Anomaly

by Caitlin Lynagh

  ‘Are you alright Kyle?’ he heard Alice ask. He whipped his head back round and stared at her. She tucked part of her hair behind her left ear as she watched him.

  ‘I’m great. What are all those doodles?’ Alice paused and glanced at the back of her hand.

  ‘Oh, nothing, it’s just a little, quirk of mine,’ she said, embarrassed. ‘It drives Mum mad. She’s forever telling me to doodle in notebooks and not on my hands.’ He laughed.

  ‘A quirk?’

  ‘I guess. I think everyone has some quirks. I bet you have little quirks.’ She smiled and he felt his heartrate speed up.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  Alice had been at Queen’s for nearly two months now, and although they were friendly, he still felt like he didn’t really know her. She was generally quiet in school, but her humour came out around her friends, the few she had made. She worked hard in all of her subjects, but he knew she excelled in physics and maths, particularly maths. Most of the guys in the year liked her but didn’t know how to even approach her. Alice seemed to have an air of mystery and was wrapped up tightly in her own little world; it was almost impossible for anyone to reach her. Kyle was lucky; he lived next door to her and they walked to school together, but still, he found it difficult to speak to her.

  ‘Would you like to go out for a coffee? Or something? Maybe?’ Kyle asked. Alice glanced at him warily. ‘I mean, you haven’t been here long.’ He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I could give you a tour of the city? There’s a really cool science museum and, well, you’ve seen the cathedral…’ She watched him silently and he felt his cheeks grow hot.

  ‘Sure,’ she said. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. He could feel the pounding in his chest, travelling up to his head. ‘It’ll be fun.’

  ‘Kyle?’ Lara’s voice brought him back to the present and she waved a hand in front of his face. He blinked a couple of times but Alice was gone. ‘Are you OK Kyle?’ His head was throbbing and his throat burned.

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Sorry for what?’ Confusion clouded Lara’s eyes. ‘Did you hear anything I was saying?’ Alice flashed through his mind again and he gripped his coffee too tightly, splitting the flimsy polystyrene cup and then dropping it on the floor. ‘Kyle, what’s wrong?’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ He backed away from her. He could see Alice again, standing next to him as colours erupted in the sky, each glowing burst highlighting the soft curves of her face. Her eyes sparkled as she tilted her head towards him and she smiled, a full-blown, heart-stopping, blood-warming smile. It was as though the earth no longer had gravity; he was in love with her, and she didn’t know it…

  Kyle shook his head. NO! he told himself forcefully. He gritted his teeth. His head continued to throb. He felt a pressure in his skull and behind his eyes as little circular voids started to obscure his vision.

  ‘Kyle?’ Lara’s voice had risen by a couple of octaves.

  ‘I’m alright, I’m just going to get some,’ he winced again at a particularly painful throb, ‘space.’ He turned around quickly, not bothering to check if he was being followed as he slipped through the crowds.

  He didn’t slow down until he had passed the entrance and was out onto the main road, heading away from the cathedral. It dawned upon him quickly that he was running away from his memories, running away from any potential trigger, of which there were many in this pathetically small city. There was no escape in Elbridge. Alice had only been here for a few short years and yet Kyle’s memories of her had rooted themselves firmly into everything, even the bricks and mortar. He could hear the pop, pop, pop, of fireworks and the grating screech-bang becoming fainter as he headed back to the house.

  The dull pain in his brain pulsed with every heartbeat, as though the blood in his veins had congealed and now struggled to circulate. He pressed his palm to his forehead; his skin was hot and slightly wet. He let out a deep, shaky, breath. He wanted to scream, kick something, throw a chair, anything, but he wouldn’t. It would be weak to give in to his emotions so readily. He quickened his pace and kept his head down, avoiding people as they milled around the pavements and outside the pubs and restaurants. The further away he headed from the cathedral, the quieter it became. The ache in his brain became a dim echo.

  He walked down the main street in Elbridge, passing the shops, the science museum, and Elbridge’s only shopping mall, then he turned on to a quieter street and came out into a little courtyard. He stopped. The flagstones appeared grey in the dim light, and the coffee shop and book shop were closed. There was also a café and an old-fashioned sweet shop. At the centre of this little courtyard was a little wishing well where people would throw in loose change and wish for luck. Kyle’s throat tightened; he shouldn’t have come here. He remembered long summer evenings when his school friends would stop by the sweet shop and buy ice creams. He also remembered dark, winter evenings when they would sometimes stop and buy coffees. Alice and Hailey had often visited the book shop; they would have spent hours in there browsing through the novels if Kyle hadn’t pulled them away. He gulped and felt tears budding behind his eyes and blurring his vision, then his vision brightened impossibly and it was no longer night time, it was the middle of the day.

  He saw a younger version of himself sitting next to Alice on the edge of the wishing well, talking. They were both dressed in their school uniforms – not in sixth form yet.

  ‘You collect coins don’t you?’ Kyle asked and then he stuck his hand into the water.

  ‘Don’t!’ Alice said and tugged his wrist out of the water.

  ‘What?’ Kyle looked at her with wide eyes. ‘They’re only coins, no one wants them.’

  ‘That’s not the point,’ she said. He noticed then that she hadn’t let go of his wrist. ‘You can’t disturb people’s wishes; it’s like trampling over someone’s grave. It’s just wrong. People need those wishes; it gives hope to their dreams and it keeps their imaginations alive. If you take one of their coins, it’s like you don’t care about people’s dreams. What’s the point in life if you don’t have dreams?’ She stared at him with her ocean eyes. ‘I only collect pennies if they’ve been dropped accidently on the ground.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Kyle said, lowering his gaze. He felt like a fool; even his parents would have scolded him for trying to remove a coin from the well. He felt her hand slip down into his.

  ‘It’s OK,’ she said. He raised his eyes and saw that Alice was staring at their hands too. She removed her hand quickly and blushed. ‘Well, don’t be such an idiot next time.’ She stood up quickly and turned her face away.

  The memory faded and day turned back into night. He stood staring at the wishing well; he could still remember the embarrassment he had felt back then but he also remembered their hands, together for the first time. It had been the closest thing to magic that Kyle would have ever admitted to. He had never felt so ashamed and so happy in all of his life. He turned away from the well and fled from the memory. He kept his head down and reached the outer edges of the small city. He passed Tank’s little terrace house and then finally made it to the top of his street.

  He gazed down at the familiar houses that lined either side. Cars were parked by the pavements and on the driveways, and lampposts lit up the street at regular intervals. Everything was quiet, peaceful; the road itself was its own little bubble. He squared his shoulders and pushed his hands into his pockets as he made his way down the street. He kept his head down and counted each step, a game he had played as a child. He knew exactly when he was standing outside Alice’s old house. He winced and shot a passing glance at the door he had once so eagerly knocked on. A new family lived there now, a young family with young children, but that fact did little to console his memories.

  Kyle stopped. He didn’t know why but his feet were unwilling to move, or perhaps his brain had given up completely. There were so many thoughts
going through his mind, so many memories drifting like ghosts around his neural passageways. He sighed and looked back at Alice’s old house. It was the same as it had always been; a pretty red-bricked cube with large bay windows. The front lawn was a patch of damp grass lined by bare rose bushes, enclosed by a low brick wall. There had been so many mornings where he had sat on the wall outside her house with Hailey, waiting for Talia and Alice, before they had all headed to school. They had spent many hours after school finishing homework or revising for exams together. Every weekend they would knock on each other’s doors and go out into Elbridge if the weather was fine, or down to the skate park. Or if it was miserable and cold, they would stay inside and watch TV, play games, or Kyle would play guitar alongside Alice’s piano.

  He stared up at the dark windows; he could almost pretend that she was still living there, still alive. He inhaled a deep breath. What could he do when the person who had become his oxygen was no longer around? It was as though every molecule of air had been coated with invisible barbed wire. He felt moisture budding behind his eyes again and he dropped his gaze back down to the wall. He rubbed his eyes, blinked a couple of times and took a deep breath, and then he frowned. There, in the dim glow of a lamppost, was a black mark against one of the bricks. He bent down to it and noticed the letters K and H written in black marker pen in the corner of the brick. They had been written in a shaky hand and the K was backwards. He poked it, confused. It was loose. A vague memory of Alice knocking her heels against the wall and dislodging a brick passed through his mind. He squinted; it looked like someone had poked a matchstick in the crack. He pulled at it and jumped as the brick dropped out of its hole and clattered onto the pavement.

  ‘Crap,’ he cursed involuntarily. He looked around nervously. He was about to replace the brick when he noticed a tiny plastic bag with a re-sealable edge wedged in the gap. What the? He pulled it out and turned it over in his hand. He gazed at the brick in his other hand, the letters K and H were together, letters, initials, Kyle Hunter. He froze and gazed back at the little plastic bag; there was a folded piece of paper inside. He fixed the brick back into the wall and then opened the bag as quickly as possible. It was awkward and stiff but the flimsy plastic had protected its contents from the elements. He stood under the nearest lamppost and unfolded the paper carefully. He had a sudden feeling of déjà vu and he didn’t like it at all, but his curiosity got the better of him.

  He felt his throat constrict and his heart skipped a couple of beats. On a small unfolded A5 piece of paper, with one torn edge, was a message in blue ink, a message in an all too familiar hand. Recall our first kiss and the date, 6th March, 2009. He stared at it in dismay.

  ‘Alice…’ he whispered.

  ‘There he is! Kyle!’ he heard his sister call. His head whipped round and he saw his family along with several other neighbours walking down the street. He didn’t have time to think about it, he simply stuffed the plastic bag and the torn page into his pocket.

  Thirteen

  Alice watched over him as he slept. She figured that this would be considered creepy or at least strange by most people, but she didn’t have anywhere else to go, or anything else to do. She had been on edge since Halloween and Kyle’s nightmares had grown in their intensity. She felt responsible for his depressed state even though she knew it was ridiculous and that she couldn’t be blamed for her own death. She glanced at the second drawer under his desk. Kyle had kept the page from the wall, but he had walked into his bedroom on the Sunday evening after traveling back from Elbridge as though someone had rammed a broomstick up his backside. He had dropped the page in the drawer with her notebook and shut it again and not looked back. She didn’t know how the page had gotten into the wall, but she knew it was definitely hers. She sighed. Ahrl hadn’t been in contact either and she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do anymore. Kyle’s soul still stubbornly clung to its grey hues as though it were part of his regalia.

  He began to twist under his duvet, and his soul darkened. Alice jumped down from the desk and went over to him. This was becoming a regular occurrence now. She sat down and placed one hand over his chest and the other on his forehead. He winced but his eyes remained firmly closed. She reached out to him through her mind and soul. She willed him to be calm, she willed the nightmares away, and she willed the pain to stop.

  ‘Alice,’ he groaned and his soul lit up like fire – orange and crimson twisting around one another. He began to toss and turn violently; his legs shifted under the duvet as though he were trying to run. ‘Alice,’ he groaned again. ‘Alice don’t… Alice… don’t… leave me.’ Alice grimaced and drove her mind straight into his dream.

  He was running, running down a long white hallway and she chased after him. He was wearing his sixth form suit again, but he wasn’t at Queen’s, he was at the hospital. She recognised the place and the distinctive smell of sick people and cleaning agents. The white hallway began to glow with a dim red glow and she turned her head to look out of the windows. She gasped and dread flowed into her hollow veins. Elbridge wasn’t even recognisable anymore, the Earth wasn’t recognisable. What greeted her eyes was a charred and blackened Earth with a blood red sky. She had seen this before. Ahrl had shown her this memory; it was the end of all humanity, life, and the afterlife. She gazed back at Kyle; he too was looking at the ruins of the planet but then he looked ahead again.

  ‘Alice,’ he yelled desperately down the hallway. Alice frowned and looked past him and then she understood. A single white door with a window stood slightly ajar at the very end.

  ***

  ‘Wait for me!’ Cameron called. Kyle paused and Cameron appeared.

  ‘Why?’ Kyle looked perplexed.

  ‘I’m going to study too,’ Cameron replied.

  ‘You’re going to study?’ Kyle said, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘Yes, don’t give me that look,’ Cameron said and then he darted into his bedroom and returned seconds later with his rucksack and coat. ‘Let’s go.’ He grinned. Kyle shook his head and the two boys left the flat.

  The last few days of November had brought snow and ice. Snow showers had fallen over the campus, the layers of snow partially melting during the day and then freezing again at night. This constant pattern of melting, refreezing and build up had made the walkways treacherous. Red Oak’s staff and security had spent longs hours spreading salt and grit, and in some cases shovelling the hardened snow, but it was of little use. Alice could feel the drop in the air temperature, though she was in no danger of frostbite now.

  ‘It’s bloody freezing,’ Cameron said, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his coat and tucking his chin beneath his scarf. They passed some of the staff’s cars parked on the sides of the slope; all of them were covered in a couple of inches of snow.

  ‘Yes it’s cold,’ Kyle agreed.

  ‘I’ve been meaning to ask…’ Cameron paused and glanced at Kyle. ‘What happened with you and Lara on bonfire night?’ Alice grimaced at the mention of that name; she remembered bonfire night, and she remembered the pink in Lara’s soul.

  ‘Really, you’ve waited this long to ask?’ Kyle raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Well, there’s not been a good time to ask you about it. Lara said you freaked out and disappeared.’

  ‘Nothing happened; I had a headache that’s all,’ Kyle replied. Cameron stared at him for a long moment but said nothing.

  Cameron made a pile of physics books whilst Kyle searched through the business shelves. They found a table on the first floor and sat by one of the library’s floor to ceiling windows. The sky was dark and ominous and Alice’s body tingled with Negative energy. The boys worked pretty much in silence for the next few hours and then Cameron left and Kyle continued to study. As the night wore on, the snow began to fall again and Alice’s unease would not settle. She felt nervous, anxious about something, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
She had spent the last hour in a deep meditative state, searching with her mind for any source of disturbance or Negativity. So far she had only come across a couple of Negative souls, but they were focussed on work somewhere within the lower levels of the library.

  She looked at Kyle’s soul; the colours around his core were dim and shrouded by his grey hues but they were moving sluggishly. He was exhausted and a faint orangey-brown told her that he was experiencing some mild pain, probably a headache. He yawned into the back of his hand and eventually stirred just after one in the morning. His eyes were glazed and bloodshot, and the shadows under them seemed deeper and darker. He picked up a stack of books and headed into the main belly of the library where metal bookshelves stood row upon row, and shelved them into their correct places.

  As he picked up the last stack he noticed that Cameron had left his headphones and iPod behind. Kyle shook his head and returned the last of his books back to their original places and then packed up his belongings and wrapped himself up in a scarf and coat. He slipped Cameron’s headphones over his ears and hit play. He put the slim iPod into his front pocket and headed out of the library with his rucksack slung over one shoulder. The library’s entrance was a little strange as the building had been built into the side of a small rise. The glass-fronted entrance was raised and had two sets of outside steps which curved down to the ground. The stone steps were covered in compressed snow and ice and Kyle gripped the icy handrail as he walked down them. The solid ground wasn’t much better and he chose to walk across the snow-caked grass rather than the slippery pathways.

  Alice frowned as she watched him pick his way over the snow and ice, his feet slipping into little hollows. The music was blaring loudly through Cameron’s headphones; it sounded like someone was screaming down his ears. She grimaced at the wailing din and let her eyes wander nervously over the campus. She felt a niggling unease creeping up her spine and she rubbed the back of her neck. Kyle slowly made his way over to the path outside the chapel. The frosty cold air barely affected her but she did recognise a cold, rotten, numbness. It was a heavy and crushing feeling, like earth being thrown into a grave. She stopped short and searched around for the source; her eyes passed over and over the same areas and it wasn’t until she turned her head and caught something strange in her peripheral vision that she truly noticed it.