The Briggar Stone by James Parsons

Author:James Parsons
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Tony Anuci
Published: 2024-07-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-On

They returned the following day to Witherbale centre, quite streets just as grey and the small, neglected council houses just as broken and ruined as the day before. Manda was not there yet in the pub, no crowd of locals, only a couple of people moving along silently. The bar staff were different. They each necked a quick beer for courage or celebration and walked out to the view the spectacle of Tilda once more. Down through the same streets and out to the small centre area they did not find her or a crowd waiting where she said she would be at that time.

‘Where is she, we need her’ Jen moaned as she looked about them. Billy also appeared disappointed. Cassy simply yawned and checked her sound equipment.

‘Let’s walk around for a while, maybe we’ll find her in some other place, or we can find some other interesting stuff’ Cassy suggested.

‘The streets are quieter than yesterday’ Jen stated.

They walked around for almost an hour but did not come across anyone of any use to help them.

‘What do you we now?’ Billy asked.

‘Wait for the youth club stuff in a while.’

‘That’s still a couple of hours away.’

‘We have a couple more beers, play cards or whatever.’

‘I think we should look. There’ll be more to see’ Billy suggested in agreement.

As they came around a corner and approached the pub Manda stalked up to them, eyes blazing.

‘Where is my daughter?’ she yelled.

‘We’ve been looking for her. Is she not around town today?’ Jen asked.

‘Every day she sings her songs in town. Every day, come rain or sunshine. They want to hear her; they need to hear her. So where is she today?’

‘We don’t know. We’re as puzzled as you. We’ve been looking around for a while but not found her.’

‘We’ll all look around together. Look with me, together with me’ Manda told them. Billy and Cassy glanced at each other but nodded in agreement. Until the youth centre was due to open, they walked around the quiet town for the few hours with Manda and checked all of the places where Tilda could usually be found. Manda seemed to appear disturbed, anxious, and increasingly desperate as they looked in doorways, pubs, markets, shops and through the cluttered small park and green land area near the condemned old mills and factories.

‘This is no good. It won’t make a difference. No good at all for this town’ Manda muttered repeatedly as if she more concerned for the community than her own daughter.

‘I’m sure they’ll get by for a day without her songs, as lovely as they are’ Jen assured her as they walked together.

‘We’ve run out of time. The youth centre opens soon’ Billy quietly remined her. Cassy shrugged with a nod.

‘We’ll have to go Manda. Call the police in a few hours, they don’t usually do anything until a day has passed if someone is missing. I’ll call you if we see her’ Jen told her.

‘Come back and help won’t you. You can put it out on your social media film things, for help, can’t you?’ Manda pleaded.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.