A Death Displaced (12 page)

 ‘I’ll make the best out of this situation,’ she said aloud, alone in her bedroom and feeling somewhat ridiculous. ‘But listen to me, spirits … Don’t disturb me tonight. I’ll help where I can, but I need a good night’s sleep.’

One final look around the room, and then she rested content when her statement received no ghostly reply.

*

Kim arrived the next day, dead on twelve. Juliet answered the door and glimpsed Ryan in his car; he nodded goodbye to his girlfriend, then turned his solemn face to the steering wheel and drove off.

Shivers ran down Juliet’s spine.

‘Eeeeeeeeeeee!’ Kim greeted her with a shriek and a hug.

‘Kim!’ she said enthusiastically. ‘It’s good to see you.’

‘Let’s start drinking.’

‘What? It’s midday.’

‘Yeah; we’re late already then.’ Kim laughed, then grabbed Juliet’s hand and pulled her towards the kitchen.

On the way, Kim paused and tugged on Juliet’s wrist. ‘You look different,’ she said accusingly. ‘Your skin … you’ve had treatment, right? And your hair … it’s lighter!’

‘I haven’t had anything done. My hair’s probably been cut since I last saw you, but nothing else.’ She shrugged. Strangely she felt like she was lying, having noticed a difference in her appearance herself. When she’d woken up and looked in the mirror, her skin seemed smoother than usual, healthier. Also, her hair looked enhanced, brighter … almost glittery.

‘I don’t believe you.’ Kim stuck out her tongue then giggled. ‘Whatever you’ve had done, you look stunning.’ She started dragging Juliet towards the kitchen again, and with a comical sigh she mumbled, ‘I wish I had your money ...’ 

Juliet prepared her best friend’s drink, Southern Comfort and cranberry juice, and then they both proceeded to the living room to sit down and begin their catch up. Kim said that things with Ryan were the same as always; she loved him, they never seriously argued, but he was always too stressed and preoccupied to do anything romantic.

‘Are you seeing anyone, Juliet?’

‘No, and I’m not looking.’

‘Come on. We’re not in school anymore. Why don’t you try meet someone?’

At school, Kim and Juliet had liked to think of themselves as untouchable. They’d been naturally popular due to their good looks, but had never wanted boyfriends. After they left school though, Kim changed her views on guys and went through a period of having a different boyfriend each week.

Juliet didn’t go through that phase. She’d had one relationship that lasted about seven months, and although she lost her virginity within it, she’d only done so because she thought she should have by that age. It had not been special, and she’d never felt close to him.

‘I don’t know. I don’t think I have time for a boyfriend.’

‘You do,’ said Kim, matter-of-fact.

‘Maybe ...’ her chest was tight, uncomfortable.

Observantly, Kim asked, ‘What is it? You never like talking about men.’

The answer came automatically to her mind, but she was unsure if she wanted to say it aloud. Though, after everything that had happened these past weeks, she found the courage. Taking a rallying breath, she said, ‘Why would anyone like me?’

Kim’s face turned serious all of a sudden. ‘Don’t say that, Juliet. You’re way prettier than most girls, you’re intelligent, you’ve got your own business,
and
lots of money!’ She paused as if to give weight to her words.

Kim’s hair was short and dark, almost black, and she had a bob cut that wouldn’t suit a lot of people but framed her face well. Her eyes were large, brown, and alluring. She reminded Juliet of cinema’s femme fatales, but only in her seductive appearance and ‘kick-ass’ looks; Juliet couldn’t imagine her best friend
purposefully
using her feminine wiles to get her own way.

‘There are so many reasons for someone to love you. Almost every guy at school fancied you; probably half the girls did too!’ She tittered in a caring-yet-serious manner.

‘No. They all fancied you, Kim!’

‘They fancied me too, obviously.’ She stuck out her tongue. ‘They fancied us both. Look at us …’ She gestured a hand back and forth between them. ‘We
are
pretty hot.’

‘If you say so.’ Juliet shook her head and chuckled appropriately, letting the subject of her love-life fall away.

They continued to gossip for a long while and put on a DVD to play in the background. Kim had brought with her
Love Actually
, her favourite film of all time, but one of Juliet’s least favourite films of all time. For Kim, though, she could endure it.

Kim became steadily merry throughout the afternoon, but Juliet didn’t drink so much. She got up and walked to the kitchen to make her favourite guest another drink.

It wasn’t the ideal time to ponder it, but Tamara’s words jumped into her mind.
Your fate was to die.
It made her think of a film she’d seen once,
Final Destination.
The idea of ‘Death’ hunting her down was something she didn’t want to worry about. But worse than that, she felt like her freedom had been taken away from her. She’d always believed each individual created their own reality and made their own choices, not that they were bound by fate.

The thought of having a predestined life was plain horrible.

I must still have a choice. Nicolas had a choice; he saved me.

With Kim’s drink prepared and in hand, she was about to leave the kitchen. But a slight chill at her back and a twitch in the air alerted her of what was coming. Before even turning, she sensed a wistful void behind her. Her body tensed. She closed her eyes, reminding herself of the promise she’d made last night.
I’ll do my best to help where I can.

The spirit she found in her kitchen was roughly twenty, or at least had been when he died. He stared longingly with blue eyes. His skin was pale, his hair light and curly, and his face characterised by a large nose and nearly-black eyebrows.

With only a slight quicken of her heartbeat, Juliet asked, ‘Can I help you?’ Steady and calm she kept her voice.

‘Don’t trust Ryan,’ he said with a speed that made her jump.

‘Why?’

‘Don’t trust him. Tell Kim she can’t trust him.’

‘What has he done?’

‘I’m Harry. Kim knows me. Tell her not to trust him.’

‘Yes, you’ve said that a few times now. Why can’t she trust him?’ She tried not to raise her voice and alarm Kim in the living room.

‘Ryan’s not who he says he is. She has to get away from him.’

‘Wait, your name’s Harry? You’re one of Kim’s ex-boyfriends?’

And he was gone.

She huffed, composed herself, then returned to the living room to give Kim her drink.

After a moment’s thought she suggested they go in the hot tub, as it was dark outside and she could turn on the tub’s lights. They both changed into their swimsuits, and Juliet tied up her hair to keep it from wetting.

Lowering herself in, she delighted in the perfect contrast of the night’s cold air and the hot tub’s warm embrace. But annoyingly it seemed that every simple pleasure was overshadowed by something the past couple of weeks.
That’s negative, useless thinking. Stop.  

Once they were settled, casually sipping their beverages, Juliet asked, ‘What ever happened to your ex? Was his name Harry?’

‘Harry Cracknel?’ said Kim, surprised.

‘Yeah.’

‘Uurrrghh, that nob-head. I hate him still today! He really broke my heart. It was just before I got with Ryan, about four years ago. I’d been seeing Harry for a few months and we were both head over heels for each other, at least I thought we were, and then one day he just calls it off. He tells me that he never wants to see me again and that he never liked me anyway. Well actually, he said
a lot
worse things than that.’

‘Oh,’ was all Juliet could say, bewildered.

‘I haven’t heard from him since. He vanished off the face of the earth it seems!’ Kim said, and Juliet almost laughed at her accuracy. ‘He’s probably using some other poor woman right now, only to break her heart too.’

‘Probably …’

‘Why’d you ask anyway?’

‘It was just on my mind.’ It upset her lying to Kim, but she wasn’t ready to tell anyone about her ability. ‘How did you meet Ryan then?’

‘You know Natasha and Becky from school? Well, I went with them into Amiton town one night and met Ryan in a club. He was with his mates and he got my number off of Natasha. I didn’t give it to him because I was still with Harry at that point. But Ryan seemed to really like me. He kept texting me and stuff, and then a few days later Harry went and dumped me. I’m glad Natasha gave Ryan my number, because he was there to comfort me after I got dumped, then he asked me out a couple of weeks after and we’ve been together since, as you know.’

‘You’ve never told me any of this before,’ said Juliet.

‘Oh. Well, I didn’t see you that much around the time, and once I was with Ryan I didn’t want to talk about Harry anymore.’

Juliet changed the subject after that.

There was new food for thought and she brooded over the idea that a spirit could be as malicious in afterlife as it was in life. Harry may have appeared to cause Kim more grief. But then it was mysterious that Kim was under the impression Harry had simply vanished. He was dead, obviously, and someone vanishing didn’t go unnoticed in most cases.

When it was natural to return to the conversation, Juliet asked if anyone had heard from Harry since. Kim replied that Harry didn’t grow up on Lansin Island, so not many people knew him here. She reckoned he must have moved back to wherever he came from without telling anyone.

Evening grew upon them. A few early fireworks caught Juliet off guard, causing a startle and some laughs. Shortly after, the doorbell rang loud enough for them to hear from the garden.

‘That must be Ryan,’ said Kim.

‘Okay. I’ll go answer. You get dressed and ready.’ Juliet climbed out the tub, patted her body with a towel, wrapped it around herself, and then scurried indoors.

On full alert and ready to detect suspicious behaviour, she answered the door.

‘Where’s Kim?’ Ryan asked curtly.

‘We’ve been in the hot tub; she’s just getting changed.’

‘Right.’

He didn’t appear bothered that Juliet was wet and wrapped in a towel, so she at least didn’t think him a pervert, unless she wasn’t his type. Anyway, she didn’t suspect he was unfaithful in that area. But as Kim was her best friend she wasn’t about to stop scrutinising.

‘Do you want to wait inside?’ She felt the cold enter her home.

‘No.’ Impatiently, he tapped one of his legs with his fingers and bit his bottom lip.

‘Are you alright?’

‘I just want to get back to Etherby. Kim wants to see some fireworks.’  Etherby was the small town Ryan and Kim lived in. It was a ‘rough’ area with too many low-income households crammed into one place. A common saying on Lansin Island was ‘You don’t mess with Etherby Boys.’ Chanton was firmly on the other end of the spectrum. In general, people from Etherby looked at those in Chanton with jealous contempt.

‘She’ll just be a moment, I’m sure.’ Juliet nodded, attempting to calm him. He still fidgeted.

His copper-red hair was illuminated by the porch light above, and Juliet couldn’t find anything attractive about him. She’d never understood Kim’s interest in him. But it made more sense to her now that the reason Kim had fallen for him was because of the timely comforting he offered after Harry dumped her.

Unshaven, Ryan had ginger stubble, and his hair was so short and coarse that it looked like stubble too. His face was covered in blemishes of a variety, and his teeth were crooked. In his early thirties, he was almost ten years older than Kim, but Juliet didn’t think the age gap mattered much.

Kim appeared and hugged Juliet. ‘I’ve missed this. We should see each other more often.’

Juliet replied, ‘That would be nice.’

Ryan had already started walking to his car without acknowledging his girlfriend. Something about his slouched posture and miserable attitude unsettled Juliet.

‘Kim. Before you go, if there are any problems with you and Ryan, you are welcome to stay here. Just call me, okay?’ Juliet smiled warmly, maybe desperately.

‘Don’t worry. Like I said, he’s just stressed. Sorry if he was rude to you.’ Kim walked to the car. As she opened the door, she shouted, ‘Love you lots!’

‘Love you too.’

Kim closed herself in, fastened her seat belt and waved. Ryan didn’t look back at all but simply drove off and into the dark.

 A pang hit Juliet’s heart when she thought,
What if I missed something? What if Harry was warning me that Ryan planned to kill her? Surely Harry would have specified?

Taking slow breaths, she thought,
Kim will be fine
, and tried to brush off her worries as over-the-top negative thinking. She promised herself she would call Kim soon to check up on her. It was all she could do without arousing suspicion.

Before retiring to bed, she made plans for Sunday and thought about the visit to Grendel Manor the day after tomorrow. Whatever was in store for her and Nicolas, she was glad to finally feel more like her confident self. That is, she was fairly certain that if another spirit was to appear she wouldn’t greet it with a scream like she had the first time.

Her life was different now, and she’d accepted it would never be the same again. She was unsure if she was excited about it, dreading it, or both. Whatever the case, Monday was approaching, and she found herself wanting to unravel the mystery of Samantha Crystan.

Chapter 9

When Nick left The Crow on Friday, he waded towards his car. His eyes were fixed to the ground and he didn’t look up once. His head ached as he tried to find answers.

What does Grendel Manor have to do with my mum’s disappearance?
 

At the thought of his mum his heart twanged, but then he felt normal again; well, not normal, more like numb.

He climbed into his car. It took a few attempts to get the thing started, and then he drove to the petrol station and fuelled ten pounds worth.