The Afterlife

Chapter Eight: The Ride To Dover

"France/Calais: December 2018"

Catherine LeVant dreamed of London every single night, she'd even learnt English without anybody's help, simply because she believed that one day she would go there. Things had been going so well according to plan until two years earlier when both of her parents had died in a ferry accident. Being only thirteen years old 'Cathy' as she liked to be called had been sent to a local orphanage; the place she hated the most. It wasn't long until the two other people who shared her thoughts about the place became her best friends. Marié Dubois, the short auburn haired girl with brown eyes had been ultimately thrilled when hearing about Cathy's plan to go to London, soon enough she started telling everyone to call her 'Mary'. Lucas Chabert on the other hand was not thrilled by the whole London thing but he supported it more than anyone else only because he had a big crush on Cathy, everybody knew it including Cathy but she didn't want to destroy the boy's hopes by telling him that the tall short haired chubby boy was simply not her type.

Finally the time had come; the trio had already escaped from the orphanage, weeks earlier they had used most of their money in buying a small bayrunner 500 inflatable boat from a dying old man at a greatly unreasonable price in their favour, the rest they had used it to buy provisions which would only last a day or two but they didn't really care.

Now they were sitting near the water watching the sun set waiting for the darkness in order to put their boat afloat.

"Guys maybe this isn't such a good idea." Lucas cut in definitely breaking the mood into pieces.

"What are you talking about we've been dreaming about this for our whole lives now it's time..." Cathy said with dreamy eyes.

You've been dreaming about this for your whole life, I'm only here because I can't keep you out of my mind, Lucas wanted to say that out loud but he feared it would cost him the love of his life and his lifetime best friend so he decided against it.

"...or maybe you want to return to the orphanage, you're free to go but you can consider our friendship over."

"Are you blackmailing me?" Lucas asked with a quizzical look

"Is it working?" Cathy asked with a smile knowing fully well that Lucas was too loyal to abandon his best friends.

"I can't believe it's actually working" Lucas sad as he returned the smile then looked at Cathy straight in the eyes; he was definitely in love.

"You two are sweet did you know that?" Mary who had been silent up until then said with a wide grin. Lucas' face became bright red but Cathy just smiled and initiated a group hug which made Lucas turn even brighter red.

"London here we come." Mary exclaimed loudly and her voice echoed in a distance.

"Did anybody say london?"

The trio turned around in surprise, Cathy even let out a small scream only to find two people, a boy and a girl probably not far from her own age standing there looking at them intently. The boy had a wide grin drawn across his face and the girl gave a smile which didn't even show her teeth. Strangely, the two strangers were so much alike that Cathy was ready to bet on the fact that they were twins. Even more strange was the fact that the boy had a wide hole torn in his hoodie revealling his abdomen but he didn't seem to really care.

"Who the he'll are you?" Lucas said stepping in front of Mary and Cathy in a protective way but Cathy simply walked past him and approached the strangers. "Whatever you want we don't have it, even if we did I doubt we would give it to you people."

"Hey-hey no need to get angry. We just happen to be heading to London ourselves." The boy said with his grin which was starting to annoy Cathy seriously.

"And how do you plan on crossing the bay?" Mary asked with more curiosity than contempt.

The boy's grin grew wider which would have sounded impossible to Cathy if she had not seen it herself. "Well my friends, that's where you step in and give us a ride to Dover."

These people were definitely starting to hit a nerve in Cathy's brain and there was no way they would spoil Cathy's perfect plan which she had spent so many years working on. "If you think you can take our boat and destroy our plans then you are greatly mistaken."

"Oh no, we just need a ride to Dover you can come too if you want." The boy said still with the grin.

You can come too if you want. These stupid strangers had just come and they were talking about the boat as if it was already theirs. Cathy swore a silent oath to herself that while she was still alive there was no way she would let them aboard her boat. "Sorry, the boat is too small, it won't hold more than three people and that's that." She said firmly facing the two strangers.

"Forgive my brother's methods of asking, he doesn't know how to say please." Said the girl who had been silent all along, the boy shot her an irritated look but she ignored it making the boy look away with a grin as if he was used to it which he was. "Now please, would you be so kind as to give us a ride to Dover in your boat?"

The girl's voice seemed pretty much genuine and sincere, but Cathy's instincts told her that these people were dangerous, and they didn't have a place on her boat.

"Sorry." She said calmly "But as I told you there is no place for all of us on the boat."

Cathy never saw her coming. Next thing she knew she was being held by the neck with her feet not even touching the ground. Mary gasped and tried to step back only to trip on a piece of wood and fall on her butt, Lucas did the stupidest thing and tried to attack the girl with a punch. She easily caught his arm, turned him around and held it behind his back. Lucas let out a loud involuntary scream as some of his bones crackled from the torsion. The girl then faced Cathy again as she struggled to release herself from the strong grip around but the girl's expression was now cold and ultimately scary as she tightened her grip around Cathy's neck.

"See, this day was not very good for me so I'm in a foul mood. Now let me repeat myself." The girl's expression changed back to sweet with a smile, "would you be so kind as to give us a ride to Dover in your boat?"

"Y-yes." Cathy said weakly trying to keep herself from blacking out. As soon as she said that the girl released her and Lucas.

"I'm glad we could come to an arrangement." The girl said with a smile which would have been described as warm and sweet if nothing had happened only a few moments earlier but something had happened, and it was something that neither Cathy nor his friends would ever forget; the day where they had met the dangerous girl and her brother with an annoying grin and a hole on his hoodie.

"I'm Evelyn by the way, and this is my twin brother Ivan."