Alison reached in the cupboard for the wine. She had said she wouldn't, but god she needed a drink. She pulled the cork out with her teeth and took a long gulp. The girl in the yellow dress just stood there. She was shaking her head, her curls bouncing. Alison heard rapping on the door and the girl vanished. Alison ran to the door and opened it. 'Olivia!'
'Alison.' She sniffed the air, 'Have you been drinking? Anyway are you ready to go? Alison, are you alright?'
'Yes I'm fine, lets go.' She grabbed her jacket and shoved Olivia out of the way as she locked the front door. She was at the car before Olivia. 'Are you sure that you're alright?' Olivia asked cautiously. Alison just nodded as she got in the car and put her seatbelt on. Olivia joined her. Alison suddenly remembered 'Oh, I phoned Julia, Brian won't be there tonight.'
'Good. That's good.' Alison could see that Olivia was still shaken from yesterday. 'Alison, I forgot to ask, did you see anything yesterday?'
'Yes, and no. I didn't see the boy in the pictures. I saw someone else, but he matched the same sort of description, and he was dripping wet, like he had drowned too.'
'That's odd. So you never saw Adam?'
'No. No I didn't.' Alison replied and Olivia began to feel ill again, the same fear as yesterday. Alison saw her turning pale. 'Olivia, listen to me. Listen to me, only you can get it to stop. You've got to tell him.'
'St.. Stop it please. I'm going to help you. I can't help unless you stop it.' Slowly Olivia felt the sickness fading. 'Better?' Alison inquired. Olivia nodded and turned into the drive. She pulled up and turned the engine off. Olivia took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Alison knocked at the door; they saw Julia unlocking the door. She pulled it open and looked flustered. 'Come in.' She sneered at Olivia. Obviously she had not been forgiven for yesterdays out burst. 'Brian'll be back in about an hour or so.'
'All right. Erm, is Adam's room still here. It might be good if I can see some of his things.'
'Of course. Just up here.' Julia began to walk up the stairs. Alison followed, but Olivia stood at the bottom of the stairs. She swore that she had just seen something move into the living room. She shook her head and walked up the stairs.
Adam's room was just as she had expected, he might've been top of the class, but deep down he was just like every other teenage boy. 'Would you like a minute alone?' Julia asked seeming more comfortable in their presence now. 'That would be great. Thank you'. Julia nodded and left the room. Alison closed her eyes. She could feel the spirit of the boy. She opened her eyes. Sat in the corner of the room was a boy. He was 17 with straggled brown hair. His green eyes seemed dull, dead. He was shivering, drenched in water. He was pale and his lips were tinged blue. Olivia was oblivious to his presence. She was looking around the room. What for Alison didn't know. When she turned back to look at the boy he was stood. His arm outstretched, reaching for her. 'Who are you, what's your name?' Olivia turned to look at Alison, as she did she dropped a photograph on the floor. The boy pointed to the floor. Alison turned to pick it up. It was a photograph of him. When she turned back he was gone, and a faint smell of some sort of aftershave was all that was left.
'Did you see something?' Olivia asked, looking into Alison's eyes. Alison nodded. 'Is that him in the photo?'
'Yes. It is. Where did you find it?'
'Well, erm, Adam was a teenage boy so, erm, you know' Olivia was embarrassed, and had gone red. Alison laughed. 'How did you find them?'
'I don't know, I was only looking for…'
'It's OK. Let's go and see Julia, find out who this is' Alison waved the photograph around as she left the room.
Julia was sat in the living room. She was playing with a scarf. 'Julia' She looked up at Alison. 'Can you tell me who this is?' Alison showed her the photograph. Julia snatched it. 'Where the hell did you find this?' She was angry. 'Well….' Olivia went to answer. 'Get out of my house. Get lost' Julia shouted. Alison and Olivia left the room quickly and bolted out of the house and into the car, just as Julia threw a glass at them. Olivia speeded away, 'Well that went well! Julia really turned on us back there. She's hiding something, she's got to be.'
'But what?'
'I know you don't like it, but I still think it's something to do with Brian' Olivia looked over at Alison. 'Alison, are you alright?'
'The boy. Why was there a photo of him with the magazines?'
'I don't know, but Julia wasn't too happy about the photo, was she?' Olivia chuckled nervously. Alison smiled back, and looked out at the road ahead. 'So, how's work? Doing a good job for Robert?' Alison asked. Olivia smiled. 'It's not too bad, there's people that are constantly Robert did this, Robert did that, but I'll get over it.'
'How's Barb? Have you seen Jude?'
'Well, I've seen Jude, she seems to be managing, I think Morgan's keeping her going, you know, it must be hard for her, dumped by Clive then she find's out her ex is dying, I don't know how she does it!' Olivia chuckled 'Barb on the other hand, she's taken it really badly. She just stays in her office most of the time. She came into a lecture I was doing today. I said things that I shouldn't have. Thing's about Robert. I know I was wrong, but she act's like she's the only one that's lost someone. It's not just her that's lost Robert. It's Jude, you, me, I want to help her, but she won't let me.' Olivia sighed. 'I miss Craig and Robert so much Alison.'
'I miss Robert too. I miss him so much.' Alison turned to look out of the window. In the distance she could see the place that Robert had been buried. Olivia could see Alison looking out of the corner of her eye. 'Alison, I was going to get some flowers for Craig. Would you like to come with me, we could get some for Robert too.' Alison looked over at her. 'Yes, I'd like that.' Olivia smiled and carried on towards the flower shop over the road from the graveyard. She pulled up the kerb and got out. She locked the car and went into the shop. There were so many different types of flowers. Olivia picked out some lilies and Alison chose a small bunch of roses and they set off to find the graves. They found Craig's first. As Olivia bent down to move the dead flower's Alison read the inscription;
Get
used to this
You're going to be alright
The world goes on with
or without me
If I don't ever leave a thing behind
I'll still
leave you without me
Olivia set the lilies down and stepped back. 'He found the words about a week before he died. He said that they were a message, to remind me that he's always with me. But he's not, is he.' Olivia said as she wiped her eyes.
'Just because he can't be seen' Alison said 'doesn't mean he's not there' Olivia smiled at her. 'Let's go and find Robert.' Olivia motioned for Alison to go in front. They walked silently amongst the graves. There was only three months difference between the day Robert had died and the day Craig had died, but they were at opposite ends of the graveyard. They finally found Roberts grave. Alison stood there and just looked at it.
Robert Bridge, beloved husband, father, friend and teacherIt was so bland compared to Craig's stone. Robert was anything but bland. There were fresh flowers laid, Jude must've been sometime before Alison bent down and placed her roses next to the other flowers and stood next to Olivia. 'Why do the best people have to die' Olivia said as she turned away crying. Alison just stood there, and then she looked up at the sky as she had done months before, and hoped that Robert was safe and happy on the other side. She bent down next to the stone. She ran her finger across his name and bought her finger to her lips, then pressed it against the stone before getting up and following Olivia back to the car.
