A World Apart (24 page)

‘Yeah of course I do, it’s more of an educated guess’ said Francesca smiling at her own remarks.

‘Sounds like a plan!’ cried Edward, this time loudly.

‘Edward’ shouted Francesca and Pennie slightly out of synchronisation, giving a nasty look in Edward’s direction. Pennie frowned and didn’t say anything thing as they both headed for the field of flies on the map, Pennie dragging her feet the whole way there, feeling disappointed that she was overruled once again. It was times like these that she really admired Francesca as she wasn’t the cleverest pupil around but she was popular amongst most of their class mates, especially from the boys which does agitate her still. After around fifteen minutes of roaming along what seemed a path to nowhere, they finally saw something on the horizon. From where they all stood it looked like a thousand black holes in the sky, but it wasn’t until they reached an ill fence that it was millions of flies in the sky, swarming around the field.

‘I’ve never seen anything so revolting, I can’t stop itching!’ exclaimed Francesca in her usual girly tone.

‘There must be a trillion flies there’ said Edward, looking vertically at the flies with the rest of them.

‘It looks like there is a note on the fence, get it Ed’ said Pennie, eventually coming into the conversation.

‘Why me?’ said Edward, frowning harshly at Pennie.

‘You’re a boy, and plus we have nicer hair than you and we don’t want to mess it all up with all these flies around’ said Francesca, agreeing with Pennie which created a thread of friendship as the words left her mouth.

‘Ok, but one of you is doing the next task’ said Edward, rolling up his checked sleeves and preparing to take the note from the fence and read it. He approached with a delicate transition and just as he was about to reach out for the note the girls let out an almighty cry.

‘RAAAH’ bellowed Francesca and Pennie, timing it perfectly.

‘Ahhh’ screamed Edward as he jumped out of his skin and fell slightly into the fence, breaking some of the panels. He got up quickly as he felt so embarrassed at what had just occurred that he wanted to get his own back as quickly as possible. Francesca and Pennie watched Edward fumble and bump around the entrance to the field, until he fell into the fence and seemed to be injured.

‘What jado that for?’ cried Edward, tearful and now ten times as scared as he was before.

‘Sorry Edward, we just [laughs] thought that… [laughs]’ replied Pennie as she struggled to form words together for she couldn’t stop giggling and replaying what had happened over and over again in her mind. Edward shrugged off the laughs and jokes and walked over to the note, snatching it as if he was unafraid, although his heart raced as he took the note. Edward unravelled the envelope, tearing the overlap open with his finger, revealing a dark and dingy piece of paper and something that felt like stone in the bottom. Edward slid the letter from its compartment and unfolded the used piece of paper which gave his stomach a rumble of shock. The note was written in old English style writing, although the words remained modern English. Edward stood as he read the letter without delay, casting the laughs of the other two into the field.

Field of flies

Three or four, you can’t have more

Burying sight increases fright,

Running circles on this shore

Field of flies flying not night

Seeing as one will helps to plan

Three to one is lead in the hands of a man

Edward didn’t move for a while which Francesca and Pennie finally noticed after they managed to stop their sides splitting. Edward kept reading the letter, slowly reiterating each line trying to decipher what they had to do or what they were not supposed to do.

‘What does it say Ed?’ said Francesca, trying to resume control over the group, although she felt as small as an ant as Edward remained motionless and did not reply. Francesca turned and faced Pennie, giving her a confused expression with an ounce of intrigue about the content of the letter Edward was holding.

‘Come on Ed, tell us!’ snapped Pennie impatiently.

‘I don’t understand it, it is some sort of riddle’ spoke Edward softly to them both and passing the letter over to Francesca. Francesca adjusted the paper so it was the right way around and started to read aloud. Pennie and Edward perched on the hand-built wall that was attached to the fence a few yards away from where Edward fell earlier. The hills and fields around them stretched for miles, small houses and factories visible in the distant shuffling of activity. Edward’s concentration drifted off into over the small village he noticed until he realised that Francesca had purposely stopped reading to ensure his focus.

‘Sorry, I was thinking’ said Edward slowly, struggling to recall the last few words of Francesca’s sentence.

‘I didn’t think you had a sense of wonder’ said Pennie under her breath, which Edward heard and gave her a sympathetic look which made her feel guilty.

‘If we can all concentrate on this then we can win the activity’ said Francesca maturely, referring to the letter for a boost of confidence. Pennie and Edward focused directly and gave the impression they were ready to listen as Francesca read on.

‘The letter sounds like it is meant for all of us individually to form the overall clue or answer’ said Francesca, her mouth widening as she spoke.

‘Obviously the first line is about the group sizes’ interjected Pennie.

‘Yeah that would fit, maybe it means not to eat the flies or something’ said Edward, the two girls gazing at him as if he had claimed to see a flying brigade of pink elephants a moment or two ago.

‘Sometimes I worry about you Edward’ said Francesca, reacting sharply but caringly to his unhelpful comment. The group had a moments rest near the debris of wood and stones whilst they watched the night sky dim and the air freeze, Pennie reached for her jacket in her rucksack and wrapped it on as quickly as possible whilst the others wiggled their toes and rubbed their fingers to keep warm. After around five or six minutes of silence and recuperation Pennie noticed Edward was asleep with his head propped backwards uncomfortably on the rugged stone wall and alerted Francesca to the situation whose eyes were dropping at the time. The swarms of flies and birds swooped low, gradually getting lower and lower until they were barely visible. Francesca sat to the side of the other two as she wanted a bit of peace and quiet, twiddling the letter repetitively between her index finger and thumb. The chilling wind gnawed at Francesca’s uncovered ankles which made her feel as though she had been bitten by a thousand teeth. Squawking screeches and scuttles scowls could be heard from surrounding bushes as the animals and insects prepared for the night. For a moment everything stood very still, no trees swayed, no sounds were heard and all that was visible was the millions of flies dancing above the field until Francesca shockingly saw them dive and disappear into the undergrowth.

‘Hey, did you see that guys?’ said Francesca turning back around to the other two.

‘Whabllaa?’ replied Edward sleepily which Francesca understood as an actual English word.

‘The flies have all disappeared. One minute they were there and the next they were gone’ said Francesca sounding eager in her tone, dying to tell everyone.

‘Oh right, that’s normal isn’t it?’ questioned Edward looking more awake now as he began questioning the fact himself shortly after he had asked the question.

‘Well, not really. It’s common for birds and things to act in this way but normally they don’t all disappear so quickly, there must be a reason for it’ said Francesca convincingly to Edward who seemed to believe everything she said these days.

‘It says something in the letter about the flies doesn’t it?’ said Pennie, making the other two leap out of their skin.

‘So it does, it says ‘field of flies flying not night’ which is basically what I’ve just seen but I wonder what it means though’ said Francesca rhetorically.

‘I suppose it would be quite scary being one of those flies though flying at night, I bet they just wanted to have a sleep and hide from…’ said Edward with a serious delivery in his face, finally drifting to an end.

‘That’s enough Edward, I think we would end up going around in circles if you were the team captain’ interrupted Francesca before Edward could follow up his theory of fly behaviour. Edward looked down at the gravel and then out into the distance, remaining silent for a while which bothered Pennie although Francesca carried on reading the documents and the letter without another seconds thought on the matter.

‘It’s probably nothing anyway’ said Pennie, placing a comforting arm around Edward, which he smiled slightly at her kind hearted nature. The group altogether noticed the sudden drop in temperature as the night sky transformed from gloomy to daunting in a matter of moments, frightening animals and even the children too as they stood closer together for warmth.

‘Why would the teachers let the activity go on so late? It is so cold!’ exclaimed Francesca, applying a white fluffy hat and gloves to her pale cold skin and delicate silky hair. The other two remained quiet and thought about what Francesca had just said; unaware to them she mistakenly misinterpreted the silence as a sign for her abruptness earlier. Francesca was just about to say something until they all were alerted to a high pitch scream coming from over the field.

‘What was that? I don’t like the sound of that!’ cried Edward as he whined at the thought of something scary being nearby, the darkness increasing his fear tremendously.

‘That sounded like Melanie and her group, we need to go and see if they’re ok!’ said Francesca, erecting herself rapidly and separating from the close quarters of the group, making the others feel cold again.

‘That’s crazy, it’s too dark to go over there and what if it isn’t them and it is some scary monster with big teeth that just happens to be hungry’ said Edward, sounding more and more feminine.

‘No, we need to go, they might be in trouble or something’ said Francesca, surprising Edward and Pennie by her consideration for other people’s feelings.

‘I don’t think it is a good idea Fran’ added Pennie, taking Edwards view as the better one.

‘Well, I’m the captain and I’m going and taking the equipment so either you stay here until you pluck up the courage to go back inside or you come with me and we can work with the other group and finish this thing’ announced Francesca, unhappy with their decision, showing a sign of something bothering her deep down that seemed to be behind her snappy nature just lately. Francesca picked all the documents, rucksacks and jackets and headed to for the cracked and crumpled fence that is the home of the field of flies. Edward and Pennie looked at each other in dismay as they parted their huddle and gathered their things, grudgingly abiding by Francesca’s decision. Edward’s heart raced as they walked towards the fence, looking beyond he saw nothing but long grass and tall prosperous trees. Pennie wasn’t too keen on the field either as she watched Edward sweat profusely, which consequently increased her fear.

The three curiously shaking bodies clambered their way over the fence and into the deserted field, gradually became darker and darker as the blackness covered their eyes like a thick film of night sky. Edward looked back as he walked and took a large gulp as he saw the fence disappear out of sight and be replaced with endless long grass and itchy pollen seeds that lodged up Edward’s nose, making him sneeze loudly, echoing throughout the field, the sound waves desperately seeking something to rebound off. Edward was so nervous that he kept stopping for his imagination kept playing tricks on him, creating visions of large flies, walking and talking to him, which happened so frequently he started to talk back. The others were slightly in front of Edward, who had slowed down in fear and whispered back questions for why they were here and why are they following him. Edward heard a cheer as he saw some commotion ahead; it was Francesca and Pennie jumping for joy at uncovering the edge of the field. The narrow walk way looked darker than the field itself, mist resting above what appeared to be an old bridge and small river below. Francesca and Pennie were extremely brave compared to Edward, although this was making him feel more confident as the activity progressed. Pennie’s outline in the distance showed that of a whaling blob of a shadow, emanating that of an ecstatic discovery of some kind. Edward swiftly moved at a high pace through the stinging clutches of the bushes, ignoring the images and cries beneath the undergrowth as he placed his fingers in his ears and made his way through. He started to see more of Francesca and Pennie and was almost at shouting distance but he was too scared still and thought that if he shouted it may attract unwanted attention to his whereabouts. Edward watched gracefully as Pennie and Francesca disappeared from sight once more to sit down on an old bench that faced the bridge, where they shuffled documents and prepared for the next activity.

‘Hey, we made it then’ said Edward, just arriving a few moments after they had, his eyes were all puffed up and his cheeks were as red as the planet mars.

‘Yeah, now that task is over we need to make swift progress on the others before midnight’ said Pennie, referring to the documents and adjusting her hair and glasses that appeared to have become tangled in the deliberation. On approaching the bridge the three noticed a wonky sign in the damp soil that blew in the light breeze. They all looked at each other in dismay until Pennie decided she was brave enough to go forth and see what it said. Pennie homed in on the chipped white wooden sign, looking around for information but she was utterly disappointed as the sign bore nothing at all, no instructions or any general information. The sign stood there gently sinking in the hungry chocolate soil as Pennie felt despair, for she was expecting a speckle of hope in the journey that started to test her patience.