Ice Cream

“Wh-what’s that sound?”

“What’s going on?”

David and Chloe both woke up at the same time as the musical melody from outside blurred from outside, shocking them both so they woke up, but the twins were both half awake and so were confused and disorientated. After listening to the music from outside, David turned his head in Chloe’s direction.

“I don’t believe it,” he whispered, “its Alan.”

“Alan?” Chloe checked her mobile and cursed. “Dave, its 3.30 in the morning!” She said, ignoring her brother’s, “You’re joking!” And she went on. “What ice cream vendor comes by ats time of the morning?”

“Someone who badly needs a watch,” David groaned as he threw himself back onto his bed, groaning and grunting as he tried to drown out the sound of the siren.

Chloe, in the meantime, got herself up and walked to the window. She drew back the curtain and peered outside. “David, you need to see this,” she said a second later.

“What?” David snapped.

“Just get up.”

David swore a creative stream of curses under his breath as he stood up and walked over to join his sister by the window. As he walked over, he wasn’t remotely surprised to hear the sounds of shouting up and down the street as the neighbours lost their patience and had been dragged out of their sleep by the unbelievable noise from outside.

The ice cream truck was parked right outside their house. The lighting was bad so the twins couldn’t really make it out, but they could see it; from where they were standing, the ice cream van was as large as Alan’s van but they were confused by what he was doing at this time of the morning. Alan was relatively simple and quiet but friendly, they had never had a problem with him and he was more considerate than most people, so why was he suddenly here blaring away like this?

David glanced at his sister and saw the same confusion on Chloe’s face, and suddenly David snapped. He pushed himself away from the window and he picked up his torch on the bedside table.

“You’re going out there,” Chloe stated.

“Yeah. Well, somebody sooner or later will be going to investigate or call the police anyway,” David excused his decision. “Might as well get it done now.”

Chloe bit her lip. She really didn’t like this. The twins were currently alone in the house as their parents were away, and while they had been overjoyed by the level of trust their parents had in them for being able to stay in the house alone for a few days, Chloe knew her brother’s decision would not be well received.

Their parents would have known something suspicious was going on outside and they would have taken steps to ensure their safety had they been here. If they were here, then Chloe was positive their dad would have phoned the police about the public disturbance about the ice cream van outside, but whether or not he would have left the house, she was positive he would have stayed inside to keep an eye on his family.

Leaving the house on a reckless whim was the last thing he would do.

Chloe was a bit of a daddy’s girl, really, and she’d always had faith in her dad’s ability to calmly rationalise moments like this. Chloe understood where her brother was coming from, really she did, but she wasn’t sure this was the best approach to take, but she followed her twin downstairs and stood back and watched as he slipped on a jacket and his trainers.

In truth…

Well, Chloe herself wanted to find out what was going on, just as much as her twin did but she had to present herself as the voice of reason.

“Dave, don’t do this,” she whispered.

“Don’t talk me out of this, Chloe,” David told her.

“Why not? You don’t know what’s going on outside.” Exhaustion made Chloe’s voice rise a little.

“Chloe, I don’t have much choice,” he said as he tried to concentrate on his zipper. Why did these things sometimes have to be so stubborn?

“But you do. How do you know that’s even Alan in the first place? What if someone wants to kidnap you or something?” Chloe tried to hide the fear she felt, but the twins could both hear the quaver in her tone.

David paused as he zipped up his jacket, suddenly worried. In truth he knew he was being stupid and reckless, but his mind was currently all over the place after being snatched from the comfortable entropy of sleep. Mixed with a dose of anger at being woken up at this ungodly hour of the morning and surprise nobody else seemed to have the courage to walk out of their front doors and confront Alan, or whoever it was outside, David had decided to let his hormones get the better of him.

Almost shyly, David considered his options.

On one hand, he and Chloe could just call the police now, and staying in the house, but at the same time he wanted to find out just what was going on and what Alan was playing at.

“Grab the house phone. Just stand in the doorway, and keep watch. If you see anything suspicious, call the police and let me know,” David said at last as he slipped on his shoes but didn’t bother tying the laces up.

“You’re still going out there, despite what I’ve just said??” Chloe shouted.

David flinched at the volume; with the sound of the creepy tune from outside, which was proof in his mind ice cream music should be played during the day, as there was something inherently wrong with it being played at this ungodly hour, the way his head was spinning and Chloe’s shout, it took all of David’s self control not to lose it.

But he didn’t.

He knew that his sister wanted

David could see his sister was as baffled and as pissed off by what was going on as he was himself, but here was the thing; Chloe herself wanted to find out what was wrong, but she had to be the voice of reason. That was the only reason he didn’t lash out at her.

“Chloe, I’ve got to. Nobody else is,” David pointed out.

Chloe spat. “Cowards,” she sneered at the thought of the neighbours on their street.

David nodded in agreement. “Just watch my back,” he told her as he unlocked the front door and went outside, flinching at the volume of the sirens. It was even worse outside. David looked up and down the streets. Why the hell was he the only one outside? Oh sure, he could hear their protests right enough, but nobody had come outside.

Rolling his eyes in disgust, David walked purposefully towards the van. The chill of the air penetrated his skin, but he ignored it even though the light from the inside of the hallway in their home seemed to be calling him back. Why was he doing this again?

Something was wrong.

As he got closer to the ice cream van, David saw that the vehicle was nothing like the van Alan used. From what he could tell in the dim light, especially now he was much closer to it, the van was….different. It had the same shape, the same design as the one Alan and most other vendors had, but there was no hatch on the side where the vendors would sell the ice creams to customers. The colour was white, but it was covered with a few ice cream stickers. And the siren itself, while it was genuine enough, looked like it had just been stuck to the rooftop of the van. What? But as he walked closer to the van, David saw something that chilled him to the bone, worse than the chills he was getting from the wind.

The backdoor was open.

David swallowed and he rushed back to the house.

“What is it?” Chloe asked as he slammed the door shut. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you see anyone near the van besides me?” David asked.

“No, why? Did you see Alan?”

“It’s not Alan. Its not an ice cream van. Its a fake. The backdoor of the thing was open. Are you sure you didn’t see anybody?” David demanded urgently as he realised he had stupidly endangered his sister.

Chloe gasped as she realised the implications. “No, I didn’t see anyone. David, do you think-?”

The twins stopped when they heard a noise from deeper within the house.

“Was that-?” Chloe whispered.

David’s only answer was a gulp.

“We need to call the police,” Chloe went on hoping her brother wasn’t going to do anything even more stupid. Fortunately this time David was in agreement. He took the phone off the station and he quickly called the police as he and Chloe checked the doors downstairs.

“Police please,” David said in to the phone before he gave the operator a brief account of what was going on, where he and his sister lived, and the story of the fake ice cream van and the sound they’d heard in their own home.

The operator listened closely. “Have you seen the intruder?”

“No, not yet,” David hissed urgently as he and his twin went to the kitchen. The moment they walked in they felt the draught and they both saw the state of the door. The lock and the handle was completely melted away like someone had melted a waxwork in an oven. “We’ve just found out how they got in. The downstairs backdoor. The lock and the handle have been melted by a blowtorch.”

“Don’t go looking for them, whatever you do. Your job is to hide. I’ve already flagged your call as important and help is on the way already and they should be there soon. Now, look for a safe place for yourself to hide. This intruder can be extremely dangerous. I don’t want you to put yourself at more risk. Is there a place you can hide?”

David placed his hand on the receiver and turned to Chloe. “They want us to hide,” he told her.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Chloe replied as she looked around fearfully. They could both hear the sounds of someone upstairs, but the ever present and creepy tune from the fake ice cream van from outside were still loud enough for the intruder upstairs to not realise their cover was already broken.

The twins both raced for the downstairs utility room. The moment they got inside the twins’ noses were both assaulted by the scents of fabric softener, tumble dried clothes and their laundry cleaner. Chloe locked the door when they got inside.

As the twins stood there, the room almost silent even with the melody outside, David realised someone was speaking and he quickly realised it was the emergency operator.

“Oh, sorry,” he apologised. “Yeah, we’ve locked ourselves in a downstairs room.”

“That’s good. The nearest police car is only a few minutes away. What’s the intruder doing now, can you hear them over that damn music?”

David quirked his lips for a moment, wondering if the operator was getting as tired of ice cream van music as he and Chloe were. It only lasted a second. “We can’t hear them, he must be in another part of the house. They- hold it,” David hissed as he and Chloe, judging by how she stiffened, heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs.

“What is it? What’s happening? Can you hear them?” The operator sensed trouble and even her voice had gone quiet.

“Yeah. They’re coming down stairs.”

Chloe had gently pressed her ear against the door. “I can hear them outside,” she hissed.

“My sister can hear them outside the door,” David tried to mask his fear, but both the operator and his twin could hear the quaver in his tone. Suddenly they heard the doorknob turn, making Chloe inhale sharply, her eyes wide with terror while her brother wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they both stared at the knob in utter terror.

The knob turned three times, with increasing impatience.

The door didn’t open.

THUMP! BANG! The person on the other side of the door suddenly lost it big time, and smacked the door hard in a rage. Chloe - poor Chloe - was so startled, she jumped back, and David had to clamp his hand down on her mouth to stop her crying out; a pointless waste of time since they knew the kids were in the room, but David had worsened this mess by going outside and he had no intention of making another stupid mistake.

THUMP! THUMP! BANG! BANG! There was a cry of frustration from outside, muffled words forming vicious curses and threats that only frightened the twins even more.

But help was on hand; the distant but recognisable sounds of police sirens somehow mixed with the garish and sinister melody from the fake ice cream van. Chloe squealed with delight and hugged her twin, and David returned the hug while the intruder outside cursed and spat; outside they could hear the sound of rushing feet towards the direction of the kitchen. They were getting away.

David instantly got back on the phone. “Are you still there?”

“Yes. What’s up? Help is there.”

“The intruder is getting out through the back of the house. There’s a side gate; the walls around the rest of the garden are too high to be climbed.”

“I’ll tell them,” the operator said quickly.

It was hard for the twins to hear what was going on outside thanks to the noise coming from the fake ice cream van, and the police sirens were not any help; an age seemed to pass by before Chloe jumped with a yell and David wasn’t far behind when there was knocking on the door.

“Hello?” It was a woman’s voice. “My name is PC Bailey.”

David slowly opened the door, sighing in relief when he saw a young woman in her twenties in full police gear. “Hi,” he said lamely, unsure of what he could say; his adrenaline was running down and he was getting tired.

PC Bailey smiled back at him and her eyes flickered over to Chloe. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “We have him, and we have the stuff he took from your home.”

“H-He took stuff?” Chloe squeaked, while David’s tired mind pondered on whether his sister’s own fear and adrenaline was running down, and her mind was swimming. He knew his own was.

Luckily PC Bailey seemed to understand and accept some things were going out of control for the twins. “He did,” she nodded. “He was carrying a small bag containing CDs and DVDs.”

“I thought burglars focused on jewellery and stuff.”

“They do, but realistically anything they can take can be sold. The burglar had the great idea of using that godawful music to disguise what he was doing, and then he used a blowtorch to break into your home.”

“But why choose us?” Chloe asked while David thought she had a good point.

“You told the operator you were on your own. Did you or your parents talk about it with anybody else?” PC Bailey asked.

“No,” the twins instantly said.

“Then that means the burglar was likely scouting around, and they saw you were more vulnerable than others. Have you two noticed anybody suspicious; someone driving around, walking down the street at different times, watching you, that kind of thing?”

The twins glanced at each other, both of them going through their tired, sleep deprived, adrenaline soaked brains as they tried to think. They had only been by themselves for a short amount of time, but they had mostly spent a lot of their time in their house, going out together, or being with their friends

Had somebody been spying on them?

Both twins shook their heads slowly.

Xxxx

A few weeks later, PC Bailey returned to their home. Their parents had been informed of the incident by the police instantly once the burglar had been arrested and they’d been given a full account of what happened. The twins’ parents had returned to their home quickly and they had proceeded to tell their son of what they thought of his poorly thought out act of brave stupidity to go outside of the house while Chloe was inside, despite her having a commanding view of the street, but they were relieved the burglar had not hurt them and they had made sure to shower their precious children with hugs and embarrassing kisses after that.

“Hello, David, Chloe,” PC Bailey smiled as she stood outside.

“PC Bailey, how are you?” Chloe smiled.

“I’m doing well, thanks for asking. Are your parents in? I have news of the investigation into the burglary,” PC Bailey replied.

A few minutes later the police woman was sitting down in the living room. “The burglar we caught was scouting around for easy pickings. He’d gotten the van and the siren a few days before, once he had the bright idea of blazing away during the night, and he had the experience of using the blowtorch.”

“How did he find out the twins were alone?” Their father asked worriedly. “We never told anyone here.”

“During the interview, he said he had seen you saying goodbye to the twins when you left. He was out of sight at the time, so you wouldn’t have noticed him,” PC Bailey replied, although it went unspoken that even if they had seen him, they couldn’t have done much. “Once he realised you were leaving, he just scouted the area and kept watch on this house and any other possible potential targets. He only chose this one because he knew the twins were alone and vulnerable.”

“Yeah,” the twins mother shared a grave look with her husband before they both turned on the twins sternly. “Something that won’t happen for a long time to come, we regret to say.”