Ghosts of Past and Present - From "Short Cuts" a short story collection Read online

  “So, now,” she repeated slowly, articulating every syllable. “Drop the bottle.”

  Liam swallowed, desperate to get away. Rain ran along his back and trickled down his face. The torrent formed a leaden curtain around him and the girl that veiled the world, leaving them in a vacuum the colour of concrete. His frozen hands trembled around the bottle.

  “Alright,” he spluttered. “Alright, I’ll drop it, okay? Just take it easy.” He turned and threw the bottle spinning through the downpour towards the sea.

  “Good boy.” The girl flashed her tight smile. “Now go to your shiny ride and get out of here. Don’t worry about that rubble in your head you call your memories.”

  She reached out, and Liam flinched, holding up his hands to protect his face. Grinning, she adjusted his soggy tie.

  “The future is yours. Your past, however, is not. Do we understand each other?”

  Liam nodded.

  “Good. Now fuck off.”

  He ran. Darting through the torrent, Liam rushed towards his car, hoping it would protect him from any other freaky encounters on the cursed beach. Everything had been alright, if strange, until the second girl came along. Then things had become too outlandish. But in less than a minute, he would be on his way back to the city. Back to the safety of other, normal people.

  And then he would read the message tucked in his pocket.

  He was almost sure the older girl had not seen him pull the paper out of the bottle before he threw it in the sea. He did not know why she was so keen on him getting rid of the bottle, but he did not feel like asking. There was something decidedly wrong with the girl. Both girls, in fact.

  Liam got to the car, jumped in, slammed the door shut and locked it. The rain drummed on the roof while he breathed out. Soon he would be back at the office. Sure, there would be trouble because of what he had done earlier that morning, but the day could not get worse.

  Liam turned the key, revved the engine, released the handbrake –

  – and then screamed when something smashed into his side window.

  *

  The glass fragmented to an opaque spiderweb. Liam could make out the features of the older sister outside, her face feral and twisted. Her fist rose and slammed into the glass again, this time ramming straight through the window.

  “You little shit!” the girl screeched. “Think you’re clever?” Her hand grabbed the collar of Liam’s shirt and yanked him against the broken window, smashing his head against the glass.

  Liam bounced back and fell over the passenger seat with vivid colours exploding in his skull. The folded paper dropped from his fingers and fell under the seat. The girl howled and pounded on the car. “It’s mine!” she howled. “Mine! Give it back!” Her other hand struck like a snake though the bloodied, fractured window and Liam felt her tiny, impossibly strong fingers close around his arm.

  Dirty nails pierced his clothes and dug into his flesh. Liam shrieked and tore his wounded arm back. Blood painted zigzag patterns over the car’s beige leather interior. He felt something snap in his wrist as he wrenched himself over the seats, trying to get away from her clawing hands. Her arm flailed for him like a spastic tentacle and then groped for the handle, only to find that the door was locked with the central lock, the switch out of her reach next to the gearstick.

  The girl let out a bellow so guttural Liam could not believe it came from a child. The car rocked from her onslaught, skidding on the beach from her furious bashes.

  Suddenly, she ripped away the window and shoved her head inside. Liam nearly choked: Her childish features were replaced by a mask of refined savagery. Her eyes were wide and frigid with rage, her lips were pulled back and the veins on her neck were extruded like purple cords.

  “Give me that,” she hissed and reached for the paper. He jerked it back from her and retreated down on the floor while he batted away her hands. Tears streaked his face as he fought hysteria, but he held on to the bottle, clinging to it as if it were the last fragment of sanity in a world gone mad.

  The girl cursed and pulled away from the window. Seconds passed. Liam heard only the hammering rain and his own haggard breathing. He exhaled, wheezing, and blinked to clear his eyes. Shattered glass littered the bloodied seats and water started to pool on the floor, but otherwise the car looked intact.

  But it was not running. He peeked over the front seats, and his fears were confirmed: The keys were gone.

  Suddenly a violent thumb shook the car. Liam yelped, clung to the seat and dropped the paper. Something had slammed into the rear of car and now pushed it towards the waterline. Turning and squinting through the rear window, Liam saw the older sister’s snarling face, visible just over the trunk. She gained speed, and in moments she was running, the car shuddering and shaking as she forced it down the beach.

  “No one escapes!” she shouted. “You’re all mine, in the end. I’ll bury you and your precious paper, see what good it does you then!”

  She was right: He would soon be under water if he stayed in the car, but he could not will himself to crawl out the window and face the girl.

  But a part of him was determined to fight back. He would not drown without having a look at the paper, if only to rebel against the creature outside, so he picked up the note and struggled to unfold it, forcing himself to go slow so the paper would not fall apart.

  A moment later, he heard and felt the car plummet into the water. The floor was instantly flooded, water sprouting through every chink and opening as she pushed him deeper and deeper. Liam realized he was running out of time: In moments, the water surface reached his chin, and he had only unfolded part of the paper. In seconds the car would be submerged, so Liam gave up and tore the note open, hoping it would not break.

  “No!” the girl screamed. She threw herself at the car and pounded at the rear window. “I’ll get you I’ll cut you I’ll rip your tongue apart I’ll fucking eat your eyes I’ll – ”

  The paper held. Behind him the glass fractured and started to give in, but not before Liam read the brief lines on the note.

  *

  Today I kissed Julie and told her I love her. She says she loves me too.

  Then I found the biggest shell I’ve seen and I gave it to her. She was happy and she kissed me again. I wanted to buy her sugar floss but she said she likes my kisses more than sugar.

  Then we saw two swans and we said they look like us. She held my hand all the time.

  I forget things all the time but I mustn’t forget this. See you in the future!

  *

  He felt part of him drift in time, carried on quiet winds in the canyon between then and now. Somewhere down the closed corridors of the past, a young boy was writing a reminder with trembling hands, hoping to save a snippet of bliss from decay.

  While he remembered kissing Julia, with her faint freckles and her frizzled, coppery hair, he had forgotten the electrical, nerve-racking impact. The message, the beach and the girl had brought it all back. A ghostly, sizzling wire spanning decades had connected him with his past, and the jolt had woken him up. The message was a lens through which he saw the past twenty years flicker by.

  And then, the questions:

  Where am I now?

  And why am I here?

  And why did she go?

  And what the fuck have I been thinking?

  Then the water covered his face.

  Fighting for air, he surfaced from his well of reveries. He heard a distant voice, muffled and wailing like the sluggish cry of a whale. Then a dull clang shook the car, and his vehicle was jerked backwards. Was she dragging him back onto the shore? He sucked in air as the water ran out the windows, and then turned, fearing to meet the girl’s cruel face again.

  But the child was gone. Instead, he made out the hazy bulk of a large truck, pulling him clear of the sea. A thick metal hook was fastened on his rear bumper, and someone in an orange vest was standing by the waterline, waving and yelling. Pebbles and sand sprayed over
his car as the truck’s tires freewheeled, and then it stopped. A blurred face squinted between cupped hands through the window. Liam waved weakly and hoped that it was someone friendly; he was too feeble to put up another fight.

  There were more cries and waves, but Liam was too dazed to make sense of what was happening. Then the door he rested against opened, and he fell out onto the wet sands.

  “Jesus and Holy Mary both, mate,” someone said. “That was close. We’ll get you a blanket.”

  He wanted to say that he did not need any blanket; he felt great, better than in a long time. Instead he convulsed and spewed mouthfuls of bile and salty water.

  “Don’t worry, you’re safe. Here you go.” A thick cloth was draped over his shoulders, and someone dropped down beside him. He looked into a worried face a man in his forties, with gray stubble and a beak of a nose. Behind him stood a younger woman with a twinkling ring in her lip and an equally concerned face. They both wore bright orange vests and baseball caps.

  “Thanks,” he croaked. “Um, who are you?”

  The man smiled. “I’m Jeff. Coast Guard. This is Linn,” he said and gestured at his colleague. She reached for her phone. “I’ll call an ambulance. He might’ve been in too long.”

  “No, no,” Liam said. “I’m okay. Really. I’m just – ” Then he remembered the girl. She could not be far away. “Where is she? Did she get away?”

  Jeff looked around, then at his partner. “Who? Was there someone else in the car?”

  Liam shook his head. “No, the girl who pushed me. White dress, screaming like crazy. She was here just a second ago. You can’t have missed her.”

  The coast guards looked at each other. Lin shrugged and Jeff looked back at Liam.

  “We didn’t see anyone near your car, mister…”

  “Just Liam. You didn’t?”

  The guard scratched his neck. “Well, no. We did see a girl up by the highway, waving at us at the turn-off. Now that you mention it, I think she wore some sort of dress.”

  Liam frowned. The turn-off was kilometres back up the road. “That’s not right.”

  “That’s what we thought,” Jeff said. “A child all alone in this weather. In fact, she’s the reason why we’re here. When we slowed down, she ran down to the beach. We tried to follow but we lost sight of her. Then we spotted your car, just in time to see you sink below the surface.”

  Linn kneeled down next to Liam, her phone still in her hand. “Did you see that child down here? If so, we better have a look around.”

  “Yes. No.” Liam rubbed his face with his palms. Even if he left out the strangest bits, his account of what had happened would sound insane. “Actually, I think I saw a child, but I might have been mistaken. She…she might have seen me drive into the water, and run off for help.”

  The guards studied him, poised between decisions. Then Jeff shrugged. “Alright, Liam. The offer for an ambulance still stands, but we can’t make you come unless – ”

  “Candy floss,” Liam said quietly. His eyes strayed to his ring finger, and for a moment he revisited the shouting matches, the accusations that had poisoned his marriage. Behind them, lurking like a nest of snakes in a forest of pretensions, he sensed the rotten core of his life. He looked at his suit, his shoes and his car, and smiled wistfully. Sweet, pretty candy floss. All flavour and sugar rush. Bite down and it’s gone.

  “Sorry?” Jeff asked.

  “I said thanks, but I feel fine,” Liam said. “Wrist hurts a bit, but it’s alright.” He tried to look serious but the smile refused to leave his face. Even though he was sore and racked, serenity had settled in his soul. He knew he had passed a test. He had endured and come out victorious.

  The guard hesitated. “Are you sure? You’ve got some nasty scratches there on your arm. I could clean those up.”

  Liam looked down. There were some gashes and cuts, but nothing severe. “No need,” he said. “I’d just like to get back to town. If you could give me a lift, that’d be great.” He paused and glanced down at the beach. “What did you see when you came here?”

  “I was about to ask you about that,” Linn answered. “Like Jeff said, we saw that girl, then we drove down here and saw your car in the water. What happened?”

  Liam eyed the blurred prints of small, naked feet that crisscrossed the sands, then pursed his lips and looked up. “I got lost in the rain.” A white lie; I got lost a long time before that. “Then I found my way here and parked, to get my bearings. I must’ve fallen asleep and accidentally started the engine,” he suggested. As lies went, it was pretty substandard.

  Jeff raised his eyebrows and nodded, beaming disbelief. But he let his doubts rest.

  “Well, if you think you’ve found your bearings, you’re welcome to come to town with us. There’ll be a fee for towing your car, I’m afraid. Too bad about it,” he added and gestured to the battered vehicle. “It’s a beauty.”

  “No problem.” Liam was still smiling at the horizon. “Wasn’t mine.” He squinted at the clouds, pulled out another business card and started to fold it.

  “Not yours?” Jeff echoed.

  “Belonged to the firm,” Liam said. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay the fee. Not that I’m going back, though.”

  “Then where can we take you?” Lin asked.

  He held up his creation and studied it. “To my ex-wife. I don’t expect she’ll want to see me, but you never know.” Liam turned to face them. “Did I tell you that she has lips the colour of seashells?”

  They both slowly shook their heads.

  “No? I don’t think I ever told her, either,” he mused. “About time I did.”

  Liam put the paper plane in his pocket and headed for the truck, leaving the black waves behind for a sea of lights and people.

  He would learn to swim again, and this time, he would beat the currents.

  *

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