Barcrow's: Codename K9

Chapter forty - Olivia

'YOU DON'T KNOW WHEN YOUR BIRTHDAY IS!!!'

He, he...

'When do you celebrate it then? And don't tell me you don't.'

'Well...'

'Alright. I say we decide on a date right now. Who's in?'

'Ok?'

'I'm in.'

'Mm...'

'So, any ideas? It shouldn't be close to Christmas...'

'How about the first of April? Nah, just kidding.'

'Not during the summer, 'cause then her school friends won't be able to go to her party.'

'I don't have any school friends.' not anymore.

'You will. So. Summer and winter are out! Autumn or Spring?'

'Spring.'

'And the month?'

'Ooo! Can we make it April? Please?'

'Sure...'

'How do we decide the day?' Debi scratched her head.

'Numarology?' Celeste suggested.

'How does that work?' Tina asked in a confused tone.

'Each letter has a number and we just add them together. Play with the numbers.'

'Huh?'

'Look.' She took out a notepad. 'E is five, l is three and a is one.' She wrote it out. 'Elaine right?'

'Aha.'

Elaine=531955=28=10=1

'So the first?' Abi asked what seemed obvious. 'April fools Day?'

'Or the tenth, nineteenth or twenty eighth... They'd all equal one.'

'Pick one!'

'Ok? ...The twenty eighth sounds fine?'

'Then it's settled! Your birthday's on the 28th of April... Which year? How old are you again?'

'Twelve... I think...'

'Ya think?' Abi slapped her forehead. 'You've got some serious problems, you know.'

*

The night was long but peaceful.

Ellie woke to the sound of Abi's quiet sobs. What's wrong with her? She looked around before carefully climbing down.

The sun shined through the open balcony door.

Celeste was sitting in a corner of her bed with her eyes closed, but she wasn't asleep.

Debi sat stroking the sobbing girl's hair.

'What's going on?' Ellie tried to ask gently.

'They found Olivia...' Her voice trailed off as tears came to her eyes.

'Oh.' She understood. It made sense really. 'Sorry.'

There was no reply so she went to the toilet and back to "her" bed. (Onesies are bad for going to the toilet.)

Time passed slowly. Tina stayed out on the balcony.

It was finally time to go. She changed out of her pyjamas and into some more acceptable clothes, new jeans and a nice hoodie.

'I can't take the shoes. There's no more space in my bag.'

Abi hugged her tight. 'I'll miss you.' She was still sad.

Geez, I've only been here a day. 'I'll miss you too.'

'Stay safe.' Tina managed a weak smile.

'And don't forget to write to us.' Debi added.

'I'll come with you.' Celeste slipped off her bed and put on her shoes.

'Bye!'

The door closed and Celeste let out a sigh.

'You ok?'

'Yeah. I needed to get out of there.'

'Do they know you can talk to ghosts?'

'Why do you think I can? I never told you.'

'Oh, er...' Everything got hot all of a sudden.

She laughed. 'Sorry, I couldn't not do that. Yeah, they know. They don't know about you though.'

'So you knew? And you said nothing?'

'I thought we already established that I'm not much of a talker.' She smiled.

She's in an exceptionally good mood. That's not normal.

'Were you the one with all those colours yesterday?'

'During the mission?' She giggled. 'Probably. I'm surprised you felt that.'

'What happened? With Olivia, I mean.'

Her smile faded. 'They told us it was quick.' She shook her head. 'She was tortured and cut up.'

'Did she tell you?'

She smiled emptily. 'Nah, they never tell me stuff like that. Debi asked me to take a look at her picture. I can tell how someone died from their photo. I feel it.'

'You felt that?' She asked, almost horrified.

'Yeah. I'm used to it. Luckily, I feel these things -like a memory. What really hurts is my soul.'

'How come you're in such a good mood then?'

'I'm not, I'm not sad though. I don't miss people, or things. There was a time I forgot how to feel. I had to learn how to react to things all over again.' She smiled. 'Just a while ago, one of my best friends told me how creepily empty my smile and my laugh are, even though I thought I was doing alright.'

'I guess, those who see through your smile are your true friends.'

'I don't know. I know who I can trust. For a long time there were just people I talked to and people I didn't talk to. I gave up on friendship a long time ago, and yet, I have friends now. But it feels weird calling them that.'

They walked into the elevator.

'There's one person in my class who sees through everything, I hate her. I let down my guard for a bit and she's already asking whether everything's alright. If she just kept it to herself it wouldn't be so annoying. She thinks she's my friend and I'm not gonna burst her bubble. I don't plan on making any enemies, I've still got to spend three years with them. I've learnt that saying nothing or "I'm tired" won't convince her, but telling her something that sounds like a reason (like a test or something) she'll leave me be, that is, after a lecture or two on her advice.'

They got out of the elevator.

'What I'm trying to say is people who notice might not be as close as you think.'

'You sure you're ok? You don't usually talk so much.'

She smiled but Ellie felt a pang of annoyance. 'Yeah.'