Souls Apart (Book 1 in the Lost Souls Trilogy) (8 page)

“There’s just one last question,” Amber said. “I know
you might not feel comfortable answering this, so if you don’t want to I’ll
understand.
 
Is it true that your great
grand-dad committed suicide by jumping off this roof?”

She took hold of the photo and started to trace her fingers
over his face. “That’s what Mom said.
 
Please don’t print this in your report, but Mom believed he still haunts
this house.
 
She told me she kept seeing
him everywhere and she even asked him to stop bothering her but she said he
wouldn’t go away.
 
None of us saw him so
we thought she was crazy like Gran…”

“So where’s your mom now?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” She wiped some tears from her eyes and
continued. “Pops and I were about to put her in a mental institution to get her
some help and so she could sleep without being scared but she found out and
just left.
 
Nobody’s heard from her
since.”

“That’s so sad,” Amber said placing an arm around the
blonde’s shoulders.

I went to join her. “What’s your name anyway?” I
asked.

“It’s Sally.”

Amber got Sally some tissues from on top of the huge
piano in the corner. “If you ever need to talk to anyone give me a call,” she
said writing down her mobile number and giving it to Sally. “You’re too young
to be cooped up in here all day.”

Sally smiled. “It’s better than going out and being
talked about,” she said.

“So what if people talk. If you’re not careful you’ll
go mad too.”

Amber could be so tactless but for some reason people
didn’t hate her for it. “Thank you.
 
You’re right, of course.
 
Maybe I
will give you a call sometime.”

She stood up and we both knew it was time to leave. As
we walked down the hill I thought about Emily and Sally and the grey-haired
woman at the window; my daughter. I wanted to speak to Eddie about it but I
knew he’d go mad if he knew I’d been snooping around asking questions about
him.

Amber was the first to speak. “How do you feel? Isn’t
it weird for you all this family stuff?”

“Yeah.
 
I can’t
tell anyone though.
 
This is my life
now.
 
I need to forget about the past
otherwise I’m scared I’ll go crazy too.”

“I think you need to end things with Eddie,
Charls.
 
Can’t you see how many lives
he’s ruined? You know he murdered Emily don’t you?”

I nodded. “But I still love him, though.
 
Maybe it’s up to me to change things in this
life. Maybe the only way to break this curse is to marry him and do things
right this time.”

Amber grabbed hold of my shoulders and began to shake
me. “Oh my god, Charlie! Wake up! You need to get as far away as possible from
that man! Let’s hope your Mom got that job and that you’re both leaving
tomorrow!”

***

Mom wasn’t in when I got home so I ran a bath and
started to think about what I was going to say to Eddie later.
 
We’d arranged to meet at our usual spot but
after our last conversation I feared the worst.
 
How is it possible to love somebody but to be so scared of them at the
same time? And just because somebody murdered someone in a past life does that
mean they have to get punished in this one? Does it make them inherently evil
or can people change? I sunk my head under the bubbles and inhaled the smell of
strawberries and cream.
 
It reminded me
of the day he proposed. How could things have gone so wrong so soon?

-15-

I hadn’t
really been making that much of an effort on my appearance lately because I
knew Eddie loved me for me and would rather I wore less make-up and more
clothes than the other way round.
 
Tonight I’d left my long, dark hair loose to fall about my
shoulders.
 
I’d put on my tight jeans,
knee high boots and a low-cut, red top covered in white polka dots.
 
I put a matching headband around my head and
completed the look by covering my lips in a nice, shiny, red lipstick. I wanted
tonight to be special.
 
I was determined
to change all the bad feeling between us because of our past.

He looked a
little shy as he came down the hill and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ve been
thinking about you all day,” he said. “I started to think you wouldn’t show
tonight.”

“Why would you
think that?”

“It
kinda
knocks a man’s confidence when the woman he loves
refuses to marry him.”

He took hold
of my hand and we started to walk in the direction of his hut. “About that,” I
stopped walking and started to stroke his cheek. “If you still want to do it
then I do too.
 
I guess I just got a
little scared, that’s all.”

His eyes
brightened. “So you still want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

He picked me
up off the floor and started to spin me round so much I was nearly sick.
“That’s so great,” he said, finally placing me back onto the ground. “I hoped
you would change your mind. Here…” He took the ring from his inside pocket and
placed it on my ring finger.
 
I felt a
shiver run down my spine but chose to ignore it.
 
I really felt that if I broke it off with him
then maybe in many years to come we would be back in this same situation, only
our souls would be in different bodies, obviously.
 
It had to end now; and it had to end happily.

-16-

Today was the day things dramatically changed. The
mailman came and Mom rushed to the mailbox.
 
She came back holding an official white envelope.
 
She took a deep breath in and then tore it
open. I watched as she mouthed the words as she read. She broke into a huge
grin and started to jump up and down on the spot. “Oh my god, Charls! I got the
job! I got the job! I don’t believe it!”

My heart sunk.
 
I looked at my engagement ring and I knew I had to tell Eddie now that
it was really happening.
 
I hadn’t
mentioned it because I didn’t think Mom had any chance of getting it. The only
jobs Mom had ever done were low-paid, menial jobs in bars, diners and
shops.
 
This was in an office.
 
Mom was going to be working in real
estate.
 
I don’t know what she did to
convince them she was the woman for the job, but whatever she did I was proud
of her.
 
I just didn’t want to leave this
house; this village; Eddie.

I ran over to give her a hug. “I’m so pleased for you,
Mom. So when do you start?”

“I’ve told them I need to give a month’s notice but
I’ve already got us a house through my job and so we can start moving some
things in this weekend if you like?”

“Ok. So what happens with my school?
 
I’ve only got six weeks left.
 
Does that mean I’ll miss my prom?”

Mom shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sorry, honey but you
wouldn’t have wanted to take Eddie to the prom with you anyway, would you?”

She was right, but that wasn’t the point. “It would be
nice to have the choice though, Mom.
 
Why
couldn’t you tell them you couldn’t start until I finished school!”

“Listen to me, Charlie.
 
I’m only thirty-six years old.
 
I know you think that’s ancient but I’m sick
and tired of working two jobs and still never having enough money.
 
For almost eighteen years now you’ve been my
priority but now you’re going to college I want to do something for me.
 
This is my big chance. Please don’t spoil it
for me.”

I gave her a hug. “I know, Mom. It’s just going to be
so different, that’s all.”

“I know, sugar. But it will be different in a good
way, you’ll see.”

“I know.”

***

It was nice
being in Eddie’s hut now that it was the peak of summer.
 
We could sit outside on the tree logs he’d
cut down and have picnics.
 
It was so
warm tonight that I’d worn my shorts and t-shirt and I found myself glancing
once or twice at Eddie’s naked chest. It was smooth, tanned and toned and as my
eyes moved lower I noticed he was in great shape. His stomach was showing the
first signs of a six pack. “Have you been working out?” I teased, moving my
hands across his hard muscles.

“I have,
yes.
 
Glad you’ve noticed.
 
Now that the weather’s changed I jog a lot;
it helps me think of new ideas for my books.”

“How does that
give you a six pack?”

“You need to
do one hundred sit ups a day for that,” he said, patting his stomach proudly.

“Eddie,
there’s something I need to tell you,” I said.

He leaned in
towards me. “I’m listening.”

“It’s
Mom.
 
She’s got a new job and we move in
six weeks.”

His eyes darkened
and I felt shivers run down my spine. “So you have to go to, right?”

“I’ve got
nowhere else to go.
 
I was going to
college in the fall anyway.
 
It just
means I have to go a little bit earlier.”

He stood up
and started to pace back and to. “Yes but we’ve already discussed this. You
were going to come back here every weekend and in the holidays.
 
Now you’re telling me you won’t be coming
back at all?”

“No. I don’t
know. I didn’t plan this, Eddie. I want to come back home but if Mom wants us
to move then there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Maybe I
should have a word with her,” he said. “Maybe I should ask her if we can rent
her house and we can live there together. What do you say, Charls?”

“But we can’t
afford that.
 
Mom had to work two jobs to
pay the bills and she was still short a lot of the time.
 
I’ll be at college anyway so it wouldn’t be
worth it.”

He started to
raise his voice. “This is what you’ve wanted all along isn’t it? I bet it was
you who put your Mom up to it in the first place.” He walked over to me so that
his face was almost pressed against mine. I could feel his anger and I was
pretty scared. “You won’t leave me, Charlie.
 
I’ll make sure of that.
 
I’ll work
something out.
 
You can go to college but
you will be back here at weekends and during the holidays, I’ll see to it.”

A thought
suddenly occurred to me. “Eddie, I have an idea! What if you came to live with
us in Maine?
 
What if you moved into a student apartment
with me? You could still write.
 
We could
even get married and live as man and wife.”

He paused.
“That could work, I guess.
 
Then we could
be together all the time.”

I waited while
he paced back and to.
 
If he agreed to
that then it would be ok. He suddenly stopped and seemed to look right through me.”
I can’t leave this village, though.
 
I’d
love to but I can’t.”

“But why can’t
you leave? You said yourself there’s nothing for you here and you’re all
alone.”

He shouted. “I
can’t leave here, didn’t you hear me! And I’m not going to let you leave
either!”

“I want to go
home now, Eddie.” I said,

“Fine.
 
But we’ll talk about this again tomorrow. It
needs to be sorted out.”

***

Mom was still
at work when I got home so I went to my bedroom and cried so hard. Why did
loving someone have to be so hard? I started to feel better about Mom now.
 
I hated it sometimes when I got home and she
was at the diner.
 
She didn’t come in
sometimes until the early hours and there were times, like tonight, when I
could have really used a hug and someone to talk to. Despite this I found it
quite easy to drop off to sleep.

I was woken
from my deep sleep, though, by loud banging on the front door.
 
I pulled back the drapes and I noticed a
flashing light.
 
What was it? I looked
again and saw it was a police car. I threw on my dressing gown and slowly opened
the door. A female officer was standing there. “Charlotte Perry?” she asked.

A wave of icy
cold shivers ran down my spine. “Can we come inside?” she asked.
 
I held open the door while she and her male
colleague stepped in the hallway. I invited them into the living room and they
sat opposite me.
 
The female officer’s
face was ashen. “Is your Mom called Simone Perry?” she asked.

I nodded. I
knew something terrible had happened to Mom.
 
I could feel it.
 
I had a horrible
feeling that once she told her boss she was leaving there’d be trouble.
 
He was a sleazy little man; a real pervert, I
thought.
 
He’d been trying it on with Mom
for weeks and I think that was another reason she’d wanted to leave her job so
bad. “She’s hurt isn’t she?” I said.