Underwood by Colin Griffiths Read Free Book Online Page B

road, find a way out, but the fear stopped him doing it, the fear of the trees, it wasn’t mind tricks, the trees weren’t there that morning, it was a road, somehow those tree’s had got there, he was sure of that, ‘or are we all just going crazy’ he thought, and as they hugged each other the number 64 bus pulled up, the 4 of them just stood looking at the bus as, Steve Duce, the driver who had taken them to the social club stepped from it, ‘this is fucking crazy’ Peter said.
    ‘You bet it’s fucking crazy’ said Lily still holding her mother’s arm.
    ‘What are you doing up here’ said the bus driver as he challenged them, his face was angry, Steve Duce was not at all happy, Peter wanted to grab him by the throat and demand answers, and for a moment stepped forward to do exactly that, Lily wanted him to do the same, ‘ smash him dad’ she told herself, but his own common sense told him not to, he looked at the bus driver up and down, he wasn’t going to take any shit from him this time.
    ‘You shouldn’t be up here’ Steve added, scalding them like school children,
    ‘Where’s my car’ asked Peter assertively, ‘we want to leave’
    Steve stood before them now in his fluorescent vest, ‘The roads blocked and I wouldn’t go into the woods if I was you’ his words chilled them and 4 pairs of eyes went to the direction of the woods, no one wanted to go in there, he didn’t have to tell them that,
    ‘What the fucks going on, there was a road here this morning’ Peter could not believe the words that came out of his own mouth such was the absurdity of what he just said, he shook his head as if denying everything.
    Steve had that grin on his face that he had earlier, he didn’t wish these people any harm, but just like everybody else, he had a job to do, and just like everyone else he had to do it well or suffer the consequences,
    ‘you’ve come the wrong way, get in I’ll take you to the pub’ he opened the door, held out his arm as if to guide them and the four of them went onto the 64 bus for the second time that morning, it wasn’t as if they had a choice they were in a place where roads disappear, they didn’t bother sitting down, thinking that in less than a minute they would be getting off, only this time the journey took 12 minutes and they drove past places they hadn’t seen earlier, Peter thought ‘ how the hell can that be, we walked it in less’ as they drove and passed the houses and shops, people were out in the streets now and many of them pointed to the bus, and the family in the bus looked at those pointing at them, Those sharing conversation with each other as they looked and pointed at the bus, it was then that Peter thought they may have walked into something far more sinister then he first imagined.
     
    Eileen noticed the concerns on their faces of the people who pointed at them and that scared her, she waived to one person, a lady around the age of 30, the girl waived back, but it seemed arduous with a forced smile, it was to unnatural, they pulled into the Underwood Social car park, there were kids playing, throwing the ball at the hoop and somehow that made things seem a bit better, and that they did do normal things in this place, they got out of the mini bus and the kids stopped playing and stared at them as if they were aliens from outer space, Steve shooed them away with his arms and the new family followed him into the pub, and all four of them thought that there must be a logical answer somewhere, because back in Sheffield, no one could remember trees moving.
     
    ‘What the fuck’ said Peter as he walked into the lobby entrance and saw their suitcases in the hallway, he wanted to lash out now, to Peter it was taking the piss, somehow he knew he had to control himself ‘ it’s like they won’t let us leave’ he thought to himself.
    ‘Could you tell us what is happening please ‘asked Eileen to Steve, she was as confused as Peter, and also very