Jasper came running in.
"Oh, my God... Trudy, back away now. Come over here."
She gave a squeaky gasp, then ran backwards. She fell backward into Jasper's arms, literally.
"What are you doing here, Rufus?"
"Just finishing the job Vera didn't succeed in. She made it necessary for me to show my face here again when she failed to kill Trudy."
"Why do you want this poor, innocent woman dead? What has she done to hurt you? She went to help my godson and I and now you want her dead?"
"Yeah. You made that sound so simple. But she's anything but innocent. Do you have any idea what she tried to do?"
"No? Trudy, what did you do...?"
She went scarlet and tried not to cry.
"What did she do?"
"She tried to kiss me."
"WHAT?!"
"See. She's not innocent."
Jasper gave Trudy an accusing look. She let a tear slide free.
"He asked me to. I thought I'd get out if I did. Then he got what he wanted and pushed me back. I regretted it and I wished it'd been you!"
She stood up and faced Rufus with a glare.
"You see? You got me into trouble. Right. Leave me alone. Both of you."
She ran into her room and refused to let anyone in.
That just left Jasper and Rufus glaring at each other.
"Oh well done. You've upset Trudy and scared her too. She's not done anything wrong against you. She wanted out and you took advantage of her. She's as innocent as the baby. You should never have done that to her."
"Ah, well. I have to admit it, though. She is one good kisser."
"Yes, well. You're not to touch her again, or I will break you."
"Oh. I'd like to see you try."
"Just keep your filthy paws off her, or there will be painful consequences."
(Trudy's Diary.)
This is all I need. Get out of hospital then get hit by Vera. Today, I encountered Rufus again. He tried to kill me, then Jasper came to save me. Rufus told Jasper that I tried to kiss him without any reasoning. But he'd asked me to! I thought I'd get out quicker if I kissed him. So I did and he pushed me back and now he got me into big trouble with Jasper. He's going to leave me because of Rufus and now of all times, while there's a baby coming. So what now? I'm alone? Maybe I should've asked if Rufus could make it fast and get rid of me while he had me in that warehouse of his. It would make this situation be so easy. By not existing. There's only him who would tell anyone that about me. I was ready to try anything to get out. I would've eaten a goat's eyeball and six bugs to get out of there, for crying out loud. It still doesn't make what I did right, does it? I was so stupid. Is it any wonder he's going to leave me?
"Trudy, let me in, cutie."
Oh, no. I'm getting dumped. If I don't write here again I'll be dead. Bye.
She drew a little sad face, then took a deep breath and opened the door.
"Hey, gorgeous. Come on, I know he forced you into that. It's OK. You know I wouldn't leave you unless you were actually seeing someone secretly."
She looked stunned.
"Close your mouth, Trudy. You'll catch flies. Or kisses if you're not careful. Now, come here and get a cuddle."
"What? No big lecture on how badly behaved I am?"
"No. You've not done anything wrong. What? Do you want a lecture? Because I've got one about how gorgeous you are."
"What do you do all day? Write lectures on everything in existence? Because that'll make me seem like I do a lot."
"No. I just think of you, the baby, you and work, you."
"OK, you need a hobby."
"I've got one. I collect photos."
"Of... pyramids and antiques?"
"No. You."
"What? You do what? You sneakily take photos?"
"Well, no. I take them on trips out. You always look so beautiful."
"Have you got a migraine? Do you need me to get you some paracetamol? Come on, you lie down."
"No, I don't have a migraine. You're the one who has to lie down. Come on, sweetheart."
"I don't want to lie down. I'd sooner hear why you keep taking photos of me on all the day trips!"
"I told you. Because you're gorgeous. And I want memories of this, so that someday in the future, our great-great-great grandchildren will know exactly what you look like. Maybe one of them will look exactly like you. If they do, they'll have all the guys chasing them."
"OK, stop that. If one of these poor kids looks like me, they'll be hiding under their beds in shame."
"That's not funny. You're beautiful."
"OK, now open your eyes."
He hugged her hard and whispered "I keep my eyes focused on you. You're just pure gorgeous. My eyes are always open when you're about."
"Yeah, right."
"You're so sweet, Trudes."
(Nina.)
She sat curled up on her bed. She was sucking on a mouthful of large liquorice torpedoes. She didn't even like liquorice, so why she was eating it was beyond her. She sucked it, hard. She missed her gran. Her gran had loved liquorice. She bit down hard, then Amber walked in.
"Nina? Trudy wants to know if you want to come to get supper or if you want her to bring a tray? Are you eating liquorice?"
"Yes. Um, I'll come to supper. I don't want to trouble Trudy."
"OK, I'll tell her. And Fabian was wondering if you'd like to go to the cinema with him."
"Yeah, that sounds great."
"And why are you eating liquorice? You hate it."
"Yeah. I know I do. But I just felt like eating some. You know like when you get those sudden desires for those pink lemonade/ cola cube drinks?"
"Yeah, that's disgusting. I don't know why I do it."
"Me, neither. Yeah, I'll be down for supper."
"I'll go tell Trudy. She's so much happier now for some weird reason. She told me, but I was concentrating on my split end. I have a split end!"
"Yeah, Trudy's probably only got a minor disaster in comparison to one split end."
"Exactly. So anyway, you carry on, I'm gonna tell Trudy."
Amber skipped out, making Nina smile. Nina knew that Amber was happy to do a day of messenger so long as nobody took it for granted. Oh, well, whatever. Nina sighed and sucked on another sweet.
Well, I do only eat these because of Gran. She used to love them. Nina knew that her Gran wouldn't like to know that Nina only ate liquorice because she liked it, not because Nina did.
She tried not to cry. Then she heard Trudy's voice (or Alfie faking her voice with a perfected imitation of her) calling "Supper's ready!"
She went downstairs. Fabian took hold of her arm as she sat down.
"Hey, I wondered where you were. Amber said that you were eating liquorice torpedoes?"
"Yeah, I was."
"I thought you hated liquorice."
"I do. But they just kept calling my name. And not literally, this time."
Fabian laughed at Nina's joke.
"I'm glad that they weren't actually talking to you."
"What am I, unhinged?"
"No. You do have a record of hearing inanimate things talking to you, though."
"Or non-existent things. Or possibly even dead things. And cellars and attics."
That made all of Sibuna start laughing.
Then Alfie started to choke...
Well, another chapter. Well, readers, I'm sure you know what to do. There's a little box down there, which you type the review in and there's a little button. Click it and post your review. Until next time, Random Dizzy. :D