Chapter 4 – Harsh words from miles away
“It’s about time you called! What are you doing? Where are you? What’s this about staying there for a month? Why didn’t you tell us anything? What were you thinking? Have you gone mad?”
Each question made her wince, like it was a real injury inflicted upon her.
“I uh…”
“Well? Speak up!”
Another wince.
“I told you, didn’t I? Tawney asked me to— “
“Oh yes! Tawney! How is she? Is she doing well?”
How someone could go from demanding to delighted in the same breath, Danni couldn’t comprehend.
“She’s okay mother, she just needed me to look after this place that she wants to renovate and—”
“Oh, did she? I hope you’re planning on doing something with your time there. But first of all, where are you? Your father has been worried sick about you.”
Danni longed to spit back a heartily sarcastic ‘Yeah right!’ at this. The only thing her father had ever been ‘worried sick’ about was when he had concerned about missing a ski trip.
“I hope you know that this is all your fault, young lady! We’re having to miss out on a great time because of you!” Her father had spat down at her.
She hadn’t had the strength to attempt to answer. All she could think about was reaching the bucket in time.’
She hadn’t even been invited on the trip. Somehow, that thought burned worse than the bile climbing her throat.
“You VANISHED in the middle of the night, no note or letter or explanation or ANYTHING!”
“I did tell you about this. I was sent you that email and it was a lot more than what you did for me! You went off to Sweden! I-…” Danni’s protests were drowned by an ear-splitting screech of rage.
“HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT?” And off she went. Like a kettle reaching full boil, her mother’s blazing condemnations made Danni hold her phone away from her ear. Any time that her mother went off on her, Danni felt herself shut down. The words were just bluster, just her mother’s need to scream at the nearest being that was capable of listening. Lamentably, that was usually Danni. She hated it but the thought of trying to speak up made her jaw lock. It was too much, too scary. Asking her to split the sky and earth would have been easier.
All she could do was wait for the mushroom cloud to fade and hope that she would remain standing.
“Mum… are you done? I have things to do.” Danni’s voice sounded exhausted even in her own ears.
“Fine! Be that way you lazy brat! I just want you to know that we won’t be able to enjoy our time off because of you!”
The call shut off and Danni exhaled. That had been painful… But at least it had been short.
Deciding that she couldn’t face the inventory, she pulled on her sneakers and ventured outside. Framed by bushes and bare flower beds on either side, the gardens sprawled out before her. Separated into a higher and lower section with only a stone staircase connecting the two, the grass was growing thick and healthy, soaked with early morning rain and covered with a blanket of fallen leaves that had yet to be cleared away.
‘That’s going to be my job…’ Danni mused to herself, looking around and kicking away a pile of leaves gathered around the top of the stairs. It must have rained hard during the night, sending up a mixture of rotting foliage and the distinctive petrichor that followed rain during the night. The flowerbeds were empty and neatly placed against the stone walls, waiting to be filled with vibrant flowers or cultivated into a healthy vegetable bed. Stepping down into the lower half of the garden, Danni sauntered down towards the end. The garden, the whole house in fact, had been surrounded with stone walls that resembled by beach groynes, creating a perfect perimeter.
‘Tawney… I may not understand you, but I have to admit, you really know how to pick the best places. Some people would sell their back teeth for a few like this.’ At the end of the garden, Danni brushed past a thick wall of ivy that had grown over the wall and discovered a large, farm-style gate. Feeling a little like Sarah finding the Secret Garden for the first time, Danni searched for a way to open it. Discovering a rusted bolt at one side, it took some effort to pull it up, but the gate swung open silently.
‘That’s odd,’ Danni pondered, moving around to look at the hinges. The bolt had been rusted over completely and squeaked unpleasantly when she had pulled it up, but the hinges looked well cared for. That was… There was no other way to say it. It was just strange. Why would anyone take care of the hinges but neglect the bolt?
Stepping through the gate, Danni discovered a stunning sight. Just beyond the boundaries of the house, an enormous stretch of green lay out before her covered in thick, untrimmed grass jutted out and from there, there was a perfect view of the village. She could see the road that she had travelled up that night, the tiny figures of people moving to and fro like a living miniature city, travelling from what she assumed to be their homes to one shop or another.
Maybe, when it was a bit warmer and there was less fog, she might set up a telescope up here. Looking towards the sky, she pondered many things. If she could find or buy a tent and camp out here on a warmer night, just to take in the stars, who knew what she could see. Giggling to herself at the thought of seeing a passing UFO, her smile vanished when a viciously cold wind swept over her. Cursing herself for not grabbing a thicker jacket, Danni wrapped her arms around herself and headed back.
Closing the door behind her and preparing a reviving cup of tea, she rolled her shoulders back and closed her eyes, sinking into that place of her brain where everything came into careful focus.
‘Okay… what do I need to do? Wash the sheets and change them… sweep the floors… do something about the heating… look for cobwebs… do an inventory… THEN you can go down into the town.’
Her mental checklist at hand, she set off. First and foremost, the heating.
This proved to be a harder task than she had expected. First, there were no radiators anywhere. The towel racks in each bathroom were ice cold to the touch and Danni had to stop looking to run up to her bedroom. Undoing her luggage and searching through her clothes, she found a long-sleeved shirt and her favourite jacket. It would work for now but still; she bemoaned her own lack of foresight.
‘ Why did I never think to get a thicker winter coat?’ She thought, mournfully. This would be enough to keep the worst of the cold away, but she still shuddered at the idea of the cold getting into the house and having to brave it for a whole month. Winters in the city had been bad enough when the wind would fall upon them like a ton of bricks, covering them in layers of snow and whipping their faces with razor sharp sleet, reddening their cheeks and rubbing their lips raw. But this far out in the country? That was an entirely different beast.
Her search proved fruitless and lasted for another half an hour. There wasn’t so much as a hot water bottle, bar the one that she had brought herself, and as she trawled through the notes Tawney had left her, she noticed that, like many things, her friend had left out how the hell she was supposed to heat this godforsaken place! She had even resorted to sticking her head into each of the cupboards one by one in search of a boiler or temperature controls but instead, —
“Ow!” She yelled into the silence of the house, cradling the top of her head. Wasn’t that just her luck? She was cold, she was going to get an earful from her parents and now she was going to get a headache. Standing up and thinking that she might give up and go to bed in the hopes that she would wake up and have better luck in a few hours, she noticed, for the first time, that there was a magnetic whiteboard attached to the fridge. What was worse, there was writing on it.
For heating, look in the shed! ♥️ ’
It didn’t look like Tawney’s handwriting. Could it have come from that Joey character? No, she had watched his every move whilst he had been dropping off his deliveries and hadn’t gone near the fridge. It didn’t make sense for it to be him. So…Who had left her that note?