Soul Protector

by Amanda Leigh Cowley

  Mum looked over at ‘Gracie.’ “I’m sorry darling, would you mind letting us have a little time on our own? You can go and watch telly upstairs or something?”

  ‘Gracie’ stood up, smiling. “Listen, I need to get home, but I’m going to give you my mobile number, Emily. I want you to call me soon and let me know how you’re getting on, okay?”

  She scribbled down the number I knew so well and handed it to me. I quickly tucked it in Emily’s handbag. She mouthed ‘thanks’ to Mum and gave her a kiss, before disappearing out the door.

  Mum sat and chatted with Emily for ages. A creature of habit, I knew she normally liked to start preparing dinner around five, but at no time did she indicate to Emily that she had things to do. I took a backseat as Emily opened up. She started off by saying it wasn’t Graham’s fault, that he was stressed at work and she was a bit dizzy and would aggravate him by doing silly things.

  “He’s a good person deep down. He looks after me really well, and we do everything together. It’s just that… he gets a bit jealous sometimes… it’s only because he loves me so much.”

  “And when he gets jealous, what does he do?”

  She paused before whispering, “He hits me.”

  Mum’s face remained blank. She didn’t judge, she just said the right words to encourage Emily to open up. And after Emily had opened up, Mum worked her magic. It took a little under an hour for her to make Emily see that Graham was completely out of order, and that no matter how hard Emily tried to tiptoe through the minefield that was his temper, she would always end up being in the wrong.

  I knew it usually took much, much longer than this to change someone’s perception, but every time I felt denial seeping through Emily’s thoughts, I forced a positive spin on things. Gradually, I began to feel strength flood through her as she reflected how unjust Graham had been in making her feel like the guilty party. Her thoughts were peppered with anger, but I could sense relief too.

  All the time, Mum gently encouraged her without taking over and telling her what to do.

  While we were chatting, I heard the front door click open.

  “Oh, that’ll just be Terry, my boyfriend,” said Mum, smiling.

  Emily flinched and Mum noticed it too.

  “Don’t worry,” she soothed, “he’s a lovely man. Stay where you are, I’ll be back in a minute.”

  She got up and wandered through the lounge door into the hall to greet him. I smiled to myself. It really seemed to be working. Mum was doing all the hard work, and I was glad to have contributed. Emily really hadn’t wanted to stay, but now she had bared her soul and was ready for change.

  I leant across to the shelf next to me and picked up a picture of Mum with Michelle and me when we were younger. It was taken soon after Dad had been locked up, and I could see how happy Mum looked. This photo marked the change in her misfortune. I was so pleased how life had turned out for her and I really hoped this would be the turning-point for Emily too.

  Out in the hall, I could hear Mum and Terry talking in hushed voices, Mum was telling him she had a visitor.

  “I’ll pop in and say a quick hello,” I heard Terry say, “just let me get rid of this lot first.”

  I knew without looking he would be putting his briefcase full of energy supply leaflets and contracts into the cupboard under the stairs. He was such a tidy man he couldn’t bear for anything to be out of place. I put the photo down and glanced in the direction of their voices. Terry had his back to me as he leant forward carefully sliding his briefcase into its usual slot. He backed up from the cupboard, and as I watched him my heart started to pound in my chest. I’d never noticed it before, but I couldn’t have, could I? My hand flew up to cover my mouth. Practically screaming out at me from above Terry’s head was a deep red aura.

  I broke out in a cold sweat and shrank back into the sofa, trying to make myself small. I needed to think straight. I knew I couldn’t let him see me. If he saw me in Emily’s body, he would see my orange aura and know I was on to him. This can’t be happening. I had to get out of there, fast.

  Quietly, so as not to draw attention to myself, I stood up from the sofa. My legs felt wobbly and I hoped they wouldn’t let me down. I managed to sneak through the other door which led into the kitchen.

  I heard Mum’s voice as she walked back into the lounge. “Oh, she’s not here. Emily love, are you okay?” she called.

  I opened the back door as softly as I could and slipped out into the fresh air. I ran up the side of the house, crouching low as I passed the living room window. My legs began working properly and I raced up the drive, ducking round the other side of Emily’s car. I was aware a couple of the neighbourhood kids across the road had stopped kicking their football and were stood watching me. God knows what they thought I was doing, but I had more important things to worry about than them calling the police right then.

  I fumbled around in Emily’s handbag until I found her bunch of keys, all the time trying to take deep breaths to calm myself down. With shaky fingers, I located the right one for her Mini, and quickly unlocked the car. I jumped into the driver’s seat; sitting up straight so my aura wouldn’t be visible should Terry look out the window. Again, I struggled to get the keys in the ignition. When the engine finally roared into life, I drove up the road without looking back, praying he hadn’t seen me.

  ~~~

  CHAPTER 21

  .

  Corrupt Soul Protectors

  .

  There was only one place I wanted to go, and I had memorised the address after peering at his business card so many times. I drove in that direction, my heart in my mouth all the way.

  After taking two wrong turns, I was relieved to finally find his street name, and pull up outside his house. I was surprised it was just an ordinary semi in an ordinary street. I had imagined it to be more like Lydia’s.

  There was no time for apprehension. I knocked on the door impatiently. When no one appeared, I tried knocking louder. This time I saw a shadow approaching beyond the frosted glass. As the door opened, Dan stood in front of me in a pair of jersey shorts. I recognised the subtle differences between him and Tom, even in the high state of anxiety. Dan’s an inch shorter than Tom, and his eyes are a warmer shade of brown.

  He was yawning and his hair was all messed up. My heart sank when I noticed the yellow aura shimmering above him.

  “Tom?”

  “Might be… Who are you?” His eyes had rested just above my head.

  “It’s me, Gracie. I’m switched into a girl called Emily.” I felt the blood pumping through my veins as I tried to catch my breath.

  His eyed widened. “Gracie, what’s wrong?"

  “Tom, you’ve got to help me.” The afternoon’s events came tumbling out, and as they did Tom’s face screwed up.

  “Okay, Gracie, slow down and start again. You’re not making any sense.”

  I drew in some deep shaky breaths, trying to get my thoughts in order.

  “I switched into Emily to try and help her. Her boyfriend hits her, so I decided to see my mum because she’s a counsellor for abused women. But Mum’s boyfriend Terry came home and he had a red aura. He must be corrupt.”

  Tom’s expression turned more serious, which didn’t help my anxiety levels.

  “Tom, Mum is still with him. Will she be safe?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. He hasn’t hurt her up until now. But we don’t know what the hell he’s playing at. We need to get him to the Office.”

  “But how?” I was starting to get frantic.

  Tom began pacing the space between the front door and the back of his porch.

  “Where’s your primary body?”

  “At home.”

  He carried on wearing out the stretch of carpet. “Damn it, Dan and the others are out on a job, I’ll have to try and get hold of them. You and I need to go back to yours first, so you can switch back.”

  “Why? I’ve only been switched for a couple of hours. G
etting Mum safe is more important.”

  “No, you have to be in your own body. I need you to go to into your mum’s house and act normal like nothing’s going on and then lead him out to us. That way we can grab him discreetly.” He stopped pacing and looked up at me. “Are you sure he didn’t see you earlier?”

  I pulled a face. “I don’t think so, but I didn’t dare look back. I just knew I had to get out of there.”

  Tom took his backpack off the coat hook and pulled out a black top and a pair of trousers. He pulled them over his shorts in record time.

  “Right, you go. I’ll follow in my car.”

  I nodded, and spun on my heel. I didn’t need telling twice. I had to get Mum safe as soon as possible.

  I heard Tom talking into his Bluetooth as he climbed into his car, it sounded like he was arranging to pick up some monitors on the way. I wondered if one of them would be Dan.

  Familiar with Emily’s car now, I drove back to the flat as fast as I dare. When I got out the car, Tom parked up next to me and nodded. I felt sick with nerves as I rushed up the stairs and buzzed the intercom. Come on, hurry up. Déjà-vous whipped round and hit me full on. Three times I’d swapped, and each time had been a disaster. Never again.

  ‘Gracie’ answered and clicked the release button. I ran up the stairs two at a time, and as soon as she opened the door I grabbed her without speaking, keeping one hand firmly planted on the door handle so as not to topple. One benefit was that explanations to ‘Gracie’ weren’t necessary. As I became myself again, I carried my new thoughts and memories with me.

  The giddy sensation I had been expecting passed quickly. Back inside my own head, I looked across at Emily. She looked dazed. God, what must she be thinking? I’d forgotten to formulate any thoughts in her mind to erase the scene with Tom. I gently placed my hand on her arm. She blinked and shook her head before smiling at me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked anxiously.

  “Erm, yes. But, Gracie, could you apologise to your Mum for me? After you left me there we were chatting and her boyfriend came round. I just kind of freaked and legged it. She must think I’m really rude.”

  “No, she won’t. She’ll understand.”

  “I ended up at a friend of yours, I don’t know how,” she forced a laugh and I noticed a flush of colour to her cheeks. “He was a bit stressed and told me to come round here instead.”

  I was relieved she was so vague. I didn’t really have time to switch back and start sorting out her thoughts.

  “And thanks, Gracie, for making me face up to my problems.”

  “You’re not going back to him now are you?” I asked, fear suddenly prickling.

  “No, no way. Me and Graham are history. I think I’ll go to my sister’s. She’s been on at me to leave him for ages. Yeah, I’m going round there right now and tell her she’s been right about him all along.”

  I blew out a deep breath. That was one less thing for me to worry about.

  I rubbed my sweaty palms together, trying to think of a nice way to get rid of her. I needed to get back to Mum’s fast, but I knew Emily was vulnerable, so I tried to be tactful as I rushed the next sentence.

  “Listen, can we meet up soon. I know Mum would love to see you again, and I’m here for you too.”

  “I’d like that,” she said, smiling.

  I felt really bad getting rid of her when she’d just made such a huge step forward, but right now Mum’s need was greater.

  “Okay, let me have your number and I’ll be in touch soon,” I said, grabbing a pen and an old envelope off the shelf.

  She scribbled down her mobile number on the back of it and handed it to me. We hugged our goodbyes and she retreated back down the communal stairs, with me just a few paces behind.

  I jumped into the passenger seat next to Tom and gave him directions to Mum’s. I was so nervous, I hardly dared breathe. I couldn’t stop shivering and wrapped my arms around my body to try and make it stop.

  Tom looked over at me. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay.”

  I gritted my teeth and nodded.

  “How long have your mum and this Terry guy been together?”

  “A few months.”

  “Well he hasn’t hurt her yet, and we’ll make sure she’s safe from now on. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  I took a deep breath. “Thanks, Tom.”

  “For what?”

  “For staying positive. I’d be freaking out much more if you weren’t here.”

  He smiled at me. “All part of the service.”

  “But can you keep talking to me until we get there, because I’m only inches away from total meltdown.”

  “Sure.”

  He looked thoughtful for a moment, like he wanted to say something but didn’t quite know how to broach the subject.

  “Gracie, I still can’t get my head round you and Dan splitting up. You two made such a good couple.”

  I felt my heart sink. I’d been hoping for something more light-hearted.

  “Well, you’d have to speak to your brother about that, he was the one who decided we should break up.”

  Tom looked a bit sheepish. “I don’t need to. I’m regularly inside his head, remember? I’d try and change his mind for him, but it’s against the code. Anyway, he thinks you’re still hung up on an ex.”

  I looked out the side window briefly. Normally this would have been too painful to talk about, but after recent events I just felt numb.

  I shrugged. “That’s all history. I’m over my ex, but Dan chooses not to believe me.”

  “Oh,” Tom took his eyes off the road to look at me for a moment. “I think that may have more to do with his ex than yours.”

  I stared at him, willing him to carry on.

  “Listen, I don’t know if I’m breaching patient confidentiality,” he said winking at me, “but Dan hasn’t had a girlfriend for a good year. The last one he went out with broke his heart.” He stopped for a moment to check my reaction. I swallowed hard, bracing myself for the details.

  “They were together for about six months. There was no questioning they loved each other, but she didn’t like his job. She hated the fact he had to go on call and drop plans at the last minute, but mostly she hated that it was all so secretive and he couldn’t share any details with her.”

  Maybe I wasn’t that numb. I hated the thought of Dan with someone else, but it would have been hypocritical of me to begrudge him having a past.

  “They used to argue a lot. Mainly because she convinced herself he was having an affair. To cut a long story short, she told him to work nine to five or it was over. He told her he couldn’t give up his job, so she cut him dry. Within weeks she got back with her ex and came round to show Dan her new engagement ring. She finished off by telling him she made a mistake getting together with Dan as she’d never stopped loving her ex.”

  “Classy.”

  “Yeah, ‘course, she only came round to rub Dan’s nose in it and make him jealous, but he couldn’t see that. He thinks she was just using him all that time, and it knocked his trust in the fairer sex. So I’m afraid you’re suffering for her mistakes.”

  “Did she get married to the other guy then?”

  “What do you think? As soon as she realised her plan wasn’t working, she dumped the poor guy and came crawling back. But Danny boy had put his barriers up by then. You, Gracie Reynolds, were the first one to knock them all down again.”

  I shook my head sadly. That explained a lot. But I had no time to fret about it. I filed it away, ready to torment myself by picking over it at a later time, when I wasn’t so worried about Mum.

  We made a slight detour to pick up three monitors who were waiting for us. I hurriedly looked from one face to the next, but Dan wasn’t among them. Tom did some quick introductions as they climbed into the car and we carried on driving towards Mum’s house.

  Although Tom kept up the pretence of being calm, he cursed at every red light and every slow driver en route.

>   We finally turned into the familiar estate, and Tom parked just round the corner from Mum’s house.

  Tom turned to me. “Right, let me have your phone. I need to punch in this number in case you need it.”

  I handed it over and watched him tap away.

  “I’m going to park here for a minute to make sure he doesn’t see you’re with us. You walk down to your Mum’s, and we’ll park up by that big willow so we’ve got a bit of privacy. You tell Terry your car has broken down up the road, and make him come outside with you.”

  I nodded.

  “And remember, Gracie, you have to act natural.”

  “Okay,” I said, fumbling with my seatbelt clip and trying to yank the strap while it was still locked in.

  “Hey, hey, stop a minute.” Tom put his hand gently on my shoulder and looked at me. “Calm down and take some deep breaths. It’s going to be okay.”

  I nodded at him and slowed my breathing down, but inside I was a bag of nerves. I freed the seatbelt, jumped out the car and began walking round the corner towards Mum’s house. As soon as it came into view, I knew we’d lucked out. Terry’s car was gone. Damn.

  I stopped walking and tucked myself in tight behind the willow. I dug into my pocket, pulled out my phone and tapped in Mum’s name. She picked up after a couple of rings.

  “Hi Mum, is everything okay,” I asked, trying to erase the panic from my voice.

  “Hi love. Yes, I’m fine thanks. I was just going to ring you. Your friend Emily disappeared on me. One minute she was here, then Terry arrived home after work, and she took off. I think maybe she’s a bit wary of all men, and that’s why she left. You should call her.”

  “Oh, no it’s okay; she got in touch with me. She asked me to apologise to you, I just forgot. Sorry, Mum.”

  “That’s okay darling, tell her not to worry. She’s welcome back any time.”

  “I will. Erm, is Terry around?”

  “No, he had some important business to attend to. He won’t be back until tomorrow evening. Why? Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, yes of course. Listen I’ve got to go. You take care.”