Soul Protector (12 page)

“I was out with my friends and
one of them, Lydia, got proposed to by her boyfriend. Well I got up
to hug her, and then I felt a bit dizzy.”

I stopped for a moment, but Mr
Matthews said nothing. He was staring at me and when the silence
became awkward, I carried on.

“It seems silly now, but at
first I thought there were two of me and the shock made me pass
out. Then, after I came round, I looked in a mirror and saw that
I’d somehow switched into her body.”

“And before the switch with
this Lydia, you were wishing you were actually her?” Mr Matthews
took his glasses off and placed them on the desk, his eyes stayed
fixed on me during the process.

I flicked my eyes towards Dan,
and then back to Mr Matthews.

“Well, not really, it was just
a silly, spur of the moment thing.”

Mr Matthews sighed. “It’s not
something you can deny Miss Reynolds. In order to switch you have
to wholeheartedly wish you were the other person. It’s different
when you know you’re an SP, because you want to switch for a
genuine reason. But for a Random who has never switched before,
there must have been no other reason than genuinely wanting to be
that person.”

I felt ashamed and looked down
at the table. Out the corner of my eye I saw Dan watching me.

“I guess I did want to be her,”
I said in a small voice.

“And you stayed switched for
approximately how long?”

I was about to answer ‘fifteen
minutes,’ but Dan jumped in before me.

“It was about nine hours.”

“I need Miss Matthews to answer
the questions herself, Daniel.”

Dan frowned and squeezed his
lips together.

Mr Matthews looked back at me
expectantly.

“Um, yes. About nine hours.” I
crossed my fingers under the table.

“And that was when Dan found
you, and enforced a switch-back?”

I looked at Dan for clues. He
nodded his head discreetly.

“Yes.”

“And this was definitely the
only time you’ve ever switched.”

Trying to ignore the uneasy
feeling inside, I nodded slowly.

Mr Matthews’ eyes still did not
leave my face. His expression was stern and I had no idea if I’d
made a mess out of the interview or not.

“Miss Reynolds, you are
forgiven for the first switch as you had no idea what was
happening, but I must make you aware that you must never, under any
circumstance, switch with another person unless it is solely for
their good. Have I made myself quite clear?”

“Yes, Mr Matthews.”

“Right, well everything seems
to be in order, so now you must fill in the registration form and
sign the Soul Protector Code, and then you may leave.”

I pursed my lips and exhaled a
long, silent breath.

I looked at the piece of paper
Kath had placed in-between us, but it was all in gobbledygook.

Kath laughed at my confused
face.

“Don’t worry, love, I’m going
to decode it for you. It’s just in case the wrong people ever get
their hands on it. We have to keep our identities
confidential.”

She slid it into a metal frame,
with a glass sheet on the top, and clipped the sides together.
There was an attachment on the bottom with a calculator set-up, and
I watched as she punched several digits into it. She handed it to
me and I was amazed to see a document appear in perfect English. I
scanned over the words. There was a declaration stating that I
would abide to the Soul Protector code of conduct, broken down into
a) You hereby agree to only switch for less than eight hours at a
time, and b) You hereby agree to switch only for the greater good
of the other person. Underneath, there was a whole load of terms
and conditions in small print, but as I wasn’t actually planning on
switching, none of it was going to affect me. I nodded at Kath, and
she withdrew the sheet of paper from the holder. I signed my name
on the dotted line, and laid the pen on the table.

Mr Matthews pushed his chair
back and stood up.

“Daniel, Gracie,” he said
nodding his head, and then walked out the door without another
word. Dan stood up, so I did the same.

The whole place gave me an
uneasy feeling. I couldn’t believe I was a part of this scary new
world. The only thing I was grateful for was meeting Dan. They
could keep the rest of it.

“Right, see you later, Kathy.
Look after those glasses,” said Dan.

“Bye, you two. Don’t be
strangers,” she said, giving us a wide grin. I noticed the lipstick
was still visible on her front tooth.

I was relieved we were leaving.
As we walked back out through the Operations area, I kept my head
turned from the Switch Enforcement Chamber, and focussed on the
other side of the room. We walked through the screen door back into
the main area, and I was drawn to a large statue against the far
wall. It was so imposing; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it on
the way in. I walked over towards it to get a better look.

Lying on the plinth was a
fallen soldier in an old-fashioned British Army uniform. He was
wearing what looked like a tin hat, making me think he belonged to
the Second World War. Next to him was a woman on her knees. I
imagined she was meant to be his widow. She was cradling a baby in
her arms and the expression on her face was pure anguish. Behind
the woman and child was a faceless person, arms outstretched to
encircle them, but without touching.

I looked closer to see how this
person fitted into the scene. I couldn’t work out why the other
faces had been given such fine detail, but this one had been left
blank. I looked back at the widow and the baby, and it hit me. The
other person was one of
them… o
ne of
us
, helping the
grieving widow during her time of need. It was such a powerful
image, it brought a lump to my throat and my eyes started to
sting.

I turned back and took a good
look at the people in the Office, from the computer bods to the
monitors going out on patrol. Every single person was abiding by
the code, working, directly or indirectly, for one reason, to help
people during their time of need. How many others had the chance to
make so much difference to someone else’s life? How many lives had
been saved because a Soul Protector had given them a valuable chink
of light during their darkest days? I hugged myself, as goose
pimples formed on my arms.

But all the time that Soul
Protectors were helping the vulnerable, the very gift that enabled
them was tempting the weak to abuse it. The minority as usual, were
spoiling things for the majority. The controls here had to be
strong. Things could get out of hand very quickly without them. I
had been wrong. This wasn’t a bad place, this was an amazing
place.

I looked up and noticed Dan was
watching me. I quickly blinked away fresh tears that were
threatening to fall, and walked back over to join him.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

I nodded, and followed him back
through the glass screen door.

~~~

CHAPTER 9

.

Meeting Emily

.

I only managed to relax when we
were seated in the car and Dan was pulling out of the underground
car park. I unclenched my jaw and took some deep breaths which made
Dan glance in my direction. My boots were kicked off and I’d drawn
my feet up onto the leather seat, hugging my knees to my chest.

“Hey, are you okay? That was
pretty intense.”

I looked over and nodded, but I
could tell my smile wasn’t fooling him.

It was bad enough that the
Office left me mentally drained, but another fear gnawing away at
me was that Dan didn’t need to be with me anymore. We were headed
back in the direction of my flat and I wondered if he was planning
on saying his final goodbye as soon as he’d dropped me off. I
really didn’t want to be on my own after that experience, and I
didn’t like thought of never seeing Dan again.

He began fiddling with some
buttons on his steering wheel and a few seconds later a tune I
didn’t recognise filtered through the speakers. I caught Dan’s eye
and a smile played on his lips as he reached his arm in my
direction. For a brief moment I thought he was about to put his
hand on me. I held my breath in anticipation, and let it out again
as he detoured towards the heating buttons.

“That should make you feel a
bit better,” he said, before placing his hand back on the steering
wheel. The warmth creeping through my seat was a small
consolation.

“What do you do at this
Elevate, Gracie?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

“I’m an Admin Assistant.”

“Uh-huh. But what does that
mean? What do you actually do?”

“Well, nothing grand. I’m the
general dogsbody really. I run around for my supervisor doing all
the stuff she doesn’t want to do.”

Dan pulled a face. “And you
enjoy it?”

“Not really. I get to do a bit
of writing, which I love, but the majority of my work is getting
Camille coffee, or taking her dry-cleaning into town.”

“So maybe it’s time to look for
something new?”

“Aha, I have a get out plan.
I’ve had an interview with Don, the big boss, to be a full-time
writer. They’ve already published a few of my features and I got
the impression the interview was just a formality, so fingers
crossed…”

Dan nodded slowly. “I wish you
luck then, if you’re sure that’s what you really want.”

I got the impression it wasn’t
what he’d wanted to hear.

We sat not talking for a couple
of miles, listening to the music. I was extremely aware of every
movement Dan made; his fingers tapping on the steering wheel in
time to the beat, the way he smiled and gave a small shake of his
head when a white van driver cut him up, and how he kept rubbing
his hand over the faint stubble on his chin, as if he was deep in
thought. As one track finished and a new one began playing a big
smile spread across his face.

“Oh yes, great tune,” he said,
tapping the volume increase button on the steering wheel. “This
track just happens to be one of my guilty pleasures.”

I recognised the opening notes
but couldn’t place the song. As the singer’s voice began to float
out, Dan launched into the vocals, drowning out the sound of the
artist.

“
I gotta take
a little time… a little time to think things over…”

I looked at him in disbelief,
sucking in my cheeks to stop me from laughing out loud.

“
I better read
between the lines… in case I need it when I'm older… oooh
woah-oh-oh…
”

So Dan Sullivan wasn’t perfect
after all. He might look that way, but appearances can be very
deceptive. As he crooned at the top of his lungs, it became obvious
he was tone-deaf. He looked across and gave me a wink.
And he
knows it
. I smiled to myself.
He’s rubbish at singing and it
doesn’t bother him one bit
.

I’d recognised the tune by
then. It was a Foreigner number my mum used to play. After I’d
recovered from hearing Dan’s singing voice for the first time, the
saying ‘if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em,’ came to mind.

“
Now this
mountain I must climb… feels like the world upon my shoulders...
Through the clouds I see love shine… it keeps me warm as life grows
colder…”

I started using the glove
compartment as my drums, and sung along, matching Dan in volume but
hopefully more in tune than him.

“
In my life…
there's been heartache and pain. I don't know if I can face it
again… Can't stop now, I've travelled so far, to change this lonely
li-ife…”

Every time I looked at Dan I
had to stifle a giggle. He was still going for it and as we
approached the end of the song, we belted out the final chorus with
wild abandon.

“
I wanna know
what love is… I want you to show me. I wanna feel what love is… I
know you can show me…
.”

As the music finished, I had a
massive smile plastered on my face.

Dan decreased the volume and
grinned at me. “I haven’t heard it in ages, but it still hits the
spot.”

“Yeah, that was great,” I
agreed. It felt good to completely let go like that. I think it
must have relieved some of the pent up pressure I’d been holding
onto. And I had a feeling it might become one of my favourite tunes
after that.

“Listen, Gracie, no worries if
you’re not up to it, but how do you feel about going for a quick
drink. There’s a good pub I know on the way to yours, and I think
you could do with some après Office chill-out time.”

I focussed on keeping my
features neutral, while I mock-considered if I fancied going or
not.

“Erm, yeah, I guess we could go
for a quick drink.”

“A quick drink it is then.”

~

The pub was in a tiny hamlet,
but you could tell by the car park it was popular. By the time we
entered The Red Lion, I was feeling a lot better. I still wasn’t
sure if this really was just a quick drink and a chat to calm me
down, or if it was going to be the start of something better.

The pub was packed and as we
squeezed our way from the door over to the bar, I breathed in the
warm, damp air. There was a strange mixture of smells wafting
around; aftershave and perfumes competed with body odour and beer
to create a unique blend that made me feel a bit queasy. A few
years back we would have been in a fug of cigarette smoke, and
though Lydia, Kerry and I always moaned about ‘fag hair’
afterwards, at least it masked the smell of some of the
clientele.

When we first entered, I
noticed everyone was staring in our direction. It was as if we
didn’t belong in such a local pub. But when I realised the looks
were mostly from the ladies, the penny dropped. One larger lady
practically thrust her breasts, which were losing the battle to
stay inside her two-sizes-too-small top, right in Dan’s face. She
smiled seductively at Dan as she squeezed past him. He smiled at
her and then shot me a small, tight, ‘
help’
smile as he
tried to put distance between himself and the offending bosoms. It
was a relief to make it to the bar.