A Death Displaced (15 page)

Juliet sat with her hands together, rested on top of her knees which were brought together too. She looked like she didn’t want to touch anything. Or maybe she felt uncomfortable. Nick had cleaned the car that morning so his passenger wouldn’t drown in rubbish or suffocate in the stale musk of an unclean car.

‘Are you a Wiccan?’ Juliet asked out of nowhere.

‘No, are you?’

‘No.’

Nick fell silent for a minute, unsure if she was trying to make conversation or not. Then he asked, ‘Why?’

‘You work in a crystal shop. I thought maybe you were into that kind of thing.’

‘I know a few people who are. My manager and another colleague are in a coven together. Most Wiccans I know are really nice.’

‘I don’t properly know any, but there are a lot of them on this island. I don’t believe in magic or psychic abilities … Or at least I 
didn’t
 believe in anything like that until you saved my life. I don’t know what to believe now.’ She kept her eyes gazing out of the windows, even when Nick turned, trying to catch them.

‘I looked into becoming a Wiccan in the past,’ said Nick. ‘It seems like a nice religion; they are accepting of other people’s beliefs and it’s all earth-based. Some people think it’s all devil worship and casting spells on people, but it’s really not like that.’ He stopped talking and focused on the road.

They had come to a narrow bridge that crossed the Aberfin River. It was only wide enough for one car, so he slowed down to ensure no vehicles were approaching from the other direction. A red car that had driven behind him for a while was in his rear mirror, and when he stopped to cross the bridge it pulled over and put on its hazard lights.

He cautiously drove over the crossing then continued what he was saying. ‘You do get people who say they are Wiccans or Witches, and they do those kinds of things, like trying to hex people. But they’re usually just wannabes or they want power of some sort. Most Wiccans believe you can do whatever you want as long as it harms no one, and something like … whatever you do comes back to you times three. So if you hurt someone, it will come back to you worse. Or if you give out positive energy, it will be returned times three.’

‘It sounds a bit far-fetched to me.’ Juliet scratched behind her ear.

‘Says the woman who sees ghosts …’ he mocked, maybe flirtatiously.

She turned towards him as if to retaliate, but then pushed herself back into the chair to sit up straight. She crossed one leg over the other. ‘I suppose,’ she said. ‘But I’m not religious, and I’ve never been spiritual. If I hadn’t seen your mum’s spirit, I would have thought you were crazy telling people you saw the future.’ Her words were blunt.

‘I might have thought you were crazy too, if I hadn’t had any visions. And anyway, you’re the only person I’ve told.’ He smiled and turned to observe her reaction.

‘Really? Why haven’t you told anyone else?’

‘Who would believe me? And, also, you ran off after the incident. No one knew you were there. I don’t think the drunk driver even saw you. If I told people I saw the future and saved a woman’s life, they would think I had delusions of grandeur, imagining a woman into existence for me to be all heroic and save in the nick of time.’

She laughed quite hard and twisted to look at him. ‘I really am sorry about that. I should have stayed.’ Her posture seemed to relax, though Nick sensed that laughter wasn’t something that came naturally to her.

‘I’ll let you off this time, but don’t run away next time I save your life,’ he teased.

Apparently not taking his attempt at flirtation too well, Juliet went silent for a moment. Maybe she didn’t like his suggestion that she needed someone to save her life again. Maybe she wasn’t here to be flirted with. Maybe she didn’t like him full stop. Maybe she didn’t realise he was trying to joke with her. 
Maybe I’m overthinking this completely
.

Then she asked, ‘How old are you?’

‘Twenty-four, almost twenty-five. You?’

‘I’m twenty-five. Twenty-six in December.’ She scanned his face. ‘You look younger than twenty-four.’

‘Is that a bad thing?’

‘No, not really.’ Her voice wavered.

Nick had been driving almost ten minutes and hadn’t seen any houses for a couple of miles. The road only seemed to go in one direction.

The red car from earlier appeared in Nick’s mirror view. Thinking it odd, he signalled and pulled up on a muddy side, observing the red car’s reaction. It mimicked his behaviour, slowing then stopping. It kept its distance. Nick twisted and gave a hard stare through the back window, but couldn’t make out who was in the driver’s seat.

‘What’s going on, Nicolas?’ Juliet asked, turning to see what he squinted at.

‘I think we’re being followed.’

She pulled a face of disbelief. ‘Why would anyone follow us?’

‘I’m not sure, but I’ve seen the red car behind us twice now, and every time I’ve slowed down it’s copied me and stayed well behind or pulled over completely.’

Juliet looked about to respond, but Nick heard something approach fast. The red car had started up and was roaring towards them. Nick panicked at first, thinking it planned to smash straight into him, but it drove firmly to the side.

If someone’s following me then they can catch up and show themselves.
He felt ridiculous; why would anyone tail him like this?

The car slowed as it neared, and Nick finally glimpsed the driver: Alan. In his passenger’s seat was the tall man who’d tried to punch Nick at Creaky Crystals, in the back was the greasy-haired thief-lady.

Alan pulled up in front of Nick to block his way, and Nick heard him kill the engine. Then all three stepped out of Alan’s car.

‘What’s going on, Nicolas?’ Juliet’s voice quavered, and she looked to him with concern.

‘Erm, don’t worry. It’s just a colleague who’s annoyed at me,’ he replied, ‘I’ll talk to him and sort it out,’ but his hands shook and betrayed the confident statement.

He shuffled out the car and closed the door behind him. ‘Alan … what’s this all about?’ He tried on a reasonable and agreeable tone.

‘You know what it’s about,’ Alan growled back.

A gentle thud came behind Nick, and he realised that Juliet had also stepped out of the car.

The tall man still wore a black bomber jacket and the lady had greasy hair again. Alan, although rather chubby, charged for Nick. Taking him by surprise, he drove him to the ground.

Grit pressed into Nick’s face. Before he could do anything,
spit hocked out of his mouth. Sharp pains hit his back repeatedly, digging into him. He curled up and covered his head to protect it from the blows. Looking down at his stomach, he saw a foot kick into it. A puking sound broke out of him, and then he groaned in agony.

‘Stop!’ screamed Juliet.

The kicking went on. Nick tried desperately to shield up and defend himself. Hard shoes connected with his shins, back, and arms. He dared not look up, in case they kicked his face, but he knew that Alan and the man in the bomber jacket were the ones attacking him.

Writhing on the bitter ground, he closed his eyes and wished for it to stop. He tried to shout, ‘Help!’ but it came out deflated.

He heard the short lady talking to Juliet in a strong accent, ‘Stay near car, no move!’

There was nothing he could do. If they continued, they would kill him. He could only wait and hope for the attack to stop. The frightening vision had come true, and he prayed desperately for it to end well.

Chapter 12

‘Stay near car, no move!’ the woman screamed at Juliet, her face furious but with a hint of vulnerability. Juliet stood much taller than the lady, but did as she was told. Reflections of the white sky glinted on the knife, and the woman’s hand gripped it so tightly her knuckles were chalky and pronounced.

She pointed the blade at Juliet, fixing her in place.

What have I got myself into?
Fear tingled over her skin, taking her strength away. She leant against the side of Nick’s car and held her hands at her side. A shake began in her knees and a rolling in her stomach, but she tried to stiffen her composure, keeping despair at bay.

She looked at the woman’s pale and unclean skin, then stared at her oily and straggly hair tussling her shoulders. There was desperation in her eyes, not malice. Juliet didn’t think the lady would shamelessly use the knife on someone, but, even so, that didn’t reassure her.

A desperate person could be an extremely dangerous person.

How will I escape this?
Hopelessness rushed into her as she heard Nick cough violently. There were thuds every time they kicked him. And each thud made Juliet flinch.

One of the men shouted, ‘You didn’t see
anything,
Nick
.
I need my job. Why do you think I was stealing? Not for the bloody fun of it, but because I
need the money!
’ The man grunted and his foot went
thud-thud-thud
against Nick, who was curled in a foetal position. ‘Tell Mora about any of this and next time will be worse.’

The other man, tall with dark shaved hair, laughed in a simulated manner, as if the approval of the fatter man meant the world to him.

Juliet wanted to scream for them to stop again, but it had done no good the first time. The man shouting at Nick had said the next time would be worse, so it was at least some reassurance that they didn’t intend to kill him. Juliet just hoped they didn’t accidentally take his life, and then have to silence her too.

With hatred she glared at the two attackers, then noticed a small figure stood by one of them. A young boy.

A shifting aura outlined the kid. He wore only white shorts but they were ruffled and stained. His bare skin was pallid and his feet were raw with dirt. Juliet placed him at about eight years old when he must have died. The spirit looked saddened, staring at the chubby man booting Nick. Then the boy glided over to Juliet.

He spoke to her, and she listened attentively.

When she’d grasped the spirit’s words, she yelled at the attackers. ‘Alan, that’s you isn’t it?’ She pointed at the rounder one. ‘Carl is upset. He doesn’t like seeing you this way.’

Alan stopped kicking. He motioned to cut short the other man’s swing of his leg. ‘How do you know about Carl?’

‘He’s ashamed of you and what you’re doing.’ She ignored his question.

‘Nick must have told you about Carl. You can’t guilt-trip me, woman!’ he spat back.

‘He’s here now, talking to me, and he’s watching what you’re doing. He’s telling me things. When he was at school, he told on a group of kids for stealing marbles from his best friend, Mark, and then Miss Andrews made them give the marbles back.’ She spoke as fast and clearly as possible.

Alan’s eyes steadily widened, and the tall man beside him frowned confusedly. The woman with the knife flicked her head back and forth between everyone.

‘Carl found you on his lunch break,’ she continued. ‘You were the year above him. He was frightened that the other kids were going to get him. That’s what he said to you:
Alan, I’m scared, they’re going to get me after school!
’ She rinsed out the eerie feeling of repeating the spirit word-for-word.

‘St... stop it. I don’t want to hear,’ he mumbled and sheepishly shook his head.

‘After school, the kids did come and they started to push Carl around. You scared them off and saved him from the bullies. But now Carl’s upset. You’re frightening him, just like those bullies did.’

‘Errm … eerrhh,’ Alan grumbled and twitched. ‘Let’s leave. Come on. Now.’ He gestured at the other assailant and the woman.

Before scrambling off, the greasy-haired lady gave Juliet a sharp leer and hissed, ‘Witch.’

The three of them shuffled into the red car and were out of sight in no time. Pivoting on the spot, Juliet searched for the spirit of Carl. But he was gone.

Nick uncovered his head and rolled onto his back, moaning. Slowly, he tried to stand up. As he stumbled, Juliet came to support him.

‘I’m sorry about this, Juliet,’ he wheezed.

‘Okay. Let’s just get back to the car and we’ll talk about it.’

She held onto him, but he moved away proudly. ‘I’m okay. I can move about. It just hurts like hell.’

Juliet didn’t reply but walked around to the passenger’s side of the car. She sat down and noticed sharp twisting pains by her heart. It must have ached from how much it had raced. Thinking about what had just happened, she wasn’t sure if Nick was the type of person she wanted to be around. What sort of actions did he take to warrant being followed and attacked?

Out in the middle of nowhere, it was silent now. No cars drove by, no houses were near, the road was bare, and the trees were statues. Nick sat with his hands covering his face.

‘You need to explain to me what that was all about,’ said Juliet.

She heard him sniffle like he was crying, but couldn’t tell if he was or not. This time one of the painful twists took her
in
the heart; she felt awful for him, that he’d been ganged up on and assaulted, but at the same time her mind was in conflict.

Why did this happen? He must have done something to annoy those people.
No matter how much sympathy she could muster for him, she nonetheless hoped he had a good explanation for why she was held at knifepoint.

Chapter 13

Embarrassment jangled about him. He didn’t want to show his face to her. He wasn’t crying, but the way he was shoved onto the floor and beaten was humiliating. Juliet would see him as a weak man, unable to stick up for himself.

Dropping his hands to his lap, he went to answer her question. The movement flared pain up and down his body. ‘Alan’s a colleague at work. Items were being stolen …’ He laid out the story of Alan’s thievery, and his voice may have seemed whiney, strained, or even desperate, but he wanted her to know he’d done the right thing.

Juliet appeared thoughtful. She didn’t speak at first, and while Nick waited for a response he couldn’t help think about Juliet’s ability. It had saved him from being further beaten. Having her tell him about it and actually seeing it in action were totally different. It reminded him of the sort of mediums on television, the ones who performed for live audiences and plucked out random names and information. Only, Juliet was much more exact and fluent than anyone he’d seen on the small screen.