The Beast

‘We expected that,’ she said, as tactfully as she could. ‘I’m sure she’s fine. Your mum. There’d have been something in the papers if she’d... if her condition had changed.’

‘I know,’ I replied, still not taking my eyes off the house. ‘I want to go over.’

Without looking, I could guess at Ameena’s expression. ‘That’d just be stupid,’ she said. ‘You’d get caught.’

‘Who by?’ I asked, gesturing across to the house. To my home. ‘There’s no one there.’

‘They’re bound to be watching, though. Think about it.’

‘I won’t be long,’ I told her. ‘I just want to see it. Maybe get some clean clothes.’

I stepped back from the window, still not looking at her. She caught me by the shoulder. I stopped, but didn’t turn. ‘Don’t do it,’ she said. ‘You can’t help anyone if you’re locked up.’

‘I’m not helping anyone now,’ I said, shrugging myself free. ‘I won’t be long. There’s no one coming.’

Halfway to the door, I stopped, as a blue light lit up the room. It faded quickly, then brightened again. The pattern repeated, over and over, and I knew what was happening even before Ameena spoke.

‘Cops,’ she said, matter-of-factly.

I crossed to the window. ‘Here?’

‘At yours.’

Ameena stood to one side of the window frame, leaning out just a little to watch what was happening below. I took the opposite side and peeped out.

A single police car stood outside my front garden, its blue light flashing, its headlamps blazing.

‘No one coming, eh?’ Ameena said. I didn’t meet her gaze.

‘What’s it doing?’ I asked, my voice a whisper, as if whoever was in the police car might hear me.

Before Ameena answered, the driver’s door opened and a woman in a police uniform stepped out. From here she looked young – mid-twenties, maybe – but it was hard to tell for sure.

She glanced along the street and up at my house. I pulled back, expecting her to look our way, but she didn’t. Instead she walked around to the other side of the car and opened the rear door. I almost cried out as a familiar head of grey hair bobbed up into view.

‘Nan!’ I said, wishing I could bang on the glass, wishing I could run to her. ‘It’s my nan!’

Ameena didn’t reply. I tore my eyes away from Nan long enough to see the worry on Ameena’s face. Only then did the first stirrings of panic begin.

‘Why’s Nan here?’ I wondered aloud. ‘Why would they bring her to the house?’

‘Maybe she’s picking something up for your mum.’

‘At this time of night?’

‘Maybe it’s something she really needs.’

‘But why send Nan? She doesn’t know where things are. She can barely think straight these days.’ It was true. Dementia had been devouring Nan’s memories for years now. Sometimes she didn’t recognise any of us, herself included.

‘Maybe...’ Ameena began, but nothing followed it. She was all out of maybes.

The policewoman let Nan take her arm. I watched them shuffle slowly up the path. It was the policewoman who unlocked the door. I kept watching until they both disappeared inside.

‘What if something’s happened to Mum?’ I asked, feeling the panic rise up into my throat. ‘What if they’ve come to sort out all her stuff ? What if she’s...’

‘They’ve left the lights going,’ Ameena said, cutting me short. I looked down at the car. Sure enough, the blue light was still flashing and the beams of the headlamps still cut through the gloom. ‘They can’t plan on staying long.’

‘Why’s it flashing?’ I asked. ‘I thought that was just for emergencies.’

Ameena shrugged. ‘Don’t ask me.’

We didn’t speak again for a while, just watched for Nan and the policewoman emerging. Eventually, we got tired of standing and sat on the floor, taking it in turns to raise up on to our knees and look over at the house. Lights had come on in all the rooms, but other than that, there had been nothing to report.

‘How long’s that been?’ I asked.

‘About an hour,’ Ameena said. ‘Give or take ten minutes.’

I looked at the car, its lights still burning. ‘Her battery’s going to go flat if she doesn’t get a move on.’

Ameena yawned. ‘Mine too.’ She lay down on her side, propping her head up on her hand. ‘Think I’m going to get some rest. You should too.’

‘I’m fine,’ I said, forcing my heavy eyelids open to prove my point. ‘I’m going to keep watching.’

‘Wake me up if anything happens,’ she answered, rolling on to her back and interlocking her fingers behind her head. ‘Hey, cool,’ she said, looking past me, up towards the cloudy night sky. ‘It’s snowing.’

I raised my eyes in time to see a tiny white dot drift by on the other side of the glass. Another fell a moment later, then another, and another. In just a few minutes, the sky was filled with a hundred thousand falling flakes.

‘It’s heavy too,’ I said, but Ameena’s only reply was a soft snore. ‘No stamina,’ I muttered, then I yawned, rested my chin on the windowsill, and settled in for a long, lonely stakeout.

I woke up with my forehead against the cold glass and soft January sunlight in my eyes. Several centimetres of snow were piled up on the window ledge, so white it was almost glowing.

‘Crap!’ I cursed. I tried to stand up but my legs were numb from being folded beneath me and I quickly fell back down again.

‘What? What’s wrong?’ Ameena asked, wide awake and on her feet before she’d finished speaking.

‘I fell asleep,’ I explained, furious with myself. ‘I missed them coming out!’

‘Um... no you didn’t.’

I looked down at the front of my house. The police car was still there. Its headlamps were dim and the blue light had been covered by the snow that continued to fall. The car hadn’t moved all night.

‘That’s weird,’ I said. I looked to Ameena for reassurance. ‘That’s weird, right?’

She nodded. ‘That is definitely weird.’

The lights were still on in the house. I studied all the windows in turn, trying to make out any movement within them. Nothing. As far as I could see, the house was completely still.

‘Why would they still be there?’ I asked, not really expecting an answer. ‘It’s been hours. They should’ve come out long before now.’