A short story by Michele Clarke

Jacob had been wandering around for days, looking for a place to stay in the English countryside when, by chance, he stumbled across a lucky find.  A semi derelict farm holding provided Jacob with a hideout and it had a wooden barn which provided him with a warm place to sleep.  And best of all, there was nobody else around for miles.  One thing Jacob hated more than anything else was a nosey parker.

There was a disused red telephone box down the track from the field.  Often tourists would stop to take selfies and drop coins into the coin slot, pretending to make a call.  The coins would often stick in the slot and it would be difficult to remove them, so hence they would get left behind.  Jacob would be watching for cars and each time someone stopped he would wait till they left and then go to the telephone box to collect his coins.  He enjoyed this ritual, and then was able to do the 5 mile walk to the nearest petrol station so he could buy provisions and fill up his petrol can so he could light a fire outside the barn in the evening. He loved to watch the flames dance around in front of him and listen to the crackling sound of the wood he collected burning. Such a beautiful sight.  There was a woman who worked in the petrol station who always commented on his worn clothes which Jacob took offence to. Who was she to judge him?  He started to feel rage burning inside him whenever she commented and he started to fantasise that he wanted to douse her in petrol and set fire to her.  Jacob decided not to go back there again for a while.

It was one very warm and sunny afternoon a few days later when opportunity came knocking on the door of Jacob.  A car had stopped in the lane where the telephone box was, but instead of taking selfies and driving off on their way, the group of people from the car decided to come onto the farm holding to have their picnic.  Jacob watched from a distance as the group came into the field, putting their picnic basket down and started eating the food whilst chattering to each other.  Jacob was hungry and he really wanted to eat something.  He felt a burning rage developing inside him and he couldn’t walk away from it this time.  As he watched the group, Jacob remembered his own family, who all died in a fire one night.  It was after that incident that he fled the city he lived in and decided to lie low in the rural countryside.  

After what seemed like hours, the group of people got up and started walking towards the barn out of curiosity, leaving the remains of the picnic unattended.  From his vantage point, Jacob watched as one of the women in the group opened the barn door and looked inside his home.  Jacob’s inner rage started to reach boiling point, as the group disappeared inside.  Jacob seized the opportunity and ran to the barn, slamming the door shut, bolting it from the outside.  “Ha, now I can eat their food.  Serves them right for being nosey parkers”.  Jacob laughed out loud as he heard the shouts and banging on the door from the people inside.

Jacob sat down and started eating the food from the left over picnic.  Such a selection.  There was enough in the basket to last him a good few days so he wouldn’t have to trek to the petrol station again to be insulted by the woman he had thoughts of wanting to kill.  And the best part for Jacob, was a huge chocolate cake that those silly people hadn’t even started to eat.  Jacob couldn’t wait to eat the cake.  Cake was his absolute favourite. Now he just had one problem.  What to do with the people in the barn.  Real nosey parkers they were, so he couldn’t let them go or they may tell on him.  They had to be dealt with.

Jacob strolled over to the barn.  The people inside were still shouting and banging on the door.  Luckily there was no phone signal for miles around.  Jacob always kept his petrol can outside the barn and it was still full.  Pacing to the barn, he doused it with petrol, setting it alight, causing the dry timber structure to crackle and smoke as the flames took hold, rapidly blazing into a bonfire.  There were screams from inside, but as the flames and smoke got stronger, the noise quickly died down.

Jacob stood and admired his handiwork for a few minutes, before remembering he still had his cake to eat. More precisely, it was chocolate cake, his favourite.  And it was all his.