on to the upstairs landing.

The door to Ameena’s room was directly across from mine. It used to be where Nan slept when she lived with us, but – apart from Christmas Day – it had been empty ever since she’d gone into the old folks’ home a few years back.

The door wasn’t fully shut. I nudged it open and took a backwards step inside. My eyes were still on Caddie. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight for a second, in case she pulled a vanishing act like Mr Mumbles had.

I could hear Ameena’s breathing, soft and slow. She was asleep. Not for long.

‘Ameena,’ I hissed into the gloom. ‘Ameena, wake up.’

I heard her gasp quietly. The bed gave a sharp creak as she sat quickly upright. ‘What?’ she said, more loudly than I’d have liked. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Come here, quick.’

‘What is it?’

‘Just come and look!’ I hissed, giving her an imploring look. She muttered faintly beneath her breath as she threw off her covers and came to join me by the door.

She needn’t have bothered. The spot where Caddie had been standing was empty. I cursed myself for glancing away.

‘Gone,’ I said. ‘She’s gone.’

‘Who’s gone?’

‘Caddie.’

‘Yeah, four days ago,’ Ameena said.

I shook my head. ‘No, not four days ago. Now. A second ago.’

I marched across the landing and into my room. Empty. Ameena sauntered in behind me.

‘You were probably just dreaming.’

‘I’m telling you she was here,’ I said, pointing to the foot of my bed. ‘Standing right there.’

Ameena opened my wardrobe door and peeked inside. ‘Not in there,’ she said, closing it again with a click. ‘You sure you weren’t dreaming, kiddo?’

I flopped down into a sitting position on my bed. First Mr Mumbles and then Caddie. What was happening to me?

‘I saw her,’ I said, my voice coming out as a quiet croak. ‘I saw her as clearly as I’m seeing you.’

‘Maybe you just imagined—’

‘No,’ I snapped, ‘she was here.’

‘You didn’t let me finish. I’m not saying she wasn’t here, I’m saying maybe you imagined it.’

I looked up at her and blinked, even more confused than I had been. ‘How do you mean?’

‘Remember in the garage?’ she said. ‘When we fought Mr Mumbles. You told me you thought about a light coming on, and what happened?’

‘A light came on,’ I frowned, ‘but—’

‘And you thought how handy it would be to have a weapon, didn’t you? And then…’

‘I found the axe.’

‘Exactly,’ she nodded. ‘So what happened downstairs? Just before you saw Mr Mumbles.’

‘I dropped a glass,’ I told her.

‘And?’

I hesitated, having already realised the road this conversation was taking me down. ‘And I remembered him coming through the window.’

‘And I’ll bet just before your other guest turned up you’d been thinking about her too.’

I looked from Ameena to the spot where Caddie had been standing. Though I didn’t realise it, I must’ve nodded.

‘Thought so,’ Ameena said. She looked pleased with herself. I felt like she’d just kicked me in the stomach.

‘So, what,’ I began, ‘every time I remember them they’re going to come back, is that it? Every time I think about what happened they’re going to come leaping out of the shadows?’

‘There’s a simple solution.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Don’t think about them.’

Easy for you to say, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud. I looked down at the floor. Was this it? Was I doomed to a life of running from ghosts of monsters past? I had to know. One way or another I had to find out for sure.

‘You might be right,’ I nodded, standing up.

‘Of course I’m right. I’m always right.’

‘But let’s do a test,’ I suggested.

Ameena’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘What kind of test?’

‘I’ll think about one of them and see if I can make them appear.’

Ameena didn’t say anything for a moment. I saw her look over at my bedside alarm. The LED display told her it was well before five. She sighed as she realised she wouldn’t be getting back to bed any time soon. ‘OK,’ she nodded. ‘Let’s give it a try.’

‘Close the door,’ I instructed. I bounced up and down on the spot a few times, taking four or five big, deep breaths.

‘Ready?’ Ameena asked.

I stopped bouncing and nodded. ‘Ready.’

We stood there for a long time, neither one of us saying anything, until Ameena eventually broke the silence.

‘You started yet?’

I winced. ‘I don’t know which one to think about.’

‘Good grief,’ she muttered, shaking her head. ‘Think about whatever one scared you the least. I don’t want you freaking out on me if you do make them appear.’

‘Right,’ I said. ‘Good idea.’

I closed my eyes. It was a close-run thing, but I found Mr Mumbles marginally less scary than Caddie, even though it probably should have been the other way around. There was a vague familiarity to Mr Mumbles that Caddie didn’t have, and I think that’s why he didn’t terrify me quite as much as the girl with the doll did.

Lost in the blackness behind my eyes, I tried to picture my old imaginary friend. It wasn’t hard. He had a face that wasn’t easy to forget, and I’d seen it up close so many times it was burned into my memory for ever.

Almost straight away, Mr Mumbles stumbled from the fog inside my head, arms outstretched, hands clawing at thin air. Instinctively I opened my eyes and pulled away, although there was nothing to pull away from. Only Ameena and I were there in the room.

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘I thought about him,’ I said. ‘I could picture him coming at me.’

‘And what about now?’ she asked, casting her eyes around the room. ‘Can you see him now?’

I shook my head. ‘Maybe I should try again.’

‘If you like,’ Ameena nodded, before she gave a yawn so big it threatened to swallow her own head.

‘Let’s try in the morning,’ I suggested, taking the hint. ‘It’s late. Or early, depending on how you look at it.’

‘Good call. You be OK?’

‘Course,’ I said with a smile, as I guided her towards the door. ‘I’ll be absolutely… Wait. Did you hear something?’

We stood listening to the silence.

‘Nope.’

I hesitated, then reached for the door. For a moment there I’d thought I heard…

‘Footsteps,’ I whispered. ‘Listen.’

We leaned closer to the door. Ameena stared down towards the end of her nose, the way she always did when she was listening hard.

Thup. The sound of the footstep on the hallway carpet was almost too soft for us to hear. Almost.

Ameena’s eyes met mine. She gave a brief nod and we both stepped back from the door.

Thup.

‘Now do you believe me?’ I whispered as I looked around for something to use as a weapon. The only thing close to hand was a pillow, and I couldn’t see that being a lot of help.

Thup. The footsteps stopped right outside the bedroom door. Ameena and I both took another step away.

I narrowed my eyes and gave the power sleeping inside me a nudge. At once I felt the familiar tingling sensation creep across my scalp; saw the flashes of blue and white sparks across my vision. When Mr Mumbles stepped through the doorway he’d be stepping straight into a world of pain.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, I felt Ameena tense as the handle of the door slowly began to turn. The dull metal gave the faintest of creaks as it was pushed all the way down.

The electricity buzzed through my skull. I raised my hands, not yet sure what I was going to do to Mr Mumbles, but certain it was going to be something nasty.

The door edged open and a head appeared through the gap. Mum looked half asleep. She also looked angry.

‘What’s going on?’ she demanded, pushing the door the rest of the way open. ‘It’s the middle of the night.’

‘Mum,’ I breathed, feeling the tingling in my head subside. ‘It’s only you. We thought it was—’

He stepped out behind her without a sound, raising the axe before I could grasp what was happening. Everything seemed to lurch into jerky slow motion as Mr Mumbles swung his arm round in a wide arc. I heard Ameena give a yelp, and watched, helpless, as the blade of the axe sliced through the air.

And straight towards Mum’s neck.