The Wilds Read Free

research study for a new snack food company. They made crisps mainly and wanted to compete with the big boys like Walkers. Karl’s job was to collate all of this market research information together into a coherent report that those upstairs could use to guide the direction of the campaign.
    He set about reading the contents of the folder but was soon distracted by the sound of his mobile phone ringing in his jacket pocket on the back of his chair. He retrieved the phone and looked around at the disapproving faces of some of his co-workers, like none of them had ever received a phone call in the office.
    The screen showed the word ‘Home’, it was either his mother or his brother, Phil. He answered the call.
    ‘Hello,’ he said.
    ‘Karl?’ his mother’s voice questioned on the other end of the line. As if it would actually be anyone else answering his phone? Yet something in the wavering of her voice made him wonder what was wrong.
    ‘Hi, Mum, yes it’s me,’ he said. ‘I’m at work and a bit busy at the moment, what’s up?’
    ‘Your brother, he didn’t come home last night,’ she said, concern in her voice. ‘He rang me to say that he had run out of petrol, but he should have been back within a few hours. Should I call the police?’
    Great, Karl thought to himself. This was just what he needed with this much work left to do. He loved his mother dearly, but knew all too well of her tendency to overreact at times, especially when it came to Phil.
    ‘I’m sure he’s fine, Mum,’ Karl said, trying to sound as reassuring as he could. ‘He probably ran into a friend, and ended up staying at their house.’
    ‘He would have called again,’ she said.
    Karl knew this was more than likely true. Phil had never been the kind of person to be late or not to let those who were expecting him that he had been delayed. He was annoyingly punctual. Karl hated being late, but at least understood that sometimes it was unavoidable. Also, Phil didn’t drink, so it would be unlikely that if he had run into a friend that he would have stayed out with them, not when his car was left God knows where.
    Perhaps he had met a girl; that might explain it. As far as Karl was aware, his brother hadn’t been involved with anyone since his marriage to Ruth had broken down. If he’d met up with some girl he was interested in and things had gone well that might have been enough to make him forget to call their mother, but Karl doubted it. It seemed to Karl that his brother had lost interest in romance completely. Perhaps Ruth had been his one true love, and thus Phil thought there was no point looking for anyone else. For Karl, his own single life was due mainly to two factors. Karl worked so hard he had little time or energy to give anyone else, and living in London. The city was too vast and at the same time too anonymous, so many people crammed together, and yet no one spoke to anyone.
    ‘Mum, I don’t know what to say,’ Karl said. ‘Have you tried his mobile?’
    ‘Yes dozens of times, it just keeps going through to the answer phone thing.’
    ‘Ok, here’s what you do,’ Karl said. ‘It’s only half nine in the morning, so give him another couple of hours to get in touch. If you still haven’t heard from him call the police, then call me back.’
    His mother agreed, although Karl knew that she would be staring at the clock until the two hours had passed, if she made it that long. After the call, he left his phone on the desk just in case she called again, then he returned his attention to the folder open in front of him.
     
    Jason Flynn felt the movement next to him, stirring him from a warm and pleasant slumber. He yawned slowly and opened his eyes. Looking to his right, he saw her scrambling around picking her clothes off the floor, where she had eagerly scattered them the night before.
    She was as beautiful as ever, at thirty-two she actually looked better than the first time they had made love when they were