The Mouse

by Lauretta Hignett

  Simon looked back towards Sunny on the ground, and she watched his eyes harden. “Sorry, Sunny. You’ll be taken care of, don’t worry.”

  Oh, God. “Why? How?” She choked out again, her mouth filling with mud and rain.

  Simon shook his head sadly. “I’ve been onto you for weeks. I saw you disappear that day under the trees at school. I saw your shoulders slip under the grass, and you popped straight back out. I saw you wave your hand through the sushi. It was obvious from the get-go that you were some kind of freak.”

  “A useful kind of freak,” his uncle Richard chimed in, and spat on the ground by her face. “The kind of freak we like.”

  Was military intelligence on their way to get her? Nothing made sense. Simon’s uncle was a commander, and if he’d taken it upon himself to acquire her as a prisoner for the good of the country, they probably wouldn’t go to all this effort of ambushing her while she was trying to find Simon. The effort they’d gone to, the ruse… it didn’t add up.

  “Uncle Rich here had told me before about people like you,” Simon leaned back down and examined the prongs that stuck firmly in her back. “He told me about freaks that can do things. Read minds, bend spoons. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw your shoulders sink under the grass that day. So I watched you, I followed you. I saw you disappear into bushes and not come out. I staked out a girl’s bathroom for a few hours until a custodian found me and made me move. I knew you were going invisible and creeping off around the school.” His face had twisted with spite; it was such an unfamiliar expression. “I had to get rid of you, and I thought you might be useful to my uncle’s organization, once he could figure out a way of keeping you visible. The electricity makes sense, considering that you probably got your powers from your mum being electrocuted.”

  Sunny was horrified that he’d made the connection so easily. Simon, practically an idiot, had figured out what she was, and how she came to be like that.

  “He assured me that once you were caught, you’d come to understand why you should work for them. They run the whole world, you know. And you’d be taken care of. You’ll be better off with people of your own kind.”

  “Yeah, she’ll be taken care of,” Richard’s tone was far more sinister, and Sunny just see him smirk as he fiddled with his phone.

  The realization hit her with the same force as the Taser. Richard wasn’t securing her for the military.

  He was Hellix.

  But Simon had no idea. If he knew what he’d condemned her to, he would fight for her, she was sure. He wasn’t a monster. But she didn’t even know why he was doing it. Her face twisted with pain, terror and betrayal, and she whispered the word out loud again. “Why?”

  Simon leaned in, putting his face closer to hers.

  “You really don’t know, do you?” His eyes were glittering with angry tears. “You don’t know how awful you are. How cruel. You made fun of me constantly for four months. You don’t think I saw you roll your eyes every time I said something? You think I never saw you laugh at me behind my back?”

  He stopped, and withdrew a little, shaking his head. “I could put up with all that. I know I’m not the smartest guy on the planet.”

  “Then… W-w-why?”

  “Because you took her away from me!”

  Sunny tried to focus on the words, on what they meant. Slowly, they seeped into her brain.

  “Annabel?” She stammered painfully, the electricity still violently contorting her body.

  Simon had gone quiet and still, his face the picture of desolation. “Annabel,” he repeated softly. “She was the only thing in my life that was perfect. We’ve been together for years, just the two of us. It was us against the world. She looked after me; she loved me. We spent every moment together,” he whispered, sadness etched into every line on his face.

  He was quiet for only a moment, then his mouth twisted with spite.

  “And you show up, and she’s got a new friend. A new broken little bird to take under her wing, the poor new girl in the class. But you didn’t stay broken for long, did you? You liked her, not like all the other stupid bitches in class who are intimidated by her and don’t want her as a friend.” He spat out the words, angry in a way she’d never seen him before. “You became friends. Suddenly she’s not around when I call. And she’s not helping me with stuff like she used to. And she’s laughing with you behind my back.”

  There was no hope. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t force any air into her aching lungs. Despair took hold of her, and added hundreds of kilos of weight to her agony-wracked body. She thought for a wild moment that she was going to die right here, on the rain-soaked cliff face, lying face down in the mud.

  She was barely aware of Simon and his uncle, as they shouted to each other over the screaming gale. She’d never see her father again. She would never hold Archie close, and smell his crème-brulee head. Her vision was darkening, her heart spluttering.

  On the verge of letting the darkness take hold, she thought she heard another voice.

  It was smooth and deep, like dark chocolate. A familiar voice that pushed her back from the brink and washed over her like balm on her screaming nerves.

  There was nothing but the howling of the wind. Having stepped back from the edge of unconsciousness, Sunny experienced each hot stab of agony from the Taser fresh and new, and her torment seemed like it would be never-ending. It seemed like the devil was teasing her, and giving her glimpses of what she wanted most in the world, just to bring her back. Who she wanted most in the world. The person she could never, ever have. Her torture was complete – her body racked with pain, her mind incapacitated with anguish.

  There it was again. A voice on the wind, strong and resonant, intensely familiar, and hope flared in her chest. The voice shouted out, and it was calling her name.

  This couldn’t be real. She must be dying; it was a cruel trick. He didn’t even know her real name.

  “Sunny! Sunny!”

  Hunter crashed through the trees into the clearing, throwing his weight directly at Richard. The older man dived out of the way with an agility that belied his age, and drew a pistol out of his holster at his side. With a movement that Sunny could barely perceive, Hunter was on him, wrenching the gun out of his grasp. He tried to throw it over the cliff, but Richard’s arm caught him as he swooped down and the gun thudded into the sea grass, metres away from where Sunny lay prone in the mud.

  Simon shrieked in terror and scrambled around on the ground, parting the long grass this way and that, trying to spot the dull grey pistol amongst the sodden vegetation.

  Hunter and Richard were fighting hand to hand, Hunter threw a right hook at Richard’s face, he blocked it and tried a knee into Hunter’s ribs, but he twisted out of the way. Hunter flicked out with his left fist, and connected with the side of Richard’s head, and he staggered for a second but wheeled around and aimed a kick to Hunter’s injured leg. Hunter moved to protect his ankle, and opened himself up to a punch from Richard, right into his ribs. There was a sickening crack, audible to even Sunny’s ears as she watched on in horror, unable to move.

  Richard was much older, but he was an experienced combatant, and he was exploiting Hunter’s broken ankle. Hunter moved his stance and narrowed his eyes, and as Richard came at him, he flicked out a hand and threw a punch into his windpipe.

  Now Hunter had the upper hand, and was raining blows on Richard’s body while trying to keep an eye on Simon’s movements. Richard grunted and spat blood. Simon screamed loud in panic, still trying to find the missing gun.

  “Sunny!” Hunter yelled again, blocking a punch headed for his chin. “Sunny! Concentrate! Count the pulses. Go in between them! Go!”

  She struggled to understand, the pain was like a continuous zapping throughout her body. Simon seemed to realize that she might escape, and he jolted upright. He dived over to where Sunny lay and picked up the Taser that lay beside her and shouted. “Stop!”

  Hunter wrenched his eyes
away from the bloody Richard and paused, panting hard, glaring at Simon.

  “She can’t go back.” Simon’s voice broke, but he stood firm and gritted his teeth. “There’s no going back. I’ll turn it up. I’ll kill her!” His shaking hands fingered the dial on the gun, and he pushed it up a notch.

  Sunny knew nothing about weapons, but she knew that this wasn't a police-issue Taser gun. The agony racked her body again, as the electricity swept through her. Her back arched; her spine threatened to crack in two.

  “No!” Hunter shouted, and he dived towards Sunny. Richard, face covered in blood, reached out and grabbed the cast around Hunter’s foot, and held tight. Sunny watched Simon’s panicked, terrified face. He turned the dial another notch, and Sunny wished she would die.

  “No, Sunny, No!” Hunter was yelling at her, as he scrambled to kick himself out of Richard’s grasp.

  Simon started screaming desperately. “I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her!”

  “Sunny, concentrate! Concentrate!”

  Hunter’s voice sounded so far away. Everything sounded so far away right now, and the wind seemed to be dying off. Simon turned the dial one more time, and as the agony compounded she could suddenly feel the hills and troughs of pain more clearly.

  There was a pulse. The Taser was hitting her with a jolt of electricity, fast, beating like a hummingbird’s wings. But there was a minuscule gap between each one, not long enough to recover from the pain, but a gap nevertheless.

  Sunny tried to do what Hunter said. She tried to concentrate.

  The beats were so fast, and so very painful. She imagined her fingertips, and brought to her mind’s eye an image of Hunter, holding out his hand so she could pull him into the Alternate with her.

  She counted along to the beats as they strafed her body, onetwothreefourfivesixseven… she could finally feel the familiar, pleasant buzzing in her fingertips, albeit overshadowed by the relentless agony of the electricity ripping through her body. In her head, she nodded along to the pulses, and as Simon’s trembling fingers flicked the dial up one more notch, she pulled the buzzing in her fingertips all through her body and disappeared.

  The pain was gone instantly.

  Simon looked bewildered for a heartbeat, then his body tensed and the terror poured out of him.

  “No!” he screamed, scrambling around the ground where Sunny’s body had been. “No, no no!”

  She watched Hunter slump in relief, but he focused again instantly. He pulled back his bad leg and smashed the cast directly into Richard’s face. The older man fell back, dazed, and he jerkily tried to get to his feet. The momentum carried him forward, and he caught Hunter as he made a move towards Simon. Both men went down in the mud and rolled towards the cliff edge.

  Sunny swooped, trying to touch Hunter as he struggled with Richard. Her hand circled his wrist, and she tried to jerk him into the Alternate, but it wasn’t working. He was very much intent on staying in his dimension and beating the shit out of the older man. His energy wasn’t in any mood to meld with hers. Sunny started to panic as they stumbled and grappled closer to the cliff edge.

  Simon, still desperately rooting around in the sea grass at the cliff edge, suddenly stopped. His hand went down, and he pulled up the dark grey pistol that had been lost in the scrub.

  “Stop!” he screamed, pointing the gun at Hunter.

  Hunter paused in a crouch, his eyes locked onto Simon.

  “Up. Get up!” Simon shrieked, tears streaming down his face. His hands were shaking – the gun trembled in his grasp.

  Hunter straightened. He stood on the edge of the cliff, chest heaving, fists clenched, dark eyes raging.

  Sunny flew towards Simon as fast as she could, but almost in slow motion she watched as Simon’s finger on the trigger jerked, and tightened.

  The shot was deafening, and Hunter whirled around and fell to the ground.

  “Noooo!” Sunny scream was silent, lost in the Alternate. Simon screamed at the same time, loud, wild and desperate, and waved the gun back towards Hunter. Sunny sped towards him and wrenched her arms out of the Alternate, and pushed him as hard as she could.

  Simon was caught off guard and off balance; he stumbled on some rocks at his feet and caught his foot on some roots. He staggered blindly for a moment, the gun waving in the air wildly. He twisted and jerked, and tumbled over the edge of the cliff.

  He screamed as he fell, a long, tormented, desperate cry that cut through the shriek of the wind and the crash of the ocean. Sunny flew to the edge and witnessed the moment he hit the water. She watched as Simon was dashed once, then twice against the cliff face. His body was as limp as a rag doll, and the sea pulled it under, out of sight.

  She exhaled in horror, watching the churning ocean below. He couldn’t have survived the fall, let alone the sharp rocks and pounding surf.

  She’d killed her friend.

  There was no time to think about it. She sped over to Hunter, who was kneeling on the ground, clutching his side. Sunny pushed back the vibrations and appeared in front of him, panting wildly.

  “Are you ok?” She patted her hands ineffectually over to where he seemed to be hit, on the left side of his torso.

  He grunted, and doubling over he applied more pressure to the wound. “I thought we’ve already established you’re not a medic,” he groaned, looking up and giving her the ghost of a smile. Amidst all the horror she had created, her heart started pounding.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she pleaded, holding out her hand.

  “I’m not sure I can,” he coughed. “Kinda hard to concentrate here with a bullet stuck in my side.”

  “Oh God,” Sunny moaned, smoothing some mud off his forehead. “Oh…”

  He looked up at her again with effort. “It’s not too bad,” he panted. “Nothing major has been hit. Bullet might have glanced off my ribs, I think. And the other side of my ribs is cracked.” He doubled over again, gasping for breath. On his knees, he was only a fraction shorter than she was standing up.

  The wind around them died down abruptly, and the rain lost its hard momentum and at once became fat drops again. An inner strength suddenly surged through Sunny; she was filled with a strange tranquillity, as if a guardian angel had stepped in to help.

  She knew what she had to do.

  She pushed herself back into the Alternate and ran her hands through Hunter’s torso. In an instant, she had located the stubby little bullet, wedged between two ribs. She placed her fingers very precisely on it, and brought it into the Alternate with her, drawing it out of his body.

  He cried out as the bullet left his side, and slumped back over, panting in agony.

  Sunny reappeared in front of him and slowly took a step closer. She reached out to Hunter, ran her hands over his shaved head, putting her palms on the planes of his face. He didn’t flinch away. Taking a leaf out of his book, she put her hand under his chin and brought his face level with hers.

  “Concentrate,” she whispered to him, her wide blue-green eyes boring into his.

  Hunter’s face relaxed, his eyes closed, and his breathing instantly slowed. Her arms came around his shoulders, and she buried her face in his neck, brushing her lips against the rain-soaked skin.

  He smelled like heaven. The tension left his body, and, amazingly, he opened himself up, with a smooth motion she pushed her energy out and joined with his, and pulled him into the Alternate.

  Still wrapped up in her arms, she felt him exhale in relief. “That’s better. The pain is not as sharp here.”

  Reluctantly she pulled back and looked him in the face again. He was smiling at her softly, his eyes taking in her whole face, the big swimming eyes and the quivering lips. He chuckled once, and she abruptly remembered where she was, and what had just happened.

  And a tiny petulant voice inside her piped up, and she remembered that Hunter didn’t want her.

  Sunny slid her arms off him while taking his hand to maintain contact. Hunter sensed her change of mood and bec
ame focused once more.

  “We’ve got to get out of here. Now.”

  They turned together and looked at Richard, who was lying on the ground near the cliff edge, stirring feebly, covered in blood.

  “I’ll have to take care of him,” Hunter said grimly.

  “You mean… kill him? No!” Sunny cried suddenly. He looked at her in surprise. “You can’t. It would… it would be… wrong…” She trailed off lamely as Hunter stared at her, eyebrows raised. She forgot herself and withdrew her hand from his.

  Hunter reappeared in reality and groaned, holding his hands on his side. He mashed his lips together and looked angry, and spoke directly to her, even though she was invisible.

  “We might have to. He knows who you are, and he was about to deliver you to some very bad people.”

  At Hunter’s words, Richard gave a loud groan and rolled over. Hunter irrationally moved to shield an invisible Sunny with his body. Richard propped himself up slightly, his face bloody and one eye was swollen shut. He stared at Hunter through the one hooded eye that still worked. His expression was fathomless, and then with a quick jerk, he rolled himself off the cliff.

  Chapter 31

  Simon’s body washed up on the shore three days later. A couple of older ladies walking their dogs had stumbled upon it, at the rocky end of One Mile. A gruesome discovery, as the storm had ripped the body to pieces. The whole town was electrified by the news that a body had been found, and although the authorities had refused to confirm that it was Simon until dental records had been found, everyone knew that it must be him.

  The funeral was on a cold drizzly late autumn morning.

  Sunny picked up Annabel and drove her to the church, which was surrounded by cars trying to find parks. It looked like most of the town had turned out for the funeral. “Look at these fuckers,” Annabel snarled. “I bet most of them don’t even know Simon. If they did, they were probably mean to him.”