Chapter 31

Playing in a Storm

JHowarth:- Good afternoon.

Jeffrey sat back in his seat with a small smile. He was happy to finally be talking to Isadora again. Even though it had only been a few days it felt like a much longer time had passed since he had spoken to her.

However, Jeffrey couldn't help but feel slightly nervous sitting back in this seat. The fan blades had been taken away but the marks in the floor were still there and Jeffrey could feel once again how close he had been to death. The bing of the computer drew his attention back to the old monitor.

Isadora33:- Where did you go?

With that question, Jeffrey suddenly realised that he had never got in contact with her after his accident. To her, it must have seemed like he left in the middle of the conversation, as if he didn't care about her at all. Desperate to explain himself, Jeffrey started typing and then stopped.

How could he explain it all? He couldn't just explain about Death and the List to a relative stranger, could he? He certainly couldn't dump all of that on her shoulders like that, it wouldn't be fair… but if he didn't tell her the truth it meant that he would have to lie to her and Jeffrey despised lying. He certainly didn't want to lie to Isadora at the start of their relationship. After a moment of thinking he continued tapping away at the keyboard.

JHowarth:- I am very sorry. I got into an accident and haven't been able to get back to the computer.

Isadora33:- Are you okay!?

JHowarth:- I am healthy. It was just a scare in the end. I'm sorry I couldn't get back on until now.

Isadora33:- It's fine, Jeffrey. As long as you are feeling okay.

JHowarth:- There may be… further complications but for now I've honestly never felt more alive.

Jeffrey leaned back in his chair after submitting this. It was true than in the last few days he felt his life had a little more excitement to it, even amongst the tragedy. Especially after Jeremiah's words Jeffrey almost felt like he didn't want to go back to work even though he knew that day would come after all of this was done. Struck by a strange feeling he continued to type.

JHowarth:- I've had conversations with a group after the accident and they've really made me feel like I belong. The majority of them are young people – in fact, all of them must be more than thirty years younger than me but nevertheless it has been a wonderful experience… Well, there's been some sadness mixed with it. Some of the group have passed on.

Isadora33:- That sounds worrying, Jeffrey. If anything is going on you know you can talk to me, right? I know we've not known each other for very long but I'd be happy to lend my support if you need it.

Once again Jeffrey felt a pang of guilt and hovered his hands over the keyboard. He couldn't tell her, could he?

But wasn't that what Tanzi herself was doing right at this moment? Only ten minutes before he had received a phone call from Tanzi explaining that she was speaking to the police and was planning on telling them exactly what was happening. Whether or not this was a wise decision Jeffrey couldn't say but either way it took a lot of courage.

Was not telling Isadora simply an act of cowardice?

JHowarth:- Isadora… I thank you for your worry. I think you may be right.

Jeffrey took a deep breath. Once he typed the words he wouldn't be able to pull those words back. It was entirely possible that this was break their relationship without the possibility of fixing it. Was telling the truth worth it?

"Lying is worse…" Jeffrey mumbled to himself. He nodded and started typing.

JHowarth:- The accident I was involved in was a… repercussion of something that happened earlier. I was driving an overflow of students to a theme park when we witnessed somebody hit somebody else on the road. We learned later that the driver of this car, Tanzi, claimed she had a Vision that foresaw our deaths in an accident, and by hitting that car she prevented the accident from happening.

Of course I found this hard to believe but as I told the friend of Tanzi, a woman named Ruby, the skies split over London only four years ago. She had just saved me from nearly dying and quite frankly it was hard to argue against the points she made. That was why I didn't come back on… I've been dealing with this situation. We've been gathering the other Survivors though haven't been able to save a few of them.

I know this sounds strange, Isadora, but I cannot lie to you.

It was painfully long until Isadora responded.

Isadora33:- Do you believe in fate, Jeffrey?

This was a strange question after what he had just admitted to. However, before he could type his reply a link popped up followed by a message.

Isadora33:- I have never shown myself to anyone in two years. I've shut myself away from the world. This image is a picture of me… not my profile picture but the real me. Please tell me when you look at this photo.

Curious and slightly apprehensive Jeffrey clicked the link and waited for the image to load. When it did he couldn't help but gape at it.

Isadora was looking directly at the camera, with hypnotizing green eyes and jet black hair that cascaded over her cheeks. Her jaw was sharp and her cheeks slightly curved. She would have been pretty, if not beautiful, had it not been for the vicious scar that extended from the left side of her pink lips. It must have been nearly 3cm thick and ran all the way up her left cheek to her ear, where it disappeared under her hair. What could have caused such an injury?

JHowarth:- Isadora. If you do not mind me asking, what happened?

Isadora33:- I believe what you told me, Jeffrey, because the same thing happened to me. We are both survivors, you and I, and I believe fate has brought us together.

This took Jeffrey by surprise and he was quick to respond.

JHowarth:- You've survived a List?

Isadora33:- Yes. I am the only survivor. My scars were caused by… what happened.

The next message was equally a shock to Jeffrey.

Isadora33:- I think I'm ready to meet you, Jeffrey. I cannot leave my house so please come to this address when you can. I'm sorry, but I need to go for now.

Jeffrey was about to type for Isadora to stay but the connection went dead. Jeffrey tried to take in what he had just learned. Isadora had also been in a List? If she had survived then that meant she knew how to stop it? He considered phoning Ruby and the others then and there but quickly threw the thought away.

Isadora had told him in confidence and it was clear the scars on her face and very likely the scars inside hurt her. The fact that she wanted to meet was amazing and Jeffrey looked at the address. He had to meet her and talk to her, of that he was certain.

Jeremiah leaned on the floodlight, watching the football match with interest. It was one of Jade's free periods and she had gotten together with a group of friends to play the match. There were five on each team and it was clear that Jade was feared as a competitor. It seemed singing wasn't the only thing she was good at. She had scored two goals for her team in the first ten minutes, expertly directing passes between her teammates.

Even when the rain started falling from the grey skies above Jade just grinned and ran through the muddy fields, not caring one iota about the mud splashing up her legs. It seemed her competitive edge sparked the efforts of the rest of her friends, turning the match into a simple lunch-time game to a crowd-garnering match. Other students were lining the field, chatting and pointing, cheering for their favourite players – though Jade clearly got the best reactions.

Jeremiah had been tailing Jade all morning, keeping track of her through her lessons. So far no incident had taken place but Jeremiah knew that it was going to happen soon. Tanzi had gotten in contact with him and Jade's vision, though she wasn't too sure what the clues were. Apparently in her vision Jade had been performing on a roadside. Jeremiah wondered whether whatever was going to happen to Jade was going to happen to her on her way home.

Jade's team had scored again and Jade was quick to tackle the scorer to the ground in a friendly way, lifting the smaller boy up with surprising strength. With a cheer Jade paraded the boy around as if he were a trophy before dropping him back to the floor.

"Three-Nil! What are you gonna do about it!?" Jade taunted, the light rain causing a shine of wet on her face.

The flickering of blue across the sky suddenly attracted everyone's attention and the students all looked up. Moments later the rumble of thunder extended across the sky.

"Perhaps we ought to stop…" One of the opposing team members said but Jade just laughed, flicking her wet hair in the rain, which was getting heavier and heavier.

"What are you, a wuss? Come on! I'm a girl. It shouldn't that be hard to beat my team, right? Come on, come on, let's go!"

With that the match continued and Jeremiah tipped his hat to let the rainwater head to the ground. As ten more minutes passed, the rain grew heavy enough that many of the students watching had disappeared inside. The match was still going strong as Jade's competitive edge was getting her teammates through it. The opposing team actually managed to score though that seemed to make Jade fight harder. Jeremiah could hardly believe this was a simple match between students and made up his mind to get out of class more often so he could watch the students outside more.

After another fifteen minutes the rumbling of thunder and the flashes of lightning grew more frequent. Jeremiah was ensnared by the game until somebody tapped his shoulder. He glanced to the right to see Jeffrey under a heavy coat.

"The news said it was going to be stormy," Jeffrey said from under the heavy rain. "But I didn't realise it would be this bad! Is Jade okay?"

"She's doing fine," Jeremiah pointed at Jade, who at this point had taken more than a few tumbles in the mud and was covered head to toe. They watched her dribble the ball, pass it to a teammate and then receive the ball again to kick it into the goal. A cheer went up and Jade high-fived her friends as the opponent growled in frustration.

"That's it!" One of the opposing team shouted. "We're done, Jade. We give in."

Jade checked her watch with a grin. "Still got ten minutes, Ian!"

"We can't win against you…"

"What was that? I couldn't hear you!" Jade cried out in glee but the boy and his team were already walking away. Jade just laughed and exchanged words with her team. "Nice work, guys. That'll teach him from taunting us in class." The team parted ways and Jade immediately started jogging towards Jeremiah and Jeffrey.

"You two better not be keeping tabs on me!" Jade said as she got close to the two adults. She wiped her eyes as the rain battered down on her shoulders. "Mr Jebediah, I know you've been following me. I thought I told you guys I needed proof of your dealings."

"The woman we told you about, Tanzi, received the vision telling us that your time is coming up."

"My time is coming up?" Jade laughed. She looked around at the rain-drenched field. "Look, the only time that is up is my free period. I got a class to get to and I'd rather like to dry out a little bit. Stop following me, alright? I know you're a teacher and all but it's kind of getting creepy when you follow a specific girl. People'll start thinking something's goin' on between us and, I'm sorry to say Mr Jebediah, I'm just not into cowboys." Jade leaned on the floodlight and started fiddling with a loose lace on her trainers. "Now—"

Whatever Jade was going to say was interrupted by a sudden flash of blue and a blinding white light. Both Jeffrey and Jeremiah covered their eyes as sparks shot every which way. They stumbled backwards and blinked away the bright light. Jeremiah was the first to see Jade lying spread-eagled on the floor, her eyes wide. For a brief horrifying moment he thought that she wasn't proving before her face suddenly broke out into a grin.

"Haha! Look at that! Jesus Christ!" Jade stayed in position and just pointed to the floodlight. The top was scorched and the bulb had burst, causing that section of the field to get covered in murky darkness of the thunderclouds above them. Marks criss-crossed down the base of the floodlight. "I ain't marked for death! I mean, a frickin' lightning bolt just struck that and I'm still alive!" Jade pushed up to a seated position and winced. "Ouch…"

All of a sudden there was a tearing sound and the floodlight started falling and with a start Jeremiah realized one of the joints had been torn loose by the bolt of lightning. He saw the floodlight falling and made to start forward… but his body didn't move. He could see it as if it was in slow motion, falling towards the grounded Jade.

Move! Move, move! But Jeremiah found that he couldn't. Jade was going to die and it was going to be his fault. All he had wanted was to help Tanzi and Ruby and learn more about Death and the List but now when push came to shove he couldn't do it?
Then Jeremiah felt himself pushed to the side and Jeffrey was running forward, amazingly quickly for a man his age. The old man managed to lean down and grab Jade by her shirt, wrenching her with adrenaline-fueled strength. The long metal post of the floodlight crashed into the muddy field, sending a spattering of mud up over Jeffrey and Jade. Jeffrey lost his footing and slid in the mud, falling to the ground with Jade.

Jade was the first to get up, looking shocked at the floodlight. "I…" Her words were lost as another crack of lightning ran through the sky. The field lit up blue and Jade quickly turned to Jeffrey. "You okay?"

Jeffrey managed a very weak smile from his position on the floor, soaked in mud and rain. "I am too old for that… Help me up, please…"

Jade offered a hand and pulled Jeffrey up. She looked at him with a strange expression. "Thank you… Jeffrey, you saved my life. You warned me but… I mean, what are the chances of lightning striking this frickin' floodlight?" Jade shook her head. "You were telling the truth, weren't you?" Then her gaze turned to Jeremiah, still struck still. "And what the hell were you doing!? Why didn't you move? Nice job protecting your student!"

Jeremiah couldn't respond. He had realised why he hadn't moved. It hurt him to admit it but it was nothing but cowardice. He knew that if he had saved Jade, then he would have been added to the List, and more than anything Jeremiah didn't want to. It made him feel sick but he did not want to die and saving Jade would have gave him that death sentence. He merely turned away, unable to meet Jade's gaze.