She thrust the rabbit toward me, its big bouncing ears flopping into my hands. I stroked him and he was beautiful, brown fur with big pink ears and massive feet and a cotton white tail, with of course those golden eyes. I turned to hand Rufus back to lily, placing him softly in her arms. She smiled as she touched my finger tips, to say thank you, but as she touched me there was nothing there, I couldn’t feel her, I could only see her skin fade through my fingers into nothing.
Chapter Eight
A gasp escaped my lips. I looked down at my fingers a golden light danced around my fingers, making each finger shine as bright as the flickers of candle light in a dark room. I waved my fingers, moving one at a time, the glow was a warm, pleasant feel, yet it unsettled me an awful lot.
Giggling interupted my thoughts making me look away from my hands, and into Lily’s eyes, they were shining just like my hands were. I could feel goosebumps rising from the small of my back right up to the nape of my neck. Lily lifted her left hand up and with a gappy smile, she her first finger to her second, her second then to her third, and her third finger to her pinky.
“Alfie tought me that,” she said expectantly, “you can do it too, can’t you?”
My mouth fell open a little, the goosebumps making me want to shake, but I refused to show my fear to this little girl, to Alfie’s little sister, I gave a hesitant nod, not trusting myself to say anything. My mouth always let me down. Alfie was the only one I told. The only one I could tell anything to.
As I lifted my left hand up, it was still glowing, my fingers were more golden than pale anymore and the light was trailing up to my wrist. Lily went to touch my right arm, taking steps closer to me, the hair on my arm could feel her little fingers, but there was no sensation of touch.
“It’s okay Bethy, this will make it all better.”
I looked at her stunned. I moved my first finger closer to my second.
**
“WHERE IS SHE?”
“I, I don’t know... I... She’s not here, I promise, it’s only me here.”
Beth was sat behind the washing machine, with her dolly, Rose. She was told to be as quiet as she could be. Her mother had to talk to the man. But he couldn’t know that Beth was in the house.
“YOU’RE LYING! I’m going to have to punish you now...”
**
I looked back at my fingers, two together, two apart. Lily placed her left hand opposite mine, almost touching. Her little hand had two fingers together and two apart, they were bathed in the golden light that now reached up to the circle of freckles on my elbow.
She smiled Alfie’s half smile at me, we moved our middle finger to our ring finger at the same time.
It made a ‘W’ shape with our hands together.
**
The crackly radio was on a half way station between the noise and country music.
“Today a woman was found,”
“Love is a burning thing”
“in the back of a white transit van,”
“bound by wild desire”
“We suspect she was murdered, due to the situation and the bruised appearance of the woman.”
“I fell in to a ring of fire”
“She has been identified as Elisabeth Collins.”
“I went down,down,down and the flames went higher.”
**
One single, solitary tear pushed its way out of my eye, trickling down my cheek, I let it fall.
We watched it as it dripped from my face and landed just above the tip of Lily’s ring finger, we moved together, middle finger to ring finger.
**
“Bethy, sweety, you have to be strong. If your mother was here now, she wouldn’t want you to be sad would she?”
“If my mother was HERE, I WOULDN’T BE SAD WOULD I?”
“We have to take you somewhere safe now though sweety. But we need your co-operation.”
“You think you’re gonna get my co-operation?”
**
Ring finger was now touching pinky. I smiled at Lily as much as I could,.she smiled back, with all the innocence of a child. I felt the warmth had risen from my elbows, to all the way up my arms, up my neck and down toward my heart.
“Bethy, will you come with me now. Alfie wants to see you again.”
I looked away from my hand, hers was no longer with mine. So I looked at her face, it glowed as much as my skin was.
“Yes.” Was all I could muster.
“It might be a little scary, but we can look after each other, can’t we Beth?”
“Yes.”
She walked toward the door.
YOU ARE READING
Haunting Eyes
RomanceIt had all changed, this never happened, not to me, not with him. We were alone, together on this busy, bustling street in London, his golden eyes they stared at me like they never did before. They stared at me like I was no longer Beth, I was his...
