Difficult to Reach

Chapter 1

'Bugger it!'

She was lost. She was definitely lost. But not lost somewhere exciting or sophisticated, no. Fen was lost and alone, driving a shabby white transit van through desolate, grey, wild and unrecognisable countryside. If she didn't make it to her destination, the only people who would eventually report her missing would be the vehicle rental company trying to locate their stolen property. If there was a more depressing scenario than that, Fen didn't want to hear about it. But, lost was a state of mind, surely, not a state of being? It was impossible to be truly lost these days, wasn't it? Particularly in the South of England, for goodness sake!

Trying not to calculate how much security deposit would be deducted, as a result of the overgrown bramble cables and rigid branches scraping down the side of her hateful vehicle, Fen indicated and slowly pulled to a halt at the edge of the narrow, winding country lane. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, a wide-eyed woman with dark hair stared back at her. Fen's normally round smiling face, with a dusting of freckles across her snub nose, exuded a slight air of panic.

Fen took a deep breath and willed herself to keep calm. Hawksbury Hollow had been so much easier to find during her last visit in September when everything had felt right with the world. Then, she had whizzed along behind the estate agent's shiny BMW, marvelling at the beautiful autumnal arboreal display of burnt ochre and deep crimson, basking in the rich orange sunlight. It was an altogether more difficult task to undertake without navigational assistance, surrounded by swirling grey threatening skies, whilst driving a huge, unfamiliar vehicle along unknown frosted lanes in midwinter. Bleak midwinter, in fact. How very apt.

Fen heaved a sigh and studied the road atlas sprawled on the passenger seat beside her. Twisting her hair through her fingers, she gazed intently at the map, hoping for some kind of divine inspiration. None came. After what felt like an embarrassingly long period of time, she became aware that the page was open at the Brecon Beacons. Feeling foolish, she quickly flicked back to West Sussex, scouring the page for the name of the village she'd driven through several miles previously. If this map was to be believed, her final destination was only a couple of miles ahead, although that conclusion did depend on her suddenly demonstrating wildly more effective map-reading skills.

Hearing a soft clip-clop, she looked up to admire an approaching grey horse ridden by a slim, incredibly pretty blonde. As they drew up beside her, a smiling Fen wound down her window, emitting an icy blast of air into the stuffy cab.

'Excuse me,' Fen asked politely. 'Is this the way to...'

'For Christ's sake!' snarled the girl, as her highly-strung horse leapt towards the hedgerow.

'I'm sorry,' stuttered Fen.

'Bloody Pikeys!' the girl sneered, as she kicked her horse forward and they clattered off down the road.

'Don't you dare cry,' murmured Fen to herself as she started up the engine and shot forward amidst a flurry of jerks and grinding gears. She quickly turned the heating up to full blast and flicked the radio on, hopeful that it would provide a welcome distraction from her threatening tears.

'...to the news for Wednesday the 28th of December. The Met Office has issued urgent advice for the country to brace itself. The second big chill of the winter is expected to hit Scotland tonight and move slowly southwards over the next few days. Severe weather warnings are now in place across much of the UK, and Government advice is to prepare for extreme conditions that will see temperatures plummet well below zero for a prolonged period of time. Heavy snow and ice is anticipated to create widespread travel chaos whilst...'.