by Ayse Hafiza
He left her standing at the door as he walked out the gate shutting it behind him. What was he thinking? Jane was stuck in the mirror, she was his true love, so what the hell was he doing with Audrey? So, what if she was a woman throwing herself at him, wouldn’t he if he was a single woman living with her Mom, throwing herself at any single man just to escape? He wrote off her advances as some late blooming rebellion because he couldn’t fathom that she would actually be interested in him.
Pushing open the gate for the Hamilton Farm he looked up at the white walls which held the pink hue of the dying sun. It was beautiful, it was his charmed life. There was nothing else he could ask for other than for Jane to return to him, and for them to be here together alone.
None of the other Islanders, including Audrey and her crush on him featured in that dream. He wasn’t a leader, he couldn’t lead the commune or the coven. No matter what they said, somehow the mirror had made a mistake. As he opened the door he considered himself very foolish, he realized at that moment in all his excitement he had forgotten to ask how exactly he could defeat the mirror.
“Frank’s home,” called out Heaven as he stepped into the dull hallway.
He patted the girl on the head.
Sophie came to see him, the look on her face told him she was exacerbated, was he wearing Audrey’s lipstick. Subconsciously he wiped the back of his hand across his lips, just in case.
“Good you’re home,” said Sophie.
The word home again, that word was what he took issue with, it was problematic. They never referred to the commune as home, and they had spent years there, the commune was the squat, but this house had morphed into a home, a place where families built happy memories. It wasn’t part of his jargon and adopting it was proving a challenge that he hoped he could adjust to.
“All the neighbors have been popping in. They’ve been super generous, and they’ve been bringing us things,” said Sophie, he could hear guilt in her voice.
“Really? What things?” asked Frank.
“Chicks for our new chicken coop, furniture for every room, honey from their hives, one even offered us a goat for milk, but I’d like it as a pet,” said Nevaeh as she came downstairs.
“Seriously?” asked Frank, looking at the expressions of both the woman.
“Apparently, they are very friendly here,” said Roger walking to join them in the hall.
“Did Sophie mention the moonshine that Mr. Creedy is brewing. He’s going to give me some and show me how to make my own cider.”
Frank felt overwhelmed and so he knew how his fellow commune members were feeling. Usually where they came from if you needed something and you didn’t have the money you bartered for it, offered your service in return. But for the Islanders to just give them things left his friends confused and worried as to how they would and could repay their neighbors.
He turned to the front room where Paul had been working on a fire. There was now a sofa in the room, it wasn’t new, but it was in good condition.
“Is that one of ours?” asked Frank.
Paul nodded, so he flopped onto it. They were all now spilling into the room and waiting for him to speak, but Frank didn’t want to, he had so much going on in his head this was just overwhelming, but he took a deep breath and tried to calm their fears.
“The people here are all excited to have us, and the Scottish have great hospitality. On the island people are self-sufficient, you know growing things in their gardens and so a lot of what they are giving us are things they can spare. We’ve all lived on the streets of London, and we’re not used to it, generosity that is and the sense of looking after our neighbors, so we are the problem here, we need to let it go.” Frank tried his best to sound reasonable.
“But some of the things. . .” Stacey had entered the room as he was speaking, his words hadn’t totally soothed her. She would be the one most uncomfortable with it. Stacey used to turn tricks to barter, she knew firsthand how much generosity could really cost.
He wanted to tell them, they were his real family. No matter how much the other Islanders insisted they were his relatives. Frank wanted to say, ‘they expect nothing more than me to be their leader as I am the head of their coven,’ but those words weren’t ones that he would let escape from his mouth.
“It’s best not to look a gift horse in the mouth,” Frank said, trying to finalize the conversation.
“Really? Well, don’t expect me to put that horse’s. . .in my mouth,” said Stacey, self-moderating when she saw the twin girls.
Sophie moved to cover the ears of her daughters.
“The Islanders are really glad to have us here and Mr. Creedy, the post office guy, put out a word to the Islanders and people have dropped off stuff they aren’t using, that is all that’s happened. They even want us to go to one of their Islanders meetings,” said Frank rubbing his forehead.
“He came by too with a bottle of moonshine and instructions on how to plant an apple orchard.”
“Well when we get a chance and the house is tidy we should invite all the Islanders over, you know, get to know them properly.”
“What like a housewarming party?” asked Phil.
“Something like that, yes,” said Frank.
“Are we going to have a party Mom?” asked Heaven.
“I think so,” said Sophie as she led the girls out of the room. The other followed her out of the room, and Frank rubbed his forehead trying to get his feelings to subside.
Stacey sat on the other end of the sofa looking Frank dead in the eye. He knew she would be the toughest nut to crack.
“It’s not right Frank, you can’t take these peoples things. There will be some way in which you’ll pay, and you know that as well as I!”
Frank nodded, if that was her only warning so far he got off lightly.
“Once you see what they’ve come here with, you won’t want any part of it either. Nothing in life is free!”
He could have tried to calm her fears further, but he didn’t want to antagonize her. Instead, he just sighed and gave her a soft smile. She took the hint that he was tired and needed time to let it all seep in and she stood up and left him alone.
Frank looked into the crackling fire and thought about Audrey’s hair, how it whipped about the curves of her face. Although it wasn’t the same, he didn’t feel about her like he had with Jane. Jane had been electricity; her touch altered his life forever. Audrey was a steady sort of passionate girl with good stories. There wasn’t much of a comparison.
Resting his head against the back of the sofa he allowed his eyes to close.
Confounded by everything that had happened, he learned that he was the head of a coven and the Islanders wanted him to lead them. That made him sick to the depths of his stomach, he had never been a leader and he didn’t have the stomach for it, not even now. But he also learned that there was a way to defeat the mirror that hung in his bedroom. The mirror the Oban witches had used to make a covenant with the Devil herself.
Devil herself. . .Frank thought about that. Why was the Devil a woman, he always thought it was male? He thought about the witches burning and his bloodline being exterminated. The Oban witches hadn’t thought that was enough. Instead they needed to persecute them personally. It was a low blow. Who was the head of the Oban Coven? It was a question he would put to Audrey when he saw her next.
Moments later Stacey walked back into the room with heavy footsteps, the sound of her moving around forced his eyes to open.
“Please come here?” Frank asked calling her over and patting the seat next to him on the sofa.
She was dressed in her blue jeans, thick boots and was wearing an anorak.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I don’t want to live here Frank. I honestly don’t think I can.”
“Did something happen when I was out?” asked Frank wondering what or who was bothering Stacey. Immediately his mind raced toward Roger, they had been snapping at each other since thi
s trip began. In the commune they didn’t live anywhere near each other, so this was a new experience for them both.
“I just want to run away. I’m a young woman Frank, I can’t be here,” said Stacey.
He knew exactly how she felt, he wanted to escape too, he wanted to leave the island and the responsibilities that everyone expected him to assume.
“But you know there is only one ferry off the island, and that doesn’t leave until the morning,” said Frank.
She nodded, “Something about this place Frank, it just doesn’t feel right.”
He wondered if Stacey had picked up on the underlying current of what was playing out in the background that all the rest were unaware of.
“We just got here, are you sure you want to leave?”
“Not really, I mean it’s safe and steady, but I don’t think I can live like this. My instincts have taught me not to trust anyone and this place. . .I just can’t get used to it. I’ve tried I really have, getting stuck in with the house and everything, but I can’t trust their generosity,” Sophie confessed.
Neither could Frank, but unlike her, he knew what the Islanders wanted in return and that made all the difference.
“You know, you should give it a chance Stacey, I know you and I know how things have been, but this is a fresh start.”
“Sophie can give it a chance, she’s got her girls and somewhere safe to raise them, but for me, I know myself. I’m going to start sleeping with either Phil, Paul, or Roger or maybe all three and then I’m going to regret it.”
Frank laughed so hard tears rolled along his face. How was she able to make him laugh so easily? it was exactly what he needed.
“No offense Frank, but I know you’re caught up on some old-time love. Otherwise, you’d be included in my list.”
Frank put his arm around her and pulled her in for a hug.
“If you want to go, no one is stopping you. You have my permission, if you want to come back at any point, then this house for as long as we are here is going to be open to you.”
He couldn’t pretend any longer that he wasn’t the leader of the commune, he knew that Sophie was looking for his permission, she wanted him to know that she planned to leave on good terms. He could breathe a sigh of relief. He wanted to ask her, how did she know about the love that was now gone, about Jane, but then he realized that he wore his lost love on his sleeve. She hadn’t needed to be a genius to work that out. So, Stacey had decided, and he had given his blessing.
They congregated for a leaving meal for Stacey in the kitchen, and the youngest girls took the news badly.
“Stacey if you leave there will be more boys in the house then us girls. We’ll be outnumbered,” said Nevaeh.
Stacey ruffled her hair, “You’ll be alright you have all these big men to protect you.”
Frank smiled, he knew that was how he felt about the girls, he was their protector.
The next morning, they all left the house and walked with Stacey toward the jetty. They stood together as they waved her away. Frank was a little sad she was leaving so soon although he held his emotions in. Truth be told it took all his willpower to not jump onto the boat and join her. That was all that had been on his mind since he had started hearing odd conversations about Covens and Wicca. But he couldn’t because he had brought them here, and they wanted to stay. Frank thought and hoped secretly that one by one they would leave, then finally he too could then leave. Mrs. Boswell had told him that they still had his money, so if he could just get that back and somehow pass off his inheritance, he would be able to get away.
Frank had always had a frosty relationship with his father but for the first time in his life, he wished he had taken more of his dad's heritage, and less from his moms. They stood and watched as the calm waters carried her away until the boat became smaller and smaller, and Stacey was finally gone. Seagulls followed the ferry and soon the lapping of water against the stone jetty and the dull yellow sand of the beach was all that was left. Slowly they turned and started the walk home.
None of them said a word, but he knew they were missing her already. Stacey had a knack for saying what was exactly on all their minds. As they came into view of the house, Frank could see Audrey standing next to the gate, she had sunglasses on and wore a light blue summer dress that flowed in the breeze. She looked like a Parisian model, and he remembered that she had the same effect on him when he met her at his mom’s funeral.
“Excuse me,” he said before running ahead.
They spoke quietly while the others filed past into the Farm House. He knew Sophie was watching with an eagle eye, and Frank hoped that Audrey didn’t kiss him. Not in front of Sophie and the children. Subtly he led her away from the house he knew he couldn’t trust that she would behave, he took her out of view.
7
Attraction
When Frank stepped back into the house he felt their eyes scan him from top to bottom.
“She must have been the only neighbor who didn’t pop in to visit yesterday,” stated Phil.
“Yes, well she was busy.”
“Busy with you?” asked Paul laughing.
Frank felt himself stiffen. He wasn’t interested in being the butt of Paul and Phil’s jokes. He knew what those guys would do if a woman like Audrey threw herself at them.
Sophie said nothing, but it was really her words that they wanted to hear, and she knew that they expected her to make a comment.
“Well, I for one am glad to see that Frank is making friends with the locals,” she said. Her voice trailed behind her as she went into the kitchen. “Now will one of you gossips come and give me a hand in the kitchen, someone needs to do Stacey’s chores,” announced Sophie.
The word gossips confirmed it, they were living in his house and gossiping about him. Frank got to his feet, it only Sophie’s opinion that interested him. He wasn’t sure why, but he liked her energy, the nurturing nature that she brought out in them all. Maybe it was because she was a Mom, but the younger men didn’t appreciate it like Frank could.
“I’ll do it,” he announced as he left the men to their musings. The whole house was a lot cleaner than it had been before and he could see the effort that had gone into making it a home, he knew it had all been Sophie’s doing. She really wanted to make the house their home and their time on the island a success. He knew she needed stability and safety and the island was the safest places he had ever seen. Frank had lived with the house robbers and pickpockets, he had seen them come and go from the commune. But on this island, he was sure that if he left the back door wide open the only thing that would disturb them would be wildlife. They didn’t need to worry about drug dealers, stabbings or fights. The house was safe.
“Stacey had been helping until the last minute. She was beating the dust out of the curtains from your room,” said Sophie not looking at him.
“The dusting stick is in the back garden.”
Frank nodded acknowledgment before stepping outside. He glanced at all the mature trees which lined the property, he hadn’t been out here before.
The girls Heaven and Nevaeh were running around playing games.
Frank stopped to watch them. It was a minor victory to see them have the space to play and be outside. He couldn’t take this safety away from Sophie and the girls. It was tantamount to robbing the girls of a childhood. But he could not reconcile the contradiction of his fear and how good the place was for them, it was eating him up inside.
Picking up the stick he took his frustration out on the curtains, causing dust plumes to bellow into the air. He let out all his emotions as he beat the thick red velvet material.
“Who was your friend Frank?” asked Nevaeh.
He hadn’t noticed the girls had stop playing and come and stand next to him.
“Go away from here, you’ll get dust in your lungs,” Frank said, shooing them away.
“Was she your girlfriend?” asked Heaven from a safer distance.
“Girls don’t be c
heeky,” said Sophie as she stepped outside with a drink in her hand. Frank looked at her, she was normal, beautiful, a confident Mom of two, she had everything he could ever want. So, what was he doing with Audrey? Or even thinking of any of these women when upstairs hidden inside his mirror was Jane.
Sophie was looking less tired the longer they were here at the house, dark circles that had formed around her eyes were disappearing. He knew a lot of the improvement was due to the food they were eating, and the cleaner air they were breathing. Here on the island, it was a lot healthier than what they had access to from dumpsters back in London.
“Mr. Creedy thinks we can put a beehive in the back of the garden,” said Sophie changing the subject.
Offering the glass, she held to Frank he took a drink of the lemonade in large, thirsty gulps.
“If we do, we’ll have fresh local honey,” said Sophie.
He knew she was looking for his permission, again in his head he told her that they should leave but leave and go where? The girls were playing outside this place and it was safe for them.
“If that’s what you want to do then go ahead,” Frank said wiping his mouth after draining the last of the contents of the glass before passing it back.
She smiled at him and lingered, he knew she wanted to ask but he also knew she was hesitant not to overstep.
“Audrey, the woman from before, she’s Mrs. Boswell’s daughter,” he said justifying himself.
“Ahh, so more family?” Sophie said. She looked relieved.
“Yes.” Frank could feel his stomach lining start to contract, he knew he was telling her a half-truth, but how else could he describe her?