‘The beers is good’ Peter said looking straight ahead, Tony drank what was left in his bottle, went to the fridge and got two more, he handed one to Peter,

‘Beer and cigarettes’ what more can a man want’ he replied, there was cynicism in his words.

‘There was a moments silence as they both pondered the question,

‘What is this place Tony’ Peter asked

‘It’s a place stuck in time’ he answered ‘you’ve gone back in time 40 years’,

‘How do you mean he asked?’

Tony thought long and hard ‘This is how Underwood was 40 years ago, it hasn’t changed, just less people’ he paused thinking about his wife ‘ it’s stuck in some time warp, I don’t really know, there was an explosion, the steelworks we think, the whole town rattled, then it had changed’

‘What do you mean changed?’

Tony leaned forward in his deckchair ‘see that’ he said, pointing to the landscape ‘that wasn’t there last week’

Peter looked at Tony, their eyes locked,

Tony continued ‘Every time there is a storm, the landscape changes, and sometimes, just like you, new people arrive, and the shelves are full, and the fields are growing and the whole place just becomes more fucked up’ he spat out the last words,

‘The three that run it, can’t they be taken down’ Peter asked, it seemed such a logical question,

Tony laughed, but it wasn’t a joyous laugh, it was a laugh full of sarcasm and pain,

‘The three people don’t run the place, it’s what’s in the woods that runs the place’

‘So we take them down first’

‘You don’t get it do you’

Peter stood defiant, looking at the woods surrounding the estate, ‘We take them three down, and then we burn the fucking woods’

Tony stood beside him, both men had a beer bottle in their hand, Peter spoke again

‘You’re the only person I have met who’s not terrified of this place’

Tony pondered the question, ‘it’s not fear it’s hate, I’m not scared of dying if it’s for a cause’

‘And what would the cause be’ Tony’s answer was quick as if he knew the question was coming,

‘To burn it to the ground, just like you said, I want to destroy this fucking place,’

‘Will you help me save my family’ asked Peter,

Tony could see the desperation in his eyes, he had seen it many times before, he guessed he had the same look in his own eyes, he liked the guy that he was speaking to, he just didn’t get how this place works, how Underwood operates.

‘To get out of here you have got to understand how you got in’ Tony replied ‘are you scared of dying Peter’

‘Not if it’s for a cause’ he smiled as he said it,

‘Well I have a theory, do you want to hear it’

‘Of course I do’

So Tony grabbed two more beers and told him.

‘Come on ladies it’s almost midnight, I want to go to bed, said Craig, he was talking to the only two people left in the pub, Sue Bradshaw and June Murphy, who tonight just like every other night had been drowning their sorrows in Underwood’s finest home-made wine,

Sue went to stand up and flopped back into her seat ‘oops’ she said, a cigarette drooped from the corner of her mouth.

Craig held his hand out and pulled her up, Sue put her hands around his neck as she stood, in a moment of affection and to gain her balance.

‘I do love you Craigy’ she told him, they both laughed as she released him,

‘Come on you piss ed’ said June and took her sisters arm’

‘Goodnight ladies’ said Craig, with a big smile on his face, the girls acknowledged him with smiles and waves as they walked out into the night and into the pub car park.

Sue tried to pull her arm away ‘I don’t need you to hold me up’ she told her sister’

‘No but I need you to hold me up’ she laughed.

June Murphy had never lived in Underwood before it changed, she was simply visiting her sister, as she often did June would come and spend the night with Sue, they would go up to the then , Underwood social club, grab a takeaway and back home to talk about the good times.

June had never seen her husband again, she wasn’t sure what had happened, like so many others in Underwood, they had gone to bed that night, the worse for wear from the lagers and the wine, young pretty sisters, they woke up the next day and things had changed, the view had changed, either Underwood had left the world it stood in, or the world had left it, they never knew, thankful that they at least had each other.

Sue and June had made a pact, when they both thought that they had enough, they would hand in hand walk into the woods, they knew you never come out and more and likely died, but maybe there was something else beyond the woods, maybe there was life and the world that somehow got left behind, one day they would find out, when they both have had enough.

Tonight would be no different, tonight could be the night, but they both doubted that, as time goes by and the wine numbs the brain, memories fade, they had each other, for now that would be good enough, until they woke up the next morning, did the same thing, drunk the same wine, and walked home thinking that tonight may be the night.

They linked arms, the gentle breeze pleasing against their faces, the moon shone, June was thinking of the bottle of wine cooling in the fridge for when they got home to Willow, it was a routine they had followed most nights,

‘Which way tonight’ asked June, Sue gave it some thought, it confused her with the landscape changing all of the time, mixed in with the wine it wasn’t a good question to ask,

‘Let’s walk to the bottom of Hawthorne, I think there’s trees there now’

‘There’s trees every fucking where’ groaned June.

It took them ten minutes to get there and sure enough just as they suspected, there were trees, Sue was sure last week there was a field before the trees, but it didn’t matter, tonight it was trees, and as they did every night they stood looking at the trees, 20 metres from the woods edge, both wondering whether the woods would lead to freedom or to something much worse, they stood side by side staring, memories came flooding back for both girls, good memories that were starting to fade and it was taking all that they could do to hold onto them.

It was a while before June spoke, the night air and the woods somehow having a sobering effect, but the temptation was not there, not this time, June wondered if it ever would be.

‘Not tonight then sis’ she said with a sadness in her voice,

Sue smiled as they linked arms,

‘Be a shame to waste that wine in the fridge’

‘Maybe when all the wine’s gone then’

‘Or the cigarettes’

‘Yea, or the cigarettes’

They both laughed and turned to walk home, until June saw something out of the corner of her eye,

‘What’s that’ she shouted, panic rose in her voice,

Nathan and Samuel had sneaked out of No.13 Hawthorne, and for a moment for both boy’s it was like an adventure, something forbidden that they shouldn’t be doing, Samuel thought he had never done anything like this, it was exciting, in some ways to him doing something he shouldn’t be doing was like a payback for all the bad things that had happened, they weren’t really going to go into the woods, it was just pretending, just a game, they wouldn’t really do it, it was just an adventure they were playing out.

They stood about ten metres from the edge of the trees. both staring into them, adrenalin, fear and excitement building up in their body’s, they could see the trees silhouetted against the moonlit sky, they could see and hear them move, shadows swaying against the sky, but they were looking into darkness, for Samuel he was looking into the unknown for he had never been inside a wood before, they took one further step forward,

‘Do you think there’s anything in there’ asked Nathan,

Samuel took another step, Nathan followed, it felt like they were going to find out tonight,