The April Featured Writer is Jack Bantry
Please feel free to contact Jack at: jackbantryhorror@yahoo.co.uk
KEEP SAFE
by Jack Bantry
Ray sat in the corner of the Nag’s Head with Andy, both still in their mail delivery uniforms. It was Friday, payday. Dire Straits played ‘Sultans of Swing’ on the jukebox.
“It’s getting worse at work,” Andy said, lifting his pint to his mouth. “I don’t know how much longer I can hack the Royal Mail. The boss is always hassling me.”
“It’ll never get any better,” Ray agreed. “On a busy day I work about twenty minutes to half an hour over and I don’t have time to do a van check or have a break.” He was thinking about his rural round to the farms outside of Thirsk.
“The Union should do summert for us,” Andy said.
Ray added, “It’s a hundred and fifty quid a year for dues. Better off in our pocket than theirs.”
In the dim light of the pub, Andy’s eyes seemed to spark in anger. “I promised my lass I’d take her away for a holiday this year. I could put the money towards that. She wants to go to Greece or Turkey and keeps bugging me to book it.”
“Basking in the sun for two weeks, that’d be nice.”
“Yeah, but I’m skint.”
Here we go, though Ray.
He sat staring at the Specials Board on the wall: Soup of the Day; Sausage, Mash & Onion Gravy; Fish & Chips; Giant Yorkshire Pudding with Savoury Mince; Vegetable Lasagne. He was getting hungry. “Why don’t you rob a bank?”
“I might.”
Ray turned from the menu to face Andy. “It was a joke.”
“So why not?”
“No one gets away with it. You need a gun for starters – where would you get one of them from - and then it becomes armed robbery which comes with a longer sentence then rape or murder.”
“You’ve thought about it,” Andy accused.
“I’ve just watched too many films. Like I said, you’d never get away with it.”
At those words, Ray noticed that Andy’s body seemed to slump. He imagined the nagging Andy would get from the wife if they didn’t go on holiday.
And then Ray noticed Andy looking around the pub. Andy took a swig from his pint and lowered his voice, telling Ray, “Robbing a house would be easier. Wouldn’t need a gun for starters. Being posties, a lot of people tell us when they’re going away. Or they put in a Keep Safe. We know when they go and when they come home.”
Ray thought about it. A Keep Safe was when a customer paid Royal Mail to hold their mail for a period of time while they were away so people didn’t see it building up on their doormat.
“You’re right,” Ray said, not really believing his own words. "We’d know exactly when the house would be empty. We could choose a house in a nice secluded location, somewhere wi’ plenty to nick.”
Andy sounded excited. “You have thought about this, haven’t you?”
“Well, I admit I've thought about the Keep Safe. The homeowners would probably think it was an opportune burglar – probably a gang from Middlesbrough - or someone who knew the home owners. I can’t imagine they’d suspect the postman. Better still, we could target a house on a round we didn’t do very often then we’d never be a suspect.”
"It'd pay for my holiday," Andy said. "And it'd pay for anything you'd want, too."
And that's when Ray decided this was a good idea after all.
****
They drove Ray’s battered blue Escort out of town and up the country roads into the Hambleton Hills, listening to a late night DJ. Flat agricultural fields gave way to evergreen forests. Ray had occasionally delivered to the house they were planning to rob, so he knew the layout, and knew the best way to enter the home.
It had taken about two months to find something appropriate. He wanted somewhere in a secluded location but all the homes had been large and would probably have complicated security systems. He didn’t have a clue how to switch one off and knowing his luck a shotgun wielding neighbour would come to investigate.
They passed a large family home hidden in the trees.
“Got bit by a dog at that house,” Ray told Andy as they passed a sandstone cottage over-looking the valley. “They have a curtain behind the letterbox. I couldn’t get the mail in and I couldn’t hear the dog. It was sat there quiet, waiting. I stuck my fingers through the letterbox trying to get the curtain out of the way and the fucker bit me.”
Andy laughed.
Doubts crept in has Ray thought of his wife safe at home under the duvet. He’d never stolen anything in his life. But he had come this far, so he continued driving. He could always change his mind at the last minute, right?
They went about another half a mile, passing three more properties.
“It’s the next one after this,” he said pointing to a house as they passed. “It’s set back with a lot of trees out front which should hide the car from the road. There’s a gate which leads around the back, but that’ll be locked so I’ll just park inconspicuously outside the front door.”
“Do they have any dogs?” asked Andy.
“No.”
“Do they have kids?”
“Nah, no one is supposed to be home. They have a Keep Safe, but I’ll drive past first just in case. Make sure no one’s parked in the driveway. It’ll just be our luck if they decided not to take a holiday after all and someone popped out at midnight to water the plants or something.”
But the driveway was empty; the house enveloped in darkness.
They turned around in a gateway to a field, put on gloves and headed back. Ray killed the lights as the car cruised to a halt. They climbed out and quietly closed the car doors.
“Are we going in through the back?” asked Andy as he walked towards the closed gate.
“No. We’ll go around this way.” Ray pointed to the other side of the house where a dark alley cut between the house and a high hedge. “If the owners are out, I normally leave parcels in a shed down here.”
At the side of the house was a window. Ray peered through into the lounge. On the inside of the window was a latch with a key in it. Ray thrust his elbow into the windowpane next to the latch smashing the glass. He carefully reached through and tried the latch. It turned, unlocked.
“Bingo,” said Andy as he looked over Ray's shoulder.
Ray brushed glass off the windowsill and boosted himself onto and then through the window then he turned and hoisted Andy up. Once inside, Ray walked over and closed the curtains and turned on a small table lamp beside the sofa. It was quiet. He was inside someone else’s house. He felt nervous.
He looked around the room, taking it all in. Nicely decorated but nothing stood out. There were some watercolours on the walls and photographs of children and grandchildren. A shelving unit with knick-knacks: a small Chinese dragon; Greek jugs; and some clay sculptures clearly made by the kids. A beige rug was laid out in front of the fire. The TV was old, it wouldn’t be worth much. There was a brand new Blu-Ray player in the cabinet underneath the TV. He unplugged the Blu-Ray and reached around the TV to pull out the wires. As Andy left the lounge, Ray wrapped the wires around the player and placed it on the sofa.
He flicked through the films on a bookcase. He picked out all the Blu-Ray titles and left behind the DVDs. They weren’t worth a shit.
There was a nice gold carriage clock on the mantle-piece surrounded by china ornaments. He picked one up. The name stamped to the bottom didn’t mean anything but it looked expensive, so he carried the ornaments and the carriage clock over to the sofa and put them with the Blu-Ray player and films.
He heard Andy climbing the stairs. The jewellery would probably be in the main bedroom. He followed, leaving the goodies on the sofa.
Andy had found two boxes on a shelf at the top of the wardrobe. One box was a small metal fire-safe. The other was nicer, made from black leather. Both were locked.
He showed Ray the boxes when he entered the room.
“Look for the keys in the underwear drawer,” said Ray. “They’ll probably be in the bedside cabinet.”
He was right.
One box – the metal one – contained documents: Life insurance; pension details; bank books; driver’s license... The other – the nicer one – was the jewellery box. It housed some gold necklaces and rings; a couple of pairs of cufflinks; and an ancient bracelet.
“Fuck, not much ‘ere.”
Ray walked out of the room. He checked next door: the guest room, containing a bed with cabinets on either side, a wardrobe and a set of drawers. He opened the draws, more of the owner’s clothes, nothing valuable.
He opened the next door along the corridor: an office. A computer terminal sat on an oak desk. The walls were lined with leather-bound books. They didn’t interest Ray. Instead he picked up a laptop and an iPod docking station. The iPod itself was gone. The owners had probably taken it on holiday.
Back downstairs Ray noticed a door in the hallway, but couldn’t work out what would lie beyond it. To the left of the door, through the wall was the kitchen, and to the other side was the lounge.
It must be a door to a cellar.
He opened the door and looked into the darkness. Way down below was a faint flickering light. The light look much further away than it should have; it looked at least four flights away. It seemed more like sunlight shining through a window than artificial light coming from a bulb. The smell of the ocean drifted up to meet his nostrils.
It couldn’t be.
Ray stepped down onto the first step, his curiosity peaked, then onto the second and third. By the time he reached the sixth step, a shadow passed over the stairwell and the strange light had disappeared.
That salty smell of a seaside increased. Ray could hear movement both on the stairs and the sides of the stairwell and he paused. His balls constricted and he felt icy cold.
All he could see was darkness. He could sense the hairs rise on the back of his neck and he froze, halting his descent. His left hand gripped the banister with much more force than was necessary.
The noise increased from below. Something was coming up the stairs! Ray, now terrified, turned around and started to race back up to the house.
Holy shit! He started to panic as he realized something was following him, and coming fast. What the hell?
Gripped by terror, he scrambled up the stairs, hands grabbing for the handrail. The dim light shined again and he snuck a glance over his shoulder. Squid-like tentacles were extending out towards him.
His heart pounded in his chest as the adrenaline surged through his body. He didn’t know what was behind him but he didn't waste time to find out. Ray raced to the top of the stairs. He made it!
Just as he reached his hand to the knob of the cellar door, the tentacles found him, pulling him back. They wrapped around his legs and pinned his arms to his torso. Ray tried to shake himself free, but he was trapped. He couldn’t fight against the strength of the creature.
It pulled him down the stairs into the seawater that had swallowed the floor. The thing plunged underneath, pulling Ray with it. His head submerged, the water stung his eyes, and he tasted salt water as bile rose in his throat.
He fought against the sucking grip of the monster's arms, and managed to get his head above the water. He gasped for air, but the tentacles seemed to be everywhere, and found him once again.
Right before the creature plunged him under the water a second time, he could hear his name being shouted from above. It gave him a sense of direction, because it was so dark he wasn't even sure which way was up.
He fought with all his strength towards the direction of the voice, but the creature was too strong. This time Ray couldn’t get his head up and he swallowed the seawater as he screamed. A tentacle reached up and wrapped itself around his neck, crushing his throat with such strength he could feel his eyes popping out.
His last thought before he blacked was out about how back at the Nag's Head, he had made the very bad decision to steal from a Keep Safe.
****
Andy was found wandering in the middle of the road. When a driver pulled over to tend to him, he gibbered incoherently about how a giant squid had come up out of the cellar and taken his friend.
A nutter, the driver thought.
Jack Bantry is a former punk zine editor and is the boss of the independent label ‘Town Clock Records’. He’s recently had fiction published in the zombie anthology SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE BRAINS, and the new Splatterpunk zine. He works has a postman, and yes, he did get the idea for the story when a customer put in a Keep Safe. He resides in a small town at the edge of the North York Moors.
You can visit Jack HERE