‘My names Peter’

‘I know it is’ he smiled, ‘mines Tony’

as he walked away, the evening was drawing in and for the first time since he had been there Peter spanned his surroundings, all he could see was trees, the town was in a circle of trees, and as he walked to his new home with his family, he wondered what was in the woods that everyone seemed so scared about, because if they were ever going to get out of the place they were imprisoned in, the woods seemed the only escape, as the roads seem to disappear.

When they got to the place they were now to call home, on the table, was their medical appointments for the morning, alongside a bag of tools were a list of the plumbing jobs Peter had to do in the afternoon.

52 year old Tony Griffiths walked home to his flat above the garage and car lot he built over the years, thankful at least the  guy in the cage had the sense to plead guilty and apologise, the sun was setting and as always the trees stood out from the sunset, it was at night they appeared to come alive, they would always sway in the evening, hear the wind whistling through the trees even when the night was still, but the storms were the worse, the storm of the magnitude of only a day ago, where the landscape around the town would change, like either the trees were spinning and the town still, or the other way around, he never quite got which one, but when you would wake up from the storm, the view you held from your windows was not there anymore, it would be replaced with another view, still of trees, always trees.

All he hoped for is that one day after a storm he would wake up and instead of the trees that surrounded them and lay home to whatever it was that lived there, there would be a road, a road to freedom, a road out of Underwood, that was the only reason he still lived.

As he opened the gates of his car lot and looked at the backdrop behind it, he hoped this view would last for a long time, because if it didn’t, all it would mean is that there were more lambs to the slaughter, and like most of the residents he wasn’t sure he could live with that.

He locked his gates, opened up his garage, he looked at the Avensis that stood in it, a hoist above the bonnet, he bit his bottom lip as he thought of the family it once belonged to, and like he did most nights took a bottle of homebrew out of the fridge and sat in his patio chair in the yard, watching the world go by, the small world of Underwood, watching the people walking home, some would wave and he waived back, some would stare as they walked by his lot, maybe envious of his job, maybe looking at the cars wondering if they would ever drive a car, he didn’t know why some people would ogle him, maybe they were just scared and that was the only expression they could use, he was the only mechanic in underwood, the only one with the skills needed to maintain the bus and the 3 police cars, the only vehicles in working order in the town, the only vehicles allowed to be in working order, that was part of his job, making sure no other vehicles worked, he also maintained the water pumps and generators, but the work was easy, the rewards handsome, in normal circumstances it would be a good life, but this wasn’t normal circumstances, this was Underwood, ‘One way in, no way out’ he told himself then he smiled and shivered at the same time.

It was a nice night as the trees swayed against the still night, and the moon shone through the trees, a perfect evening in another world, a perfect setting for a romantic evening, he thought about the man who had just escaped 10 lashings, he seemed a strong man, but more importantly he appeared to be a man of strong character, and that’s what would be needed if they were ever going to survive. He sipped his homebrew, ‘maybe we may see some light at the end of the tunnel’ he thought.

He went and got another bottle of homebrew and sat back in his chair, staring at the night, staring at the trees, recalling distant memories and trying to forget the ones that hurt the most, just like he had done for as long as he could remember, and like every other night he tried not to shed a tear as those hurtful memories returned, most nights he failed and the tears flowed, but not tonight, he allowed himself a wry smile, he thought things might be about to change.

The four new residents of a Town Called Underwood, a town hidden somewhere in the woods of South Wales, settled into their new three bedroom semidetached, concrete built home in a close they called Hawthorne, there cases had now been delivered and it was nice to have a change of clothes ,as they unpacked their cases, hanging them up in the wardrobes of the bedrooms did not seem real, they somehow thought there stay was not going to be a short one, Peter showered first, he felt dirty being stuck in that filthy cell, he fiddled with the shower head, the temperature was warm and the stream of water was weak, but he let it flow over his naked body as if it was washing the memories of today away, but he knew it would take more than just Luke warm water to do that, he was still trying to come to terms with what was happening, he still couldn’t believe the phenomenon that they had experienced had actually happened, it was like he was in the middle of a comic book about some paranormal activity, he was still trying to convince himself that there was a road out of here somewhere, or a path through the woods, the woods couldn’t just go on forever but every time he mentioned or thought of the woods, there was a sense of fear, he didn’t understand that, how that had been instilled in him, but he would have to find out why the woods were so sacred if they were ever to get out of here, he kept recalling the sign he read when they first come across the place, the letters that were crossed out, ‘there’s got to be a way out’ he told himself ‘there got to be’ the water soon grew cold and Peter barely noticed.

‘What’s happening mum’ asked Lily for what was probably the tenth time that day, she lay in her single bedroom, having showered and changed into her night clothes, the room was adorned with pink curtains and cushions, a pastel coloured flowered wallpaper set on the walls, a white dressing table and mirror, with a single white wardrobe, Eileen sat on the edge of the bed, still unable to give her daughter the answers she craved,

‘I don’t know sweetheart’ she answered ‘but your dad’s here now and he will sort it’

Lily screwed her face up, she sat up in the bed, ‘they were going to fucking whip him mum’ Eileen hugged her, ignoring the bad language on this occasion, she guessed she was entitled to swear,

‘No they weren’t, it was just one man, the others didn’t want that’

‘I bet if the vicar was there he would have wanted it’ she instantly shot back, ‘and that sheriff’ she spat out the words, ‘I don’t want to be here mum’ she cried, Eileen held her until she fell asleep, and when she knew she was definitely asleep, she left her room and let the tears flow, cry was all that she seemed able to do at that moment.

She looked into Nathans room, he was fast asleep, but she could see his sleep was restless as she watched him turning in his bed, he was sweating and she pulled the duvet from him, it was a hot evening, she went to open the window, but paused with her hand on the handle, she left it closed, she didn’t want the windows opened to a world she did not understand, she wondered how they came to be in a place where you were too scared to open the windows, she also wondered what it was they were scared of.

Peter had sat with him and held him until he had fallen asleep, stroking his head and trying to help him find assurance as he did so, he knew Nathan was having difficulty dealing with this, his young mind failing to take it all in, he wondered how any child could, because he couldn’t take it all in himself.