All That She Can See(57)

‘Shhh!’ She hushed as he started to raise his voice. ‘If we get caught we might both be on the receiving end of a couple of hundred volts.’

‘They’re not going to hear us if you turn that thing on. It’ll drown us out.’ Peter pointed to the grey machine that had come to haunt his nightmares.

‘Good thinking!’ Shura flipped a couple of blue switches and turned a dial. She took up the two black discs that were attached to the machine by coiled wires and placed their metal surfaces face down on the leather chair. ‘You’re going to have to scream, though,’ she said, her finger on the final switch. ‘They’ll be expecting to hear you.’

Peter smiled, happy at the thought of getting one over on the Guild. ‘It’s better when it’s fake.’

And so Peter screamed and groaned, while Shura laughed. They had a snatched, whispered conversation in between the fake cries and when Peter went back to his four whitewashed walls, he didn’t feel angry any more. How could he when he could close his eyes and see Shura?





20





Peter





The smoke had led Cherry to a rundown house. The windows were boarded up, an old three-piece suite and a broken TV had been dumped in the overgrown front garden and the gate was completely rusted over and sealed shut. The place looked abandoned and yet the black tornado of smoke that was swirling out of the chimney was a sure sign that this was where Cherry would find Peter.

Cherry was unsure of what she was going to say when she saw Peter. She just knew she needed to get to him as soon as possible. She pulled herself up and over the gate, struggling in the process because Loneliness had hooked its arms around her waist to try to stop her. She dropped to the other side and looked up at the house, watching the smoke rise and fade away.

What do I say? What. Do. I. Say? ‘Hi, remember me? Your one and only friend from when we were children? We bonded over the weird shit we could see that no one else could and then I watched you get dragged away by men in blue coats which coincidentally has just happened to a friend of mine so it turns out, you’ve shown up just as I need your help! Oh, and how have you been?’ Cherry rubbed her face with her hands and muttered, ‘Just knock on the door,’ and walked up to the front door.

There was no door handle or knocker so she pulled her cardigan sleeve over her fist and hammered on the wood. She was certain she could hear footsteps approaching the door but nobody opened it. Smoke started to pour out of the rectangular hole where a letterbox flap used to be.

‘Peter? That… that is you… isn’t it?’

‘Who is it?’ replied a low, gravelly voice.

‘Erm… Cherry. Cherry Redgrave. Do you remember me?’

‘Cherry?’ A sooty hand appeared through the letterbox hole and it pulled the door open just enough so that an eye could peer through the crack.

‘Yeah, I’m Cherry. We went to school together. When we were like… seven, I think.’

‘Cherry… Redgrave? I did know someone with that name once.’

‘Well, that was me. I’m Cherry Redgrave.’

‘Prove it.’

‘Prove it? How?’

There was a pause and then he said, ‘I told Cherry something when we were kids that I haven’t told anyone since. I shared a name with her. A name for something. What was that name?’

Cherry nodded. ‘It’s a name I still use today. Meddlum. You and I can see Meddlums. I saw yours earlier – that’s what led me here – and it’s terrifying.’

Peter flung the door wide open and pawed at Cherry’s shoulders until she was in his embrace, smoke engulfing them both.

‘I,’ he sobbed, ‘thought,’ another sob, ‘I’d never,’ more sobbing, ‘see you again.’ Sob. His chest heaved against Cherry’s and his fingers dug deep into her neck. She hugged him back, hard.

‘I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, either.’

The moment Peter had been dragged from school and bundled into the back of a van flashed through Cherry’s mind. She remembered the rush of fear that had coursed through her veins that her fate may be the same, but most of all she remembered the icy touch of Loneliness as it plunged its hands into her stomach and tied it into knots. It had kept a firm grip on her heart for months and had given it a firm squeeze each time she had turned to where Peter used to sit and seen his empty seat. Cherry had been certain her friend had been lost to her for ever but now he was here, a man so unknown to her but there was a familiarity there too that made her eyes sting with tears she didn’t know she’d needed to cry. Loneliness tried to reach out for her but its fingers fell short.

‘Why are you wearing pyjamas?’ he said, sniffing.

Cherry rolled her eyes over his shoulder and ignored the question. ‘What happened to you? Where did you go?’ she asked instead.

‘The Guild. It’s a long story. Come inside, quickly.’

Peter let go of Cherry and pulled her inside. He leaned out of the door, looked left, then right, before slamming the door closed. Cherry found herself standing at the foot of the smoking Meddlum. It looked down at her with less fire in its eyes than it had done earlier. The ceiling to the bottom floor of the house had caved in, Cherry guessed, due to water damage, as half the roof was also gone. This meant Peter’s Meddlum could stand upright in the house. It was quite the sight to behold.