The air went frigid and Katie suddenly felt totally alone. She had never felt this way – not even when she had been spoken at rather than to, or when the police had locked her in a room with that patronising counsellor woman. Jack had left her side, gone as far away as he could. She just knew it. Maybe her words had made him feel guilty for not realising sooner – for not protecting her before now. “I don’t know how long he’s been there – I always thought they were bad dreams. Now, I think maybe he was chasing me from day one, sizing me up. Maybe you were keeping him in my dreams, stopping him hurting me, but I don’t remember any of that stuff. I only knew there’s something I don’t remember and that means my memory got wiped of that. It must have been important for you to do that.” Katie sucked on her slowly melting crushed ice drink, glad of it for two reasons and yet kicking herself for a third. The first reason she had brought it with her was that it kept Jack out of her head. The second was that the amount of E numbers in it would probably keep her awake until Christmas. And yet she hated herself for putting all that artificial rubbish into her body. It seemed like an argument that would have turned her away from Bubbleberry Crush just a week or so ago, back when her body was paying her way through college. Now, she had to drink this sweet and syrupy crap if she wanted to have a body left. Worryingly, Katie was rather liking the fruity crushed ice.
“It was something you never wanted me to know about. Or something you thought you could fix first. Then we got close and you had to show me. Only it went a bit wrong. How am I doing?”
She took the silence as a signal that he wanted her to go on.
“However, on the off-chance that this guy preceded you in intruding on my life, he wants to get to me and not to you through me.”
A few spots of rain plopped down on the top of Katie’s cap. A few far off clouds were rolling in, light grey, almost white. It would be a summer shower - over in minutes but the light rains were always the ones nobody wanted to be caught out in – giving the impression that it was hardly raining at all but soaking everything as thoroughly as a monster storm. She sucked the last of the melted ice through the store and started scooping out the ice with the spoon end, carefully watching the sky.
Something hummed. Not audibly but more like a vibration in the air. Perhaps there were more ghosts than Jack hidden in town and perhaps there were some here. She didn’t know and didn’t really care. If they were there, they weren’t bothering Katie.
When she came to the end of her ice and her brain was good and numb with the speed she had shovelled it down, she threw the cup as far as she could to her side. Not exactly environmentally friendly but drops of anger were creeping through her defences and making her act rashly. She backed up a step, meaning to actually go to the hospital, and left the air – pulsing, now, with dark power – with, “I hope you’ve got a plan Jack, ’cos right now all I’ve got is run away. Fast.” And that was the truth. Something else might come later but for now, keeping one step ahead of the man with hate in his eyes was the best she had.
Katie reached a hand out and thought she felt a hundreds tiny sparks bouncing off her skin. Maybe it was the power she could feel building around. It might have been Jack trying to touch her from wherever he was. But the dark power she was aware of hanging all over town was getting strong.
It’s here.
The words played in the back of her mind and their origins were unknown. Their meaning was unknown. And, as soon as they had been registered, the words themselves were unknown too. Suddenly scared – survival instinct? Dramatic much! – Katie dropped her hand and ran for the medical centre. The almost imperceptible buzz of sharp, bright energy in that patch of abandoned land was only just beginning. Going back there again would be beyond stupid. What might that many ghosts do? Anything was possible and she didn’t know enough about this place to believe those possibilities were good.
Before Katie realised how far she had gone, the breeze blocks of Levenson’s student medical centre loomed up – evidently her feet knew where they were going. That had to be a bad thing. The route walked so often it was automatic. How fantastic.
Standing in the car park, wrapped in his white coat and trying to press himself into the wall and under the jutting sign, stood Dr de Rossa. The cigarette he was trying to light would catch and the rain was dampening the flame of his lighter every time it flared. He cupped a hand around the white stick and managed to light it, inhaled deeply, holding it for a while before letting the smoke out with a sigh so deep it shook his entire body. He really needed that fix.
“Those things’ll kill you,” Katie said, walking up to him. Shouldn’t a doctor be setting a better example to his patients.
“Sue me. What can I do for you?”
“My shift with Dina. Any change?”
“I don’t believe so, no. One of the junior doctors has been covering for most of the morning while I was at the primary school. Did you know, those kids think chips are a main food group? Not starch or vegetables… just chips.” He shook his head and flicked ash from his cigarette. “Incredible.”
“That’s why you’re there. To teach them better.”
“I have a sinking feeling I may one day be treating a spate of chip-related eating disorders.”
“You keep the faith strong doc.”
“Sometimes, I think this town is a lost cause. But you want to see your friend.”
“Actually, trying to put it off as long as I can. I never seem to come out of that place without some fun new scar.” But she turned to the flat building and decided it looked too impersonal to deserve her fear. It was academic though. She still wasn’t about to go rushing in. “It’s weird how you can hate a building just because of what it is. I mean, it’s just bricks and cement. Completely irrational.”
Dr de Rossa disagreed. “Most people are afraid of what happens inside. They just make the association with the place.”
It seemed petty now it had been explained. How unfair was it when people started using logic? “Well, it is where you have your lowest moments.” And a few good ones, like seeing your first child breathe. But moments like that were far in Katie’s future she wasn’t sure why she had thought it.
“And if you break your leg in the playground or bump your head on the car door, do you develop a fear of those places too?”
“Guess not.”
“How about you stay out here with me a few? I could use the company.”
So she did. Huddling out of the rain under the medical centre sign, the girl and the doctor stood chatting about this and that and nothing in particular. And then she decided to head into the centre. Dr de Rossa followed her through the almost deserted waiting area, through the double doors and then he left her at the closed door to room 4 and went towards the little kitchen. Katie watched him vanish behind a corner vaguely hoping he would come running back to tell her the panic was over, Dina was awake and recovering, to go home and relay the good news.
He didn’t do that.
After a while longer of no feet echoing down the halls, no voices muttering in other rooms, she told herself that no-one was going to and pushed the door open. There was a white curtain pulled around a bed in the middle of the room. The other two were empty. A steady but slow beep beep beep came from behind the curtain. She grasped a bunch of material and pulled it aside. It was hard work not to look at the clips and patches and drips and needles snaking out from her blankets and nightgown. There were thick white bandages wound around Dina’s slashed wrists. There was so much medical equipment here that Katie didn’t know the meaning of – heart monitor and saline drip was all she could identify – that it was surprisingly simple to ignore the stuff she didn’t know. But how tiny and fragile she looked beneath all of it was painfully obvious. About as tall as Katie and definitely stronger, Dina looked as though even an ant could snap her like a cracker now.
Sitting down in the hush and
holding her hand, with only the hum of machines for company was nice for a minute or so. A novelty. Then it got boring and a little bit spooky. She wondered what to do. Leo had mentioned that talking was always a good idea because people might still hear even though you think they can’t. She felt a bit silly doing it – didn’t know what to say for a start – but hey, there was nobody around to judge.
“Why you thought attempting suicide was the answer to your problems, I can’t even imagine. Because your problems just go with you. But you were sitting up and talking to me yesterday and then Jack came and changed everything. Put you back in that bed for a start.”
She thought she felt Dina’s corpse-like hand twitch in hers, just a minute movement of muscle. Katie held her breath and went very still but the movement never came again. Maybe some tiny part of Dina really was aware of everything going on around her and she was desperate to let some-one know she hadn’t given up yet. Unlikely but Katie wasn’t going to rule anything thing out. If Jack could cling on to this world for God knew how long – he was a proper, old west cowboy for goodness sake – then surely Dina could manage it.
“I don’t think he knew what would happen when he took your last bit of energy to give himself form. I don’t think he really knew what he was doing. He sensed I needed him and attached himself to the nearest available life source. You. And I’m really sorry. This feels kinda like my fault.”
The talking helped. Which of them it was more use to was the big question. Katie liked to believed it was nice for them both. “You left me to get attacked and didn’t tell anyone I might be in danger. Nothing actually happened so I’m over it. You wanted me to know everything you know so I don’t end up dying in a hospital bed.” She was more likely to die by bleeding her last drops on the cracked ground of the waste land. But how could she say that to a girl hanging on to life by a weak heart and air being forced into her lungs? “I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, Dina. I wish I did.”
After a while longer of just sitting there with their hands just touching, a shadow appeared in the doorway.
“No change?” asked Lainy in a whisper. There was no need for the quiet tone but the clinical setting seemed to demand it.
“I thought she moved but I must’ve imagined it.”
“Mind plays tricks on you when you want something badly enough.” She looked down at a white plastic bag in her hand as if just remembering she had it, and held it out. “Adam said you haven’t eaten.”
Katie looked in the bag – a tuna salad sandwich, chocolate chip muffin and a bottle of fizzy drink. She noticed with a sudden ache that it was the same brand as she had drunk on her last night with her family.
“And I’ll be checking for leftovers. Go. Eat. You need the sugar.”
Lainy made a move to shoo the girl out of the room and take her bedside seat over when she noticed how exhausted the young girl looked. It wasn’t surprising really – not after training for the race, finding her own feet in a new place and having to spend valuable time here. And she didn’t even know about the paranormal parts of town yet. She was surprised when Katie threw her arms around her in a hug. It was a bit like having a daughter, she supposed, a vulnerable child who was being forced to grow up way too fast.
Thanking her, and meaning it more than anything she could think off, Katie scooted off to the little waiting room around the corner and sat down on the first seat she saw that wasn’t dirty or littered with magazines. Collapsed into the chair was probably a better word than sat down. The crushing tiredness had come washing over her like a sudden tide but she could only say here for a few gulps of her drink and until her legs stopped feeling like cooked spaghetti. I’m too young for this. No matter how irrational Dr de Rossa had made her fear seem, there was no way she was spending longer than was absolutely necessary in this place.
The rain had stopped and the sunshine struggling through the clouds was drying up the puddles that lay here and there. No sooner had she found a bench facing the academy building a hundred yards away that she tore into the lunch – her watch begged afternoon snack time – like a savage. Her stomach had been growling for about an hour. It didn’t take long before she was brushing crumbs off her lap and draining the last few drops of her drink. Eating had only made her hungrier. It always seemed to work that way. Weird. Her stomach seemed to have a mind of its own when it came to being kicked out of the three square meals a day routine. Then again, stuffing down what she could when she could looked dangerously like becoming routine. She leaned back on the bench and took a deep breath. The cool, clean air even tasted fresher. It wasn’t the polluted crap she had grown up breathing – other than a couple of motor vehicles that shipped people around town, there were no dirty exhaust fumes or carbon emissions. She could get used to this. She realised she already was starting to forget how lucky she was not to be dodging cars all the time. Katie started. She had been on the verge of falling asleep, breathing crisp cool air and thinking of… nothing but how great the day was.
Rising, the words ELAINE PIERCE 1975 – 2009 were engraved on a gold plaque right behind her head, jumped out. It was one in a long line of plaques that dotted benches right along the grassy edge. A girl had been just 24 years old when she died. That suddenly made the day really not great at all. And then Katie remembered why she had been trying to find things she loved about this town. They were things she didn’t want to think about, and decided to take a slow jog home to avoid them.
“Glad the rain’s stopped.”
Katie whirled to face the woman who had spoken to her. A woman half-ran across the road without looking and started walking beside her. It took a minute to place the face, but even then, Katie didn’t have a name to go with it.
“I don’t think we’ll have anymore for tonight.”
“Oh.” She really didn’t have any feelings either way about the weather. “I don’t mind rain. There’s something nice about curling up inside and shutting the world out. Little things make me happy.”
“I’m only going as far as the school. You don’t mind me walking with you?”
“Course not. I could use the company.”
“Homesick?”
“Maybe a bit. I just feel out of place here – like I don’t belong here. I’m sure I’ll get used to it though.”
“It takes time. I’ve lived here years and I still don’t fully know my way around.”
“Great. I’ll still be getting lost when I’m 30. There’s a life plan.” She smiled at the older woman and continued. “Sorry, I don’t even know your name. in my head I’m calling you Hospital Lady.”
“Marcie.” Marcie held her hand out to be shaken. “But I’ll answer to Hospital Lady. Or Bus Lady.”
“I’m not great with names so you might have to.”
“So, why’re you here? Obviously, you’re one of the academy’s new recruits because why else would anyone live here? But you’re so young. You must be something special.”
Katie shrugged and reached up to tug on the peak of the cap that was no longer there. Must have left it at the hospital. Damned if she was traipsing all the way back to get it now. She started twirling a mostly straight clump of hour around her fingers and wondered whether to blush or cringe. She was starting to accept that she was talented enough to warrant Levenson’s training programme but accepting – really accepting – that she deserved it was another matter entirely. “That’s what they tell me. I think it’s because everyone else is a bit older than me, they just seem more confident with who they are and everything. But I wasn’t brought here to give up and just be a scared little kid. You know?”
“I do but there’s nothing wrong with getting a tiny bit over-whelmed by it all. Any time you need a mom while you’re here, just call me.” Marcie scribbled her home phone number on a scrap of paper and handed it over. Katie took it and stuffed it in her backpack. “Anyway, I’m in Saturdays race too
. We can run together. If you think I can keep up.”
“Don’t think it’s gonna be a problem. I’m only running to get back into the swing of it. Crap, I’m an idiot, I’m Katie.”
“The school’s down here.” Marcie pointed off down a side street when Katie moved to carry on straight. “It’s not far if you want to come. And Freddie likes meeting new people.”
Katie liked talking to Marcie and decided to go with her. Going home would mean dealing with her housemates and all their crap. No, not right now. They walked in a friendly silence the few blocks to the school. A few parents lined the edges of the playground and walked off with their children when the hundred or so kids streamed out. Most, even ones as young as four or five, began the trek home alone. She supposed there was no real worry about car accidents or abduction. A dozen or so young boys – maybe the odd girl too, they were too far away to be completely sure – raced onto the chalked football pitch and began booting a ball about – just passing it to each other and whacking it towards goal, no regard for teams or rules.
“Five minutes Freddie!” Marcie yelled. “You’ve got chores to do.”
That gave Katie time to look around her. The building was oldish and built with pretty red brick. It seemed much smaller than her old primary school but it probably wasn’t really. Everything seemed smaller the bigger you got.
A young boy of six or seven years old kicked one last goal and then came rushing over to throw himself at Marcie. “Mommy! Can I have some sweeties?” he turned and looked Katie up and down. He pointed at her and looked questioningly at his mother.
“Later, okay. Freddie, this is Mommy’s new friend, your Aunt Katie.”
“Hi,” he said, shy. As with most children, the shyness was nothing but a memory when the Mom-encouraged introductions were over. “Are you coming to our house for dinner.”
“No, I have my own house and my friends are waiting for me.”
“That’s okay. I don’t like vegetables and Mom makes me eat peas when there are visitors.”
Katie leant down and whispered in the little boys’ ear. “I like peas so next time, you can sneak me yours.”
The three of them started the walk back to the main road, Katie and Marcie holding Freddie’s hands and swinging his arms between them. “Aunt Katie, do you have monsters under your bed?”
No, I have them in my bed, she thought and shook her head. “Nope. No such thing as monsters.”
“Freddie has bed monsters, bathroom monsters, time to tidy up monsters. Were we ever that strange?”
“My sister believes in all those things too. She’s 12.”
“So there’s no end in sight?” Marcie shook her head. “I’ll be old and wrinkly before he gets out of this monster phase. Still, it’s better than the screamy, bitey, fighty phase. God, I don’t miss that.”
“Sounds like you had fun. Makes me want to have one of my own.” Like, never.
“So, there’s no monsters. You promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.” She rushed the words out, trying not to think about where the saying might have come from. Part of her – the innocent, naïve part that she’d been feeling slowly dying for so long feebly protested, telling her that if she didn’t think about her situation then maybe it would all just stop. “This is where we split. Be good, Freddie and I’ll see you soon.”
He pulled free and started dribbling an empty Coke can along the street. He was as good as boys Katie’s own age from her old school. Surely professional football clubs would be fighting over him in a few years.
As long as he got out of this place in time.
“I told you he’d love you.”
“He’s a sweet kid.”
“You’re sweet too. You just have to let yourself be sweet.”
“Once again, you lost me.” But Katie was sure she understood what Marcie was getting at anyway. There just wasn’t time to be a sweet kid.
Back at home, Katie dumped her bag and comfy jacket in the hall and went into the kitchen. She wanted to run the cold water until it was bone achingly freezing and splash it all over her face both to cool herself down and to wake herself up. There was something wrong with the sink – she could tell as soon as she entered the room. It took a minute or two to figure out what it was though. That’s how slowly her brain was working. In the bottom of the sink were masses of dark brown curls. She scooped them out and piled the curls on the drainer until she washed her face and then wrapped the curls in kitchen roll and left them.
She followed voices into the living room. Adam was sitting back in his favourite chair and staring at an almost bald Leo. They were discussing Adams’ music collection but they both went quiet and looked up when she walked in.
“Okay, have I turned green or something?”
“You turned pretty much paper white. Did you eat?” A sensible first question from Adam and Katie wished she had a funny shot to make, one of the snarky but good-natured comebacks they had fallen into the habit of trading but she only nodded.
Marcie was right. Maybe. She could at least try being just a kid and not the bitter and hard woman she thought she needed to be. “Thanks. I needed it.”
“We’re playing Monopoly when Jaye’s dressed. Wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“You know I’m just going to buy Mayfair and Park Lane, build hotels and kick all your arses. But hey ho, don’t say I never warned you.”
Adam started to rummage around the games in the bottom of the bookcase and began to set up, whistling some non-tune. Meantime, Katie turned to Leo and opened her mouth. There was nothing she wanted to talk to him about, nothing she needed to ask him, but she felt as though she should say something. Before she could organise any words though, he ran a hand over his freshly buzzed head.
“I had to do something. It was driving me nuts, having to keep it tidy all the time.”
“Oh. Right. It looks … actually, it looks really wrong on you.”
He seemed pleased with it though. Or maybe pleased was too strong a word – he looked relieved to be rid of it. “And?” he challenged. Poking fun at him was obviously pushing the boundaries of their truce too far.
“Just saying.”
They fell quiet; him helping Adam sort out the fake money and her flicking through a magazine and not really looking at the pictures. She was, instead, watching the waking nightmare in her head. She was on her knees in a dark, wet place. A light flicked on behind her – the glare was artificial enough to be a street lamp. But it was too bright, too big, to be just a light. She turned around and squinted at a massive floodlight, trapping her in a rough circle of white light. It hurt to look right at it. Katie moved back to face forwards and squinted. The sudden light had made her surroundings seem even darker somehow, though a few blinks and her dream eyes started to adjust. Where was she? She put her hands on her thighs and rested back on her feet. It was beyond her ability to get to her feet – her legs were locked into the kneeling position and she felt like she had to stay like that. At least, for now. Something huge and blacker than everything else loomed up in front of her and she could make out the soaking grass she was kneeling on. The track. Somehow, her mind had taken her back to the track, her safe place, the place where nothing bad had happened to her.
That you know of.
The huge H in front of her was the high jump and the long dented pit fifty metres to her right was the long jump pit. The strange net cage she knew was behind her was the shot put circle. This was good. This was her home turf. She’d be okay to sleep here for a few minutes.
Closing her eyes was a very, very bad idea.
As soon as she did, the footsteps came. Up and down the asphalt they click-clacked.
“Scream for me, little girl. Beg me for mercy.”
The voice was familiar and full of a calm menace that didn’t quite ring true. “Beg me for mercy, for pity, and I’ll give
you none.”
Katie tried to open her eyes – or rather, she knew she should try to but didn’t, couldn’t. Leaving them shut was so easy. And she had to wonder if fighting this urge was so bad really…
Yes. Yes, it was.
“Don’t ignore me, little girl. At least do me the honour of looking at me. If I can’t hear you then I wanna see you scream.”
A blind hate crept into that voice, subdued but virtually bubbling over with presence. She snapped her eyes open and saw a man striding up and down the sprint section of track. He had a whip dangling from one hand. He was trailing it along the ground and drumming out a steady boot heel beat.
“Little girls always cry. You gonna cry for me, little girl?”
“This little girl has a name,” Katie ground out.
“Oh, of course. Lady Katie, right? Yeah, he screams your name out every night.”
“Why do you keep hurting him?”
“Jack? Just ‘cos I can mostly.”
“You’re sick, you know that? He’s a good guy and you killed him. I have no clue why but I saw what you did. You whipped him to death and let him die in pain and bleeding and all I saw in your eyes when you looked at me was that you wanted to do exactly the same to me. Maybe anyone else who was handy.”
“Nah, it was definitely you.”
“Why? What did I ever do to you?”
“You seen it.”
“One time. How does that warrant these cuts?”
“You saw me. And now, you pay.”
She stilled herself, held her breath and bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. A scream filled her throat ut the trickle of blood sated it. Anything, anything, not to make a sound.
The footsteps stilled and Katie saw the man looking at her, although it was much too dark to really be sure of that. She just saw the shadow of his head pointing at her and felt the sizzling hate radiating from him. “I’m a-comin’ for you.” He took one tiny step in her direction and Katie fell flat on her back, trying to scramble away. Her brain yelled at her to get up, get away but her legs just weren’t co-operating. The drumming of his boots started up again, came closer then stopped right at the edge of the grass. “Not runnin’? Or maybe you want me to kill you the same way I killed your boyfriend.” He flicked the whip vaguely in her direction and the sonic boom it made sounded like lightning right next to her ears. It wasn’t long enough to reach Katie but she felt the ghost of the lash scrape across the side of her neck. It didn’t feel like it was bleeding, or that there was broken skin, so it was definitely all in her head. Only, somehow, the man with hate in his eyes was grinning like he had seen his action shock her.
And shock her it had. It had demanded her legs stretch out beneath her, push up and run for her life. It felt as though her legs as they lurched and locked underneath her body. “Run.”
“Yeah, run, little girl. I’ll never catch you.”
Ignore him. Focus on moving,, getting to safety.
Footsteps were squelching over damp grass now. Katie turned to face him, walking backwards and looking over her shoulder every few seconds to make sure she was on course.
“You think you can kill me? Do it.” God how she wished she was as confident in that challenge as she was making herself sound. “I mean, you know I’ll only come back don’t you? And I’ll find a way to stop you one day.”
“Big talk from a little girl. Better make sure you can follow up on those threats.”
“Trust me. You can scare me, you can kill me in my dreams but I have survived worse than you this year and you will not break me. You’re nothing!”
His approach faltered for a micro-second. Confusion flashed across his face but he pressed on. There was no way to beat him; he was stronger, bigger and he had weapons. Even trying to make him feel inadequate wasn’t working. Killers didn’t really embrace the full range of human emotions, did they? “And yet I still have this much power over you.”
“Yes. You have power over my life. My death. Is that what makes you tick? Feeling macho and strong because you have the weapons?” She backed up a couple more steps, out of the glow of the floodlight and into the inky, airless night. The blurry square of light was between them now. The bad man was fast approaching it and Katie did not want to be within reaching distance of that hateful whip. Memories of that strip of leather arcing across her tender flesh assaulted her nerves and she once more yelled at her numb feet.
Keep moving.
“See, what would make it so much sweeter would be if you came over here and finished this with your own two hands.”
He tightened his grip and growled. Honest to God growled. He flicked his wrist and the whip shot out once more. Too far away to carve another arc into her arm but the sound sent tiny lightning bolts through her head. Katie put her hands to her face thinking she could protect herself or something but instead lost her balance completely and fell forwards on to her knees. The man advanced on Katie. He was in the middle of the white square of light and Katie could see his tall, thin, tense shadow outlined in it. The contrast was too harsh to make out any of his features but Katie didn’t feel at all thankful.
Don’t be scared until you can see the wrinkles on his forehead, the yellowing of his teeth. The movies always made you believe that; until you knew the face of your enemy, you didn’t know the face of fear. Katie begged to differ. Not seeing him clearly was way scarier. “Fine. You don’t want to get your hands dirty.” She shot over onto her backside and dragged her hands through the grass, trying to scramble and squirm her way backwards and keep a decent distance between them. She dug her hands into the mud and tried desperately to grip tufts of overgrown grass or weed to get so leverage and pull away faster. If the man could see the deep and undeniable terror Katie felt then he didn’t show it. “Whatever you did to Jack, you want to do it to me too. Maybe because you know you can still hurt him by getting to me. Maybe you’re just a sadistic old fuck up who enjoys hurting innocent people. But –“
“There ain’t no innocent people. Everyone’s guilty of somethin’!”
“And guilt needs to be punished. But not like this!” She felt a curved block of concrete rising a few inches up her spine and pulled herself over it. Another foot or so and she backed up against a wall of net around a round of concrete, a little damp but mostly dry enough to huddle in a ball and not get soaked through her jeans. Katie reached out and felt for the steel pole that marked the edge of the netting. God, she hoped this was the kind of throwing circle that had a door to the net. It kept kids and undesirables away from the store of heavy objects when in use. Sure enough, there was a chain link gate to it. Katie hooked her fingers through the steel wire and pulled – the hinges squealed and protested but slowly gave in and slammed into place. She wished she wasn’t alone out here.
You’re never alone. I can help you if you let me. The voice might have been Jacks but she was so panicked that it could have been anyones. Even the voice she was speaking to the bad man in was unrecognisable as her own.
And now she had locked herself in a cage of steel and string with a mad man outside, pacing with a whip in his hand and hate in his eyes.
“Your move.”
Katie blinked and was instantly back in the room with a Monopoly board at her feet. Adam was holding the dice out to her and she scooted down to the floor, rolled a double five and raced ahead to linger in jail. Jaye, black hair mussed into something the cat dragged in and threw at her head, scooped the dice up and held them out in a closed fist. “Kiss ‘em for me. Make ‘em lucky, babe,” she said to Adam. He did as instructed and continued scrutinising the takeaway menu in his hand. No-one seemed to want the bother of cooking tonight.
Jaye threw Katie an odd look as she counted spaces. It was somewhere between worried and thankful and Katie wasn’t eager to find out what it meant. It was just too tiring to be holding the complex conversation she anticipat
ed.
“What just happened?” Leo muttered across the board.
Katie shrugged and put a finger to her lips. Jaye and Adam could not know about anything that was going on. They would only worry and want to help – which, she guessed, would only make things worse. “I just spaced for a while.” Her watch only read five in the evening, about fifteen minutes after getting home. I’m home. Where I should be. The waking nightmare that she had watched in her mind had felt like it had lasted hours not seconds.
“You okay?”
She shrugged again. “You care?”
Now it was Leo’s turn to shrug. He didn’t. Not really. He hadn’t suspected any of what Katie had told him earlier, had taken Adam and Lainy at their word when they said he imagined Jaye’s flesh melting beneath his hand, it was just lightning fast reflexes. He still desperately clung to the hope he’d just gotten housed with a crazy person but that was melting away fast too.
Adam got up and sauntered out the door, phone in hand. Dinner was roughly an hour away. Wednesdays seemed to be takeaway night.
The door hung open a few inches but Jaye gave it a swift kick then scooted over to sit next to Katie. She almost looked like the Jaye of a few days ago – happy, relaxed. If it wasn’t for the broken and chapped lips the picture might have been complete. “Thanks for earlier. I don’t think I would’ve slept without you.”
“No problem. I’m glad you rested up. You going back tonight?”
“When Lainy gets back after dinner.”
“You just have to ask,” she said and leant back against the chair. Her spine felt as though it was wound into a tight snake, too long for her body. No amount of stretching was helping. She thought for a moment of asking Adam to give her a half hour back massage. He could definitely work out her knots with those muscles and…
“Will you bring Jack?”
Oh. The fantasy folded in on itself and fluttered out the nearest window. Adam was the eye candy of the house, nothing else, it never did hurt anyone to look though. Jack was her –
“Did you guys make up or what?”
“He lied to me. He stole my memories. He’s made me scared to close my eyes. He-“
“He cares about you.” Jaye twisted to face her friend, cross-legged and looking like a pretty/messy Buddha. She reached out and stroked Katie’s cheek, looking into her soft brown eyes, deep enough that Katie shivered imagining that Kaye was also stroking the depths of her mind. Would she understand anything she saw there? Katie wasn’t sure. “I can see why. I know he told you more than he should and they’ll deal with that but right now…you just have to believe me. He never meant to hurt anyone.”
“Who’re they?”
“They’re the ones who decide whether we deserve it.”
Another thousand questions started sparking in her mind but Katie couldn’t seem to hold on to a single one of them. “Jaye, please don’t blame him.”
“I don’t. But they do. He’s guilty of not knowing, not thinking.”
“It was an accident.”
“I know.”
“But I haven’t forgiven him yet. Not for any of this.”
Adam barged back through the door and flopped down on the floor. “Pizza’s 45 minutes away. Anyone moved while I was away?”
“These two had a moment. It was beautiful.” Leo wiped a pretend tear away from his eyes and set his face hard as stone again. “Screw this, I’m bored.” He knocked his piece off the board and stomped off to his room. No-one was sorry to see him go.
“And the moment’s gone.” Jaye scooted over to her side of the board and flattened out on her belly, waving her feet in the air. “We were talking about Jack.”
“What’s he done?”
Katie waved her hands before her. The immediate conclusion Adam had jumped to had shocked her but not quite as much as how quickly she had got there too. “Nothing like that!” she promised. Well, not that you remember anyway. She bit her lip, trying to bite the voice into silence. I’m in your head, genius. Good plan.
“Am I missing something here?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) Page 16
