[The Sacred & Profane]
It was still dark. Sitting beside the bed, I watched Jeffrey's face in repose. He was sleeping. I'd had to sedate him. If I hadn't he would probably have sat up for the rest of the night, staring forlornly out of the window. This way I could be sure he wasn't going to wandering again any time soon. He could get some rest and so could I. I hoped. I wasn't sleeping too well at the moment. I had moved Jeff to a different room. It had reinforced windows and an alarm that triggered my beeper if disturbed. It also had an ensuite bathroom and a surveillance camera. I was tempted to kiss him on his cheek before leaving the room and locking it but didn't. I did decide not to stay away too long - it was like leaving him in a padded cage.
I climbed two flights of stairs to the study and locked the door behind me. It seemed colder here than outside. I lit myself a fire. Of interest, there were a collection of books and documents. There were also a cabinet of disks and dat tapes. Finally, there were a two tv screens, a video recorder, tape recorder, one terminal and an assortment of fine furniture. I could not only keep an eye on Jeff from here but a few select corners of the estate too, not that it mattered. The logs crackled on the fire as I settled into a chair and poured myself a brief slug of brandy. Very brief. It would be stupid to get comatose at this hour. I took a sip - liquid fire for the people - then raised the glass in a silent toast. To black rooms and men in white lab coats. To memory and enmity. I stared into the crackling tongues of flames and remembered.
***
I thought I heard something. Again, very clearly, there were three staccatto taps on my window. I almost jumped out of my skin. Someone was outside. I wondered what time it was. I curled in my bed for a moment wondering what to do. The hand now started to scrape a little. I think, vampires can only come in if you invite them. Which reminded me of earlier that evening when I had left my room for a glass of water to find C.G. B. Spender, my mother and my father in the living room having a cozy chat. I'd nearly strangled my teddy bear out of embarrassment and disgust. My mother noticed me first, my father and Mr Spender carried on larking (if that was the word) smoke trailing up to the ceiling.
"Something the matter, Lili?" she said, all concern.
I just said I was thirsty, got my glass of water, and went back to bed. Then I'd laid in bed miserably contemplating what seemed to be the sounds of amusement before drifting off. And now this.
I got up, pulling nervously at the neck of my cotton nightgown (it had hearts and stars on it) that seemed to be choking me and paused to make sure no one else was awake. I then went to the window and drew back the drape. When I saw it was Jeffrey I drew back the curtain and opened the window. He wore a crumpled t-shirt and jeans that paled at the knees.
"Can I come in?" he asked.
I told him quietly to be careful coming through the window. My mom and dad were sleeping. He did and he was. I shut it behind him staring out for a moment to see if anyone else was out there. Then I looked back at Jeffrey.
"What's up?"
I tried to make it sound more relaxed then I was. He'd come in through my window before - even though I didn't like him doing it. If my parents ever found out I'd be grounded for at least a month with a padlock on my window. Still, noticing how small he looked against the darkness of my room, I felt a paralysing sense of something gone wrong.
"Is it your mom?" I asked, whispering.
As if to answer he half shrugged and half collapsed. He leaned against the foot of my bed.
"She's gone." he said.
That made little sense to me. Mrs Spender had left the house in the middle of the night? I wanted to ask where, but he spoke again first.
"Can I hide here?"
"Why- Hide from who?"
And here he clutched my shoulders and clung to me for dear life.
"From them. From the aliens."
He squeezed me tighter until I couldn't breath and I felt I'd explode for lack of air. Something was wetting my shoulder. He was crying, I could hear him softly sobbing.
I pulled away from him and made him sit on my bed. I put my fingers to my lips to say he was getting too loud. Sheesh, he was almost getting hysterical. This wasn't the Jeff I knew and, no, I'd never seen him like this before. Even when Iggy Riley said his mother was a screw ball and should be put down like a dog, and Jeff had got his lip busted making Iggy eat dirt. Not like this. I could only think to call my mother but her and my dad's get together with Jeffrey's father was all too fresh in my mind. Besides, aliens?
"The aliens?" I said.
Surely I hadn't heard that come out of his mouth.
"They took my mom.", was all he offerred.
I didn't want to ask any more. I think he'd had a bad dream and woken up in the house without his mom. I heard, Emmie Sherringham had said that in class once but I was assured she was lying.
"You can stay here, but you'll have to sleep under the bed." I assured him.
Plenty of room down there. It wasn't dirty and more importantly, it wasn't obvious if someone came in. I gave him a Kleenex to wipe his face. I didn't seem able to ask him properly what he was talking about. He might be more honest in the morning. I thought, looking misgivingly at Steven Dawson's comic book.
I remember leaning down from where I lay and asking Jeff if he was asleep yet. And I remember waking up early the following morning to find that he was gone.
+++
I didn't see Jeff again until the following day. I didn't get to speak to him until two days later. Him and Jimmy Anderson. They were having a baseball game in the field in the far side of the base. My mom had gone next door, so I left her a note. Jimmy was the same age as Jeff only a little (half an inch) taller. Sometimes the girls mooned over him. My mom called him the rebel without a quilt - I think it suited him. He always seemed to have a load to talk about, like what plane they were hiding out at some obscure hangar and what exciting covert air manoeuvres we'd missed the night before. It was a relief when he ran ahead to find the others. A big relief.
Jeff looked weary but otherwise undiminished. Like he always did. How was I going to start this conversation?
"Did your mom come back?"
"What?" He missed a beat.
"You know, you knocked on my window the other night. You said she was gone."
"I think you were dreaming."
I stopped in my tracks. No I wasn't.
"No I didn't. You knocked on my window. You were *crying*." I threw this in to see how he'd react, "You said 'the aliens' had taken her." OK, I was sneering now, but he was accusing me of lying when for the last 48 hours I'd been half going out of my mind wondering if he was out of his - or if it was one really bad joke.
"Oh, that's funny. I almost forgot to laugh. You've been reading too much X-Men, Lili."
I didn't move. *Me*. He woke me up in the middle of the night and he said that I was a loon? I calmed He had to be kidding me.
"No Jeffrey," Emphasis on all syllables so he'd understand. "I am not joking."
"Then you're lying. I've only ever knocked at your window once. Or twice." he said, correcting himself.
"You don't even remember." I spat, angry that he wouldn't admit to being scared or being an idiot. Or both.
"I remember. I went to bed and I stayed there."
I think I exploded. "You can be embarrassed but don't lie to me Jeff. I know what I saw."
"And I think I know what I did. My mom and me went nowhere."
I shoved my hands into my pockets hard and didn't say another word. We walked to the game in silence and never said another word to each other for the entire evening. After I'd been struck out I went home, turning up the collar of my jacket and cursing quietly so I didn't have to cry.
"Asshole." I said to myself.
***
I think I was so irritated that evening that I actually did my geometry homework. I remember my mother wasn't home for dinner and that my dad and I ate in near silence. Probably I watched television or read a book, maybe but I know that I was awoken again later that night by another tap to my window.
Jeffrey again. I pulled back the curtain and flipped him the bird. I heard him say through the glass:
"Open the window. Please."
He didn't look hysterical or weird this time. Just normal Jeffy. I opened the window and narrowed my eyes, unhappily.
"I suppose this is a nightmare." I said.
"Not this time." he said. "Are you talking to me?"
I could have answered that by shutting the window and going back to bed.
"What do you want?" I replied.
"Because," he continued unphased yet emphatic, "I wouldn't want you not to be talking to me."
"You started it." I replied, wondering how old I was.
He didn't argue this point, just said: "O.K.", before carrying on. "Jimmy and I are going over to hangar 18, he says you can see some cool stuff out there. Want to come?"
"What kind of stuff?" I asked gingerly.
"Jimmy says they've got some new type of spy plane out there that can fly like this-"
He outlined the shape of a tringle in the air, his finger tracing a path like those weird houseflies that hover just short of the ceiling, moving as if they're bouncing off invisible angular walls.
"Bullshit." I remarked.
He smirked. "You'll have to see it to believe it."
***
Hangar 18 was not far from where we'd played baseball and I discovered Jimmy Anderson had brought Louise Farlowe with him. I eyed him with suspicion. The motive for this little sightseeing tour now seemed positively shakey. We lay out on the grass beyond the fencing. I was surprised there was no one scouting the perimeter. I was lying next to Jeff when Jimmy and Louise started making out. Yuck, I wanted to barf. Jeff looked at me apologetically but put his hand on mine.
"Exactly which planes are we dealing with here?" I asked
Jeff pointed to the west and replied smartly: "Those ones."
To my surprise and relief, he wasn't making it up. Out of nowhere there had appeared what looked like giant fireflies, at first weaving conventionally in the inky sky and then moving like nothing I could have imagined.
I shook my head and simply mouthed "What?"
I couldn't speak it was that incredible. How come nobody told us? Probably top secret. If we got caught seeing this...I suddenly wondered if those were the aliens Jeff had talked about the other night. I looked over at Jimmy and Louise, who had separated their faces long enough to admire the aerial display. I squeezed Jeff's hand. The craft were completely silent. Sometimes the lights on them changed and flashed as if they were communicating to each other. Sometimes they wheeled in and out of clouds lighting them up like chalk dust. The wind was picking up behind us, it was laying the grass flat giving it the effect of shivering. Suddenly paranoid, I looked around awd, to take in the view and almost squealed in surprised. Almost. My hand shot away from Jeff. I was suddenly cold. I'd blinked and then it was gone. I thought I'd seen my father, half shadowed, half lit by the waning moon.
"What's the matter." Jeff asked.
I'd turned over and sat up, my back to the whirling aircraft. I almost answered: "Nothing." when I saw the men coming up, across the field towards us.
I freaked and scrambled to my feet, almost falling over Jeff and Jimmy. They saw where I was staring, Louise was still watching the sky.
"Run!" Jimmy yelled, practically throwing himself vertical and pulling Louise by the arm. She looked over her shoulder and saw what all the commotion was about Then she realised there were men advancing to the right as well. I guessed there more than three to each of us. We were so busted. There was nowhere to run.