Theo went over to the games console and took out ‘Combat Rattlesnake’, which at that moment was one of his least favourite games! Then he went through all his other games disks. What should he play next? It would’ve been great if Ricky was there to play the games with him. Playing by yourself got a bit tedious after a while. Never mind, Ricky was bound to come and see him after school.
‘Theo, I hope you’re resting in there.’
‘Yes, Mum,’ Theo called back.
He’d had a real battle persuading Mum to allow him downstairs. He’d been in bed all morning and most of the afternoon but Mum seemed to think he should stay put, remain still and not even blink unless it was absolutely vital. Theo’d grumbled on and on for so long that Mum finally let him come downstairs just to shut him up. But she insisted that he kept a blanket wrapped around him and stayed put on the sofa.
‘No telly. No CDs. Read a book or sleep,’ Mum ordered.
That was why the volume on the telly was turned right down. Mum’d taken the day off to stay with him, but she was still working from her PC in the front room. Theo didn’t want to disturb her – that way she wouldn’t find out he was playing games!
Theo had decided that he’d play ‘Timeslip’ next, when the doorbell rang. He glanced at the LED display on the DVD. Who on earth could be calling at half past three in the afternoon? He went out into the hall as Mum opened the door.
It was the police – a tall, black man and a woman with brown hair, both in uniform. And Mrs Burridge, Ricky’s mum.
Theo stared. The police … They hadn’t yet said a word and already his heart was beginning to thump in an odd, hiccupy way. And Ricky’s mum – she looked terrible. There were dark rings around her glistening eyes, her lips were a thin, pinched line and her hands circled each other constantly. Her eyes darted back and forth, taking in every part of the hall as if searching for something.
‘Mrs Mosley?’ the policeman enquired.
‘Ricky? RICKY?’ Ricky’s mum called out at the top of her voice.
Theo’s mum switched her puzzled gaze from the police to Ricky’s mum. ‘Etta, Ricky’s not here. What’s wrong? What’s the matter?’
Ricky’s mum’s eyes filled with tears which spilled over onto her cheeks.
‘Ricky …’ she began hoarsely. ‘Ricky’s disappeared. He’s gone missing.’
Theo gasped, winded as if he’d been kicked in the stomach.
‘What d’you mean – he’s gone missing?’ Theo’s mum asked, shocked. ‘Look, come in. Come in all of you.’
Mum led the way to the living room. Theo stepped out of the way but the grown-ups were all too preoccupied to take any notice of him.
‘We understand that Ricky arrived home safely after visiting Theo yesterday afternoon but …’ The policeman didn’t get any further.
‘We both had an early dinner, then watched telly. He went up to his room after that, but this morning I found that his bed hadn’t been slept in. I … I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried his mobile but it just goes straight through to his voicemail.’ Ricky’s mum kept clenching and unclenching her hands – over and over. As if suddenly aware of what her hands were doing, she hugged her arms tightly about herself before speaking again. ‘Are you certain Ricky isn’t here? I was hoping …’
‘Oh, Etta, I’m so sorry. We haven’t seen him since he left yesterday afternoon,’ Theo’s mum said. ‘I wish we had.’
‘Oh. I see. Are … are you sure?’
Theo’s mum nodded unhappily. ‘I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this. Ricky will turn up soon, I’m sure he will.’
‘Yes, of course he will,’ Ricky’s mum agreed, her voice barely audible.
Theo’s mum put her arm around Ricky’s mum’s shoulders. Neither of them spoke. A tangible fear descended on the room. Theo swallowed hard, then swallowed again. Fear clogged his throat. Ricky … The policeman and woman exchanged a look, their faces sombre.
‘Theo, we understand that you and Ricky are very good friends. Did he say anything to you about going somewhere last night or this morning?’ asked the policeman.
Theo was burning up – from the top of his head to the tips of his toenails. And he couldn’t breathe. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t catch his breath.
‘It’s all right, Theo. Don’t be afraid,’ said the policeman. ‘I’m sure we’ll find Ricky safe and sound.’
Theo gasped audibly. He still couldn’t get his breath. It was as if he was underwater, fighting to find a way up and out, fighting not to drown. Ricky was missing.
Ricky was missing …
Was it the dare? It couldn’t be the dare. It’d been so simple. A matter of spending an hour crouched in the ventilator shaft of a warehouse behind the precinct. Nothing spiteful. Nothing dangerous … But maybe the ventilator shaft had collapsed. Maybe the whole building had collapsed. What if Ricky was trapped, or hurt, or worse …
‘Theo?’
Theo turned his stricken gaze to his mum.
‘Theo, d’you know where Ricky is?’ Mum asked slowly.
Theo’s tongue was frozen to the roof of his mouth and it refused to budge.
‘Theo?’ his mum prompted softly.
The dare contest. They weren’t meant to tell anyone about it. But Ricky … Where was Ricky? Theo swallowed hard.
‘117 Buzan Road. The warehouse.’ Theo’s breath came out in a desperate rush.
None of the grown-ups spoke.
‘It was a dare.’ Theo fought to keep his voice steady. ‘Ricky had to spend an hour at 117 Buzan Road from six yesterday evening.’
‘A dare?’ Ricky’s mum asked, sharply. ‘You dared him?’
‘NO! No. It’s a game and practically everyone in our class is playing. He didn’t get my dare.’ Theo shook his head. He couldn’t get his head clear. His words were coming out in a horribly confused jumble, but in spite of that, the grown-ups seemed to understand him.
‘And Ricky was dared to go to 117 Buzan Road?’ The policewoman frowned.
Theo nodded, his left hand cupped inside his right to hide the fact that he was crossing his fingers. He was seconds away from being sick – actually being sick on the living-room carpet. If Ricky was hurt or trapped then it’d be all his fault.
Because the dare had originally been his …
‘I’ll radio in this new information,’ said the policeman.
He took out his radio and walked into the hall.
‘Mrs Burridge, I don’t suppose we can persuade you to go home and wait for us to call you?’ the policewoman asked.
‘No. I’m coming with you,’ Ricky’s mum argued. ‘If you don’t take me, I’ll run all the way there if I have to.’
‘Calm down, Mrs Burridge. We’ll take you,’ the policewoman soothed.
The policeman came back into the room. ‘Well, there’s been nothing untoward reported from Buzan Road in the last twenty-four hours, but we’ll check it out anyway.’
‘Etta, let me know … what happens …’ Theo’s mum struggled to find the right words.
Ricky’s mum nodded.
‘We may need to come back to get more information from Theo,’ the policeman warned.
‘I understand,’ said Theo’s mum.
She escorted them to the front door and let them out. Theo watched, afraid to blink or move in case he missed something. He felt so strange. So peculiar. So calm. But it wasn’t real. It was as if there was a storm raging all around him and slowly but surely closing in on him.
The moment the front door was shut, Theo’s mum turned to face him, her eyes filled with worry and concern and the anger that sprang from both.
‘Right, young man. I want to know all about this dare business and exactly what you’ve been up to,’ she demanded.
And the storm descended.
Chapter Six
An Omission and a Find
ON MONDAY MORNING, the weather was horrible. The weather man on the radio had called it a ‘mar
vellous Mediterranean scorcher’. As far as Theo was concerned it was hot and sticky and it wasn’t even eight-thirty yet. It would make what he had to do that much more difficult.
‘Theo, are you sure you’re able to go to school?’ Mum asked.
‘That’s the umpteenth and a half time you’ve asked me that,’ Theo said. ‘I’m fine.’
‘You sure you’re over the flu?’ Dad frowned.
‘Course! I’m super fit,’ Theo smiled. ‘I’ve only got a little bit of a sniffle left.’
‘Hhmm!’ Mum wasn’t convinced.
‘Hhmm!’ Neither was Dad!
‘I wouldn’t be going to school if I didn’t feel OK,’ Theo pointed out.
‘Hhhmmm! I guess not. You know you can stay home for another day if you want to.’ Theo’s mum still wasn’t completely satisfied.
Theo forced his smile to widen. ‘No, thanks.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Mum, Dad – chill!’ Theo said, exasperated. ‘What’s this meant to be? Nagging in stereo?’
‘We’re only asking …’
‘I want to know why you’re in such a rush to get to school.’ Dad raised an eyebrow.
‘Because I’m fine,’ Theo said firmly.
He’d never had to act so hard in his life. His head was pounding and his body still ached, and as for ‘a little bit of a sniffle’ – it was more like the river Thames running through his nose! But he knew there was no way Mum and Dad would let him out of the house unless he convinced them that he’d got over his flu.
And he had to get out of the house.
Because Ricky was still missing.
Ricky’s mum had phoned late on Friday night to tell them that Ricky hadn’t been found and that the police had found 117 Buzan Road empty and deserted. She hadn’t phoned back since to say otherwise. On Sunday evening, Dad phoned the police who told him that they were stepping up the search for Ricky. Dad asked again about the warehouse on Buzan Road. As far as the police were concerned there was no sign that Ricky had ever been near the place.
But Theo felt there had to be more to it than that – the sick, anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach told him so. Ricky’s disappearance had something to do with the dare – Theo was sure of it. Now it was up to him to find Ricky and prove it. He’d already lost the weekend because Mum and Dad wouldn’t let him out of the house. There was no way he was going to lose yet another day. He’d lost too much time already. He had to find Ricky – he just had to.
‘See you later, Mum. ’Bye, Dad.’ Theo fled out of the house before his parents could say another word.
He glanced down at his watch. He’d have to hurry if he was going to make it to Buzan Road before school started.
117 Buzan Road was a huge, two-storey warehouse with dirty-grey, barred windows and a heavily padlocked front entrance. The roof was flat and the whole building looked what it was, derelict and neglected. Theo stood outside the front doors. He wiped the perspiration from his forehead, wondering vaguely if it was the weather or the tail end of the flu or what he might find that was causing him to sweat so much. Theo looked around. How could he get past the front gates for a closer look? Had the police got into the warehouse? They must’ve done. They’d probably contacted the warehouse owner, got the keys and walked in. Theo would have to find another way.
‘Come on, Theo – think!’ he told himself sternly.
How would Ricky have got in?
‘Of course!’ Theo mentally kicked himself.
The ventilator shaft!
Theo turned and walked to his right, scrutinizing the building for the ventilator shaft mentioned in the dare. Nothing. Surreptitiously, Theo looked around again. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t being watched. No, he was safe. Everyone was in a hurry, their eyes on the road straight ahead as they rushed to work or school. Theo ducked around the side of the building. Was the ventilator shaft here? He carried on walking and searching. Still nothing. And he couldn’t get round the back because a big double gate blocked his way.
The entrance to the shaft had to be round the other side of the building. Blowing his nose, Theo strolled out onto the main road, fervently hoping that he didn’t look suspicious. The last thing he wanted was to attract attention. He walked past the front entrance, still searching for the elusive ventilator shaft. He turned round the corner and searched along the other side of the building. Eureka! There it was! A half-metre high mesh grille in front of the ventilator shaft.
Theo took a quick look around again. It was all clear. He crouched down.
‘Ricky?’ Theo whispered through the grille. Silence. ‘Ricky?’ He tried again, louder this time.
Theo ran his fingers along the top of the grille, then down the sides, looking for a gap into which he could work his fingers to pull the whole grille off. Nothing doing. The grille was tight against the wall. Theo sat back on his heels and frowned. Something wasn’t right … Something was missing. Then Theo realized what it was. Dust! There was no dust on his fingers. There was no dust on the grille. That proved that Ricky had found a way to move the grille and the dust had fallen off it. Or maybe the dust had fallen off when the police moved it – if they had …
Theo’s eyes widened with shock as he realized something else. He hadn’t told the police about the ventilator shaft. Theo frowned deeply as he tried to remember just what he had said. He’d told them about the dares and the address of the warehouse but not about the ventilator shaft – he was sure of it.
‘RICKY?’ Theo called urgently through the mesh.
Even if the police had searched the warehouse, they might still have missed Ricky if he was injured in this shaft somewhere. Theo swallowed hard, the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach intensifying. Lacing his fingers into the holes in the mesh, Theo pulled as hard as he could. He winced as the wire mesh cut deeply into his fingers, but he didn’t stop. One corner of the grille shifted. Theo pulled harder. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the grille came right away from the wall. Theo fell over backwards, hitting the ground with a hard THUMP! Quickly he looked around. It was all right, he was still alone.
Theo sat upright and peered into the shaft. After about a metre, it melted into darkness. Theo knelt closer.
‘Ricky …’ His voice was a whisper again.
A bird rose from his stomach to flutter in his throat – at least that’s what it felt like. He didn’t fancy going into the shaft at all, but if Ricky had gone in there then he had to too. He had to find out what’d happened to his friend. Theo glanced down at his watch. He’d have to hurry, or he’d be late for school.
Taking a deep breath, Theo crawled into the shaft. It was filthy-dirty and full of dust which made him sneeze – and the stink! It was like diesel fumes and cigarette smoke and rabbit, mouse and elephant droppings all mixed up into a noxious cocktail. The smell whistled up his nose like a sharp wind, in spite of his cold.
The floor was littered with bits of dirt and debris, some too small to see in the half light of the tunnel but not too small to dig into his palms and knees and shins as he moved forwards. But that wasn’t the thing that slowed him down. No, what made him hesitate was the darkness sweeping over him like a slow tide, in spite of the bright sunlight outside. The light in the shaft was a darkening grey with swirls of dust like a mist dancing all around him. Theo crawled on, waving his hand before him every so often in a vain attempt to keep the dust out of his eyes and nose. And the tunnel grew narrower as he crawled on, until he had to tuck his head and elbows in to make sure he didn’t hit the top or the sides of the tunnel.
After crawling what felt like half the length of a football pitch, the shaft split into three, with tunnels to the left and right as well as straight ahead. Theo looked down each tunnel in turn. Each one looked like the others. Theo dug out a tissue and wiped his nose as he considered. Straight ahead. He’d try the tunnel straight ahead first. He carried on crawling.
Minutes passed. Theo’s back was beginning to ache from being hunched up for so long.
He longed to stand up straight and stretch out but it wasn’t possible, not in that narrow shaft. Theo was beginning to think about maybe turning back when he saw a strange light ahead. He moved faster, his eyes still on the light. His right hand landed on something soft – like material. Instantly, Theo drew his hand away in case it was something yucky! It was a black baseball cap. Theo snatched it up and turned it over. ‘CHILL!’ was written across the front. Ricky’s cap … There was no doubt about it. Shock, like a flash of summer lightning, shot through Theo’s body.
Ricky was here. In this shaft.
‘RICKY!’ Theo hollered at the top of his voice. ‘ARE YOU IN HERE?’
Silence. Dust swirled madly around him, but nothing else stirred. Theo took up Ricky’s cap and stuffed it into his trouser pocket. He moved towards the light in front of him. At last he could see where it was coming from – grimy windows up and down the opposite wall, flooding the deserted warehouse floor with an eerie blue-yellow light. And from Theo’s position he could see that the warehouse was deserted.
Theo sighed with disappointment. He sat for a few moments, frustration washing over him. But what did he expect? The police had already been here and they hadn’t found Ricky.
But they hadn’t known about the ventilator shaft. So Ricky could still be in one of the tunnels somewhere. Theo tried to turn around to go back the way he came. He couldn’t. The tunnel was too narrow. Panic, like a sneeze, began to tickle at him.
‘Don’t you dare,’ Theo muttered sternly. ‘Don’t you dare lose your head and panic and flip and lose your cool and be a doof and … and let Ricky down.’
The last one seemed to do the trick! Then all at once, Theo realized what he had to do. He started crawling backwards. Each second seemed to last for ever as Theo made his slow, careful way backwards through the tunnel. It took twice as long as before. The dust was worse, swirling and spinning up into his mouth and nose and eyes. And it was getting unbearably hot. His chest was tight and his head was beginning to hurt, but Theo couldn’t give up. Not now. Not yet. Ricky might need him.
At last Theo reached the place where the shaft branched off in three directions. Here at last he could turn around. Now it wasn’t so bad. But even so, Theo wanted to leave, to get out into the open and breathe air that wasn’t full of dust and dirt. He looked ahead longingly, then turned and crawled along the tunnel now on his left. This tunnel also ended with a grille looking out over a warehouse floor, but to Theo’s surprise, it looked out over the darkened basement level rather than the ground floor. The ceiling was a metre above him, whilst the floor was three metres below. Theo backed up and tried the only tunnel he hadn’t yet explored. This one just led to another part of the ground floor. There was no further sign of Ricky. Theo didn’t know whether to be sad or grateful. But not finding Ricky unconscious in the shaft meant that Ricky was all right. Ricky was safe … wasn’t he?