I just had to get the keys and figure out how to drive before the soldiers came to take the place apart.
I’d made my mind up, but the front door was closed. About to tell Tommy to wait as I tried the handle, I heard an engine to the right.
There was a tall green truck coming around the curve of the street with six or more soldiers running alongside.
Freezing to the spot, we watched as they stopped and pushed open the gate of the nearest house. Knowing what would come next, I turned, guiding Tommy back between the houses.
After counting along the row, we stood at the short wooden fence outside the rear of the William’s place. The tidy garden was mostly grass, much like the front. I looked to the shed, its door locked with a large padlock. Beside it stood a light-green storage container. In the centre of the grass was a round pond with a nozzle rising in the middle, but the pump was quiet with no water spraying out to splash the large rocks.
The handle at the back door didn’t move as I pushed down. I had no idea if it meant the Williams were safe and sound inside, oblivious to what had happened this morning. How could anyone have missed the chaos, the sirens, gunshots or explosions?
I hoped instead they’d gone away on holiday, perhaps not wanting to leave their shiny new car at the airport. Or had they already run out to the madness, locking the door behind them?
Either way, if I wanted the car on their drive, I would have to find out. A distant explosion echoed from the other side of the house.
There was no sign of movement beyond the blinds over the kitchen window or the curtains across the rest. The frosted glass in the top half of the back door would only let me see the light coming from the front.
“Go hide by that box,” I whispered to Tommy as I crouched.
He looked back, his eyes wide with alarm.
“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile as I pulled a Kit Kat from my pocket. His expression relaxed and he took the chocolate before turning to run between the shed and storage box. Grimacing at whatever I couldn’t see, after a pause he crouched, leaving only his round face and mop of hair in view.
Turning away, I hoped I wouldn’t regret not bringing him with me.
With a step to the water feature, I took a smooth grey rock the size of my fist and headed back to the door. Giving a gentle tap at the frosted glass, I cringed at the sound, edging back as I waited for something to happen. I wasn’t sure if I paused for the glass to shatter or for someone from the village to charge out from nowhere and attack.
Either way, nothing happened and I stepped back up to the door, raising the rock a second time.
Checking again beyond the frosted glass, I reassured myself I’d seen no movement. They must have been on holiday and taken a taxi to the airport, spending Christmas and New Year somewhere hot, or somewhere cold. Skiing perhaps?
The Williams had two children. A girl and a boy, both a few years younger than me. Young enough that I barely spoke to either of them, especially as they went to the posh school half an hour away.
Posh school. They must be skiing. I tapped the window with the rock, harder this time, letting go as it went through the pane, sending glass shattering to the floor.
Pulling my hand back, I held my breath as I waited for anything to react to the terrible sound.
10
When no shadows moved across the other side of the front door, I looked back to Tommy who’d raised his head and peered at the missing glass. I stared to Tommy for a moment longer until he ducked down below the cover. I turned back to the door just as the remaining shard slipped from the frame, shattering to the floor.
Despite the fear of who could be the other side, I knew I had little time to worry. What could be worse than doing nothing? What could be worse than being found hiding by a soldier and shot without explanation, or attacked by one of my neighbours?
Whilst focusing on the razor-sharp fragments still in the frame, I peered in and then pushed my hand through the missing pane, hoping for a key sitting in the lock.
It was empty. I turned, rushing over to Tommy who was still wide-eyed and glancing between me and the missing window, seeming to question what I was doing.
Grabbing one of the large potting boxes by his side, I bounded back over to the door. With the boom of an explosion not so far away, I stood on the upturned box to give me a little more height. Taking care to avoid the remaining glass, I edged foot first through the space.
Dropping to the floor on the other side, I grabbed at the breakfast bar as I slid on glass with the sharp edges stinging the sole of my right foot through the thin slippers.
Shit.
Looking down as I gained my balance, I was ready to see the floor covered with my blood. When there was nothing but the many shapes of glass, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Holding myself steady against the counter, I took a deep breath, not ready to move my feet, not ready to pick out a spot on the tiles where I couldn’t see the shine of light from the glass.
A few breaths later and with muffled voices heard from the front of the house, perhaps only a few doors along, I remembered why
