‘If it’s for who I think it is, I’d prefer the second option’

Tony nodded, so did he.

As he left the surgery he wondered what he had let himself in for, his partner in crime was gone, he needed an ally, he thought he may have one with Sandra the deputy and as he walked to see the sheriff, he just hoped and prayed that Peters remains had not be found, he wanted him alive, even though at this time he was of no use, he hid the poison in his clothing, ten days ago he was just a used car lot owner with no sales, drinking and smoking himself to death, now he had kidnapped someone, killed someone and was walking around with a concoction in his pocket that could kill in seconds, he wondered how it all changed, he smiled as he walked blaming his new friend, Peter Ford.

Chapter 16

Peter lay on the bed until the alarm clock went off, but he was awake well before it did, his mind was racing to much to sleep, and when he did doze the dreams were haunting, he had thought about contacting family at home, they would be wondering why no contact had been made, their numbers were in his phone which he had left in underwood, but he wouldn’t be contacting them, at least not for the moment, what could he say, what could he tell Eileen’s mother and father, ‘your daughter and grandchildren have been kidnapped by an alien force’ who in their right mind would believe that, ‘who in their right mind would believe that there was a hidden world somewhere and a storm had took them to it, ‘The police?’ what would he tell them, what could he say, the only conclusion he could come to was sit it out, wait for a storm then see what happened.

He had a much appreciated shower, relishing the hot water as it hit his naked body, he got dressed and went downstairs to the reception area, behind the reception desk there was a pretty young girl in a hotel uniform and she smiled at him as he approached, and that simple act made him realise how much he had missed normal people, ever since he had been in Underwood all he had seen was fear on people’s faces.

‘Can I help you’ she asked as Peter approached the desk, Peter’s heart went into his mouth, he didn’t know why, he gulped, he was at a loss about any of this, he felt like half the time he was walking around in a day dream and the other half was a nightmare, he didn’t know who he could trust, he was on edge, not in control of his emotions and he felt his actions were showing it.

‘Can you tell me how to get to Underwood’ he asked her, he watched her eye’s he was sure he was going to see a look of shock on the receptionist face, as if he had sworn at her or made some inappropriate comment.

‘Sure’ she said ‘go out of the services, turn right onto the Magor road, follow that for about 2 miles and when you come to the dip, it’s on your left, it’s signposted just go up the hill, you can’t miss it really’ and she smiled at him again.

The response took Peter aback, he wasn’t sure what answer he was going to get, for a split second he thought the girl was part of it all, and he wanted to challenge her, but that went out of his head when he saw the young girl smile once again, she looked so innocent,

‘How can she be part of this’ he told himself.

‘Are you okay’ she asked him, noticing the look of shock on his face, her smile wavered to a look of concern.

Peter composed himself, he noticed the name tag on her uniform, and he chastised himself for his own thoughts,

‘Yes thank you Frankie’ he told her ‘I didn’t realise it was still there’

‘Where else would it be’ said the girl with a slight look of confusion on her face,

Peter smiled and thanked her, he didn’t know the answer to that question.

He left the reception and got into his car and followed the directions he was given, and he was soon passing the church into Underwood, he slowed down to look at it, there was no fear within him, he drove over a bridge with a Motorway running underneath it, his heart was in his mouth as he drove up the incline and to the sign that read Underwood, there was nothing written underneath it and for that he felt thankful, but there was also a tinge of regret, he wanted it to be the same place, and Peter crawled along as he entered the estate, looking around all of the time, then he parked the car and looked on in shock at what he saw, he didn’t know what he was expecting,’ maybe I was hoping for a miracle,’ he thought as he sat in his car open mouthed.

 

It was the same road he had entered Underwood during the storm, that was quite clear to him, not as badly worn but he knew it was the same road, but this time to his right where the army huts should have been, were houses, newly built houses, and as he looked down Waltwood road all he could see was cars parked outside the houses and on the drives, behind the houses still stood the woods, but they looked different, they did not look scary, they did not represent fear, in fact Peter thought that they looked quite welcoming, as he looked between the gap of two houses into the woods he could see that someone had built a swing on the tree that overhung into the garden, it was definitely the same place, but somehow it looked different, this wasn’t the same place that he had tied himself to the railings the night before, yet in some ways it was exactly the same place.

A shiver went through his body and he looked around and expected to see Steve Duce there, but he wasn’t, and again he didn’t know whether to be disappointed or pleased, all the pent up emotions were confusing him, he started answering his own questions in his head, until he run out of questions.

He put the car in gear and drove on, if he was right the social club should just be down the road, or at least that’s where it was when he first entered Underwood, but then he remembered it had changed so he wasn’t sure what he was going to see, he pulled into the car park and got out of his car, it was exactly where it was the first time he entered Underwood, he shivered again at the thought of it, the building was still there, the first thing Peter noticed was the windows, the one he had left had no windows at the front, this building did, but it still bore the same shape as the one he remembered, the same construction, there was outside seating areas and a new side entrance, with a smoking area, and a new sign adorned it’s walls, now it wasn’t Underwood social club, it was the Iscoed Tafarn and it looked a dam site more welcoming than the Underwood social club he knew and he hated that about it.

Peter stood there for a while in utter confusion, he really felt like calling the police and telling them everything, but when he went over it in his mind, however he put it, it just seemed so unbelievable that he thought he may be sectioned, then he thought they would look for his family and when they couldn’t find them he would be accused of murdering them, there would be no body’s, his mind was spinning, he thought of life imprisonment if he reported this, he was on his own, no one could help him, not now, the only hope he had was Tony Griffiths and he didn’t live here, not in this Underwood.

He watched as people were going in and out of the pub, he stood and as he watched them, he was trying to see if there was fear on their faces, the fear that everyone in the town he knew had, the fear of desolation there wasn’t, people were walking up and down the streets and children were out playing, what really threw him was a No.64 single decker bus drove by and stopped at the bus stop, people got on and off, Peter ran in a panic over to the bus stop and someone told the driver to hold on as they thought he was running to catch the bus, but he only wanted to look at the driver, the driver stared at him waiting for him to step onto the bus, but it was not the man who picked his family up in the mini bus and as his heart sunk he realised he wanted it to be Steve Duce, he wanted someone he had met, he wanted answers, the driver closed the bus door, mumbling to himself as he did so.