Who Does Raychel Nevada Think She Is?

Chapter 2 - Static and silence

The police had taken her straight to her Nan's. On the drive over they had spoken to her in low, friendly voices. Nan had given her an awkward hug at the door and Raychel had been stiff in her arms. The two police officers, an older woman and a younger man had spent time in the kitchen talking with Nan. Raychel sat on the black leather sofa, her dead phone in her hand. It had been fully charged before the journey, but now the screen was grey and it wouldn't turn on. She had no idea where the charger was. The police had taken the car away. She had her bag, so it might be in there. Then again, it could be rolling around the boot for all she knew. Or even at home.

There was a grey and terrible fizz like an out of tune tv channel in Raychel's head that wouldn't go away. I am in shock, she thought. But surely if she was in shock, she wouldn't know it herself. Wasn't it like being mad – if you thought you were mad, then you definitely weren't? Dad had said something like that once.

The police went after a while, saying they'd be back again tomorrow to see how she was getting on, call if there was any news, and said something about interviewing her if she felt up to it, blah-de-blah.

It was all over the news. Round and round, again and again, the same reports, the same shaky camera-phone footage; the same so-called experts. A statement from the Prime Minister even. But no one's camera had been trained on their car of course to see what'd happened. Everyone had been looking up at the sky. And no-one else had been reported missing.

Nan hadn't really wanted her to watch the news, but Raychel reckoned Nan hadn't minded in the end; it gave her a chance to keep an eye on Raychel from the comfort of her usual armchair. Raychel could see how red-rimmed Nan's eyes were from crying. Plus Nan had been drinking again. Raychel could smell it on her. She didn't blame Nan, not tonight anyway.

'Oh, Raychel. I don't know what to say. You must be feeling awful. They can't have gone far can they? Surely the police will find them. We'll just have to hope.'

Raychel couldn't speak. Words were in her head, but she couldn't get them out. She realised she hadn't spoken since the thing in the sky had shown up. Shown up and taken her Daddy and sister away. It was obvious that was what had happened. They were dead. It was her fault, she knew. If she hadn't taken so long to get ready this morning, they would've probably gotten to Nan's before the thing had appeared, been miles away from the motorway, and none of this would've happened. Instead, they'd all be watching this on the news, amazed and excited, dinner on their laps, pizza probably. Dad loved sci-fi, ghosts and weird stuff like that. True,Trixie would've gotten bored of it after ten minutes, then they'd have had to watch one of her awful kids's DVDs to shut her up. Raychel might even have teased her by calling her by her real name, Patricia.

'Raychel, are you okay? Please talk to me. I'm worried about you. Do you want something to eat? Should I call one of your friends?'

Raychel closed her eyes and wished. But it didn't come true. Everything was the same when she opened her eyes.

Nan said, 'Have you heard anything from your Mum at all?'

That did it. Something finally broke inside Raychel. She leapt up.

'Shut up about Mum! You're always going on about her. She's gone all right. Deal with it. I have to. I'm going to bed. Leave me alone!' Raychel swore and threw her phone at the TV. It just missed but hit the wall next to it with a smack and bounced off. She thumped up the stairs and didn't look back. She could hear Nan crying behind her though and as she burst through the door and fell on her bed in the spare room, she saw Trixie's empty bed made up neatly next to her. Finally, her own hot tears came and she cried quietly at first before exploding into noisy sobs that shook her and turned her head to a streaming, throbbing and bunged-up mess. She buried her head under the pillow and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Morning. Raychel sat up and for a few seconds everything was normal until the memories crashed back into her head. Her heart thumped and her eyes felt crusty and sore. She had no idea what the time was but she had to find Nan and see if there was any news about Dad and Trixie. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Her mind immediately started to replay what had happened in the car yesterday. Up to a point, it was ok, but like a DVD she only wanted it to go so far, and pressed the pause button a few seconds before it happened. She felt bad about shouting at Nan last night, but Nan should've realised bringing Mum up at a time like this was the worst possible thing to do. Why everyone thought Raychel knew what'd happened to mum was anyone's guess. Ok, she'd been the last to see her, but apart from that, she had no idea where – or why – she'd disappeared. There had been a few emails and texts from her and then nothing. That'd been a couple of years ago now. Dad's theory was that she wanted to go off and spend some time by herself. Raychel's theory was that she had gotten too stressed and couldn't take it anymore. Raychel didn't blame herself though. Maybe a bit. It was probably mostly Trixie and Dad's fault.

Still in last night's clothes, Raychel went to the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror. Not good. Puffy eyes, skanky hair, a new spot on her chin. Great.

She padded downstairs and found Nan sitting in her usual armchair listening to music on the radio, hands clasping a cup of tea. Nan had a faraway look in her eyes but gave a weak smile when she saw Raychel.

Raychel sat on the sofa near Nan.

'How are you this morning, Raychel? Did you sleep ok? I checked on you but you were out cold.'

'Any news about Dad or Trixie?'

'Sorry, nothing. I keep checking the phone to make sure it's properly on. I haven't watched the news this morning, don't think I could stand it.'

'What time is it?'

'Half eleven. Do you want this back? I think it's ok.'

Nan held out Raychel's mobile. Raychel took it, amazed it was still in one piece.

'Yeah, thanks.'

'There's bread in the kitchen if you want it, you know where everything is.'

Raychel wasn't hungry, so  she took a bag of crisps from the kitchen cupboard and chocolate from the tin then went back up to her room and sat on her bed. She put her breakfast on her bedside table.

She pressed her phone's on button, fully expecting the screen to stay dead. It didn't. The phone company logo came on followed by the little tune. She thought the battery would've been flat  still even if last night's wall smashing episode hadn't killed it off anyway.

Whatever else happened today, at least she could look through her photos and texts; maybe even try and get an internet signal though  it was always difficult at Nan's, another reason she got fed up with coming. Weirdly the battery signal was now showing full strength.

Text arriving beeps were followed by the little envelope symbol appearing on the screen. She clicked to open her new messages.

There were a few random texts from friends, one even from the ex-boyf, a couple of junk texts, the usual. Then at the very top of the list, one popped up from her dad: Frog-eyed Dadlington according to her contacts list. She frowned at first then started to smile - he was alive! Was he okay though? What about Trixie?

She took a deep breath and opened the message.

****