Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (35 page)

“
What happened next?” she probed, gently.

“
I didn’t know what I was doing, all I knew was that I wanted them to stop. When I pulled Joe off her, he laughed at me, he fucking laughed. He told me that she was leaving me and that the baby was his. That was when I lost my rag. I punched him, it was only meant to be one punch, but once I started, I couldn’t stop. I wanted to kill him, so I kept hitting him, over and over. It was only when Pauline started screaming that I realised what I was doing and stopped. I thought he was dead, so I turned and ran. I had to get away, from her and from what I had just done to him.” Max buried his head in his hands and wept, probably for the first time since it had happened. Jemma, to her astonishment, actually felt sorry for him, and for the first time, she began to understand some of his bitterness.

Claire held him, letting him unburden his grief on her. She stroked his head and reassured him until he was ready to continue. “I thought I had killed him, Claire. I needed to get away, from her and from the police, and that was when I spotted the advertisement in the paper for crew on the brand new ship, Titanic. I thought it was my chance to get away, to start a new life somewhere else, but...”

“
The ship sank,” Claire finished for him. “Oh, Max. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. I can see that it seemed like the final straw when Jack’s grandfather didn’t spot you in the water and left you to drown. He wouldn’t have seen you or heard you though, you know that, don’t you?” she said, gently.

“
I don’t know what I think anymore,” he said, quietly, his voice filled with resignation.

“
You needed someone to blame and the obvious person was George Cresswell. But the people you should have been angry with were the people who really betrayed you, Pauline and Joe.”

“
Yes, I suppose.” Max and Claire remained seated together, Claire holding Max’s hand as the past gradually caught up with him. At one point, Claire looked discreetly up at Jemma to let her know that she hadn’t forgotten her, but all Jemma could do was wait. She waited for what seemed like an eternity. Max and Claire talked some more, and he cried some more, and she comforted him. Jemma felt genuine compassion for Max now, hearing his story first hand had given her an insight into his bitterness, and she could sort of understand how he had turned the blame onto Tom’s grandfather.

Finally, Claire braced the subject that Jemma had been waiting for. “Max, you know now that George Cresswell wasn’t to blame for your death, don’t you?” He nodded, silently before mumbling, “I suppose so.”

“
So you must also know that neither Tom nor Jemma are to blame for any of this.”

“
Hmm,” came the grudging reply.

“
Please let Jemma go, Max. She hasn’t done anything to you, other than look a little bit like Pauline, but that’s not her fault. I’ll stay here with you, I promise.”

Max looked up at Claire in surprise. “Why? Why would you want to stay with me? I’m bad, Claire.”

“
No you’re not. I know that because if you really had wanted to hurt Tom, you would have done so a long time ago. You’re a good man who just happened to have had a run of bad luck. We both have so much bitterness to work through, remember, I need you just as much as you need me.”

“
You’ll really stay?”

“
Of course I will, but you must let Jemma go.”

Max looked up at Jemma and, for the first time, she didn’t feel that familiar chill of fear run through her as his gaze settled on her. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the force field disappeared and Jemma was free to move again.

“
Go to the bench and wait for me there,” demanded Claire and Jemma, without hesitation, did as she was told, glad to get away from the intense atmosphere.

She waited for a long time, during which she reflected on both Max’s and Claire’s stories. She had been murdered by her cheating husband, and he had been betrayed by his cheating girlfriend and best friend. Shit, she thought, ironically, if I could remember all this when I get back, I could write a book about them. She thought about Susie and wondered what she was doing now, and she thought of Tom, now a free spirit, able to go anywhere in the universe, except to her. I’m ready, she thought to herself, I’m ready to go back. Eventually, Claire finally turned up, looking exhausted.

“
Are you alright?” asked Jemma, as Claire sat down next to her.

“
Yes, dear, I think so. I’ve been trying to get him to talk about his past for a while now, but I must admit I never realised how sad his story would be.”

“
Are you really going to stay with him?”

“
Yes, of course. Until we can both sort out our grief and bitterness, we’re stuck here, so we might as well help each other. Anyway, I suppose I quite like the man,” she smiled. “I imagine we’ll both be content to stay here for the foreseeable future and keep each other company.”

Jemma reached out and took Claire’s hand. “You’re an amazing woman, Claire. I always knew there was more to you than met the eye. Thank you for everything.”

“
Thank you. It’s thanks to you that I met Max and I suppose I’ve found a soulmate.” The two women sat together for a few minutes, each of them silently wishing the other well. “Now, dear, it’s time for you to go back. Are you ready?”

Jemma smiled, “Yes, I think I am.”

“
Good, then here’s what you do. Look into the distance and fix your gaze beyond the furthest view. Now, do you see those tiny strands of light flickering in front of you?” Jemma nodded, fascinated. She had never noticed them before, they were so tiny, but they were definitely there.

“
Now, remember that you’re not solid matter. You need to adjust your energy so that you flow into one of those tiny wormholes. You must then use all your power of thought to direct the wormhole to the right place and time. Remember, once you’re through, you’ll only have a fraction of a second to knock that drink over.”

They looked at each other, both with tears in their eyes, “I’m going to miss you so much,” cried Jemma.

“
No, you’re not. You won’t remember me, but I’ll remember you and I’ll definitely miss you. I even think Max might miss you a little bit,” she smiled.

“
Oh yeah, right,” she laughed. “Goodbye, Claire.”

“
Goodbye, my dear and good luck.” They embraced, hugging each other tightly, until Jemma pulled away and turned her gaze out over the horizon.

She
stood at the top of the hill, trying to search for her way out. Slowly, her gaze was drawn to one particular strand of light, dancing in front of her, and she knew this was the one. She focused her mind, like Claire and Tom had both taught her to do, and gradually she felt her body become lighter, until she felt herself begin to flow into the tiny strand of light. As soon as she was inside the wormhole, she knew she had no time to waste. It was only seconds before it would collapse, and she needed to use every ounce of willpower and concentration if she was to succeed. With sheer determination, she directed her mind back to the day of her accident, and then, more specifically, back to the moment just before she stood up to follow those girls out for a cigarette. And then suddenly, a split second later, she was there, but, in the confusion of travelling through time, she forgot what it was she had to do. Shit, the wormhole was beginning to collapse, she had to be quick. On impulse, she reached out her hand and sent the glass of Coke flying at the same moment the wormhole collapsed.

“
Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” cried Jemma, as the glass went flying. “I can’t believe I just did that.” She stared in dismay at the glass, now lying on its side
, with its contents pouring out onto the table. She grabbed a couple of serviettes from the table, and tried to mop up some of the spilt coke, while Kirsten went to get a cloth. By the time she had helped to clear up the mess, it was time to head back to class, and she reluctantly gave up the idea of having her sneaky ciggie. She grabbed her bag and followed the others, carefully dodging one of the staff, who was clearing up some spilt coffee from the floor.

The rest of the afternoon passed as quickly as the morning had, and at three o’clock, while Jemma was packing up her new books, her phone bleeped telling her she had a text. ‘
Hi hun, Fancy a takeaway and bottle of wine tonight? Can’t wait to hear how you got on. C U later A xx
’. Jemma smiled as she replied, ‘
Sounds gr8. Today OK. How was Jack? J x’.
A moment later her phone bleeped again, ‘
Gorgeous but I’m still single

’

As she made her way home, Jemma tried not to think about the feeling of disappointment that was niggling away deep inside her. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she didn’t feel quite as positive about college as she had that morning. It wasn’t that the work was too hard, in fact, it was the opposite. She had been bored to tears when the tutor had gone over and over the same simple equation, because some of the other students couldn’t grasp it. She couldn’t help thinking that if they were struggling already, they didn’t stand a chance as the course progressed, and it was becoming clear that the pace of the course would be much slower than she had thought. Still, it was only the first day and she didn’t want to spoil Alice’s good mood, so she put on a big smile as she opened the front door and popped the two bottles of Pinot Grigio she had bought on her way back, into the fridge.

Alice was busy rummaging through the kitchen drawer for the takeaway menu. “Hi. How was it?”

“
Yeah, it was great,” replied Jemma, and disappeared into the bathroom for a quick shower.

An hour later, the two girls were eating their favourite Chinese takeaway, crispy duck pancakes, and enjoying one of the bottles of cold, crisp wine. “Here’s to us,” said Alice, happily, clinking her glass with Jemma’s.

“
So what did you do at Jack’s then?” asked Jemma, taking a sip of wine. “Apart from fluttering your eyelashes at him, of course.”

“
Well, it was quite quiet really. We sat in a big circle and he talked us through a meditation. I didn’t think I’d be interested in that meditation stuff, but it did make me feel good. I can imagine that it would be easier to feel psychic energy when you’re in such a relaxed state, so I suppose I can see the point. Oh, and that house is definitely haunted. I felt a really strong presence in one of the corners of the room. It was a bit creepy actually, not very friendly.”

“
Oh hun, I keep telling you, there’s no such thing as ghosts. Anyway, are you going again?” asked Jemma, stuffing her mouth full of pancake, which was delicious.

“
Oh yes. I’ve already said I’ll come to the next meeting in two weeks time. I must remember to book a hair appointment for the day before.”

“
So do you think he fancies you?”

“
Oh, I just don’t know, hun. He’s so lovely and he makes me feel that I’m really special when he talks to me, but then I think he does that with everyone. I’ll just have to keep fluttering my eyelashes and hope he notices,” she said, dreamily.

“
Or buy longer ones, you know, like the ones like Lady Gaga wears. Extra long with silver on the ends – you know, if subtle doesn’t work, go for in your face,
fuck me now
ones.”

“
Sadly, I think it’ll take more than a pair of fake eyelashes to make him notice me,” sighed Alice. “Anyway, enough about that, I want to hear all about your first day at college.”

Jemma shrugged. “There’s nothing much to tell really. The people were nice, but it was a bit boring, it was all really easy. I didn’t learn anything new.”

“
Oh, that’s probably just to let you settle in. You’ll probably find it all kicks off tomorrow.”

“
Yeah, that’s what I thought. Oh, and you’ll never guess what I did?”

“
What?”

Jemma grimaced as she told Alice all about the glass of coke she had knocked over. “Oh Alice, it was such a mess, it went everywhere. God knows what they must think of me.”

“
At least you made an impression,” giggled Alice.

“
Hmm. Anyway, it was okay. So what are you up to for the rest of the week?”

“
I need to find a job,” said Alice, as she munched on a prawn cracker. “I’m broke.”

“
Me too. What did you have in mind?”

“
Well, I used to do some waitressing in New York, so I suppose that’s my best shot. I’m going to start looking in the Standard and Ham & High for job ads. What about you?”

Jemma shrugged. She didn’t know what she would do, but she knew that she needed to do something. “I suppose I might try some bar work or something. Anyway, hun, cheers, here’s to us!”

They finished off the food and opened the second bottle of wine, before settling down in front of the telly. “Have you got any homework?” asked Alice, sleepily.

“
Nah.” Jemma still couldn’t shake off the feeling of anti climax that she had had earlier. She’d been so excited this morning about starting college, but now she just wasn’t so sure anymore. “I suppose in a couple of days I’ll be moaning about the amount of essays I’ve got to do, so I shouldn’t complain.”

“
Yes, of course.”

They dumped the leftovers in the kitchen and curled up on the sofa to watch Eastenders, like they had done so many times over the last year or so. Eventually they both drifted off to sleep; Alice had a contented smile on her face as she gently snored on Jemma’s shoulder, but Jemma had a frown on her face as she dozed restlessly; even in her sleep she couldn’t shake that horrible feeling of discontent.