Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (24 page)

“
Yes, I do.” Grace took another sip of tea, and continued. “When Tom died I was angry with him. I blamed him for something he hadn’t done, and refused to grant him his dying wish, which was to be buried next to his father. I was so angry and hurt, and just wanted to hurt him back. So I gave Tom’s brother, Luke, his ashes after he had been cremated, and told him to get rid of them and that I never wanted to hear Tom’s name mentioned again.” A tear ran down Grace’s cheek, and Susie felt so sorry for her that she went over and put an invisible arm around her. Grace was struggling to remain composed, and fiddled nervously with her mug as she tried to continue. “Something strange happened yesterday,” she said, “it was as if someone shook me hard and woke me up from a bad dream. Everything was suddenly so clear, and all it took was a bit of honeysuckle. I swear that I could feel Tom’s presence, I know it sounds mad, but I just knew he was there and that it was him who had left the honeysuckle for me.”

Grace looked at Jack’s face for any signs that he might think she was mad, but when she saw the genuine compassion in his eyes, she carefully put her mug down and said resolutely, “Of course I don’t blame Tom for what happened, I know he would never have done what he’d been accused of. I should have believed him, I should have stood by him, but I let him down and now I have to make it up to him.”

“
How can we help?” asked Jack.

“
Well, I called Luke last night and told him what had happened yesterday, and that I had to make it up to Tom somehow. And that’s when he told me that, when I’d told him to get rid of Tom’s ashes, he knew that I would regret it one day, so he hid the urn and told me he had scattered the ashes in the park.”

“
Where did he hide it?” asked Alice.

Grace cleared her throat. “Here, in this house.”

There were gasps from both dimensions as Grace continued. “They’re in the attic
, tucked away in a little alcove under the eaves. That’s why I’m here. To ask if I could have my son’s ashes back.”

“
Oh my god,” said Tom, completely stunned. “I was in this house all along.”

“
Course you bloody were,” spat Max from his corner.

“
You knew?” Tom turned towards Max in disbelief. “You knew my ashes were here all these years and you never said a word. Why?”

“
Why would I help you?” Max growled. “After what your family did to me.”

That was the last straw for Tom, and he jumped up and banged his fist down so hard on the table that the empty mugs shook violently, one of them even toppled over. Jack, who was already making his way upstairs to the attic, didn’t see it, but Alice and Grace did and they looked at each other in surprise.

Jemma could see that Tom was on the brink of losing his temper with Max, and realised that she needed to calm him down. “Tom, stop!” she cried. “This is not the time. Go with Jack up to the attic and see where Luke had left your ashes. Don’t let Max spoil this.”

“
You’re right. I’ll deal with him later,” said Tom, darkly, throwing Max a warning glance, before disappearing quickly after Jack.

“
Did you see that?” asked Grace, while Jack was upstairs, “The mugs just moved by themselves.”

“
Yes, Grace. That was your son, Tom,” said Susie loudly, as if she expected Grace to hear her.

“
It was probably the resident ghosts trying to get our attention,” joked Alice. “So what are you going to do with the ashes?”

“
I’m going to do what I should have done twenty years ago, I’m going to reunite Tom with his father,” said Grace, brightening up. “Unfortunately the graveyard is full so I won’t be able to bury him, so instead I’m going to scatter the ashes by his father’s grave. I’m also going to order a bench to be placed near the grave with a memorial plaque to commemorate them both.”

“
That sounds lovely,” smiled Alice, “I’m sure your son would be very happy with that.”

“
I do hope so,” sighed Grace, as Jack and Tom reappeared with Jack holding a small, bronze urn.

“
Oh!” cried Grace, reaching out for the urn. “Thank you so much. You’ve no idea how much this means to me.”

“
I’m glad we could help,” smiled Jack.

Grace stood up and looked around the room, remembering it the way it was when it was her living room. “Does that corner still feel a bit creepy?” she asked, nodding towards Max’s corner.

“
Why, yes,” exclaimed Alice. “Has it always been like that?”

“
My husband’s parents said it was fine until about 1912, and then suddenly strange things started happening. They used to say there was a ghost haunting this room.”

“
It’s funny you should say that, because we believe this house is haunted as well. Maybe that was your old ghost paying his respects to you when those mugs moved,” laughed Alice.

“
Respects?” growled Max, as Susie and Jemma giggled.

“
Hey Max,” taunted Susie. “Grace thinks you’re pleased to see her.”

“
Piss off!”

“
I must go now,” said Grace. “Thank you again for your kindness. And thank you for the tea,” she smiled at Alice, as Jack helped her with her coat. “You’re a lovely couple, and I’m so pleased that you’re living in my old house.” As she left, Grace took one last look back at her old home, before hugging the urn close to her and making her way back to her car.

“
Goodbye, Mother,” said Tom, watching her from the window.”

“
Wow, who would have thought that your ashes were here all along,” said Susie. They had gone back into the kitchen, leaving Max alone in his dark corner.

“
I can’t believe that Max knew all this time and never said anything,” said Jemma, feeling another surge of anger.

“
Forget about it,” said Tom. “He really isn’t worth it. Do you mind if I disappear for a while? I’d like to follow Mother home and spend some time with her.”

“
Of course not. I was thinking of paying Claire a visit anyway.”

“
And I’ve got an appointment with Tracy Beaker next door, so I’ll see you later,” piped Susie, before disappearing through the wall.

Tom put his arms around Jemma and held her close, “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for being such a persistent busybody and not listening to me. This is all because of you, you know. I love you so much.”

“
I love you too. Now go after your mother, I’ll see you later.”

When she was finally alone, Jemma found herself reflecting on Grace’s visit. She was thrilled for Tom that her plan had worked, but Tom’s reaction to her arrival had left her thinking about her own mum, and she suddenly felt a strong urge to be near her, so, instead of going to find Claire, she decided to visit her mum’s grave. But first though, she thought she might try and ask Max if he could tell her what he knew about wormholes. The sooner she had the information she needed, the sooner they could start to make plans.

Returning to the living room, a surge of what felt like adrenalin rushed through her as she thought about what she was going to say. She had seen the way Max had backed down with Tom just before, so maybe he wasn’t as scary as she had first thought.

“
Max?” She tried to make her voice sound friendly.

“
Get lost.”

Standing face to face with him, she suddenly wondered if he really was as dangerous as Susie had made him out to be
. With a new found confidence, she said, “You wouldn’t really hurt Tom, would you?” His lips curled into a smile, and Jemma smiled back, feeling that she had finally made some sort of breakthrough with him. Once this was all cleared up, they could get on with their discussion about wormholes and everything would be fine. But then his smile turned into a laugh, something which didn’t sound at all natural, coming from Max.

“
What do you think?” he sneered.

“
I don’t think you would harm him, actually. In fact, I don’t think you can.” Shit, had she really just said that?

“
What?”

“
I think if you really wanted to hurt Tom, you would have done so a long time ago, so you either don’t really mean it, or you can’t actually hurt him at all.” Jemma wasn’t sure if she was being brave or stupid by confronting him like that, but she couldn’t help herself; as usual, she spoke before she thought. She stared defiantly at Max, waiting for his response, but he remained silent. Suddenly though, he vanished from his chair and reappeared in front of her, towering threateningly over her. His eyes were now filled with fury, and she recoiled, suddenly feeling frightened. Then she felt herself being lifted up into the air by some sort of invisible force, and thrown violently across the room, landing on the floor by the window. She was stunned, the force which had thrown her was more powerful than anything she had ever felt before, and she was now so scared that she couldn’t move.

“
So you don’
t think I can hurt him? Well, we’ll see about that.” He laughed again, the sound taunting her and reminding her of the power he had just shown against her. “I know that Tom thinks I’m just a harmless old spook, so don’t bother warning him because he won’t believe you. I’ve been waiting a long time for my moment, and it seems that it has finally come. I will get him, you can be sure of that, and if you get in my way, I’ll destroy you as well. Now, GET OUT!” He nodded his head at her and she felt the same force pushing her towards the wall, until she was back in the kitchen, where she collapsed on the floor. At first, she was so shocked that she didn’t move, and then, gradually, the implications of her impulsiveness became clearer, and she buried her head in her hands and started crying.

“
Oh god, what have I done?”
She knew that she had pushed Max too far this time. She also knew now, that Max was more than capable of hurting Tom, and her, and if he did harm Tom before he was able to leave, then it would be her fault. Suddenly, she looked up nervously, convinced she had seen a movement across the kitchen, but the room was empty. That brought on another wave of panic; what if Max followed her and attacked her again? She was alone in the house with him, and he could come through that wall any minute. She didn’t know what to do, should she go to Grace’s house and find Tom? No, she didn’t want to spoil his time with his mum, but she needed to get away. In desperation, she decided she would go to the flat. Alice was out and she would be completely alone there, which was what she really needed.

A moment later, she was sitting on her old bed and
, feeling safe at last, she burst into tears again.

‘
You stupid, stupid cow,’ she cursed herself. She kept reliving her ordeal over and over in her mind; the fury in Max’s eyes, the feeling of complete helplessness as she was thrown across the room and the deadly threat in his words. She vowed never to be alone in the house with him again. The next time Tom and Susie went out, she would go out too, anywhere, as long as it was as far away from Max as possible. She shuddered as she remembered crashing onto the floor, and then a thought occurred to her; even though she had been thrown with such force, she hadn’t actually hurt herself. She moved her arms and legs as if to prove it to herself, and sure enough, she was fine. Did that mean that although Max had the power to move her, he couldn’t actually physically hurt her? There was slight comfort in that thought, and she felt herself calm down slightly. Then another thought hit her, she had been about to ask for Max’s help with finding a wormhole. There was no way he was going to help her now and she certainly wasn’t going to ask, anyway.

She stayed in the quiet safety of her old room until she finally felt calm again, and then remembered that she had been about to visit her mum’s grave. So she decided to put Max to the back of her mind, for now at least, closed her eyes and transported herself to the graveyard in Stenhurst.

“
Hi Mum,” she said
, softly, as she approached the grave and sat down. Aunt Tess had left a huge red Poinsettia at the head of the grave and it looked beautiful against the black marble backdrop of the gravestone. A quick glance to the left showed her that Aunt Tess had also left one on her grave. “I’ve fallen in love, Mum,” she said, out loud. “His name’s Tom and he’s the most amazing person I’ve ever met in my life.” She smiled to herself at the irony of using the words ‘my life’ before continuing. “He’ll be leaving soon though, and I don’t know what I’m going to do when he’s gone.” Her voice trembled, the pain of what was to come almost too unbearable to contemplate. It was at times like this, she thought, that mothers would put their arms around their daughters and hug them tightly, comforting them with words of love and wisdom. That was what she needed now so badly. She ran her finger along the marble as if she expected her mum’s face to smile at her in the shiny reflection, but the gravestone stared coldly and silently back.

She remained by the grave until it was dark, deep in thought and losing all sense of her own reality. Her mind was flooded with memories, good and bad; memories of idyllic picnics, happy, tender moments, and then there were the angry arguments, rows about homework, bedtime and the length of her skirts. They were all as fresh as they were back then, and painful too, because now they were just memories, nothing more.

Much later, Jemma felt a hand gently touch her on the shoulder and she slowly started to come out of her
nostalgic daydream. She knew instinctively that it was Tom’s hand, and put her own hand up to meet his. “Hi,” she said, quietly.