Interlude


'Fer feck's sake, lad, stan'it still!' the older of the two men hissed.

'I'm tryin'!' the younger one hissed back, 'Yer no gettin any lighter, Jonny,' trying to glance round the corner to see if anyone was coming up the street.

A newcomer had moved into one of the houses on Hill Square the week before; Jonny and Craig were there to see if they had anything worth anything. They'd sat outside over the past week and watched, but had barely caught glimpses of the dark clothed figure who left for work early in the morning and came home after dark.

Whoever it was, had left that morning with an old-fashioned looking suitcase and Jonny reasoned it was a safe bet they wouldn't be coming back that evening. Still, they'd waited past twelve and now Jonny's feet soles were digging into Craig's shoulders as he tried to unlock the lowest window round the back.

There was a creaking sound and a click.

'Ngh, yeh bastirt,' Jonny huffed out and then there was a shuffling noise and his weight left Craig's shoulders. A few seconds later, the end of a belt descended over the window sill and Craig pulled himself up to join his tubby partner.

They waited ten minutes for any alarms to go off or suspicious neighbours to come snooping, but there was only the traffic on Nicolson Street and the neighbours probably had double glazing to keep the sound out as much as the cold.

The ten minutes also allowed their eyes to adjust to the darkness after the distant street lamps below and they moved across a room of a few cardboard boxes and a large dining room table.

Jonny made to the door first and opened it silently, whispering, 'Better no hae unboxed the tele, be easier tae push. Could do wae a new'un and aw. You go doon, I'll gae up.'

Craig pulled a face in reply; downstairs was always worse, had more of a chance of being spotted by the nosy neighbours, but Jonny was boss so he made for the stairs.

Kitchen, bathroom, cupboard all passed with absolutely nothing unpacked or even a sign of being used. He was just opening a last door when there was an inhuman scream from the heights of the house.

'Jonny!' he shouted, throwing caution out the window and diving for the stairs, 'Jonny! Wha'sit? Wha's wrong?'

He pounded up the stairs, first one flight, then a second before noticing a revolving light on the third floor. Launching himself up the last set and almost tripping on the top step, he found Jonny's torch rolling gently across the carpet, away from a slowly closing door.

He stopped, breath streaming from his lungs and took a flick knife out of his back pocket, opening it and holding it point downwards so he could punch and stab.

'Jonny? You there pal?'

He edged forward, waiting to hear sirens in the distance or some kind of sign of what had happened to Jonny.

'Jonny man, what you playin at?' he whispered, more for his own sake than Jonny's, wherever he was.

A soft crooning voice suddenly answered him from beyond the door, 'There my lovely, there, there.'

It was female.

Craig lifted his leg and smashed the door open with his boot; it flung back on its hinges and slammed into the wall.

White with fear, he almost made it all the way down the stairs before he tripped and fell, tumbling through the landing door to get to their entry point. His knee was bleeding and his wrist felt broken but it was nothing to what he had just seen, he had to get out.

He crawled to his feet and fell again as the knee gave way. He turned onto his back, facing the door and tried to push his way desperately towards the window.

Something skittered on the stairs.

Some logical part of him, tucked deep in the back of his mind said that nothing could 'skitter' down the stairs; they were carpeted.

The door opened slowly.

The bloodcurdling scream echoed once more down the alley behind Hill Square.