4 December 2014

Craig wasn't certain what woke him up. He looked around the room. Some reflections from the street lights were coming through the curtains but nothing could be heard apart for Siobhan's light snores where she lay next to him, closer to the wall. He moved her arm that was strangely tangled around his right arm, and quietly got out of bed. He reached out for his T-shirt and pyjama bottoms and got dressed. He looked out of the window. There was no traffic but he thought he saw some movement by the pond. He wasn't certain though. Perhaps it was just a plastic bag or something blowing in the wind.

He dropped the curtain and walked back towards the bed. As he was about to sit down, he changed his mind and headed for the door. Probably best to have some water and pee, he thought to himself.

A few minutes later he came out of the bathroom. He felt a sudden urge for a glass of whiskey and as he didn't want to wake anyone, he decided it'd be best to go down to the bar, putting on Jack's slippers before leaving the flat.

Once downstairs, he poured himself a glass and walked towards the windows. There were still no cars to be seen or heard, no bus driving past. It was as if he was alone in the world. He took a drink and just as he leaned back his head and slightly closed his eyes, he was certain he saw a movement somewhere in the semi-darkness.

He left the glass on a nearby table and moved towards the door and unlocked it. He opened it and walked outside, in the direction of the movement.

Why am I doing this? he thought to himself, have I never seen a horror film? Still, he didn't return for the warm safety of the Dog. The cold didn't affect him. He reached the pond and made his way in a clockwise direction around it. He still couldn't see anyone.

Suddenly he slipped on the slightly frozen humidity around the pond and reached out for something in order to regain his balance. He didn't fully succeed, but managed to grab a wooden post and slow down the fall so it didn't hurt as much when his behind hit the concrete tiles.

He thought he heard a small giggle and looked up and around him. He couldn't see anything but as he moved his hand to get a better grip on the wooden post to pull him up he could feel the carving underneath his fingers. He didn't really need to read it to know what it said, but did so all the same.

CD 3 SB

He traced the S with his left index finger and smiled to himself as he reflected on their final conversation, at this exact spot more than six years ago. He remained sitting there for a few minutes. As he stood up and turned around to walk back to the pub, he knew there was a smiling face reflecting in the water.

"John Paul! John Paul! Talk to me!" The pleading man kept following the young blond man down the village high street.

John Paul didn't stop, but just continued his walk. "You know there's nothing left for us to talk about, Danny! You chose your wife and that's fine. We're colleagues, nothing more. We talk together at work if we have to, and that's it. I have nothing more to say to you!"

The older man didn't give up and kept on begging his former lover to just listen to him, to give him another chance.

"Are you deaf?" A forceful dark-haired woman in her mid-twenties suddenly appeared on the scene. "He said he didn't have anything else to say to you. So leave!" She positioned herself straight in front of the older man and blocked his procession. Lowering her voice to a whisper she added, "Danny, for the last time, get over it. You made your choice. The whole village knows how you treated John Paul both before and after what happened. Have the decency to back off and take care of the mess of a family you have left." She raised her voice again, "Now, scram!"

The grey-haired drama teacher finally threw in the towel and turned away, although not before calling out, "You know where to find me, John Paul. I'm not giving up!"

The younger man had stopped upon the arrival of his old friend, and waited for her to join him.

"You're amazing, Nancy. Did you by chance tame lions in a former life?" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and hugged her. "I'm so tired of this… him. I just wanna get on with my life, move on. I mean, he's like this once … twice a week, and then in between, he doesn't see me. Guess his wife's out of town today. Work is like, you know, and now …"

"And now Craig's back." Nancy finished where her friend's voice had trailed off. "With a girlfriend in tow. Can't be easy … for either one … for any of the three of you for that matter." She hooked his right arm in her left as the proceeded their walk to the McQueen home. "Back in the day, did you expect grown-up life would be even more difficult than the teenage years?" She asked with a sigh.

"Nope! Not even after having experienced my own family." He couldn't help but giggle. "How deluded we were!"

"I know." She laughed before becoming more serious. "So, still having nightmares?"

John Paul felt the familiar embarrassment of the topic. "Yes, I'm still having them. Although there was a slight change yesterday, according to my mum."

"What do you mean? How can she know what you're dreaming?" Nancy looked at him with curiousity.

He shrugged his shoulders before replying. "I mean, I know I fell asleep yesterday afternoon, and she said I did have the nightmare, but I didn't wake up from it. She said that after she came to my room I all of a sudden calmed down, and by the time I awoke, I was fine. I don't remember any dreaming at all, just feeling…" He felt himself blushing as he stopped speaking.

"What do you mean? What were you feeling?" His friend suddenly realised what he meant. "Ooh, okay. That must have been embarrassing, with your mum there."

"I guess. Still, it beats crying and shouting, doesn't it?" He half-smiled at her and raised his eyebrows.