The Courage Within (Riley Bennett)

by Andy Coltart

  ‘I’m thinking we stay the night here as we all have a bed. Also, we may get another brain burn and reappear,’ said Casey.

  ‘Brain burn?’ said Alex.

  ‘Well it’s a good description,’ said Riley.

  ‘Okay,’ said Alex, ‘brain burn it is.’ They agreed staying put was a good idea. But decided if nothing had changed by the morning they’d leave.

  ‘What I don’t understand is how our clothes are invisible,’ said Riley.

  ‘What do you mean?’ said Casey.

  ‘Well, you must have seen The Fantastic Four, Susan Storm could only be invisible when she was naked until one of them invents a special outfit for her. These clothes are from American Eagle,’ said Riley. ‘Nothing special about them!’

  ‘I have a theory about that,’ said Alex.

  ‘Why does that not surprise me,’ said Casey with a smile on her face.

  ‘Go on,’ said Riley.

  ‘I think our brains are generating some sort of electrical field that’s warping light and hiding us and our clothes from people.’

  ‘Nice theory, but that doesn’t explain why they can’t hear us,’ added Casey.

  ‘True,’ said Alex. ‘I’m still working on that one.’

  ‘I’m getting hungry,’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah, me too,’ said Riley.

  ‘I guess we’ve missed out on a couple of meals,’ said Casey, ‘but how are we gonna ask for food if no one can see or hear us?’

  ‘Follow me,’ said Alex. The two girls got up and followed him as he led them out of the ICU into the main hospital corridor taking a look at the signs on the way. They walked to the lift and pressed the button.

  ‘Where are we going?’ said Riley.

  ‘To the cafe,’ said Alex. ‘Hopefully it’s still open,’ he added.

  As they got into the lift they had to move out of the way of people getting out. They were still getting used to being invisible and had to remember to dodge people or get trodden on. As they arrived at the cafe they could smell the hot food behind the counter.

  ‘Now I’m really hungry!’ said Casey. Alex led them behind the counter where, carefully dodging the catering staff, they each took a plate and filled it with food.

  ‘I think your warping light theory may be correct,’ said Riley, ‘as no one is noticing three flying plates full of food.’

  ‘True,’ said Alex.

  ‘Let’s sit in that corner,’ said Casey. ‘We don’t want people sitting on us because they think the table’s empty.’

  ‘Good thinking,’ said Riley, as they went to the quietest part of the cafe to sit and eat.

  ‘Don’t you feel guilty for just taking the food?’ said Riley.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Alex, ‘I’ll leave some money by the till before we go.’ They sat eating their food wondering what life might have in store if this was a permanent situation.

  ‘Although I’ve spent most of my life wanting to be invisible,’ said Riley, ‘now I actually am it’s quite a scary thing.’

  ‘Yeah, it is but try not to worry. We can find a way to let people know we are here. We just need to figure out how,’ said Alex.

  After they’d finished eating, and Alex had paid, they made their way back to the Neuro ICU. There still seemed to be a lot of concern over their disappearance. A police officer was now present on the unit and it didn’t look like they were leaving. When Riley, Casey and Alex entered Riley’s room they found a detective in there going through Riley’s things.

  ‘Hey!’ said Riley, forgetting she couldn’t be heard.

  ‘Best just let them get on with it,’ said Casey. ‘They’re just trying to figure out what’s happened to us.’ So the three of them stood and watched as the detective looked through Riley’s bag of clothes.

  ‘She’s not taken anything with her,’ said the detective to the police officer, who was now in the doorway.

  ‘Couldn’t have gone far then,’ said the police officer.

  ‘Not far,’ said Riley, laughing slightly. The others smiled at the bizarreness of the situation.

  The detective and police officer went to talk to the nurses leaving the room for the three teenagers to sit down in.

  ‘We need a plan,’ said Alex. ‘If nothing changes over night then tomorrow morning our parents will come and collect our things.’

  ‘Then what happens to us?’ said Casey.

  ‘Well, we could all go back to my father’s house,’ said Alex. ‘He has this enormous mansion for the two of us with plenty of space. It’ll make it easier for us to have a base.’

  ‘You think we should stick together rather than just go home?’ said Riley.

  ‘I think so, for now anyway. What are you going to do if you go home alone? Live like a ghost?’ said Alex.

  The girls agreed. ‘We are going to need clothes though,’ said Casey. ‘As nice as you are, you’re just not my style.’ Riley laughed.

  ‘Fair point,’ said Alex.

  ‘Am I right in thinking that if we are holding our belongings then people can’t see them?’ said Riley.

  ‘Yes,’ said Alex.

  ‘Okay, so in the morning just have hold of anything you don’t want your parents to take,’ she said.

  ‘Good idea,’ said Casey.

  ‘The next issue is how we get from here to Casey’s place, then Riley’s, then mine,’ said Alex. ‘We can’t just book a taxi.’

  ‘No, but we could each head home in our parents’ cars and then meet at yours, Alex,’ said Casey.

  ‘Will you both be okay travelling to mine on public transport?’ said Alex.

  ‘We should be,’ said Casey, ‘we only live round the corner from each other.’

  ‘Do we?’ said Riley.

  ‘I guess you wouldn’t know if you hadn’t spoken at school before,’ said Alex.

  ‘True,’ said Riley.

  They talked for a while longer before turning in for the night. The hospital was clearly holding out hope they’d return so hadn’t changed their sheets or packed their belongings away. They were, for this one night at least, safe to sleep where they were.

  ‘See you in the morning,’ said Riley.

  ‘You’re the only people who can,’ said Casey with a smile on her face.

  Riley had an undisturbed night, which wasn’t surprising seeing as no one knew she was there. All three of them had a lie in as no nurses came to do early morning blood pressure checks. Riley heard a knock on her door around 9.00 a.m.

  ‘Come in,’ she said, wondering if she would be heard. The door opened and in came Casey and Alex, both already dressed.

  ‘Morning, sleepyhead,’ said Alex.

  ‘Morning,’ said Riley, looking bleary-eyed.

  ‘We’ve been to the cafe for breakfast,’ said Casey. ‘We’ve brought you some coffee and a bacon roll.’

  ‘Wow, thank you,’ said Riley. No one had ever brought her breakfast in bed, unless you include the nurse from yesterday. This meant so much more though because they didn’t have to do it, but they did it anyway. Is this how real friends behave? she thought to herself.

  After breakfast the others gave Riley some privacy while she got dressed. The three of them then sorted what belongings they wanted to leave for their parents and what they wanted to keep hold of.

  ‘Don’t worry too much,’ said Casey, ‘because even if our parents take it home, we can collect it from there.’

  ‘That’s true,’ said Riley, putting down half the things she was holding.

  Later that morning the parents returned to the hospital. They had all been interviewed by the police and were greeted by the doctor and the detective who’d been looking through Riley’s belongings.

  ‘Any news on our children’s whereabouts?’ said Mr Manning.

  ‘I’m afraid not, sir,’ said the detective.

  ‘They’re definitely not in the hospital anymore,’ said the doctor. Riley, who was stood a few feet away from the doctor, looked at Alex and Casey in disbel
ief.

  Riley’s mum wanted to know what the police would be doing next to find them.

  ‘We’d like to do an appeal on television, if that’s okay with you all.’

  ‘Fine by me,’ said Casey’s mum. She was a little more laid back than the other parents as disappearing for days is the kind of behaviour she’d expect from Casey.

  ‘Very well,’ said the detective. ‘I’ll get that set up.’

  ‘Can we collect our children’s things please?’ said Riley’s mum.

  ‘Of course,’ said the doctor, ‘and please let us know if they do turn up at home or elsewhere. We need to finish the tests on the unusual readings on the brains.’

  The parents seemed more concerned about their children being alive and safe than what was going on in their heads right now.

  ‘Okay, guys,’ said Casey, ‘are you ready to follow your parents to their cars? Once I have my things I’ll call at your house, Riley and we can head to Alex’s together.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Riley.

  ‘Let’s go,’ said Alex, as the parents started to leave the Neuro ICU. They followed their parents to their cars. Riley waited for a chance to slip in unnoticed. One came when her mum went to the boot to put her bag in. Whilst Mrs Bennett was out of sight Riley slipped into a back seat of the car. She timed shutting the door to happen as the boot was shut. This muffled the sound of the door and kept her mum from being suspicious.

  On the ride home her mum talked to friends on the handsfree car phone.

  ‘No, dear, no sign of her. The police have no leads. It’s like they became invisible or something,’ she said.

  Riley couldn’t help but smile at the irony of the whole situation. As much as she hated seeing her mum worry, she was actually glad to be invisible. The car soon pulled up onto their driveway and Riley slipped out the way she’d come in using the boot as a shield. She made sure she stayed close to her mum in order to make it inside the house. Once in she went straight to her room and dived onto her bed, relieved to be home, even if it was only for a short time.

  Chapter 10

  New Beginnings

  Riley sat up on her bed picking up a teddy she rubbed its fur on her cheek. Its soft fluffy texture felt relaxing against her skin. She then stood up, placing the bear on the bed and went over to her wardrobe to open the doors. She looked inside at all the clothes, trying to decide what were the most important things to pack. The reality was she could only take one bag’s worth of stuff to Alex’s house.

  She took a bag down from the top of the wardrobe and opened it up. Turning round she opened a nearby drawer and took out several pairs of knickers, bras and socks which she put into the bag. She then grabbed some pyjamas and put them in and finally returned to the open wardrobe. Decisions, decisions, she thought to herself. Realising she couldn’t take forever, she grabbed a skirt, some jeans, shorts, a number of tops and a hoodie. All of which went into the bag, nearly filling it.

  Finally she turned to the rest of the room to see if there was anything personal she wanted to take. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it. Lying on her desk was her sketch pad and a pack of pencils. Riley loved to draw. It was her way of relaxing, escaping the frustrations of life. The sketch pad had to go with her. She made room and squeezed it into the bag. Before closing the bag she crept to the bathroom to collect her wash kit which her mum had just placed in there. She was done, ready to go, when Casey arrived.

  She crept downstairs to watch her mum and the twins at the kitchen island, talking and eating their lunch. She sat on the stairs looking at them and wondering if they would ever see her again. She started to feel really sad and suddenly realised why Alex didn’t want the girls living alone ‘like ghosts’ in their own homes.

  Moments later the doorbell rang. Mrs Bennett went to open it. But there was no one there.

  ‘Riley,’ called Casey, ‘you ready to go?’

  ‘Yeah, coming,’ she said as she stood up from the stairs, grabbing her bag and walking towards the door. She just made it through before her mum closed the door.

  ‘Who was that, Mom?’ said Beth.

  ‘No one,’ said Mrs Bennett, ‘literally no one!’ Mrs Bennett sat back down at the kitchen island looking thoroughly confounded.

  Riley walked down the garden path with Casey.

  ‘Did you get everything you wanted?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah, I guess so,’ replied Casey.

  ‘It was hard choosing one bag’s worth of stuff to take,’ said Riley.

  ‘Well, hopefully we will be back home again and this isn’t forever,’ said Casey.

  ‘I hope so,’ replied Riley.

  They made their way to the train station. It was the easiest and quickest way to Alex’s place. Just a couple of stops down the line. When they reached the station they found which platform they needed and jumped the barrier to get on the escalator down to the platform.

  ‘I’ve never done that before!’ said Riley.

  ‘Me neither,’ said Casey, knowing full well she had on a number of occasions. The difference this time was she wasn’t being chased by the conductor from the platform! Their train arrived and they found a carriage with very few people in, again to avoid someone sitting on them by mistake. A woman got on at the next stop and came to where they were sitting. She put her bag on Riley’s lap, thinking the seat was empty. Riley gently knocked it to the floor. The woman looked, wondering if she’d put it on the edge of the seat by mistake. She picked the bag up and put it bag on Riley’s lap. So Riley did the same again. The woman looked very confused. She picked up the bag and moved down the carriage a little and sat down.

  ‘That was close,’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah, too close,’ said Riley.

  The next station was theirs so they pulled their bags from under their chairs ready to get off. They’d kept them close so that the bags stayed invisible. They recalled hearing that unattended bags would be removed and as no one could see them their bags would be unattended if visible.

  Once they were off the train and out of the station they walked down the road towards Alex’s home.

  ‘It’s nice round here,’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah, lots of trees and big posh houses,’ said Riley.

  ‘How the other half live, eh,’ said Casey.

  Riley just smiled. ‘Here we are,’ she said. ‘This is his place.’ The house before them was huge. It had one of those double driveways so you could come in one gate and leave by the other. The house itself had a wide porch with large columns either side of the steps. It had a colonial feel to it, as if from another era.

  They knocked on the door and were relieved when Alex answered.

  ‘Hi guys, come on in,’ he said.

  ‘Where’s your dad?’ said Casey.

  ‘After dropping my stuff off he got a call to go to the television station to do a missing person broadcast. It’ll probably be on the news later,’ said Alex.

  As they entered the house they quickly discovered it was just as grand inside as it was outside. The hall had a large stairway that split in two half way up going to both the left and the right at the top.

  ‘Follow me,’ said Alex. ‘I’ll show you to your rooms.’

  Riley and Casey followed Alex up the stairs to the left. At the top he directed Casey to the right and Riley to the left.

  ‘Your room is here,’ he said to Riley, ‘next to mine. My father very rarely comes to this side of the house. He leaves it to me and our cleaner to sort my room. That means you can put your things away and they won’t be noticed.’

  ‘Great, and thanks,’ said Riley.

  She went into her room. It was bright and airy with a bay window. The bed had white and pink sheets on and didn’t look as if it had ever been slept in. She placed the bag she was carrying on the bed and opened it. Pulling out the hoodie and tops she found the wardrobe and hung the clothes inside. There was a chest of drawers in the bay of the window in which she placed everything else from her bag. All ex
cept the sketch pad and pencils which went in the bedside drawer. It was going to be a challenge to not leave anything lying around. As a typical teenager she was used to just dumping things on the floor and them magically making their way to her wardrobe!

  Once the girls had settled in they came downstairs to find Alex on the sofa with the television on.

  ‘Hi you two, you’re just in time. Watch,’ he said. They both sat down, one either side of him to watch the news.

  The news reader spoke, ‘We now go live to the County Hospital and our reporter Dan Richards. Dan, what do you have for us?’

  The screen switched to the outside of the hospital and a tall black man.

  ‘Hi, I’m here following the disappearance of three teenagers from this hospital yesterday. The three had been hit by lightning the day before and were undergoing tests for some unusual brain activity when they vanished. I’m here with the father of Alex Manning, one of the missing teenagers.’ The camera moved to show Alex’s father.

  ‘Hey, it’s your dad,’ said Casey, nudging Alex in the side. He looked at her and smiled.

  ‘Hi,’ said Mr Manning, ‘we are concerned for the whereabouts of our children. No one has seen them since yesterday lunchtime and there is growing fear for their safety. If you have any information or you have seen them please get in touch. Alex, if you’re watching this please come home as I’m worried about you.’

  ‘That’s just weird,’ said Alex.

  ‘Isn’t it just, seeing as you’re home watching it!’ said Riley.

  Alex turned the television off. He got up from the sofa and turned to speak to the girls.

  ‘So, what’s the plan now?’ he said.

  ‘I think we should go for a walk,’ said Riley. ‘I feel like being out after being cooped up in that hospital.’

  ‘Good idea,’ said Casey.

  ‘There’s a park near here. Shall we go there?’ said Alex.

  ‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Riley, getting up from the sofa.

  Alex picked up a set of house keys and the three of them set off. It was a warm sunny day so no one bothered with coats. They walked down the road a short distance and the park came into view. It was very open, no fence or wall or park gates, just a line of trees near the sidewalk. They stopped to cross the road. Even though the cars couldn’t see them they were cautious crossing as they were sure they’d still get hurt if a car hit them.