Daisy Madigan's Paradise (9 page)

'It's okay,
Dad. I've got you. I'm gonna to take you somewhere safe. I'm gonna
look after you now, Dad,' she whispered as her eyes welled up.

CHAPTER
18

Getting him
'home' had been surprisingly easy. Using her peculiar new-found
strength, she hoisted him across her back and ran, keeping away
from the street lights and stopping at the sight of anyone
wandering the streets, casually leaning him against the wall. Once
the person had passed, she'd hoist him right back up and continue
running until arriving back at Abney Park in the early hours of the
morning.

Getting him
into the catacombs was a little more difficult considering the
entrance was quite tight but she'd finally managed, soon falling
asleep next to her snoring father in the darkness.

Waking up the
following morning, she was startled to find her father had
disappeared. Cursing under her breath, she'd rushed up into the
cool air, only to find him kneeling quietly inside the old chapel
whispering.

'...very
sorry. I shouldn't have left her like that but look at her. I knew
she'd do better on her own,' he coughed before continuing, 'I'll
never forgive myself for doing what I did, but I miss you. God I
miss you...' he sobbed, his whole body shuddering.

Daisy tiptoed back outside and sat down on an old rock
covered in moss and dirt. Was he praying? Was he speaking to Mum?
Could he see her, thought Daisy.
No, I saw
her cross over the day she died
.

As she sat
pondering, Beau appeared through the old doorway.

'Daisy?' he
croaked, holding his head as if in pain.

'Dad? Are you
okay?'

Wincing and
nodding at the same time, Daisy was shocked to see him in daylight.
His handsome face had changed dramatically since she'd last seen
him. The alcohol abuse had clearly taken its toll on his looks and
his health. His once attractive clear green eyes were replaced by
dull, blood shot ones with heavy lids and deep bags beneath them.
His skin looked pale and grey and his newly grown beard and long
straggly hair were full of greying hairs.

'I need a
drink,' he whispered, half smiling.

Daisy shook
her head, 'No Dad... that's enough. It's been long enough. It's
time you pulled yourself together.'

'You don't
understand, Daisy... I need it.'

Daisy stood
her ground, 'You don't need it, Dad. It's making you ill.'

He rushed
towards her and fell to his knees, 'I need it. I'm sorry but I do,
I need it... I need it.'

She watched as
he begged her, his whole body shivering - not from the cold but
from his need for alcohol. Seeing him like that terrified her. She
knew he needed medical help but how could she offer him that?

'Okay,' she
whispered. 'I'll help you but will you go back to the warmth and
try to sleep. I'll see what I can do.'

After
agreeing, she took him back to the catacombs where she made him
curl up in her sleeping bag. It didn't take long until his eyes
were closed and he was snoring again.

Content that
he could be left alone for a while, Daisy decided to go for a walk
through the park to clear her head, but before long she realised
she wasn't alone. A ghost had appeared. One she hadn't seen
before.

'Hello?' she
asked the young man in the strange blue velvet jacket and
trousers.

'Erm...
hello?' he whispered nervously back.

'I'm
Daisy.'

'Hello Daisy,'
he answered shyly.

'Do you have a
name?'

The man looked
away from her and fiddled with the buttons on his jacket. 'I, erm.
I don't know.'

'What do you
mean, you don't know?'

'I...I...
don't remember?'

Oh, not again,
thought Daisy. That horrible woman had gotten to him too. As she
looked at him, she realised he looked scared, alone and incredibly
lost.

'That's okay.
You're safe here with me. I have a really good hiding place where
you could stay for a while, if you like. At least until you feel
better, until you remember who you are?'

The ghost
looked around, as if he was totally spooked and nodded.

She smiled and
suggested he follow her.

'My Dad is
sleeping down there at the moment but don't worry, you're
completely safe with him. Everything is going to be okay, alright?
I'll make sure of that,' she said warmly.

The ghost
visibly relaxed as she showed him the way to the catacombs.

'Its really
well hidden,' she pointed. 'You're welcome to stay there as long as
you need to, okay?'

He nodded and
disappeared inside.

oOo

'Jack? You
there?' she asked a little later as she sat beneath the sleeping
lion wondering what to do.

Jack appeared
instantly with a smile.

'I take it
you've been there the whole time?'

He nodded.

'What should I
do? I don't know what to do?'

Jack
approached her and placed his arm across her shoulders making her
smile.

'I wish I
could feel that, Jack.'

'Me too.'

She looked at
him and asked him again, 'What am I going to do? He looks so
ill.'

'Can you take
him to a hospital?'

'I don't
know... will they even help him? Will they turn us away?'

'No... they
wouldn't do that. I'm sure they'll do everything they can to help.
I'll come with you, if you like?'

Daisy smiled
but shook her head, 'Jack,' she said, 'You made me a promise,
remember?'

But he turned
away from her with a sigh, 'but... but... you need me more now than
ever before. You need me to help you with your dad.'

'No Jack. Now
I'm with my dad again, its me and him. I have to help him on my
own. He's my family and it's time for you to be with yours. They're
waiting for you.'

She thought
she saw him wipe away a tear. Can ghosts cry?

'You know I'm
right, Jack. You have to move on, just like me. I'll be happier
knowing you are where you belong. You promised me, Jack.'

'I know,' he
replied.

'Are you
ready?'

Slowly, he
looked deep into her eyes and nodded.

'I'm ready,'
he croaked.

'I'm really
going to miss you, Jack.'

'I'm really
going to miss you too. I'll never forget you,' he whispered as he
leaned forward and gently placed a kiss on her cheek. A kiss that
she could have swore she actually felt.

'I promise
never to forget you too, Jack.'

'Daisy?' he
asked.

'Yes?'

'I... I love
you,' he whispered before he stood up and began to walk away.

'I love you
too, Jack,' she said to him quietly. He turned to look at her with
a smile and then before she knew it, he was gone.

Her stomach
twisted and knotted and tears began to pour down her cheeks. But
then she suddenly had the most overwhelming desire to sing, so she
opened her mouth and very quietly began singing the song that had
brought her and Jack together:

'When she was
just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes...'

CHAPTER
19

Beau Madigan
awoke with such intense aches and pains that he couldn't bear it.
His body shook with such a desperation and need for alcohol that he
clambered out of the place Daisy called home and, without even
telling her, he left Abney Park.

Daisy was busy
elsewhere at the time, trying to convince a man in Highgate that
his great, great, great, great grandfather was trying to
communicate with him. The man was having none of it, until Daisy's
ghost mentioned he had buried treasure in the family garden,
twenty-five yards due east from the ancient oak tree.

Then he had no
trouble believing what she had to say. In fact, she went along with
him, across the grounds of the grand old house and watched as he
used an old spade to dig deep into the earth. When he hit upon
something solid, the ghost smiled at her and drifted away,
immediately crossing through the bright light and over to the other
side.

Daisy
congratulated the man on his find and decided to leave.

She was
worried about her dad and knew she needed to get back to check on
him.

On her way
back, she stopped in to see Balvinder and Shariq to ask their
opinions on alcohol addiction. They both said her father should
seek medical help and so that's what she decided to do.

But on finding
him gone on her return, Daisy sighed heavily and busied herself
with helping another ghost to cross over.

She knew he'd
come back, she didn't know how she knew, she just did.

Late that
night, sure enough she found him wandering around the gravestones
of the cemetery, completely drunk with another bottle of vodka in
his hands.

'Dad... again?
You need to stop this. I wish you would just stop it... for me.
There's so much we need to talk about. I need you to tell me about
the tattoo and why I'm so strong and fast and... different. Please,
Dad.'

Beau looked at
her and dropped the bottle. It smashed against a gravestone just
before he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Daisy took a
deep breath and sighed when a sudden noise in the darkness startled
her. Worried it was that scary gang, her initial instinct was to
disappear up a tree, leaving her father behind on the ground. She
cursed to herself as she sat, watching her comatose father below.
But it was too late to go and get him as a guy suddenly emerged
through the trees.

She shivered,
hoping it wasn't one of the members of that terrifying gang. He
disappeared as quickly as he'd appeared so Daisy climbed back down
to her father and scooped him up as fast as she could. She hid
behind a huge tree for a moment and waited to see if the guy would
return. Soon, him and eleven other teenagers re-appeared. One of
them even began to clear up the broken glass her father had
broken.

Content that
they were just regular teenagers, she stealthily disappeared again
to another of her favourite spots: one of the largest headless
angels in the park. Sitting down beneath it with her father by her
side, Daisy thought of Jack. She smiled, remembering the times they
had spent together. I hope he's happy with his mum and dad, she
thought as that same sensation began to fill her belly again. The
overwhelming desire to sing. Instead of the usual Paradise, she
remembered a Lana Del Rey song that he'd liked called Born To
Die:

'Feet don't
fail me now
Take me to the finish line
All my heart, it breaks every step that I take
But I'm hoping that the gates,
They'll tell me that you're mine
Walking through the city streets
Is it by mistake or design?
I feel so alone on a Friday night
Can you make it feel like home, if I tell you you're mine
It's like I told you honey...'

She was so
wound up singing that song that she was completely unaware that
someone had approached and suddenly a yelp pierced the air.

Daisy didn't
even stop for breath, she grabbed her father and bolted back to the
catacombs where she pushed her father inside, making sure he was
still asleep, before venturing back into the trees, curious to find
out what was going on.

Returning to
the headless angel, she found the group had gone. She listened for
sounds and could hear them inside the chapel. They're probably just
here messing about, she figured so before she called it a night,
she wandered over to the sleeping lion where she sat down for a
moment and thought about the following morning when she planned on
taking her father to the hospital.

Suddenly, the
sound of breaking twigs made her jump and she looked up to find two
of the teenagers approaching her. She immediately jumped up, ready
to bolt.

''Wait,' a
really pretty dark haired girl all dressed in black said softly.
'Please, we're here to warn you. You're in danger. There's some
really evil, crazy guys coming for you. They'll be here really
soon. You need to get away from here as quick as you possibly can
or... come with us, take my hand. We're going back to the chapel to
the rest of our group. You'll be safe there...'

But the mere
thought of being anywhere near that horrifying werewolf gang, made
Daisy run. She ran to the only place she knew she'd be completely
safe.

Once inside
the catacombs, curled up in a corner, Daisy began to have second
thoughts. There was something about them. About that girl. She felt
some kind of, well, connection to her. It wasn't something she
could explain. She just knew she had to go back.

Creeping back
through the park, she managed to climb up into a tree overlooking
the entrance to the old chapel, without any of the teenagers
noticing. She just sat there watching and listening...

'Please, we
need to find him. You heard what the ghosts said, the evil ones
would try and get to him. I don't even want to think about what
they could do to him if they did,' said the dark-haired girl who'd
tried to help Daisy before.

'He's a ghost,
Em. What can they do to him that hasn't been done to him already?'
asked a gorgeous girl with afro hair.

'You're joking
right? Did you see how terrified those other ghosts were of them?
And what about poor Joe finding his way home, crossing over, where
he belongs? I'm not giving up on him, Sis and neither should you.
It's not about the stupid task any more. It's about helping Joe,
our friend. I'm not leaving this place without him. If you all want
to go, then go. I won't hold it against you. Nisha, please just get
the ghosts back so I can communicate with them before you go,' the
dark-haired girl said.