The Mysteries of Brambly Hollow

tried to make contact with his son. “He’s either not there, or he’s ignoring you,” she eventually stated when the constant sound of his voice felt like a potato peeler, torturously stripping away layers of skin from her scalp.
    Above her head came a thump on the roof, as though something heavy had dropped onto it from the trees. Meli was jettisoned across the floor and landed beside Bill. Together, they stared upwards. The thumping became loud and rhythmic, like it was raining coconuts, or someone was leaping about, stomping their elephant-sized feet.
    “Finn, I know that’s you,” Bill called. Total silence fell. “Finn, come on son, speak to me.”
    “What?”
    Meli grabbed Bill’s arm and almost tore it from its socket as she clung to him. Strangely, knowing that Finn was actually there was more terrifying than not knowing where he was. She ran her tongue over her sore lips. They felt thinner than ever, practically none existent, probably through dehydration.
    “Finn, this is wrong. You’ve got to let us out.” Bill tried to tug away, but Meli wasn’t having any of it, her grip tightened.
    “No, no, no, no.” The chant was both immature, yet at the same time discordant, and it sent chills racing up and down Meli’s spine. She clearly heard him land on the ground to her right.
    “Why are you doing this?” Meli yelled into the air.
    “Cos, don’t like you.” The whole wall shook, as if it had been given a savage kick.
    If he’d said it was because he was insane, or because he’d been bottle rather than breast fed as a baby, or even because he wanted Hitler reinstated, Meli could have took this. But such a personal attack aimed at her was horrifying. The chills in her spine spread into her limbs and her mouth sagged open into a gaping O.
    “Why don’t you like Mrs. Noble?” Bill pressed a finger to his lips, silencing Meli, who looked as if she was about to have apoplexy.
    There was a pause, as if Finn needed to consider this. “Cos she had ma taken away. Ma was sleeping where Finn left her in the house, until She came in. Then, the people in cars came and took Finn’s dogs away.” Around them the entire structure juddered, as he vented his anger with another well aimed foot. Maybe, Meli thought hopefully, if they could keep irritating him he would eventually bring the building down, and they could escape?
    “And cos of her, ma told Finn off. Told Finn not to go in there for things, but they had good things, yummy things. But then she came here, snooping around Finn’s place.” Throwing a puerile tantrum, Finn beat his fists against the thin, partitioning wall that separated them. They sounded like huge slabs of beef. With a change of heart, terrified of the mad beast within the teenager, Meli prayed that the wood would hold out. Fearfully, she glanced up. Above their heads, the bulb began moving from side to side, flickering in protest. Within its glow, the air was thick and foul with renewed clouds of dust and swirling strands of spiders webs, that were providing a feast for the fast moving shadows, as they nipped in and out of the nooks and corners to dine. The bulb whipped the air faster and faster at the end of its flex, then, just when Meli thought that the light was going to finally die, the room stopped shaking.
    Instantly, having bided his time and unmoved by his sons paddy, Bill leaped into the ceasefire with his only weapon. Words. “If mum told you off,” his voice boomed, in an attempt to catch his sons attention. “It would have been because you were naughty. Mum always told you off when you were naughty. Don’t you remember? We’ve talked about this in the past.” With a final quiver, the bulb came to rest, and giving up its protestation shone down on them with seemingly new intensity.
    “But ma whacked Finn with a big stick, for using the gun to shoot that stupid squirrel. Ma’d never done that before. Finn didn’t like it when ma did that; didn’t like ma. It hurt.”
    Meli detected the ugly edge to his voice. Linking this to his own admission, that he was capable of using a gun, capable of taking a life, even if it was only an animal, her stomach cramped with fear.
    “What happened to mum?”
    Meli gawked at Bill. She wasn’t sure that this was the right time to bring this matter up, but it was too late, Bill had posed the question. Meli pulled at her lower lip, waiting for the angry rebuttal she was sure it would bring. All remained uncannily quiet.