Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (20 page)

“
Oh, would you? Thank you, Petal, it would really put my mind at rest if a medium checked this place out for me.” Oscar stood up and stretched. “Excuse me a sec, I’m just going to change the music, I need an Abba fix. This stuff is fine in small doses, but it doesn’t half get dull after a while.”

“
It’s Underscore isn’t it?” asked Alice, recognising the song that was playing.

“
Yeah, Dean loves them, but I find them a bit boring.”

“
Really? I quite like them. In fact, I’m going to see them on Sunday. Jack, that’s my boyfriend, has got free VIP tickets and we actually get to meet the band afterwards.”

“
Oh wow, you lucky thing!” exclaimed Oscar, looking impressed.

“
I thought you said you found them boring?”

“
I do, but as I said, Dean
loves
them. I’d love to be able to surprise him with tickets to see them. Do you think there are any left?”

“
Well, actually, this could be your lucky day,” grinned Alice. “Jack’s got four tickets, and we were going to ask around if anyone wanted to come with us. So that’s sorted then. You’re coming.”

“
Oh thank you, Sweetie,” cried Oscar and threw his arms around Alice. “Dean’s going to be so chuffed.”

“
No problem,” laughed Alice.

“
All that said though, I’m still going to change this CD for Abba. I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a repeat performance of Dancing Queen, is there?”

*****

Jemma had been standing for a long time, perfectly still and deep in thought, looking a bit like one of the stone statues surrounding her. Eventually, she bent down and touched the cold gravestone that she had been staring at for so long, the tears running freely down her face.

“
Oh, mum,” she sobbed, quietly, “I thought I would see you again when I died. I miss you so much.”

She closed her eyes and could almost feel her mother kissing her, brushing her hair, and cuddling her as she snuggled her into bed. The memories were so fresh and yet it had been such a long time since she had died. The one consolation was that if she wasn’t here, she must have been able to move on to a better place. She wondered if her mother was able to see her, if she even knew that her daughter died. Maybe she had tried to contact her, just like she herself had tried to contact Alice. Looking at her mum’s grave, she noticed that someone had left some fresh flowers, carnations, at the head of it. That must have been Aunt Tess. She found it comforting to know that someone still came to her mother’s grave. She wondered if her own grave had flowers on it. She only had to look slightly to the left, as she was buried very close by, but, so far, so hadn’t been able to summon up the courage to look. It was such a strange feeling to know that you were about to visit your own grave. She thought of Tom, who didn’t even know if he had a grave. She couldn’t imagine how painful it must be for him not to be buried next to his father, as well as losing the love and respect of his mother. How could anyone abandon their child when they were dying, and not believe their protestations of innocence? Surely you would stand by your child no matter what they had done? She felt a surge of anger towards this cold, cruel woman, hating her for causing Tom so much pain and anguish.

Angrily brushing away her tears, she resolved to visit this woman, to see if she had come to her senses over the many years since her son had died.

Slowly, she stood up again and turned towards her own grave. She felt her throat tighten and a nervous fluttering deep in her stomach. Shit, she was actually looking at her own grave. This was seriously weird.

Slowly, she walked towards it and looked down for the first time at her gravestone. The dark marble looked shiny and new, and the gold lettering clearly identified it as hers. There were some fresh carnations lying at the head of her grave, just like her mum’s. Poor Aunt Tess, it must have been so sad for her to have lost two family members, both so early in life. Next to the carnations, lay a few white tulips, beautifully bound in white ribbon. On closer inspection, she noticed that the tulips were made from silk. Clever, she thought, that way they’ll never wither and die. Next to them lay a small card, laminated to protect it from the weather. It read;
Jemma, You were like a sister to me, I miss you so much. I hope all the angels look after you in Heaven and that you have found peace. All my love, Alice
.

Fresh tears fell down Jemma’s face as she re-read the small card. She was so glad she had managed to leave that white tulip for Alice on her first day of work. Claire had taught how to materialise small objects into the living world, and, although it took an enormous amount of will and energy, it had been worth it to see Alice’s reaction when she had found it. Alice couldn’t have been more wrong about the angels though.

Eventually, she stood back up again, walked across the empty graveyard and sat down on an old wooden bench. The churchyard looked dark and depressing in the winter light, the trees bare of their leaves which were still lying on the soggy ground. The old stone church threw dark shadows across most of the graves, some of which were hundreds of years old. There were a few with fresh flowers on some of them, red Poinsettias mainly, probably where family members had come to pay their Christmas respects, otherwise there was no colour anywhere. The dim and sombre atmosphere matched her mood, and she found it strangely comforting to sit in the silence, with just her thoughts.

These thoughts soon returned to Tom, and she immediately felt a warm glow inside her. Tom was everything she could have wished for in a man; handsome, funny and clever, although he could be a bit intense sometimes. She would quite happily have stayed with him in this dimension for the rest of eternity. If only they could help Susie get back without Tom having to leave as well. But, no matter how hard she tried to think of ways around it, it was clear that if Susie hadn’t been killed, Tom wouldn’t have gone to prison, and his mother would have buried him with his father, and grieved for him the way a loving mother would. It was probably also Tom’s feeling of guilt that kept him here, for although he didn’t actually kill Susie himself, if he hadn’t left the key in the car that day, Susie would still be alive.

She was begrudgingly glad that she had managed to persuade him and Susie to leave. But what about her? She had told Tom that she would also leave if he did, but she knew that she could never leave now, because leaving would mean losing her memory of Tom and, besides, her existence before she died had been empty, apart from her friendship with Alice. But she knew that Tom would never leave if he knew she wasn’t going as well, so she would just have to lie and tell him that she would go as soon as he was gone. She would be left with Max, she thought with a shudder. Another thought occurred to her. If Max knew that Tom was planning on leaving, he may not help them with the wormhole. Whether he ever carried out his threat of revenge, or if it was just the thought of it keeping him going, Max was certainly not going to be happy if he found out, and the rage that was still burning in him so fiercely, could resurface.

No, Max mustn’t know, but they did need his help. She resolved to tell him that it was for her. He already believed she was planning on leaving, so she’d just let him carry on thinking that. The one consolation was that she’d still have Claire when Tom and Susie were gone, she thought with some comfort.

Thinking of Claire made her want to go and see her, so she took a last look around the graveyard, before closing her eyes and focusing on Ashdown Forest. A split second later, she approached the clearing where Claire usually sat waiting for her beloved Robert. He must be pretty fantastic for his wife to wait for him all these years, she thought, although it was a bit odd that he had never turned up, and even more odd that Claire was still waiting for him. No matter how perfect a man was, surely there came a point when you had to admit defeat, and accept that he would never come. Maybe he wasn’t as perfect as Claire might like to think.

Jemma stopped in surprise when she got arrived at the clearing. Claire’s bench was empty! How strange, she thought, she was always there. Unless Robert had actually turned up at last, but that didn’t seem very likely after all these years. Feeling disappointed, she walked over to the bench and sat down, deciding to wait a few minutes in case she came back. It didn’t feel right without Claire there though, so after a few minutes she decided to go home and come back tomorrow. Claire was completely impartial to the whole Tom/Susie/Max thing, so it would be good to talk it all through with her. She was such a calm and rational person, so her advice would be very welcome.

A split second later, she found herself back in the kitchen at Jack’s house. That was empty as well. Where the hell was everyone, she wondered. Oh well, she thought, she might as well go into the living room and talk to Max about these wormholes, no time like the present. She needed to plant some more seeds to let him think that she was leaving, then, in a couple of days, she would ask him for his help. She wondered if she should play down her relationship with Tom so he was more likely to talk. Walking through the wall, she fixed a smile on her face and said, “Hi, Max. Oh!” She stared in surprise at Max, who was sitting, deep in conversation, with Claire.

“
Hello, dear,” smiled Claire, looking up.

“
Er... I didn’t know you knew Max?” said Jemma, stupidly.

“
Well I didn’t until you introduced us. I’ve visited him a few times and we’re friends now. That’s alright isn’t it?”

“
Er, yes, of course. But what about Robert?”

“
You said yourself that if he came back after all this time, he can wait for me for once.”

“
Oh
, yes. Okay. Right, I must go now. Nice to see you,” Jemma said, quickly, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

“
Hey, what’s up?” Susie was back, sitting on the kitchen table, swinging her legs restlessly.

“
Did you know that Claire has been visiting Max?” asked Jemma, still reeling from her surprise.

“
Yeah, she’s been to see me as well. Is that a problem?”

“
No, of course not. I knew that you were friends, but I just didn’t know that she was friends with Max now. Don’t you find that a bit strange?”

“
No. Why?” shrugged Susie.

“
Well, for a start he’s a miserable old man, who’s angry with just about everyone, and she’s .... well, she’s
nice
.”

“
Opposites attract and all that,” said Susie, clearly not seeing what the fuss was all about.

Jemma didn’t really want to tell her why she was so upset to see Claire and Max together. Claire was the only person she could confide in, but now that she was friends with Max, she couldn’t trust her not to tell him about her plans. She felt strangely let down, but didn’t want to look like a sulky brat, so she just smiled and said, “Yes, I suppose.”

“
Anyway, where have you been today? I came to see if you fancied playing some tricks on next door, but you weren’t here.”

“
I went to visit my grave,” Jemma said. “And my mum’s grave as well.”

“
Wow, how was it?”

“
Very emotional. Have you seen Tom?”

“
Yeah, he said he was going to visit his dad’s grave earlier. He’s probably still there.”

“
Susie? Do you know anything about his mother?”

“
Yeah, I know a bit. I know that he hates her and will never go and see her.”

“
I don’t think he hates her. He’s devastated that she rejected him, and he’s bitter, yes, but he doesn’t hate her.”

“
She’s a right cow,” said Susie, simply. Jemma smiled, she loved the way Susie always came straight, and bluntly, to the point.

“
Yes well, we’ll see. I don’t suppose you know where she lives?”

“
I do as it happens,” grinned Susie, to Jemma’s surprise.

“
Really? Are you serious?”

“
Yep! I followed Tom to his dad’s grave a few years ago and then I just waited until his mum came to visit. I was curious and wanted to see what she was like. I knew it was only a matter of time and, sure enough, the next day, there she was. I knew it was her from Tom’s description, and I just followed her home. It was easy.”

“
That’s great. Can you still remember where she lives?”

“
Jemma, what are you up to? Tom will never go, you know.”

“
I know, but who said anything about Tom? I’m going. I just want to watch her, find out a bit about what she’s like and hopefully, gauge her feelings towards him now.”

“
He’ll go mad if he finds out you went to see his mum,” stated Susie.

“
Well, he won’t find out.
Will he
?” retorted Jemma, giving Susie her best ‘don’t tell on me’ look.

“
Do you want me to come with you?”

“
Would you?”

“
Yeah, no problem. Come on then, let’s go,” said Susie, jumping down from the table.

“
What, now?”

“
Yeah, why not? Come on.” Susie grabbed Jemma’s hand, and in a split second, they found themselves in a dark and dusty room. “Here we are. This is it.”

Jemma looked around the dark room, which was untidy and extremely gloomy. There were some long dead flowers in a vase standing on a dusty side table and, given that Christmas was only a week away, there wasn’t a single Christmas decoration or card in sight. It was a very sad and uninviting room.