by M J Porter
Chapter Seven
He thought he’d manipulated Rebecca but when he returned from work the next day, she was gone, all her possessions removed from the flat, and on the photo album he’d been looking at only yesterday, she’d placed the blue stone.
He almost sighed with relief to find her gone. Her efforts at nonchalance the night before had worn a little thin, and he’d been pleased when she’d gone to bed. The evening had been pleasant enough, but he thought they’d both known it was over.
He held the stone in his hand, feeling it’s warmth, and this time being prepared for the faint shimmering blue that seemed to spark from it. He knew this stone was something to do with Sapphire, and he was aware that Rebecca knew what it was as well; only she wasn’t about to tell him.
All night he turned the stone over in his hands, feeling the warmth in it, and at some point, he walked to his bedroom window, the room with the best view of the sky, for all that it was obscured by the constant lights of nighttime London, and he looked upwards, searching for something.
He stood for about an hour and then gave up in frustration. It was useless. He needed to be in the countryside if he was to stand any chance of seeing anything in the lightly hazed sky. He berated himself for giving up on his dreams to fulfil Rebecca’s. He needed to start living for himself, not for her, and he needed to know what had happened to Sapphire.
He stumbled to his bed, the blue stone beside him, and as he closed his eyes with exhaustion, he could have sworn he’d seen a thin vein like pulse of the bright blue light he’d seen on the night he’d last seen Sapphire.
He woke the next morning with the cold realisation of what had happened the day before, for a moment disorientated until he felt the warmth of the slowly pulsing stone, and he was reinvigorated with purpose.
He dressed quickly; he knew what he needed to do and he wanted it done. Sooner rather than later.
He checked his phone, surprised to see a message from Rebecca flashing away on it.
“We need to talk,” it only said. “Meet me at midday by the bakery.” He felt a slight flutter of anxiety as he read the message, but it had been his plan to seek out Rebecca today anyway. He only hoped she’d decided to tell him what he needed to know without him having to beg for the information.
He checked the time on his phone. He had hours yet before the meeting. He decided to put his time to good use and to haul their honeymoon suitcases out of the cupboard; he began to pack his possessions. He’d decided he wouldn’t be returning to the flat, no matter what. He needed to return to the life he’d lived before he’d met Rebecca when little had mattered apart from his research and his love of living rurally.
As he packed, he knew he’d made the correct decision. Most of the possessions in the flat belonged to Rebecca, not him. He had his walking gear and his music and research files, but little else. It was Rebecca who’d brought all the little touches, the plush cushions, the matching curtains, even the massive TV screen that he so rarely used.
He heaved the two suitcases down the stairs to his old, beaten up car. He’d insisted on keeping it, even in London where cars were little use on the busy streets. Now he was pleased. It was a very old estate car, but one that he’d be able to fill with his possessions and drive to wherever he needed to be to find Sapphire.
He was pleased he’d taken the time each week to take it for a small drive, ensure it still worked and had kept the MOT and insurance up to date. There was nothing holding him back. Once Rebecca told him what he needed to know.
He locked the flat up tight behind him, ensuring all the windows were closed. He felt no remorse that he’d never see the place again as he slowly drove his old car the short distance to the bakery they’d so often used in their short married life. It was a little place, with a few chairs out the front, and a small bar running across the side of it, with some stalls for those too hungry to wait to get home to eat.
He didn’t see Rebecca inside, but went ahead and ordered her favourite pastry and cup of coffee. He did the same for himself. He didn’t have much money on him, but he thought it a small price to pay for the information he needed.
She arrived on time, offering him a small smile of thanks for his forethought in ordering already.
“I don’t have much time,” she began, her voice quivering, looking anywhere but at him.
“I think you could make time for this. Don’t you?” he responded. He wasn’t angry; there was no need to be. Yesterday he’d been angry, but it was all gone now. Rebecca held the key to the knowledge that he needed.
“Yes,” she swallowed nervously, “I suppose I can. But first, well first, I have to offer you an apology. You shouldn’t have been involved in this, this ‘mess’ in the first place.”
“I don’t need an apology. We should be adult enough not to have to apologise, to just accept what’s happened and move on.”
“Yes we should,” she responded with a touch of heat, “but then, this isn’t a normal break-up. This is something that we could both have avoided if we’d been a little more honest with each other.”
He wanted to react angrily, demand she not place the blame on him. This was something her family had allowed to happen to him, but he quickly reconsidered. Back at the beginning, then he should have been honest and told her that she wasn’t the only woman he loved.
He shrugged his shoulders by way of agreement, and she noticeably calmed at his ready acceptance of her anger.
“I didn’t know, not until I found the stone, that that was the reason you arranged to meet Sapphire and I that night. I thought her being there was some strange coincidence.” She swallowed again. “Okay, I convinced myself that’s what it was. And to all intents and purposes, I was right. For over three years I laboured under the same illusion as you, that we were meant for each other, had chosen each other, and everything that had happened with Sapphire was as it was supposed to be. She was … she was in an untenable situation. We both were really. Everything was too late. Her people,” she swallowed again, her hand before her on the small metal table, “our people, didn’t have the required amount of knowledge to set in motion the train of events that transpired. It was … it is more the Elders of our people than ourselves who should hold the blame.”
Here a stray tear slid down her smooth cheekbones and he only just stopped himself from reaching out to arrest its descent.
“I didn’t know,” she moaned, the cry almost primordial. ‘I didn’t know that’s what was happening.”
“What was happening?” he pressed, “and what Elders?”
“She’ll tell you when you find her.”
“Where will I find her?”
“Where you first met her. She’ll be waiting for you; she always has been.” He didn’t understand her words, but her eyes had turned vacant, and he wondered where she was.
“I didn’t know that in choosing me that night, you’d turned her affections aside. If I’d known, if I’d understood then none of this would have happened.”
“When did you know?” he pressed. He was still puzzling over her words, but while she was talking he didn’t want to distract her.
“The night of the wedding. I found her stone in your room. Why did you have it with you?” she asked. “Why was it there then?”
“What does it mean?” he asked, but she shook her head angrily.
“Why did you have it with you when you were marrying me?” her voice was rough, angry, and desperate to know the answer.
“I found it that morning, on a walk on the island. I’d,” and here he paused. “She’d given it to me on the first night we spent together, but I’d discarded it, angry with her, and then on the morning of our wedding I found it in the undergrowth.”
Her gasp of horror was audible, and he stared at her in shock.
“She gave it to you, and you threw it away?” Her face was suddenly so angry; it was his turn to look away in disgust at his actions.
“I didn’t know what it was. I
followed her, I found her because she sent out a stream of bright blue light; I thought it was lightning, but I also knew it was something to do with her. She didn’t tell me anything. I walked in the rain to find her.” His voice was growing angry now. “I left you asleep and I went to find her, and she did nothing but mouth strange words and handed me the bloody stone before disappearing before my very eyes. She made me angry.”
Rebecca’s mouth formed an ‘o’ of surprise as he spoke.
“She was trying to prevent this,” she offered softly. “She knew. She always was the wiser one of the two of us.”
“What did she know?” he almost shouted, earning himself a stern stare from the owner of the bakery who wasn’t used to two of his regulars arguing in the street.
“She knew what we were doing was wrong. She tried to stop it before it was too late.”
“So is it too late?” he asked. He didn’t know if he meant for Rebecca and him, or Sapphire and him, but Rebecca knew.
“No, it’s not. She’ll be waiting for you. I told you that already. Finding her stone made something change. It shouldn’t be possible, but your love for her has kept her warm all this time after all. Go to her, find her, be with her. I’ll never see you again,” she offered, standing and turning to walk away from him. He wanted to call her back but didn’t.
“Be happy,” he called, and she turned to look at him once more, a radiant smile on her face.
“I will be.”
And then she was gone, and he knew she’d spoken the truth. He’d never see her again.
He picked up his pastry, surprised to find a stack of notes under the plate. When had Rebecca put them there? He fingered the money. They’d be more than enough for him to get where he needed to be. He turned to watch her tiny figure disappearing out of sight into the local tube station. Maybe she had loved him all along after all.
