There were things going on in the lounge. I couldn’t hear any screams, but there was definitely a conversation of some sort being had. I could hear Dad’s voice, raised a little as if he was about to get angry, and I could hear Amanda responding rather loudly too. ‘We should have spoken about it properly,’ she said, sounding stressed. I couldn’t hear Dad’s answer.
I let Adah in and she started taking off her shoes and gave me back my coat. I hung it up and kicked off my own muddied, drenched shoes. ‘Let’s go upstairs,’ I whispered to her, and she nodded and followed. I went into my bedroom to fetch my dressing gown and pyjamas while Adah dripped on the landing.
‘You can wear these,’ I said to her, going back out onto the landing, holding out the pyjamas in my hands. But it wasn’t just Adah standing there. Amanda was staring at me, with a wide smile on her face.
Wolfish, I thought to myself. She looked wolfish.
‘Kitty, darling, you’ve brought back your little friend to play.’ She turned to Adah. ‘And why is it she’s all wet? It’s not raining.’
My eyes darted to Adah, who was looking at the floor, then back to Amanda. ‘She tripped and fell into the stream.’
Amanda’s eyes widened. ‘Did she now? Well, we must get her out of those wet clothes. Come on, Adah, let’s get you sorted, and then we’ll warm you up with some mince pies. Would you like that?’ Adah gave a little nod and Amanda led her away into the bathroom. I went to follow, but she took the dressing gown and pyjamas off me and said ‘Thanks Kitty,’ then closed the door, barring me from going in. I heard the noise of the bath running and Amanda asked her about temperature, so I turned to go back to my room.
‘Kitty.’ It was Dad. He must have climbed the stairs without me hearing him, and now he was standing almost at the top, looking out onto the landing. ‘You’re back quicker than … well, I expect you got hungry?’
I nodded. It seemed like a good excuse.
He nodded too, but as if he was thinking about something else.
‘Adah’s here,’ I said.
‘Already?’ Dad looked a little alarmed. ‘But it’s not even four o’clock. I thought she was coming for tea.’
I did a little shrug. ‘She tripped and got her clothes wet. So Amanda’s running her a bath.’
He looked a little confused by this, but said, ‘I see,’ then turned to go back downstairs, before stopping and looking up at me. ‘Well, if you want, this afternoon you can both watch some videos on the TV in the lounge if we can get it working. Amanda suggested that earlier. She brought her VCR with her the other day. I’ll see if I can get it all hooked up.’
I didn’t answer, but he showed no signs of caring, and just went quietly back downstairs. ‘Oh, and Kitty,’ he called up in a loud whisper. I went to the top of the stairs and looked down. ‘Don’t go into your mother’s room. OK?’
I didn’t know why he thought I’d want to go back in there after what happened last time, but I just gave him a nod and he seemed satisfied.
I went back to my room while Adah had her bath, and Amanda came in after a bit and started talking in a weirdly nice way again. ‘Hello Kitty, Adah’s just getting all dry and into those pyjamas and dressing gown. She’s happy to stay for tea and watch a video or two. Why don’t you run down to the lounge and pick one? I’ve brought a bag of them with me. I’m sure you’ll find lots of nice films in there.’
I wasn’t at all convinced that Amanda’s idea of what made a nice film would be the same as mine, but I didn’t argue. I put the book that I had been half reading back on its shelf, and followed her out onto the landing. She went into the bathroom, but nodded at me to go down the stairs.
The lounge looked completely normal, with the chairs back in their proper place, the coffee table in the centre, and the little TV on its stool. The only thing noticeably different was the VCR machine Amanda had brought, which had thick black wires snaking back round to the plug sockets.
‘Amanda was kind enough to get you both some videos to watch. They’re in the bag here.’
I turned round to see Dad pointing at a dark green carrier bag on the sofa. I looked through the options, taking them out one by one. Escape to Witch Mountain, The Black Hole, The Rescuers, Labyrinth, The Aristocats and The Dark Crystal.
I lined them all up on the sofa and knelt down to consider them carefully. It was something Mum and I used to do, whenever it was a rainy day or the school holidays. ‘Let’s have a hot chocolate and video day,’ she’d say. And we’d line up the potentials and make our selection together, with her agreeing with whatever one I picked.
Amanda’s choices weren’t as terrible as they could have been. We’d watched The Rescuers at school a couple of Christmases ago, and Escape to Witch Mountain and The Black Hole looked a bit silly. I think I’d been taken to see The Aristocats when it came back on at the cinema a long time ago, but I didn’t remember it much. Some cats playing the piano, but that was about it.
I decided on The Dark Crystal first, and just as I was taking it out of its plastic case, there was a sound by the door.
‘Here we go. All warm and in dry clothes.’ Amanda showed Adah into the room with a hand on her shoulder. Although she wasn’t smiling, Adah seemed a bit more alert now, as if the shock from her experience was starting to wear off. ‘Would you like a drink, Adah?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, please.’
‘What would you like? We’ve got milk and orange squash and apple juice, or you can have some water if you prefer?’ Amanda was still doing her sweet-and-kind voice, and it made me frown a bit. She seemed to notice. ‘Kitty, why the stern face? Do you want a drink, too? How about I bring you both a glass of fresh cold apple juice? It really is quite a treat, having fruit juice, isn’t it? I certainly don’t have it at home that often! We’re quite spoiling you two girls.’
She walked off through to the kitchen with a little laugh, as if she had said something funny. I turned to Adah, who was hovering in the middle of the room. I was nervous about being alone with her now, wondering if she’d bring up what had happened by the river. ‘Where do you want to sit?’ I asked, not properly looking at her. ‘We can go on the sofa, or you can have that chair all for yourself?’ I pointed at the single armchair.
When she didn’t reply, I let my arm fall back to my side and allowed my eyes to meet hers.
‘I really am sorry,’ I said.
At first her gaze was hard and I was worried she was going to be angry with me. Then she seemed to soften, and although she didn’t smile exactly, her mouth moved in a way that seemed comforting and friendly. ‘Let’s go on the sofa,’ she said, nodding.
Feeling relieved, I cleared the cases off it and went over to put the video cassette in the machine. Then we both settled down to watch The Dark Crystal. The apple juice Amanda brought us was very cold, but I didn’t mind. The coldness reminded me how thirsty I was and I drank it down quickly. Adah took hers in little sips. ‘We never have juice at home,’ she said as the movie began. ‘My aunt said it costs too much. She always seems to find the money for what she wants to drink, though.’
I wasn’t sure how I should react to this further insight into Adah’s home life, but luckily I didn’t have to say anything, as Amanda brought us mince pies, one each on a separate plate. She explained she didn’t bring too many as she didn’t want to spoil our tea. She was doing us sausages and chips and she’d have it ready for when the film finished. She looked at the back of the video box, probably to check how long it would be on for, then disappeared back into the kitchen.
The Dark Crystal proved to be a very strange film, and part of me felt quite unnerved by the peculiar-looking creatures within it, especially the creatures known as the Skeksis. I glanced at Adah. She was watching with glazed eyes, almost as if her mind was somewhere else.
Towards the end of the film, just as things were starting to get happier for the characters, the scent of cooking became strong. I could hear the fizzle of sausages in a pan on the stove and Amanda pottering about. As the credits were running, she came into the lounge and said, ‘So then, are you both ready for some dinner?’
I nodded, and Adah said, ‘Yes please, I’m very hungry.’ I was relieved she sounded a bit more like her bold, loud self now. We got up and followed Amanda into the kitchen. She dished up the sausages – we got three each – and then took out a large tray of oven chips and emptied them into the frying pan the sausages had just been in.
‘This is my secret trick,’ she explained as she nudged them carefully with a spatula. ‘Cook chips in the oven, then fry them for a minute right at the end in the fat from some meat – it makes them delicious.’ She seemed to have forgotten her concerns about calories and nutrients she had mentioned the other day.
Dad walked into the room and went straight over to Amanda. ‘That smells amazing,’ he said, ignoring me and Adah.
She muttered something in response that sounded like, ‘Is he here yet?’ and Dad replied in a quiet voice, ‘No, not yet. And Marjory’s sleeping.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ Amanda said, quietly. Then there was a rattle as the pan was lifted off the stove and brought over to the table. ‘Right, chips!’ She shovelled a large pile onto each of our plates, steam and fat hissing as she did so.
Amanda was right – the chips were delicious, soaked in the fat of the sausages; they melted in my mouth as I shoved them in. Dad would have normally told me to eat more politely, but he was staring off into the distance again while he drummed his foot on the ground over and over.
‘These sausages are very tasty,’ Adah said, getting through her three very quickly, then finishing off the chips with similar speed.
‘I’m pleased our little tea has gone down a treat,’ said Amanda, smiling at the two of us. ‘So, how about we continue this little tea party into the evening?’
I saw Dad glance at her. She met his eyes for a quick second, then looked back at the two of us sitting there.
‘I’m sure you don’t want to run around and play in the dark after all this food. How about you stay a bit later, Adah? You and Kitty can watch another video. I’ll drop you back afterwards so you don’t have to walk home alone.’
I wasn’t sure about this, but Adah beamed and said, ‘Yes! Yes please, that would be great.’
‘Won’t your aunt mind?’ I asked, but she shook her head straight away.
‘She won’t even notice,’ she said.
‘Splendid!’ Amanda clapped her hands together with apparent joy.
I didn’t know what was going on, but I could tell there was something happening that I wasn’t being told about. I looked at Amanda and then at Dad. He was now eating a chip very, very slowly, his eyes on the table.
‘Have you chosen another video, Kitty? Or did you both want to get the bag out and have a rummage?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t mind. I did see another one earlier that looked good – I think it was called Labyrinth.’
‘Oh that’s quite a new one,’ Adah said. ‘I saw the posters up near the garage when it was at the cinema.’
‘Did you go to see it, Adah?’ Amanda said, moving in to take our plates.
‘No, my aunt doesn’t like the cinema. She tried to take me once to see something with dogs in it, but the people who worked there wouldn’t let her take in her bottles.’
‘Well … quite.’ Amanda set down the plates on the side and said, ‘Why don’t you two run along and get the film started. Your dad can get it all running if you need help.’ She looked over at Dad and smiled.
Dad was still in his daze, but seemed to realise she’d said something about him. ‘Sorry, what?’
‘I think we’ll be fine,’ Adah said. She got up first and walked through into the lounge. I stayed at the table.
‘Go on, Kitty.’ Amanda nodded her head towards the doorway into the lounge.
I got up, my chair scraping across the floor, and looked over at Dad, sitting there, still staring off into nothing.
‘Dad?’ I said in a small voice. His eyes floated towards me.
‘Yes, Kitty?’
I looked over at Amanda, putting plates into the sink with a clatter. I saw her tilt her head to the side slightly. She was listening.
‘Nothing,’ I said finally. He didn’t push me to tell him what I was going to say. I didn’t really know myself what I was going to say, not really. I just knew that something was wrong. Something strange was happening, and I didn’t like it.
‘I’ll bring you both a nice warm drink while you’re watching the film,’ Amanda said from the sink. ‘Hop along now.’
I left the kitchen. Back in the lounge, Adah had already got the tape of Labyrinth into the machine and it was about to begin. I took a seat next to her and started to watch.
Amanda did as she promised. I wasn’t sure how far into Labyrinth we were, but it was up to a bit where there was a swamp and a fox-human type creature. A lot of it was quite similar to The Dark Crystal – unsettling animals that looked real but weren’t, in a strange world a bit like ours but not like ours at the same time.
‘Here we are,’ she said, holding a tray on top of which were two mugs, steaming a little, bringing in a sweet, comforting scent. ‘Hot chocolate. And I have some marshmallows to go on top. How about that?’
Adah seemed very excited by the idea. ‘Yes please!’ She took the mug from Amanda’s red-nail-varnished fingers, nodding when she was told to be careful because it was very hot.
‘And for you, Kitty.’ She handed me my mug. I didn’t say anything. For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me to say thank you or at least look a bit happier, but she didn’t, and soon Adah and I were alone again, sipping at our hot chocolates, watching as an army of goblins tried to disrupt the efforts of the heroes.
‘It’s like a dream,’ Adah said, as she drank more of her hot chocolate, leaning in to watch the unusual creatures move across the screen.
‘It is,’ I agreed. I looked down at my marshmallows, melting in the hot liquid, leaving white and pink trails around the edge of the mug.
Adah leaned back with a little sigh. She finished off her drink and put the mug down on the floor. I didn’t want to finish mine. Maybe it was all the fatty food, or the sweetness of the marshmallows, or the strange videos we’d been watching, or maybe a mixture of all three, but I was starting to feel a bit sick. I placed the mug down on the floor like Adah and snuggled back into the cushions.
‘I dreamt I was in another land, once,’ Adah said, sleepily, to my left. ‘Another land where things were all good and safe.’ She yawned a big wide yawn, and brought her hands up to her face, nestling into them. Seeing her yawn made me feel sleepy, so I copied her and was amazed how quickly being still and quiet like this gave way to sleep.
For the time that followed, I couldn’t really work out if I was dreaming or if it was the film. I was being taken into a maze by someone, or something, and they were leading me down a dark pathway towards … what was it? I couldn’t be sure. It looked a little like the stairs here in the cottage. But I couldn’t walk up them, so whoever was taking me lifted me up, and it was like I was flying. Flying towards something soft, something a little cold against my snug warm sleepiness. It wasn’t a bad feeling. It felt nice. Like I was drifting among clouds. Drifting. Drifting.
But the clouds didn’t last. When I heard the sound of a door opening downstairs, I realised I had been dreaming, and that I was actually upstairs in my bed. And, from the dull clunk I heard somewhere off in the distance, I could tell someone had just been let into the house.
Then I heard it. A man’s voice. Father Tobias’s voice.
‘Is the girl here?’