Page 18 of Earth-Bound

“Nothing! Do you mind?”

I pulled out a chair and flopped down into it, convinced my legs had just been about to give way. I was not used to seeing figments of my imagination wandering around.

“What happened?” Broadmire asked again. He sounded annoyed that he’d had to repeat himself.

The sound jolted me out of my shock. This was it. It was happening again. Suddenly, I felt ten years old, looking up at a bigger boy who had decided there was something weird about me and he didn’t like it.

It was as though time slowed down. I had a moment where I could decide what to do, and it stretched out, probably only a second but I had the time to think things through.

I could do what I’d done as a child and tell the truth.

Long years of experience had taught me that was a bad idea. People didn’t like it. They told me I was mad or stupid or insane or weird.

That chill spread through my body, turning my insides icy. I didn’t want that. I liked it here and wasn’t quite ready to move on. Not yet. I didn’t want to lose the two friends I’d made.

That left the second option: do what I’d learned to do as an adult. Lie.

I cleared my throat. “I think I’m dehydrated. Can I have a glass of water please?”

Broadmire studied me and then grunted. He went off into the kitchen where I could hear Randall moving around, and I took a deep breath.

I was sane. I hadn’t seen anything. Ghosts weren’t real, animals didn’t follow me and I was absolutely normal.

It was Randall who came in with my glass of water. He hurried over and asked, “Joe, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

I smiled as best I could, hoping it looked natural. “Nah, just worked myself too hard. Didn’t drink enough water.”

I took the glass he held out and sipped at it. The cool liquid refreshed me and I could almost convince myself that I really had been dehydrated. That was it. I’d been hallucinating and now I would be fine again. There was no need to make Randall think I was weird.

My gut clenched at the thought of Randall sneering at me and the word ‘weird’ rang through my head. I wasnotweird, I reminded myself. I was perfectly normal. I didn’t see hallucinations or apparitions and there was nothing wrong at all.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I feel much better already.”

“Nothing happened?”

“No.”

“You didn’t see anybody…?”

“What?”

“Strange?”

My throat felt thick as I asked, “Strange how?”

“Um, somebody who didn’t look like he was from around here, maybe?”

I thought back to my fantasy man. He was wearing those old-fashioned clothes and I hadn’t seen him around the village high street, so maybe he counted. Except, he did look like he belonged here. He seemed to fit perfectly.

He didnotfit perfectly, I reminded myself. He was a figment of my imagination.

I shook my head. “Nah. Not seen anybody.”

Randall’s expression cleared. “Good. Not that I thought you would have seen anybody, but there was a man here the other day who… he wasn’t very nice, and I was hoping he wouldn’t come back.”

“I can keep an eye out for him if you like. What did he look like?”

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