Tick Tock (Storage Ghosts) Read online

  He jumped to his feet and looked around the storage facility, his fists clenched, murder on his face.

  Grace reached a hand out and grabbed his coat. “He was here, he’s been following me. He didn’t hurt me, Frankie, calm down.”

  “He would have hurt you if I hadn’t stepped in,” Big Bob said. Grace finally looked at him, she’d never heard him speak in such an angry way before. “Tell me what’s going on! One of you! Whatever it is I can help. You can’t owe money to someone like Eddie, you’ll never be free of him.”

  Grace said, “It’s a long story. Thank you for helping me in there, I was so scared I could hardly move.” She didn’t mention the fury that had started to rise in her, that was something that was starting to scare her.

  Big Bob let out an exasperated sigh. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

  Frankie shoved his hands in his pocket, his chin jutted out. Grace had seen his stubborn look many times. Frankie said, “It’s our business. Thanks for helping Grace, but I can deal with everything now.”

  “But I could help you. If you owe Eddie some money I can give it to you and you can pay him off. It’s the least I can do, your dad helped me so much when I was starting out in the antique business. You can even borrow the money if you won’t accept it as a gift, wouldn’t you rather owe me money than owe it to Eddie?”

  Frankie looked away from Big Bob and said firmly, “No. Thanks.”

  Grace couldn’t bear it. Whatever scheme Frankie was using to help them out of this terrible situation wasn’t working. He was in total denial. They were going to lose their shop, just as they’d lost their parents’ house and belongings. And here was this generous man offering to help them out.

  She looked at the ground, her shoulders slumped. She did want to put her faith in Frankie, but it was hard. The shop, their lovely shop that mum and dad had loved, being taken over by that hideous Eddie. He’d rip it to pieces, destroy it.

  Grace’s heart felt like it was too heavy for her body, she couldn’t bear any more pain. She didn’t want to be a person who was attacked in a toilet area.

  Big Bob said, “Frankie, look at your sister.”

  Grace felt an arm around her shoulder. She looked at Frankie’s face, the pain on it made her heart feel even heavier. He said, “Don’t cry, Grace, I hate to see you cry.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to lose the shop, it feels like I’m losing them all over again. Frankie, I wished I’d died in the accident, this pain is too much.”

  “No! Don’t say that! You’re all I’ve got left. You’re right, we can’t lose the shop, it’s ours. Grace, I’ve been an idiot, trying to sort everything out on my own, too afraid to admit that I can’t deal with it. Stop crying, we’ll sort something out.”

  Grace sniffed and wiped her face with her sleeve. “Will you let Big Bob help? Please?”

  Frankie sighed. “I will. But I’m going to make sure we never get into this situation again. And I’m going to make sure you never look this sad again. What now? You’ve just stopped crying and now you’ve started again! Women!”

  Big Bob handed Grace a tissue. “I think those are happy tears. You’ve got five minutes to tell me your long story, the auction’s going to start soon. I absolutely insist on helping you two. How much do you owe that slippery snake?”

  Grace wiped her eyes with the tissue and listened as Frankie quickly told Big Bob about their dad’s debt and their subsequent dealings with Eddie Tominski. To Big Bob’s credit he barely flinched when they told him how much they owed.

  After five minutes Big Bob nodded and said, “I’ll sort Eddie out. You two forget all about him.” He held out a hand to Grace and helped her to her feet. She felt a hundred pounds lighter.

  “We’ll never be able to thank you enough,” she said.

  “I just want to see you both happy. Now, let’s make fun of your brother, watch his face change as his hero approaches.”

  Frankie stood up. “If you mean Sylvester Sylver I’m totally over being star struck by him.”

  Sylvester Sylver, spotted them and ambled over, his purple satin shirt catching the light. He placed a friendly arm around Frankie and said, “Good to see you again, pal. We’re about to start, want to walk over with me?”

  Frankie grinned at his favourite auctioneer, adoration clearly written on his face. He nodded like an obedient dog and walked at the side of Sylvester. If he had a tail he would have wagged it.

  Grace and Big Bob burst into laughter.

  Grace couldn’t remember that last time she’d laughed so loudly.

  Could it be true that their money problems were over?

  Chapter 5

  Sylvester Sylver stood at the front of a row of lockers. The crowd of people in front of him began to quieten down. Sylvester beamed a brilliant white smile at them. Grace was struck again at how like Elvis Presley he looked, albeit with silver hair. She half expected him to break into song.

  He gave his usual talk about the rules of the auction. Grace was becoming familiar with them now. Her favourite part was when Sylvester said he would throw anyone out that stepped into a locker before they bought it. Grace had never seen that happening but Frankie had watched Sylvester throw someone out of an auction on one of his TV shows. She suspected that Frankie would be able to tell her which series and show it was, such was his addiction to the shows.

  The first locker was opened. Some people shook their heads, some people moved closer for a better look, Grace stared at the ghosts inside the locker. There were about 5 of them.

  Ever since the car accident that had claimed her parents’ lives, and almost claimed hers, Grace had been able to see ghosts. She hadn’t told anyone about this, and she had no intention of doing so. She could just imagine the jokes that Frankie would crack if he knew.

  Big Bob nodded at the locker and said to Grace, “Looks like old weaving looms, I can see some spindles on the floor. I’ll bet they’ve come from an old woollen mill, lots of them are being converted into homes now.”

  “Are they worth anything?” Grace said. She was itching to move closer, to look at the ghosts more closely.

  Big Bob shrugged. “No commercial value, they’d be better off in a museum. Not worth bidding on.”

  As nonchalantly as she could Grace said, “I think I might have a closer look. I studied the industrial age at university, I like seeing things in the flesh. Well, not in the flesh! They’re made of metal! And wood! You know what I mean.”

  Realising she was rambling Grace moved forward. Big Bob called out, “See if you can peel your brother away from Sylvester Sylver’s side. He’s so close he’s almost become a shadow.”

  Grace queued behind some other bidders as they moved towards the locker. When it was her turn Grace didn’t look at the items. Her eyes looked over the ghosts. She’d never seen ghost children before. It was obvious from their grubby faces and tattered clothes that they were mill workers. Grace’s heart ached as she remembered the stories about how children as young as 6 would work in the mills, some for as long as 14 hours a day. Their small frames were perfect for grabbing fluff from the fast moving factory machines.

  The children were running around the small unit area, playing chasing games and laughing. Their laughs sounded like echoes as the sound bounced off the metal walls. Grace winced when she noticed the injuries on the children. One of them had fingers missing, one had a whole arm missing. A little girl had a red bald patch on one side of her head. Grace assumed that she had got her hair caught under one of the machines. Grace sighed, what a waste of young lives. But the children didn’t seem sad, they laughed loudly as one of them tagged the other.

  The bald headed girl suddenly noticed Grace. She called out to the others and pointed straight at her. The other children moved to the front of the unit and stared at her.

  Grace discreetly put her hand up at the side of her head and gave them a little wave. The children jumped up and down with joy. “She can see us!” a small boy
said.

  The children waved back and broke into smiles, showing crooked and missing teeth.

  When Grace had seen ghosts before in these units they had needed help. Did these children need help?

  She was pushed out of the way by the other bidders.

  The bidding began. Should she bid? What would they do with these old machines? She could give them to a museum. Where was Frankie? She’d need to speak to him, try to convince him to buy this locker.

  Grace searched the crowd. Where was he? She looked over at Sylvester Sylver, Frankie wasn’t at his side.

  She stepped backwards so that she could scan the crowd better.

  “Whoa!” she fell over someone who was crouched down behind her.

  She collapsed onto the gravel floor and turned to glare at the person who had been stupid enough to trip her up. It was Frankie. He was crouched down next to a closed locker.

  He grimaced at Grace. “Watch where you’re going, you nearly pushed me over then.”

  Grace hurriedly got to her feet and glared down at him. “You tripped me up! What are you doing? Are you peeping in that locker? You’ll get thrown out.”

  “Sylvester would never throw me out,” Frankie said with a confident air. “I can hear something in this locker. Listen.”

  Grace threw a look over her shoulder. No one was paying them any attention. She hunkered down next to Frankie and turned her head towards the locker door. Her eyebrows raised when she heard something.

  Frankie nodded and said, “Can you hear it too?”

  “That ticking sound? I can? What do you think it is?”

  Frankie pressed his lips together and gave her a serious look. “I think it might be a bomb.”

  Chapter 6

  “A bomb!” Grace screeched. She straightened up and took a step backwards.

  “Shh!” Frankie waved a hand at her. “A bomb, or a loud clock. People have set bombs before in storage units, they set them to go off when the doors are opened.”

  “Why? Why would anyone do that?”

  “There are some nasty people in the world. I’ll have to let Sylvester know about this.”

  They heard Sylvester shout, “Going ... going ... gone!”

  “No! I wanted to bid on that unit,” Grace turned on her heel and ran back to the unit with the ghost children. A man with round glasses was just reaching up to pull the door down.

  Grace stopped at his side. “Have you bought this?”

  The man gave her a suspicious look. “I have. Move out of the way.”

  Grace looked into the unit. The children looked back at her. What could she do?

  “Do you need my help?” she asked. This was directed at the children but the bespectacled man assumed it was for him. “No, now shift.”

  The children quickly grabbed hands and formed a circle. They smiled at Grace and shook their heads. Grace gasped as the children began to glow. A pure white light covered them, it shone brightly and then went out. The children disappeared with the light. Grace smiled as she heard the echoes of their laughter dying away.

  The door was slammed down in front of her, narrowly missing her feet. The man smirked and secured his unit with a padlock. “I told you to move.”

  Grace didn’t care, seeing the children disappear in that glow of light had lightened her heart. A calmness descended on her, and for a few seconds, her troubles seemed to actually melt away.

  She was brought back to earth with a jolt as Sylvester Sylver yelled out, “Everyone back up! We have a situation! Keep calm! There is no need to panic!”

  People didn’t panic, and they didn’t move back.

  “What’s going on? What’s in that locker? Let’s have a look.”

  Two burly security guards stepped forward, their beefy arms outstretched. “Move back,” they ordered. The crowd reluctantly did so. Grace looked over to where the commotion was coming from.

  Just as she thought. It was Frankie. He was bending down at the ticking locker. Sylvester was crouched down at his side, listening as Frankie explained something.

  Big Bob appeared at Grace’s side. He said, “What’s going on?”

  Grace quietly replied, “Frankie heard a ticking coming from inside the locker, he thinks it might be a bomb. What will they do now? Call the bomb squad out?”

  Big Bob grinned. “This isn’t America, Grace.”

  “They can’t just open it, can they? Who would be stupid enough to do ...” she trailed off. Frankie had his hand on the locker door, he gave a firm nod to Sylvester Sylver. The older man placed a hand on Frankie’s shoulder. Then he stood up and quickly walked away.

  The gravity of what was about to happen hit Grace. “Frankie! No!”

  Too late.

  Frankie pulled up the metal door. Grace squeezed her eyes shut. She opened them again when there was no boom.

  She saw her idiot of a brother giving the crowd a thumbs up sign. He got a cheer. He almost burst with pride when Sylvester gave him a huge man hug.

  Frankie swaggered over to Grace and Big Bob. Grace whacked him on the arm. “What did you do that for! You idiot! You could have been blown to bits!”

  Frankie folded his arms and gave her a smug smile. “I knew it wasn’t a bomb.”

  “You didn’t! Why did Sylvester walk away when you opened it?” Grace said, her voice still angry.

  “For the drama of course. Now everyone will want to see what’s in that locker. It’s up for auction today.”

  Big Bob shook his head. “Was this all a stunt? Something cooked up between you and your new best friend?”

  “No, I really did think it was a bomb at first. I still did when Sylvester had a listen. But then I recognised it. Come on, Grace, get that angry look off your face, it’s giving you wrinkles. Come and have a look at the unit, I think you’ll see something that you recognise.”

  Grace wanted to be angry at him, but she wanted to see what was in the unit too. “Okay,” she said with a disgruntled shrug.

  She followed him over to the unit. Other people were now looking in the locker. Grace didn’t need to move any closer. She could hear the ticking sound. She suddenly grinned and looked at Frankie. “It can’t be!”

  Frankie returned her grin. “It is! It’s the tiger clock.”

  “Ha! I can’t believe it. Do you think it’s the same one?” Grace asked.

  “He always said there was only one, hand made by him,” Frankie said.

  Big Bob spoke, “Would one of you giddy kippers like to let me know what you’re talking about?”

  Frankie explained, “It’s the tiger clock. Mr Opendale made it himself. He used to have a shop near ours, a while ago, lived there with his wife and daughter. I can’t remember their names. He made the most amazing clocks. The tiger one makes a normal tick tock noise but Mr Opendale put something in that makes a small growling noise every ten seconds. Listen, can you hear it?”

  The three of them moved closer, Big Bob put his head to one side. His frown disappeared. “I heard it! Well! I’ve never heard anything like that before. Let’s have a closer look inside, I wonder if the items inside belonged to your Opendale friends.”

  Grace’s breath caught. A scene from the past almost made her heart stop. “The items did belong to them.”

  The locker contained a table with matching chairs, a comfy armchair and several small items of furniture. There was a working table with small tools placed on the top. The ghost of Mr Opendale was sitting at the table, he was working intently on a watch. Mrs Opendale was sitting in the arm chair, she was gazing fondly at her husband.

  “Grace! Are you alright? You’ve gone very white,” Frankie said.

  Grace held onto his arm. “It’s just seeing these things again. It is the tiger clock, it’s propped up near the door. Frankie, we have to buy this, no matter how much it costs.”

  Frankie wrinkled his nose, “It doesn’t look very valuable. Are you sure?”

  Grace tried to smile. “Please. It’s a link to our past. The Openda
les were friends of Mum and Dad’s.”

  “Okay. Stop leaning on my arm, you’re not exactly as light as a feather,” Frankie complained.

  Grace moved her arm and took some steadying breaths. A feeling of absolute dread had washed over her as she saw the friendly faces of the Opendales. It wasn’t to do directly with the friendly faced couple. It was the fact that Grace knew without doubt that they could help her find out what had happened to her parents on the night of their deaths.

  Chapter 7

  The bidding began on the locker. Grace held her breath as the bids went higher. Frankie casually kept placing higher bids. The other bidders started to slow down.

  “Please, please, please,” Grace muttered to herself like a mantra.

  “Any more bids? Anyone offer me £800? No?” Sylvester called out. “Okay, final call. Going ... going ... gone! To the brave young man on my right!”

  Grace hoped the brave young man was Frankie. She looked over at him, he nodded and gave her a big cheesy smile. “We’ve got the tiger clock!” he said.

  He walked over to the locker and swiftly secured it with his own padlock. Grace was disappointed, she wanted to talk to the Opendales. Mind you, she couldn’t talk to them in front of everyone else. She’d look like she was talking to the walls.

  There were two more units to sell. Neither Frankie or Big Bob were bothered about them.

  They headed back to the Opendale unit that Frankie had bought. He said to Grace, “You can help us load things into the van, you always seem to get out of the hard work. We have to settle up at the office first.”

  “ I don’t mind,” Grace said. She couldn’t wait to get back to the unit.

  She never got the chance.

  “Hey, Grace, I’ve just heard some disturbing news,” Sylvester Sylver said once they were inside the office. “Someone told me that you’d been attacked in the bathroom, is that true?”

  “I wasn’t hurt,” Grace said.

  “That doesn’t matter, young lady. I can’t have my loyal customers being accosted whilst I’m in charge. Please, take a seat round here and tell me all about it.”