Chapter Nine: A strange encounter

The next day as Calin finally got some decent clothes, he dressed as fast as he could just to get out of the place. He was still shuddering at the thought of all the tests he had to endure the previous day. All at the hands of the sadistic little nurse.

She could have dissected me like a frog and it would’ve been a kinder term for the ‘tests’, another shiver ran across his body. But still… the woman only did what she was told to do. At least she was friendly, mostly.

He stepped out of the small room, glancing back to the confining box. He hoped he didn’t have to come back there any time soon. Jerry said two days only? Plus today, it felt like a week!

Each step Calin took away from the room brought more of a spring to his step. He started humming a tune he never quite remembered where he had heard it, but it didn’t really matter, it always made him smile.

Then a voice from the side stole that smile and made him cringe. “Goodbye Calin, thanks for doing the tests.”

Turning to the smiling nurse, he said thanks trying to keep the slight tremble in his hands under control. He almost ran through the hospital doors when she turned away from him. Outside, Calin huffed for breath in the fresh air, quite glad to be free.

He turned his attention to the sight before him.

The white building that made up the pharmacy and hospital was built on the hillside. It overlooked the small town of farmers, fishermen and a lot of scientists. The last seven years were filled with of memories of the town.

Calin lifted his face and basked in the last rays of the afternoon sun. Its fading rays cradled the town’s hundred odd buildings. Most of them were closer to the seaside, but that was expected. Not to mention that it was closer to the strange ruins in the forest over the cliffs.

Those forests tugged at him now as they called for him where they hugged the cliffs in the distance. The sound of a river faint from up there.

For an instant, the woods made him wonder if he really had heard a wolf howl the night with the lightning. But just then he spotted the small tower of the only unearthed part of Mesa Versee above the cliffs. It was more visible these days over the forest and with the sight of it Calin lost his sense of freedom as he couldn’t help but think of Kara and her father going missing because of Wanrey and his cahoots.

It was too much for him, every time he thought of it he started beating himself up about his lack of action that day. All he could do was shake off that familiar line of thoughts as he turned his gaze to the right.

There laid the all too familiar green pastures of the farms and plantations that opted for the more sheltered part of the valley between the hills, hiding their crops from the brutal winds coming from the sea. The river touched on the farms but then disappeared underground close to the Ruins.

Those he had grew up seeing, the Jacobs’ farms that were built around Misses Talsen’s black roofed house was the most prominent, with its rows and rows of apple trees and the fields of grain with their tall stalks that swayed in the gentle wind. That was truly a family of farmers, committed to a life on the lands. He always wondered what Mr. Jacobs thought of only having daughters in that kind of life style, the only boy was still far too young to learn the ropes.

Looking carefully, he spotted the house that had been his home for the last seven and a half years, and its barn. Seeing it made a question pop into his mind about what Jerry had done in the time he was in hospital. Probably any kind of mischief he could think of.

The cobble stone road was uneven under his feet as he started his way down its snaking passage, not entirely sure what to expect from the people at the house.

The street around him was bustling with people finishing off for the day. No one voice stood out through the controlled chaos, Calin sidestepped an elderly man who was tapping a young boy carrying shopping bags with a weathered cane. A smile escaped him at the scene.

Around the next corner, he caught some of the sun’s last rays telling their eerie story in an assortment of colours, the buildings basked in the cosy orange glow.

He couldn’t help but feel as if the warm sunlight was guiding him somewhere. Then a laugh escaped him as two young children came running past his legs in their game of tag, shouting and laughing their way over the street.

It was then, while he still watched the children that a heavy shove from a man’s shoulder sent Calin stumbling towards the wall and he had to slow his own momentum with his hands against the cool stone.

In the event of turning to the man to complain, his words stopped in his mouth as amber eyes came into view. It was the same Japanese man with the strange eyes from the hospital.

“They are close. We can’t be seen.”

Immediately Calin exclaimed, “What? Wait! I want to speak to you!” He pushed himself off the wall, he started forward but the man was already moving back through the crowd.

He worked his way through the people, but never got any closer. All the while he called. “Wait! Please!”

Finally a clear spot presented itself and he ran after the man. The stranger’s long brown jacket trailed behind him in the wind. It was a desperate run after the man and he soon lost sight of the stranger in an alley way that Calin knew to be a dead end. I have him now, he thought with relief, but as he ventured around the corner, the alley was empty, not a sign of his target’s passage.

He slowly entered, not knowing if there was someone waiting for him in the shadows. He crept slowly forward deeper into the dark alley. The sun had long since withdrawn its welcoming sunlight from the darkening corridor.

There was rustling behind one of the large waste bins. He slowly snuck towards the noise, hoping to find nothing.

Upon reaching the metal bin, Calin whispered, “Hello? Anybody there?”

A cat sprung at him.

Jumping on his shoulder, and with a great leap it bounded up to the gutter up high.

Calin shuddered and fell back against the cold metal, holding his hand against his chest to stem the shock on his heart.

Darn cat, almost gave me a heart attack! He tried to calm himself as he started back out of the alley and reluctantly gave up on his search for the strange man. What did he mean?

He was slightly annoyed at losing the man with the amber eyes. Something about that person almost reminded him of something he had long since forgotten. That sat at the edge of his mind, just out of reach.

He trudged out of the mouth of the small street, and with a sigh was swept along in the crowd. He looked down the long street that went straight to the docks; the sun was disappearing slowly behind the horizon. Soon, Calin turned left in Miller’s avenue and trotted back to the barn.

***

Upon opening the big doors of the barn, he expected Jerry, but the boy was not there, nor his bedding. That’s weird?

With swift leaps, he climbed up to his loft and placed his weight on his knees as he got on the solid wooden boards, only to almost fall off with Jerry’s voice next to him. “Took you long enough.”

“WHOA!! Jerry,” Calin gasped and fell flat to his stomach grabbing at the boy’s ankle. “I almost fell off you bugger!”

Jerry just snorted at him, wrenching his foot loose before sitting down on a nearby crate. “See the worry in my eyes. You know, I would have loved to see you fall your ass off.”

Calin smiled, Jerry is Jerry, always will be. He sat up to see Jerry’s bedding off to the right and turned back to the boy, grinning. He wanted to punch the boy, but said, “I should’ve known you would find your way up here while I was away, you’re such an ass.”

Jerry chuckled behind him and he ignored the boy as he got to his own bedding at the window. With a heavy sigh he sat down. “Wow, I’m glad to be out of that white prison.”

There was shuffling somewhere behind him and then Jerry mocked.

“Calin I thought you liked the pretty nurse.”

Protesting immediately, Calin said, “Not one who probes you until you feel worse off than the accident you had! Nah I’ll pass.”

“More time for me then, eh Calin?” Jerry teased.

“Sure. Just come here and let me throw you down the loft and then you can have as much pampering from the nurses you want for the next week, or more. But oh wait you’ll be in too much pain to really want it anymore.”

The boy glared at him, Calin expected a serious retort, but Jerry just burst out laughing and he gladly joined in.

***

After calming down, Calin got up and stripped his clothes off for the day. He quickly donned a long-sleeved black shirt and dark shorts from his green rucksack that was still stuffed to the brim.

While shoving his sturdier pants into the bag, Calin noticed a small note falling out of the right pocket. What is this? He picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it. Something was scribbled inside;

Calin, I don’t know if you remember me, but that doesn’t matter now. I have a message for you and there are far too many eyes. If you hold the people close to you dear and fear for their safety, you will come to house number 37 in Seaside road. Come before dawn tomorrow, it’s imperative that you come as soon as you can. You have been warned. They will come for you.

The threat struck him like a blow. He didn’t know what to make of it. He was certain the note came from the Japanese man with the amber eyes.

Dazed, Calin looked back at the note. Those I hold dear? ‘Who is he talking about? Kara and her dad? But that doesn’t include the rest who were kidnapped’

“Who’s talking about whom?” Jerry asked from right next to him. Calin jerked at the boy’s unexpected presence. He quickly realized though, that he had said some of his thoughts aloud. No use hiding it. Nothing was ever truly hidden.

He threw the letter at Jerry and waited while the boy read it. Calin could barely reign in his thoughts as he waited for Jerry to finish, though it wasn’t long before the boy exclaimed.

“We have to go to Misses T and call the cops!”

The boy’s look of anxiety twinned his own. Calin had already been in motion as he pulled at his rucksack for his clothes and quickly donning his sturdy dark navy pants and his newly bought black jacket, zipping up the ember zip up to his neck. Jerry was shuffling somewhere behind him, also slipping into warmer clothes, he didn’t doubt.

While lacing up his boots, there was a scraping sound somewhere in the barn, but he paid it no attention. They were finishing up without a single word, both of them shocked into silence by the turn of events.

Of all the things that could happen, at that moment he could hardly imagine something worse. He hoped Kara and the others were unharmed.

He glanced at Jerry, and seeing him in a brown jacket and jeans was almost comical, the boy always favoured shorts, but the moment was a bleak one.

It was hard not to wonder what the boy was thinking. But before Calin could open his mouth, a barrel fell over with a loud crash on the bottom floor.

The sound of the barrel and the thousands of wheat kernels scattering over the hard floor reverberated through the barn.

The noise made both of them tense up. His apprehension mirrored on Jerry’s face.

The kidnappers had finally come back for them.

With shaking hands he motioned for Jerry to be quiet as they both hid behind the crates.

Jerry whispered harshly at him. “Calin… what should we do?”

Scared the whisper was too loud, he motioned for Jerry to keep it down.

While taking a deep breath, Calin whispered back. “Peek around the crate and see how many of them there are, If it’s only one we can jump him and clobber him before we make him tell us where they are holding our people.”

Jerry nodded and Calin motioned with his fingers to the boy,

Three,

Two,

One,

Jerry immediately looked over the crate and Calin reached for an old rusted pipe, but a moment later Jerry gasped and sat down in the blink of an eye, terror written all over his face. Confused, Calin whispered to him quickly, “Jerry… are there many of them?” The boy shook his head, but sweat dripped from his brow. Calin stared at him and asked in a whisper, “Then how many?”

Jerry showed him one finger, but it was shaking heavily. “Jerry what’s wrong? Talk to me,” Calin whispered but the boy shook his head at him, almost as if holding his breath. He didn’t know who could scare the boy like this, but it didn’t seem like he was going to get an answer out of Jerry. So, he slowly got to his knees and looked over to see who was messing around in the barn.

What came into view made his heart miss a few beats, his body started shaking. Jerry was half-heartedly tugging at him, trying to pull him down behind the cover again.