by T H Paul
Jack stood, reaching for Penny, who took his outstretched hand and the couple moved down the aisle together, and off the train. The sky was full of gulls, and there was a smell of salt in the air that only happened in coastal towns. Watching the birds high above, Jack couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like to fly.
7
Before I was able to grant Jack his wish and make him fly, I had to undergo that next hour. Had I been in any doubt as to what I was about to do––and I don’t think I was––the next hour would have firmly set my mind in gear. He was a beast, a wild animal that no one could tame. He was no longer safe, either. I would be doing humanity a great service, though, of course, could never let anyone know that fact.
It’s amazing what can happen during one ninety minute train journey, however. I’d shared my heart, actually shared my secret with someone, and that had felt amazing, even if it was with Jack. Why had it always and only been with Jack? I don’t know if it was that, my vulnerability, my openness, my honesty, but Jack seemed to attach himself to me as strongly as ever. It was as if our conversation had awakened a desire in him for me that I thought I’d managed to extinguish. As we walked from Margate station, that sunny August day, he couldn’t keep his hands off me.
Penny, being led by the hand, as the two lovebirds––to the outside eye––were walking down that crowded station, had her mind on other things. She wasn’t seeing the birds flying all around, as gulls and pigeons alike played daredevil with each other, looking for crumbs dropped by the people below them. Penny didn’t see the mostly cloudless sky, the sound of an amusement arcade somewhere in the distance, screams going up every few seconds. Her mind, at that moment, was in a very different place.
Jack had said they needed to get some supplies––they hadn’t got lunch with them, and had travelled quite light. Penny spotted a food shop, to which Jack seemed as if it hadn’t been the one he had in mind, but they approached it anyway, Jack making out as if he wanted to walk past the front door and on towards an alley before Penny yanked his arm back.
“No, I have money, we’re paying for what we take, okay.” It wasn’t a request. Jack looked slightly annoyed, but let it pass.
“Fine, suit yourself,” he said, following her into the mini supermarket, and Penny picked up a basket, grabbing a few items for them both, Jack like a shadow behind her, watching Penny and nothing else. He couldn’t get over the fact he was here with her, alone, just two people on a day away. Jack felt alive for the first time in weeks. He had just about given up hope with Penny, but then she had turned around and surprised him. She’d also shown a new side of herself that Jack could never have imagined. It made total sense as he thought about it. Why had he never thought about it before? Suddenly, Penny Black was the hottest girl in his whole world, and she was his. All his, and for the day, nobody else around them knew who they were, and besides his sister Lucy who he’d mentioned things to as he’d rushed from home that morning, no one on the entire planet knew that the two of them were together in Margate; alone.
Jack was looking forward to getting some time with Penny after lunch with just the two of them, somewhere secluded, somewhere private. He was looking forward to eating, looking forward to flying, and particularly looking forward to anything else that might happen in between the two. He was anticipating that most of all.
Penny was at the checkout, Jack just waiting to one side. He’d spotted a pharmacy next door to the shop they were in and would pop in there next, invisible, he was sure. He didn’t care what Penny felt about that one. Penny looked up, having now paid the bill and walked towards Jack with a bagful of products, both heading towards the door without saying anything. They turned left, Jack pausing at the next shop.
“I’m going in here. Stay here and open the doors for me,” Jack said, vanishing in an instant––besides the briefest of checks, he’d just gone ahead with it. Reckless and stupid, and Penny couldn’t help but shudder, waiting for the screams from anyone nearby who had just seen a boy vanish. Thankfully there wasn’t anything.
“Move already!” Jack demanded, Penny stepping forward though not going into the shop herself, the automatic doors opening and Jack, she presumed, entering into the store alone. She was angry that he was stealing. She had money, and they already had their shopping––it was as if he had to steal, regardless. Just like an addict. Just like her mother, whose choice of evil was a bottle of alcohol.
A few seconds later, Penny heard a tap––it must have been Jack knocking the inside of the now shut doors––and Penny turned on the spot, still staying on the pavement, her back now to the pharmacy, but enough movement to make the door open once more. She felt Jack touch her backside, the two of them moving away from the spot, which was now too busy for Jack to reappear, though he seemed in no hurry. Invisible, he seemed quite at ease to be grabbing Penny’s rear, as if he knew she could hardly react; as if Jack knew he had free reign. Jack was more than happy to be invisible for the foreseeable future. He felt powerful; invincible.
Two minutes later, however, now down a quiet street, Jack did reappear, Penny instantly turning to face him, knocking his hand from molesting her frontside before he even got close. He smiled.
“Like that, did you?” His eyes showed the same gross eagerness she had seen before, a side to him only very few people knew. Penny didn’t answer him.
“What did you take?” Her own eyes were fiery, though that only seemed to egg Jack on all the more.
“Why?”
“Because I said we weren’t stealing our lunch. I have money.”
“This isn’t lunch.”
“What did you take?” She wasn’t going to move until she had an answer.
“Go to hell!” he retorted.
“Jack,” she said, in a motherly tone, making it clear their day was over if he didn’t respond, as she wasn’t going to move from that spot without the truth. She needed to know what he had just taken from the pharmacy. He reached into his pocket reluctantly and pulled out a small orange box, which contained three condoms. “Why?” she said, repulsed that he had to steal something like these, even more so that he had felt happy to do so in front of her. Then she cottoned on that he probably hoped to use them with her––of which she knew there was no chance.
“Why do you think?” His smile gave him away.
“Jack, I don’t have the words to say how way out of line you are.”
“Penny, come on! We’ve been dating for months, we’ve kissed loads, yet you’ve never put out.”
“Put out?”
“Put out.” Penny was unfamiliar with the term but got its meaning from his expression as he repeated the phrase.
“No!” she said, turning away. Maybe the plan had been no good from the very beginning? Jack grabbed her wrist, stopping her from turning completely away, pulling her back to face him again.
“Why? I don’t understand. I thought you liked me?”
“Liked you?”
“You’ve just shared your biggest secret with me. That was super sexy, I’ve got to tell you.” Sexy was the last word Penny would have used for it or assumed anyone else in their right mind would have chosen to use. However, she realised Jack was far from anybody, far from possessing a right mind. “And I wanted to be able to share with you my biggest talent,” he said.
“No, Jack!” she said again. Her first time wasn’t going to be with Jack the Rapist Ferguson.
He swore at her, angry that his girlfriend wouldn’t listen to him.
“Give me one good reason why not?” he demanded after a few seconds when neither had broken eye contact with the other.
“Abbey Lawrence,” is all she said, Penny looking away.
“You still going on about that?” he said, as if it was old news, ancient already, long forgotten by now.
“You raped her, Jack.” He couldn’t deny that.
“I didn’t know what I was doing, Penn, and I’m different now. Let me show you.” She could see he was anyt
hing but different.
“You didn’t give her that same option, though, Jack, did you? You took it from her the moment you decided to push her to the ground. To me, you’ll always be the boy who raped Abbey, Jack. I’m sorry. I’ll always see it happening before my eyes.”
It was just the two of them, no foot traffic around, and only cars moving noisily at the nearby junction. Their raised voices brought them no unwanted attention.
“Then why are we even together?” Penny thought she spotted hurt, confusion even, in those still glowing eyes of his. She didn’t have an answer for him and sensed she would lose him altogether with a carelessly phrased response.
“Look, I like you,” she forced herself to say, though a large part of her believed that, and it was true. She had always liked Jack. The majority of her––her better sense––loathed him, however, and it was this part of her that was protecting her from further harm. “Can we just walk, find somewhere quiet to eat our picnic, and just see.”
“Just see?” Maybe there was hope for him yet, he sensed. She nodded down at his right hand, the box of Durex still clutched tightly between his fingers.
“Just see,” she repeated, Jack smiling and releasing her hand finally, Penny shaking the blood back into her fingers, the numbness leaving after about a minute. They walked in silence. Penny knew she needed to keep him onside for now, and that meant walking very near to the edge in the meantime. She would have to be careful, but she needed him to trust her. If that required certain risks on her part, then so be it.
Lunch had felt like the last supper for Penny. She couldn’t help feeling that he was counting down every mouthful, savouring every bite, knowing they were moving towards finishing their food––one appetite satisfied––another surely soon to be dealt with, also.
Jack pushed the bag of crisps to one side finally; clearly, he’d had enough of waiting. He moved next to her, leaning forwards and kissing her a little on the lips, which she returned. They stayed like that for a moment, before Jack was using his hands again, first on her thighs, and then higher. Penny couldn’t help feel panic rushing her, like seawater in a sinking ship. She was drowning. She pulled away, knocking his hand from her breast.
“Stop, Jack, it’s too much.”
“I’ll go easy on you, I promise,” he said, though still, his hands were all over her, like an octopus in heat. It was as if he knew he couldn’t break contact with her; she was the charge his electrical body needed.
“No,” she said, a little more forcefully, moving to get herself up, which she did after a moment’s struggle. “All I can see is Abbey in that woods and what you did to her.”
Jack swore violently.
“Screw Abbey. It's now, not then.”
“But it doesn’t change what you did.”
“Nothing will. Move on.”
“Move on? You raped her. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
“It's not raping if you want it.”
“Would that stop you?” She knew he couldn’t answer that.
“Then don’t make me choose, okay?” Jack said as he began to take a step forward as if the debate was over. He was going to have Penny one way or the other. If he had to get rough, he would.
“NO!” she screamed, a thought passing her mind, as if subconscious, protective. She knew she hadn’t knowingly thought it. Make Jack repellant to me, like a magnet against another magnet. Jack was unable to get within three feet of Penny, despite his great effort. Each time he would hit a force greater than his strength.
“What have you done?” he said, trying to move towards her but he kept bouncing back. “What have you done, bitch?” he said again.
“Look, Jack, this is getting out of hand,” she said, confused herself at what had just happened. She recalled the thought, though she knew she had not put it there. Her gift had protected her again, it seemed. “I think you have to calm down.”
There was nothing like being forcefully repelled from a girl he was trying to get to have a calming effect instantly. He knew something bigger was happening; it was pointless even to try. Of course, she has powers, he thought, she was doing something.
“Make me fly, and then we are done,” he said as if the final terms of their negotiations. Do this one thing, and we’ll agree to go our separate ways.
“You want to fly?” She couldn’t hide her surprise.
“I need to hear you say it, though,” he said, a total lack of trust evident on his red face. He wasn’t going to let Penny trick him on this one. With flight and invisibility, he would truly be unstoppable.
“Okay,” she said. Jack showed obvious delight at her reply. So, it had finally come to the moment. The day after she had dealt with Abbey Lawrence and those running legs of hers, she was about to make a final payback to Jack.
8
He would have raped me; I was sure, had that manifestation not protected me from him. I don’t know how it happened, either. I’m glad it did.
That walk from the station to where we were to have lunch together for the last time was to prove beyond any measure of doubt the devastating effect I’d had on Jack Ferguson because of what I’d done to his young body. I had changed him the moment I messed with him. I still shudder when I’m forced to recall that moment.
Like that lemon that I could not undo. Like the increase to Kelly’s breasts that I never did try to reverse. Jack's wiring altered from the moment I intervened, his disposition set towards anger, rage and sexual violence.
As much as I felt guilty, as much as that was my fault, what was left was still a dangerous human being. He was still a boy, really, yet was capable of so much. I’d seen the things he was into––these were the areas I’d discovered. I could only imagine what was lurking in the depths, the things he kept hidden.
He had to pay. He had to go.
“You’ll make me fly?” Jack had repeated, standing on that grassy bank, just the two of them. The weather had turned a lot over lunch, mirroring their spirits at that moment––cloudy and full of threat. They were a little way from the beach, a beach area that was now nearly empty, the August weather far from summery. Still, there was no way he could fly in full view of everyone.
“You’ll need to be invisible. I don’t think it’s wise to fly where people can see you.”
Jack looked out to sea. It was wavy, white horses visible crashing against the stony beach, a few people out with metal detectors. He didn’t mind agreeing to be invisible, and he had the chance to control it, anyway. Once she had given him the gift, he could do whatever he liked. She could go to hell. He’d thought this one through––he would make sure he was safe. She was making him into a superhero.
Penny glanced at her watch, the time showing it was nearly half past one in the afternoon.
Jack turned back to her, still three feet from her. He couldn’t get any closer.
“So, let’s do it then,” he said, going invisible at that moment, his sudden disappearance still bringing a spike of fear for Penny, but she knew he couldn’t come any closer, he wasn’t about to jump on her, push her to the ground, hurt her. Violate her. “Out loud,” he reminded her, his voice bringing her back into the moment.
She was about to give Jack the gift of flight. She had been thinking about this for months, pondering the pros and cons. Yet here she was, once again going through with something she had long since planned; if anything, the freshness of last night and Abbey’s downfall played more so on her mind at the moment. Jack deserved it far more than Abbey had.
“Make Jack have the ability to fly,” she said aloud, adding without pausing in her thoughts for ten minutes. As he was invisible, she had no way of knowing if he was already moving, at all, but his voice spoke again moments later from the same spot he had just been standing. He was still grounded, for now.
“Now give up your right to take away my gift, just as you did with my visibility.” He had thought this one through. There was no way he was going to fly without hearing her speak it f
irst. Penny, making out as if she was annoyed, however, had been expecting something like that from Jack. He was no fool.
“Jack will retain the ability as I have just given it,” she said. There was silence for a moment. “Well?” Penny added. Seconds later she heard the sound of him leaping up from the ground, though there was no landing. He was flying. The branches of a tree next to her and high up in the air moved violently, Jack apparently flying through them. Then he reappeared, twenty feet in the air, Penny looking up at him, her face in a particular panic.
“Jack, you promised!” she called.
“I didn’t promise anything, Black,” he said, dropping down as if to land next to her, but being repelled at the last moment. Her protection was a sphere right around her, he realised, not just a barrier. He landed on the ground.
“This is brilliant,” he said. Jack was beaming from ear to ear. Penny had not seen him so happy for months. It was as if the old Jack was back, the boy she had first fancied from year seven. Fun, carefree and cute Jack. He made a loop as he rose into the air again, racing up to cloud level––they were lower today, but still––reaching them in no time at all. Penny shouted up to him.
“Jack, you’ll be seen!” She doubted he could hear, not that he seemed as if he remotely cared. He was reckless. She glanced at her watch. It had been six minutes. He landed once more in front of her with a loud thump.
“You really don't have any control over me, Black, do you?” She shook her head, spotting in the distance a small aeroplane, right out to sea.
“See if you can reach that plane,” she said, pointing in front of her, the sound of the motor noticeable before Jack had managed to pinpoint the aircraft with his eyes. It must have been at least a few miles away.
“That’ll be easy,” he said, already jumping off the ground.