Hello Me

Chapter 5

Jen placed the steaming bowl of pasta in front of Ellie and grated some parmesan cheese over the top. It smelled divine, and cheered Ellie up just a little. She realised she was starving, having only had a bowl of cereal and a crummy sandwich all day.

Jen slid into the chair opposite Ellie with her own dish. "So, did you make any friends today?" Jen started, excitedly. There was an awful lot of optimism in her voice that didn't go unnoticed by Ellie. She wished she shared some of the hope her mother seemed to hold.

"Nope. But I sure did make an enemy," Ellie muttered into her spaghetti. "Maybe tomorrow, mom," she said a little louder.

Jen smiled and told her some stories about her day. Her mother hadn't worked in the States, but listening to her talk excitedly about her new job working for a small interior design company in Stokebridge, Ellie reflected that maybe not working had contributed to her parents' marriage breakdown. It was a long time since she'd seen her mom as animated and excited as she'd appeared these last few days. Jen wasn't the sort of person to just sit around watching TV. Sure, she'd been on school committees, had volunteered at a bunch of places, made cakes and cookies every week, had taken her turn driving Ellie and her friends to soccer practice and a million other things, but that just didn't seem to be enough for this intelligent, driven woman. It was really good to hear Jen talk about the customers that came into the showroom, the new fabrics and wallpapers they'd ordered, the designers themselves - a modest couple in their fifties who'd recently relocated from London. Jen was helping them with admin, filing paperwork, processing invoices, that sort of thing, but to hear her speak you'd think she was the designer herself! Ellie smiled and encouraged her mom to tell her more about the rich customers with too much money and not enough style. At least hearing about her mother's good day made her think less about her own horrible one.

Later that night Ellie stared up at the ceiling, feeling mentally exhausted but physically wide awake. Perhaps the jetlag still had a hold of her, but she suspected it was more to do with the worries circling around her mind. Ellie had replayed the day in her thoughts constantly. She was dreading tomorrow; dreading running into Lisa and her horrible sidekicks, dreading seeing Lewis and hearing him laugh at her for being pushed around by Lisa – he surely must have seen. And the thought of being alone in school again all day, with no one to talk to or sit with. She longed to be back in Illinois. She pictured what her friends would have done today, what classes they would have gone to, where they would've eaten lunch together. She felt loneliness course through the entirety of her being. The last year had sucked, what with her parents arguing so much, the eventual news that they were splitting up, her mom telling her that she was moving back to the UK and learning that Ellie would be coming with her. But through it all she'd had her friends, and at least that meant Ellie could pretend everything was normal and ok whenever she was in school or hanging out with them. Her best friend Hannah and the others had kept her sane. And now she had no one.

Ellie felt the first bitter tears soak her pillow, a sensation she was familiar with. If only her parents had tried a little harder; if only they'd talked to each other more. If only her father hadn't been such an idiot, texting that woman from his office. As soon as her mother had discovered those messages, (although innocent, her father still proclaimed), the already rocky marriage had teetered to its death. The end was near, and her mother had booked her flight, packed her things, and promised that Ellie would come join her a month or two later. The promise had been kept, and after two months of awkward silences with her father and the extremely premature arrival of Candice, the trophy girlfriend, Ellie was on the flight to London. In a way Ellie was glad to get away from her dad. If she were honest with herself she blamed him for all of this. He worked too much, he was never home. He was clearly going through a midlife crisis, proved by dating a twenty-something blonde bimbo a matter of weeks after his marriage officially ended. Ellie was glad she was supporting her mother; she just wished the new start could have been in another town or state, not on another continent.

Sometime around the early hours Ellie's exhausted mind finally grew quiet and sleep stole over her, but not before she sent a final, silent prayer to anyone listening. "Please, please let me make a friend soon....."

* * *

Smoke curled from the chimney of the quiet, suburban semi-detached house, up into the air. The gentle plumes puffing upwards were the only indication that someone was awake on the sleepy street so late at night. The house looked dark and silent, but inside a flurry of activity was gathering pace. Candles burned on every surface, flickering and casting long shadows, their light blocked to the outside world by thick, heavy curtains at each window. The smell of incense and burning sandalwood oil filled the small room, cosy and warm with the crackling fire in the hearth.

The group bustled around, finding a place to sit in a room crammed with books, cushions, and weird and wonderful artefacts. Had the curtains not been fully drawn, and had someone been tempted to peek a look through the window, they would have been confused to see such a motley bunch gathered in the cave-like room in the middle of the night. They may have wondered why those gathered wore thick cloaks of velvet, hoods drawn over their heads, when a fire roared for warmth. But important work was to be done, and this was no place for onlookers.

They finally settled, conversations drawing to a close as a green candle was lit and placed on the low table around which they gathered. A hush descended and they linked hands with one another, forming an unbroken chain.

From underneath a purple cloak, a voice rang out, strong and deep, commanding their attention. "The moon is at its highest. And so it shall be done tonight."

She placed a photograph on the table, and the group bowed their heads closer, beginning to chant what must have been a familiar call, for they all knew the words, or rather, the sounds, for this chant surely wasn't English or any other foreign tongue. The low steady rhythm began to build, getting louder with each repetition. The noise was melodic and almost hypnotising, the group swaying gently as they chanted.

The leader's voice rang out above their chants, clear and powerful.

"I am the shadow there in your wake,

I am the follower which you seek,

I am the shadow cast in stone,

I am the truth which shall be grown.

Shadow, shadow, gather in this place,

Around the One to bring her grace,

Come to life to live and to show,

All that is wise; now shadow, grow!"

The air crackled with the power of the words, the green candle flickered violently on the table, as if someone had given the flame more fuel. Abruptly, the chanting stopped, and in one clear voice the group rang out, "And as it is spoken, so shall it be!"

Silence descended over the house, and heads bowed, they waited. "It is done," the leader announced quietly, and they lifted their heads, smiling and relieved. A yellow-eyed cat wound its tail around their legs, the only witness to the strange scene that night.