Page 41 of The Cut
‘I understand.’ Dave holds out a hand and she takes it. ‘You can always talk to me.’
‘I know.’ Annie leans into Dave’s shoulder. ‘Thanks for listening.’
Mark presses his ear to the damp grass, breathing slowly, trying to still his heart. A strange feeling rolls in his stomach at the prospect of watching something so private. He shouldn’t be looking but he can’t help himself. Then again, they shouldn’t be doing this. Annie is Ben’s girlfriend. His eyes follow the line of the lake, back towards the tent, and he sees the silhouette of a person shrunk back behind a tree trunk. There’s someone else watching from the shadows.
That animal shrieks again, deep in the dense thicket of trees. Then, the faintest chitter of laughter and the rustle of branches. Annie pulls away and stands up from the bench, wrapping her coat tightly around her. ‘What was that?’
A flicker of light from a torch passes between the boughs. A thin streak of light lashing out across the scrub before disappearing into the darkness again.
‘Over there,’ Dave whispers, and he stands up from the bench. ‘I saw it.’ He looks deeper into the woods towards the fading light. That mocking cackle again, further away this time. ‘Someone’s spying on us.’ He creeps forward. ‘Annie. Stay here … don’t move.’
Dave steps stealthily, pace by pace, then stops, waiting. Listening. No one moves a muscle.163
In an explosion of light, Patel’s face is suddenly illuminated in a stark flare. He shields his eyes.
‘Who’s there?’ His voice trembles as he staggers deeper into the forest, blinded by the light.
Desperate to follow, Mark begins to crawl commando-style through the muddy grass into the undergrowth. A branch breaks with an echoing snap beneath him and he curses in the darkness.
Annie freezes and whips around towards him. ‘Dave? Wait! I’m scared … come back.’
But Dave has disappeared into the trees, following the dancing faerie light, enticing him deeper and deeper into the densely laced fingers of tree branches.
Annie is on her feet now. ‘I’m going back … Dave?’ Her panic-stricken voice quivers through the silence. There is no answer except for her words echoing into the void. Nobody moves. Nothing stirs, not even the wind, as if nature is holding its breath.
In an explosion of breaking branches, the torch beam is smashed on, full flare, directly into Annie’s face. A high-pitched shriek bellows from the mouth of something charging at speed out of the darkness.
Annie cries out in fear, turns and sprints back towards her tent. She stumbles and falls, almost tripping on Mark, who is still prostrate on the ground. He freezes, flicking his head towards her as she gets to her feet. ‘Annie?’
‘Leave me alone!’ Her cry is frantic now as she staggers in the dark, back towards the safety of the girls’ tent.
It’s too much for Mark, who begins to scramble to his own tent as the wild animal bursts through the trees. A basilisk, or one of the Ring-wraiths hunting them all down. Brambles and branches give way to the charge. He hears Dave call out from deep in the pitch-dark forest.164
‘Ben, I know it’s you … Leave us alone.’ His voice is distant but drawing closer as he gives chase.
In her frantic escape, Annie darts across the dark campsite and as she turns a corner she slams into a body standing dead still.
‘Oh my God!’ Annie shrieks as two arms clamp around hers, pinning her hands to her sides and drawing her in tight.
‘Easy, tiger … What’s the hurry?’
The Bacardi on his breath is undeniable. ‘Ben?’ Annie tries to break free, but he holds her fast. Her head shoots around, back to the forest. ‘I thought you were …’
‘Thought I was what?’ Ben presses himself into her body, turned on. Annie squirms, trying to extricate herself, but his arms just pull her in tighter. ‘Ssshh.’
‘Back there in the forest.’ Annie’s eyes search the darkness. Dark figures scuttle back into tents, the sound of zip flaps and hushed whispers. ‘It’s all right, we’re alone now, everyone’s gone to bed.’ She is breathing hard, her chest heaving against his.
‘Don’t be scared, I’ve got you.’ Ben stares down into her face. That cackle chitters again, closer now. Annie’s head spins to see Lynette Davis, in a hoodie, crunching through the grass, heading back towards the girls’ tent.
‘Don’t let me disturb you two lovebirds.’ As she passes them and ducks down to unzip the tent flap, Lynette mutters to herself, ‘Farm girl’s having a crack at everyone tonight. Little slut.’
Mark’s heart races, and in a frenzy of panic he crouches close to the ground, watching Ben and Annie, but then very slowly he crawls back towards the boys’ tent. As he tries to get inside his wet sleeping bag, his Wellington boots catch on the fabric and his parka rides up over his head. His head thumping, almost suffocating, he hears the sound of feet outside, stalking in a circle.165
Is she OK? Does she need help? Mark reassures himself that Ben is out there with her. Her boyfriend is there to protect her. He hears hushed whispers and a flurry of movement followed by someone entering the tent.
Mark lies as still as a corpse, not breathing as a body clambers over him, suddenly pressing his weight deep into his chest, breath close to his face.
‘Saw you watching.’ Ben’s skin brushes Mark’s cheek. He’s paralysed with fear. ‘Did it get you all excited, you little Peeping Tom?’
