Chapter 14

A supernatural tale

Chapter 14

“There’s the Pesky watch again”

 

“Preach, man, you want to talk?”  I knocked softly on his door to his bedroom.  “I got it wrong, I’m an a*****e.”  I rested my head against the door, but he remained silent.  I gave up, returned to the sofa and switched on the telly.

“The twenty-second suicide of a young person in Bridgend.”  The newscaster read out the top story of the day.  ‘Not really want I want to hear about.’  I flicked over the channel, the image of a young woman’s body covered in blood, filled the screen.  She was in a bath with a suicide note written in blood on the wall.  I picked up the remote control and flicked again.  ‘You have to be kidding?  Heathers?  Ffs.”  I turned the telly off.

I reached a desicion, went into the kitchen and searched through the drawers quickly.  Hoping, my resident magpie hadn’t stole it.  I reached for the watch and gripped it tightly in my hand.

‘F**k it.  This whole thing started when I bought you.  Get rid of the problem.’  I, unfortunately, said out loud.

“Not just me that talks to the watch.”

I literally jumped hearing Preacher’s soft tones in my ear.  ‘How the hell did he walk that quietly?’  I looked up and glared at him.

“How do you keep doing that, it’s driving me nuts.”  I kept my glare, forgetting I was going to apologise to him about five minutes earlier.

“What?” 

“Creeping up and appearing from nowhere.”  I snapped.

“Oh,”  he stopped.  “Didn’t know I did, just started doing it?”  He asked looking confused at the same time.

“No.”  Thinking about it, it wasn’t a new thing, but now it was starting to creep me out.

“You’ve just noticed?” 

“No, it’s just getting on my nerves, now.”  He was looking at me with a mixture of confusion and interest. 

“Maybe I could wear a bell around my neck?”  .  He smiled, and I groaned

“OK, now you just being stupid.”

“You brought it up.  Why were you talking to the watch?”  He quickly put his hands in his pocket, as if the lure of the watch was tempting him too much.

“Well buddy, I have reached a decision….”

“I’m sorry.”  He interrupted me.  I looked at him, not understanding.  “About saying what I said about her.  Just wanted you to be happy is all.  Jade said woman would make you happy.”  He looked at the floor, slightly embarrassed.  I didn’t know what to say.  In shock from him finding the ability to apologise and wondering if Maddy has some kind of weird power over him.  I’d forgotten about the fight, well, my punch.

“It’s ok, I’m just not…”  I tailed off not being able to complete the sentence.  I couldn’t even say her name out loud.  “We still mates. Don't worry about it”  He grinned and stepped back.  “No hugging though.”  I warned him and ignoring his disappointed look.

“Suppose.” 

“Anyway, I’ve decided all my problems started with the watch.  So I’m going to chuck it out and solve them all.”  I grinned triumphantly.

“You can’t.” 

“I can do what I want.” I said slighly annoyed.

I went to go to the back door, but Preacher stood right in my way.  The look of determination, threw me a bit, but I could see he was physically shaking.  It reminded me of that night, when he first saw the watch, the same look of fear crossed his features.  I knew I could shift him, but I didn’t want to fight again.

“Move or I’ll move you.”  I said.

“You can’t do that.  Please don’t do that.” 

He didn’t move away from me, his hands were out of his pockets now.  I, swiftly, shifted my hand carrying the watch behind my back.  Then, without warning he lunged at me, taking me by surprise.  My feet weren’t fast enough, and he caught me straight in the stomach with his head.  I lost my balance and he landed on top of me on the floor.  I, instinctively, took a punch at his face which landed, knocking him off me.   He landed on his back, surprised, and slightly groggy.  I got up, opened the back door and threw the watch out into the street.

“Get it back.”  His voice was hysterical by now.  I went over to him, pulling him to his feet by the collar of his t-shirt.  I kept hold of him, well, holding him up and surprised by how light he felt.  I threw him back against the cupboard wanting to strangle him and held him there by his throat. 

“Please get it back.  You have to get it back now.”  His voice was now pleading with me.

“It’s just a stupid watch.  What the hell is wrong with you?”

“This is really bad.”  He said.

“You attacking me over a stupid watch, bad don’t cover it.  I’ve had it with you and your weirdness.  You can find somewhere else to live.”  I waited for him to start protesting, but he started shaking again.

The sound of the telly flicked into life.  ‘I turned it off.’  I thought.  I looked at him, he looked at me and I let him down. 

‘Do the shake and Vac. Put the Freshness back.’  The advert jingle, I Hadn’t heard in a long time, played and then it flicked channel.  ‘The Doctor will travel into the future in tonight’s exciting adventures with Doctor Who.’  Then, again the channel flicked, and fell silent.

“You have the remote, right?” 

“No, on the table.”  His voice trembling and his pointing finger trembling.  I turned and could see the remote sitting on the table from in the kitchen.  “It turned on, on its own.”  His voice came into my ear, I think he was using me as a shield, as turned back around to him. 

 

“Jack, sweetie, its ok, I’m here.”  I froze.  The telly had come back to life and that voice hit me like a lightning bolt.

“This is you.  Messing about?”  He shook his head at me, I went to go her, but he pulled me back.

“Don’t.  You have to get the watch back, now.”

“Jack.  I’m sorry, please forgive me.”  Her voice, in surround sound and resonating joy through my entire body.  Preacher’s hand gripped harder around my arm trying to stop me reaching her.   I shook his arm off me.  I stared furiously at him. 

“Get off me.”

“Get the watch..”  Not a demand this time, a statement.  I stepped back,as his eyes turned red and he disappeared right in front of me.  I ran my hand through my hair and over my eyes.  ‘I’m going mad, I must be.  Jade was right.  God, she’ll never let me forget she was right.’ 

 

“Jack, are you there?  I’m so scared.”  All thoughts of Preacher’s disappearing act went out of my head as her voice, her beautiful voice called me again.  I went to find her, the telly was on and her face was watching me through the glass.  I dropped down in front of the telly, touching the surface and trying to reach out for her.

“I’m here, baby, it’s been so long.”  I wanted to get lost in her blue eyes, shut the world out, and hold onto her forever.  Then the telly flickered, it died and she was gone.  “No.”

“I thought this would be better.”  I felt her hands run over the back of my neck and the light touch of her lips on my skin.  I closed my eyes, her perfume lingering and her hands reaching underneath the fabric of my t-shirt.   ‘How can this be happening?’  I thought.  Reality, starting to try and tear me away from my lover.  As if she sensed it, her body pulling away from behind me.  I got to my feet, turning with my heart and head battling each other. 

“How can you really be here?”  Stunned by her appearance, her blonde curly hair falling over her shoulders in the way it always used to. 

“We can be together always, the way we are supposed to be together, the way it’s supposed to be.”  Her voice was always so gentle, I missed that more than I had realised.  I closed the gap between us again.  I pulled her close to me, her head still only reaching my shoulders.

“Tell me how?”  I didn’t know how she got in the telly, or out of the telly, but now I really didn’t care.  It didn’t really matter, she was here and I wanted her to stay.

“You already know how, sweetie.”  She touched my face, having to look up at me, and I felt a cold, metallic and familiar object appear in my hand.  Before I even looked down, I knew I would be gripping a knife.  My knife, the knife I had taken out of the drawer that night.  But something happened, someone came that night, so I never used it. 

“It will be ok, sweetie, just like you promised me.”

“No.”  I dropped the knife in shock.  “No, no, no.”

“YES.” 

I remembered the dream.  My ex lover’s smile quickly turned to a snarl, and she let out a shriek.  She raised both her arms above her head and I was thrown back against wall.  I slid down the wall, my breath taken away by the pain and stayed down.    

‘No.’  The knife on the floor started scrapping against my laminate flooring.  ‘No, that took me ages to lay properly.’   I started at the knife seeing it starting to rise off the floor on its own.  I couldn’t stand up, partly from shock, but mostly from pain.  ‘This has to be a dream.  Anytime now Preacher’s going to wander in and wake me up.’  I thought. 

“Please Beth.  I love you.”

Her face was concentrated, and looking in the direction of the knife, I tried moving.  The knife flew through the air, stopped in mid-air, I could feel the blade pricking my throat.  I held my breath. I couldn’t even turn my head to see where she was.  The knife released its hold on my neck and slashed at my wrist.  I screamed in pain, I could see the blood dripping on the floor and just as quickly it returned to my throat.

“Why the hell are you doing this to me?  I love you.”  I screamed at her.  How the hell could she do this to me?  I love her, loved her.  I was her everything and she was mine.  Everything I did was for her and the baby.  How did it get to here?

“You did this to yourself.”  She was now on the floor too and face to face with me.  What hurt the most was that answer came from her, not the demon that stood in her place.   The knife drew back and I waited for its final cut…

 

 

 

Reviews

[Francesca]

OMG! that was soo good! and scary! That watch is really creepy and I hope Jack's okay! This chapter was crazy suspenseful and your descriptions and timing were really good.