Chapter Three: Two new friends

*Still loving all of the reviews. Keep them coming! Hope you enjoy this chapter.


The next thing I remember was the sound of a car skidding. Then I was awake. I didn't have a clue where I was. I looked around trying to take in my new surroundings. Confused, slightly scared and baffled. That was the best way to describe my emotions. Just what exactly had happened, and where the hell was I?

'Oh God, oh God, oh God!' I heard someone mumbling to themselves. I looked around and saw a man. Then I realised I was in the middle of a street and a small crowd was slowly gathering around me.

'Here! What the…what's going on?' the authoritative voice as it turned out, belonged to an on duty policeman. I tried to speak, but no words were coming. So the policeman turned to the other man who was beside me.

'Sir, what exactly happened here?'

'Well, I mean officer… she just appeared out of nowhere! I mean…'

'Wait, calm down and tell me from the start what happened please?'

I didn't know what to do so I just looked up at them from the ground that I was still sitting on. For once in my life, I was speechless.

'Ok well, it's like this, I was driving along at the right speed and all… not that fast and, the next thing I knew, she appeared and I hit the brakes as hard as I could. I don't even know if I hit her. It's like she just appeared out of the cracks of the street!'

Then the officer looked at me and said

'Well miss, firstly let me ask, are you hurt?'

'Um…' I looked at myself and tried to move my legs and arms and so forth and everything seemed to be fine.

'No, I don't think so officer'

'Ok good, secondly do you remember what happened?'

'Uh… well… no, I mean one second I was walking along and then I woke up and now I am sitting in the middle of a street'

'Right ok, do you think you could maybe move to the footpath over their?' He said pointing out where I should go.

'Yea, yea' I slowly picked myself up and moved to the footpath. I still had no idea where I was. I needed to get some answers.

'Officer?' I asked 'Where exactly am I?'

'You must have had a bad fall miss, well you are in Liverpool'

'What?! Uh no no no… you see that's just not possible. Seriously where am I?'

'Miss I assure you, you are in Liverpool'

'No no no no no…' I started muttering to myself.

'Well I mean you can ask anyone else, they will tell you the same thing.'

'But you don't understand, I can't be here, I'm not from Liverpool!'

I started to panic. What just happened?

'Well miss, uh, I want to talk to the driver for a minute but can you just wait here until I come back ok?' He said walking over to the driver, who was standing beside his car.

I couldn't make sense of anything. Was I really in Liverpool? But, at once, it all came to me. I figured it out. I was dreaming of course. There was simply no other explanation for it.

'Wow I can never usually tell when I'm dreaming' I whispered to myself. 'Ah this is good, I was almost getting worried there' I felt a little relieved now.

'Well sir, I think you were both pretty lucky. I don't even think you hit her. I think she is just in shock and there appears to be no damage done to your car. So I think I can both let you go on your way. I'm just going to make sure that the young lady is alright. Maybe you would like to come and talk to her as well.'

'Yes officer of course'

I was in Liverpool in my dream and I was going to take advantage of it. I could do anything I liked. I could go meet the Beatles! Both of the men were now standing beside me.

'Would you like to be taken to a hospital or anything miss?' the police officer inquired.

'No no, I'm feeling a lot better now! Thanks, don't worry I'll be on my way' I said cheerily getting up of off the ground.

'Well, if you are sure you are both ok, I'll be on my way as well then. I have other issues to attend to. Good day' the police man turned and went on his way.

'Hey?' the driver of the car tentatively asked 'I'm really sorry about all this, I just didn't see you. I hope you are ok. You sure you don't want to go to the hospital?'

'Of course I'm sure!' I was beginning to feel pretty confident now.

'It's all a dream anyway! None of this is real! Hey do you know where the Beatles are. I'm there biggest fan! '

'Um right ok… The Beatles? I don't know who they… oh wait they are that silly boy band that plays in The Cavern from time to time. My sister loves them, she's just crazy for them. I'm thinking maybe just for a check-up, we should take you to the hospital' He said trying to grab my hand.

'Hey! Get off of me! You're no fun anymore, so please get out of my dream now!'

'Wow ok… so if this is all a dream… you could fly or be invisible right now, if you wanted to, right?'

'Well I mean…' wait, this is my dream I thought. He isn't going to talk to me like this!

'Yea of course I could!'

'Well then prove it! Then I will promise to leave you alone. Deal?'

'Ok you're on' I wasn't really sure how to go about it but I'm sure I could do it. If not I'm going to wake up soon anyway, so it didn't really matter what I did.

'Right I'll try being invisible first!' I closed my eyes tight and imagined blending in. I asked him if he could still see me.

'Yes' he replied.

'Ok' I moved a couple of steps. 'What about now?'

'Yes! Look what are…'

'Wait, how do I know you're not lying, right come and touch me and I'll know if you're lying'

I moved around a little bit but that didn't make any difference.

'Ow, not so hard!'

'Sorry, but do you believe me now. It's not a dream, this is reality in Liverpool'

'Ok wait! I can still try to fly!' I said shouting at him.

The closest thing to jump off was his car, so I climbed onto the bonnet. He stared at me like I was crazy but it didn't matter I knew it was a dream.

'This will show you!' I said to him. I closed my eyes again. I stretched my arms out and well, I fell flat on the ground.

'Oh Jesus!' He tried to help me up.

'I can't believe it, I thought that I could do it…'

'Well yea, look I think you need to go to the hospital'

'No way!' I declared.

'God you're impossible, ok do you live around here then?

'Nope'

'Ok, well, do you have any friends or family you can stay with?'

'Nope'

'So you're telling me that you have nowhere to sleep tonight and no family around to stay with?'

'Yep…'

'Listen…'

'Wait. Before you say anything its ok, don't worry because it's all just a dream anyway'.

'You're still sticking to that story?'

I nodded my head.

'Ugh what am I going to do with you?' It sounded as if he was talking mainly to himself. He leaned against his car.

'Right ok, I can't leave you alone like this' He let out a sigh and said 'I might regret this but you can come and stay at my flat tonight if you want to because you got nowhere else to go. But, just for tonight'

He then opened the passenger's door to his car and shouted

'Are you going to get in or not?'

I looked on in disbelief. Was this really happening? So I'm meant to be in Liverpool, and now getting a random lift in a stranger's car to go back to his flat? But, I didn't have much alternative to be honest. So I got into his car.

'I'm David by the way' he said

'I'm Alice' I replied. 'Alice Woodside'. We started to drive away. I was still so confused. Maybe…maybe this place is actually real. What am I going to do? David didn't say anything while he was driving. That was probably for the best. I was still retracing in my mind, what had happened and how I had ended up here. No, it just can't be real. I started pinching myself and telling myself that this was just another weird dream of mine.

'Well, here we are, this is my flat' David announced.

We both got out of his car and I followed him into his flat. I was being told that I could sit down on a chair and that David was going to make me some tea and that we could talk some stuff through. I shook my head in agreement but I was staring blankly ahead of me. I hadn't figured out where I was or what exactly I was going to do but I knew I couldn't stay here. I mean what was I going to tell him? So I decided to make a run for it but before I could reach the door, someone was beginning to open it.

'Hey, David! I saw your car outside and… um hello'.

'Hello' I replied 'Um…' I, for the second time today had run out of words. Then David interrupted.

'Oh Jenny hi! Oh this is Alice by the way and Alice this is Jenny'.

'Hi' we both said in unison and laughed.

'Yea Jenny, I better explain what happened today…'

We all sat down in David's living room area. David told Jenny all the details of what had happened. I sat their wondering if this really was Liverpool and then I remembered David saying that the Beatles were playing in the Cavern club but then if this is real it must be… it must be…

'David!' I exclaimed in the middle of his explanation to Jenny. 'What year is it?'

'Oh God, I thought you had calmed down'

'David, be nice. I think she's just in shock of what happened. Well Alice, its 1962'.

'What? But so that means…' I told myself that I had to look normal in front of these people until I figured out what was happening. 'Oh yea ok' I meekly replied.

'You see David, you just got to be gentle with her.' Then she nudged him. 'It's ok Alice, you can stay here as long as you need to' I couldn't believe how nice she was being but then I saw David's expression and I could tell he didn't agree with Jenny.

'Uh… that's ok, I don't want to bother you's' I said getting up. 'I'll find somewhere else to stay'.

'Wait Alice' Jenny said 'Don't go we want you here, don't we David' I looked at David. His expression was a little softer now.

'Yea, Alice we do. I'm sorry for being a little cold with ya. It's just can I maybe ask you some questions about well what happened and who you are?'

'Uh…' I wasn't sure if I was ready for questions but David was really trying and I felt I owed it to both of them.

'Yea, fire away'

'Well um, where exactly do you come from?'

'I don't come from anywhere important, it's just a small town in the middle of Ireland.'

'Ah so you're Irish, I was trying to work out your accent. I like it' David said and then he smiled. Maybe he was slowly warming to the idea of me staying.

'Question number two, well how did you end up in Liverpool?'

I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't want to lie but he obviously didn't want me to tell him that this was a dream again. I wasn't even sure what exactly all of this was.

'David, can I ask a favour? Will you trust me?' I can't give you answers about myself yet but can you just trust me for now?'

'But I mean… I don't even know your age or hardly anything about you'

'Well I'm eighteen, I love music, my favourite colour is purple and I love jelly babies!'

Jenny giggled and so did I. Gradually David let out a little smile himself.

'Wow you've made him smile twice already Alice! She's gotta stay now' Jenny said.

David tried to stop smiling but me and Jenny kept making funny faces at him and then we all burst out laughing.

'Aw you's two are…' I said caught up in my own thoughts.

'Yea Alice? Jenny asked.

'Well, I suppose this is a little hypocritical but can I ask some stuff about you?'

'Yea your right it is hypocritical' David said and smirked.

'Hey David be nice! She is our guest now, go on Alice ask anything you like'

Thanks Jenny. Well what age are both of you?'

'Well I'm twenty one' said David

'And I'm nineteen' said Jenny.

'I feel kind of young now, well…' I replied. Then I wondered what the date actually was. Maybe it was different here than from back home.

'By the way, what date and month is it?'

'Um, it's 13th of October'.

'Oh ok' Well the date was the same here as it was back home.

'Jenny only turned nineteen a few weeks ago so she's not as mature as she looks'.

'Mr twenty one over here thinks he knows everything'. Jenny replied sarcastically. Then they started play fighting with each other. They looked so cute together. Wait, were they a couple? I guess they could be.

'Um this is a little awkward but well… are you two a couple, like girlfriend and boyfriend?'

'No! proclaimed David.

'Definitely not!' agreed Jenny.

'We're brother and sister' David finally said.

'Oh! Oh right sorry. Just… next question then!'

They both laughed and we just sat around for the rest of the day, talking and joking around. I didn't even care if this was a dream or real. Whatever it was I was enjoying it. By the time we knew it, it was past midnight. I didn't even realise how tired I really was.

'Well, I suppose it's getting late, I'll show you were you can sleep'.

'Thanks David'.

'Jenny you can sleep here tonight too saying it's late. You can take my bed and I'll sleep on the sofa'.

'Well ok, if you're sure. Well goodnight Alice'. Then Jenny hugged me. It felt as if we had been friends for years.

'Goodnight Jenny' I replied while smiling. She walked into David's room and closed the door.

Then David showed me to another room with a single bed in it.

'You sure you don't want me to sleep on the sofa instead? Cause I don't mind'

'Naw Alice, I'm being a gentleman here' he said with a grin on his face.

'Thanks for letting me stay, I really appreciate it'. Then I gave him a hug. We started to pull away from each other but then we both looked into each other's eyes. I started to lean in closer but then David broke the silence.

'Uh… well goodnight Alice' and he turned away.

'Night David' I replied and he left the room.

I sat on the bed in confusion until tiredness overcame me. I got under the blankets and slowly drifted off into sleep. I wonder where I will end up tomorrow…


*Longest chapter yet I know but keep reading! A familiar face just might show up in the next chapter!