Crinckle Cut Farm



  Crinkle Cut Farm by S. Tameez

  Crinckle Cut Farm

  Sajjad Tameez

  Copyright 2012 by S.Tameez

  The lorry was loaded, the car was fuelled and the old house had been emptied. It was finally the time for the Henson’s to leave the city and head to the peacefulness and splendour of the countryside. Mr. Henson quit his job as a project manager and decided it was time for a career change. Little did he know what lay ahead.

  ‘Hey Mr.’ Jim Henson’s wife, Carol, said as they began their long journey, ‘you’re in your own world again.’

  ‘Huh... oh, sorry hon... just thinking.’ He replied, looking lost.

  ‘Thinking about what?’

  ‘Huh... nothing...’

  ‘Come on... I know you better than that. Spill it!’

  ‘Ok... I’m just worried about the whole move!’

  ‘Hey, it’s a little late for cold feet... don’t you think? And it would really help if you told us what you were going to do.’

  ‘You’re going to love it, I promise.’

  ‘Yeah, so why do you sound like you’re convincing yourself?’ Carol imagined that he found a job that paid him more, with a bigger firm and more benefits. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

  ‘Aaron?’ Carol called out to their thirteen year old son sitting in the back of their graphite-grey Jeep. ‘Aaron?’ She repeated louder but still received no response. Carol reached back and yanked the headphones out of his ears, ‘hey, you ok back there?’ Aaron frowned; his shiny blue eyes stared angrily. Carol, in a bid to make him laugh, stared back with her eyes crossed and stuck her tongue out. But Aaron was not amused, he let his straight blonde hair fall across his face and reached for his headphones and plugged them back in.

  ‘How’s he doing?’ Jim asked.

  ‘He’ll be ok, it’s going to take some time for him to get used to the idea. He’ll make new friends.’

  ‘Yeah, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling bad.’

  ‘He’ll be fine.’

  ‘Thanks. You think we should make a stop?’

  Carol looked at the small gold watch, that Jim bought her for their anniversary, and grinned, ‘Jim, we’ve been driving for about thirty minutes.’

  ‘Really? Ok, we’ll stop in another thirty.’

  The weather took a turn for the worse and the thick clouds unleashed their powerful wrath. The rain bashed on the windscreen and bright flashes of lightening flared across the dark blue sky. The sun had become a famous celebrity and only made a few guest appearances the entire week, but today it was a complete no-show.

  The blend of a storm, black skies and bedazzling headlights of oncoming vehicles, insisted that Jim pull over and take a break. For Aaron, the service station felt like the last taste of civilisation – he despised the thought of heading into the middle of nowhere and showed his feelings by remaining completely silent.

  A good few hours, a good few stops and a good few coffees later, they arrived at their destination – a small farm in middle of nowhere. The smell of nature was a little overwhelming for all of them, but Jim put on a brave smile, ‘so... what do you think?’

  ‘I think I’m going to be sick!’ Aaron remarked, breaking his prolonged silence.

  ‘Jim... I love it! It’s just like my parents one... I love it!’ Carol said, thrilled.

  ‘Really? You like it?’

  ‘Really. I love it!’ She raced to put her green wellingtons on. ‘But I thought you were going for another project manager role?’

  ‘Yeah I was, but I know how much pressure that’s put on us and besides, this will give us some quality family time.’

  ‘So, what’s the plan? We work on the farm?’ Aaron asked heatedly.

  ‘Well, yeah... obviously you’ll have to drop out of school and you won’t have time for friends...’ Jim remarked, raising his pointy eyebrows and opening his eyes wide. Now Aaron actually looked like he was going to be sick.

  ‘He’s kidding... right?’ Carol said looking at Jim suspiciously.

  ‘Course I am... the school is only fifteen minutes from here and there’s a bus stop just around the corner.’

  Although the storm had passed and the sky had cleared, their wellingtons sunk into the mud as they leapt out of the Jeep. The house was probably three or four times the size of their old one and the barn looked two or three times larger than the house. Carol’s face was frozen with a smile – she smiled so big that her dimples began to hurt. She stretched her back for a few seconds before zipping up her long coat and tying up her dark blonde hair. She found it a lot easier than Jim and Aaron to walk through the murky slush and up to the entrance of the house. The house stood tall, the bricks were a dark colour and the windows had brown crosses running through them.

  Aaron hated it – he hated the thought of it and hated the sight of it – he especially hated the fact that it had two chimneys, one on either side of the house. The house looked like the face of the devil and the hideous chimneys were like his horns. What a nightmare! He thought as they opened the large creaky door. They stepped inside, onto a polished wooden floor and took off their wellingtons and put their shoes on. The place looked enormous from inside, the ceilings looked unreachable and echoes of their footsteps lingered for a while. There were crystal looking wall lights running throughout the front room that matched perfectly with the large chandelier that hung elegantly off the patterned ceiling. The large beige rug in the centre of the room complimented the leather sofas and coffee table beautifully.

  They all silently agreed that the place had a warm and homely feel, even if its exterior looked like a haunted house. Carol walked into the large kitchen and smirked childishly, ‘now this is a kitchen!’ she shouted in excitement. She was used to the small kitchens in the houses in the city, which she always referred to as shoe boxes.

  Aaron instantly ran up the wooden spirally stairs.

  ‘Your room is third on the left!’ Jim shouted as he peered out of the window, waiting for the truck with all their stuff to turn up.

  ‘Honey... come and take a look at this.’ Carol yelled.

  ‘What is it?’ Jim replied, without moving.

  ‘Come on lazy bones.’

  ‘Okay...okay, I’m coming.’ Jim walked into the kitchen and looked around, ‘where are you?’ He called out.

  ‘In here...’ Carol called from inside a small store in the kitchen.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘There’s a door in here.’ She tried opening the door but it was locked shut.

  ‘It’s probably an old cellar.’

  ‘Didn’t they tell you about this when you bought it?’

  ‘Well, to be honest, it was so cheap that I didn’t ask too many questions. Any way forget that and let’s take a look around.’

  Carol had a cold shiver run down her spine and, for a moment, was overcome with the strangest feeling. She shut the door of the store and looked around for Jim.

  ‘Jim?’ She called loudly, ‘Jim, where are you?’ She received no reply. She walked into the front room but Jim was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Jim!’ She yelled, ‘come on this ain’t funny!’ She moved the white netting and stared out of the window, thinking that the lorry may have come and maybe he’s outside, but there was no one out there.

  ‘Jim...’ She called again and walked towards the back of the house. The dining room was long, it had the same chandelier dangling down and the dining table stretched the length of the room and had at least twelve chairs neatly around it. The table was decorated stylishly and strangely there were candles lit all the way down. Carol’s heartbeat was now pounding, she turned around and dashed for the door which slammed shut – she screamed and fe
lt like her soul jumped out of her body. She crept towards the door; all she could think about was Aaron. She wanted to scream out to Jim but was too scared, her legs had become limp and stomach began to churn. She kicked off her shoes and tiptoed silently; reaching for the silver door handle, she began imagining what monstrosities may lay behind it.

  She turned the handle and opened it slowly, the creaking sound of the rusty hinges sent chills rippling through her. Carol jumped back and screamed out aloud when she saw the shadow of a man in front of her.

  ‘Hey...’ Jim said, grabbing hold of her shoulders, ‘what’s the matter?’

  ‘Jim. Thank God!’ Carol hugged onto him tightly.

  ‘Hey...what’s going on?’ Jim pulled her off and stared into her terrified eyes.

  ‘Sorry... I... I just got a little freaked out.’

  ‘It’ll be fine... a new place – life changing move – trust me, even I’m a little freaked out. Now come on, we still have to check the rest of the house out!’ Carol smiled and nodded gently, but her smile dropped when she turned back and noticed that the candles were not lit.

  ‘Jim... did you come into this room earlier?’

  ‘No... but I like it. Why?’ Carol knew that he would think that she’s crazy if she said anything about the candles or the door slamming, so she decided to stay quiet and convinced herself that it was all in her head.

  The spirally staircase was long, the steps felt much wider than normal stairs and they all creaked. The lighting in the entire house was mild, like candle light but