Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) Read online

  After a quick sandwich it was time to head off to the college. The Levenson Academy for Sports and Action was nearer the edge of town than the house but not quite far enough to need to find a bus going there. Not that there seemed to be any buses on the roads. Well, since there were so few cars on the roads either, Katie was hardly surprised.

  The academy was a hulking building of steel and cement. It was dark and looked totally empty. A dozen or so young girls and boys – mostly a few years older than her – sat on the grass or wandered around the campus grounds just beyond the chain link fence. The sensible thing to do would be to introduce herself to them all and try to make some allies, some friendly faces when the classes started up. But they seemed so much older and more grown-up than her. Plus they were strangers. A few steps would take her into the college grounds and then she would have to greet them. But what if they were mean to her? Katie left them behind and told herself that she was only exploring and not intending to meet anyone here. Not yet. Her feet had walked her to another part of the academy – one that almost took her breath away.. in front of her was an athletics stadium. It was nowhere near as big as a professional athletics stadium but it was full size and properly kitted out. It was a strange thing that she hadn’t noticed it from her bedroom window. For a training ground the arena was amazing and far better than she had ever anticipated for a town this size. Katie shook herself, looked up to the sky wondering if it would rain again – the clouds were certainly thickening nicely – and skipped down to the old man sitting at the hatch.

  “Yes, miss. Can I help yer?”

  “Um, does this track belong to the college?”

  “Partly. The town owns half of it too to hold meets and things. It’s open to the public for the holidays if yer wanting to go down?”

  “Oh, no, I’m starting at the academy soon. I just wondered.”

  “Well, of course it’s free for stew-dents. It’s pretty busy today though.”

  Katie understood why. The last few days, whilst not exactly too hot to run in, had been uncomfortable and exercising in the hot and sticky British sun was not fun. But today the weather was much cooler and the rain of the morning had helped no end. “I can hear them.”

  “What sport do you do, miss? I’m too nosey, I know, but humour an old man.”

  “I got in on a running scholarship. Cross-country.”

  “Oh,” said the old man, sounding honestly interested. His name seemed to be Roy from the letter Katie could just see on his table. “I likes to come see the sport on my nights off with my Bernice.”

  “That must be fun,” Katie pretended. She couldn’t see why anyone would want to spend their down time back at work but she had no intention of saying that to Roy and making him worry about his use of free time. “I’ve never seen anyone from here but I hear they’re good.” But she had heard nothing like that. She had never even heard of Northwood let alone the school before she had gotten her place but she supposed any college team had to have a certain degree of quality. Maybe if she was good enough she could be an athlete on the academy team rather than just studying and training here. Somebody must have thought Katie was promising on a college or maybe a county level – sports scholarships for anywhere were few and far between.

  “So, you’ll be wanting to go down and take a look at the place. Public property and the public don’t hardly use it. I’ve worked here all my life and there’s some right talent runs down there.”

  “Let’s just hope I can keep up.” Katie quickly scribbled her name in his book and noted the entire page was full of students using the track. Then she wandered past him and stopped and stared at a full size running track, complete with field for throwing events, pits for jumps and everything else an athlete might want. So it wasn’t quite as high tech as the ones on TV but it was still good. A few dozen people were practising their chosen events. One or two older people seemed to be coaching their younger charges. As Katie grew closer, she told herself again that she needed to run, just once before term began. It was safe here. There was still a few hours of daylight left, if it was darkened quite a bit by the cloud. There must be close on a hundred people within shouting distance. It was as safe as she was ever likely to get.

  She felt the first drop of rainfall on her stubby little nose so she ducked under the sheltered section of the spectator seating and found a bench a few rows up. It gave a good view from here. The rain was coming a drip here and a drip there but no-one seemed to be bothered by it. The teenagers jumping and throwing faded into the background and the runners – the sprinters and hurdler sand distance runners fizzed into sharp focus. They all looked so… happy. Even the ones she had watched running four or five long laps or covering the same hundred metres over and over were still smiling. She watched and asked herself when she would ever run miles across fields and at the sides of roads and be able to smile? The runners faded away, just as their stadium mates had, and the world was just a steady thump thump of training shoes on the asphalt track. It had been so long… Katie ached to get the running gear she’d bought new a couple of months ago and join in the training session down there but it was too hard. The new running outfit had been her Dad’s idea when her usual stuff had got torn and stained and then forensically tested. It had been stuffed in her bag when she headed off to the park a few times but it had only ever been through the wash two or three time, completely clean and unworn. No-one had figured out it out though Dan had wondered why there was still food in the fridge when she came home – raiding the fridge for the junkiest food possible after a run was Katie’s one real vice. Today, she could eat all the rubbish she wanted at home. Home. No-one had asked her if she did sports so there was no pressure to do so. But not doing tit would end up getting her kicked out of here, sent back home and then her secret would be out. So, just run already. There was nowhere safer, better equipped, more protected than this private oval. And, still, a tiny voice demanded, “What if?”

  “It won’t.”

  Katie glimpsed a shadow standing off to her side. She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she had not seen him, even with her eyes wide open but evidently blind to everything, walking up to her although some dark corner of her consciousness recalled footsteps on the ground. She hadn’t seen the day turn into a threatening looking evening and all users of the training ground drift off to other places. Now it was just Katie, the growing darkness and this boy with the cowboy hat and fabulous green eyes. “You don’t even know what I was talking about.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe not. But a girl like you shouldn’t be thinkin’ about what ifs and what nots.”

  “A girl like me.”

  “Young, pretty, clever.”

  “How do you work that out? I mean the no girl’s going to argue a compliment like that but you can’t tell if I’m smart by looking at me?”

  “Look at me.”

  Katie did for roughly a nano-second but couldn’t quite bring herself to meet his gaze in case she got lost into those raw green seas. He put a hand on her cheek, a touch so light and cool she shivered. The boy laughed; a sound like rippling silk. He guided her face and frowned. It took a second or two of holding her there before she locked eyes and then, when Katie finally looked away, she discovered she wanted to keep returning to his face.

  “Yeah, you got clever eyes. And something else. You’re sad.”

  “Not me, uh-uh.” Overall, Katie thought she was pretty happy. There were so many reasons she should be cheerful but tonight, this boy was right. She had stopped running, something she had always loved, and let the sadness take over – the loneliness, the fear. “There’s not much to be sad about. I’m a runner and there’s all this on my doorstep.”

  “So why aren’t you usin’ it?”

  Good question. “No reason, I guess. I should.”

  “Is that why you’re sad?”

  “I told you, I’m not sad. Maybe a littl
e in shock.”

  The boy with the green eyes got up and held a hand out to Katie. She didn’t take it. Couldn’t. While she knew with every inch of her being that this young meant her no harm – how could she know that about a perfect stranger? It was illogical but there it was – she didn’t take it. “You’re new around here. You got that look like you’re sizin’ everything, taking it all in.”

  “Just moved here yesterday. It’s way, way out of my comfort zone and everyone’s older than me and more mature and it’s like they’re also sure of themselves. And I am… I just am.”

  “So? Nothing wrong with that?”

  “There’s so much wrong with who I am you couldn’t even begin to understand. I’m Katie by the way.” She held her hand out to the boy. He leaned down to shake it and his eyes grabbed hers once more.

  “Jack.” He brushed her hand with his and although their fingers barely seemed to touch, a grip circled Katie’s palm and pulled her up. She followed him down the steps and out into the open, where rain was falling in lazy, fat drops. Right at the edge, he turned back to her, bright eyes cutting their own paths through the gloom. “Northwood can be a scary place but you’ll be okay. Brave people, strong ones, that’s what the town’s always needed. There are a few around and you’re one.” Katie raised her eyebrows at him, doubting he would be able to see the movement. There had been nothing brave about taking the place at Levenson Academy or leaving home; it was just about escaping her home city. “Trust me, Katie. You’re here because you’re supposed to be. And there’s no reason to be afraid of any of those things I can see in that pretty little face. Not while I’m around.” And suddenly she realised she was in the middle of the red running track and walking down it at Jacks side. Alarm bells rang a symphony in her ears. It was almost night time; she was walking along a deserted track with a strange young man whose name was the only thing she knew.

  Then all that took a back sea as she noticed that the thick rain was not falling on either of them. She held out a hand and watched rain drops fall onto it, tepid and surprisingly heavy. Jack stretched out his right arm and covered her palm. They stopped and watched together as drop after drop fell through them. “You’re not scared?”

  “You said I didn’t need to be.”

  “I did.”

  “Call me insane but I believe you.”

  “You’re insane. Nothing can really hurt you here. Nothing you can’t come back from.” Jack froze for a moment. Katie twisted her hand out of his and tried to find his eyes that were just inches away but it suddenly seemed so incredibly far. “I’m here and you’re safe. I know why you came here. So go.” Jack made a shooing motion with his hands and Katie started walking down the track, adding in a few jogging steps every few yards. It was dark enough now that she could barely see the track in front of her. Tiny footlights set into the edges of the seating threw up just enough of a glow to keep her in a straight line. As she went through her lap, Katie kept glancing back to Jack to make sure he was still there. As she reached the edge of the first bend, he stopped being Jack anymore and started being just a dark shape that was watching her. And then the shape started to move. She saw it move, just slightly, as though it was simply shaking itself, it freaked her out. The movement was familiar and sinister. A moving shape could be totally innocuous. Still… Katie fixed her gaze on the track ahead of her, not quite ready to run, when she heard Jack coming up beside her. Even without looking she knew it was him. Footsteps cracked down like whips on the asphalt – boots – cowboy boots she thought. Something with a bit of a heel. She vaguely wondered about the damage he was doing to both the track and his ankles. Katie wouldn’t dream of even walking fast in heels, but then her own legs were pretty much her meal ticket.

  “It’s my first run in a long time.”

  “You’re skippin’ more than anything.”

  “Jack? Why are you here?”

  “Because you needed a friend. I’m a friendly person. Therefore,” he waved a hand between then, “friends.”

  “At school, I ran every evening, morning every weekend and trained once a week with the school athletics team. Back then, this was so easy.”

  “And now it’s not?”

  “And now it’s not. Something changed and suddenly, cross country wasn’t fun any more. Miles and miles of countryside on your own got harder and more like work. I was doing it just to get to the end.” Katie grinned despite herself. She remembered this feeling. Running endless ovals, albeit much smaller ones on the school Astroturf, and circuits of the park, felt good, right, natural. But she knew that the minute this beautiful and gentle Jack went away she would be running scared and running for her life once more. “If – when - they find out I don’t run, it’s all over for me. I’m doing lots of ordinary classes so I can get the best education I can while I’m still here.”

  “You’ll do great.”

  Katie wanted to believe that as easily as she had believed everything he told her. “Maybe. I just feel like… I think I’m not ready yet. Everything’s changing and I’m trying to keep up with it all the time.”

  “I think you’re doing fine.”

  As they neared the finishing grids, Katie snatched Jack’s Stetson off his head and placed it on hers. It smelt old and well-worn; it fitted perfectly because the material had softened with years of use. It was far too dark to know that that perfectly round mark dead centre of his forehead was anything other than a blemish. She pouted and twirled in front of him. “How’m I looking cowboy?”

  Jack laughed at her. Katie was more beautiful and way braver than any of them had imagined. It took a special girl to be so unafraid, so unashamed about doing something most teenage girls would balk at in case it made them look foolish. Katie knew she was being impulsive. Something about this boy with the green eyes made her trust him with her gut actions. Plus, she had grown up in an athlete’s world were privacy and self-consciousness were far behind communal showers and drug testing. With parental permission even minors had to do them beyond school level competitions.

  “I am a proper Southern lady sir. You should fight for my honour.” She had a feeling he would do it if she really asked him to.

  “No, no fightin’ tonight. But you do look mighty purty, lady.” He pretended to tip his hat to her. “Lady Katie. That suits you. Honestly,” he said, his face getting serious again and dropping the Deep South accent “You look beautiful.”

  “Uh-huh. Perhaps I was a cowgirl in a previous life or something. Do you believe in past lives?”

  She saw him consider his answer. His eyes flickered for just a split second. Jack only seemed a little older than Katie so maybe he had not quite decided exactly what he believed in either. Only, just like the students she had seen earlier, he seemed so confident and sure of himself with everything else. Why did she just think everything else? How much everything else could a man she hardly knew have?

  “I believe in one life that just goes on a really long time.”

  Okay. That was a new one. Not immortality, something she knew man had been trying to achieve for pretty much ever – as if something like living forever would be a good thing. Katie wanted her eighty to ninety years and then quietly pop off. Having to make friends forever, watch them hurt and die forever – well there was only so much a person could take. But a life that just seemed to go on and on like a train with no brakes? Yeah, she could see the logic in that.

  “When the physical body dies, I think people just get up, dust themselves off and ask what’s next. There’s always somethin’ next.” Jack returned his hat to his own head and walked over to sit on the ground in the middle of the track. He beckoned for Katie to come sit next to him. The rain had stopped but there were pools of water on the track and she knew the ground had to be completely soaking.

  “I’ll get all mucky!”

  Jack got on his knees and mimed begging her to come dow
n which she did but only after warning him that he would be getting a bill for replacement clothes if they got dirty. Jack swiped his handover the ground by him and when Katie lowered herself, it was bone dry. The grass around her was a dry as it had probably been up until this morning. Putting her hand out to feel the grass a few inches away, it was wet and slimy. She frowned, one hand on the dry ground and one in the mud. Then she remembered seeing the rain falling through their hands a few minutes – hours? – ago. It was easy to lose track of time.

  “Come on, Lady Katie. What do you believe in?”

  Bad people and things that go thump in the night. Men in the shadows and an escape that might not go anywhere but back to black. “You’re shivering,” she noticed. Katie wondered if he was cold and wished she had brought a jacket to wrap around him, but even the rain had not chilled the air quite enough for one.

  “I shuddered. I guess someone just walked over my grave.”

  “Very inconsiderate.” Katie grinned. She surprised herself because she didn’t even feel that happy when she thought about it – she just felt like smiling. “Whatever happened to respect for imaginary tombs?”

  “Don’t ask me.” And there it was again. That hint of a shadow that fluttered behind green eyes, momentarily dulling their laser brightness in the dark. There was something there, some secret he was not telling or some instant of history that made him hold back. “People aren’t as nice as they used to be, you. But trust me, they ain’t as mean either.”

  Katie was not sure she could believe that but she looked at him and tried to smile. For once, it came out as bright and natural as she’d hoped and Jack returned her smile. They sat there for minutes just grinning away at each other, not talking, until Katie realised that the silence was getting uncomfortable and broke it. “Will I see you at the academy or something? Do you study in town?”

  “I’m past educatin’, Lady Katie.”

  Oh. She had hoped that Jack might be her ally when classes started, a friend to look after her when everything tried to overwhelm her as it surely would. “Nothing’s ever easy, is it? So I’m going to start a new college with new classes and new people in a new town and all on my own.”

  “Hey,” Jack said and reached for her hand. Katie froze for a second and pulled away. He left his hand on the dry ground and waited for Katie to relax and come back to him. She put her hand on the ground beside his but couldn’t quite bring herself to touch him. “Remember that. This is all new and it’s okay to be worried but you can make this your time.”

  “You’re right. No-one knows me here, no-one has any expectations. My student years could be the best years of my life.”

  “But?”

  “What if they’re not? This could make me or break me, okay, and what if it breaks me?”

  “So don’t let it.”

  If only things were that simple. She finger-crawled over his hand. “I’m sorry Jack. I’m not scared of you – I’m not scared with you. How do you stop me thinking about bad things?” Fluid phantoms and skeleton hands chased around her mind but for whatever reason they didn’t seen frightening. They were steadfast and certain and she knew they would not leave her thoughts – in fact, they were getting closer with ever blink and every breath – but Jack was making her feel safe from them all. “What happens when you go away?” she asked suddenly. “I think it’s drying up. Come on.” She pushed herself up and glanced up. A half moon and a smattering of stars had slipped away from the clouds and fought the light pollution to light the sky. The ground was still wet and muddy and she hopped onto the track before she ruined her trainers. But she wasn’t quick enough to prevent dirty footprints from decorating the ground. They would be washed away pretty quickly if there was any more rain before the morning when some-one - probably Roy – came to hose down the track in the morning. Jack followed her across the track as she headed for the sheltered seating. Katie turned and tried to hurry him up from the dawdle he had fallen into – a perfect opportunity to gaze at her toned backside. As she did, Katie noticed that there were no dirty prints coming from his boot heels. Nor were there any of the dents in the soft grass she expected his heels to leave. Nothing. That was very not natural. Katie backed up a step as he hit the first one. This boy and water – he didn’t leave prints but he had footsteps – proper loud ones – she heard them. He was just incredibly light on his feet when he wanted to be. Ballet dancers could be heavy and clomping but have stunning grace in the studio. They went up the stairs a way in this step-for-step fashion. Rain had fallen through their hands but that must have just been a trick on the light. Jack must have one of those static thingies that bent water. The top of the stairs was almost upon Katie. Jack had patted the soaking ground and it became dry instantly. The boy repelled water. Christ, that was the stuff of films and fairytales.

  “You’re not real.”

  “I’m as real as any of us.” Jack thrust out an arm and made a fist. He punched one of the wooden seats at his side, causing far more damage to himself than it, then held his arm out for Katie to take and inspect. His knuckles were scratched and cuts were already beginning to open. She could just make out one or two black dots which she assumed were tiny splinters. But the cry of pain sounded real enough and he couldn’t fake these injuries.

  He searched out her eyes again and Katie, once again, felt herself right on the edge of falling into them. She let go of her guards and reminded herself she trusted Jack; she had to learn to trust people again. Not everybody was out to hurt her. Even in this tiny town which didn’t even seem to have a police station, strangers were mostly going to be friendly and helpful. Paranoia had crept into her consciousness in the past few months and she could hardly remember the last time she’d been able to out for a walk without looking over her shoulder. Until today. Tonight. “I need to go home.”

  “I’ll walk with you.”

  Katie let him. He told her a bit about the town and how it was actually really old. When it started to rain again, he slid his hat over to her head to keep her long hair from frizzing up even more. He stopped at the end of her street. Katie was flagging and thoughts of her bed tried to strong-arm their way into her mind. Her watch readjust a few minutes before midnight and she yawned whilst trying to keep at least a fraction of her attention on Jack’s tale of getting into some bar brawl a few years ago. He never got to the part where either he or the other guy won before, “Lady Katie, I need to do somethin’. You’re not gonna like me very much for it.”

  “I’ve seen the worst a man can do. You have a lot to live up to.” All the same, Jack could be plotting anything. He might confess to being a psychotic murderer or maybe… maybe he was just going to take the Stetson from her and dangle it from the string. “Go for it.”

  He leaned in - coincidentally the pair were exactly the same height - and kissed her. A dim glow seemed to spread behind her brown eyes and she knew the brilliance of Jacks’ green ones were warming her from the stomach outwards. It was soft and gentle and their lips seemed to fit together exactly and know just what to do, as though this were not a new experience for Katie. Maybe she had expected fireworks like the stories always promised, maybe she expected it to be rough and intense like everything turned out to be, but she hadn’t expected this.

  “Jack, don’t leave me,” she murmured as he pulled away.

  “I wish I didn’t have to,” he whispered back then kissed again before putting his arms on her shoulders to her away.

  The warmth in her stomach began to fade away as the arms on hers disappeared. Katie opened her eyes and was sure she saw a pair of bright green eyes staring at her. It was such a brief image that it might have been her imagination so she turned and headed for her house. More importantly her bed.

  There was a light on in the house so Katie didn’t feel too bad about sneaking in when it was practically tomorrow. She felt in her pocket for the key Adam had lent
her – she had meant to get a copy cut today and not got around to it – and opened the door to quiet squeals and giggling from the kitchen. Intrigued, Katie poked her head through to see the cause of the noise.

  “What was it like?” Lainy and Adam were sitting opposite two girls who were laughing away and chatting as though they were old friends. “The Grand Canyon just an hours drive from home… must be amazing.”

  “Oh, it is. I’m glad my dad moved out there. Just wish he’d done it ten years ago,” said the one with short brown hair and pale, nearly white skin.

  “Katie!” Lainy jumped up and grabbed her to pull her into the kitchen. “These two are Dina and Jade. This is their second year here – apparently they’re sado-masochists.”

  Katie made a half-hearted attempt at a finger wave and a smile, but she was so dog tired she thought she might just fall down in a minute. “Nice to… it’s nice.” Words were beginning to fail her.

  “Now the house is back together, we’re having a party tomorrow evening. Attendance compulsory.”

  “Drinking recommended,” added Dina or Jade.

  “Clothing optional,” said the other Dina or Jade.

  They dissolved into giggles again and Katie couldn’t stop herself from joining in. Laughter was always infectious to her ears and when she managed to get herself together, Katie pointed out, “I’m 16. Not allowed to do any of that stuff.”

  “You’re telling me you’ve never had a drink or streaked?”

  Katie had drunk before but never more than a glass of wine on special occasions, maybe a few of those sugary alcopops at parties. Nothing more. And she never thought she’d be wasted enough to strip. “Only a little.”

  “She’s underage, Dina.”

  “And desperate for bed. Again.” Katie shrugged her apologies and went to the stairs. She took her time going up. Leo must be in bed already but that still meant she was up here alone with him. The idea made her nervous. By the time Katie had figured out why she was dreading sleeping tonight – the others might not come up until it was too late – she had used the bathroom and was getting ready for bed after locking her bedroom door. And then, in her pyjamas and curled on top of her bed, she discovered she could not sleep. The light was off and the curtains closed but the moon shone so brightly now through the thin yellow material that every edge of furniture shone silver and every discarded box stood in thick shadow like a tower that might topple onto her any time. Flattened by a box as she slept – what a story that would be. Then, thinking about how ridiculous that was, she looked at the door, got up, unlatched the door and then climbed back into bed. It was stupid to be afraid of the boy she would likely have to live with for the next year. Some part of her kept reminding her she had to be careful but a slightly bigger part insisted she was going to be fine.

  “Don’t laugh!” she shouted and worked through the meson the floor. “I’m wearing my bunny PJs.” Katie loped down the stairs, trying to swing herself over the creaky stairs.

  The hallway and stairs had all been in darkness when she came in so she hardly noticed the darkness. Then the silence crept in. And everything downstairs was dark and still. Katie stepped into the cool kitchen which suddenly felt very old and cold, as if it was abandoned a long time ago. She rubbed her arms up and down her arms, feeling exposed, vulnerable, and was sure she felt something – residual warmth? – a physical memory of hands that had been there not too long ago. And deeper still were the outlines of other hands that had held her in not such a gentle way. Hands that had left marks on her that may never fade like a scar.

  A tiny click sounded out in the hall and then nothing for one breath-holding minute. Then a shuffle over the welcome mat and another click. The door shutting. Katie let out her breath as slowly and quietly as she could. Had this old house simply been settling in the cooler temperatures? No! her mind screamed at her and sent impulse upon freezing impulse through to stay silent. Stay still. There’s someone there. God only knows who it is or what they want. Maybe they want to hurt you or take you away. Maybe they want to take you back to that dark place and never let you come back to the light. So say the fuck still! But her body didn’t seem to be paying much, or any really, attention to her brain. She watched her arm skitter over the sideboard and then grab the handle of a drawer. It slide open thankfully without a sound but it was full with a chaotic jumble of pens, elastic bands, carrier bags and other miscellany. Nothing useful in there. Well, she could probably suffocate the intruder with a bag or fire a band into his eyes, but that would be the fool’s way. You’re still moving, her mind pointed out. Okay so stupid things were the order of the day right now but those previous options were insanity. She had to draw the line somewhere. The cupboard beneath it revealed a selection of pot and pans. A second cupboard was full of tinned food and packets of stuff Katie dreaded to think about. She’d have to show this new, temporary family of hers what a healthy home cooked meal was all about. And all the while, she knew, the intruder was getting closer to the kitchen, closer to her. He had to be. She hadn’t heard the stairs creak or seen a figure pass by the kitchen door into the front room. The next drawer was cutlery – forks, knives, spoons. She really had to get better acquainted with this kit- knives! And yes, there were some sharp and long steak knives tucked away in the back there. Good for stabbing. But it could so easily be turned and used against her. No matter, Katie told herself that she would just work quicker than they could think. If only her brain would co-operate and come up with a plan. Her hand delved into the drawer but everything rattled, and far too loudly for this peaceful house, and she froze hearing some-one, something, shuffling towards her, pushed the drawer shut quickly, grabbing the last item her fingers touched. A spoon. Great. At least a fork was a reasonable weapon to stab with and, if it did not cause any bodily damage, it would be quite painful. But oh no. it was a spoon… and a silly little tea spoon at that. Katie curled her fist around her utensil like she knew how to use it and turned to see a shadow creep across the floor, centimetres away from the open door where a hulking form would surely appear. And appear it did. It stood there and Katie tried to close her eyes, not wanting to look. But she couldn’t not look at this huge, quivering shape. Her breath was coming in sharp, shallow rasps which she tried to keep as deep and quiet as she could. In these states of panic, the brain always instructed the lungs to take in as much oxygen as they could and as quickly as they could because that supply might be cut off at any moment. The oxygen was going to be all around her for a very long time, Katie promised herself. If she stood still, maybe the shadow-man would not see her, would not look for her, would go away and leave her alone. Something inside, though, insisted that to shy away from this confrontation would be unwise. This intruder was already staring at her as she stood here with her spoon. Not facing him down would be like letting her fear of the unknown – and what she did know about the world – get the better of her. She had spent too long already being scared of things. Katie flipped the spoon in her hand thinking that the weight of it and her bit of strength behind it might give him a nasty bump on the head. She flicked on the light and ran towards the shadow man, aiming the spoon at his face and not looking at him.

  “Jesus Christ!” The man threw an arm up to shield his eyes but not fast enough. On a stroke of impulse, Katie thrust the spoon handle up and jabbed it in his eye. He screamed and swore and Katie let go of the bowl of the spoon. The metal handle was lodged between his eye and eyelid. She looked at the man before her; tall, chunky and wearing dark clothes about a size too small… and all she saw was the pain and lines of blood on his face. Not a man she knew. “What a welcome!”

  “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

  “You might’ve blinded me.”

  He kept a hand slapped to the eye she had stabbed while the skin around it turned red. Katie looked down at her hand, still gripping the spoon, and saw blood specklin
g the metal handle. She threw it to the floor with a clang, wanting it as far away from her as possible. There seemed to be blood on her hands. Stabbing a man who might yet be completely innocent was unforgiveable.

  “You really know how to make a guy feel wanted, don’t ya, Kate?”

  “Uncle Billy?”

  “The very same.”

  “What are you doing here? In my house?”

  “I was coming to say hi.”

  “At three in the morning? And I thought I was keeping strange hours lately.”

  A light snapped on in the hallway. “What’s all the noise for?” mumbled Lainy as she padded into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Who died?”

  “Nearly me,” said Uncle Billy and Katie together.

  Lainy rushed over to the bleeding man, and after confirming he was in no life-threatening conditioning, shrugged off her robe and offered it to Katie who was shivering. “Put it on.”

  She did and then belted it. The dressing gown was quite a bit bigger than her but it was cosy and warm with body heat. “Why are you here?”

  “I came to collect my van.”

  “Again, at three in the morning?”

  “It’s a long walk. Your dad said he left the keys here and even I’m not stupid enough to knock and wake everyone up.”

  “So you thought you’d try a little breaking and entering instead?” Katie stalked out of the room, went upstairs to get the van keys, then stomped back down with them. Lainy was standing with Uncle Billy and trying to pry his fingers away from his face. Katie put the keys on the table and sat down, arms folded. “Lainy, I tried to take his eye out with a spoon.”

  “Ow ow ow!” he yelped when Lainy prodded the flesh around his left eye.

  “He broke in and tried to snoop around while we were sleeping. You had every right to defend yourself. But if anyone asks,” she turned to Billy, “you did this to yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Billy sat down opposite his niece and waited until she was looking at him before he took his hand away from his face. “Look what you did. I might be permanently scarred.”

  “And I wouldn’t know anything about that, would I?” Katie slid the keys over. “Good luck starting that heap of junk.”

  Lainy soaked a piece of cotton wool in warm water with a drop of antiseptic and tried to clean the marks around his eyes. Billy took the cotton wool from her and did it himself. “Just let me sleep here’til morning and then I’ll be gone. Stop fussing, woman.”

  “Look,” began Lainy in that voice Katie already knew meant people better shut up and listen because she was in charge. “I think you’ll be fine but I want to take you to the medi centre in case there’s infection.”

  “Am I your first housemate to be dodging an ABH charge?” There was a silence that Katie would have said was diplomatic. “Oh, I do feel special.”

  “For Gods sake, girl. I am fine.”

  The more people insist things were okay, the guiltier Katie felt. She knew that things were not fine. Nothing could excuse or justify such violence. She told herself that she had a reason – that man had not – and while that made her feel a bit less bad about it, it did not make it forgiveable. “Uncle Billy, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never realised it was only you.”

  “Girl, this is barely a scratch.” He let Lainy tape a circle of bandage over his eye and tenderly prodded it. “Oh, your Mom sent this down.” He took a letter from the back of his jeans.

  “They sent a spy. Make sure I haven’t slashed my wrists yet. Their faith in me is astounding.” The envelope was a large cream one with her name written on it in curlicue lettering. Inside was a sheet of paper crammed with tiny handwriting. Katie listened, with half an ear, to the conversation going on above her as she skimmed through the page.

  “I’ll go if I have to but I’m not hurt. I get worse than this from my dog.”

  “I just want to be sure.”

  “My van’s outside and I have the keys now. Dope me up and see the doctor in the morning. It’s fine.”

  “You are not driving with that eye. You’ve got 50% vision and you’ll crash somewhere along the way. I’m not going to be the last person to see you alive and Katie’ll be worried sick.”

  That was a true statement but not for the reasons Lainy thought. Uncle Billy could go jump off the nearest cliff for all she cared; he wasn’t a bad person, just insensitive and annoying – really annoying. The last few lines of Mom’s letter had said how much everyone missed her already and that she didn’t think this could wait until she came back home. Another envelope, smaller and stamped with the police crest.

  “Anyone still sleep at night around here?” Adam yawned and dragged into the kitchen. He was wearing grey boxers and yanking a t-shirt down over his awesome chest. It was a sight to behold but Katie barely gave him a second glance. “Get that man to hospital,” he said, then stopped as if just realising a man with a bandaged eye was sitting at his table with his fiancée and new young charge in the bunny pyjamas. “Wait, why is there a strange, wounded man in my house? And which of my girls tried to kill him?”

  Katie just stared at the envelope in her hand and kept turning it over, not brave enough to open it. “He broke in.”

  “That’s my girl.” Adam sounded almost proud. “Anyway, you need medical attention, mate.”

  “I’m not taking advice from a bunch of kids. Mate.”

  “Uncle Billy, just move. The sooner you’re out of my house, the better/”

  “Fine. Let’s get this over with. Katie, you’re driving.”

  There was brief discussion where Katie pointed out that she was too young to have a license and had never even watched closely when her parents drove. Uncle Billy couldn’t drive the van because he was liable to kill them all. It couldn’t be Lainy as she would have to stay in the back to look after him. Adam could drive but didn’t want to leave a group of sleeping students alone in the house. During the course of the conversation, Uncle Billy swallowed a couple of painkillers dry and started to moan that his eye was really starting to hurt, Leo stomped down and complained he couldn’t sleep through this racket then mentioned he could drive, eventually agreed to drive them to the medical centre, Katie hardly looked down at the police envelope but couldn’t quite let go of it.

  “Leo and Katie can ride in front and I’ll stay with Billy. He doesn’t look too good. You’ll be okay here with the girls, Ad?”

  “I don’t think Hell opening in the back garden could wake those two.”

  “We should go. Billy, are you okay to walk to the van?”

  He nodded weakly. He had been planning to drive home half an hour ago and he suddenly looked old and fragile. It was amazing how a little blood loss affected a person. Katie did not see her uncle much but they had never really been the best of friends but, looking like the Salvation Army had just spewed him up, she just couldn’t find it in her to hate him. Or even dislike him much.

  Between the three of the – Lainy, Billy and herself – and as little help from Leo as he could possibly manage, they all got into the van – a funny looking group on an early hours road trip. Adam waved them all off and hurried back inside. There was nowhere Katie wanted to be less than in the passenger seat of this grungy old Transit, in her night clothes, being driven through the pressing dark by Leo. The thin, greasy-haired and dark Leo.

  “What you got there?” he asked and jerked a thumb behind him. “Heard you tried to kill him.”

  “I thought he was going to attack me. It was self defence.”

  “Save your alibi for the cops. A strange man breaks into my house in the middle of the night… he’s either going to kiss me or kill me. Either way, he’s gonna die trying.”

  “Remind me to avoid you. Especially when it’s dark.”

  “Just saying.”

  “Let’s play the quiet game. First one to not be quiet loses.”

  The silence
only lasted a few seconds before Uncle Billy started muttering about his face and seeing things and doctors who fixed things. Lainy made soothing noises and pulled more tape off the roll to stop him tugging off the bandage.

  “Bitch.” Leo looked distinctly unhappy at having to listen to the whining in the back and knowing that Katie had caused this injury meant she was responsible for his whole night – maybe even his life – being ruined regardless of the fact she had been the one scared to death.

  “He’s my uncle. I like to think of it as an accident of birth.”

  “I like to think you’re an accident waiting to happen.”

  “I’m thrilled you think of me at all.” Only she wasn’t. Being thought of by Leo was an extremely worrying prospect especially considering the choice depictions of women in his room. “How are you Uncle?”

  “Nearly having my left eye gouged out put a dampener on things but otherways never better.”

  “Okey dokey.” Through the mesh Katie could see him kneeling on the floor between it and Lainy and trying not to show the pain she felt sure he was feeling. Maybe it was really not as bad as she imagined. Honestly Uncle Billy might just be sensitive enough to try to hide it from her but it really only made things worse because there must be something underneath the bravado. “Nearly there.”

  “I only tried to show you what you could do when you put your mind to it, Kate. This could have been real bad. Just turn that run away impulse into stay and fight and you can do some damage.”

  “Thanks.” She left him in Lainy’s capable hands – well they had been capable so far – and turned to the window. The student medical centre was looming up before them; a grey steel and cement building attached to the back of the main college building. It was large enough to have a small car park. Leo swung the van into a space and turned the engine off. He started fiddling with the keys as Katie got out and opened the back to help her uncle and friend out then looked through the drivers’ side window as they helped the man inside. Leo was leaning back in the seat with one arm dangling out of the open window and lighting up a cigarette. “Coming?”

  He said nothing and made no attempt to move.

  “Whatever.” Katie shrugged and went inside. Whether Leo came inside or not was really of no concern to her one way or the other. It just would have been nice to have another face there.

  The medical centre, as soon as she stepped inside and took in the huge, open reception area and the clinical, authoritative atmosphere of it, made Katie feel very small and shy. Hospitals were a strange thing to her, never having been ill enough to stay in one.

  “Now, here’s some excitement,” said the woman on reception. “Don’t see one of these every day.” Katie thought she looked a little like her mother with her tight perm and hoop earrings. The woman pressed a button on her phone. “Dr de Rossa. Patient out front for you.” No, her voice put her a good few years younger than Mom. It was the hair, had to be.

  A middle-aged man – balding, short and stocky – came out of one of the doors that led God-knew-where. “Ah, Elaine. So lovely to see you again. You should come by ere more often. We need new nurses.”

  “Nice try, Dr de Rossa. I’ll work for you when you apologise for failing me my first year.”

  “You should have studied more.”

  “You shouldn’t have cancelled all of your lectures.”

  “Now now. Not all.”

  “Sorry to interrupt the reunion but maybe we can get him patched up first,” Katie suggested. Dr de Rossa – she trusted him a little already – manoeuvred Uncle Billy into a chair, then wheeled him off deeper into the centre with Lainy in tow. The woman at the desk asked Katie questions about Uncle Billy and his medical history, she answered what she could. “Do you know where they took him?”

  “Hang on, I’ll check.” The woman started tapping things into her computer. Feeling a bit of a draught blowing through the doors, Katie belted the big robe tighter and shifted her weight from foot to bare foot. “Room 3. Through those doors , turn left and it’s at the end. There’s a waiting room next to it if you want to get yourself together. No offense but I’ve seen corpses look more lively than you.”

  “Great start to campus life, right?” She swung through the doors and headed to the room at the end, just poking her head around to see what was happening – the doctor was injecting something into Uncle Billy’s face and Lainy was hovering over a covered tray of medical looking lumps and bumps. “It’s not as bad as it looks. It’s not as bad as it looks.” The chant carried her through the next ten minutes or so of waiting, during which time she heard nothing but dared not go back to Room 3 to look. “Barely 24 hours here and I nearly kill my own uncle because he frightened me.” It was pretty ridiculous when you thought about it.

  A woman wandered through the door and sat down with a cup of coffee. It obviously was not very good coffee because the woman took a sip, pulled a disgusted face and put it on the floor. “They never rush to tell you anything around here. My son fell out of bed,” she told Katie.

  It probably made her a bad person or something but Katie couldn’t find it in her to care that much. Too busy feeling guilty.

  “Just bumped his noggin but I thought I’d better get it checked. Just in case.”

  “There’s no doctors or real hospitals?”

  The woman – maybe the same age as Lainy, which meant her son could only be a toddler – blew out her cheeks and waved her hands in front of her. This medical centre, seemingly built for the academy, was it, the first and last lines in medical intervention for Northwood citizens. Not a thought that inspired a whole lot of confidence.

  “Miss Cartwright?” Dr de Rossa sat down opposite her. “Your uncle should be fine in a while.”

  “Did I – I mean, is he really hurt?”

  “I think the shock hurt him more than anything. We see a lot of similar injuries – rugby players mainly.”

  The sun was just a couple of hours away. Had the last hour just been some twisted nightmare that she would wake from in just a few hours? Had she fallen asleep and was actually safe and warm in her own bed instead of freezing out here? True or not, those thoughts were so much easier to contemplate than she had nodded off for an hour or two then woken up to this twisted night time where she turned into the attacker instead of the attacked. “Lainy – Elaine – used to be a nurse?”

  “She was my star student,” he whispered like it was a secret. “I taught her sports therapy for a few years. She was good, really good, but…” he shrugged.

  “Things happen.”

  “Anyway, she’ll stay for a while. You did the right thing bringing him straight in. Don’t get yourself upset.” The doctor smiled at her and handed her a wad of tissues from the box on the coffee table. A crackle of static sounded from a hidden speaker and asked him to see a patient in the pharmacy. No matter how often Katie repeated how her uncle was fine, it wasn’t her fault, Katie just couldn’t forgive herself. She felt a sudden rush of love for her Uncle Billy. It could have been tiredness talking but mortally wounding some-one and hearing them forgive that made even jerks like him appear loveable. The clock on the wall ticked seconds, then minutes before she felt brave enough to go next door and see him.

  She braved herself to see her uncle stripped and squeezed into a rustly hospital gown, lying in a bed surrendered to tubes, monitors, needles and drips. She expected that but what she saw was a man in clothes a size too small, propped against a load of pillows with some bruising around his left eye and playing catch with Lainy and his van keys. Katie took a deep breath and let it out as a huge, shuddering sob.

  “Hey, what’s all this for?” Lainy got up and wrapped the girl in a hug. “Relax, girl. Look, he’s okay. Be back annoying you before you know it.”

  “What did you tell the doc?”

  “He didn’t ask. He knows I’d tell him if I knew. Which I don’t. I didn’t see an
ything happen.”

  The three of them sat in the tiny room until sunrise trying to think of games to play to pass the time and with the nurse checking every so often. Trying to guess the mans pulse each time had provided some amusement. Sad but true. Just after six, Dr de Rossa came and said Uncle Billy could leave. Leo drove the four of them back to the old house and then handed the keys back to Billy.

  “Maybe I can get some damn sleep before noon,” he grumbled and slouched off.

  Katie wasn’t entirely happy with him driving the four hours home but was just too tired to argue. She half-hugged him goodbye.

  “Come on, you can do better than that.”

  “Don’t push it.”

  When Uncle Billy had promised to tell anyone who asked he had hurt himself in a disagreement with a lamp post, the two girls watched him leave and then collapsed on the sofa for a few hours – not enough energy to navigate stairs.

  Something dug into Katie’s side when she sat down. She shoved a hand in the pocket and moved the folded letter until it was not digging in her, brain barely registering what it was. There was a party to get ready for later and being unconscious until then seemed like a very appealing prospect.

  “Everything okay?” came a voice when Katie thought she had barely closed her eyes longer than a blink. Determined to will herself back to sleep she kept her eyes tightly closed and tried not to listen to the conversation between Adam and a far too alert Lainy. “Did you get on okay down there?”

  “Fine. Her uncle patched up and gone. Leo still hates everyone and everything. Katie spoke to the doc but he promised he wouldn’t say anything.”

  “You’re sure he didn’t?”

  “If he did, she wouldn’t…” then, just as the conversation was getting interesting, sleep crept up on Katie and took her under.

  CHAPTER FIVE