Backwards Into Hell

Part One: The Lodge

Monday 25th October

The engine spluttered like an old fish and David banged his palms against the wheel, muttering expletives under his breath.

'The station's only a few minutes away,' Lily said, leaning forward from one of the backseats of the minibus. 'We can walk it.'

David tried a few more times but it was fruitless, and with an old man's sigh, opened the door and stepped out. My stomach twisted.

If phones weren't working, and cars, then what was? Had the Old Man ripped every piece of technology out of our hands? The cars made sense, I supposed as we reconvened at the end of the driveway, because if we couldn't drive, then we couldn't leave.

David squinted at the page Anais had drawn out for us. It was a rough sketch of the town with red arrows cast along the streets we were to take.

'We can go back and ask for more directions,' Lily suggested, but David scowled.

'We can do it. Come on.'

He jetted off, leaving us in the dust. I frowned. I didn't understand the urgency—Harriet was dead, wasn't she? Unfortunately, Lily seemed to share his sentiment, striding fast and frog-marching us through the quiet Barra streets. Just yesterday, the beachfront had been packed with people—tourists and locals—trying out the small cafes and rifling through trinkets in the shops as the sea swayed outside. But on that Tuesday, it was deathly silent.

It hit me then. We were alone.

'Why's it so quiet?' Lily asked, taking a last glance along the coast as we turned inland.

'It must be the time,' I tried. 'It's still early.'

'Hmm.' She didn't buy what I said—I didn't either. Nevertheless, it hurt to see such concern stretched over her face.

We took a few more turns in silence: left, right, left, right—and David stopped.

'Shit,' he muttered as we drew up behind him.

'What?' I asked.

'Dead end.'

Lily looked up at the stony houses. 'So where are we?'

We were barely ten minutes from The Lodge, but the winding streets had begun to look the same. The station had to be nearby, I prayed, because I didn't have the energy to keep up the act for much longer. Delilah's face fluttered around my head. Would Darren and Anais find her? And what if they did? What would happen then?

'Let me see,' said Lily.

Darren huffed, but he let her snatch it from his hands. I could tell what he was thinking. If I can't find it, neither can you.

Lily took no notice of him and peered at the map, running her blue fingernails over the grey, boxy buildings and red arrows. It was no surprise David couldn't find his way.

'We're close,' she said after a while. 'It's this way.'

David's eyes met mine, questioning. 'How do you know?' He followed behind her as we cut through a tight alley.

'I did DofE,' was Lily's only explanation.

I smiled, and took in more of the Island as we walked. After that day's outing had been so rudely cut short by Lottie and Harriet, I felt I deserved a little tourism. Most of the houses in the backstreets were small, cottage-like and quaint, but as we returned to the main road, the streets looked like any other: a blackened road littered by cars and bikes.

Just ahead of us was a blue Nissan, and, while the other two were too focused on the map to notice, it wasn't parked at the edge of the road like the others. Instead, it stood in the centre. Someone must have been driving it when they popped out of existence, leaving their pride and joy behind.