Page 69 of The Truth About You and Me
He pauses, as though considering if this might be a really bad idea, but then the words fall from his mouth.
‘OK. It’s worth a shot.’
I lay out my hand, palm side up. Jack looks down, then tentatively takes my hand in his.
‘Close your eyes,’ I say gently. ‘Go to the clearest images you have of that night.’
His thoughts are hazy, shrouded in mist and shadow.
I’m inside the pub.
Standing at the bar.
I see Jack knock back a shot; say goodbye to a man,Steve, and I walk beside him as he exits the pub.
Mist swirls in places where buildings should be, all of it filled with blank spaces and shadows, in blacks and greys.
I see the couple arguing.
You’re hidden from my view.
There is an image of a phone screen, where letters should be there are symbols, and beneath, the vibration of Jack’s frustration.
Luke’s face comes next.
‘This is a little clearer since meeting him,’ Jack says, but his voice feels distant; I’m deep in his thoughts, right there with him.
I feel the contact as Jack bumps into him, hear Luke telling me to watch it and a muttered curse.
His concentration is back on the phone in his hand now, fingers about to type but not quite hitting the screen. Then there is nothing but shadows. But there is something there, in his periphery.
‘Look across the road,’ I say.
His focus shifts, more shadows, but something darker, something that moves and an overwhelming feeling of…
Something’s not right.
There’s someone there.
There is a bolt of pain. I take my hand away. Jack’s eyes flash open, blinking like he’s parted the curtains and it takes him a moment to adjust to the light.
‘Are you OK?’ I ask.
He looks off to the distance, eyes scanning as he thinks. ‘It was… different.’ His focus back on me. ‘Like you were there somehow?’ He pauses, trying to put into words what has just happened. ‘And not being alone, made me less… afraid, I guess?’
‘There was someone else there, someone in the shadows?’ I lean forwards.
He nods. ‘Something was wrong; I could feel it. A threat? But it…’
‘Wasn’t a threat to you,’ I finish.
‘Exactly. I think… maybe I was trying to stop something from happening.’
‘What?’
He shakes his head. ‘I have no idea.’
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