I don’t know why but he intrigued me, I was sure I had seen his face somewhere before but couldn’t quite place it. Sadly the level of chatter in the room and the fact that Aiden’s group were whispering made it impossible to hear anything.
“So,” Mira said suddenly. “Shall we go and eat? It’s nearly seven thirty.”
“Yep, I’m starved. Where’s good to eat around here?” I said, not realising it was so late. “I’ve been to the Portuguese Restaurant. The food is really amazing.”
Hannah stood and grabbed her bag. “Let’s go there, then. I’ve never been before.”
“Cool!” Mira exclaimed and ran to the counter to pay for our drinks.
“Doesn’t she do anything slowly?” I whispered to Hannah who shook her head.
“Nope, she’s like a Tasmanian devil, and she wears me out, frequently!”
We stepped out and walked along to the courtyard and the dressmakers shop. Mira’s mum had already bought her dress for the ball, a lavender blue long gown, from a shop in Salisbury, while Hannah was having one handmade. I had no idea what would suit me but in the window was the most beautiful ruby red bodice dress with a tucked-in waist, and it fell to the floor in one long piece.
I very rarely wore a dress and I just hoped that my mum would agree to transfer a bit more of my allowance over this month than our agreed monthly figure. Both girls had unanimously decided that the Ruby Red dress would suit me, and I had to admit that colour would emphasise my pale skin.
“We’ll come back when it’s open,” Mira announced. “Let’s go eat, I’m starved.”
Mr Vilhena was only too pleased to see me again, calling me “Miss Rose” at every opportunity and welcoming my ‘new’ friends with graciousness. We sat by the window again and I was overjoyed when Hannah and then Mira announced that this should be our regular place.
The restaurant had only a few seats taken by older couples and nobody that we recognised. We ate and chatted freely, the girls were keen to hear about my stories of schools and new towns.
When we talked about boys I started to clam up, having had no real experience to talk of. It was easier to ask questions than to answer them so I interrogated Mira and Hannah about the local boys and their own boyfriend statuses. I gathered that they had both been quiet on the boyfriend front though Mira had at least had a relationship for six months with someone called Darren Gray.
“He left town though, I was glad,” she said unaffectedly. “He was boring, and expected me to spend my nights watching him and his mates play PS3. Dull or what?”
“How old was he, why did he move away?” I asked with keenness.
“He was seventeen and lived on the army base. His dad was a sergeant and got a new posting up north, I think,” she replied.
“Did you miss him?”
“No! Not in the slightest.”
“Hannah, what about you? Anyone on the horizon?” I smiled a cheeky grin at her and she giggled.
“That would be telling,” she said. “You’ll just have to find out in your own time.”
“Oooiioooo,” Mira and I both replied in a childish way. The noise level of our conversation had increased and I noticed glances from the other consumers in our direction.
“Shh, keep it down guys,” I whispered, but it was hard to stop giggling.
We finished and all thanked Mr Vilhena for his amazing meal and left. I looked up at the fresh evening sky, dark with shining stars and a few wisps of cloud. The chilly wind made me snuggle deeper into the warmth of my jacket, and I was quickly grasping that that no matter how warm the days were, the nights are always cold.
The path was now lit brightly, as we walked back along the high street, with yellow globes from the intermittent lamps. The street was almost deserted except for a few dressed up girls and groups of guys walking to taste the town’s nightlife, much as we were.
“So, who fancies a drink at Monks, anyone?” Hannah asked openly.
“Yay!” Mira squealed and checked her watch. “Um, it’s ten thirty. Will anyone be there?”
“What’s Monks?” I asked.
“It’s the only club in town, and they let us in as long as we drink non alcohol drinks,” Mira replied. “Let’s go, it’ll be great.”
“Sure, why not. But only if I can buy the first drink,” I replied enthusiastically, remembering Daisy’s talk of ‘No rules’.
“No,” Mira answered. “We have to buy your drink first. You’re new, remember,” Mira answered.
“Yep, you can’t buy your first drink, its bad luck,” said Hannah. “Besides, maybe somebody else might buy us all a drink.”
“Like who?” I said.
“Mike Silver or Aiden Deverill. They’re always in that place.”
“Mike? Pah,” Mira exclaimed. “Mike is incapable of buying anyone else a drink. The skinflint. Believe me, I’ve tried!”
There was a story here that I still hadn’t heard, and I was about to ask her when something caught my eye that stopped me in my step.
There was no traffic, the road was quiet from the usual rumble of cars but in the centre of the main street stood a lone figure of a boy. I recognised him instantly. He had been in the group which shouted a greeting to Daisy on my first evening here.
“Help me,” he cried. His face was pinched in pain, but his voice was barely audible.
“What’s wrong?” I shouted to him. The girl’s stopped chatting some metres ahead and were watching me.
“Rose, are you all right?” Hannah shouted but I didn’t move and continued to stare at the almost apparition-like boy. He wasn’t there, and then he was. His shape seemed to shimmer around the edge, and I blinked as the edges flickered around him.
“Please help me. I’m scared,” he cried again.
I used my eyes to zoom clearer but he didn’t move away from the road.
A car was approaching from the small road on the right. It wasn’t slowing down either.
“Move!” I yelled in anguish. “You have to move!”
“HELP ME!” he screamed once more, and as the car drove into my line of sight where the boy stood, he vanished.
I sucked in a breath and stepped back. “Oh my god, did you see him?” I cried at the girls who were now by my side.
“Rose, we didn’t see anything,” Mira said.
“There’s nothing there, look,” Hannah pointed to the white line in the middle of the tarmac.
I had seen him, I knew I had. Why hadn’t they?
“He was there, I know he was,” I kept saying it over and over until Hannah put her arm around my shoulder and tried to calm me down.
Then I smelt burning. My nose filled with the smell of acrid smoke and I coughed and tried to see its origin. Behind the brewery in the sky was a thick, black plume of smoke. It hung in the air before dispersing amidst a quick breeze. I ran across the road in its direction as fast as I could.
“Oh my god, he’s going to be there! You have to help me,” I cried as I turned to see Mira and Hannah both following me at a sprint.
“What is it, Rose?” Hannah was shouting but I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know myself. All I knew was that something was wrong and this boy was in trouble.
As I rounded the corner to the other side I quickened my sprint to the brewery entrance. The small back entrance was empty and I kept running, following the smell of burning. I could hear the girl’s heavy steps behind me, and they were close but they weren’t as quick.
The back yard was ill kept and rampant with weeds, and there it was, the burning car. The yellow and red flames were licking the air, higher and higher, eating the oxygen and spreading until the entire car, inside and out, was alight. The fierce unforgiving heat was immense already.
“He’s in there!” I yelled, and didn’t stop running.
“Rose, no,” Mira cried. “It’s too late. Leave it!”
“No! I need to save him!” I cried back and stepped closer to the car. The flames ate at the paintwork as it peeled away with t
he extreme heat, and blew away like powder. The closer I got the more I was heating up and I cooled my skin using a small amount of my gift.
“Get away, Rose!” Hannah was yelling, but I was almost within reach of the car door handle.
As the smoke poured through a hole in the roof, a side window exploded outwards with ferocity. I put my hands up to shield my eyes but got close enough to see through the window frames, searching for him, for a movement or a sign of the small boy.
“Rose! Stop it! Come away!” the girls yelled together, I think they were crying now. Their voices changed direction as someone else approached at speed. “Get her away from the fire. She’ll be killed.”
More running feet entered the yard and I could hear someone on a phone calling emergency services. “There’s a fire, Wadham’s yard behind the brewery. Come quickly!”
“Rose, get away from the car. It’s going to explode,” a new voice, a masculine voice shouted, still some distance away.
“Where are you?” I frantically yelled at the car, without looking back. “There’s someone in there. I have to get him out. Where are you?” I tried to put my hand on the door handle but even as my hand drew near I could feel the hairs singe rapidly on my arm and I flinched away. I ran to the boot of the car, if I could just get close enough I could release the boot and see if the boy was inside. There might still be a chance to save him.
But I stopped for a second as I stared at the number plate. I knew it by heart. I could see the car clearly now.
It was a Black Mercedes.
The very first car that had followed me along the motorway to here.
The back window exploded and a fireball threw itself into the sky, knocking me backwards. I was too late in shielding my face and I felt the skin on my cheek singe down to its surface. I cried out in shock but there was little pain. I heard another scream and someone else was sobbing loudly.
“Rose, get away! Now,” said the man’s voice, closer to me now.
I frantically tried once more to open the boot but I felt arms around me dragging me away.
“No, you don’t understand. He’s in there!” I cried. “I have to get him out.”
“Rose! No! It’s too late,” he answered in my ear. “It’s too late.”
The petrol tank exploded and with the force of the impact, we crashed backwards away to the floor. His weight was heavy on my back as another fireball unfurled, and engulfed us with its frenzied flame. The smell of singed clothing was everywhere I breathed, and I stayed down, not able to move under the weight of my rescuer.
The yard instantly filled with more screams, Mira’s and Hannah’s, and a few more that had joined. A high pitched siren sounded from far away and grew nearer.
“Rose, your burns?” the man on top of me whispered but didn’t move.
My skin was healing quickly, I felt it knitting together and sealing itself. I had no other injuries, except for a smarting jab in my shoulder when my hand landed on the floor with my full weight behind it.
“I’m okay,” I asked. “You?”
“I’m fine. I’m going to get up now, okay?”
The weight was off me and I gulped in a breath of air. A hand grabbed mine and pulled me up to stand. Somehow I wasn’t surprised to find Aiden Deverill staring back at me.
Before I could say a word, the firemen arrived and drew us away to a cooler, safer distance. The crowd that had been slowly gathering were herded away back onto the street, as the large fire engine entered the area, it’s blue lights flashing violently and the siren deafening to all around us. Following was a team of brightly covered paramedics who emerged on foot through the smoke filled yard and pulled Aiden and I around another corner to a private area for examination.
A woman took me quickly to one side and asked me if I was hurt.
“No, I’m fine,” I said frankly.
“I’m Louise. Now, are you sure there’s no pain? Let me take a look,” and she lifted off the shreds of my torn and burnt jacket, throwing it to the floor. I didn’t mind, it was ruined anyway.
She lifted my top up carefully to check the skin on my back, chest and shoulders. She also inspected under my hairline and around my face. I knew she was stunned at the lack of scar tissue or injuries I should have suffered but I couldn’t tell her anything.
She grasped my hands to lift my sleeves checking my arms, my bracelet stung at her touch.
“Nice bracelet,” she commented. “Unusual.”
“Thanks, it’s a family thing,” I muttered, hoping she would get on with her job. She lowered my sleeves to continue her inspection.
“I don’t believe it,” she kept saying under her breath. “You should have been burnt to a crisp in that fireball. Unbelievable.” She asked me to lower my trousers, as she continued her inspection down my legs, carefully touching the inside of my legs, searching my skin for scorch marks.
I looked around, and noticed Aiden a few metres away getting the same treatment from another woman. His shirt was off exposing his muscled bare chest and he grinned as I continued to stare. I hadn’t meant too.
“Okay, Rose? Rose!” Louise continued, getting back my attention. “You’re all good, but I’m going to check on you tomorrow, okay?”
“No, it’s fine, really,” I answered.
“Well, I insist. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t double check,” she peered down at me under her brow and I couldn’t argue.
“Okay,” I said, quickly pulling my trousers up and rearranging my top.
“How are you doing, Lou?” the other ambulance woman said to mine.
“Yep, we’re all clear. Let’s go.” Louise grabbed her medical bag, joined her partner and was soon disappearing back down towards the street. I could hear her talk into the radio that had been strapped to her jacket. They were needed elsewhere.
The fire brigade had reduced the car to smoke, its metal frame barely holding itself up. I walked past Aiden who was pulling his black sweater back on and approached the firemen who gathered in a group, discussing the car’s removal from the yard.
“Excuse me,” I said politely.
“Jesus, Rose. You gave us all a shock. Are you feeling okay? No dizziness or sore throat?” one of them said, with an Irish lilt. His badge said Pritchard but I didn’t recognise him.
“I’m okay. Was there anyone inside the car? I mean,” I gulped “a body?”
“The car was empty. Someone’s idea of a foolish prank, probably,” Pritchard answered calmly. “Daisy’s waiting for you at the entrance. We’ve needed to get everyone back, away from the flames. Smoke inhalation is a killer.”
“Okay, but you’re positive there was nobody inside?”
“No one. Now, go home, Rose, you’ve had a long night.”
Aiden and I silently walked across the yard and towards the brewery entrance which was barred by two uniformed police officers and a stretch of yellow police tape. The crowd of onlookers was large as we walked into view, and a huge cheer with clapping erupted. The policemen let us through and before I knew it I was engulfed with arms hugging me, dragging me away.
“Rose! We were so worried,” the two girls cried. I could see the pale streak of tears down their smoky faces. “Daisy’s over there, we had to call her. Sorry.”
They dragged me further away from the mass of people and I spied Daisy talking to another uniformed policeman. He wore more stripes and slashes on his black blazer so I guessed he was higher up in rank than the two at the entrance.
Relief was all I saw in Daisy’s face as she saw me, and soon I was bear hugged again by my grandmother. I tried to speak but froze, and the full terror of what I had seen and done finally hit home. I sobbed quietly as she held me tightly, and softly brushed my head with her hand.
“It’s okay, Rose, you’re safe now,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry,” I croaked and wiped my face quickly, ashamed to cry in the presence of strangers. I pulled away and Mira thankfully handed me a tissue.
“Aiden, come here,” Daisy motioned to Aiden who had followed us, waiting a short distance behind. Daisy hugged him too and I heard her whisper ‘Thank you’ in his ear. He embraced her tightly, fondly almost, as though it wasn’t the first time he had done so, I noticed.
The girls were both trying to remove smoke stains from their faces with the tissues. If their faces were black, I dreaded to think what mine looked like but I was beyond caring.
“I’m sorry, you two. I didn’t mean to frighten you,” I said meekly.
“Oh, don’t be silly! Of course you did! You’re still the same old Rose. This is what you do,” and they fondly wrapped themselves around me with Mira resting her head on my shoulder.
“Just don’t do it again, okay?” Mira chirped.
“Okay, promise,” I laughed.
“Aiden saved your life. You know that, don’t you?” Hannah whispered and I nodded.
As Daisy released Aiden from her vicelike hug I wandered over. He waited for me to speak, and I hesitated, thinking of what to say.
“Thank you, Aiden,” and I held out my hand for him to shake. “I’m Rose, by the way. We’ve not been officially introduced.”
He laughed and grasped my hand; I felt his other arm across my back pulling me close.
“I know who you are, Rose. And you’re welcome,” he whispered in my ear.
The warmth of his body and the smell of his skin were strangely reassuring, as I remembered lying on the ground with his body covering mine. Confusion muddled my head suddenly. Even after we had fallen earlier, now he was too close, and I didn’t like it, I felt weird, hypnotised almost, it’s the only way I could describe it. As though I should have been repulsed but I wasn’t, I almost wanted him to hug me closer but instead I stepped back from him. He looked confused at my abrupt withdrawal.
“Thank you, again. I’m sorry if I caused any problems with your mates,” and I eyed his three friends over his shoulder. He turned to look and guffawed.
Elemental: The First Page 9
