by Sharon Sant
‘Well,’ Ellen said, exasperation creeping into her tone, ‘we’ll go together then…’
‘Ellen…’ Maggie began, but then was interrupted by a determined hammering at the front door. ‘Don’t go anywhere without me,’ Maggie warned.
Ellen watched as she slipped from the room. Leaving the sofa she went to the door to listen. It sounded as though the neighbour was complaining about some new damage to his property. Ellen peered around the doorway. Maggie had gone out into the garden with him as he remonstrated loudly, pointing to his roof. Ellen sidled past the open door and went upstairs.
To anyone who didn’t know, Jacob could have been sleeping. Maggie was right - the shivering had stopped and his breathing was calm and regular again. His taut features had relaxed into an empty, peaceful look. Ellen stood over him, a hesitant hand poised to stroke the hair from his forehead. The hand dropped back to her side.
‘What are we going to do with you?’
With the faint murmurings of the conversation still going on outside travelling up the stairs, she took one of the wooden chairs and sat down next to the bed. The sensible part of her brain chided herself for being crazy enough to sit there again after what had happened earlier, but the pull was too strong.
‘I know you can hear me. I can feel you trying to break through…’ her voice cracked. ‘I’m so sorry for all the things I said, I never meant this to happen…’
She buried her face in her hands, biting back tears. She was sick of crying, she had to be strong enough for all of them. She dragged a steadying breath, swallowed the lump in her throat, and looked up.
Jacob’s eyes were open.
Fifteen: Reunions
He was looking at her, conscious and aware. Ellen stared, disbelief written over her features. Then, the tears she had been fighting spilled out and she fell on him, covering his face with kisses as he lay unmoving beneath them. The smell of him, the warmth of his skin, the feel of his mind suddenly unfettered and vibrant made her dizzy. He was all that she remembered and so much more. When she could bear it no longer, she pulled back to study him. He stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, and then his eyes roved the room, as if trying hard to remember something, before coming to rest on her again.
‘Jake…’ her voice was almost a sigh as she dried her eyes on her sleeve. ‘You’re back.’
He continued to regard her steadily but didn’t speak, as if he were trying to recall how to.
‘Jacob?’ Ellen’s smile faltered. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Why are you crying?’ he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Her smile spread again. ‘Because you’ve been asleep for such a long time, I’d almost given up hope that you were coming back.’
He seemed to consider this for a moment. ‘Where am I?’ he asked slowly, ‘Why were you kissing me?’
‘You’re in the spare room - long story,’ she laughed. ‘And I was kissing you because I missed you.’
He paused. ‘But I don’t know you.’
Her smile faltered. ‘What do you mean? It’s me.’
He frowned in concentration, as if trying to dredge a long kept secret from the depths. Ellen felt hollow as she watched him, her joy evaporated. To have come through so much to get him back… and now he was coming back to them as someone new, someone incomplete.
‘Jacob, please. You have to think. You know me, I’m Ellen…’ He gave his head a small shake. Her shoulders slumped. ‘Oh, God… please tell me this isn’t happening, please tell me you’re joking…’
‘I am,’ he said.
She stared at him. His eyes were a swirling blue, brighter than the most vibrant summer sky she had ever seen, and a smile twitched at the corners of his lips. Slowly, the truth dawned on her.
‘I hate you!’ she squealed, half-laughing, half-crying, the sound strangled somewhere in her throat. ‘I hate you, Jacob Lightfoot!’
He gave a weak grin. ‘You can kiss me again if you like.’
‘I don’t think so.’ Her voice was full of reproach, but threw her arms across him and leaned her cheek against his. ‘Don’t ever do that to me again.’
‘Which bit?’ he whispered.
‘All of it,’ she whispered back. ‘I’m never letting you go again.’
‘That’s not terribly practical,’ he murmured stroking her hair. ‘What if I need the toilet?’
‘We’ll learn to manage it,’ she laughed, pulling herself closer.
‘You’ve been here all the time, haven’t you?’
‘As much as I could. Did you know?’
He frowned. ‘It was a funny thing… I’m not sure at all if what I sensed outside myself really happened or not. It was kind of like seeing and hearing everything from the bottom of a swimming pool; everything was distorted and difficult to make out and if I tried to make myself heard the water would rush into my mouth and drown me. But I felt like you were there for a lot of it.’
She twisted round to look at him. ‘Your dad is doing really well.’
‘I did it?’
She nodded. ‘You did it.’
He smiled, something beautiful and content. ‘Then I deserve a kiss?’ he asked impishly.
She pressed her lips to his. It was dangerous and delicious, a drug that she couldn’t get enough of. Time passed, neither knew how long. They finally drew apart, their gaze locked.
‘One thing,’ Jacob asked, still drinking in every inch of her face. ‘Why am I in the spare bedroom?’
‘Ah…’ she replied, equally as lost in his, ‘you kinda wrecked your room.’
‘I wrecked it?’
‘Yep. And quite a lot of the house, now that you mention it.’
‘How did I –’
‘It’ll cost you months of pocket money.’
‘What am I, ten? I don’t get pocket money.’
‘You’ll have to get a job then.’
‘I don’t like the sounds of that. Can’t I just stay here and kiss you instead?’
‘There’s not much money to be had in that, I’m afraid. You have roof slates to buy.’
‘Seriously,’ he said, doubt now clouding his expression, ‘what happened?’
‘I’m not sure how. But you sort of made bits fall off the house. And made things smash… oh, and made the bathroom taps come on without touching them… and burnt Luca’s hand on a red hot pencil sharpener… then there was the earthquake… and the storm…’
‘I’ve been busy,’ he observed with some irony. ‘Anything else I should know?’
Ellen bit her lip and she sat up as something occurred to her. ‘Your mum and dad kind of know about your powers…’ she admitted, watching carefully for his response.
‘They what?’ His voice cracked with the effort of raising it.
‘I’m sorry; I had to tell them something. One minute your dad was dying, the next he was ok and you were… if I hadn’t told them the truth you’d be in a hospital with wires sticking out everywhere and that wasn’t what you needed. What else could I do?’ She grabbed his hand. ‘If it helps, they took it really well…’
‘Really?’
She nodded. ‘As soon as they heard the truth, it was like they’d always known.’
He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before trying to push himself up on the pillow.
‘Here…’ Ellen put an arm under his shoulder to help. He winced.
‘What the…’ His hand went to his stomach. Peeling back the bed sheets and then his top, he grimaced at his abdomen.
‘Feeding tube,’ Ellen explained, following his gaze.
With a small flick of his fingers, he expelled it, and then held the incision, his skin emitting a warm glow as he knitted it back together.
Ellen watched with an incredulous smile. ‘I’ll never tire of seeing the things you can do.’
‘Want me to show you what else I can do?’ he said, taking her hand and pulling her back towards him.
He was just about to kiss her again when his attention was
drawn to a spot behind her. Ellen immediately sensed that they were no longer alone and spun around to see Maggie standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth.
Ellen leapt up from her chair. ‘Maggie!’ she squeaked, catching her by the elbow as Maggie wobbled unsteadily. ‘Sit down before you fall down.’
Maggie let Ellen guide her to the seat, never taking her eyes from Jacob.
‘Mum?’ Jacob pushed himself up on the pillow.
Her breath hitched, and then she hid her face in her hands and relented to unashamed sobbing. Ellen and Jacob exchanged uneasy glances but let her continue unhindered, understanding that this was a release not so different from the way Jacob himself had needed to release his pent up powers before he exploded from the force of them. Eventually, Maggie’s weeping became stuttering gasps. Ellen put a gentle hand on her shoulder. Maggie looked up, dragging a ragged bit of tissue from her pocket and wiping her face. Staring at Jacob anew, as if she doubted the realness of the vision before her, she remained speechless, but now she was beaming.
‘Hello,’ he said.
‘Hello…’ She laughed at the absurdity of the greeting, as if he had just been out at the shops. ‘Hello,’ she said again, standing to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead before returning to her seat and silently gazing at him.
‘Ellen tells me I’ve been a bit of a nuisance,’ he said, his blue eyes dancing but with a hint of awkwardness.
She laughed again. ‘It doesn’t matter now.’
Ellen dragged the armchair over. ‘Would you be comfier in this?’ she asked Maggie.
Maggie glanced at her and waved away the offer. ‘You have it, I’m fine.’
Ellen took the seat, a brief flash of vexation crossing her features that this chair couldn’t get her quite so close to Jacob’s lips.
‘I don’t know what to say…’ Maggie reached over and stroked a hand across his forehead.
‘I’m sorry, Mum.’ Jacob’s expression was suddenly pained.
She shook her head, her eyes brimming. ‘My beautiful boy, you have nothing to be sorry for. I have no words to say how proud I am of you, who gave everything you had to save your father. How could I expect you to be sorry for anything?’
‘You’re ok with everything?’ Jacob asked dubiously. ‘I mean, you understand about me?’ He glanced at Ellen.
‘Not really,’ she began, ‘but now we have all the time in the world for you to explain it to me.’
He made a mental note to get Ellen alone at the earliest opportunity to get the full account of what she had told them before the subject was broached again. As he considered this, Jacob detected a strange feeling in his stomach, a kind of empty, bubbling sensation, and suddenly realised that he was starving. It had been so long since he had experienced such acute physical effects on his body that he hardly recognised it. Without being insensitive enough to ask outright, he hoped that his mum’s usual urge to prepare food in times of crisis would soon manifest.
The sound of a key rattling in the lock of the front door travelled up from the hallway. A few seconds later, echoing footsteps could be heard on the wooden flooring and then heavy thumps on the stairs. Jacob looked expectantly towards the door.
‘Mags, I…’ Phil stopped at the doorway. He dropped the bags he was carrying and his mouth fell open. Before anyone had time to speak, he threw himself at Jacob, pulling him into a hug that was strong enough to crack a vertebra. ‘Thank God!’ he mumbled into Jacob’s neck. ‘Thank God!’
The hug lasted so long that Jacob began to feel dizzy. His dad finally let go, and then went to Maggie and Ellen in turn, subjecting them both to the same bone crushing embrace, completely unexpected by a blushing Ellen. He stood back and gazed at Jacob. ‘I can’t believe you’re back with us,’ he beamed. ‘I never thought… oh, come here…’ Phil launched a second time and Jacob found himself squashed into another manly hug. He pulled away again and Jacob regarded him approvingly. The last time he had seen him, his father had been little more than a living skeleton, barely able to draw breath. The man that stood before him now was lithe and strong and full of life - apart from the telltale marks of sleep deprivation, he looked as though he had never been touched by illness. The observation gave Jacob a new sense of contentment. His gaze travelled between the three people around his bed and he was overcome with emotions he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. But there was one more person he was desperate to see.
Ellen broke in on his thoughts, almost as if reading them. ‘I can’t wait to tell Luca. Shall I phone and say he can come over?’
Jacob nodded. ‘Of course he can come over. Luca can come over anytime he wants... can’t he, Mum?’ Jacob asked, for a moment feeling like a fifteen-year-old again.
‘Jacob, right now you could ask for the moon and we’d get it for you,’ Maggie smiled.
He flashed a lopsided grin. ‘Maybe a cuppa instead?’
She got up and kissed him on the forehead. ‘Don’t go doing anything stupid while I’m putting the kettle on. In fact, don’t go doing anything at all.’
‘I won’t. Promise.’
Ellen had pulled out her phone and was busy sending a brief text to Luca. ‘I haven’t told him why…’ she gave a sly smile. ‘I just told him he has to come over. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.’
Jacob frowned. ‘Do you think he’ll come? He might think he’s walking into another burning pencil sharpener fiasco.’
‘Of course he’ll come. I’ve given him a direct order,’ she laughed.
‘Has everything been ok?’ Jacob asked, a more sombre mood suddenly taking hold. ‘I mean, for you all?’
‘We can’t pretend it’s been a picnic,’ Phil cut in. ‘But we got by. Ellen’s been a rock, haven’t you, sweetheart?’ He patted her on the shoulder affectionately.
Jacob smiled absently. Though he was happy to see that things had worked out well here, there were other people now on his mind, people who were suspiciously absent. Where were the voices that should have greeted his return? Then there was the fear for Alex. What had happened to her while he had been trapped inside a helpless body? Was it too late to save her? He tried to push these thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrate on those around him. There would be a time for Astrae, but perhaps this wasn’t it.
Phil took the seat that Maggie had just vacated. Glancing across the bed, he picked up the plastic tubing that lay on the sheets. ‘How did this get here?’
Jacob lifted his top to reveal the unblemished skin of his abdomen. He looked up at his dad. ‘To be honest, I prefer my food a bit more chewy.’
Phil stared in mute astonishment at the place where the incision had been. Then his attention turned back to Jacob’s small smile. ‘Why didn’t you tell us about your gifts?’
‘What would I have said? How do you even have a conversation like that?’
‘Ellen knew,’ Phil replied, a hint of reproach in his voice.
Jacob glanced at Ellen who shifted uneasily in her chair. ‘That’s different. We were fifteen when she found out about me. Somehow, it was just easier to share it with her and Luca.’
Phil sighed. ‘I don’t suppose it matters now. Maybe you’d like to talk us through exactly what you can do at some point?’ His frown turned into a slow grin. ‘I might be working for nothing if you can pick lottery numbers.’
‘Sorry, Dad, I’m not allowed to do that.’
‘Not allowed? Who says? I’d allow it!’
Jacob hesitated. It didn’t look as though Ellen had told them everything. He wondered whether it would be a good idea to reach out to her mind. Thinking about how that might distract them both, however, he decided against it. Despite the joking, he could tell that his dad was watching him very carefully.
Maggie returned with a steaming mug. ‘Be careful.’ She handed it to Jacob, ‘it’s hot. I put extra sugar in too,’ she said, perching on the corner of the bed.
Jacob took a sip. The sweet warmth of the tea immediately sprea
d through him. He continued to drink as the others watched.
‘None of you having one?’ he asked with sideways glance at his mum.
Phil grinned. ‘I don’t think we figure very high on her list of priorities right now.’
Maggie gave him a sharp nudge but smiled. ‘You know where the kettle is.’
‘Ellen,’ Phil winked, ‘be a love and put the kettle on.’
Ellen pouted playfully. ‘I can’t go, I’m a guest.’
‘Guest? You’re practically family!’
Jacob glanced at Ellen and noted the blush rise to her cheeks. It felt as though he had fought a thousand battles to get to this moment, but he would have fought a thousand more to see the smile that now lit her face.
As the others watched, he drained his cup and held it out for Maggie.
‘I’d get up but, you know…’
Concern touched Maggie’s expression. ‘How are you actually feeling?’
‘It’s not like last time,’ Jacob reassured her, immediately sensing her doubts. At fifteen, when he had emerged from his coma in hospital, his rehabilitation had been slow and painful and just as draining for everyone around him as for Jacob himself. ‘This was something different, I was just…’ he wanted to say in storage, but now that the words had rolled through his mind he was aware that they might sound slightly wacko to his parents. ‘My body just needed to get back what it gave to Dad, I suppose. It was a bit like having a long sleep, that’s all.’
He caught Ellen’s sharp look. She knew he was hiding something much bigger than that, something that would have to wait for explanations.
‘Thank God you didn’t sleepwalk,’ Phil observed dryly. ‘Who knows what mayhem you would have caused.’
‘Should we be getting you checked out?’ Maggie pressed. ‘I mean, by the hospital.’
Jacob shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t bother. I’ll be up and annoying the pants off you in no time.’
Maggie paused, mulling this information over. Eventually, she seemed satisfied. ‘I should call the nurse agency, though. Tell them we don’t need their help anymore. And I’d better just inform the hospital; they’ll need to update your records.’
