Knower's Ark

CHAPTER ONE ‘It’s him!’ Kay moaned. Ahead on the narrow path a figure had appeared. A pudgy youth with red hair in a Number Two cut, holding his arms away from his sides like a gunfighter. ‘Let’s r-run,’ he friend Ming stammered. ‘No use. I’ve tried to escape from him before. He’s fast.’ The girls looked around in desperation. The path ran between the back gardens of houses, with high walls each side. ‘Why did we come this way?’ Kay muttered. Ming cried, ‘Kay! Look!’ She had spotted a wooden gate. A note on it said KEEP OUT but they were kept out anyway because when Kay lifted the latch and pushed at it she found it locked. ‘Over the wall, Ming,’ she said breathlessly. The wall was made of concrete blocks, well above head height even for an adult, with a wooden trellis on top. Kay cupped her hands for Ming to put her feet in, then hoisted her as high as she could. Ming clung to the trellis and scrabbled with her feet to reach the top of the wall, then reached down – still clinging – to help Kay scramble up. Their trainers left scuff marks on the wall. Nervously, because the trellis didn’t feel very secure, they managed to get over and drop down the other side. They were in a garden. Garden? More like a junkyard full of broken furniture, old washing machines and TV sets, with long grass in between. The girls crouched there, panting. From the other side of the wall came the rough voice of a teenage boy. ‘I know you’re in there, Pugh’s Kid. You won’t get away next time.’ Kay shuddered. ‘Thanks for coming with me, Ming. It’s me Billy’s after, not you.’ Ming tried to smile. ‘All for one, one for all. I hope he doesn’t climb over, though. We’d be trapped like rats.’ They listened but there were no sounds of scrabbling from the other side. The voice went on, ‘You’ll be sorry you dissed my Dad.’ ‘I’m not sorry,’ Kay shouted back. ‘Everyone needs to know what he’s like.’ Ming said, ‘I told you there’d be trouble when you posted a review on the garage website. What did it say? You never told me.’ ‘“Kilby Baker is a racist pig. Don’t take your car to his garage or buy a used car from him.”’ And I don’t care, I’m not keeping quiet. Has he gone?’ ‘No, I haven’t gone, dimbo,’ came the voice. ‘Hey, you’re starting at the High School this autumn, aren’t you?’ ‘So?’ ‘So I’ll see you there, won’t I? Every day. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll make you life a living hell.’ Kay was looking at a battered armchair with green fabric. The stuffing was poking out in several places and she felt as if Billy’s words were the joy spilling out of her life, leaving it empty. She heard him laugh. The laughs moved away. ‘He’s gone, Kay,’ Ming said. ‘We should go.’ ‘It could be a trick, Let’s wait.’ ‘Is he clever enough to play tricks?’ Kay pulled a face. ‘He’s horrible but he isn’t stupid.’ Ming glanced around nervously. The so-called garden belonged to a building. The rear wall facing onto the garden was three storeys high in dark blue brickwork, and on each storey a window with steel bars in front. She shivered. On the ground floor was a door with glass panels. No face appeared behind the glass. She hoped no-one would come out. Kay was trying the gate that said KEEP OUT on the other side, but it was bolted and padlocked. Ming said, ‘You never told me what you posted, Kay. I didn’t think you kept secrets from me.’ Kay blushed. ‘I didn’t mean it to be a secret. I told you I gave him one star.’ ‘Didn’t Billy’s Dad complain to your parents?’ ‘No, and they don’t know about it. I think Kilby Baker thinks setting Billy on me is worse.’ Guiltily she studied her friend’s worried face. ‘Ming, I’m sorry I got you into this.’ ‘Then help me out of it.’ Ming looked at the door to the building anxiously. ‘Give me a lift up.’ Once again Kay cupped her hands for Ming’s feet. For some reasons it seemed harder for her to get up on this side. Maybe the garden was lower than the path. Ming clung to the trellis precariously, trying to push with the soles of her trainers, but the wall was slippery with moss and she was getting nowhere. ‘Can you see over?’ Kay asked. ‘Any sign of Billy?’ ‘No,’ ‘Can you pull me up?’ Ming attempted the impossible, clinging with one hand to support her whole weight, reaching down with the other. Too late. The dreaded doorway opened and a tall figure emerged. There was a horrid silence . . . then it growled, ‘Gotcha!’