Chapter 3 for you all, enjoy.
Chapter 3
Jenny closed the door behind her as she returned home after her run. Taking Lola off her lead the dog followed her mistress to bathroom door which was downstairs adjacent to the kitchen. Lola took her usual spot by the back door to guard against intruders. Although she was a small Labrador Lola could bark and yell with the big dogs, and Jenny was very glad of her company. Jenny slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower, and was soon feeling the warmth of the water cascading down her body. She slipped her hair from its band, and let it fall down her shoulders. When the Matthew's had found her, her hair was incredibly long; so long in fact it was almost annoying. Jenny cut it shorter a few months after she arrived in the village, so that it now fell to the top of her shoulders. She began humming to herself as she showered; songs from her run continued to play in her mind.
Once Jenny had washed herself and her hair, she wrapped herself in a warm and fluffy towel and left the bathroom. Lola lifted her head slightly as Jenny passed her on her way back upstairs to get changed. Jenny walked up the stairs to her room passing the spare room she used as a study, and occasionally a spare room if April ever had arguments with boyfriends and needed to cool off, which was a lot of the time, and entered her bedroom. She pulled open her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of dark blue jeans and her favourite t-shirt, a grey top with the batman symbol in the middle and quickly dressed. Slipping her feet into a pair of sandals she walked back to the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Lola barked and Jenny poured her food into a bowl for the dog, who barked an appreciation and began her breakfast. Jenny took her bowl and slipped to the table where she booted up her laptop and began the mammoth task of marking her student's books.
At around lunchtime Jenny's mobile rang. Lifting her head from the pile of books, Jenny squinted at the screen trying to see the ID of the caller. She smiled when she realised who was on the end of the phone.
"April, if you need a place to sleep for the night, I don't think I'm gonna be a good choice at the moment."
Nice to speak to you too sis, I'm fine thanks for asking." Jenny laughed.
"Sorry, hello April, how nice to hear from you."
"Thank you that's much better, so what you doing?"
"I'm up to my eyeballs in marking and lesson plans." April let out a noise.
"Well now is the time for fun. How long have you been marking?"
"All morning."
"Then how about lunch? I'll buy." Jenny's stomach growled.
"That sounds like heaven, where shall I meet you."
"How about outside your front door?" April said sheepishly. Jenny leapt from the table and threw open her front door to find her sister sitting in her car, with the window open smiling at her as she waved her phone at Jenny. Jenny laughed.
"Come on let's go." April shouted.
"Let me just grab my bag."
"Bring Lola!" April shouted after her as Jenny ran back into the house.
Jenny emerged a few minutes later with a brown bag over her shoulder Lola running alongside her. Jenny slipped Lola's lead into the bag and pulled on her khaki military style jacket. She locked the door and opened the car door. Lola leapt in the car, and Jenny shut the door after the dog, and slipped in the front seat next to her sister.
"How does Joan's sound?"
"Sounds delicious."
April and Jenny chatted non stop in the short journey to the car park, where April pulled up and parked the car. Clipping Lola on her lead the girls walked the last little way to reach the coffee shop.
"Why don't we sit outside?" April asked. Jenny agreed, and so she and Lola stayed outside whilst April went in and ordered their lunches. She soon returned with 2 cups of fresh lemonade which they enjoyed in the heat of the summer sun. A few minutes later one of the waitresses appeared with their lunch.
"Hi Miss." She said. Jenny recognised her instantly as one of the girls in the top year at her school.
"Hello Francesca, how are you enjoying working here?"
"It's great miss, and I can earn some extra pocket money." April and Jenny laughed as Francesca went back inside and they began their lunch, still chatting.
"So are you coming to mum and dads for Sunday lunch?"
"And miss out on mum's famous apple pie, I don't think so." Jenny replied.
"Mmmmm that is a good pie." April laughed. Lola barked in an agreement that set the girls off laughing again.
They ordered another lemonade each and sat about chatting for a few more hours, before they were interrupted by a voice.
"You got the hermit out of her cave!" April and Jenny turned and spotted Oscar and Jake walking towards them with their children Lois and Ben (Oscar's kids) and Jodie (Jake's little girl). The kids let out a squeal and ran to their aunties, instantly climbing on their laps. Jake and Oscar grabbed some more chairs and joined the girls at their table.
"Well I've got to get April out at some point!" Jenny said with a glint in her eyes.
"He was talking about you!" April called back. The kids laughed.
"Can I have a drink please daddy?" Jodie asked.
"Me too dad!" Ben and Lois yelled together.
"Let me." Jenny said getting up and lifting Lois with her. The little girl squealed and hugged her aunt. "What do you all want?"
"Lemonade!" They chorus's together.
Jenny laughed and slipped into the cafe with Lois still in her arms.
"Hi, can I get 7 lemonades please?" Jenny said to the girl behind the counter. She grabbed a tray from under the till and began placing glasses onto it whilst Jenny put Lois down and pulled her purse from her bag. After paying for the drinks, Lois took one in each hand whilst Jenny expertly balanced the tray and took it outside. She placed it on the table and 6 pairs of hands reached out and grabbed a glass each. Jenny laughed.
The group spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and sipping their drinks. Jenny was laughing at something Jake had said; when out of the comer of her eye she spotted something. It was a woman with a very brightly coloured bag, so bright in fact the colours hurt her eyes. Suddenly she stopped laughing and felt her body being pulled back to another time and place.
She saw a man in a brightly coloured robe and a very long white beard walking down a corridor. He seemed to be talking to someone; someone Jenny saw was a small girl, with black hair. 'Is that me?' She thought to herself. Suddenly the pair stopped in front of a stone statue of a bird, its wings spread wide. The man seemed to mutter something which Jenny couldn't hear before the statue moved to reveal a long staircase, to which the pair entered.
"Jenny?!" Oscar called out gently shaking her shoulder. Jenny shook her head and suddenly she was back at the table with her family looking at her, worried expressions on their faces.
"Did you have another one of your visions Jen?" Oscar asked his hand still on her shoulder. Francesca suddenly came outside with a glass of water which she passed to Jake.
"Joan told me to give you this." She said with a confused expression. She suddenly spotted Jenny.
"Are you ok miss?"
"She's fine kiddo. Tell Joan thank you for this." Jake said, and Francesca slowly slipped back inside the cafe. Jake passed the glass to a shaking Jenny, who took it gratefully. It was a while before she spoke.
"I'm fine." She said. Lois, who was still sitting on Jenny's lap, turned and gave her a hug. Jenny hugged back. She nodded towards her siblings, and they knew that was her cue that she wanted to go home.
Later that night, after Jenny had convinced her family she was ok, and they had left, she was curled up on her sofa, Lola resting her head in Jenny's lap. Jenny had a worn brown leather notebook in her hands, and was scribbling away as if her life depended on it.
"I think that's it Lola." She said to the dog. "All I can remember from this afternoon."
Her 'visions' as the family called them, had started about 2 years ago just as Jenny was finally beginning to feel settled in her home. Each time it would be a short scene often filled with different people and places. Her first one had been simply once when she had heard Lola bark. Suddenly she was staring at a scene in front of her of two children playing with a dog. One girl had long black hair the other was a red head. All of her visions involved Jenny seeing things from above as if she was a ghost floating in the sky. She never saw faces or heard any voices, just people. Once she had seen the first vision she was dragged back to reality by Lola licking her face, as it seemed she had passed out, or collapsed onto her kitchen floor. She quickly grabbed the first scrap of paper she could find and scribbled down everything she had seen. After the visions became more frequent she bought her notebook and began writing them into it to keep all the visions in one place. The worst vision so far had come when she was teaching. She was suddenly over come with a vision of a girl being attacked by a bright green light from somewhere she couldn't see. The light seemed to hit the girl and as it did Jenny felt a sharp and very painful pain in her chest. It seemed to go on for longer than any vision she had had before, and it only ended with another teacher calling her name, as she had again passed out, and her worried students had ran to get help.
Jenny flicked through the book, trying to make sense of her latest vision. She was sure that the woman's brightly coloured bag had set it off, as her visions were mainly triggered by things she saw or heard. Jenny sighed and placed the book to one side.
"What does it all mean Lola?" The dog cocked her head. She hated to see her mistress in distress. Lola licked Jenny's hand. Jenny sighed again.
"Come on." She said. "Maybe a good night's sleep is what we both need." Jenny grabbed her book, and after locking up the house and turning all the lights off, made her way upstairs, got changed into her pj's, cleaned her teeth and slipped into bed, Lola curling up in her usual spot by Jenny's feet. Jenny was a sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
And there's chapter 3 for you all. As usual please read and review, and enjoy.
Bethxx