Fee left for work hours ago, but I still can’t shake this nagging feeling something is wrong. I give Niamh a call to check on her and Will, which makes me feel somewhat better.
It’s not raining for once, so I go for a walk to see if some fresh air will get me out of this funk. Wandering down to the village, I pop into the small local supermarket to pick up some milk and eggs since we’re running low. I swear Fee eats a whole pack of eggs each day. He’s a bottomless pit.
On my way home, I take a slight detour to pop in on Archie to see how he’s getting on. We haven’t seen him since Fee’s birthday meal over a week ago.
I knock on Archie’s front door and wait a few minutes, but he doesn’t come to the door. That’s odd; it’s a Monday, and he’s usually working from home. Pulling my phone out, I give him a call, but it goes straight to voicemail. I try Fee next.
“Hey, babe, what’s up?” he asks when the call connects. I must have caught him during a free period.
“Hey, when did you last speak to Archie?” The ball of nerves in my stomach grows by the second.
“Erm, not sure. Let me check my phone, one sec.” I wait while he faffs on the other end of the line. “Oh. Not since he was over at ours the weekend before last. How come?”
Dread claws at my insides. I can’t pinpoint why because I know there are a million good reasons why he might not be home at the moment and not answering his phone, but something in my gut is screaming at me that this is bad.
“It’s probably nothin'. I popped by his place, and he’s not answerin'. Then I tried to call him, but it went straight to voicemail,” I say, hoping Fee will reassure me and point out how I’m overreacting. He hums thoughtfully.
“That’s pretty unusual for him. You don’t think anyone from his old pack could have tracked him here, do you?” That wasn’t even something I’d considered, but now I can add it to my growing list of concerns. Great, love that for me.
“No idea. I know this probably sounds stupid, but I have a really horrible feelin' about this, Fee.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid. Sometimes, our instincts tell us things we can’t see. His landlord is Mrs Jones. She lives next door. Why don’t you ask for the spare key and check everything looks normal inside?” He suggests. It’s a good idea, actually; I should have thought of it. At the very least, once I’ve seen everything is fine inside, I can stop jumping to conclusions.
I knock on the neighbour’s house, and a woman who looks to be in her late eighties comes to the front door.
“Hi, I’m Connor. I’m a friend of Archie who’s letting one of the flats next door.”
“Hello, dear. Yes, lovely young man is Archie. How can I help you?” she says in a thick Yorkshire accent.
“I just wanted to check if you’ve seen him recently?” I ask, and I really hope she has.
“Let me have a think. Last Thursday, I think it was, he picked up some tea bags for me from the shops.” I feel somewhat relieved. That was only four days ago. He’s probably out for a walk or something.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I haven’t seen or heard from him and I'm a little worried. He’s not answerin’ when I knock, and he’s usually workin’ from home at this time. Is there any chance I can borrow your spare key to make sure he’s okay?” She understandably takes a moment to consider. She doesn’t know me, and I could be asking for the wrong reasons.
“I shouldn’t, really, but he has mentioned you and your husband to me a few times and said you’re good friends of his. Is it okay if I come with you?”
“Yes, of course.” I’m not entirely sure what she thinks she could do to stop me if I was, in fact, here to ransack the place, but I appreciate she seems to have Archie’s back.
Mrs Jones walks ahead of me to Archie’s with the key in hand. She turns the key in the lock and opens the door, calling out Archie’s name.
“Stop!” I tell her suddenly, pressing a hand to her shoulder to prevent her from going any further.
The second she opened the door, I could smell it.
Death.
I don’t know what we’ll find inside, but I know it won’t be good.
“Sorry. Do you mind waitin’ here for a moment while I check inside?” I ask, and I’m grateful when she agrees without too much fuss.
I hold my breath as I step inside the flat. Everything looks normal in the living room, and I can already tell the smell is coming from the bedroom.
I take a brief moment to look around at the home Archie has made for himself here in only a few short months. He doesn’t have many belongings, but the flat came furnished. There are a few plants he bought when he and Fee went to the garden centre a few weeks ago—all perfectly tended to. On the windowsill sits a framed photograph of the three of us. We're all wide smiles andwindswept hair at the top of Pen-y-ghent. My heart cracks at the memory; we were so sure that day was the start of something. The start of our new pack.
I’m hesitant to go into the bedroom. As if I can delay reality if I haven’t seen it with my own eyes. I cast a final glance around and head towards the closed door.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
