Chapter 15

To Keats's horror he found himself trembling from head to toe as he pulled up beside the grotty old arches. He stared at his hands; Layton's hands, and watched as the bony, grimy fingers shook before him. His eyes darted to one side where two men were talking and sharing a joke by the look of it. Layton's mind told him that there was more than humour on tap from those two.

He opened the glove compartment of Robin's car and took out the knife he'd been using to great effect ever since his visit to Evan's house. Two more lots of blood may join the collection on the blade, he thought to himself. It depended how co-operative the two men were going to be. He took a deep breath and tried to calm his trembling limbs. Damn that body and its rotten compulsions. One more hit and then he'd get on with the plan in earnest. It had been fun, but it was almost time to go home. Not alone though – he had a new recruit in mind.

~xXx~

"Gah! It's no use!" Robin gave an angry growl of frustration as he thumped his free fist against the floor of the barge in anger. "I must have been trying for fifteen minutes, there's no way I can undo these knots with one hand. Keats must be an expert or something. Probably got a badge in it at the evil boy scouts. The kidnapping badge."

Kim stared at him as the last bars of Too Shy played on the radio. It seemed that even aside from the one Wham hit an hour their playlist was 100% cheese. She felt her pulse rising as she finally voiced the question that she'd been trying to gather the courage to ask.

"God, Rob, how the hell did Keats manage to get back here?"

Robin swallowed as he looked at her, wishing he knew the answer to that. He shook his head slowly.

"You'd know better than I do," he said, "you were in ninety five a long time, did anything happen while you were there?"

Kim breathed deeply.

"I remember he was in a coma for a while."

"What?"

"After Alex went back," Kim continued, "the car crash. He was comatose for months." She developed a far-away look in her eyes. "Oh, they were happy days…"

"What car crash?" asked Robin.

Kim hesitated for a moment. She hadn't even realised until then how little she'd shared of what went on at Alex's return. It was true that she remembered only the bare bones of the situation, her shooting at the hands of Keats in 1995 coupled with how long ago the whole thing had happened meant that she didn't remember a lot of the details but she'd also been aware not to spill very much to Alex because she wasn't sure whether she could handle it. She looked at Robin and saw the fear in his eyes. She took a deep breath.

"It's how Alex got home," she said quietly, "I think."

"You mean… you mean when Alex and I crashed with Layton?" Robin frowned.

Kim shook her head.

"No, Rob, in ninety five," she said quietly.

Robin felt his heart sinking. Physically sinking. It felt as though it settled somewhere underneath his stomach. He looked at Kim, her eyes seemed a little nervous and reluctant, almost as though she wasn't sure what to say.

"What do you mean?" he whispered.

Kim glanced across the boat at Molly. The last thing she wanted to do was to talk about the girl's mother. Molly already had suspicions about how Robin and Kim really knew Alex. But the girl was still and silent as opposed to the constant scrambling and struggling she'd been doing from the moment Kim had arrived and it looked as though she'd fallen asleep through sheer exhaustion. Keeping her voice low, but loud enough for Robin to hear her over The Look Of Love, she said;

"Alex and Simon were chasing Keats. There had been a confrontation on the roof of Fenchurch West and then I was shot… everything after that, I only know what Simon told me."

Robin swallowed.

"I'm already getting a sense of de ja vu," he said.

Kim flinched. She'd been keeping the parallels to herself for weeks.

"Keats spun out of control. I think it was something to do with the brakes. There was a crash and Keats went into a coma, while Alex…." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't remember that well, Robin. It was a long time ago, and everything's a bit hazy around that time."

Robin swallowed.

"Just try," he breathed, his heart starting to race.

"Simon said he pulled her from the car," Kim's voice shook as she spoke, feeling like she'd slipped into auto-pilot. It was as though she had to detach herself to be able to talk about it. "He didn't know what to do. He thought about trying to do first aid, but didn't know any. And then he…" she made a slight gesture with her head, "you know. Did what they do."

"What do you mean, what they do?"

"You know," Kim hated having to spell it out, "when they…. Help others. To move on."

Robin was looking at her blankly.

"No, Kim, I don't know," he said. He waited for her to explain but she stayed quiet. "Come on, Kim, I was in ninety five for three days – you were there a year! All I know is what you told me and what was in Simon's letter."

Kim felt a little sick. She hadn't thought about the ins and outs of Gene's world for a long time, let alone spoken about them. She bit her lip.

"Simon and Alex and Gene," she began quietly, "it's what they do. When people are ready… to move on. When they've had a chance to live their lives. Face their demons."

Robin wasn't sure he liked what Kim was saying.

"But what about Alex?" he asked, "How did Simon… 'help' her?"

Kim gave a deep sigh. She hated thinking back to that time of her life.

"Sometimes," she began, her voice wavering, "they were in the right place, at the right time to help them on in a different way. When they died."

Robin could barely speak.

"You can die in that place?"

Kim nodded.

"And they help people to move on when they die. Their souls."

"But Alex," Robin still didn't understand.

Kim looked at him with an intensity in her eyes he'd never seen before. It shook him deep inside.

"She had no pulse," she whispered, "she wasn't breathing. She was dead, Robin, and Simon didn't know what to do. Then he felt it." She hesitated as he stared, "her soul."

Robin turned as white as a sheet from heads to toe. A terrible coldness filled his body.

"What do you mean, her soul?" he whispered.

Kim wished she didn't have to explain this. She had no idea how to put it into words.

"Simon hated it," she whispered, "he hated what he had to do. He didn't want the job. Didn't want what came with it. It can't be a nice thing to do."

"What can't?" Robin desperately wished she would stop beating about the bush and just tell him.

"I guess what happened with Alex was the same as the other times they had to help someone move on." She whispered, "he'd have pulled her onto his lap… held her head in his arms, and felt it. Felt the energy. Felt her starting to rise. And then there was -"

"- A tingle..." There was a lump somewhere between Robin's chest and this throat. It wouldn't go anywhere. Every hair stood on end along the back of his neck and every muscle in his body froze. He tried to swallow but his mouth was so dry he could barely manage it. He was surprised to find himself shaking. He could feel Kim's eyes focused upon him but couldn't quite bring himself to look at her, "..that starts in the hands."

"Robin?"

Kim's one word was as loaded as a whole barrage of questions. Robin tried again to swallow but the lump in his throat wouldn't budge and his voice grew more strained as he whispered.

"And the heat. Around your heart."

Kim felt a shudder through her spine. She swallowed as she stared at the haunted look on his face.

"Robin, what -?" she wasn't sure how to finish her sentence. She wasn't even sure what she was asking.

As though waking from a dream, Robin shook himself and realised what he'd said. He wished he could take that back, the words he'd kept to himself, the strange memories he'd played over and over in his mind since that fateful day out on the road; Alex, Layton, the crash… he closed his eyes and tried to swallow back the anxiety that he was feeling. There was no taking it back. The only way out was to cover it up.

"So…. So what happened with Alex," his words slurred as he tried to force them out quickly.

"Robin –"

"After Simon…. After he let her go?"

"Rob…"

Robin's brow furrowed with distress. He wasn't ready to deal with this yet.

"Please just tell me Kim," he whispered.

Kim hesitated. She felt anxious from Robin's strange words and his nervous manner but she knew this wasn't the time to push it. She took a deep breath and explained;

"Alex… Alex was dead. Her body was dead. Simon isn't sure what happened next. Gene appeared from nowhere, walked away with her and when he came back she was breathing again. Gene never talked about it. I don't even know if he told Alex. That's all I know." She closed her eyes for a second. "But whatever happened… all that energy flying around… what if Keats got caught up in it somehow? What if, when Alex travelled back to ninety five, Keats somehow caught a lift in the other direction?"

"And found a weakened body with a weedy soul that was in no condition to fight him away," Robin finished, shaking.

Kim nodded a little.

"That's all I can think of," she whispered.

"What about Layton?" Robin asked, "did he go to ninety five?"

Kim shook her head.

"No," she said, "Keats woke up eventually. Unfortunately." She gave a deep sigh. "He was never quite the same after his coma. We all thought he'd finally flipped. Kept talking about how he'd been on a lovely holiday. Kept gloating and trying to wind Simon up."

"Simon?" Robin frowned, "what about?"

Kim sighed.

"He just kept saying things like I know something you don't know, and making out he had some kind of deep insight. To be honest he just sounded like he'd lost the plot and everyone ignored him. He kept making out he had all this information but he was being so annoying and cryptic about it that everyone was fed up with him and just thought he was being a twat."

"What kind of information?" frowned Robin.

"To this day I don't know," Kim shook her head, "but at least now I know how he apparently got the 'information'."

Robin tried to take it all in. It seemed like a ridiculous situation.

"What the hell could he have found out that he'd be winding Simon up about?" he frowned, "did he find something at my flat? Simon's old underpants or something?"

Kim frowned.

"Now I'm worried about what kinds of underpants he has," she shuddered.

"There was one pair with the old Thames TV logo on it, but other than that pretty standard," said Robin.

"It wasn't just Simon he wound up," Kim continued, "it was mostly Simon but…" she sighed again. "He used to make strange buzzing noises at Alex, like the worst bee impression ever."

"He – what?" Robin frowned, "are you sure he wasn't just insane?"

"I don't know," said Kim as some awful Wet Wet Wet monstrosity began to play on the radio, "maybe. Maybe he enjoyed a little too much of Layton's favourite sherbet dip while he was over here."

"Over here," Robin repeated, "you really are making it sound like a holiday." They both gave a slight laugh, neither really finding much humour in the situation but feeling a little comfort through at least being there together.

Kim licked her lips. She would have done anything for a few sips of water right then. Her mouth was as dry as sandpaper and her stomach ached with hunger.

"When the hell is he coming back?" she hissed, starting to shiver a little from the cold.

"You want him to come back?"

"The longer he's away, the more chaos he might be causing," Kim pointed out.

Robin nodded slowly. He could see how that would be possible.

"Shit, how the hell did any of this even begin?" he hissed, "and why has no one thought to check the bloody barge?"

"I suppose there have been so many sightings that they're checking the places they know he's been as a priority," Kim sighed, "this whole place is deserted – no one's seen him around here."

"Shit," Robin sighed. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the music that was destroying his will to live. Some of Kim's words played through his mind again. Thoughts of Simon and a car crash made him swallow and shake. He remembered that moment, out on the road; the sound of a car horn and the smell of petrol. For a moment, just a split second, Simon had been there beside him – or he had been there beside Simon.

I was there, his mind screamed to himself, I WAS there. I don't know how, but I crossed over, just for a moment.

For a second he'd been there beside Simon. He'd been with him again, breathing the same air, staring into his eyes.

So why the fuck couldn't he just hold on?

Shit.

~xXx~

Keats swallowed hard as he approached the two men. He watched one of them nudge the other and nod in his direction. What was that supposed to mean? He wasn't sure. He tried to keep his expression neutral as he approached them but with Layton's sweaty, trembling body around him it wasn't easy. Finally he reached their side. They were both taller than he was. Well, taller than Layton anyway. He tried to speak but his voice wouldn't respond. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"W-what have you got?" he asked, feeling like an idiot.

"What have I got?" one of the men turned to him. He reached into his pocket and fumbled around as though trying to locate an item, "well, I've got –"

Before Keats knew what was happening the man withdrew a small object from his pocket and quickly flicked out a sharp blade. It glinted in the streetlight as it began to warm up above them. Keats wasn't sure he'd ever felt such a deep sense of fear before in his life. Or what he ever would again. All he knew for certain was that the look on the faces of the two men left him in no doubt where he would be heading in the next few moments.

Back to where he'd come from – without a souvenir.