Waking Shadows

Chapter 13 Paper cup

Chapter 13

Paper cup

“Hey, I thought we were travelling—as in trees, tents . . . ya know, camping? Not car travelling!”

“We are. We are on our way to the others. They are meeting us at our starting point. I am leaving the car behind, Marcus will collect it.

“And where’s the starting point?” I continued, curiously.

“A little way up from the harbour. We will be making our way through the whole of England, Anna, up to Scotland—almost as far away from Devon as we can go. Any further and we will be crossing the North Sea. We are going to the North West, so it is going to be a long journey. It is a place I have never travelled to before so I am very happy to do so now. I am sure you will enjoy the freedom, Anna.”

“I don’t feel very free,” I uttered quietly. He either didn’t hear or chose to ignore it. I was glad. I didn’t want our journey to start of negatively.

   I knew we would be travelling through places I’d never seen before and I wasn’t going to see them now – only the forests that they inhabit. We came up to the junction that led to the harbour where Lyndon used to work. He kept on driving ahead. I sat back thinking . . . trying to avoid looking at him, but I couldn’t stop myself. He was concentrating deeply on the road, so I wasn’t put off of looking for his lack of awareness at my behaviour. I saw a piece of paper lying in the compartment underneath the disc player. It was the address we were aiming to travel to. A place called the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. An address I’d stared at for months. An address I’d discarded, and by doing so, I also abandoned the chance or desire to meet another half sibling. The desire right now wasn’t any more within me than it was then, although I was starting to get curious. Meeting her seemed like a life time away. I had to experience something that was a bigger deal beforehand – my roots. This was who I was meant to be. This would be my ultimate test to see if I truly was a Collingwood at heart.

   Lyndon parked the car behind a storage facility that was in use. Men were lugging barrels on a forklift truck. It was noisy, but the beautiful long and wide open fields forced me to feel tranquil, and I saw the heat rising and waving the harder I stared into the distance.

“Are you sure you can leave it here?” I asked, knowing it obviously was okay as Lyndon wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t.

“Yes. Wait there, I will be right back.” He’d already taken our luggage out of the boot and left it down by the side of the car. He walked to meet the man who was supervising at the double doors to the storage base. I stood there watching after him, seeing him hand something to the supervisor. They shook hands, exchanged some words, and Lyndon made his way back to me.

“What was all that about?”

“I gave him the keys. He knows Marcus and is expecting him in a couple of hours.”

“Oh,” I replied, not knowing what to do or say next. It felt strange, us being here together. The situation was surreal.

“Here, let me help you with this.” He picked up my backpack, came to the side of the car and stood near me. I held my arms out and he rested the straps of the backpack gently on my shoulders. It felt heavy so I shuffled my arms to get comfortable.

“Not to worry, Anna. You will get used to it.” He laughed sympathetically as he clipped the belt snugly around my waist.

“I guess I’ll have to.” I smiled. Within five seconds, his bag was on and fastened and we were ready to go.

“Come on then, Anna. Let’s go and find the others.” He held out his hand and smiled warily. I took it with as much caution, and then realised it was probably so I walked at his pace rather than my own with the speed he was going. We entered the woods and our journey began.