Firstborn

Chapter 2: Khamosh Valley

                  

"Oh no, you don't Missy. This fake Sleeping Beauty slumber to get me to carry you just won't work  – you've just had a growth spurt and are a gigantic five feet ten inches tall. I'm not in the business of breaking my back ."

Una's body remained limp but Dad wasn't buying it.

"We certainly haven't got time for your usual shenanigans. So just wake up and get ready." Dad looked at his phone to work out the time but of course there was no signal and he was too vain to wear glasses or to ask,  to find out what the digital clock read on the taxi driver's dashboard.

He poked Una instead and in reply she finally shuffled but then to his frustration curled up tighter.

"Una, for heaven sake we are only a couple of moments away!"

Una wasn't faking it this time. She really was sleeping...she was...she thought she was... and that was the same thing right? She was in that place where if her dad would just stop shoving ...she would instantly be sleeping, sleeping so deeply...snoring in fact. She knew she was too tall to be carried, but she didn't want to face the dogged feeling that something was amiss with her memory or the surroundings. Beyond the norm she was desperate to fall deeper in sleep because somewhere niggling in her foggy mind  was the idea that if she woke up properly she would no longer feel protected, not even by her dad? Her subconscious doubts had infiltrated her consciousness and now, once more, she felt at juxtaposition with her surroundings. The India of the towns and villages she passed was great and enthralling but the Indian wilderness – Khamosh Valley and its surrounding areas at the end of the journey before she dozed off made her nervous and filled her with trepidation.

Her mind was jumping about and not helping, so she gave up on her favourite pastime and sat up, only to open her eyes to find she couldn't see a thing! It was pitch black everywhere. Worse, the taxi driver was driving with just the beam of the taxi's headlights to guide him - there was no other source of light. Even the moon was absent.  If that wasn't bad enough, the taxi driver suddenly steered the car left and the next thing Una knew, they were stumbling their way down a very steep inclination! Jerking about and almost bouncing off their seats once or twice, Una and her Dad grabbed the edges of their leather seats for dear life as the suspension hiccupped over uneven surface and small boulders under wheel. Una bet her Dad had the same expression of terror planted on his face as she must have. She wasn't sure if she believed in prayers and couldn't concentrate on anything as her mind focused unhelpfully on the rubble crunching below the Land cruiser wheels. The rubble better not puncture the wheels of the car again was her main thought. Why again? When had they punctured the taxi wheels before? Her mind was playing tricks again... The driver floored the brakes, as the taxi rattled down the slope but all the brakes did was reduce the speed of their free fall. Eventually, the wheels found the flat surface at the bottom of the valley and both Una and her Dad let go of breaths they didn't know they were holding.  Relief flooded through Una's veins as the Land Cruiser halted outside high walls and double gates. They had arrived at the correct address - Number 2, Khamosh Valley.

Both Una and her Dad yanked their doors open not wishing to remain in the car any longer. Una wanted to feel the ground under her foot, even if sharp edges poked through her Converse soles hurting her feet.  Expectantly she turned towards the fortress gate and wondered what sort of welcome they would get on the other side.  With a hundred guesses she would never have predicted the welcome they got from her supposedly doting relatives according to Dad's numerous stories of his childhood.

In the light thrown by the Land Cruiser's headlights, the outlined tall walls looked formidable as did the double gates with their intricate grill framework and large crescent latch. With a sigh, Dad walked to the double gates and tried to release the latch at the top. The gates rattled but they stayed firmly closed. Una held back. Shining his torch the taxi driver approached the gates too and soon he discovered they were padlocked together on the other side. With such fortification it was customary to have an intercom but even with the additional help of the torch beam they couldn't find one. Exasperated, Dad rattled the gate hard to attract the household's attention and while lights did not switch on in the house, he certainly managed to get noticed.  In seconds, at lightning speed, pounding feet raced over the gravel towards them. Snap! Jaws of canine, razor sharp teeth, closed shut just millimetres from Dad's hastily retrieved fingers. Undeterred by the metal gate, the aggressor attempted to press his mongrel head between the grills repeatedly, baring his teeth while growling and snarled alternately. The mutt's frustration mounted when the unwanted visitors refused to leave. He began to jump high and lob his body uninterruptedly at the gate, while barking ferociously without breath or pause. Finally in all the commotion a single flickering light emerged in a window, an inner door opened and a shadow appeared. The outer door remained close.