Forever Is Over (78 page)

“
Scared Woody?
”

“
No, but you
’
re frightening this young lady!
”

“
Sorry, love!
”
said Danny, half-heartedly.

“
It
’
s OK. You seem to be determined to kill me one way or another,
either by suffocation or choking after that disgusting smell or now that
’
s
failed, you try to dislodge our cable car and make us fall a thousand feet
to our death! Did they leave you out in heaven, when God was dishing
out brain cells?
”

Other than
Danny, the boys erupted again into laughter. I was
pleased that I had managed to come up with a reproach straight out
of the Jemma Watkinson text book. I had certainly learnt to look after
myself since Mum died, or I suppose, since the moments before Mum
died.
Once they had stopped laughing, the cable car started moving again
and a conversation ensued.

“
I take it you are English. Whereabouts are you from?
”
one of the
two, at that time nameless, characters asked.

“
Yes, I
’
m from Ormskirk.
”

“
Where
’
s that?
”
he asked looking puzzled.

“
It
’
s a market town in West Lancashire. If you head North from
Liverpool, towards Preston, Ormskirk
’
s pretty much on the way. Have
you ever been to Southport?
”

“
No.
”

“
I have,
”
Danny piped up.

“
Well, you will have passed through Ormskirk to get to Southport.
”

“
Right,
”
Danny said, not really feigning any interest,
“
we
’
re from
Richmond in Surrey.
”

“
What are your names?
”
I asked,
“
I
’
m Kelly.
”

“
Hi Kelly! I
’
m Andy, but everyone calls me Woody!
”

Woody took
my hand and shook it. The other three did not have much to write home
about in the looks department, but Woody was an attractive man. You
could tell there was a load of bulging muscle underneath his T-shirt.
He had an Italian type look, a very dark complexion. His brown eyes
seemed to sparkle when he looked at me.
“
Danny!
”
said the Phantom Farter.

“
Pete,
”
said the pale redhead who looked like he
’
d burnt.

“
Scotty,
”
said the final lad, the smallest of the bunch, who had
boyish features and smooth skin. Scotty was the type of lad who would
look good in make-up. Pity he
’
d missed the 1980
’
s boat. I thought he
must be the youngest of the four, but it later transpired that he was, at
twenty three, the eldest. The others were all twenty two. They were
all school friends who had graduated, worked for a year and were now
spending twelve months travelling the world. They had been away from
England for four days. If Pete didn
’
t cover up for the remaining 361
days, he would have no skin left by the time he arrived back home.

“
Are you backpacking?
”
Woody asked.

“
Not really. Just travelling. I haven
’
t even done much of that! I went
to Holland six months ago for a couple of weeks, then came here to
Singapore. It
’
s been great, but it
’
s time to move on.
”

“
Where are you going next?
”
Scotty enquired.

“
No idea!
”

“
We
’
re going to Hong Kong on Saturday. You could always tag
along with us, if you wanted.
”
Woody suggested.

I had had a lot of offers like this over the previous six months. Given
the offers were generally made by young men and normally after the
briefest of conversations, I deduced they were made based on my looks
rather than my personality.

“
You don
’
t know me! I might be a murderer for all you know!
”

             
I used this one a lot. S
ick, I know, but it amused me.

             
“
You couldn
’
t be any worse to travel with than Danny!
”
Pete replied.

             
“
Yes, if we can cope with his farts, we can cope with anything!
”
Woody added.

“
Are you travelling alone?
”
Scotty asked.

“
Yes.
”

“
How come?
”

“
No-one my age was allowed to come. I have very liberal parents.
”

I suppose not having parents, one being dead and one being an escapee,
made them fairly liberal.

“
How old are you?
”
Woody asked.

“
Nearly eighteen.
”

“
Bloody hell! You
’
re brave, travelling around alone as a seventeen
year old female,
”
said Danny.

“
I told you, I
’
m a murderer!
”
I said with a sarcastic smile.

“
You could come in useful. We can get you to strangle Danny then, if he keeps delivering those
‘
silent but deadlies
’
!
”
Pete said.

             
“
You should definitely come with us! We could do with some female
company. We need a sensible head to keep us in check! If we start to
annoy you, you could just move on alone, but you
’
ll grow to love us, I
guarantee it!
”
Woody said, flashing me a lovely smile.

Of all the groups that offered to accompany me on my travels, this
four had not exactly made the best initial impression, but the more I
spoke to them, the more I warmed to them, especially Woody. We stuck
together around Sentosa and once we hit the beach, Woody
’
s bronzed
body and six pack sealed the deal. Richie seemed a distant memory to
me now, sometimes I could hardly picture what he looked like. It was
time to fall in love again and time to have some fun. Three days later,
the five of us flew to Hong Kong Kai Tak airport. It was a pretty scary
landing as the airport was surrounded by high rise buildings and it
seemed like the pilot had to weave his way in and out of them. Woody
held my sweaty palm throughout. We were an item by then and, if truth
be told, we were already an item by the time we took the cable car back
to Jewel Box.

“
Oh my God! It
’
s Richie! I can
’
t believe you
’
ve come! Thank you
so, so much!
You
’
ve come all this way to see me, how can I ever thank you?
”

Richie sat facing me as I said this in the most sarcastic tone I could
muster. I
’
d been in Styal prison for six months before he had the decency
to pay me a visit. Like everyone else, he had left me to rot.

“
Screw the lot of you!
”
I thought.

“
I
’
m sorry, Jemma,
”
Richie said, bowing his head a little.

“
What for?
”

“
What?
”

“
What are you sorry for?
”

“
Not visiting.
”

“
No, you
’
re not. Have you been ill again?
”

Richie started mumbling and his body language was closed and
uncomfortable.

“
No. It
’
s just been difficult. There
’
s been a lot going on in my head,
what with Kelly disappearing and various different things at home. I
wanted to come but
…
.
”

I cut him short.

“
As far as I
’
m concerned, Richie, if you haven
’
t been ill, you
’
ve got no real excuse, have you? You can
’
t really be sorry for not doing something
that you genuinely did not want to do! I don
’
t want you here. Could
you please leave.
”

Richie looked surprised.

“
Seriously? Its taken me bloody ages to get here!
”

“
I
’
m absolutely serious, Richie.
”

I was going to say
‘
deadly serious
’
but given I was in Styal for
manslaughter, death was a topic I tended to avoid. Richie stood up to
leave, half of me wanted to stop him, that same half wanted to hug him
like I had hugged him in Ormskirk (which was never going to happen with half a dozen guards looking on) but the other half was bitter and
twisted and had found a scapegoat.

“
I
’
ll go then.
”

“
What made you come anyway, Richie? A guilty conscience?
”
Admittedly, I was not expecting the response Richie came back with.
“
Actually Jemma, if you must know, it was a guilty conscience that
has been keeping me away!
”

“
What?
”

“
Jemma, either I can explain or I can bugger off home. I can
’
t do both.
”

Despite everything, I was officially intrigued. I needed to keep the
tough outer layer on display though. At all times in Styal, I needed to
be tough.

“
Yes you can! Sit down. Explain to me what you meant by what you
just said. If it makes sense, you can stay, if it doesn
’
t, you can bugger
off home!
”

Richie sat back down. We faced each other across a wooden table,
like every other con and visitor in there. It was like a mass congregation
of
‘
The Invisible Chess League
’
, as it felt like a chess board and pieces
should be on the table. Not that every prisoner at Styal could play chess,
some of them would have struggled to play Tiddlywinks!

Richie looked at me as though he needed to see through my eyes
and into my soul. I
’
m not into romantic clich
é
s, but when he sat there,
looking at me, that was genuinely how I felt.

“
Jemma, you know exactly what I meant! I felt guilty visiting you.
I went out with your sister. Your sister was
…
is
…
.the only girl I have ever loved. For some reason, I found myself developing feelings for
you too. Feelings that, for so many different reasons, were wrong for
me to have. Maybe they developed because of my cancer. Maybe they
developed because of your arrest or because Kelly disappeared, but they
were developing and that felt wrong. I needed to keep away. I needed
to sort things out in my head.
”