Half Life

by Heather Atkinson

  I don’t get my wish.

  The next morning the place is still entombed in its miserable wood panelling and Dominic’s portrait scowls down at me.

  “I’m so sorry,” I whisper to his image.

  I recall something my grandfather told me shortly before he died. He said the house was in possession of a great secret, one so incredible that he could not tell me what it was without risk of me thinking him mad. As he was dying and doped up on painkillers at the time I paid his words no heed. Now I know exactly what he had been referring to.

  Every day I pray the strange rift in time will open up and allow me to meet with Dominic just once more. Whenever I enter a room in the house I hope it will be filled with figures in grand hooped dresses and breeches but it never happens. So I pour all my energy into the house and ensuring its upkeep. I consider ripping out all the hideous wood panelling that represents Dominic’s sorrow and restoring it to its former glory but it’s a listed building so I’m not allowed. Every week the tourists enter the house and roam its rooms in wonder. They stare up at Dominic’s portrait and say what an unpleasant-looking individual he is, which fills me with fury because I know what he really is but I keep my own counsel and tell no one about what I had experienced, not even Ellie who is my best friend in the world. She and Tom help me run the estate, which is just managing to keep its head above water. When we start opening it up to wedding parties we actually begin to make money and life falls into a happy rhythm. However there is a void inside me that only a return to the past can fill but it never happens.

  It is a year to the day from the last masked ball and I have decided to hold another. I’ve told everyone I want to make it an annual tradition on the same night each year, as a gimmick to attract business. However my real reason is that I hope it will open the same gateway that the last one did.

  Once again I am disappointed. The party itself is a hit with even more guests in attendance but the signs of modern times remain stubbornly put. There are no flickering candles and no one has the first clue how to dance a Quadrille. Instead the masked gowned figures gyrate to Lady Gaga and Beyonce.

  “What’s up with you?” frowns Ellie, breathless from dancing. “The party’s a hit. Now will you please enjoy yourself?”

  “Sorry, I’ve just got a bit of a headache.”

  “Have some champers, that’ll get rid of it.”

  “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Go and enjoy yourself. Tom looks lonely dancing on his own.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  “I am. Really,” I reply, forcing a smile.

  I watch my little sister twirl back onto the dance floor into the arms of her husband and feel a pang of envy, wishing I could find what she has.

  “May I have the honour of this dance?” says a deep voice in my ear.

  Startled, I turn to find myself staring into a pair of black eyes.

  “Dominic?” I murmur in astonishment. He pulls off his mask and I gasp in amazement. “How?”

  “I do not know,” he smiles, touching my face. “I was hosting my own ball and suddenly found myself here.” He frowns. “What is that dreadful noise?”

  “Lady Gaga.”

  “Lady Gaga? Peculiar name. Is she of an old lineage?”

  I can’t help but smile. “I don’t think so. Come on then.”

  He freezes as he regards the wild dancing Ellie and Tom are engaged in. “I don’t think I can do that.”

  I take his hand and lead him to the edge of the floor. “All you have to do is hold me close.”

  “I think I can manage that,” he smiles, dipping his head to kiss me.

  From the corner of my eye I see Ellie and Tom staring in amazement as I kiss the tall dark handsome stranger. Fortunately Dominic is so changed from his portrait they don’t recognise him.

  “How long will you stay?” I say.

  “I do not know but I would like to make the most of it.”

  “Alright,” I smile happily, kissing him again.

  As I rest my head on his shoulder I see the dark wood has gone from the walls, which are once again bright and happy. Beneath our feet the creamy marble gleams as we moved together blissfully.

  AUTUMN LEAVES

  Ella donned her black hat and sighed at the lined face staring back at her in the mirror. Once she’d been called a beauty but time had effectively erased all that. Now she was just another white haired old lady. Her liver-spotted hand went up to touch the worn fabric of the hat and she smiled wistfully. Despite its battered appearance she still loved it because it had led her to him, to Philip.

  As she gazed into her own rheumy eyes that had once been a vibrant green she was transported back forty years.

  Ella had just purchased her brand new black velvet hat and was proudly strolling through the park to show it off. Suddenly a gust of wind blew it clean off her head.

  “No,” she cried, attempting to make chase in her impossibly high heels, the sight causing a group of children to laugh.

  She chased it through the autumn leaves strewn across the path and every time she got close the wind would take it away again. Suddenly the hat was swept up by a large hand and she found herself gazing into a pair of intense blue eyes.

  The hat forgotten, she stared in wonder at the handsomest man she had ever seen dusting off her pride and joy. He held it out to her and unconsciously she took it, unable to draw her eyes from his own twinkling blue ones, the jet black hair and lop-sided grin.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He extended that big strong hand for her to shake. “Philip.”

  “Ella,” she replied breathlessly.

  “Nice hat,” he smiled.

  “Thanks,” she murmured, still stunned.

  “So Ella, do you live around here?”

  “Yes,” she replied smoothly, recovering her composure.

  “I’m new to the area. I’ve just moved up from the south and I’m getting acquainted with the town.”

  “Oh well there’s plenty to do,” she babbled, ending with an inane giggle and she kicked herself inwardly.

  He gave her another lopsided grin that sent her pulse racing and her cheeks reddened.

  “I was going to get something to eat, if you’d care to join me?” he said.

  “Yes thank you,” she smiled coyly, her new hat suddenly forgotten.

  “Meet me in the park,” Philip had told her the last time they’d been together, before he‘d left her.

  She hadn’t understood what he’d meant because that park had been flattened thirty years ago to make way for a housing estate. However she had promised and Ella never broke her promises, although she wasn’t sure how she would fulfil this one.

  Picking up her handbag she went and sat in the living room to wait for the car to arrive. Without warning her eyes grew heavy and her head started to nod. She tried to fight it but couldn’t.

  I hate being old, she thought angrily.

  “Open your eyes.”

  The whisper startled her and when her eyelids flew open she received the shock of her life. She wasn’t in her front room anymore. Instead she was sat on a bench in the park where she had first met Philip. It was autumn again, the breeze scattering russet coloured leaves about her feet. Although she still wore the same old lady clothes her hands were no longer wrinkled, the liver spots gone. Touching her face she felt the skin was smooth and soft.

  “I’m young again,” she murmured in astonishment.

  Looking up she saw a figure approach, the wind ruffling his jet black hair.

  Ella got to her feet with an agility she hadn’t felt in years, her eyes narrowing as she studied the man.

  “Philip,” she cried.

  She ran into his open arms and buried her face in his chest, enjoying his familiar scent.

  She looked up into his twinkling blue eyes, the same lopsided grin on his face.

  “I’ve missed you. Please don’t ever leave me again,” she wept.

  Tender
ly he cupped her face in his hands, just as he had always done. “I’ve not left you, I never could. I am always with you.”

  He wiped away her tears with the tips of his thumbs.

  “You feel so real,” she said.

  Gently he pressed his lips to hers, the wind whipping up around them, showering them with leaves but still the kiss went on and on.

  “I am real,” he breathed in her ear. “Now it’s time for you to go.”

  “No,” she sobbed. “Please don’t send me away.”

  “You must go back,” he said, his voice growing faint.

  “I don’t want to.”

  He was pulled from her arms and she watched him retreat into the distance.

  “Philip,” she cried, reaching out to him.

  “Mum.”

  Ella slowly opened her eyes to find her eldest daughter Winifred and her friend Margaret staring at her with concern.

  Just a dream, she thought sadly.

  “Are you alright?” said Winifred, anxiety clear in her blue eyes so like her father’s.

  “Yes, why?” she replied, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

  “You went a bit…strange,” frowned Margaret.

  “What do you mean, strange?”

  “You were looking up at the ceiling talking to someone but we couldn’t tell what you were saying.”

  “I’m fine,” she said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “I must have dropped off.”

  They both looked doubtful but were more than happy to accept her explanation.

  “The hearse is here Mum,” said Winifred quietly.

  Ella glanced at the photo of Philip on the coffee table, taken years before the massive stroke that took him away just last week. Then she gritted her teeth and slowly rose, her joints creaking.

  “I’m ready.”

  Feeling steady for the first time since Philip’s death, Ella led the way and pulled open the front door. Despite the fact that it was the middle of July and scorching hot a cold breeze hit them, the front garden swirling wildly with orange, red and brown leaves, making Ella smile.

  THE END

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  Many thanks for downloading and reading these stories. As an author struggling to get a publishing contract it means so much to me.

  If you did enjoy Half Life I have two historical paranormal novels on Amazon Kindle, Lady Maskery and Bleed Through. I also have a quadrilogy of books called The A-List, which is about vampires in Hollywood.

  Alternatively I have put a new novel on Amazon Kindle. ‘Breaking Away’ is a tale about serial killers, stalking and domestic abuse set in modern day Manchester, England. Please note this is NOT a cosy mystery and contains sex, strong language and violence. However, if you are intrigued please take a look at the first chapter below. Once again, many thanks.

  CHAPTER 1

  Laura screamed as the fist connected with the wall behind her head. Darryl, the man she had once loved so passionately glared down at her, blue eyes ice cold as he retracted his massive fist. As usual she wasn’t sure what had sparked off this particular rage. It could be anything these days, a single look, a word, she’d given up trying to understand long ago. Now she just concentrated on not upsetting him but it was becoming harder and harder to avoid.

  Often he would go on to tear their beautiful house apart, smashing vases and hurling ornaments. Yet sometimes the fear in her eyes could recall him to his senses and thankfully this was one of those times.

  “Laura, I’m so sorry” he breathed gently.

  She was too afraid to respond. Her hands were shaking and her legs felt like jelly. She used to adore his size and strength. Now it scared her.

  He pulled her to him, those powerful arms she’d once loved holding her tightly, like a living breathing prison.

  “You must be careful not to make me angry,” he said gently but chidingly, as though it was her fault.

  “What did I do?” she said helplessly.

  His eyes flashed angrily. “You know. Let’s not go over it again.”

  She had no idea what she’d done but wasn’t about to push the issue.

  Cupping her face he kissed her with a tenderness that always accompanied one of his ‘episodes’ and she had to force herself not to recoil.

  He sighed and touched the dent he’d put in the wall. “Looks like we’ll have to

  redecorate again.”

  She’d lost track of the amount of times they’d had to redecorate.

  Zak found Laura sat at the bar staring into her drink glumly and his green eyes flashed. Over the last two years he’d watch her slowly devolve from a confident, vibrant woman to nervous and withdrawn. She was strong and proud and did her best to hide her pain but Zak could see everything in her big blue eyes. He ran a hand through his dark hair anxiously. It hurt him to know the cause of her pain was his so-called best friend, Darryl.

  When Laura saw him approach she forced the smile back on her face.

  “Hi Zak,” she said breezily, as though she hadn’t a care in the world.

  “Alright, what’s happened?” he said before ordering a beer.

  Recently she’d started opening up to him, after much coaxing. He knew she was scared and trapped and he was desperate to help but he couldn’t until she let him.

  Laura opened her mouth to reply but her eyes moved behind him and she promptly closed it again.

  Darryl came up to them, wrapping a possessive arm around her shoulders. Laura did her best to hide it but Zak saw her tense. At six foot one Zak wasn’t exactly small but Darryl dwarfed him. He worked out obsessively, consequently he was a very commanding figure and with his thick blond hair and big biceps he resembled a viking. In his police uniform he was positively terrifying. Zak was the only person Darryl was wary of but that was only thanks to the years of martial arts training. Not even Darryl would take Zak on.

  “So how are things in CID?” said Darryl, taking a swig of beer.

  His tone was light but his eyes flashed with jealousy. Although he and Darryl had trained together and joined the South Manchester police force at the same time, Zak had been promoted to a DC while Darryl remained in uniform but he only had himself to blame. A few incidents of excessive force had ensured he was bypassed for promotion. Darryl was growing increasingly unstable and Laura was bearing the brunt of it.

  “Okay,” replied Zak with a shrug, as though it was no big deal, not wanting to give him an excuse for a row.

  Darryl’s jaw tensed and he took another swig of lager. Laura’s eyes widened slightly as she watched him and Zak knew she was praying he wouldn’t get drunk.

  “Is Tess coming tonight?” she asked Zak, tactfully changing the subject.

  He had to think about who she meant for a moment. “Oh yeah. She should be here soon.”

  He’d been seeing Tess for a few weeks but as long as Laura was around no other woman stood a chance. He’d loved her from the moment he met her two years ago.

  Tess appeared on queue and Zak sighed inwardly. One of the many things he liked about Laura was the air of elegance that surrounded her. She had great style, immaculate long dark hair and always looked like a lady. Tess tottered up to them in stilettos, blond hair extensions hanging to her waist, dress so short it was almost obscene and skin that hideous fake tan orange. He looked back at Laura perched so gracefully on a stool and sighed again.

  However what he did like about Tess was her ability to lighten an atmosphere. She launched into a funny anecdote about something that had happened in the hair salon where she worked and they all laughed, even Darryl then she started talking animatedly with Laura. Strangely these two women who were such complete opposites got on very well. Zak had purposefully rooted out women who were completely different to Laura to try and wean himself off her but it wasn’t working.

  He attempted to draw Darryl into conversation to give Laura a break but the paranoia was clear in his eyes.

  “What do you think they’re ta
lking about?”

  “Dunno, just women’s stuff,” Zak replied casually in an attempt to disarm the situation.

  He continued to talk but Darryl’s attention was clearly elsewhere, despite the fact that Laura and Tess’ conversation was perfectly innocuous.

  “I’m just nipping to the loo,” said Tess, kissing Zak on the cheek. “Are you coming Laura?”

  Zak had never understood this peculiarity of women which meant they couldn’t go to the toilet on their own and wondered if there was some great secret men were unaware of.

  Laura almost got up until she caught the warning in Darryl’s eyes.

  “No I’m okay,” she mumbled, settling back on her stool.

  Tess gave Darryl a hard look before striding off, which he seemed oblivious to. Zak was pleased when a moment later Darryl’s mobile rang and he went outside to answer it. Zak watched him suspiciously. He was certain he was cheating on Laura, which meant he was insane as well as unhinged. Strangely Darryl was always happy to leave Laura alone with him. If he only knew.

  “Talk to me Laura,” said Zak softly.

  “About what?” she said sunnily.

  “You know. What’s he done now?”

  The smile dropped. “How do you always know?”

  “I’m a copper remember.”

  “It was nothing. He just…punched a wall.”

  “Were you standing near it at the time?”

  “Yes,” she replied quietly, avoiding his eyes.

  He inhaled sharply as anger shot through him. “He’s losing it. You have to get out. I’ve seen too many women who left it too late.”

  “You know how he is. He’d never let me go,” she muttered into her drink. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be telling me to stay with him? You’re his best friend.”

  Zak knew this was why it had taken her so long to open up to him, until he‘d assured her he was on her side. “We both know he’s not the same Darryl anymore.”

  She nodded sadly.

  “I’m terrified of what he might do,” he said gently. “To you.”

  “I can take care of myself.”