by S D Wile
This time I decided not to involve Sonia, so I didn’t send her an email of the cropped images. There was no need to drag my best friend into what could possibly turn out to be a spider’s web. Lately there had been too many coincidences involving Christian who seemed to know a lot more than he let on.
Luckily, Sonia’s survival kit was still in my room. Never in a million years had I imagined that I would be breaking into a place again, all by myself. Dressed in those same dark clothes I tip-toed cautiously down the stairs, stopping every two seconds to check I hadn’t woken up my dad or Naomi who was staying here for the night. It took me three times longer to get down the stairs than getting ready and even longer turning the key in the front door to unlock it as silently as possible. As soon as I stepped out I remembered to breathe.
Looking straight ahead I was glad to see that the old factory still looked unoccupied. Knowing that I could find Christian using the place as a hideout made me more determined. Seeing him would be far better than finding a complete stranger.
Tranquillity radiated by the starry night made me realise that all the anxiety I was feeling was created by the noise in my head; all those ‘what ifs’ and conflicting views. Cancelling it all out I scrambled across the lonely street and past the shabby entrance of the factory, when it suddenly blew open bringing me to a halt. Carefully I took four very quiet steps backwards to face the opening of the doorway, which was now swaying back and forth, thudding as it slammed against the stone wall behind it. With my hand in my pocket clutching a small can of extra strong hold hairspray and my forefinger on the button, I peered in. The ground floor looked different – it was tidier than before.
Although I had been here before I couldn’t help but feel that this room looked even more familiar now that it was well-kept. Someone was definitely living here or using this building. Now I just needed to find that jacket and other clues which would point to Christian. I walked up the stairs barely pressing the soles of my feet onto the steps. I thought if I used the banisters on each side to lift my weight towards each step, I would be a lot quieter and quicker. Again there was not a single trace of anyone on this floor. I was about to make my way up to the top floor until I remembered the table and chair. This time I saw some used blue candles which had melted into the table but no sign of the jacket.
As soon as I placed my foot upon the first step of the staircase to go to the top floor, I heard a creak. Frozen for a few seconds I waited for a sound (the sound of heavy footsteps which frightened the life out of Sonia and I the last time we were here). Yet nothing filled my ears. After a deathly sigh I slowly crept up the stairs without using the banisters. They could barely hold the weight of a cat let alone a person.
Mid-way through the staircase I knelt down and slowly started crawling up, so that I could surreptitiously peer around the corner before entering what seemed like a small, private room. Unexpectedly there was a lit lamp shining off an old work desk with crumpled parcel paper circling a blood-stained chair leg. Surprised by my suspicions being true I crept closer and rose up to my feet only to see that this was a box room, a neglected office with no owner. On the table lay the parcel with the same signature: C Son of Orsa. Where was his jacket?
Just then the reality of what I’d done rushed to the forefront of my mind: I’d trespassed into a factory that was clearly occupied by someone with anger-management issues. On the plus side I hadn’t been caught and had all the proof I needed. Why was I still here then? What if he came back? What if he’s just about to enter? Where would I hide? I’m sure he wouldn’t let me leave if he saw me here. I mean he only stopped himself in the canteen due to there being witnesses whereas no one knew I was here. Flames of desperation sent my heart screaming for its life as I scrambled down the staircase onto the second floor. Before flying down the second flight of stairs like a mad woman I glanced out of the front window, totally unprepared for what I was about to see. An upstairs window well lit by a street lamp, a laptop and an unmade bed. Where the pillow should have been was a large, half open rucksack with a fashion magazine and a tennis racket spilling out of it. You could see right into my room! Nauseated, I couldn’t breathe. That’s probably why he chose to speak to Sonia, to get to me. He knew me before I was even aware of him.
Chapter 23
“You know you’re actually doing the same thing right now,” spoke a deep, firm and familiar voice. Petrified, I swung round to see Christian standing in the darkest, shadow-filled part of the room. I fell back against the window which stung me with its ice-cold bite. Those familiar dark hiking boots were slowly stepping forward taking him out of the shade into the blue moonlight.
“Stay there. Don’t come any closer. I said STOP THERE!” I looked around and noticed there was a stack of blue crates just below an exit sign next to the staircase that went down. I knew this place, not from when I was with Sonia but from my nightmare.
“Can you see the beach from here?” I couldn’t control the quiver in my voice.
“Yes you can. From the window behind me.”
“Oh my…” My lungs weren’t opening. The room was starting to spin so I purposely pressed my damp back into the window hoping its cold sting would help me keep it together. Christian took a couple of steps forward and there it was, the same jacket. He’d been wearing it.
“Don’t you dare come closer!” I was serious and with the level of fear running through me I was afraid of how far I would go to protect myself.
“You’re the intruder! Not me!” Sneakily, he took another step forward assuming that I wouldn’t notice. Now there were just three meters between us and I wasn’t going to give him any more warnings. I whipped out my bottle of hairspray and unleashed the contents of the bottle. I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted to get out of his lair. A couple of seconds later I found myself almost choking at the taste of the hairspray whilst he stood there with a furrowed brow, arms crossed and untainted by the thick cloud of chemicals. No matter how much I sprayed, nothing seemed to affect him. As soon as the spray left the aerosol can, it dispersed away from him like fairy dust. I’d tested the spray before I left and didn’t need to try it on my eyes to know it was hairspray, not the fairy dust it was making itself out to be. What the hell is going on? I thought. This guy is invincible.
“Water will not harm me,” he told me firmly.
“It’s not water, it’s hairspray which contains chemicals that are harmful to the eye and it’s flammable!”
“The brand name states Aqua which is water.”
“I know that, I’m not stupid,” I snapped back. Christian tilted his head confused.
I sprayed it one more time which was a bad move. His expression became rather irritated as he stormed towards me and aggressively grabbed the hairspray can out of my hand then put it on the table.
After screaming at him, demanding it back, I marched towards the table but he blocked my path.
“The water conceals, obeys, protects and serves us. You appreciate it, you do NOT WASTE IT!” Startled by his response I slowly started to step towards the staircase as it happened to be closer than the fire exit. Where was I going to run? He knew where I lived and finding him on my doorstep was the last thing I needed, on top of everything else.
“Look, I’m not here to cause any trouble. Sonia knows I’m here and if I don’t make it back my sister will notice I’m missing in the morning and call the police. They will then check my emails and see evidence that indicates this place.”
“You mean the pictures?” His raised eyebrows and intimidating glare indicated he wasn’t impressed by my threat.
I understood his point of view but he wasn’t exactly blameless either.
“So where does that leave us?” Christian asked whilst casually stepping back to perch on the side of the table, lighting a candle. Silence added to the awkward tension in the air. Christian stared at me pondering on what to do next before taking an exhausted sigh.
“I’m not the murderer Sonia made me out to be
. In fact, you could say I’m as new to this as you are.” That could have meant so many things. I hoped he wasn’t going to irritate me with his lack of detail.
“New to what?”
“To the college, to this life.” His words hit me sharp. Just when I’d started to forget, here was another reminder.
“What? You think I tried to end my old life? Actually forget it. I don’t need to explain myself. You can believe whatever you want. I came here to collect my parcel.” Abruptly he stood up, blew out the candle and started to walk away, up the stairs.
“Goodnight Izzie.”
“No, you don’t get away without explaining where my parcel is and why you took it!” Continuing to ignore me he started to casually climb the stairs so I desperately looked around for a way to stop him. Without thinking I grabbed the aerosol can and flung it at him. He caught it and stopped in his tracks looking rather annoyed.
“Why would you want an object covered in blood? You really think that was for you?”
“Do you mean it was for you then? Is that why it was delivered to me at Hugo’s? So who’s C Son of Orsa then?” This time he didn’t even flinch at the name, he just glared at me.
“You don’t need to know this. Just think it was a mistake and delete it from your memory.” Sometimes Christian sounded like a machine, no emotions just demands. Somehow I needed to do something to make him explain. I didn’t take this risk for no reason. Now that I was here I wanted answers, as I knew I wouldn’t have the guts to do this again.
“OK, so how about you explain why you’ve broken into this derelict factory and have been living here illegally? If you’re not sure or can’t remember, I can always ask the police to help jog your memory.”
“You’re not going to forget everything are you?” Whilst staring back at him waiting for answers, I decided to perch on the table and cheekily use the matches he’d left there to light a blue candle.
“I’m all ears,” I smiled.
Christian wasn’t threatened by human enforcement. Orsa was sacred to him but he didn’t feel as if he belonged anywhere any more. Christian slowly sat down at the foot of the stairs looking deflated and unhappy.
“There are a lot of us. We follow Orsa. She is our leader and the letter C stands for my brother, Cale. Somehow he found me and saw what happened at the coffee house which is how he got hold of that lovely souvenir.” Every word that poured out of his mouth sounded well thought out. Even though this was the most I’d ever heard Christian say, he still seemed vague.
“So why has he sent it to me? What’s this got to do with me? And why are you hiding out here?”
“Because I left them all to do something different, I knew that they wouldn’t accept me after this. That night when those two men brought their brawl to you I lost some of my control and Cale sensed it. To him it was like a radar. That’s when he saw you there. He probably thought that by threatening you I’d get the message.”
“What – that they have found you?”
“Yes.” All Christian wanted to do was start a new life and because of me he’s now got what seems like a dangerously large group of people after him. I could have asked more, I wanted to know more but his silence made me think it’d be rude to question further, as if I’d over stayed my welcome. Therefore, I apologised for the intrusion and ran out of there as quickly as possible.
Should I phone Sonia and tell her what happened. For the first time it didn’t feel right, telling someone else about someone’s downfall. If Sonia asked I decided I’d be honest but vague, just like Christian. If she found out I’d gone back to the old factory by myself she’d be lecturing me about safety for the rest of my life.
As soon as I had sneaked back into my bedroom I went to close my curtains when I caught a glimpse of Christian standing in the window looking straight at me, smiling before blowing out the candle.
Chapter 24
A bustling Saturday shift at Coffee Time and all I could think about was how relieved I was not to have to close up. Craig hadn’t turned up for his shift so it meant the three of us, including the boss, were running around like headless chickens ensuring all customers were served. I never really minded chaotic shifts because the constant high kept me too busy to think about anything but coffee.
As we were a man down it was a struggle covering lunchtimes but I was happy to eat on the go, taking bites out of a spicy chorizo and mozzarella wrap accompanied with shots of espresso. Funnily enough Hugo hopped around like a robin more than usual on days like this, thriving in the effervescent energy. He got so carried away that he didn’t even realise that he’d eaten the other half of my wrap whilst I was emptying the dishwasher but I chose not to mention it as it wasn’t a big deal. The new girl wasn’t the new girl anymore. She was coping very well with the large number of customers. Being thrown in the deep end was always the best way to learn. That’s how I’d learnt a lot of things in life. Plus Craig wasn’t the best Coffee Time role model as he spent most of his time trying to get phone numbers from pretty women.
The eight-hour shift flew by like it was on a sixty-minute timer and thankfully it was time to go home and rest. Slowly, the day’s hard strain started to weigh me down. I’d barely sat down for ten minutes and the aching in my lower back was proof of it. However looking around the place whilst eating a slice of pepperoni pizza (courtesy of Hugo), I could happily say the words ‘mission accomplished’ with pride. Just go home, make a calm and relaxing herbal tea then lie down in your warm, cosy bed I told myself.
For the first time in a while I’d felt at ease, there was nothing to worry about and unknowingly it was showing on my face on the way back home.
The rays of the smiling sun shone upon me. Where did the night go? I could have easily slept in for another two hours but once the sun had woken me up I knew it would be a struggle to sleep again. As always I’d tell myself I needed darker curtains but never really remember to buy some until I was woken again by the sunlight. As snug as a soft velvety cushion I lay there looking at the empty peppermint–tea-stained mug that had stayed next to my pillow the whole night. Same as most nights I thought, I’d woken up the way I’d fallen asleep, barely tossing and turning creating a tingling sensation through my body. This wasn’t a good sign but last night my body was heavily oppressed by fatigue. Grateful for the good night’s much needed sleep I decided I wasn’t going to moan.
Interrupted by my mobile ringtone which was assigned to Coffee Time I jumped out of bed shuffling through the heap of clothing on the floor, desperately trying to find my phone. Luckily, I found it in time only to find out that Craig had been admitted to hospital for somehow taking poison. The distress in Hugo’s voice made me realise how real this was. I felt awful about the things I thought yesterday when Craig hadn’t turned up for his shift.
At first I wondered if he’d taken something at a nightclub thinking it was something else. Craig was stupidly carefree like that. We decided to go to the hospital together so Coffee Time was closed for the morning.
I detested hospitals! Nauseated by my unpleasant experience in that glass house of helplessness, frailty and disgusting food I followed Hugo in. Startled by the sound of a disturbing cry echoing down the ward, I remembered the terrible pain of losing my mother. My heart ached. Following the trail of agony our path was stopped by a middle-aged Asian man in what looked like a white lab coat and black spectacles. He seemed quite protective and his body language indicated we couldn’t go any further without explaining ourselves to him.
“So you are his employer?” he asked.
“Yes. As I said we are very concerned about Craig and were…”
“I’m sorry to tell you this but Craig passed away at 12:20 p.m.”
“What?” I screamed, before looking at the clock on the wall which showed that ten minutes had passed since his death.
My mouth opened to ask questions but no words came out. Confused from being told that someone I’d just spoken to recently was now gone forever was the
hardest thing to believe. Hugo continued to question the doctor. Everything I wanted to ask, Hugo had asked seconds before. All the doctor could tell us was that Craig had a rare poison in his body and the full details were not yet known.
Chapter 25
After spending a night at Sonia’s sharing memories of troubled times we made our way to Coffee Time. I thought we’d grab a take-out coffee and it would give me the chance to check on Hugo. Surprisingly there was a new face wearing a mocha-coloured Coffee Time apron, unloading the delivery. Even though it seemed too soon to replace Craig, from a business point of view I knew that two part-time staff would not be able to cover the general opening hours of the coffee house. Still it just didn’t feel right and from the expression on Sonia’s face I could tell she was thinking the same thing.
It turned out that the lanky male in his mid-twenties had a glowing reference and five years’ experience as a barista. In fact Hugo said that he just turned up in his time of need. A huge delivery had arrived and this young man took the initiative to start unloading with Hugo. According to the relieved boss it was fate that brought him here as he happened to be in need of a job and had his references with him. Timing was everything to Hugo and the fact that he was keen to help impressed him.
Just as I was about to leave with my coffee, my pathway was blocked by the new employee saluting me.
“Before you leave I’d just like to introduce myself as we’ll be working together.” Charming I thought. He definitely knows how to smooth his way in.