The Man With No Face (4 page)

There was probably more, but I was under the bedclothes, unable to speak.

Try as I might, I simply couldn’t make myself believe that Colin was inventing it all just to scare me. How I got to sleep I’ll never know.

But what a sleep it was. It seemed one long, repeated nightmare with me down in the dark cellar, scrambling on all fours up the wooden steps. Except that the steps were so soft that my fingers kept sinking in and I couldn’t move forward
and a bony hand kept grabbing my ankle to pull me back and I couldn’t make any sound when I tried to scream.

The next day Aunt Carrie took us to the zoo. Luckily Colin didn’t bully me too much because there was plenty to see. But even though I checked that the key was turned in the cellar door before I went up to bed that night, I still had the same nightmares.

The following day Colin quietly suggested another game of Cops and Robbers in the cellar.

“We didn’t finish the last game, remember?” he said.

I nodded. “OK by me,” I said. I’d managed to seem quite relaxed since he’d tried to scare me and I wasn’t going to let him score an easy victory now.

“But no turning the light off,” I said. “I could have had a really bad accident when you played that stupid trick. And your dad’s going to stop us playing in the cellar if he thinks we’re doing anything dangerous.”

At the mention of Uncle Geoff, Colin’s eyes narrowed (well, narrowed even more than usual). I could see that he didn’t want to risk annoying his dad, who could be quite stern when he wanted.

“Of course not,” he said. “You don’t think I’d want to excite the little man with no face, do you? What do you take me for?”

Almost as soon as I set foot on the steps (I’d allowed Colin to go first) there was a clap of thunder that made every bone in my body rattle. Colin turned and looked up at me. “You’re
not scared, are you? Because, if you are, we can always play cards, you know.” For a second I was surprised at this strange concern for me. And then I noticed his pale cheeks and understood. The thunder, and probably his own ghost story, had rattled him a bit and he wanted an excuse to chicken out.

“I’m fine,” I said, keeping my teeth from chattering by a superhuman effort.

Another crash of thunder, and the dim bulb flickered. I winced.

“Well, let’s get on with it,” Colin snapped, thumping his way down the rest of the steps.

“Right; you hide first,” he ordered. “And if you take my advice you’ll keep away from the darkest corners. Unless you want to have bony little hands feeling around your ankles and squeezing your arms.”

“If he grabs you, just try to keep moving,” he went on; “and whatever you do, don’t run your hands over his face.”

“Thanks. I’ll try to remember that,” I said, holding on tightly to a work-bench.

“Right. I’ll close my eyes and count to ten slowly. Move it!”

I already knew where I was going to hide: behind the hamper near the foot of the steps. That way he couldn’t sneak past me without being seen.

“… seven, eight …”

Crash! The loudest clap of thunder yet. And the light went out.

My heart seemed to stop and I could almost taste my fear. Dizzy with fear and trembling I somehow managed to grope my way to the steps.

With the back of my hand pressed into my mouth to stop myself screaming, I slipped down on to the bottom step. I was shivering all over. But somehow, terrified as I was, I sensed that Colin, at the other end of the cellar, was more terrified still.