Page 37 of Echoes on the Wind (Borrowed Time #2)

The silence that hung between us felt more menacing than the stupid grin he had plastered all over his face, and left me wishing he’d say something rather than just standing there staring.

I took a step back and glanced around, trying to weigh up my options, then brought my attention back to him. I wanted to be able to see his every move when he finally made one.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to run, and I was too far from the house to keep walking backwards until I could safely get inside. The house we were in front of had lights on in the front room, so if I had to shout for help, I at least knew that someone would be awake to hear me. Whether they came to my aid, though, would be something else entirely.

Ellis’ breathing was heavy and fast, and I could see the air on his breath with every exhale. The smell of whiskey and cigarettes travelled with it, and as soon as it hit my nostrils, my mind cast back to that day in the shop when he tried to kiss me .

I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to dispel the memory. When I reopened them, he’d crept closer to me again.

“Get away from me, Ellis,” I said strongly, determined to show no fear.

“Please don’t be like that,” he replied, his voice soft and friendly. “I just want to see you.”

Any fear I was feeling was slowly being replaced by a rage at his audacity. “Well I don’t want to see you,” I snapped back angrily.

“Stop with the games, Tom,” he said firmly as he started to move again. This time, rather than come towards me, he leaned his shoulder onto the lamppost at the edge of the pavement. He tilted his head against it and put his hands into his pockets as he smiled at me. “We don’t have to pretend anymore. We were so close to getting him out of the way.”

“I haven’t got time for this.” I stepped down off the pavement to pass him, but he circled around the lamppost and ran into the street to stand in front of me, blocking my way. We were now closer than we’d been since he attacked me, and the proximity was making my skin crawl.

“Don’t touch me,” I said, immediately shooting my arm up as a barrier between us, but he grabbed hold of it and pushed it down, leaving about a foot of space between him and me. “I said don’t touch me,” I shouted, and for a second, he looked almost sad.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Tom,” he said, looking dejected. “I would never hurt you. You must know that? He’s poisoned you against me. ”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said, flinging my arm out to point down towards the high street. “What the hell do you think that was in the shop?”

“That?” he said, shrugging. His tone became more serious, as though he was offended that I could imply he’d done anything wrong. “It wasn’t supposed to go like that. You fell.”

“Yes, Ellis. I fell. And then you smashed my face into the floor when I rejected you. You’re fucking mad. Now get out of my way.”

I tried to step aside him again, but he grabbed my arm and forced me back hard, knocking me onto my arse on the floor.

“Shit, that was an accident,” he said, rushing towards me in a panic with his arm out.

“What have I ever done to you?” I screamed as I batted his hand away. “Why are you so desperate to hurt me?”

“I don’t want to hurt you ,” he said, and once again, his voice became soft and quiet.

He pulled his hand from his pocket, and a small knife glistened in the light. Panicking, I immediately pushed myself backwards along the floor, away from him.

Seeing my fear, he threw his hand behind his back and attempted a warm smile in my direction. “Don’t be scared. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I’ve done everything I could to make you happy. Hitting Gwyn. The fire. It was all for you.”

I launched to my feet and lunged at him, pushing hard into his chest. “I knew it,” I screamed, pushing him again. “I knew it was you. I was driving myself mad thinking that I was somehow to blame for it all. You could have killed him. You could have killed me. Two people died. And all for what? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Don’t you see? I’m trying to free you, Tom,” he said. “I know you’re scared to admit how you feel. You don’t want to be the bad guy when he finds out. But you don’t have to be. I know you’re scared to tell him; to admit how you really feel. I’ve seen his temper. No wonder you’re so afraid all the time. But I’ll fix it. He can’t keep doing this to you. He has to let you go now.”

I don’t know what fantasy he’d created in his head, but he’d completely lost it.

“Ellis,” I shouted, throwing my hands up. “It’s not him that I’m afraid of. It’s you. This has to stop.”

“It will,” he replied, letting his hand fall to his side to show off the knife. “I saw him go off with your brother. I’ll do this for you, Tom. I’ll set you free. And then we…”

He stopped mid-sentence and smiled warmly at me, then began taking small steps backwards until he was almost at a run. When he was little more than a shadow in the dark, he turned around and sprinted off towards the hill.

“Ellis!” I screamed, loud enough to wake the whole road, but he paid me no attention.

I rushed after him as fast as I could, but I could see no sign of him. If he got to Gwyn before I did, there was no telling what he might do.

At the bottom of the hill, I dashed across the road to the back of the mine. Quite a few men were leaving their shifts to head home for the night, and I rushed through a group of them as I headed towards the sheds, then on past the spoil tips to the main yard.

The tips, far from being secured as ordered by the inspector, looked bigger now than I’d ever seen them, and when I looked up as I went through the middle of them, the peaks of the dark mounds were completely obscured by the night sky.

When I got to the yard, there were people everywhere, but I spotted Gwyn running down the steps from the offices. “Where’s Lee?” I shouted, catching his attention.

I scanned around for a sign of my brother and spotted Nellie along the line, applying a bandage to someone’s head. Behind her, two huge coal carts lay on their side, detached from the tracks, while dozens of men worked to get them upright again. There was no sign of Lee, though, and thankfully, no sign of Ellis, either.

Gwyn ran towards me with a bundle of papers clenched in his fist, and I came to a stop, clutching the stitch in my side.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, putting a hand on my back as I leaned forward to catch my breath. “What took so long?”

“Ellis,” I panted. “He stopped me on the street. He’s gone mad. Gwyn, it was all him. The fire, your attack, everything. He thinks there’s something between us, and if he just gets you out of the way, I’ll choose him. He’s got a knife, and he’s looking for you. Have you seen him?”

He shook his head, looking furious as he rubbed my back. “I’ve been in the office. I haven’t seen anyone. Did he hurt you? Are you ok? ”

“I’m fine. I’m just knackered. Where’s my brother?”

“He went after Awbrey. I tried to stop him, but he insisted. I got these, though,” he said, waving the papers at me.

“You need to get rid of them. If the inspector shows up and sees them, he’ll think Lee is involved. Over there, look,” I pointed back along the tracks, where someone was shovelling coal into a large furnace. “Just throw them in there. Which way did Lee go?”

“One of the men said Awbrey had gone down to pit five. Lee followed him.”

He pointed past the offices to a path that led between another two spoil tips. At the very end, there was a small opening in the side of the hill, like an open door frame, but inside I could see only darkness.

“I’ll go find them. Get rid of those papers and catch me up.”

As quickly as I could, I moved towards the shaft entrance between the spoil tips. The ground was uneven, and the path was dark, but as the noise of the main yard faded, I could hear voices coming from inside the pit entrance, and followed them as I crept slowly to the doorway.

“She’ll never forgive you,” I heard Lee's voice call out.

My heart was racing with fear as I stepped up to the entrance and peered inside. This was the last place I wanted Lee to be. The entrance was dark, but I could see a flickering light down a narrow, curved path and headed towards it. As I crept along, I saw Lee first, partly hidden by shadow and facing into a small chamber where the light was coming from .

As the path curved around, I got a better view of the room he was facing. Levers and pulleys lined the wall to operate the huge open lift in the centre of the floor that descended to the pit. Beside them, surrounded by the explosives I’d seen them unloading, Awbrey stood, waving a lamp around that made the shadows dance.

“Lee,” I whispered, and he waved a hand behind him in the darkness, trying to keep me back.

“This is on you,” Awbrey shouted. His speech was slurred from the booze, and he looked unkempt and scruffy, like he hadn’t slept in days. “This is for her, you damned fool.”

His movements were erratic, unsteady on his feet, and as he waved the lamp at Lee, I stepped out from the shadows. When he spotted me, he swung again, wilder this time, before grinning and hovering it over the boxes.

He switched his gaze between us and the open lift shaft in the floor, and as I edged towards him, he stepped back, peering down it with the lamp held high, shaking in his grip.

“There’s another twenty boxes down there,” he said, nodding cockily towards the shaft.

“You don’t want to do this,” I said, holding my hands out to try and calm him. “Even if you survive, they’ll cart you off to jail. You’ll lose everything.”

He fell still, bringing the lamp close to his face so that his grin was unmistakable. “Do you take me for an idiot, boy? I didn’t do this. He did.” He nodded towards Lee, smirking, and I grabbed my brother as he moved to lunge at Awbrey. “His grubby fingers are all over it. All I’ve got to do is drop this lamp and run. You can try to stop me, but you’ll kill yourselves in the process, and I don’t think either of you has the spine to put your own lives on the line.”

Lee struggled against my grip, making Awbrey grin more. “I’m not taking the blame for you, you bastard.”

“You already have,” Awbrey called back, hovering the lamp over the shaft once more.

“We know about the paperwork,” I said, and I saw a flicker of hesitation flash across his face. “It’s gone. We took it all, and we burned it. There’s no insurance documents, no order forms, and no letter to reopen the pit. We got rid of it all. Whatever you do here is on you, and once Letitia gets here with the police, they’re going to see you for who you really are.”

“You’re lying,” he called back. He was obviously furious, but all the confidence was now gone from his voice. “She wouldn’t do that to me.”

“She’s better than you,” Lee shouted. He balled his hands up into fists and took a step forward, but Awbrey thrust his lamp out, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“Tom?” Gwyn called out as the echo of his footsteps carried down the path. “Did you find him?" He came to a stop as he spotted Awbrey, and grabbed our arms, trying to pull us away.

“You need to go and get everyone out,” I said to him. “There’s men in the other tunnels.”

“I’ve already sorted it,” he replied. “I’m not leaving you.”

A shrill, unfamiliar alarm began to echo throughout the mine, and Awbrey’s face twisted with fury at the sound. Seconds later, the distant sound of chains echoed through the chamber, as the other lifts around the mine began carrying men to the surface. Gwyn’s quick thinking may have saved hundreds of lives, but we still needed to stall Awbrey long enough for everyone to get out.

He swung the lamp out again as more footsteps echoed into the corridor, and I turned to see Inspector Phillips coming towards us, followed by Tish and Mair. He barged past, knocking me straight into the damp, dirty wall, but halted at the sight of Awbrey in the chamber.

“You’ve got to get out,” Gwyn said, turning to the two women. Mair came to a stop on the spot, but Tish ignored his plea and ran straight towards her father.

At the sight of her he settled down a bit, bringing the lamp still, but Lee took hold of her arm to stop her getting closer, making Awbrey rage again.

“Put the lamp down,” the inspector shouted, moving slowly towards the unhinged man. He held his hands out to show he was no threat, but Awbrey whacked the lamp against the wall, causing a spark, and the policeman backed off. “Is there anyone else in the shaft?” he asked, turning to Lee.

Lee shook his head. “There shouldn’t be, unless he’s sent a crew down tonight. But it’s filled with firedamp, so if those boxes blow, it’ll cut right through to the men in pit three.”

“Daddy, stop,” Tish pleaded, putting herself between her father and the constable in an effort to reason with him. “Don’t do this, please. We can work something out. Just stop.”

“How could you do this to me?” he barked at her. “For him! I did all this for you, and you betrayed me. ”

“Daddy, I didn’t,” she sobbed, but as she reached out to him, he shoved her back into the inspector.

“Get out. The lot of you. I’m warning you.”

“Not without you,” Tish cried. Her sobs were echoing around the chamber, and when he swung the lamp towards her again, she fell to her hands and knees on the dirt, pleading with him.

“Mr Awbrey, I must insist you put the lamp down,” the inspector said, and as he took another step forward with one hand up, the other moved to the truncheon on his belt.

“Don’t come any closer,” Awbrey desperately screamed. “I mean it.”

The inspector didn’t heed his words, and as he took another step towards him, Awbrey raised the lamp high and swung out at the officer’s face. He leaned back just in time, narrowly escaping being struck, and in one swift motion, raised his baton up high.

“Wait, don’t!” Gwyn yelled out, but it had already cut through the air.

It connected with Awbrey’s hip so powerfully that the sound of the impact echoed around the chamber. Already unsteady from his swing, the force of the strike knocked him off balance and sent him stumbling backwards.

His shoulder collided with the iron cage surrounding the shaft, sending out a loud rattle as he made a feeble attempt to grab hold of it. The inspector lunged towards him, grabbing his shirt, but it wasn’t enough. Awbrey’s foot went through the opening, and in an instant, he was gone.

His cries echoed up the shaft as we all rushed to the edge, but they were cut off by the sickening thud of his body hitting the boxes below, followed by the shattering of the lamp.