Worlds Together

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“You’re sure it was him? Even in the darkness?” Kale repeats with narrowed eyes. We are stood just at the edge of the village now in the fast fading light, just away from any keen ears, but close. I feel cleansed and refreshed in a way I never have before, after that run, and am standing facing the great expanses of gold, my back to the village.

“Completely. He even turned around so I could check. It was almost as if he wanted me to know it was him. Not that he knew I was there, of course.”

Kale looks troubled at this news, knowing that there was a reasonable amount of stuff in that conversation that wasn’t meant for Thompson’s ears. Like the fact that he, and many of the others, were in on some plan to make him jealous. Or that they’ve thought enough about it to give it a proper Operation name. Or that I think he’s a prick.

At first, I’d considered that maybe he’d strayed off of the path by accident into the tall gold stalks, but thinking about it, the paths are so clearly cut from the gold stuff, that you’d have to try quite hard to get lost. Or, as I assume he did, our friend Mr Thompson could have simply followed the path from inside the tall spires to hear what we had to say. Fantastic.

“So,” Kales starts talking suddenly, his body tenses and his face becomes wary. “What exactly was it that they taught you about the shape of the world where you come from?” This pathetic conversation starter leaves me bewildered, but his eyes plead for me not to question him.

I begin to answer, very confused. “Well, they, err, they said it was hemispherical, like half a ball...” As I'm talking none other than Dylan Thompson himself appears from behind me and begins to talk to Kale. Everything becomes clear – the tension, the wariness, the sudden change in conversation (which was kind of key, considering it was him we were talking about).

“Kaleb, m’boy!” He’s smirking, Kale is glowering. I thought Kale was his full name. Kale definitely suits him better than Kaleb. “Griffiths wants you, up in the main building.” The fact that Kale is now scowling at him does not help to reinforce ‘he’s actually a really cool guy’ or whatever it was Kale tried to tell me.

The frown falls and the beginnings of a smirk form on Kale’s face, but he stops them just in time, saying “Well, I’ll leave you guys to it, then.” With that, he turns on his heel and walks quickly away, leaving the two of us in a silence that will obviously become painfully awkward if it is left too long. Thankfully, the rude man before me cuts it nice and short.

“I’ve gotta go.” Not even a ‘bye’. Why Kale seems to think this guy is in love with me, I don’t know.

With no clue what to do now, I follow after Kale towards the main building where I have lived for the past few weeks. However, I never reach it as I am intercepted by a heavy lump flying across my path. He runs straight into me and I end up sprawling sideways, finishing squished under him. Did I mention how heavy he was? Very. “Mmpff!” I grunt, my torso compressed and my mouth covered.

“Beckyyyy!” Jeez Louise! Seriously, Jem is more like a baby brother than a best friend. Even before I came here I spent most of my time with him looking after him – either feeding him, or introducing him to new friends, or teaching him words. And to think, he’s only a little younger than me! Definitely not enough to warrant the behaviour of a child. But that’s just what he acts like – a huge, heavy, strong, overgrown child!

“Mmpff!” I grunt again, still barely able to breathe. I wriggle about a bit, trying to escape, but the most I can do is free my mouth. This is still enough to gain me some grounds though. “Jeremy Anderson, get off of me right now!” I'm pretty proud of that demand, considering it uses up the little air that is left in me.

“Oh, sorry!” He answers lightly, springing to his feet and offering me a hand up. Ignoring the hand offered, I continue to lie on the floor and get my breath back. It takes a couple of minutes. I was very squished.

“God’s sake Jem! You could just say hi like normal people!” I can’t  believe that Kale implied that he was normal earlier!

“Normal people are boring! You wouldn’t love me as much if I just said hi everyday...”

“I would love you just as mif you just said hi – in fact I’d probably love you more.”

His eyes become huge and sad, and he looks at me like a scolded child. It doesn’t quite work, since he actually has to look down on me. “You don’t love me?” he says in a small voice.

Sigh. He’s such a child. “Of course I love you baby.” I end up in a silly voice and squidging his cheeks, which again, is strange since he is a lot taller than me. Despite the weirdness of the situation, he seems satisfied, which means he is less likely to be as childish. Although it may not seem like it, he can actually be a very mature and sensible adult. You just need to catch it before it disappears again. “Jem?”

“Mmmm...”

“Can I ask you a question that you probably won’t know the answer to?”

“Why do you always assume that I won’t know the answer?” He whines.

“How long do I get to stay in the apartment-thing?”

“Funnily enough, I'm not as stupid as you think-”

“You know I don’t think you’re stupid, Jem,” I answer wearily, the day of running and thinking catching up with me.

“Anyway, I said you should live with us, but then Kale reminded me that-”

“Then I reminded him that ‘us’ includes me, him and Dylan.” Kale’s voice comes from behind me, in the direction of the main building Dylan sent him to earlier. I don’t bother turning round.

“So where am I going to stay?”

It’s Jem who answers this time. “Well, each house has room for four-”

“Four?! You only have four people in each house?!” I look out at the houses in the village. “These houses?!” They nod in sync. “In the cities we’d have twenty people in there!” Once the shock in me has settled down, I realise that I interrupted while Jem was answering my question. “Sorry, carry on.”

“Don't worry. That’s crazy.” After a moment it clicks that he’s responding to my outburst, and I realise that Doc wasn’t joking. The city and the countryside really are like two different worlds. Except Jem came from my world... “So yeah, we were gonna ask Fiona and Rose if you could stay with them, because they live together, but their house could fit four...” He trails off at this point, because he notices me. The way I'm suddenly looking at him, somewhere between suspicious and confused. “Bex are you okay? Becca?”

“Where are you from, Jem?” My voice is shaky, along with the rest of my body.

He laughs nervously. “What d’you mean?”

“Where do you come from?” He falls silent. “Which world. Mine or this one?”

When he answers, I can barely hear him – his voice is barely a whisper. “This one.” The cool breeze suddenly feels cold on my bare arms, with my sleeves rolled up.

“Then why were you in my world?” I have a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach, a kind of suspicious revelation, more of a conspiracy theory, really. “Was it all part of the plan?” When he looks away my stomach falls and my throat thickens. Jem. My Jem. It was all part of the plan. “Jem?” He won’t even make eye contact. “Okay. You don’t have to say anything. Just nod or shake your head. Were you sent over to my world to make friends with me as a kid as part of some master plan?” It sounds ridiculous, and what I’d really love right now is for Jem and Kale to both keel over laughing at how silly I sound. But they don’t. He nods. A single, sharp movement of his head that sends my whole world into turmoil. The one thing I’d always counted on, the only person I could always rely on, just confirmed that everything we'd had had been fake. Even his devastated puppy eyes couldn't fool me this time. My best friend is gone. Now I have no one. The blue-white lights of the main building go blurry, and the darkness of the nighttime starts to take over, until finally it takes me and I fall. Unconsciousness is so much kinder than reality.