The Brays

by L. J. Fox

  Barring saw the light in the bungalow switch off and the bungalow door open silently. A dark shape emerged almost tip-toeing and gently shut the door behind it. The shape headed to the left. Barring could not see what was at the back of the property as it was too dark, but he guessed there was a way to escape.

  Barring pushed the gate and it creaked as it opened, making a loud sound that alerted the man. He bolted, running toward the back fence of the property with the intention of scaling it. Even with his dark clothing, Barring could still just see his outline. The senior detective yelled out.

  “STOP! POLICE”

  The dark shape reached the back fence and scrambled for a foothold. Gregson came racing around and through the gate charging down through the back yard where Barring had caught up with the fleeing shape. The man had his hands on top of the fence and was trying to lever himself up. Baring grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. The man started blindly throwing punches and the two detectives overpowered him, pulling him to the ground, on to his stomach where he was hands were handcuffed behind his back.

  Layne exhaled loudly. She hadn’t realised she had been holding her breath. Then she started sobbing and sat down on the concrete driveway with her head in her hands.

  Chapter 51

  The next few days were a blur to Layne. She felt such a sense of relief that Andy was going to live, and that the attacker had been caught but she was emotionally exhausted from the trauma of the incident.

  Luckily Detective Sergeant Barring was the officer she saw when she arrived at the police station to make her statement as she was unsure what to put in her statement that wouldn’t sound ridiculous. Barring looked tired as he had not gone home to bed yet but was very pleased that this man had been arrested and very grateful to Layne and amazed at what she had done.

  Someone brought them both coffees and they sat while Barring told Layne about the attacker. His name was John Lemming and he was a twenty-five year old shift worker from a local canvas manufacturer. He lived at the back of his mother’s home and had been known to police for some other minor crimes in the neighbourhood. His crimes had been escalating in the past twelve months, and he had been interviewed by police not long after the first attack. The police had found the knife in his bungalow on the kitchen sink where he had cleaned it. He had not yet confessed but police felt it was just a matter of time before he did.

  Barring suggested she put in her statement, that she had seen the attacker run that way, and followed soon after the attacker had left. She had seen some blood spots and followed them to this street. Barring kept shaking his head in disbelief at what had happened the previous night. He said he felt he was in the Twilight Zone. Eventually he suggested that Layne might like to investigate a career in police work. Her special abilities could prove very beneficial in catching bad guys. She laughed. It was not an unattractive idea.

  The doctor had told Andy he was lucky to be alive and that his lung had collapsed. Luckily the knife had just missed his heart but it had damaged the chest wall and broken a rib. The doctor had been surprised how quickly Andy’s blood had clotted which had saved his life. He had gone into surgery not long after reaching the hospital and was in intensive care for the first two days.

  They wouldn’t let Layne in to see him when he was in ICU so she used that time to move to her new shared apartment, and pack her belongings away. The apartment was a nice modern two storey townhouse in Richmond was just a tram ride to HQ where she would be working. Her flat mate was a twenty-four year old woman named Bronwyn Simms. Bronwyn was pleasant and friendly, but not the warm, bubbly person Layne had encountered with Amity.

  She missed Amity and phoned her to see how she was and to tell her about Andy. Amity was doing well and really shocked and distressed about Andy. Layne promised that when Andy was better, the three of them would catch up for lunch.

  Layne’s new room faced the Melbourne Cricket Ground and she found it fascinating to watch out the window all the people commuting between the various landmark sites. Trains were non-stop and the Melbourne skyline was fascinating to watch at sunrise and sunset. Luckily her apartment had the lovely view. She was due to start work at HQ the following Monday so she still had a number of days to spend with Andy.

  When Andy was finally moved to a ward and stable she was allowed to see him. She had spent a lot of time sitting out in the waiting room keeping vigil, so much so that the doctors and nurses stopped to chat with her regularly. Andy was still hooked up to a number of machines but the colour of his face was good and he lit up when he saw her. As the nurse checked his IV and various apparatus, he grabbed at Layne’s hand.

  “You saved me.”

  “No. You saved me.” Layne replied.

  The nurse smiled at the tender exchange, and her duty over, she left them alone.

  “You did save me. You know you did.” He said to her.

  “Yes. But that guy could have stabbed me if you hadn’t run in and tackled him.”

  He pulled her hand so she would come closer. She sat carefully on the edge of the bed.

  “You healed me. I’m sure I would have died. Í thought I was going to.” He said to her in awe.

  She realised that he had been unconscious at that point and was unaware of what had happened. She glanced down at her wrist which was healing nicely and was now just a red line. She hadn’t had much time to think about what she had done.

  “I thought you were a goner for a while there.” She said in all honesty.

  “The doc says I am healing really fast and apart from a bit of pain from the broken rib, I actually feel amazing.” He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Did you do anything to me? Did you like … heal me or something? Things seem a little different and I can’t explain it. Everything looks brighter and I feel more aware of everything around me. You are amazing.”

  She felt a little embarrassed at his gushing tone but was interested to hear about how well he was feeling and how he felt different. Would that have been the blood, her blood? Should she tell him? Maybe it was just coincidental and the feeling he had was due to his near-death experience. She opted to change the subject.

  “Did they tell you the attacker is in police custody?”

  “Yes. They did. I guess you did that too.” It was more a statement than a question.

  “Well, the police arrested him, but I could smell your blood on his knife so I was able to follow him to where he lives.”

  “Have I told you how amazing you are lately?”

  He tried to lean forward. A pain stopped him and his face grimaced.

  “Get down here and kiss me.”

  Layne reached down and gently kissed him on the lips. His lips felt dry and he had some strange smells about him, but Andy’s smell was still there.

  “Oh. Excuse me.”

  A female voice made her jump, like a naughty schoolgirl. She spun around and came face-to-face with an attractive middle-aged woman with a man standing just behind her. She knew immediately that they were Andy’s parents, having seen their photo on his bedside table. They were both dark haired like Andy but with greying streaks. She could see where Andy got his looks from.

  “Oh. You must be Layne. I am so pleased to meet you.”

  Andy’s mother had such a warm voice. She grasped Layne’s two hands in hers and gave her a friendly shake. Her husband shook Layne’s hands.

  “Nice to meet you Layne. I’m Nick and my wife is Anna. We have heard a lot about you.”

  He gestured toward the woman leaning over Andy and fussing. They all sat around Andy, and spent a lovely hour filled with conversation. They had been distressed about the incident with Andy and had been into the hospital to see him each day but had missed seeing Layne so far. Layne could tell they were very proud of him and his bravery.

  They left with promises to return the next day with his little sister, Marie. His mother was still blowing him kisses as she was backing out the door. Layne thought they were the loveliest pa
rents and it made her feel saddened that she never got to know her own parents.

  Chapter 52

  Layne ate a quick breakfast with Bronwyn, her new flat mate. Bronwyn was an attractive girl though very quiet and stoic. Bronwyn also worked at HQ but as a junior accountant. It was clear very early on to Layne that Wendy had medium-level powers, and was definitely not as powerful as she was. Layne detected a certain amount of reserve in Bronwyn again she wondered if it was because it was well-known that Layne was half normal, and therefore, inferior.

  Layne caught the tram with Bronwyn to HQ so Bronwyn could show Layne which trams to catch and where the building was. Layne looked up at the huge skyscraper situated half way down Collin Street. There was nothing on the outside of the building to signify what the building was, just the address. It was a monolith of modern architecture and glass. A uniformed security guard stood at the entrance and clearly, not there just for show. As they approached him, Layne detected that he had low-level powers. He nodded at the both of them and opened the door for them. Although never having met Layne before, he was able to sense that she was a Bray, and therefore, allowed into the building.

  Inside the building, the décor was ultra-modern and beautiful with lots of glass and stainless steel. An attractive young woman sat behind a reception desk smiling and nodding at every person who walked past. Bronwyn led Layne over to the reception desk and then smiled briefly at her.

  “I’ll see you tonight.” She said flatly and walked over to the elevators.

  “Thank you, Bronwyn.”

  Layne turned her attention to the receptionist. Her name badge said ‘Angela’ and she had the most startling blue eyes with white-blonde hair.

  “You must be Layne.” She said warmly, perfectly white teeth flashing. “I have been expecting you. Come with me and I will show you to where you will be working.”

  Layne followed her to the elevators where they caught a lift up to Level 11 and after a short walk down a corridor, she was shown into an open plan office with at least ten cubicles. Layne could see the heads of a few people already at work. She could feel eyes peering over the partition at her. Angela led her to a corner cubicle. The window next to her had a view across the Yarra River and she could see a number of landmarks.

  “This is you.” Angela said cheerily. “Leave your coat here and I’ll take you to see Warren.”

  Layne placed her coat on a rack near the cubicle and followed Angela back to the elevators and up a few more floors. Warren’s office was a corner on the top floor with spectacular views over Melbourne. He greeted her warmly and took her for a walk around the floor, introducing her to various people.

  After the tour, they sat in his office.

  “Now, Layne. I want you to start with getting up to speed with our organisation. There will be some books and online references for you to study. Get a feel for the place. I am just waiting to hear when John will be here to assess you. Then we will be better informed as to how you will fit in.”

  He smiled his biggest smile. Layne nodded and again wondered about this assessment and where they would consider she fit in.

  “So, if the assessment shows I am a low-level person, will I end up being one of the cleaners here?”

  She gave a small laugh, wanting him to think she was joking, but interested to see his reaction.

  “We already know you are not low-level.” He looked at her intently and the smile faded slowly.

  “In fact, I suspect you are a lot stronger than what you even realise, or we realised.”

  Layne kept her face still and passive. She was still unsure whether to show how strong she was becoming or whether to hide it. Hiding it meant that they would underestimate her but showing them her power could potentially entrench her in this dystopian world even further.

  In the next few days, she spent time reading and absorbing everything she could find. She searched the intranet to look for anything useful to her situation. Every day she was shocked at how large this organisation was, and how they had infiltrated every establishment and corner of earth.

  She sat in a few low-level meetings where they discussed upcoming events, visitors to Melbourne, politics and financial markets. She was only there as an observer and often sat quietly watching the other Brays. She found she could detect quite quickly what their strength level was. She couldn’t quite understand how she could tell, but if she stared at the person and concentrated, she could almost feel herself poking a hole through their skull into their brain, like a mosquito piercing someone’s skin.

  She noticed on a few occasions the person blinked and looked around the room as if trying to understand what was happening. She determined that they must feel some sort of sensation but not quite realise what it is. So far she had not felt any type of sensation since she had been visiting the Brays. She thought of it as pinging, like on the Internet when you ping a server to see what the connection is like. She was unaware whether anyone had tried to ping her and she was not able to identify it, or whether no one had tried.

  She started practicing pinging people and not getting caught staring at them. She wondered if pinging was considered rude or the wrong etiquette in this race of people, like pinching someone on the backside on a bus. If it was considered rude then, she reasoned, then the person being pinged would surely look annoyed, horrified or offended, instead of unaware.

  After doing this for a few days, she started to be aware that she could see more than just how strong the person’s power was. Sometimes she could feel them physically for example, if they were hot or cold, sometimes she could feel their emotions and other times she could sense what they were about to do.

  At the apartment, she could feel when Bronwyn was hungry or tired, and she could feel the indifference Bronwyn had to her. She was also aware that Bronwyn had an indifference to almost everyone. A strange girl who seemed not to enjoy anything in her life. As Bronwyn seemed unaware of being pinged, Layne tried pushing a bit further. When they were relaxing in the evening after dinner and watching television, Layne pinged Bronwyn and tried to push into her, to get inside her head. Bronwyn continued watching The Bachelor, completely unaware.

  Layne concentrated and closed her eyes to block out the television and concentrate on pushing into Bronwyn. She started to feel little jolts like small electric shocks inside her head. They were only a split second each, but she knew something was happening. She kept pushing. She started having split second pictures jump into her head. They were like old black and white film and only lasted a split second each. In each of them, she was in a bed. White sheets, cool white sheets. She was the person, but it wasn’t her. She looked down and could see her legs as she slipped them under the sheets. Young legs. A girl’s young legs. Light coloured nightgown. The flashes continued. The sheets are cool on her young legs. She hears a noise and looks up. She is afraid. No. Not daddy. Not again. She sees a man. Dark hair. He is approaching. No daddy. No daddy.

  Layne snapped her eyes open and jumped to her feet in shock. The sudden movement made Bronwyn turn around and look at her. She saw the strange look on Layne’s face.

  “Are you ok?” she asked.

  “Yes. Fine thanks. I must have nodded off to sleep. I think I’ll go to bed early.”

  Layne turned and quickly left the room before Bronwyn could see how shaken she was. She sat on her bed and took some deep breaths. No wonder Bronwyn seemed a bit distant and unattached. She was a victim of child sexual abuse. Incest and paedophilia was live and well in the Bray world as well. What should Layne do with this information? Was her father still alive? Had he been held to account?

  There was no way she would be approaching the subject with Bronwyn. She had a sleepless night trying to find the best course of action. She was still undecided the next morning. There were two aspects to this issue. One was bringing the culprit to justice, if it had not already happened, and the second aspect was counselling and support for Bronwyn. She had no idea how either of these aspects could be resolv
ed, but she planned t look further into it.

  Chapter 53

  The following Sunday, she met with Andy and they headed for Albert Park Lake where they had spent time in the past and was one of their favourite hangouts. Although cool weather, the sun was shining and the lake looked crisp, clear and perfect. She had been so excited to see Andy as it was the first time since he had left the hospital. He wasn’t driving yet so she caught a taxi to his parent’s house and then she drove his orange car for the first time. After growing up on a farm, she could drive anything including tractors and trucks, but she found the little orange car a whole new challenge. They giggled as she bunny hopped across intersections trying to change gears.

  “I guess there is a knack to it.” Andy admitted, holding his chest for support as the laughing pulled at the stitches.

  They found a free park bench and sat enjoying the view, and each other’s company. She told him all about her new workplace, and what she had discovered with Bronwyn. Andy was concerned about her going after Bronwyn’s father. It was dangerous enough when she went after the rapist, but he was just a normal person. For her to go after another Bray could be disastrous. What if this guy was more powerful than she was or the Brays backed him? Layne promised him she would be careful.

  “Layne. I don’t know what happened the night of the stabbing, but I feel different now. Everything feels better, tastes better, looks better … I know it sounds really weird. Right? Maybe it is because I have a second chance at life. Or maybe because you healed me and it has longer lasting effects.”

  He looked at her, watching her expression, feeling that he had missed something, that she would know something more than she had said. She looked at him and couldn’t keep the secret any longer.

  “Well … I tried something because I knew you were not going to make it that night. I could hear your blood pressure dropping and I knew you had blood in your lungs. I didn’t want to lose you.”