I opened the door. To my surprise, it wasn’t him at all.
“Pardon us, special delivery.”
Two broad-shouldered men dressed in postal delivery clothes were standing on the lawn, a large crate the size of a small fridge next to them.
“That’s me. But I didn’t order anything.”
“Oh, it comes with a gift card. Here.”
I took the card. It simply read “a belated happy birthday from your mother”. This was the first time my mother had sent me anything in years. I couldn’t even recognise the handwriting.
“Where shall we put it, Miss?”
“Oh, just in the hall at the back right in front of the mirror, thank you very much,” I said.
The men immediately lifted the crate up and followed me into the house. Whatever it was, it looked extremely heavy to me.
When they had set it down, one of the men addressed me:
“Pardon me for bothering you like this, but would it be ok if I used the bathroom real quick? Only the drive back is pretty long, you see.”
“Oh, yes of course. It’s the second door to your right.”
“Thanks, Miss.”
At that moment, my grandfather called out to me.
“Who was it?”
“Just a delivery, grandpa. It’s from mum.”
“What?”
He sounded just as surprised as I had been and came into the hall immediately.
“It’s a delivery from mum, look at the card,” I said.
He took the card and read it.
“Very strange,” he said. “Do you know what it is?”
“No, only one way to find out,” I said.
The parcel was a little taller than I was. Perhaps it was a fridge after all, I thought. It covered most of the mirror on the wall.
“Thanks for letting me use your bathroom, Miss,” the other delivery man said. “We’ll see ourselves out then.”
“Yes, thank you again,” I said as the two men made for the door behind us.
I was just about to unpack the parcel when something caught my eye. I looked up. An icy chill ran down my spine. Instead of leaving, one of the men was carefully closing the door.
I spun around immediately.
“I thought you were leaving,” I said. My grandfather also turned around in surprise.
“Not yet, Missy. Just one thing left to do,” the man who had used the bathroom said.
“What is the meaning of this?” my Grandfather demanded. “Get out of our house immediately.”
Without warning, one of the men suddenly lunged at us, knocking us off our feet.
“Grab her!”
I kicked and bashed at every inch of body I could find.
“Help,” our attacker cried, as his accomplice rushed to his aid.
I had to do something fast. I pulled as hard as I could at the fridge and it came crashing down on our attackers, who were howling with pain.
“Quickly, grandpa,” I said, half-leading, half-tearing at the wizened old hands of his. We ran towards the front door, get help from one of the neighbours.
I yanked open the door. Another man, smaller than the others but also dressed in the same uniform, was running towards us. They had us cornered in the house.
I slammed the door in his face and turned the key.
“Come, grandpa,” I said desperately.
We made for the sitting room. The intruders were still dazed, buried under their own delivery, but recovering quickly.
We stumbled into the sitting room. I closed the door, but this one had no lock. From the scuffle of feet I could hear that they were back on track. I had to blockade the door somehow. I looked around wildly, but the only thing in sight was the sofa at the far end of the room.
“Block the door as long as you can,” I said.
My grandpa nodded, leaning against it with all of his weight.
I ran to the sofa and began pushing as hard as I could with a strength I never thought I had.
It seemed like ages but I managed to get it to the door. All the colour had drained from my grandfather’s face but he was holding out as best he could. There was a loud bump and angry voices on the other side. I pushed the sofa across the door. It wouldn’t be able to withstand them for long but it might buy us enough time. I took my grandfather by the hand as we moved into the room. I grabbed my phone that was still sitting on the table next to our cold meals and dialled the police.
The line took infuriatingly long to connect.
“Police emergency,” a bored voice answered the call.
Crack.
The wood in the upper part of the door had just given way, a gloved hand protruding from it, then another. They were breaking it down faster than I’d had hoped. The police’d never get here in time. But I yelled our address and a “come quickly” into the phone anyway while I ran with my grandfather to the window. I slid it open, but to my horror, the third man was just waiting for us on the lawn. We were trapped.
With a final thud, the door gave way completely and the two attackers stumbled over the rubble and sofa towards us. I took the phone and threw it as hard as I could at them, but missed.
One of them was grinning in triumph, while the other took out a white cloth. Fear gave way to panic. I looked at my grandfather, who seemed beyond words, too. As I gazed into his once so warm hazelnut eyes, we understood each other. There was nothing to be done, but we wouldn’t go quietly. He gave me the briefest of nods.
We were no match in strength, of course, but I think the sight of the old man charging them like a bull must have taken them by surprise.
I wasn’t so lucky. The man dodged my attack, sending me into empty space.
Meanwhile, the second man had got hold of my grandfather, who was struggling violently but was no match for his burly opponent.
“Leave him alone!” I yelled, trying to get to him.
But too late, my grandfather was thrown backwards. His head hit the sideboard with a loud crack. He slumped immediately to the floor, blood flowing from his head.
My attacker had also turned to see what was happening. In my rage, I punched him hard in the face. The unexpected blow stunned him and made him drop the handkerchief, but the second man hurled himself on top of me with a roar, knocking me off of my feet, his massive body crushing the air out of my lungs as my leg twisted until it gave way with a terrible snap.
The man on top of me was pinning me down, while the second grabbed the handkerchief on the floor and forced it over me face. I was resisting as fiercely as I could, kicking every inch I could find. But the sickly sweet stench was too much, I tried not to breathe, but I was getting dizzy. Everything was spinning.
.