I grinned and slipped my arm around her waist as we slowly left the beach and stepped onto the promenade. Lily tried to explain everything she saw so that I could get a good picture of the sights. But it was frustrating because most of the things she described she hadn’t seen before and therefore couldn’t really explain what they were.
Thanks to that old man’s directions, the bank wasn’t too hard to find, only a few streets and we were there, except that it took longer because of Lily’s drug-addled condition and my impaired sight.
We sat outside, on a wooden bench, watching bank tellers enter the premises through a side door, and waited until the main doors opened at 9am.
Finally we entered the building, where the scent of polished wood and freshly brewed coffee smacked my nostrils.
“Just hold my hand and lead me to the queue. Is anyone waiting?”
“There’s a man in a suit standing there. He’s the only one.”
“Good. Take me to stand behind him. Is there anything I can trip on?”
“No. Just walk straight ahead for about ten steps then a soft left. I’ll lead the way.”
A whiff of aftershave told me we were behind the gentleman Lily had mentioned.
“Good. When we get to the counter, I’ll do all the talking. All you have to do is guide me where to sign. If I’m in the wrong spot, say so. If not, I’ll sign away. The space for the signature is usually on the bottom quarter of the document.”
“Next, please.”
I gave the woman my full name and also Marko’s name and told her what I wanted.
“Please key in the pin number.”
Argh. I’d forgotten about that. I knew the pin, but could I type it in?
I felt for the box and ran my fingers over the keys, getting a feel for them and trying to remember the order. I punched four keys and prayed they were the correct ones.
“That is incorrect. Please try again.”
Despite the air-conditioned room, sweat trickled down my back. My fingers started to shake. I tried to picture the keypad, from when I last used one a couple of years ago, and tried again, holding my breath.
“Wonderful. Thank you, Robert.”
Lily released a soft sigh of relief.
“She’s gone now.”
“Must be getting everything,” I said, breathing finally.
“Here we are. I just need a signature here.”
I felt for the document and rested my left hand across the top and slid my right hand down until it bumped against Lily’s or the woman’s finger.
“Just here,” the woman repeated.
I exhaled.
“Great.”
She handed me the contents of the safety box, which I knew included keys, an envelope with some papers inside including an address to Marko’s apartment, as well as the cash I’d asked to withdraw. She wished me well, a trace of envy in her voice.
In Marin, money was of no real value to me, so I hadn’t batted an eyelid when she’d told me the impressive balance of Marko’s account, though I did appreciate that it was a substantial amount, the amount of money most people on land dreamed of having at their disposal.
After stopping at a bakery and enjoying a couple of fresh, sticky buns, a loaf of bread and a steaming black coffee each, we took a taxi straight to Marko’s apartment.
When I stepped out of the vehicle, I blinked several times and was relieved to be able to see with some clarity.
From outside, the apartment appeared ordinary and indistinguishable from the other bland, brown bricked apartments, but after I turned the key in the lock and opened the door, Lily gasped at the luxury spread out before us.
“I should be used to this,” I said to Lily while I watched her stare open mouthed at the plush insides of the apartment. “I used to stay with Marko at places like this all over the world, but we haven’t done it in so long that it’s kind of a shock to the system all over again.” I blinked, my eyes blurring in and out of focus. “Everything is so new and so... digital.”
Lily let go of my arm, slipped her boots off at the door and walked around, her bare feet sinking into the velvety looking carpet. She moaned softly and stopped to spin in the centre of the living room before collapsing on a nearby leather couch. “Wow. I love this.” She lay on her back and stretched out against the cushions behind her head, her eyes studying the electronic gadgets that were sprinkled around the room. “How does Marko leave all this behind every time he returns to Marin?” She hugged a velvet pillow to her chest. “I do love the castle back home, but this is just...” she kicked her legs and squealed before dropping her limbs and yawning as though exhausted.
We shared a look, both knowing that the compulsion was the reason why Marko found it easy to leave such an apartment to return home to Marin, the same reason why we, no matter how much we fell in love with England or land, or other people, would still return to Marin once we’d completed what we’d set out to do.
Once you entered the underwater city, you never wanted to leave. It was like that song about a hotel Marko used to play on the piano, something about checking out any time you like but never really leaving. That was how it was with Marin.
“What is that?” Lily asked, leaning forward to stare at the shiny black screen across the room. “Is this the computer?”
“No. It’s a television. Most people call it TV. Watch this.” I reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned it on.
Lily pressed her back against the couch and her eyes widened in horror as a man shooting another man in the face appeared on the screen. I quickly changed the channel, only to reveal a man and a woman engaged in sex. Hot faced, I pressed the off button and tossed the control onto the table.
“Okay. That was weird,” she said, still staring at the screen, her cheeks slightly flushed. “Was it real?”
“No. But it is what happens in real life, I mean, up here on land. Well, I mean the shooting part. The sex, well, that happens everywhere... of course.” Great. At this rate my face was burning so hot it was about to melt off. “They use actors—people, to play the characters...”
I turned away and pretended to fiddle around with the backpack, unpacking its contents onto the coffee table, wondering if Lily had just realised that we’d be spending our first night together, in an apartment, without anyone to disturb us. My brain kicked into overdrive as I imagined just what we could do to pass the time.
Focus, Robbie, focus.
I checked the cabinets in the kitchen and found them stocked with an assortment of cereals, tinned vegetables, dried fruits and meats, powdered milks and coffee. Gradually I gained control of my one-tracked body and mind again.
“Found the computer,” Lily shouted. “It’s in the...” she cleared her throat, “... in the bedroom.”
My heart started thumping really fast. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to appear cool and casual, when I was a complete mass of nerves.
“Oh, there it is,” I said, trying hard to concentrate on turning on the computer while Lily stretched out across the bed.
Though my eyes became blurry again, I was able to get down on my knees and feel around for the power cord and switch the power point on. Next, my fingers traced the monitor and found a button on the bottom right hand corner. I pressed it and within a few seconds, the screen lit up. Now I just had to find the base unit.
“Come lie down, Rob. Just try it. The mattress is so soft.”
“I will. After I get this thing working. We need to get the earliest available tickets, remember.”
It took me roughly around an hour to get the computer going, turn on the internet and start looking for what I needed – even with the hand-written instructions Marko had left. My stupid eyes kept going in and out of focus at crucial moments.
It took me almost another hour to log on to the page of the airline Marko had recommended, and by then my eyes had completely given up. I nearly threw the entire computer system out the window if Lily hadn’t decided to abandon h
er mission to try on every single outfit in the huge walk-in robe Marko had stocked with men’s and women’s clothing in various sizes and styles.
So with Lily’s help, we finally had tickets to Perth, Australia, which left in four days.
Four days to get fake IDs and passports in our names. Marko already had a picture of me on the computer, should I ever be in need to make a fake ID. We had to take Lily’s with the computer camera much to her horror. She took around thirty until she was mildly satisfied with a single picture, and until I was certain it would meet the passport photo requirements.
When we were finally done with the computer, I sighed, rubbed my blurry eyes and shut the system down before swivelling around in my chair, just in time to see Lily’s hazy form at the wardrobe door. By the looks of it, she was down to her underwear.
“Oh... um... sorry,” I said and got up. “I’ll just leave you to it.”
I heard the bed springs bounce and paused at the door. It sounded like she’d thrown herself on the bed, her near-naked self.
“Robbie?”
“Yeah?” My voice sounded deep and rough, like it belonged to a caveman. I cleared it and turned around.
“Come here,” she said, her voice just as husky as mine. ‘Come to bed with me.”
She didn’t need to ask me twice.
I raised my shirt over my head and tossed it at the computer, my heart thudding against my ribcage like a wild animal desperate to break free.
I carefully shuffled towards the bed and slipped beneath the sheets to join her. Sliding an arm around her smooth, bare waist, I bent my head and kissed her forehead, her eyes, her nose and then her lips. I didn’t need sight—I could feel and kiss my way around.
Lily groaned and ran her fingers through my hair and I kissed her again, with urgency this time, my lips and tongue caressing her mouth, her jaw, her neck. I couldn’t get enough. It felt urgent, this burning need, to be fully and completely with Lily.
Nothing was certain anymore. Our futures weren’t guaranteed.
Lily’s hands slid down my stomach and stopped at the button and zipper of my trousers. I groaned at the pure pleasure of having her touch me there.
“I love you, Robbie,” she whispered, as she undid the button.
It took me a while to catch my breath before I was able to speak. The feeling of Lily’s hands on my body had almost rendered me mute.
“I love you too, Lily,” I whispered to her blurry face, before we started kissing again, in a way that made me forget about our troubles for just one night.
* * *
After two days spent either in bed or glued to the couch watching television—Lily watched, I just listened—Lily shook me awake in bed on the third morning and tossed a pair of jeans and a shirt at me. Though my vision was blurry as I stared around at the bedroom, I could tell that it seemed emptier somehow. As though somebody had tidied it up.
“We still have at least another day,” I said, wondering why she’d cleaned up so early. “And our IDs haven’t arrived yet.” I narrowed my gaze at her shadowy form. “What’s that in your hands?”
“A parcel.”
She held it over the mattress and something fell out.
“He dropped it off early this morning. And I’ve printed out our eTickets as well.” She put her hands to her hips, impressed with herself. I could tell by the lilt in her voice that she was smiling too. “It took me two hours to work out the printer and luckily it did its job when it did as I was about to stick my dagger into it.”
My fatigue suddenly gone, I leaped out of bed and pulled on my clothes. She’d chosen a tight fitting pair of black jeans and a button up shirt, grey by the looks of it. It was the respectable kind of shirt you’d wear when you’re visiting with relatives.
“Lily?”
Lily came closer, right in front of my eyes so that I could see the vague outline of the big grin on her face. Great. I knew exactly what she was grinning about. I groaned out loud.
“Don’t tell me you’ve got ideas about me finding my family because I’m not doing it.”
She frowned and rubbed her palms down my chest before slipping her arms around my waist. “But it’s your family. Your little sister. Don’t you owe it to her to let her know that you’re okay?”
I buttoned up my shirt and refused to wrap my own arms around Lily. “I do. But then I’ll have to leave her all over again and I can’t do that. It’s cruel. What if she’s on her own? What if my grandfather has... what if he’s passed already?”
She sighed and swallowed thickly. “I never thought about it that way. I guess I wasted the money on bus tickets to Cornwall then,” she said, resting her forehead on my chest. “Okay, then. We’ll just forget I ever mentioned it.”
Tickets to Cornwall?
My heart started to race at the idea of seeing my sister, in only a matter of hours. Maybe a quick visit wouldn’t hurt. Just to check in on her.
Before Lily had the chance to pull away, I caved, and wrapped my arms around her.
“I guess there’s nothing cruel about checking in on her, just to see if she’s okay. I’ll ask after her. I won’t tell anyone who I am. I’ll just find out where she is, watch her from a distance and then...” I swallowed thickly, my throat aching. “Then I guess... I’ll just walk away.”
“No. Robbie, you said yourself, it’s too cruel. You’ll be heartbroken. I seriously didn’t think this through. It was a stupid idea. I just got excited for you.”
The more I thought about it the more I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing my sister.
“We’re going, Lily,” I said, adrenaline whooshing through my veins. “I can’t not see her... just check on her. Even if she doesn’t see me.”
She remained quiet a long time before sighing in my arms. “Okay, then we’d better head out soon, the bus to Penzance leaves in less than an hour and we’ve got to get to the station. Come on.”
While I stood by feeling useless, Lily double, then triple-checked the apartment in case we’d forgotten to pack something, then we threw the travel backpacks we’d borrowed from Marko’s apartment on our backs—so as not to look suspicious when boarding the plane—and ran all the way to the station.
The bus ride to Penzance took a few hours, and we spent most of that time staring out the window. It was all a grey-green blur to me, but I took great pleasure in Lily’s squeals whenever we passed a green field dotted with cows or a castle, which was quite often.
But when the harbour came into view, Lily practically screamed in my ear when she saw it.
We were so close. So close to home.
I sat up straight and started jiggling my knees to ward off the intense emotions knotting up my insides.
Several feelings detonated inside my heart and guts; joy, excitement, anxiety and.... even anger. I wasn’t sure who the anger was directed at. Perhaps at Marko for being the one who had taken this all away from me, or perhaps myself, for not returning home soon enough.
But none of that mattered, really. Because here I was, finally. All that mattered was this moment, and the fact that I could finally see for myself that my sister was okay. And perhaps maybe learn more about the man who had taken me out to collect mussels that fateful day. The man who I knew was my grandfather.
The bus drew to a halt at the station and we got out. The sharp, familiar scent of the sea air hit my nostrils, it smelt so different from Marin or Scarborough or Bob’s Bay, there was a fishier smell to it here. A pleasant smell to me. It smelt of home and of the past life I’d lived before I came to Marin.
Though I’d been away for so many years, walking along the seafront and hearing the fishing boats come in, and listening to the comings and goings of the old town behind me, felt so natural, as though I’d only walked around here just yesterday. I didn’t need clear sight to see it all. I remembered it so vividly.
Without stopping to ask a stranger for directions, I grabbed Lily’s hand and dictated a rough layout of the streets and soon we we
re walking up Chapel Street. Some business changes and a few closed-down store fronts confused me for a moment, but the further we went along the more familiar the street sounded again. Lily’s running commentary on all that she could see helped. I now knew exactly where I was. My feet had walked these parts hundreds of times when I was a boy.
“Where are we going?” Lily asked, laughing as she struggled to keep up in her heeled boots. The drugs had since worn off but the path was slippery beneath her heels.
“Home,” I said as we ran, turning down a street that I knew would eventually lead me to mine.
After another left turn, we arrived on the road I grew up on. Instinct told me we needed to move towards the middle of the street, several houses in. When I saw the blurred outlines of a narrow red brick and black roofed home, my footsteps came to a halt. I just knew this place had once been my home.
“Wait, who’s that?” Lily said, tugging on my arm and directing me to stand behind a parked van. Getting down on all fours, I peeked around the rusted vehicle.
“I don’t know. I’m getting nothing.” I rubbed at my eyes, willing them to work, but the world around me swirled into a kaleidoscope of greys.
“It’s a girl, around the age of fifteen, standing at the front picket fence, leaning forward to speak with a middle-aged woman, her neighbour. She has caramel coloured brown hair, a bit like Miranda’s, a cute button nose and rose bud lips.”
My sister, my brain screamed inside my head. It had to be.
Keeping low, I crawled beneath the van and hid my head behind the back tyre so that I could hear what she was saying. God help me if the driver was in the van and suddenly decided to reverse.
“So how is he?”
“Worse,” said a young girl’s voice. “He... he keeps talking about... him... you know...” her voice trailed off and I felt my heart speed up. Though she was a teenager now and sounded older, I somehow knew that voice belonged to my once squeaky sounding sister. She sounded so much like my mother. My mother.
Oh God, my mother and father had been killed in a car accident. I remembered now. It was all coming back to me, like someone was slamming photographs and information into my brain through a thin slot in my skull.
Release (The Submerged Sun, #3) Page 9