[Wordsmiff]

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN


“Has anyone brought their mobile?” Tim asked out loud.

Despite the pitch darkness, everyone else in the room turned to look at him, or at least in the general direction of his voice.

“I certainly haven’t,” Becky said, “Where would I put it?”

“I could answer that,” Liam replied, “After experiencing the size of your...”

“Shut it,” Becky said, stopping him short.

“I haven’t got mine,” Kirsty said.

“I didn’t bring mine with me when I left home,” Liam said.

“I think I did,” Luke said, “But I’m not sure if I left it upstairs...” He paused. “Hang on.” He paused slightly longer. “Yeah,” he said.

“Yeah, you left it upstairs?” Tim wanted to know, “Or yeah you’ve got it with you?”

“Yeah,” Luke repeated.

“Which one?” Tim was starting to sound frustrated.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” Luke finally revealed.

“Call the police,” Tim said.

“Or the fire brigade, or the SAS, or anybody,” Kirsty added. “Just get us out of here.”

There was a dim glow as Luke turned on his phone.

“It’s not got much charge in it,” Luke said.

“Don’t matter,” Tim said, “Just do it.”

“Or signal,” Luke added.

Tim sighed. “Is there any signal at all?”

“Not really,” Luke said. He tapped some keys.

“Who are you calling?” Kirsty asked.

“Mum,” Luke said, “She’ll know what to do.”

“Will she fuck,” Liam screamed. “Call the cops. The number’s nine-nine-nine.”

Luke put the phone to his ear, just as the backlight went off, throwing the room into complete darkness again. “Hello, Mum?” he said. “It’s Luke. I was wondering if you could come round to the...” He paused. “Mum?” Another pause. “Mum?... Mu-um?”

“Well?” Liam said, already knowing the answer.

“It’s gone dead,” Luke said.

“No shit,” Kirsty said.

“What now?” Becky asked no-one in particular.

“Yeah,” Tim said, “What now indeed!”

“I suggest we stand behind the door,” Liam said, “And wait for someone to come in and then jump them.”

“We could be waiting for some time,” Tim said.

“It’s worth a try,” Liam argued.

“It would be,” Kirsty said, “If we knew where the door was.”

“I think it’s that way,” Liam said.

“Liam?” Becky said, calmly.

“Yeah?”

“Are you pointing?”

Silence for a moment or two.

“If you’re pointing,” Becky continued, “In the dark, you seriously have something wrong with you.”

“Sorry,” Liam said, “I just... no, I wasn’t pointing.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” sang Kirsty.

“Look,” Tim said, “We have to do something. Everyone walk. Any direction. When you get to a wall, feel along it until you find the door. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find if we all work together. The first one to find the door, shout out.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Why not?”

Might as well.”

There were sounds of footsteps, scuffling and the odd mutterings but, other than that, complete silence for a few seconds. Then...

“Oof!” Luke spurted out. “Watch where you’re going.”

“Sorry,” Kirsty said, “Didn’t see you there.”

Complete silence again.

“Got a wall,” Becky said.

“Follow it,” Tim ordered.

“Got a wall,” Liam said.

“Follow it,” Tim said. “Don’t keep shouting out when you get a wall, though. That’s not the difficult bit. Just let us know when you get to a door.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Will do.”

“Sure.”

Complete silence for a few minutes.

“Tim?” Kirsty said.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve found the door.”


To be continued...