Enochim

Chapter One ‘The phone’s ringing,’ Anna shouted as she raced Jamie to answer it. ‘I’ll get it’ she shouted and she got there fi rst. “Hello, Anna Fisher here” she said in her posh voice. “Hello, Dad Fisher here” “Hi dad where are you”? Anna asked. “Just finished my meeting so I should be home about 10.00 p.m. Is Mum there?” “She’s coming now Dad. See you later”, she said as she passed the phone to Mum. “Hi love are you o.k.?” Rachel asked. “Not too bad”, replied Peter“ considering the day that I’ve had. Are the terrible twins Ok?” “The same as usual fighting over nothing. Will you be late?” she asked dreading the answer. “Afraid so. The meeting overran and this awful rain will slow me down. Should see you just after 10.00 pm”. “Ok. Drive safe and I will have some supper ready”. Peter hung up and concentrated on getting home as soon as possible. “Right you two up stairs, showers and bed” shouted Mum. ‘But mum” Jamie tried. ‘No buts’ came the reply faster than the speed of sound from a mother in no mood for games. Showers over so Jamie and Anna tried the watching TV quietly trick but they were no match for a Mum’s radar. “Off now you two and get some sleep”, was the last thing they heard as mum switched off the landing light, waited for their TV to go off and then went down stairs. It was a truly awful night. The middle of May it may have been but it was dark, windy and raining for Noah. Mum hoped Michael Fish wasn’t doing the weather forecast as “he who sow’s the poor forecast reaps the whirlwind”. Just ask ‘Seven Oaks’ or ‘One Oak’ as it’s now known. Rachel busied herself with ironing and then had a shower and thought about some supper. As she passed the phone in the Kitchen it rang. At the other end, sounding as wet as he must have been, was Peter. “Sorry love. I’ve got a fl at tyre and I’ll have to wait for the rain to stop before I try and change it. Don’t wait up this could take hours”. “Thanks for letting me know,’ Rachel replied. ‘Take care and see you soon’ Nothing for it now, so Rachel got herself a milky coffee, that box of chocolates she kept for emergencies and away to bed to watch some late night TV. The wind and rain weren’t letting up but thankfully Rachel can usually sleep through anything when Peter’s home. Not tonight. It wasn’t long past midnight when she heard a muffl ed noise down stairs. She stirred, thought about it and decided it was the weather but not when she heard another noise. Now she knew something wasn’t right. Rachel grabbed her dressing gown and checked Jamie and Anna before gingerly going down stairs. She had left the front porch light on for Peter but now it was off. That wasn’t good and Rachel’s first thought was to get back upstairs to the children. Before she could turn to go the Kitchen door opened. With the light on in there and no hall light on Rachel could only see a silhouette of a man. Rachel held her breath as the man ran towards her. As he did she fell back put her foot in his stomach and threw him right across the hall. He fl ew like a bag of potatoes and mashed the glazed doors as he crashed through them into the Lounge. The noise instantly woke the twins and Anna went into Jamie’s room. ‘What’s all the noise?” she asked. ‘I don’t know,’ replied Jamie. ‘Let’s check it out.’ They got to the top of the stairs and looked down. Rachel heard them, looked up and shouted, “Get to your rooms now and stay there!” As she finished the dazed man had got back to his feet and pulled out a 6 inch dagger and lunged at Rachel. The kids screamed and ran to Jamie’s room. Rachel saw the blade of the knife glint in the light of the kitchen. She grabbed the man’s arm as he reached her, spun him around and twisted it up his back. She heard the crack as his arm broke and the knife fell to the tiled fl oor. Rachel bent down to pick up the knife but as she did the man came at her again not seeming to feel the pain of his broken arm that now hung limply down at his side. He kicked Rachel square in the side of the face and knocked her reeling over towards the display cabinet. Rachel felt the blow and saw stars as she fell. She shook her head to try and shake out the daze but saw the mad man coming for her again. This time the knife was in his left hand with his eyes dead, seeming to stare right passed Rachel as he charged at her. “You haven’t beaten me yet sunshine!”, Rachel shouted as she kicked the knife out of his hand, gave him a second kick to the stomach, finishing off with a round house kick to the side of his head that knocked him to the floor. Rachel staggered out to the hall and saw the twins had come back to the top of the stairs. Jamie shouted, “I’m coming down to help Mum.” “No!” she shouted. “I’m ok! I’ve knocked him out now and I’ll call the police.” As she said “police”, a dark figure came out of the front porch and threw a punch at Rachel. It wasn’t a punch. Jamie, Anna and Rachel all saw the fl ash of the knife as it came down and imbedded itself in Mum’s left shoulder. Rachel felt the pain. So did Jamie and Anna. They all screamed as Rachel fell to the fl oor. The dark figure now looked up at the twins and hissed in a voice that could curdle milk. “Now I’m coming for you two.” Slowly he moved up the stairs. Rachel shouted “You’ve come for me not them. Please God leave them alone!” As she shouted, the other attacker appeared back at the kitchen door and growled “We’ve come for you all”. The man on the stairs stopped and looked down at Rachel. Kitchen man moved towards her with his dagger raised to strike her again. Jamie and Anna couldn’t move for fear. Stair man looked at them and smiled. Rachel crawled to the telephone table in the Hall. It all happened in the twinkling of an eye. Kitchen man threw himself at her. Rachel grabbed for something from the hall table and shouted what Jamie thought was “Be sure you‘re not faking!” Suddenly there was a blinding fl ash of light as Kitchen man fell lifeless to the fl oor. Rachel moaned and the children heard the clang of something hit the tiled floor. Rachel now lay lifeless at the bottom of the stairs. The man on the stairs looked again at the twins. “You fi rst and then I’ll do for your mother”. He snarled, pulled back his long, black coat and pulled out a 3ft sword and waved it at the terrified two. Jamie grabbed Anna and they ran into their Jack and Jill Bathroom. As they closed and bolted both doors they could hear their mother scream, ‘No! No! No! Please God no!!! Jamie hugged his sister and whispered, “He’ll have to get me before I let him get to you”. Anna hugged him harder and knew that he loved her as much as she loved him. Bang! Bang! The mad man rammed the door and ranted “I’ll get you, no door will stop me”. Jamie knew he was right but didn’t tell Anna. They could hear mum screaming “No! No!” and Anna screamed for her mum. ‘Not long now until home sweet home Peter thought to himself as he turned off the main road onto the lane that would take him there. The time was approaching midnight but at least the persistent rain had stopped. As he came around the last corner where he could just see the house, something laid across the road was caught in his headlights. Peter did the first emergency stop he’d done since passing his driving test and brought the car to a halt just in front of the obstruction. Peter got out of the car to see what he had nearly hit. It was a large tree trunk lying right across the lane which no vehicle could get passed. As Peter pondered how to shift the trunk he was sure he heard something. He waited a moment and listened.This time his ears caught the unmistakable squelch of shoe leather on rain soaked tarmac as an axe flew passed his head. Will The Fishers make it? Why are they being targetted? Only time and 'Enochim' will tell.