by Tony Butler
Jacob swore under his breath but realised there was no point in trying to dispute the facts. “Yes, there was some kind of electrical glow covering her,” he admitted. “But whatever it was has gone now and, as I say, the patient will be discharged tomorrow.”
Not waiting to answer any more questions, he turned on his heel and made his way back to the staff-room, puzzling over what had happened.
* * * *
“If I were you, Jay,” Mr Slymond said, as he parked the car outside her house. “I’d only tell your grandparents what you can remember. It could just be a coincidence that the light appeared while you were holding Sophie’s hand.”
“But you don’t think that it was though, do you?” Jay asked, quietly. “You think, that because of what happened with the bus, that it was something to do with me.”
“Dad didn’t say that,” Mary said, but Jay could tell that her friend wasn’t sure.
“Yes, I do,” Mr Slymond admitted. “But that’s not the point. You can’t remember anything about it and the chances are that it will never happen again. I think the whole thing was triggered by your distress at seeing Sophie so badly injured. Unexplained things like this happen all the time. You know that.”
That was true. She’d read of similar things like this before, but had never expected to experience it herself. “I hope you’re right.” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do if it ever happened to me again.”
“I’m sure Dad’s right,” Mary said, giving Jay’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “It was probably one of those once in a lifetime things.”
Jay felt reassured and smiled. “I feel much better now and I’ll see you tomorrow, Mary. Thanks for everything, Mr Slymond. I’d better go in or Grandma will be getting worried.”
She climbed out of the car and, waving them goodbye, she let herself into the house. Her grandmother looked at her in concern. “You look all in, Jay. You get yourself up to bed and I’ll bring you up a hot drink. Thank goodness that girl is okay.”
Jay felt exhausted and even the hot spray of the shower failed to revive her. Going into her bedroom, she found a mug of hot chocolate on her bedside table.
Slipping between the sheets, she leaned back on her pillows and sipped the delicious liquid. When she’d finished, she switched off the table lamp.
Jay stiffened in surprise as a warm glow spread down her arm and flooded into her body. It feels as though I’m being re-energised, like a battery, she thought.
The bedroom door opened and her Granddad Tom came in. He looked at her in concern. “Are you alright, love? I thought I heard you call out.”
“Yes, I’m fine, Granddad. I burnt my hand on the mug, that’s all.”
He nodded, apparently accepting her explanation. “Well, you get your head down and have a good night’s sleep. There’s no reason for you to get up early in the morning. Goodnight, Jay.”
“Goodnight, Granddad,” she said.
Her granddad shut the door behind him and Jay paused in the act of switching off her lamp again. She remembered everything and could almost feel the power that had coursed out of her body and into Sophie, which meant that the events of tonight could possibly happen again.
Chapter Three
Alex looked at the pictures of the girls getting changed that Carl had printed out and smiled in satisfaction.
“These photographs of Mary Slymond are brilliant,” he said. “When she sees a copy of this one—” He turned one of the photographs towards Carl “—she’s going to be begging me not—” He broke off when Carl signalled him to be quiet and pointed to the radio.
“…and according to an eyewitness the light was completely covering her. Dr Harrison who attended the girl at the scene, said…”
“They’re talking about Sophie,” Carl said, excitedly. “They say she’s okay. That blue light they’re on about healed her.”
“You what?” Alex listened to the rest of the news bulletin with growing confusion and fear.
“Shit!” he exclaimed when it finished. “If Sophie tells the cops about us…”
“We’re going to get done, whether she can prove it or not,” Carl finished for him. “Look, they’re keeping her in hospital overnight, so why don’t we go and pay her a visit. Warn her to keep her mouth shut.”
“I’ll do more than bleeding warn her,” Alex said. “Don’t you worry about that.”
They arrived at the hospital in time to see Sophie’s parents leaving. Alex grabbed Carl and dragged him into the shadows before they were spotted. Her mum and dad hated him. They walked past looking so happy that Alex knew Sophie really must be alright. After her parents had driven off, Alex and Carl walked into the reception area of the emergency ward and up to the counter. The receptionist, a woman about the same age as Sophie’s mother, gave him the same kind of disapproving look. “Can I help you?”
“Yes. We’re here to see Sophie Anderson,” Alex said. “She got knocked over by a car and—”
“I’m sorry,” the woman cut him off. “It’s after eleven-o-clock at night and that’s far too late for visitors.”
“But I’m her boyfriend…”
Behind her glasses, her eyebrows arched and her mouth stretched into a tight smile, but she said nothing. Just sat there staring and waiting for them to go away. Alex, wary of a security guard who was standing a few feet away and watching the exchange, resisted the urge to call the woman an old cow – or something worse. “Well, okay. What ward’s she on? I’ll ring her in the morning.”
“I’m not allowed to divulge that kind of information.” Her smile broadened. “But as you’re her boyfriend, why don’t you ask her parents? Good night, boys.”
She swivelled her chair away from them, opened a manila file and started to read the contents. Glaring at her down turned head for a moment, Alex turned on his heel and strode towards the exit. “What the hell do we do now?” he asked.
* * * *
The following morning, Jay went downstairs to join her grandparents for breakfast.
“Sophie’s been on the news,” Grandma Anna said, putting a plate of freshly buttered toast in front of Jay. “What was the blue light that everyone’s talking about? You never mentioned it last night.”
Jay shrugged. “I don’t know what it was. It was like one of those lights at the disco. You know the blue light that makes white seem to glow in the dark? It was covering her all over.”
“Well, whatever it was, it seems to have done her good,” Granddad said, gesturing at Jay with his toast. “They say she’s well enough to leave the hospital today.” He grinned. “I bet the doctors wish that they could find it and bottle it.”
Jay’s mobile rang. It was Mary and she sounded upset.
“Can you meet me later?” she asked. “I need to talk to someone.”
“What’s the matter?” Jay lowered her voice so that her grandparents wouldn’t hear.
“I can’t tell you over the phone. Can you meet at the diner at eleven?”
“I think so. Hang on a minute and I’ll check.” She turned to her grandmother. “Is it okay if I meet Mary this morning?”
Anna nodded. “Yes, okay. I’ll send you a text when your granddad and I have finished shopping, just in case you need a lift home.”
“Hi, Mary,” Jay said into the phone. “Yes, that’s okay. I’ll see you there.”
After Mary had hung up, Jay wished for the umpteenth time that her friend had got herself a mobile, and then Mary could have texted her to explain what was wrong.
Mary was waiting for her in the cafe and, while Aunty Pauline was making them a drink, Mary slid an envelope over the table. It was addressed simply to ‘Mary’. Jay picked it up, opened it and stared at the printed out photograph inside. It had been taken in the girl’s changing room at the school last night, Jay realised. In the photo, Mary, who was only wearing her thong, was bending forward and looking up and smiling, unconsciously showing her boobs to perfection. Written on the back of the photo was a message. Unless yo
u want copies of this spread all around the school and put onto the school website, meet me at seven tonight outside the Miner’s Arms.
It wasn’t signed but Jay knew it had to be either Alex or Carl.
“The dirty bastards,” she said, returning the photograph to the envelope and giving it back to Mary. “What are you going to do?”
“What do you think?” Mary asked. “I can’t tell my dad or anyone, can I? I’d have to show them this.” She tapped the envelope and stuffed it into her coat pocket out of sight. “I’m just going to have to do what he says, aren’t I?”
Jay studied her friend carefully before saying what was on her mind. “It’s either Alex or Carl, and you know what they’ll want—sex. It’s blackmail, Mary.”
“Yes, I know, but I don’t want pictures of me wearing nothing but a thong floating around all over the place. Actually, I won’t mind too much if it’s Alex. He’s quite good looking and I quite fancy him.” She shrugged. “Anyway, we’re seventeen now, almost eighteen, and we’re going to have to do it sometime.”
“But what if it’s Carl?”
Mary grimaced. “Then I’ll try not to be sick until after he’s finished.”
“But you sounded really upset when you rang.”
“I was, but then I got to thinking about it. I’ve never had a proper boyfriend. I don’t go to discos or parties. School, home and the chapel, that’s my life, Jay. I’ve never even been pissed. I quite like the idea of having sex. I want to find out if it’s as good as everyone makes out.”
Jay was surprised by Mary’s outburst, but understood where she was coming from because she’d been having the same kind of feelings herself. She’d never really made out with a boy in her life, let alone slept with one, and when she listened to some of the other girls laughing about what they’d been up to over the weekend, Jay, too, had started to think that perhaps she was missing out by not having sex.
“Have you ever had sex with a boy?” she asked. “I haven’t yet. Not even a quick feel.”
Mary nodded. “I know how you feel. The way some of the girls talk makes me feel as though I’m missing out sometimes too.”
“But you still believe that sex should be something special and saved for your wedding night. That’s why we joined the Silver Ring group, isn’t it, because we both believe that?”
“Jay, I haven’t said I will let them have sex with me. It all depends…anyway, about tonight, will you cover for me? I’ll tell my dad that I’m going out with you and may stop over.”
“Okay,” Jay said. “I only hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Me, too,” Mary said. “Look, David’s arrived. Hey, he’s not bad looking so why don’t you go and ask him for a date?”
“You know I fancy him, but I couldn’t just ask him to go out with me.”
“Why not? Perhaps he’s too scared to make the first move,” Mary said. “Or do you like being single?”
Jay looked towards David who was standing by the counter. He turned and smiled at her. Trying not to think what she would do if he turned her down, she stood up and went over to him.
“David, Mary can’t come to the cinema with me tonight and I was wondering whether you’d like to come with me instead.” Her heart was hammering and she felt herself beginning to blush, when he smiled at her.
“That would be great,” he said. “Where shall we meet and what time?”
Jay hadn’t thought that far ahead and she didn’t even know what was on at the cinema.
“Shall we say seven-thirty, outside the Metro?” David asked, cutting through her confusion.
“Wicked,” she said. “I’ll see you there.”
“Right.”
“Right, well, um, I’d better get back to Mary.” Jay felt like a kid. She went back to her table and sat down. “I did it,” she said to Mary. “He’s meeting me by the Metro, tonight.”
“See, I told you.” She took a pack of condoms out of her pocket and showed them to Jay. “If I were you, I’d get a packet of these out of the machine in the toilets…”
“But I don’t know whether I want to let him go all the way, especially on our first date.”
“Yes, I know, but if you get pissed, you might change your mind if he really wants to. I’d get a pack just in case.”
Jay hadn’t thought about that. As she rummaged in her purse for some pound coins for the machine, she began to wish she’d never asked David for a date.
* * * *
Jay dressed with care for her date with David and when she came downstairs into the living room, Granddad raised his eyebrows.
“Wow,” he said, grinning at Grandma. “Hey, Anna, it looks as though our Jay got herself a date.”
Grandma frowned. “I thought that you were going out with Mary?”
“I am,” Jay said, feeling sure that her grandmother would be able to tell that she wasn’t telling the truth. “We’re going on a foursome to the cinema.”
“Well, make sure your mobile’s charged before you go. Just in case you’re late and need your grandfather to pick you up later.”
Jay hid her relief by rummaging inside her coat pocket for her phone. “I’m sure it is.” She pulled it out of her pocket and stared in horror as the small packet of condoms came out with it, dropping onto the carpet.
She stood paralysed with embarrassment as her grandmother picked them up and then looked her in the eye. But what Jay saw in the older woman’s eyes wasn’t the look of shock, dismay or disgust that she was expecting. Her grandmother’s eyes were filled with fear. She reached out and gripped Jay’s arm so hard that it hurt. “How long have you been having sex?” she demanded, shaking her.
Jay, who’d never heard her grandmother shouting before, was scared and confused, because it was so out of character. Grandma Anna had always seemed so broadminded until now.
“Answer me!” Anna shook her even harder.
“Anna!” Granddad Tom was on his feet now, his face ashen. “Let go of her,” he said in his normal gentle voice. “It’s not Jay’s fault, love. We should have told her, but we kept putting it off, didn’t we? We kept hoping that this day would never arrive.”
Anna released Jay and started to sob. Instinctively, Jay put her arm around her and realised just how thin and frail her grandmother had become.
“It’s alright, Grandma,” she said, blinking back her own tears. “I haven’t had sex yet. I bought them just in case. Anyway, what’s the big deal? Lots of girls my age are already sleeping with their boyfriends.”
“There’s no need to explain, love,” Tom said. “It’s just that you’re…”
“You’re not like the other girls,” Anna sobbed. “You’re different, Jay. You’re not the same as any other girl in the world, God help us!”
What the hell was her grandma talking about and why was Tom looking so sad?
“Sit down, Jay,” he said. “There’s something we have to tell you.”
Jay felt numb as she sat down and Anna, still weeping, sank down on the sofa beside her. Different to any other girl, her grandmother had said and, as Granddad perched himself on the arm next to Jay and took her hand in his, she somehow knew that her world was about to be pulled apart.
“We love you to bits, Jay,” he said. “We’ve always loved you. Ever since the day I found you sealed inside a rubbish bag, and dumped into a stream.”
“You what?” Jay couldn’t take it in. It was too weird.
Tom nodded. “It was just over thirteen years ago in a stream on the edge of Catherstone Chase. We used to live in the village. Anyway, I found you taped up inside a black rubbish bag amongst the reeds, just like Anna said I would. You were so cold that I thought you would die of hypothermia, for sure.”
“He came rushing across the fields towards our cottage.” Anna’s eyes seemed bright behind her tears as she remembered. “He was holding you so tight it’s a wonder he didn’t crush you to death. Anyway, you were so cold your lips were blue but I gave you a teaspoon of b
randy and got some hot soup inside of you and, in no time at all, you were fine.”
“We couldn’t tell anyone we’d found you,” Tom said grimly. “They’d have come and taken you away. They would have made a better job of killing you and disposing of your body next time.”
“Killing me?” Jay stared at him in shock. “My parents wanted to kill me?”
“No! Not your parents, Jay,” Tom said. “The Americans, that’s who killed your parents.
“I don’t understand,” Jay said. Understand? She was beginning to think that her grandparents had gone crazy. “You said that Grandma told you where to find me.”
“Yes, Tom didn’t find you by accident,” Anna said. “I sent him out looking for you because of my dream, if that’s what it was. It was so vivid and clear. I suppose some people would have called it a vision.”
“What did you see, Gran?” she asked, trying to keep calm. She felt detached as though she was a spectator, separated from and looking down upon the three of them.
“Two young people, a boy and a girl, were sitting in front of a wooden hut, by a campfire. Suddenly, they were attacked by men with guns and the boy was killed.
“The girl, she was no more than your age, was surrounded and they were demanding to know where her daughter was. Then someone noticed she was hiding something under her coat.
“The men’s leader ripped open her coat and stepped away from her. He looked horrified. ‘The freak’s laid an egg,’ he said. ‘She’s laid a bloody egg!’
“The girl was hugging a large pink coloured egg close to her body, protecting it, when the man blasted her with a shotgun. It blew her arm off and she fell and the egg lay shattered on the ground.”
Grandma hesitated and sighed. “There was a tiny human foetus inside it, Jay.”
“The girl was my mother and she laid an egg?” Jay felt the blood drain from her face, as the implication hit home. What if she was a freak too?