Dwell

by Lynda O'Rourke

  “Got everything?” asked Max. “We don’t want to leave anything behind.” He stared at me, those happy green eyes calm and gentle as always.

  “Yep, I’m ready to go,” I said, turning my attention to Raven – trying to read her face. She just looked as miserable and grumpy as she had since the moment I had first seen her in the reception at Cruor Pharma. I turned my attention to Jude who just stood and winked at me with his flirty smile. Nothing out of the ordinary across his face. That uneasy feeling felt too close for comfort. Those doubts I had had about trusting the others wouldn’t go away. But neither of them had acted suspicious. No one had mentioned the iPod to me.

  I looked at Hannah. All those times I had spent sleeping over at her parents’ house because my dad had been too pissed to look after me and I had been too scared to go home seemed trivial now. Never had I wished so much that I could stay with her. But I knew that was out of the question. I had to put my trust and faith into Jude, Max, and Raven now. I was in this mess with them and I had to step out of my comfort zone and face reality, no matter how frightening it was – no matter whether I trusted them or not. I had to get away – keep moving, and staying with my friends was the only way I was going to keep one step ahead of everything and everyone that was after me.

  “Take this,” whispered Hannah, placing some money into my hand. “It’s not going to last for long but it should keep you all going until you reach this doctor’s place.”

  I looked at my hand and could see five twenty pound notes. “Thanks, Hannah.” I placed the money into my pocket and zipped it up. She held out her hand and gave me a slip of paper. “What’s this?”

  “I wrote the Bishop’s address down for you and on the other side is my dad’s number and address if you need his help – you know, about your dad,” she whispered quietly leaning into my ear. “Promise you’ll ring when you get to the Bishop’s. I won’t be able to relax until I know you’ve got there safely.”

  “I can’t,” I said, suddenly remembering that my mobile phone had been taken from me under Doctor Middleton’s orders. “My phone is still at Cruor Pharma. I had to hand it over shortly after we texted each other yesterday.”

  “There wasn’t anything mentioned about this place, was there?” Jude suddenly spoke up. “I wouldn’t put it past those freaks to go through your phone and check any messages – you know, to make sure that you hadn’t told anyone about volunteering at Cruor Pharma.”

  I felt the colour drain from my face. Hannah had turned pale as we both looked at each other and remembered what we had sent in the text messages.

  I chewed my bottom lip as I recalled the message that Hannah had sent me with her new address on it.

  “Shit, you sent me your address,” I whispered. I turned to look at the others. “Do you think they will check my phone?”

  “Of course they will,” hissed Raven. “They didn’t think twice about going round to Nurse Jones’s house and wiping her son off the face of the earth. You’ve led us all to our deaths – those demons are gonna get us now, and even if they don’t, they’ll come round here and torture the information about where we’re going from her.” Raven glared at me, her eyes narrowed to slits as she turned to face Hannah.

  “What should we do?” I could feel the panic rising up in me.

  “We need to leave now,” said Max, his hand gripped the door handle. “Hannah will have to come with us.”

  “Go on the run you mean?” Hannah looked shocked at the suggestion. “I’ve never been on the run before – I don’t know if I should?”

  “None of us have been on the run before,” said Jude. “You don’t need a diploma or master’s degree to do it. I’m sure you’ll pick it up quick enough.”

  “Well how long will it take?” asked Hannah. “I do have a job, you know. When will I get back?”

  “Hannah, if you don’t come with us then you may end up dead. Anyone who might know anything about Cruor Pharma gets cleaned away,” I said.

  “And that’s not a nice soak in a bubble bath,” said Jude, raising one eyebrow at Hannah.

  “The dead will come and kill you,” hissed Raven. “They’ll take you apart, bit by bit, or infect you like they infected us.”

  “I’ll get my stuff and meet you down in the carpark,” said Hannah, snatching her car keys and heading for the bedroom. She didn’t need any more persuading after Raven’s input.

  “Hurry up,” Jude called after her. He shoved Raven in the back toward the front door, his arms outstretched like he was herding a cow out into a field. “Shift Raven, you need to move faster than that.”

  We piled out into the cream coloured hallway. Max went to the small window and checked outside. “It seems okay out there, but then, would the cleaners turn up in a car? I doubt it somehow – they just appear out of nowhere.”

  “Take the stairs,” I said. “The lift takes too long.” As if something had been listening to me, the lift doors suddenly opened. The silence was broken by its sharp ping.

  We stood and looked at each other, then back at the lift.

  “I’m not going in there,” hissed Raven, backing away toward the stairs.

  “Don’t tell me, let me guess,” said Jude, “the lift’s haunted?” He raised his eyes at Raven and then held his hand out for me to take. “Come on, we’ll take the stairs.”

  We jumped two to three steps at a time. Third floor – second floor, our footsteps echoing up and down the stairwell. As we reached the ground floor, Max slowed up and turned around to face us.

  “Let’s just go out nice and calm,” he said. “We don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to us.”

  I looked back up the stairwell, hoping that I might be able to hear Hannah on her way, but it was silent.

  Max held the door open and I stepped out into the morning. The smell of sea air and bacon still lingered. An old man walking his dog strolled past, he nodded his head and carried on by. We reached the car. Pulling open the boot, Jude threw the picnic hamper in and climbed into the driver’s seat. I looked up at Hannah’s flat.

  “Come on, come on,” I whispered, too on edge to sit in the car. I checked over my shoulder, looked up at the windows to the flats, and then toward the moored boats. Chewing on my bottom lip, I leant into the car and looked at Jude, “Do you know which way to go from here?”

  He turned the key in the ignition and the car fired up. “I’ll take the back roads. I know where to go.”

  “Which one is Hannah’s car?” asked Max, sitting in the front passenger seat and looking at the four parked cars outside the block of flats where Hannah lived.

  “The red one,” I answered, opening the side door and placing the satchel on the backseat. Raven was already curled up – eyes shut tight. How could anyone fall asleep in moments like this?

  “Kassidy, Kassidy.” I turned and looked up at Hannah’s flat. She was out on the balcony, waving her arms at me. “I’m coming now!” she shouted.

  “Hurry,” I called up at her. As I turned to look away, something caught my eye. Hannah had climbed up onto the balcony rails and was now wobbling to and fro – her arms stretched out wide like she was balancing on a tightrope.

  I gasped. “What the fuck, Hannah – Hannah – what are you doing – get down.”

  “I’m coming, Kassidy – wait for meeeee!” She bent her legs at the knees and jumped.

  The world seemed to stop. It was like the only thing that existed was me watching in horror as Hannah fell – all my senses fixed on her body as she plunged like a rock. Hannah’s voice screaming meeeee, filled my ears and cut through the morning silence.

  “Nooooo, no, Hannah!” I screamed, the words slipped out before I could move. The sickening thud and crunch of Hannah’s body as it smashed onto the roof of her car broke her haunting scream and woke me out of my frozen stupor. The roof of her car almost seemed to swallow her up from the impact as her head hit first – neck snapping to the side.

  I ran. Jude’s and Max’s screams wer
e nothing more than garbled sounds behind me as blood pumped through my body – heart threatening to burst from within me. I reached the car. Hannah’s bloodied face peered out from under her crumpled body. Her skin hung like flaps of silky, peeled off wallpaper – shards of metal pierced her flesh. Her eyes were open but there was no movement.

  “Hannah,” I rasped. “Hannah!” I climbed up onto the bonnet – stretched my arm out and touched the side of her face.

  “I’m coming, Kassidy,” Hannah’s eyes blinked – her body twitched like she was receiving electric shocks.

  I fell back and tumbled from the car. How was she still alive? Slowly, I pulled myself up, gripping the side of the car. My hands trembled. I struggled to breathe. Did she really talk or was I just in shock – my mind unable to function?

  “I’m coming – I’m coming – I’m coming.” Hannah laughed a low guttural chuckle. Her pupils rolled to the back of her head leaving just the whites like two boiled eggs. She continued to twitch – her flesh still hooked and twisted on the metal. “Better run, Kassidy – I’m coming – Doshia is coming.”

  A hand fell on my shoulder and I spun around expecting to see the cleaners. It was Max. A look of shock stretched across his face. He stared at Hannah and tried to pull me away.

  “We have to go now, Kassidy, come on.” His eyes never left the sight of Hannah’s broken body.

  “But Hannah… she’s still alive… we can’t…” I began, but Jude cut over me.

  “She’s not alive, that’s not Hannah,” said Jude, trying to turn me away.

  “Then how the fuck is she still talking!?” I screamed, tears in my eyes. I shoved Jude away from me and swung out at Max as he tried to take hold of me. “Get the fuck off of me… she’s my friend… my best friend.” I turned back toward Hannah.

  “Doshia knows you,” Hannah spat. “You thought I’d gone, but I’ve been with you all along.”

  There was a cracking sound as Hannah tried to get free her head from the mangled up roof. Her neck snapped as the bones grinded against each other. The skin on her face stretched and tore like elastic.

  “Right, that’s enough,” shouted Jude. “We’re going.” He snatched my wrist and dragged me toward his car. “Max, take her arm and help me.”

  I dug my heels in and struggled to stay rooted to the spot. What the fuck was happening? I’d escaped that kind of shit back at the hospital. This was my best friend – this was meant to be reality – normal life – but it seemed that wherever I went – the evil came too. I turned my head – one last look at Hannah. She lay slumped on the car, her body still now.

  “Come on!” I heard Raven shout. She sat half in half out of the car, a look of horror in her eyes.

  The distant sound of sirens floated across the marina, caught up amongst the cries of seagulls. I stumbled forward, almost losing my balance. Max and Jude held me up.

  “Shove her in,” I heard Jude say as he ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.

  “Come on, Kassidy, we have to get away from here,” said Max, forcing me into the car. “The police are coming.”

  I slumped back against the seat and watched the marina disappear as Jude pulled away.

  I’m coming, I’m coming. Hannah’s voice floated in my ears.

  I shut my eyes to the vision of my best friend falling to her death – a sight that would never leave me – not ever.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I was flung from my seat as Jude slammed the brakes on, my face hitting the back of the seat where Max sat, my legs bent up and wedged into the foot well. Levering myself up by pulling on the chair, I sat back in my seat and peered out through the windscreen. A police van had just turned into the road up ahead and was driving toward us.

  “Take a right,” said Max. “Just drive nice and calm. Hopefully they’ll go straight to the marina and by the time they’ve realised we’ve gone we’ll be far away.”

  “Maybe,” said Jude, “but for all we know my car might be down on their system to pull over. I’m pretty sure that when we left Holly Tree in a rush this morning, those two police officers would have taken down my registration plate.”

  Jude turned right onto a small residential street with a newsagents on the corner. Raven and I peered out of the back window and held our breath. If the police van carried on past then we would be okay – for now. But if it turned in behind us then we were in trouble.

  “There it goes,” shouted Raven. “It’s not following us.”

  I watched as the police van sailed past the top of the street – a small victory but not enough to pull me out of the dark I now felt I was trapped in. I covered my face with my hands and closed my eyes. A replay of Hannah falling from the balcony started up and then repeated itself again and again. But did she fall? Had she been pushed? My brain tried to scramble together all the possibilities that could have caused Hannah’s death. She wasn’t pushed – she didn’t fall. No one forced her to climb onto the balcony railings. No one told her to jump like a diver from a diving board. She just did it. She jumped like it was nothing.

  “Your friend’s dead because of that text message.”

  I looked at Raven. She stared at me with her dark eyes – her face angry.

  “What?” I snapped. How dare she blame a text message on the death of my friend? “A text message made Hannah jump from a balcony, did it?”

  “Those demon-cleaners must have been told to come here after they checked you’re mobile. It’s your fault they’re onto us,” she hissed. “You should have never suggested coming here. You may as well have stuck a knife in Hannah’s back and been done with it.”

  “Why don’t you shut the fuck up!” I screamed, grabbing Raven by the collar of her blouse and slamming her head into the back of the seat. “That wasn’t the cleaners’ doing. It was something else. Something called Doshia.”

  “Hey – hey!” shouted Max, turning in his seat. “There’s no point in fighting. It won’t bring Hannah back, Kassidy. I don’t know what the hell happened back there but it wasn’t your fault.” He turned his attention to Raven. “And you need to keep this - zipped.” He pointed to his lips and pretended to zip them shut. Max stretched out his arm and pulled gently on my shoulder. “Let go of Raven. No good will come of it.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Jude chipped in. “Might give us some peace and quiet if someone knocked her out.”

  I stared into Raven’s pale face. Her dark eyes glared at me. She gritted her teeth like she was trying to stop herself from saying anything more. She pulled on my wrist, her hand covered in black veins – five cloudy misshapen nails dug into my flesh. I slowly released my grip on her and sat back. Hannah’s falling body started to play in front of my eyes again like an old projected film – hazy and distorted. It flickered on-off-on-off, like each scene had a glitch – a fault. I didn’t want to see it anymore but the image wouldn’t go away.

  “She had a demon in her,” I said aloud, more to myself than to the others. “Doshia. Hannah said that Doshia was coming.”

  “Whatever that was in Hannah, it seemed to know us,” said Max, looking in his mirror at me.

  “Knew one of us,” I corrected him, my eyes wandering from Jude to Raven and Max. “It was under the impression that whoever it knew, believed that it was gone, but it hadn’t.”

  “How many demons did Doctor Fletcher say there were?” mumbled Raven, peering out at me from under her hair.

  “Six,” I whispered. “But that doesn’t include all the others that are on the loose, wandering around the country looking for a body to possess. There must be six at Cruor Pharma, and then you have the cleaners. I don’t know how many there are of them.”

  “So is this Doshia, one of the six?” said Jude, looking at Max. “I’m lost. All this demon stuff is crazy.” He shook his head and stared out through the windscreen, taking a left onto the road which led out from The Mumbles.

  “Maybe, I don’t know,” said Max. “But I’m hoping that when we get to
the Bishop’s we might find out some more about these demons, especially if my brother’s there.”

  I looked down at my hands. I felt numb – emotionless. I wanted to cry. I had just watched my best friend fall to her death, yet the tears wouldn’t come. They had dried up like an arid desert – my tear ducts in the middle of a drought. I was trapped in a deadened state – my feelings dulled and muted. I stared out through the window and watched the world go by.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  We had left The Mumbles and were now travelling down the old B125, a single carriageway that weaved through the countryside. The road was pretty much empty. Every so often, we would pass through a small village, or by a farm in the middle of nowhere, but mainly just fields and trees. The sky had darkened over, grey-black clouds loomed above us, threatening a storm.

  “We’re gonna have to stop at the next service station,” said Jude, cutting into the silence. “I’ve got less than a quarter of a tank of petrol – not enough to get us to Rane.”

  “You sure it won’t be enough?” asked Max. “I don’t fancy having to stop. What if someone recognises us?”

  “I don’t want to stop either but I don’t want to run out of petrol – not here in the middle of nowhere,” said Jude, checking his mirrors.

  “Will there even be a service station out here?” mumbled Raven, shifting in her seat. “I haven’t seen anything for miles.”