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‘Do not run!’ She froze, her back to him, a little dart of animation poised in flight. ‘And do not roll your eyes! I can see them! I have told you many times: I have eyes in the back of my head. Walk!’
There was a detectable scoffing noise. ‘If you had eyes in the back of your head you’d be looking theotherway. They’d have to be out on wiggly stalks to see me doing this.’ There was a pause as, presumably, theatrical eye-rolling was occurring, and then with exaggerated steps, legs lifted as if wading through the deepest of snow, she took over a minute to cover the very short distance to the door. She then turned and gave him a cheeky glance, continuing this pantomime out of sight with an, ‘I’m going sooo slowly. Oops, slippy.’
‘You arenotfunny.’
‘I’m not silly either. I won’t fall in, and if I did, I can swim! Nearly better than you can!’
He grit his teeth. ‘It is not like jumping or diving. If you slip you can hit your head on the side, and so when you fall in you are unconscious and breathe in the water and drown.’ He thought for a moment then added, ‘You would swell up eventually and bloat until you explode and dissolve into fatty bits. And then I would have to drain the water and have it refilled. Which would be very annoying and expensive for me. Just fetch your father and go find Sarah.’
When Ben finally appeared, with a very welcome pot of tea and one lone biscuit on a plate, Aleksey declared immediately, ‘We have a problem.’
‘I told you years ago I’d put a guard rail up if you want me to.’ Ben was easing himself carefully onto his side of the bed to sit cross legged, balancing the tray on the cover between them. ‘But you insisted no—that falling in would be challenging for her. Character building.’ He began to pour.
‘Not that. I…’ He trailed off, uncharacteristically unsure how to approach this topic. He’d never actually told Ben that he occasionally still saw his dead mother watching him. Or if he’d implied it, he’d also dismissed it as something that only occurred because of an old head injury, which was now fine. Contradictory, clearly, but also, apparently, true.
Ben, he knew, attributed these hallucinations more uncharitably. But as Ben’s inaccurate memories always led them to an argument about drugs and alcohol and other unhealthy pursuits, it wasn’t a topic he’d raised for many years.
But his mother was still with him. He knew, in the rational part of his brain, that this was probably just a unique form of pareidolia. After all, if he squinted, he could occasionally see a horse in the tor above them. It didn’t mean the granite had once been anactualhorse. So, Ben’s clothes thrown carelessly over a chair in the London house had begun a pattern of seeing Nina in many odd places and things. Occasionally, she was sitting behind him in the car. Fortunately, as Ben almost always drove when they were together, he was spared the temptation to glance frequently in the rear view mirror. He assumed she was just enjoying a trip out.
Now Molly was seeing her, and this changed everything.
No, now Nina wasvisitingMolly and somehow…genuinely manifesting. She was bringing her presents—things she perhaps regretted not allowing her boys.
Because I’m a good girl.
If he told Ben, he might have to contend with things that he currently did not. Would not Ben’s immediate response bethey never found the body…do you thinkit’s possible she’s still…?No, they’d never found the body, this was true, but Aleksey knew she was dead. He did not want Ben questioning him on this, however.
All these thoughts, flashing through his mind in seconds, made him glance uncertainly at Ben’s lowered head. How would he take this? He didn’t want Ben to see him as damaged. That was definitely not how they were together.
‘I think Molly is confused. She thinks she saw…Nina.’
Ben glanced up. ‘At school?’
Aleksey was a little stumped by this non-sequitur, definitely not what he’d been fearing, and muttered, ‘Focusing on the wrong thing maybe?’
‘Nina? Your…mother? Molly saw her? When? This is a bit weird, Nik, even for you.’ Aleksey ignored Ben’s use of his old name. If he rose to it every time Ben slipped they’d never talk about anything else. He also allowed theeven for youto slide harmlessly by. He’d think about that later.
‘She told me Nina gave her those expensive clothes she wore to school today.’
‘Yeah, it was gold coin day.’
Was it just him? ‘Nina, maybe!’
‘Oh, weird. But she is only three. She used…those words exactly?’
Aleksey cast his mind back. ‘Yes. She said it distinctly. I am not mistaken. Grandmother gave them to me.’
‘Ah.’ Ben swivelled around and lay on his back, apparently contemplating the sunshine on the tor above them.
‘What? You do not appear to be taking this very seriously, Ben.’
‘Oh, no, I am. I’m thinking it’s time you got out of bed. The rest clearly isn’t doing you much good.’
He swung quickly up to his feet and, heading towards the door, remarked very distinctly over his shoulder, ‘Jennifer? The grandmother still hail and hearty and of this world and living happily in St Albans? And don’t eat that biscuit too quickly. It’s the only one you’re getting today.’
Aleksey returned to thinking about his island.
Somewhere far, far away.
