by Maria Grace
‘A Channel is someone who has all the gifts of a Seer, a Sensitive, and a Listener. And on top of that, they can also see and speak to spirits,’ she said.
‘Like, dead people?’ I looked at her.
‘Yes, Em.’ She was amused by my tone. ‘Dead people.’
‘That’s weird.’ I shivered. ‘But there’s definitely no Channel in our family?’
‘No,’ answered Mum. ‘As far as I’m aware, there never has been.’
There was a knock at the door and Seth-the-name-nurse came in to let me know that Big Jim was here to take me home. I wanted to stay longer, but Mum said that there was plenty of time to learn more when I visited her next. She walked me to the main entrance and, for the first time in ages, I didn’t want to leave her.
Big Jim beeped the horn and smiled at us as he parked outside the double doors to pick me up. Tyler was in the minibus with him, stuffing his face with a chocolate bar.
‘Oh! I almost forgot!’ I turned to ask Mum a question. ‘The other day, when I heard Stacey Lock talking…’
Mum nodded in acknowledgement.
‘She said something about the women in our family being man-stealers.’ I frowned. ‘Do you know what she was talking about?’
Mum shook her head, but avoided eye contact. ‘No idea, love. Perhaps you heard it wrong.’
She was acting suspiciously. I could tell that she was hiding something.
Beeeeeep! Beeeeeep!
The minibus horn went off again. I turned around to see Big Jim trying to wrestle Tyler’s hands from the steering wheel.
There was no time left to question my mother, but I made a mental note to ask her about it another time.
I climbed into the minibus and sat in the double passenger-seat next to Tyler.
‘See you in a few days!’ Mum stood at the entrance doors, waving, a massive smile on her face. I knew she’d carry on waving until we had disappeared out of sight.
I waved back through the window.
‘So how’s your mum?’ asked Big Jim.
‘Much better,’ I answered.
‘Is she still nuts?’ Tyler asked.
We caught sight of my mother, jumping up and down in the background for her last wave.
‘Yep,’ I said.
Big Jim laughed out loud. ‘You kids are unbelievable, aye!’ he shouted and shook his head. ‘You just tell it as it is. Not a care in the world. It’s a buuuriful thing!’ He chuckled to himself, and we drove back home.
TWENTY-FOUR
‘Graaaaaam!’ Freya reached over the table to grab the colouring pencils from Grandma Coalman’s hands.
Grandma Coalman laughed as she held them above her head.
‘Anna! Stop teasing Freya, will you? Honestly, you’re worse than any child!’ Mel snapped at Grandma Coalman, and Freya smirked because she’d been given a telling-off.
‘Oh, Mel…’ Grandma Coalman looked bored. ‘Do they ever shut up on your planet?’
Mel closed her eyes in frustration.
Mum looked amused. ‘I’ve missed this,’ she said. ‘I’m really glad we were able to go out. It’s just what I needed. Shall we order? I’m ravenous!’
Mum had been given day-out privileges by the hospital. This was a good sign. It meant that they must think she was stable enough to leave the hospital for a few hours at a time. We made the most of the decision by going for a nice meal.
‘I already know what I want!’ Freya pointed at the menu. ‘I’ll have the chicken burger, please!’
‘And I’ll have sausage and mash,’ said Grandma Coalman. She started digging around in her handbag for something. ‘Tess, is it time for your medication, or mine?’
‘Both,’ said Mum. ‘We need to take them with our food.’
Grandma Coalman nodded and took out two bottles of pills, along with some bubble wrap. ‘This is for you,’ she said to Mum.
‘Why would I need bubble wrap?’ Mum laughed.
‘I thought it would be cheaper than therapy,’ answered Grandma Coalman. ‘You know what those doctors are like. They’d take your life savings, if they could. Bloody robbers, the lot of them!’
‘Me and Lola watched a programme about robbers,’ said Freya. ‘We watched it with Bill and Nora. There was a lady on the telly, and she robbed a person in a shop!’
‘Sounds serious.’ Mum raised her eyebrows.
‘It was serious,’ agreed Freya. ‘The lady was supposed to go to jail for being naughty. But instead of going to jail, she went to a special hospital because she pleaded contemporary insanity.’
‘You mean temporary insanity,’ Grandma Coalman corrected Freya.
Freya shrugged and carried on colouring her picture.
Our meals arrived and it was lovely to be able to just chat and laugh in such easy surroundings. But every now and then, I would catch a glimpse of something in Mum’s eyes. She tried to relax, but there was definitely an edge to her.
‘Alright, Mum?’
‘Yes.’ She blew her cheeks out. ‘It’s just the first time that I’ve properly been out of the hospital. I’m a little overwhelmed, that’s all.’
I put my arm around her shoulders.
‘Why don’t we go to the play area for a while?’ Mel said to Freya and Grandma Coalman. ‘Let’s leave Mum have twenty minutes in peace, shall we?’
‘OK!’ Freya jumped off her seat. ‘Mum, I’ll be back in exactly twenty minutes!’
‘I’ll keep an eye on the time!’ Mum chuckled and pointed at her watch.
I got up to leave with the others.
‘Em?’ I felt Mum’s hand on my arm. ‘Would you mind staying with me? I have a couple of things that I want to chat to you about.’
‘Uh-oh!’ Freya laughed. ‘Emmeline’s in truh-ble.’
‘You’ll be in trouble, if you carry on stirring like that!’ said Grandma Coalman.
They left for the play area, and Mum seemed to relax a little.
‘I love spending time with you all,’ she said. ‘But I just need ten minutes to breathe. When you’ve spent the last six weeks in the security of a hospital, it feels strange to be out in public.’
‘Yeah, it must be pretty daunting,’ I agreed.
Mum nodded.
‘What did you want to talk to me about?’ I asked, trying to take her mind off it.
‘Oh, yes!’ She seemed to perk up. ‘I forgot to ask you the other day. Do you get any kind of warning before you … tune in?’ She looked around to make sure nobody was listening.
‘What do you mean, warning?’
‘Well, Nana Rose would get a fuzzy head before she had a vision,’ said Mum. ‘Do you get anything that lets you know that you’re about to hear something?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘You need to look out for the signs,’ she said.
‘What kind of signs?’
She thought for a second. ‘Nana Rose’s mother was a Listener,’ she said. ‘And I think she had some kind of tinnitus thing with it. It was like a little bell that went off in her ears before something happened.’
So that’s what the ringing in my ears was.
Freya ran up to the table, grabbed her drink and ran back off. ‘Can’t stop! Soz!’
‘Do you think anything like this is happening with Freya?’ I asked.
Mum shook her head. ‘She’s too young. It won’t set in until she gets older. That’s how it’s always happened in our family – it might be there in the background, but it usually activates when the hormones start up.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘You’d be surprised how many kids experience this sort of thing when they hit puberty,’ she replied. ‘Their hormones are all over the place, and that makes their energy a bit wild. It can attract all sorts!’
‘Like in The Exorcist?’ I asked, wide-eyed.
She laughed. ‘I don’t think it’s that extreme in most cases!’
She asked me had I ever heard the phone ring and just knew who it was before p
icking it up?
Yes, I said.
Had I ever been singing a song, and when the radio came on, the same song was playing?
Yes, I said.
Had I ever walked into a room and sensed the bad atmosphere, and just known that there had been an argument before I’d arrived?
Yes, I said.
‘Well, those are all signs of this kind of gift.’
I was fascinated, but it also made me a bit nervous because I couldn’t tell which parts were real and which parts were Mum’s illness talking. But whether it was fact or fiction, one thing I really took notice of was the warning.
‘Nobody must ever use their gift for negative purposes,’ Mum warned me.
‘What would happen if you did?’ I asked.
‘The Law of Attraction says that whatever you put out there, you get back in return,’ she replied. ‘If you use your gift for good, then good will come to you. But if you use your gift for bad then you’ll attract negativity back.’
‘It sounds like in the films,’ I joked. ‘With your gift comes great responsibility!’
She looked serious. ‘As cheesy as it sounds, we do have a responsibility to use our gift for good. If you abuse it, let me tell you … karma can be a real bitch.’
Oh-my-life.
‘Who’s a bitch?’ Freya ran back to the table.
‘Freya!’ Mel followed her. ‘I don’t want to hear language like that!’
‘But Mum said it!’ Freya scowled at Mel.
‘Sorry.’ Mum shrunk in her seat, embarrassed.
‘Mel, you must be super-rich to buy all that food!’ Freya observed the empty plates on the table.
‘The money doesn’t actually come from me.’ Mel shook her head. ‘It comes from Social Services. I don’t get paid very much, but I work 40 hours a week to be this poor!’
Freya clearly didn’t get the joke, because she nodded sympathetically and said, ‘Is that why you always wear old clothes?’
Grandma Coalman laughed out loud.
Mel frowned at Grandma Coalman, and then looked back to Freya. ‘My clothes are not old, Freya. They’re vintage.’
We tried not to smile at the defensive tone in Mel’s voice.
‘Vintage,’ said Freya. ‘I’ve never been to that shop. I think they could do with getting some new styles, but I do like your bag.’
‘This one?’ Mel held up the bag to show it off. ‘Yes, this is my new favourite thing. I love it! Look at the detail on the little white roses dotted all over it.’
We studied the bag, admiring the design.
‘Mum likes white roses, don’t you?’ Freya grinned at Mum. ‘My dad told me.’
‘How do you remember Dad telling you that?’ asked Mum. ‘It was a long time ago.’
‘What do you mean?’ Freya giggled. ‘It was only last week! He told me when he came to visit me at Bill and Nora’s house!’
Uneasy silence sat between us like an unwanted dinner guest.
‘Freya! Don’t say things like that!’ Mum looked shaken.
Freya’s lip started wobbling.
Grandma Coalman clapped her hands together to break the tension. ‘The child’s confused! She doesn’t mean any harm! Come on, Freya. Let’s go to the car. I’ll race you!’
Freya and Grandma Coalman got up from the table, and Freya started running towards the entrance as Grandma Coalman chased her.
‘Don’t worry about Freya,’ said Mel. ‘It’s completely natural for a child of her age to use her imagination as a way of escaping from her problems. It’s probably her way of trying to stay connected to her father when she feels disconnected from her mother. It will pass, in time.’
Mum sighed. ‘I want to go back to the hospital. I’m feeling really tired. I think my medication is kicking in.’
‘Of course,’ said Mel. ‘I’ll just get the bill.’
TWENTY-FIVE
Everybody lined up outside the classroom for registration.
‘This school is just too cold!’ I complained, huddling up next to Megan, our hands on the radiator in the corner.
‘I’ll keep you both warm!’ Ollie tried to stretch his arms around our combined waists.
‘Get off me, you tit!’ Megan looked at Ollie with disdain, and he released us immediately.
‘I was just being gentlemanly, that’s all.’ Ollie protested as he stood against the wall.
‘Yes, well, go and be gentlemanly elsewhere, you weirdo,’ said Megan. ‘You know I don’t like people touching me.’
I smirked at the exchange between the two. Ollie was a genius at winding Megan up.
‘Are you both free tonight?’ Ollie asked. ‘The athletics team are doing a free circuits class in the park, after school. There’s a bunch of us going – do you want to join in?’
‘Can’t, sorry.’ Megan answered. ‘I’ve got stuff to do.’
‘Stuff?’ Ollie frowned at her.
‘Yes, stuff.’
‘What stuff?’ asked Ollie. ‘Name one stuff.’
‘I have to…’ Megan tried to think of an answer as Ollie stood there, his arms folded. ‘I have to go to karate,’ she said.
‘Whatever, Megan.’ Ollie rolled his eyes. ‘You don’t do karate on a Friday. Your karate class is on a Tuesday – you go to the same class as my sister, remember? So, you know what you can do with your stuff. What about you, Em?’
‘I’m going to the cinema tonight,’ I said. ‘It’s our School Reward Night – my favourite night of the week. I cannot miss it!’
‘Oooo! What are you going to see?’ Megan clapped her hands together.
‘I think we’re going to see that new one with the three girls that go on holiday together, and they end up in the…’
‘LAME!’ Megan and Ollie said in unison, and then high-fived each other before starting to talk about a different film that had just come out.
There was a familiar ringing in my ear.
I pushed my earlobe with my thumb to ease it. I tried to listen to Megan and Ollie, but I was too distracted.
The ringing had started to come to me more often. Now that I had an idea of what it meant, I practised trying to focus so I could tap into it, like Mum had taught me.
I shut my eyes to concentrate on the sound. It kept getting higher and lower: louder and quieter. I tried to rest my mind so the ringing could find a balance.
The high-pitched noise eventually subsided and became more of a buzzing sound.
I kept still, allowing myself to focus on the energy. My senses seemed to be on red alert.
I started to hear something else. A new sound. What was it? I couldn’t hear properly, but it sounded like … was that … footsteps?
I concentrated a little more.
Yes! It was! I could definitely hear footsteps!
Oh-my-life,itworked!
I had concentrated on the ringing, and then focused on the energy, just like Mum had taught me. And then I’d heard footsteps!
But whose footsteps were they?
I could just about make out the sound of somebody walking behind me, but when I turned to look, there was no one there.
Gutted.
I’d really thought I’d heard somebody walking behind me.
I must have imagined it.
I shook my head, trying to get back to normal.
Megan and Ollie stood with a group, still chatting about the new releases in the cinema. My head felt foggy and detached as I tried to integrate myself back into the conversation. It was no use. I had missed too much of what had been said. I stood back a little and tried to calm down.
The ringing came back. My ears stood to attention. I focused on the energy again, and tried to tune in.
As the shrill noise quietened down, I heard a voice.
‘There they are … the Get-along-Gang, having their cosy little chats, as usual.’
I’d know that voice anywhere.
Stacey Lock.
Where was she? It sounded like she was behind me, but when I looked a
round, I couldn’t see her.
The ringing noise was still floating about in the background, but it had died down to a deep-toned buzzing sound. I tried to work with it.
I breathed deeply to calm myself.
I slowly turned my head to look behind me. And when I did, I could see shoes in the distance. I glanced as quickly as I could, and saw Stacey Lock and The Clones talking to each other as they came down the corridor.
I knew it! It was her.
She was walking towards me. The only thing I could hear was Stacey Lock’s footsteps; the sound of her shoes on the corridor floor, echoing through my back.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Like an angry rabbit.
I swallowed nervously.
The footsteps got louder and clearer.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I focused on the energy.
‘That’s right, just step back a little more,’ said Stacey Lock’s voice.
Was she talking about me? I think she was. I could sense that her energy was directed at me. She was up to something. I just knew it.
My palms started getting clammy.
‘Look at them, lapping it up,’ she spat. ‘Megan-Swot and Smellmeline.’ She had a real bitter tone to her. But why? What was she so annoyed about?
‘I can’t believe he ignored me this morning,’ she said. ‘I spent ages on my make-up and he didn’t even look at me. I don’t know why I bother. He’s too busy flirting with those two silly cows. He probably fancies that little slapper, Emmeline.’
Slapper? I was no slapper! Who did she think she was?
And what boy was she talking about? Who fancied me?
‘Yeah, well he won’t fancy her when she’s flat on her face again,’ said Stacey. ‘If she just steps back a teensy bit more, she’ll be in the perfect position for me to…’
For her to do what?
I remembered the last time Stacey Lock tripped me up in this very corridor. The day that I hurt my elbow. When I fell to the floor, she stood over me, laughing out loud. The same day that she bust my nose open with the locker door. She had taken real pleasure in hurting me.
Anger stirred in my belly.
‘Go on, Smellmeline.’ Stacey’s voice was sly in my ear. ‘Let me see you fall!’
She wanted to trip me up again!
What had I done to aggravate her so much? Why did she want to hurt me?