Worse Than Boys(5)

‘It was when I had the part-time job in the video shop, remember?’ I knew they all could. Bruno, the owner, knew my mum and he had given me a pocket-money job, tidying up the shelves. I had only lasted a few weeks, because I never did tidy any shelves. All I did was watch videos. Bruno had given me my money one night and told me not to come back.

‘I told you I was fired,’ I said softly, ‘but that wasn’t the truth. The last night I worked there, something terrible happened.’

‘Is this a wind-up? Did this really happen?’ Heather was shushed by the others.

‘Bruno had gone out to deliver some videos and DVDs people had rented, so I was left alone in the shop. Mary Brown was due to come in. You remember Mary Brown?’

They all nodded. Mary Brown really had worked in the video shop.

‘She had lovely long blonde hair, didn’t she?’ Rose said.

‘All of a sudden the big screen on the wall flashed into life. I hadn’t switched it on or anything. It gave me a scare, but I thought Bruno must have had it on a timer. There were no customers, so I just settled down behind the counter to watch the film that was playing. Right away I thought there was something funny about it. There were no opening credits, no voiceover, just a man in a long cloak with the hood pulled low to hide his face. He was striding across some railway tracks. At first he seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, until I saw he was heading towards a shack on the edge of a town. There was no music, just the wind whining through the telegraph wires, but that only made it scarier, because I could hear the wind whistling outside the video shop too.’

We jumped as the wind suddenly got up and howled outside.

‘Just like that,’ I whispered. ‘It was giving me the creeps, because the video shop is pretty remote as well. I tried to turn the film off, but I couldn’t find the switch. And all the time that man just kept moving nearer and nearer the shack. And I knew something awful was going to happen. He was coming for someone. Finally, I couldn’t take any more and I stood outside the front door just to get away from it, but it didn’t make me feel any better. That video shop is right on the edge of that big estate, it’s totally isolated. I could see the lights of the houses on the other side of the football pitch, but they seemed a million miles away. There wasn’t a soul about. And it was such a wild night. It was eerie standing out there too. So I went back inside. I tried not to look at the screen, but I couldn’t help it. And I saw he was almost at the shack.’

Rose caught her breath. ‘Wait a minute, Hannah. That video shop is right beside the railway lines … on the edge of town.’

I nodded. ‘I know. I began to think he was coming for me. I tried to tell myself how stupid that was, it was only a film. But by then, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. He reached the shack. He was at the back door. He began to turn the handle …’ I held my breath, paused for just long enough to keep them in suspense. ‘And right at that second I heard the back door of the video shop begin to creak open.’

Their eyes were wide. I had them.

‘I screamed. I ran outside. I wasn’t waiting there to see who he was or what he wanted. And I ran right into Mary, coming into work. She grabbed me and I told her what had happened.’

‘What did she do?’ Heather asked.

‘She laughed. Said it was only a daft picture on a screen. She told me to wait there and she would go in and switch it off.’

‘And did she?’

I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. Because Mary didn’t come back out again. I shouted and shouted, but there was no answer. I was sure she was winding me up, but I was too scared to go back inside. I was so glad when Bruno arrived in his car. I told him the whole story and we both went inside. You know Bruno, he kept going on about daft lassies. He was going to fire both of us.’

Heather gasped. ‘And was Mary there, lying in a pool of blood, an axe sticking out of her head?’ I sometimes thought Heather had a better imagination than me!

‘No.’ I kept my voice soft. ‘There was nobody there. The back door was wide open and Mary was gone. Bruno was raging because Mary had left the shop unattended. He went out to check and do you know what …?’

‘What?’

‘When I looked up at the screen on the wall. The film was still running, only this time the man was striding back over the tracks. He was carrying a girl, her long blonde hair trailing on the ground.’

Heather gasped. ‘Just like Mary Brown’s!’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘I screamed when I saw it, and Bruno came running back. I pointed to the film, told him that was Mary the man was carrying, I was sure of it. And do you know what he said? He told me not to be so stupid. Mary had probably gone off with one of her boyfriends. She was always doing that. He said that was her fired for leaving the shop unattended. Then he just switched the film off. And the screen went black.’