When All The Adults Were Gone

Chapter 27 - My Favourite Place

My head was pounding, my right hand was tight and sore, my face felt tight and my chest was burning. My eyes were closed but I could tell it was daytime, the sunshine was causing me to see purple and red spots on the inside of my eyelids. I didn't want to open my eyes, I had just had the best dream I have ever had. I could remember everything about it and that was amazing considering I don't ever dream or remember them.

In my dream I was alone. I was stood in one of my favourite towns where we usually went on holiday. It was a beautiful Cornish harbour that was just so familiar to me, Jamie and I would always go crabbing on the harbour wall and watch the boats drift by with fishermen and tourists. It made me remember the fish and chips we used to have from the local chip shop in the centre of the town. I remembered the pasty shops, three of them on one street, selling traditional Cornish pasties all hot and steamy. I remembered the ice cream shop on the corner, facing the harbour where we would sit on the little tables outside and just watch life pass by. It was one of the best places to go.

But it wasn't like my holidays; I was completely alone. There was no little Jamie tugging my sleeve to go and 'catch more crabbies', there was no mum or dad calling to not get too close, there was no locals or tourists either. Just me, the shops, the boats and the seagulls. I walked along the harbour in the roasting sun looking in the tourist shop windows, gazing at all the little trinkets the locals sold to the visitors of the town. I looked down at the harbour, watching small fish and crabs flit from shadow to shadow to stay out of the hot sun. I climbed up the harbour wall, standing tall with my arms outstretched, Titanic style until I felt a cold, bitter breeze relieving me of the heat on my skin.

I lowered myself to a sitting position on the wall, breathing the cool and salty air. I never realised how heavily I was breathing before but the fresh air made me breathe more easily. Like just being in that small coastal town was taking away all of my tension and pain, even though it was only a dream. I stared around at the beach and green hills on the other side of the blue water, there were tiny white boats just bobbing around in the crystal sea looking like swans in a beautiful pond. The cool breeze was still blowing, calming me, cooling me but my skin still felt hot. I kicked my legs against the wall wishing that Jamie could be sat next to me and mum and dad were holding us so we didn't fall.

That was when I felt a pair of hands on my waist, holding me steady on the harbour wall. I whirled around to see my dad smiling at me. "Dad!" I screamed so loud that I'm pretty sure it echoed across the whole of the Cornish peninsula. I jumped into his arms while he laughed and span me around like he used to do in the fields at home. He stood me down and I just looked up at him, trying to absorb every part of his face so it was engrained in my brain so I would never forget. His dark hair was ruffling in the cool wind which was starting to warm to a more comfortable temperature. His blue eyes were sparkling like the sea behind me, crinkling at the corners, each wrinkle symbolising something happy. He always said he had a wrinkle for me, a wrinkle for Jamie and one for my mum, the others all symbolised our memories. His mouth was stretched into a cheeky sideways smirk, like it always did when he and Jamie and I.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still studying his face. He just chuckled, put his hand on my shoulder and said "I have no idea, I was about to ask you..." I smiled at him, it was a strange situation but I took it.

"I miss you. But I have a few bones to pick with you." I said, pouting and putting my hands on my hips. He crossed his arms and watched as my expression softened, unable to ruin our meeting. "What was all that about that note? Did you know something was going to go wrong? Did you leave those files on purpose? What happened? Are you all okay? What do I do?" I was desperate for answers, even if they were going to be created in my own head, but this dream was different.

"Woah there with the questions Scarlett. First of all, I left that note because I knew you would know what to do. I knew that I could trust you and so did the other guys. We know that you kids can find a way to sort this out." His expression started to become serious and guilty as he carried on, "I never knew something was going to go wrong until I got an emergency call and heard the ruckus outside, I ran to the offices and found out that our new experiment had gone wrong and something bad was happening. I ran back with those files and left you that note just in time. So yes, I left those files on purpose and your mother left you those keys."

He ran his hand through his hair signifying that he was nervous. "As for what you need to do, there's a huge machine in one of the science labs, those files go with that machine and all you need to do is work out a way to reverse that experiment. Just stay put."

He pulled me into a hug, stroking my hair and whispering "It's going to be alright. We will fix this. Together." I felt the warm, salty tears roll down my face. I knew this would be the last encounter I would have with my dad for a while. I hugged him tight until he pulled away and held me at arm's length. "Now it's my turn."

"How are you? How's Jamie? How are you all coping?" He looked me up and down as if looking for any bruising or signs of ill health. "I'm fine, Jamie's fine. I'm actually the leader of the base, you should know." He held his hand out for a high five as if to say 'that's my girl', and I high fived him just for traditions sake. "We have all of the kids grouped together, everyone has a job and we all meet at the school for meals and games and stuff. It's not too bad but I wish you and mum were here..." My dad looked down at his feet, like Tom does, and mumbled something that sounded like "So do I."

I turned around to look at the sea again, it was just so peaceful and calm and I wanted to stay there forever, but all things must come to an end. I was about to ask another question about what we should do when my knees suddenly buckled and began to drop to the floor. My dad caught me just before I hit the floor, my eyelids were starting to get heavy and I could feel my head lolling. I heard my dad's panicked voice but it was muffled, replaced by unfamiliar voices speaking about burns and oxygen. I looked through my slowly shutting eyes at my dad's face for what could be the last time, before my eyes closed and I felt my body kind of solidify on an uncomfortable, squeaky mattress.

So now I was just led there, eyes shut and silently in pain, both physical and emotionally. It was so nice to see my dad again, even if it was just a figure of my imagination. But that's the thing, it didn't seem like I imagined it. It felt like I was actually talking to him. But in my heart I knew I was communicating with him somehow, however freaky that sounds. For all I knew, he was dead but from the information he gave me, I knew he was alive and now I knew what we had to do to save our parents and everyone else's parents around the world.