Possessed

Chapter 10

It didn't take long to find his house. All we needed was a little help from the internet and the Phone Book (which was really coming in handy for something I hadn't heard of until a year ago), Javan emailed a map and directions to my phone and all that was left was the hard part.

Grovelling.

"Mum?" I asked in that long whiny tone which is always recognised by a parent as a sign of their child wanting something.

"What do you want?" See.

"Well, I was wondering if Javan and I could go down to 'Asben Farm' in Hayfield?"

"Oh sure!"

"Well, because- " I paused. "What?"

"I said sure. It's nice that you're seeing some old friends and you should definitely make the most of spending time with them."

What was that all about?

"Err, yeah. That was totally what I was saying. Well bye."

I shut the door behind myself. "That was easy."

Hayfield was a long way away. My phone said fifteen miles but I'm sure it was missing a few zeros. We were walking all through the day. Although it made my legs ache, it wasn't all that bad. The scenery was beautiful. Whenever Mum, Dad and I drove up to a little pub - The Apple Tree - up north on the way to Hayfield, I savored every last moment. For a start, the food was absolute heaven but mostly the countryside. It was nice to get away from busy city life and just escape.

Javan was talking the whole way. I wasn't listening much. I was just having so many flash backs. Everything was familiar and it felt like I'd been here before... That tree, those houses, even flowers triggered happy thoughts as the sun went down over the moors and the Christmas lights around me started to turn on.

"So what are we gonna say to the house owners?" Javan said as I whirled back into reality.

"Just tell them we're from the CIA and theirs a wild beast coming to attack them and they'll flee," I said in a terrible American accent.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to be very believable in those red spotty wellies."

"Still, I can be scary. I can... be..." I trailed off. I was sure I'd seen that car somewhere as we approached the house.

Javan knocked on the old wooden door. It was a massive farmhouse that had three floors and one hell of a back yard.

Lately I'd been thinking back on all the progress we'd made this week. Everything we'd discovered, lives we'd saved and how ready I was for Jacob's return. But nothing could've prepared me for who I saw when the door opened.

"Annie?" A voice said which I'd heard say my name many times before. My head started ringing. Everything my Mum said made sense now.

"Zach?"

"Oh my god, what are you doing here?" he said wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tightly. He'd gotten stronger since I'd last seen him. And taller. And...

"Hello," Javan interrupted purposely rudely, feeling slightly left out. I'd forgotten about him.

"Oh, sorry. Javan this is Zach. Zach this is Javan. Zach's an old friend from Oakmoor - my old school. And Javan's a new friend from my new school.

After a silence, Zach said, "So Annie. Why are you actually here?"

For a second, I didn't really know anymore.

"Well, one of my Uncles used to live here and ...he wanted us to look around for him." Thanks, Javan. How he comes up with these things on the spot, I will never know. "You see, he grew up here and it's ... really special to him."