Page 51 of The Cut
Lily and Nate at 2 a.m. in the kitchen, nursing their wounds from a scene set in the Brecon Beacons.
The clandestine hushed conversation he’d witnessed between Karine Mickelsen and Chris Davis at the Red Lion.
And now this.
It was all starting to make sense but as answers formed, more questions arose. Was this just his paranoid brain joining irrational dots? No, there were simply too many coincidences.
As realisation hit, the blood drained from Ben’s face and an odd feeling of calm descended over him.
How the hell did this stranger know all their secrets? His secrets. There was only one way to find out.
199
36
APRIL 1994
‘Inourdarkesthour,beforemyfinalrhyme,shewillcomebackhometoWonderlandandturnbackthehandsoftime.’
Sparks of electricity crackle from the metal posts as Annie Maddock and Ben Knot circle the perimeter of the Mad Hatter’s Dodgem Ride. Mark Cherry hops in beside his best friend, already eagerly at the wheel of an orange-painted car.
‘The Cheshire Cat, I see what you did there.’ Mark nudges Cat, who grins at him and floors the pedal, but nothing happens. He glances over his shoulder to see Chris Davis racing towards them in a black-and-white-striped Tweedle Dum dodgem. He slams into the back of their car, jolting them both forward; but their pole connects with the grid above, sparking the electrical connection, and they shoot off. Attempting to swerve away from the edge, Cat crashes into Lynette Davis, driving the Queen of Hearts, and Dave Patel, trying to shunt his Dormouse out of the traffic jam.
Rounding the bend through a mouth-shaped tunnel, Ben and Annie in their Tweedle Dee dodgem take the corner at speed. Chris pulls up alongside, forcing them into a row of pink plastic flamingos, and they both grind to a halt with a crunch. Ben laughs, frantically reversing into a back spin, punching into the side of Patel.
Patel winks at Annie, who is flushed with the thrill of the ride, as Ben manages to free their car. As they speed away towards the gates of Wonderland Castle, Annie whispers something in Ben’s200ear then turns her head, tossing her chestnut hair over her shoulder, laughing at Patel. He floors it, slamming the pedal down, but his car is dead. He makes a daredevil leap from his dodgem Dormouse, trampling over the face of Tweedle Dum and landing on the Queen of Hearts. Lynette shifts over, letting Patel take the wheel, and they career towards the castle.
It’s Knot vs. Patel: Tweedle Dee in one direction, the Queen of Hearts in the other. As they reach opposing sides, Patel spins the wheel to the left at the same moment that Knot turns his to the right. It’s a stand-off. Patel stares at Annie and slams his foot to the floor. The sparks from the electrified connection pole explode on to the graphite platform. But Knot’s reflexes are fast and the two cars lurch into a head-on collision. At that very same moment, the Cheshire Cat crawls languidly into the crosshairs. The little orange car is slammed from both sides. The wheels buck violently off the metal platform and slam back down with a crash. Cat and Mark are jolted sideways as the car tips, throwing them both to the ground.
The siren sounds and the electricity is cut. All the cars suddenly power down to a surge of boos and groans.
‘EVERYONE OFF!’ The operator, sporting a rather fetching top hat and red wig, strides across, more bothered about his damaged car than the kids on the ground.
Lynette smirks at Mark. ‘Off with his head?’
Ben, Chris and Dave explode into a cackle of whoops and jeers as Mark lies there, dizzy from the fall.
Catherine stands up. ‘You OK? You bumped your head, you’re bleeding.’
Mark snaps. ‘You’re a dick, Ben Knot!’ His frantic eyes flick from Dave to Ben, unsure exactly who is to blame. ‘I hope your dad DIES.’201
It’s as if all the sound is sucked out of the air in a vacuum. Everyone stares at Mark, open-mouthed, speechless. Mark stands up from the platform, trembling. A trickle of blood runs down the side of his face as Ben slowly rises from his seat. He’s beyond livid.
‘What? What did you say?’
Mark, panting in rage, hesitates for a second. A siren for the next ride of dodgems suddenly pierces the silence and a crowd of kids race across the floor towards the cars. Mark bolts, weaving through bodies, pushing them out of the way, but Ben is off like a rocket, leaping over the bonnets of the cars, tearing after him.
‘BEN! Leave it!’ Annie calls to Ben as the gang gives chase.
Mark pegs it across the fairground towards the Fun House, barging to the front of the queue and pushing through the candy-striped double doors. His feet slip and slide over the polished boards of the shaking platform. The punchy beat of a rock song blasts through loudspeakers as Mark clatters down steps and dives headfirst into a ball crawl, pulling himself across to the other side. Turning back to make sure he hasn’t been followed, he mounts a flight of jerking scissor stairs and darts through a pair of saloon doors into a maze of mirrors. He stops to catch his breath, panting heavily. The clatter of the doors behind him sends a shock wave through his body. In a panic, he turns to run down a passageway towards the exit, but his whole body ricochets off a pane of black glass as he slams into a wall and collapses on to the floor. Dazed and disorientated, he crouches down in the corner and tries to stay quiet. Shit, that really hurt.
‘I know you’re in here.’ A voice melding with the lyrics to the guitar riff thrashing out through the speakers. ‘You can run but you can never hide, Cherry.’202
Mark’s hands feel along the wooden floor until his fingers find the base of the mirrored wall. There is a gap underneath, just enough room to wiggle through.
He’s no stranger to small spaces; hiding in cupboards and creeping under the school huts is second nature to him. He lies face down on the ground and squeezes through the gap into another corridor of mirrors, but this time Mark keeps his hands out in front of him and moves slowly. As he turns a corner, a figure appears ahead of him with his back turned. It’s him. The thumping music sounds more distant. Shadows creeping up beside him.
From the shadow that’s creeping up beside you.
