The Fenton Saga: Never Say Goodbye / There Was No Body.

by Colin Griffiths

  Sue, her mother had kept her promise not to tell her father that she could read minds again, what Madison had not told her was the extent of which her powers had returned, she could almost do it at will, not only that, she somehow felt different, all empowering, in control, she felt as she could do everything and she hadn’t felt like that for a year, then she gave that some thought and realised that she had never felt like this before. She was looking forward to the day, seeing everyone would be lovely, but she had told herself that she would not use the word memorial, because she always thought Todd was alive somewhere ‘there was no body’ She thought of Daniel, her big brother, if she could convince him, then she was sure he would convince the others. What they did then she didn’t know, and all sorts of thoughts went through her head.

  She grew excited now as the train approached Newport, those thoughts taken out of her head, she was now just an excited little girl who was about to see her family. She picked her bag from the rack, packed away her stuff as the train pulled into Newport station.

  She stood outside the station now, by the pick-up point, she was growing impatient as she waited. Daniel knew what time her train come in and it was ten minutes late so he should have been there by now. She checked inside the station foyer to see if he was there. She tried phoning him, his phone went onto answer phone, she grew angry, she was disappointed that he hadn’t turned up. She left him a message scalding him, she had a feeling inside her that he just didn’t care. Does any of them care about me, she thought, then she thought about her dopey lost brother and that perked her up a bit. She got into a taxi. ‘Ashbourne please’ she told the driver.

  She was a couple of minutes away from the café when her phone went, it was a text message, she opened her phone it was off Daniel, at last, she thought, to bloody late now, her face lit up when she read the text.

  Really, really sorry, something come up and I couldn’t, phone or text, explain later.

  Love you very much Mad,

  Ps. There was no body

  Xxx

  She tried to ring him back, it went onto answer phone, her face lit up, he did care ‘There was no body’ she told the driver and she laughed, the driver put his foot down, he wanted this girl out of his cab as soon as possible.

  *

  Roy slater woke up that morning in a panic, they still had four more nights in London, but Roy didn’t feel safe, he didn’t feel safe in London, he felt as if there was going to be a terrorist attack or something and wanted to take his wife and child as far away as possible A big argument pursued as Lia was really enjoying herself in London and there was so much she had not seen yet, but she could see the determination in her husband’s face and knew she should not argue. “We need to go to Wales.” he had told her, he had phoned a hotel in Cardiff and had managed to get them in for seven nights, he persuaded his wife that Wales was a beautiful place, and she would love it there and it was a complete different side of Britain, with castles and buildings that are older than America itself. He had really built it up to such an extent that Lia was now looking forward to it, also she didn’t fancy being caught up in some terrorist attack, but she put it all down as her husband’s nerves and that he had never left America before. After arguing unsuccessfully to get a refund from the hotel, they packed their bags in the suitcase of the hire car and pulled off from London heading for South Wales. Lia had managed to buy a book all about Wales and she was now looking through it planning the next week, places they could visit, and all of a sudden her frustrations had eased. Her husband was right

  “It looks a beautiful place.” she told him in the car, Connor uttered some words about going to a café and they both laughed. Roy was feeling much better now, every mile he drove seemed to ease the pressure inside him, now it’s time to enjoy our holiday, he thought, and the imaginary friend, the voice in his head told him the same. And as he drove he wondered if his Grandfather looked anything like his dead father, and why hadn’t the killers been caught and punished for killing the father he had never met. He knew somehow he had to avenge his father’s death, the killers must be brought to justice, he knew this because the voice told him so.

  “I’ve a feeling it’s going to be a wonderful day,” he said, and started singing ‘Summer Holiday’

  90 minutes later they saw the Severn Bridge in the distance and a sign saying ‘Welcome to Wales’, Roy felt like he belonged.

  “Yes it’s going to be a good day.” He said.

  “Wales!” said Connor, neither Roy nor Lia wondered when he had started to read.

  *

  James McCarthy woke up that morning, he had had a good sleep despite the previous day’s events where he had smelt death on two occasions. Today he was going to put that to the back of his mind, it was Todd’s memorial, a year to the day that he had disappeared, a year to the day that he had lost the ability to smell death. It had been the best year of his life since Elsie had died and he felt guilty for that, guilty because he didn’t think he should be having good years after the death of his wife, and guilty because today was the day they remembered the death of Todd Fenton, who had died a year ago today on a mountain, and he couldn’t save him, if he died at all.

  He would get through today, for the sake of the family and for the sake of Marie Rose, his cousin who was the reason he was enjoying life once more. They were reunited a year ago, she inspired him, made him think life was worth living once more. The Fenton’s weren’t as important to him as to Marie Rose, but he loved Madison and was fond of the others, and it was always good to have a member of parliament in the family. He thought Carol was a good mum and mourned her loss, if there was a loss at all, he would occasionally tell himself.

  He dressed in his best suit, he had tried ringing Marie Rose a number of times but it had gone straight onto answer phone, but he didn’t think too much of it, she wasn’t good with technology and probably the battery had run flat. Although she only lived a couple of streets away, he took his jeep so they could leave from there to Ashbourne. He left for hers earlier than intended, he guessed that Marie Rose would need some help with something or other, he knew what she was like, always rushing about yet achieving nothing. She would go around the bungalow twice making sure everything was switched off, and every time they would go out somewhere for the day, 10 minutes into the journey she would ask if she had locked the door. “I can’t remember.” she would say, and every time James had to reassure her that he had checked and she had, and he loved that about her, all the trivial things she found so important made her special to him. He pulled up outside her bungalow, feeling good, it’s going to be a good day, he thought.

  He went around the back way as he wanted to see the garden and see if the flowers he replanted had taken, he was pleased to see they had and the garden was back to its former glory. He checked the soil, it was dry, the hot summer drying the ground very quickly, he would have to give them a good soaking before he left. He noticed the back door open to the kitchen and he called out her name, there was no answer and he guessed she was getting changed, he would have to hurry her up, time was getting on, he didn’t want them to be late,

  “Hurry up we got 20 minutes,” he shouted through the door, then turned the outside tap on and started to water the flower beds. 10 minutes later there was still no sight or sound of Marie Rose, he turned the water off, went into the living room through the kitchen…….

  He shrunk to his knees and screamed like a baby when he saw her. His heart raced and his stomach felt like it was leaving his body. He could only remember feeling as cold and as shocked like this once before, when his wife had died. Marie Rose was sat in the chair, her body limp and cold, her eyes were closed but she had a bit of a smile on her face. He put his hands to his head and squeezed tightly as if he was trying to shake the demons out of his head, he curled up into a ball and cried like a baby and he thought of Elsie and hoped she was with her. James McCarthy wanted to die then. Die and be with the two people he loved the most.

&n
bsp; Fifteen minutes later, all cried out, he stood before her, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialled Daniels number, he turned it off just before it connected, he couldn’t tell them now, it would have to be after the memorial. He looked around the room, he noticed the crystal ball on the floor, she never used that anymore, he wondered why it was there, then he saw the dent in the wall and realised why it was there. Someone had thrown it with some force, but Marie Rose could not have done that, she wasn’t that strong. Then he thought back to yesterday as he was sat at home and he smelt death and thought it was the elderly guy walking past, then he knew it wasn’t, it was his beloved cousin, his beloved Marie Rose, and someone else was here when she died, she wasn’t alone. He stroked her forehead, she was cold enough to have been here all night, who’s done this, he thought, he wondered what she was smiling at as she died, as he picked up the phone to dial 999 he could barely get his words out as he spoke.

  He sat holding her hands, he didn’t want to leave her alone, and he spoke to her as he sat, told her how much he loved her and how she had changed his life forever, and that he would miss her so much, and he hoped her ending was a peaceful one, and sometime soon they will meet again in a better place. He asked her to say hello to his Elsie, to tell her he loved and missed her, he told her all those things and more. As soon as he heard the sirens, he stood, kissed her, he said goodbye to her and got in his car and as he turned the corner an ambulance and police car pulled up.

  He parked up a few streets away, he needed to compose himself, what was he going to tell the others. He wondered what his life would be like now without her, she was all he had, he drew some comfort that she and Elsie would be together and Elsie would love her, he hoped she would. He also drew some comfort from the fact that he himself was old and he hadn’t too many years left, so soon he would be joining them both, and he knew that in heaven, there were no tears and the sun always shone, shades of grey didn’t exist, and there was no smelling of death, because death didn’t exist in heaven. He took a deep breath to try to draw comfort of what little thoughts he had. With an empty and broken heart, he drove towards Ashbourne to attend a memorial, it’s going to be a horrible day. He told himself.

  Chapter 36

  He had woke up feeling happy, feeling more awake than he had for, well, a year, because dreams had come to him last night, not just dreams, realisations, my name is Todd Fenton and I can fly’ he thought. He would use those words soon, very soon. He knew Cathy wasn’t on until later, which was good he liked that, he had things to do today, but for a moment he wanted to lie on the bed. One of the younger nurses, the one who had teased him when they watched him bathe, came in and hurriedly put his breakfast beside his bed, she didn’t like the way he looked this morning, he had made her more nervous than before and she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Todd had gave her a big smile and that haunted her a little, she soon left his room without saying a word. He ate his breakfast whilst laying on his bed, he wanted to eat to give him energy, he thought he was going to need it today. He lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, smiling all the while, he thought of Wendy and everything that had come back to him, the love of his life, and if he closed his eyes he could see her, and if he sniffed he could smell her, he felt so close now, so close. Wendy Cross I love you, he thought I am so going to kiss and marry you. He closed his eyes again and he could taste her lips. He was so close, oh so close.

  Then he thought of his mother his wonderful mother and a million memories came back to him, from when he was a child playing in the garden, day trips to the seaside, birthdays and Christmases, too many memory’s to comprehend. He would saviour them later, then Daniel came into his head, his big brother, the one who protected him all those years, the brother who now lives with the guilt over something that his brother had no control over. He will soon see that none of this was his fault, his thoughts soon went to the mountain and he screwed his face up at the memory of his girlfriend staked to the mountain as the winds and the rain and the mud pounded her body as she lay with just one last breath in her mouth, but he had saved her, he knew that, it had taken everything he had to save her, well almost everything. Before the drugs they had given him really kicked in, and before he was totally transferred to some comatose being, he had had enough energy to do that one thing, not him exactly, but the light that followed him that day, the light that went to Cardiff prison and sucked every last breath out of his father’s body. That was the outer body Todd, the one who could float in the air and look at himself, he had killed his father, but it was not a deed he would have to live with for the rest of his life, it was a good thing he had done, a final act before the man was turned into a mouse. Only the mouse fought back. Then a figure came in his mind so beautiful that he couldn’t understand how he had forgotten her at all, Madison, Madison Hughes his sister, the girl who could read minds, the girl who saved Wendy’s friend, Katy, the girl who almost saved him and Wendy. A thought came to his mind that if he had somehow met her before than all this would not have happened, because she was the real reason he was here now, he knew that, something in his dreams had told him that she always said he was alive, while others doubted it. Her telepathy was in no doubt, she had awoken Todd Fenton from his grave, and although still weak and not strong, Todd Fenton was back. He would thank Madison personally someday soon, he was sure of that, if he could just make it out of here, if he could just get past that forest. There was so many people he had to see, to tell them he loved them.

  He got off his bed and washed his face in the basin and cleaned his teeth, he combed his hair which was still long as he liked it, but Cathy brown hadn’t cut it in a while, he would ask her to later. He wanted to look his best for Wendy, then it suddenly dawned on him as a thought passed through his mind, what if she’s met someone else, what if she don’t recognise him? Then he recalled the words they exchanged on that mountain side as she lay dying and he had plucked her from the jaws of death. ‘Forever’, those words and that love would never die, and with a new found confidence, he got dressed and opened his door. He was surprised the girl hadn’t locked it, because she looked scared, but he was allowed it open now free to go to the toilet, free to make himself a drink, free to roam, after all he was a neutralised being, a man in a child’s mind, harmless and he grinned at that, ‘don’t underestimate the power of thought, he said to himself. As he walked into the nurse’s quarters, he wanted to squeak like a mouse but fought the urge.

  The two young military nurse’s faces were in shock at first when Todd walked in, the one nurse stood open mouthed and thought to herself, he looks so human. The other went straight to the panic button. Todd extended his hand to stop her and without even Todd touching her she automatically withdrew her hand, now the two nurses just stood side by side, scared, they tried to scream but no sound came out, it was as if he had hypnotised them.

  ‘

  “Nice to see you again,” said “I’m Todd Fenton and I can fly.” He added as he stepped passed the table that was between them. The girls looked on in horror, this man couldn’t speak, so what had they just heard. They had heard the stories about him from the military, now they were terrified, they really were going to die. There was a sofa against the wall and Todd asked them to go and sit on it, they did immediately. They huddled close and linked arms, for some reason it reminded him of Wendy and Katy, but he had to put that thought from his mind, and he did, after all these were just two girls doing their job, but they hadn’t done it well, to ridicule he was sure wasn’t in the job description.

  “Now this is what’s going to happen,” he told the nurses, “I’m not going to hurt you, well not physically,” and a smile came on Todd’s face, the girls just stared at him, too scared to take their eyes off him, the smile made it worse, so much worse, he wasn’t supposed to smile, frightened mice don’t smile.

  “Do you remember you used to laugh at me when I was naked,” they just nodded, they knew denying it was of no good and there was no expla
nation they could give, and besides they were transfixed by his eyes. They could not stop looking into them, and then suddenly as if all this was just a joke, they started smiling, and Todd started smiling and the two girls huddled up close giggling. Ten minutes later Todd walked out of the nurses quarters, he had a smile on his face, in fact he was laughing.

  He wondered how many men would be in the building today, there was always two but he had to account for more, he paused for a second outside the door of the main office, he thought about going back into the nurses quarters to check back on what he had just done, but somehow he felt that wouldn’t be right, he was a decent man and didn’t want to look at what he had just created, others would see soon enough. He took a deep breath and opened it the door.