Paul Grzegorzek - Flare

Melody turned to me hopefully.

“Can I dad? Please?”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not, if you really want to.”

She nodded. “I do, because if I can shoot then I can stop anyone from hurting me if you’re not there.”

“But I’ll always be there.”

She turned away, looking down at her hands.

“I thought mum would be too, but she went away.” She glanced up at me out of the corner of her eye. “You don’t know what’s going to happen, do you?”

I opened my mouth to reassure her, then realised I was falling into old habits, so instead I took one of her hands and kissed it, regardless of the filth that caked her skin.

“All the time I’m alive, I will keep you safe. If I ever have to go away for any reason, then you’ll be with Emily, or Ralph or Harriet. You’re right, I can’t promise that I’ll always be there, but all the time I am I won’t let anything happen to you. Do you believe me?”

She nodded and took her hand back, hiding it in her lap as if embarrassed.

“I’m hungry.”

“So am I, but we’re going to a place that has food, and nice people. It’s run by a woman who was a chief inspector in the police, her name’s Lindsay and she’s really nice.”

“Will we be there soon?”

I glanced at the empty space on my wrist, my watch most likely still sitting next to my bed in Hove, if the house was still standing.

“Uh, not too long.” I leaned forward and saw that we were going about fifty miles an hour. The speedo didn’t go much higher and from the shaking and rattling, neither would the car.

“Maybe an hour or two. Why don’t you try and get some more sleep?”

She nodded and curled up, head on my chest and feet tucked under her legs. In a few moments she was breathing deeply, eyes closed as she drifted off into dreams that I prayed were pleasant ones.

I came to with a start as the car pulled up, jerking awake and almost knocking Melody into the footwell.

Emily wound her window down and leaned out to wave at someone. I blinked a few times and realised that we were outside the gate to the farm near Stafford.

The man nearby was unfamiliar, but the woman with him was the same one who’d let us through earlier. It was hard to believe it was the same day, and that only hours before we’d been here eating breakfast.

After a brief check and a smile for Melody, the woman opened the gate and let us through. We bumped down the track and pulled into the yard, having to squeeze past an army Landrover parked there.

I thought that odd and glanced down at the registration. My blood went cold as I recognised it.

“Emily,” I said, pointing, “recognise the vehicle?”

She nodded, reaching for the pistol and pulling it into her lap, then put the car in reverse and was about to pull away when Lindsay came out and waved to us.

Emily glanced at me.

“What do we do?”

“Let’s see what she has to say. Maybe they found it abandoned.”

Stopping the engine, Emily wound down the window again as Lindsay walked over, pushing through the crowd that was beginning to form.

“You’re alive!” She said with obvious relief. “Thank god.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Emily asked, one hand still on the pistol that was now tucked between the door and the seat, out of sight.

Lindsay pointed at the Landrover. “One of our patrols came across two men driving your car, and they said they’d found it next to two bodies so they took it. They got brought here for some food so we could find out what happened but they kept changing their stories so we locked them up in the feed shed.”

“You’ve got them?” I asked, glancing at Melody to see if she was following the conversation. I could see by her expression that she was.

Lindsay nodded. “We have. The latest story is that you attacked them for no reason and they managed to get away by stealing the car and driving off, then they came looking for help. What happened?”

I put a hand on Melody’s shoulder.

“Lindsay, this is my daughter Melody. Those two arseholes broke into her grandparents’ house, killed her grandma and then kidnapped Melody. When we tried to get her back they put a knife to her throat, and we gave them the vehicle in exchange for Melody.”

Lindsay’s face, already drawn, darkened as her brows drew together.

“They did what?” She spat through gritted teeth, and I suddenly remembered that she was, or had been, a police officer.

I nodded. “When we got there, they were…” I stopped, suddenly very aware that I’d been avoiding asking Melody certain questions. Some my mind shied away from, unable to find a way to ask, but I didn’t even know what they’d been making her do when they took her away from the house.

I turned to Melody. “What were they doing?” I asked, “of course you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” I gabbled the last bit, suddenly, horribly out of my depth. Part of my brain was screaming the question, did those bastards touch you? but the rest of it refused to even think about it.

Melody looked everywhere but at Lindsay.

“Um, they, er, they were stealing things, and they made me knock on doors and say I was lost. I didn’t want to do it, they made me!”

Lindsay shook her head. “It’s not your fault, dear, but I think you and I should have a little talk, maybe without your dad. Perhaps your friend Emily might come along?”

We all looked at each other uncomfortably. Emily and Melody hardly knew each other, but I knew that Melody would never speak in front of me if something darker had happened.

“Would you mind?” I asked Emily.

She frowned but nodded. “Sure, if Melody is ok with that?”

Melody shrugged, eyes still downcast, and fresh worry bloomed in my chest.

I opened the door and got out of the car, then helped Melody out as Emily came to stand next to us.

Lindsay came over and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry to do this to you Malcolm, but we need to decide what to do with these men quickly, before word gets out and they get lynched. Before we make that decision, we need the full facts.”

“Yeah, sure, just be gentle, ok? She’s been through a lot.”

She squeezed my shoulder and held out a hand to Melody, who took it with a glance back at me before the three of them headed off into the farm building.

Left to my own devices and suddenly unsure what to do, I headed to the kitchen and found the evening meal being prepared.

One of the chefs recognised me and waved a spatula in my direction.

“You came back then? Find your little girl?”

I nodded.

“Good. No food yet, but I can make you a cuppa if you like?”

“That would be wonderful,” I said, forcing a smile. What I really felt like was going to find the men in the feed shed and tearing them limb from limb, but I’d let those shackles slip once and I vowed never to do it again. I could still remember the feel of another man’s blood on my face as my knife punctured his lung again and again, and I shuddered at the thought. No matter how tough I had to be to survive, the man I’d become that day scared me.

I sat with both hands wrapped around my mug, thinking these and other dark thoughts while I waited for Melody and Emily to return.

It seemed to take forever, but my tea was still warm when they came back through the door hand in hand, Emily with a relieved smile on her face.

She gave me a thumbs up with her free hand, and some of the ice around my heart melted. Melody came over and sat on my lap, subdued but not upset, and I looked over her head at Emily as she found herself a chair and sat.

“How did it go?”

Emily looked at Melody. “Sweetie, do you want to go and play with the other kids outside? I bet they can show you the animals.”