by Tim O'Rourke
It was then I remembered the young woman and her friends. I remembered how I had slaughtered each and every one of them. I got no pleasure at watching her crawl up the platform towards me, her eyes white and rolled back into her skull.
The sound of the doors closing snapped me out of my trance. I looked up and slipped between the narrow opening and into the carriage. The doors closed behind me. I pressed my nose against the window. The woman was now standing on the platform. She wore a perfectly white wedding dress, a veil pulled down over her face. In her hand she held a small posy of pink roses.
She raised the hand holding the posy and waved at me. “Be good, Jack,” she whispered as the train started to ease its way out of the station.
I lost sight of her as the train started to gather speed. It rocked from side to side as if going over a set of badly maintained points, and I fell backwards onto the seat. It was surprisingly comfortable and my bony arse sank down into it. At once I started to feel tired. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so sleepy before. I struggled to keep my eyes open as the train slid into the tunnel. My eyes closed and my head rocked forward as I fought the tiredness. I snapped my head back and opened my eyes. I was still in the tunnel but no longer on the train. It was like the carriage had disappeared all around me. I wasn’t sitting either, but crouching. The tunnel I was now in wasn’t wide enough for a train to pass through, let alone allow me to stand up. The tunnel walls were covered in mud – no, they were made of mud, as was the ground I was kneeling on.
“Where the fuck am I?” I breathed.
There was a noise ahead of me. I crawled forward on my hands and knees into the darkness and followed the sound. It sounded like someone was crawling through the tunnel ahead of me. I rounded a bend and stopped. There was a boy on his hands and knees. He was heading upwards towards a spot of light. It was then I realised where I was and who I was following. I was back in The Hollows and crawling after Isidor as he made his way above ground.
Chapter Fourteen
Potter
“What was that for?” I cried, jumping out of Kiera’s armchair and standing up. I put my hands to my face for the second time that day to stem the flow of blood gushing from my nose.
“That was for running out on me, Potter!” Kiera seethed behind me.
“Running out on you…?” I muttered, the warm sensation of blood flowing through my fingers stirring me awake somehow. Where was I? More importantly, when was I? I glanced around the apartment and realised I had been here before. This is where I’d come after leaving Hallowed Manor… after I’d gone in search of Sophie… this is where I’d discovered that picture of Kiera and her father. I glanced over at the table where I’d taken it from. There wasn’t any picture and I guessed the photographer hadn’t left it here yet.
“Don’t act all innocent,” Kiera said, now standing in front of me, hands on her hips. She was wearing her white police work shirt and black police issue trousers. “When you put in for that transfer to ‘C’ Division – you knew what you were doing… you were running away, Potter!”
“Running away…” I mumbled through the blood that was now congealing on my upper lip and chin. What the fuck was she talking about? And then like another sudden punch to the face, I realised I wasn’t talking to the Kiera I knew and loved, but the Kiera from this pushed world – the Kiera Lilly Blu warned me not to have any contact with. Had I fucked up so quickly? Sure I had – that was my style. I fucked everything up one way or another. It was what I was good at – my claim to fame. I had made fucking up an art form.
“How dare you stand there and pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about!” she said, stepping forward and pushing me in the chest with the balls of her hands.
I staggered backwards. She was truly pissed at me. Two different whens and wheres and nothing had changed very much. I still had the knack of making Kiera Hudson mad at me.
“Really, I don’t know…” I started, then stopped. How did she know my name and who I was? This was the first time we had met. I hadn’t come into contact with Kiera in this pushed world… not unless… unless… unless? I staggered backwards again, but not because I had been pushed by Kiera, but because of what was slowly dawning on me. I dropped back into her armchair by the tall bay window. Was there another Potter… another me in this pushed world? Had Kiera fallen in love with this other Potter? Christ, two Potters running around in the same world causing mayhem – things really were fucked up!
“Get up and get out!” Kiera snapped at me, hooking her thumb towards the door.
“Hang on, just hang on a minute,” I breathed, arming away the blood from beneath my nose. “I’m not sure I understand what’s going on here.”
“I think it’s perfectly clear to see what’s going on here, Potter,” she seethed, showing no signs of chilling out. “When you walked out on me over a year ago, you said you needed some space… some time on your own to get your head around things… you promised you would be in touch. But I didn’t hear a word from you… not so much as a postcard. All I did was say ‘I love you’ and you ran for the hills…”
“You love me?” I said, still trying to play catch-up and figure out what kind of relationship the Kiera and Potter from this world had shared.
“The word you’re searching for is loved!” she snapped. “I did love you, but not anymore, Potter. I have so gotten over you.”
“Really? I ran for the hills because you said you loved me…” I breathed, feeling really rather shocked. The Potter from this world seemed to be a bigger dickhead than me. I didn’t know if I should be pleased about that or not.
“Don’t you dare sit there and pretend there’s another reason you pulled the vanishing trick,” Kiera said, pointing her forefinger at me like a cop telling me my rights.
“I’m sure I didn’t run out on you because you said you loved me…” I started.
“So there was another reason, was there?” she snapped, her long, black hair falling about the sides of her pale face. “What was it, another woman?”
Was there another woman? How the fuck should I know. I wasn’t responsible for this other Potter. “No, there wasn’t another woman,” I said, looking straight back at her. “There could never be another woman like you, Kiera.”
“Oh, my God,” Kiera breathed out loud. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“Believe what?” I said, noticing the thousands and thousands of newspaper cuttings tacked to her apartment walls. This Kiera wasn’t so different to the Kiera I knew.
“You think you can waltz back into my life, pay me a few cheap compliments, and I’d fall straight back into your arms,” she said, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“I’m not here to pay you cheap compliments…” I started.
“So why are you here, Potter?” she demanded, tapping her foot restlessly on the carpet.
That was a good question… but how did I answer it? I couldn’t tell her the truth. “Erm… Erm…” I said, struggling to find an answer.
“You’re so full of shit, Potter,” Kiera said angrily. She reached down, took hold of the sleeve of my long black coat, and yanked me from her armchair.
“Look, I’m sorry…” I mumbled, my brain still racing to find the right words.
“It’s too late for sorry,” Kiera said, shoving me towards the front door of her apartment. She yanked it open. Staring out into the hall and not at me, she added, “Don’t ever break in to my home again, Potter, or I’ll have you arrested, even if I have to do it myself.”
I stepped out into the hall, and even before I’d had the chance to turn around and look back at her, Kiera had slammed the door shut behind me.
“Well, that couldn’t have gone any better,” I said under my breath, heading down the hall and out of the apartment block.
I stepped out onto the street. It was night and there was a fine drizzle in the air. Pulling the collar of my coat up around my neck, I headed into the darkness. I knew I couldn’t go too far from
Kiera’s apartment block if I were to try and catch the photographer. I would have to stay close by and keep watch on the apartment. But where could I hide? There were plenty of trees in the street, but if Lilly Blu thought I was going to hang out in a tree, she was sorely mistaken. I knew I was something close to a bat – but that was just taking the fucking piss. Then, in the light of an overhead streetlamp, I saw a narrow alleyway set between two houses across the street from Kiera’s apartment. I headed across the road into the alleyway. With the drizzle becoming a steady downpour, I leant against the rain-soaked wall and watched Kiera’s apartment block. I hoped the photographer put in an appearance sooner rather than later.
I took one of the cigarette packets I had stolen from the machine at the campsite from my coat pocket. I poked a smoke between my lips and tried to light it. Within seconds, the cigarette was little more than a soggy white stick as it soaked up the falling rain. I tossed it to the ground. This mission was turning to shit with every passing minute.
From my hiding place, I peered up at Kiera’s window. I saw the lamp light she had switched on go out. Was she going to bed? I wondered. Then, the front door opened, and Kiera appeared in the doorway. She was now wearing blue jeans, white T-shirt, and a waist-length black jacket. Kiera pulled the front door closed behind her and ran through the rain to a little red Mini parked at the kerb. I watched Kiera climb inside, turn on the headlamps, then start the engine. The car pulled away from the kerb and disappeared into the night.
Where was she going? I wondered. I reminded myself that whatever the Kiera in this pushed world did had nothing to do with me. She wasn’t my Kiera. But still, I was more than curious to know where she was going and what she was going to do when she got there. I stepped from my hiding place and glanced up the street. I could see the red taillights of her small car disappearing in the distance. Looking back at the apartment block, I knew I should stay and keep watch and wait for the photographer to show up. I looked again up the street and could see no sign of Kiera’s car. I looked back at the apartment block.
“Bollocks,” I whispered, rolling back my shoulders and releasing my wings.
Throwing my head back and spreading wide my jet-black and tatty wings, I shot up into the night sky after Kiera. I scanned the streets below, until I saw her car weaving its way through the narrow streets of Havensfield. She was heading towards town. I swooped overhead, hidden by the rain-filled clouds. With rain beating off my wings, I followed Kiera’s car until she pulled into the kerb and parked. Folding back my wings, I dropped sharply out of the night sky, landing behind some rubbish bins at the rear of a drab-looking pub. I could hear the sound of muffled laughter and conversation coming from inside.
With my wings withdrawing back into me, I headed around the side of the pub and onto the street. I peered around the side of the building to see Kiera climb from her car. She had parked outside a small Italian restaurant. It was then I saw someone step out from the shadows and approach her. All my instincts urged me to race across the road and protect her. I stopped myself. I saw Kiera turn around and smile sweetly at the man who had approached her. She then stood on tiptoes and kissed the guy gently on the cheek. The guy offered her his arm, which she took hold of as he led her smiling into the restaurant. It wasn’t the fact I’d seen Kiera kiss another man and take his arm that troubled me – well it did if I were to be honest – but it was the man himself. I stepped back into the shadows, my heart racing.
“John Miles?” I whispered. “Kiera Hudson is dating that fucking werewolf, Sparky!”
Chapter Fifteen
Jack
I followed Isidor at a safe distance as he crawled ahead of me. He reached the patch of pale white light, and I heard a wailing sound like unoiled hinges squeaking. I screwed my eyes into slits and could see Isidor was lifting back some kind of grill in the ground. Isidor hoisted himself up through the hole and disappeared above ground. On my hands and knees in the filthy mud of the tunnel, I crawled up towards the grill. Just before reaching it, I heard it swing back into place, as Isidor closed his entrance to the world above ground. I heard the sound of his feet head away. I waited for the thud of his footsteps to fade, then made my way towards the grill. Sliding my fingers through the bars, I pushed it up and open. I poked my head through the hole and peered out. There was what looked like a small woods, and in the distance I could see Isidor weaving his way through the trees, his back to me. It was winter above ground and bitter cold. Isidor was stripped to the waist. Didn’t he own a freaking coat? I wondered. The kid must have been freezing cold. Potter had always said the kid was dumb – perhaps he had been right about that one thing. I heaved myself out of the hole, and standing, I closed the grate. Looking at it, I guessed this was the place Potter had spoken about. This was where the photographer was going to leave the picture for Isidor to find. I stepped back away from the grate, and from behind a nearby tree, I stood and looked at it. How long would I have to wait for the photographer to show up? I wondered. Was it going to be hours? Days or weeks? How the fuck should I know? Then I remembered Potter saying that the picture was of Isidor and his girlfriend Melody Rose who had died. The picture surely then wouldn’t be placed in the grate until after the girl’s death or what would be the point? Was this girl dead already? Again, I didn’t know. Looking in the direction Isidor had headed, I knew there was only one way to be certain, and that was to follow the boy to discover exactly what the fuck was going on. So just like I had in the tunnel down in The Hollows, I followed Isidor at a distance as he made his way through the woods.
Isidor reached the treeline and I hung back. I watched him step out onto a sandy shore, which circled a lake. In a strange way it reminded me of the Dead Waters, hidden deep within the secret forest. I guessed this was Lake Lure Potter had mentioned. So far, so good, I figured. From my hiding place near the edge of the woods, I watched Isidor sit in the sand as the cold, black-looking water lapped at his feet. He shivered with the cold, wrapping his arms about his shoulders. It was then I noticed that the boy didn’t have the tattoos I had seen on him before. They must have come later. He didn’t look like the kind of kid that would go and have angry-looking black flames engraved all over his chest and up his arms and neck. He definitely didn’t look like the sort of kid who would have eyebrow piercings. Isidor looked like the sort who wouldn’t say shit even if his mouth was full of it. Something must have happened to change him, I figured. I don’t know how long I hid in those woods, but the winter sun started to drop on the horizon as if it were sinking beneath the lake and down into The Hollows. Then, from behind me, I heard a rustle and the sound of snapping twigs underfoot. I spun around, wondering who it might be. There was a young girl making her way through the woods towards the lake. I slunk back behind the trees and watched her. She had dull, light coloured hair, which she had dragged back into a bun. The girl wore what looked like a grey coloured bonnet on her head and this was fastened beneath her chin with a black cord of some kind. She looked sickly pale and she wore a long, plain dress, which matched the colour of her bonnet. Over the dress hung what appeared to be an apron, and on her feet she wore the most uncomfortable-looking shoes I had ever seen. She clomped forward in them through the trees and I watched her go. So this was Melody Rose? Fuck me, what did Isidor see in her? The kid was fucking dumb. He killed himself for that? I wondered in disbelief. And everyone said I was fucked in the head. I’d kill the girl – but jeez – to get my kicks, she had to be at least semi-attractive.
The girl reached the shore, and I saw Isidor look around at her. At first his young face beamed with delight at seeing her. Shit, he really did have the horn for her in a bad way. He needed to come on a night out with me. I could introduce Isidor to women who would do things to him that would make his hair and toes curl. But then his face seemed to change as it took on a more sullen look. At last he’s finally realised what a hag she is, I thought with a smile.
Melody said something, which I didn’t quite catch. Pricking up
my ears, I dared to inch closer through the trees to the shore.
“I waited all morning! I was freezing, Melody!” I heard Isidor bitch.
Being cold was the least of his worries, I thought.
“I’m really sorry,” Melody said, touching his arm.
“So you gonna tell me what you’ve been up to?” I heard Isidor ask.
Possessive too, I grinned. He really did have the hots for her. I would’ve killed the bitch if she had stood me up. Where was this kid’s fucking backbone?
“Aw, c’mon, I’ve said I’m sorry, haven’t I?” Melody smiled at him.
Don’t smile sweetheart, I grimaced. It really doesn’t do you any favours. It makes your face look like a plate with a crack in it.
“It’s not the fact that I was left waiting in the cold. I ran into Ray and his friends and they stole my coat,” Isidor groaned.
So that’s why the kid wasn’t wearing a coat, I realised. But that didn’t explain why he wasn’t wearing it now. He must have let whoever this Ray dude was get away. What was wrong with this kid? You don’t let anyone steal from you. If anyone tries, you rip off their fucking face then go around and have some fun with their entire family while you force the thief to watch. Jeez, this boy needed to toughen up. What a pussy! He needs to spend some quality time with Uncle Jack, I smiled to myself.
“Poor Isidor. No wonder you’re so cold.” I heard the girl sigh.
Oh, my God, I thought. These two fucking deserve each other. “Poor Isidor,” I mimicked under my breath. “Tell the fuck-wit to toughen up – to be a man, for Christ’s sake. What is wrong with these kids?”
Then, as if I were unable to believe what I was seeing, the girl stepped forward and gently wrapped her arms around Isidor as if trying to warm him. They gazed into each other’s eyes. Clutching at my stomach, I crouched down behind the tree I was hidden behind and vomited. Ropy lumps of puke and bile swung from my chin and I cuffed it away with my hands.