This is something I spent ages woking on over trhe summer of 2008. My English teacher has read it and liked it but I want to know what other people think. It's kinda special to me... it's really long but please take time to read it! NB I know Fatal Attraction is a film, but it sounds good!!!
(you can download it or read it here)
Fatal Attraction
Carmen Bryanston kicked back on her bed. Her wavy brown hair formed a perfect, chocolate coloured halo around her head, breaking up the angular lines of her face. She sighed. The 156th message in her mobile phone’s inbox had been the bearer of bad news.
Deep below her, an alarm blared. Men in heavy, lead-lined suits rushed around frantically. They sprinted for a heavy, concrete room. They reached it just in time, for as soon as the heavy, lead door had clanged shut, tendrils of a thick orange gas wafted into the room, caressing the struggling individual tied firmly to a chair in the centre of the floor. The struggles slowed, reduced to wriggles, then twitches, then stillness. The gas wafted back into the floor and the door to the bunker opened. A man in a dark, pinstriped suit and tie walked out, applauding sarcastically. A figure with a white coat on over his rubber suit hurried over. He was under the deluded impression that wearing the lab coat over his rubber suit was a way of distinguishing himself from others. Everyone else thought that worrying about “standing out” was the least of his worries. The man in the dark suit thought that the rubber suit kept out most chemicals, so the lab coat was unnecessary. Mr Lab Coat checked the figure on the chair. There was a pulse, but very faint. “Back in the bunker!” the man in the dark suit commanded, and everyone filed back in immediately. As the door slammed shut, a blinding light filled the room. When the door creaked open again, there was a smell of scorched flesh in the air. Dark Suit barked out orders. “Turn on the fans. We need to dispel that aroma. Lubricate that door. And Andre (Lab Coat scurried over) work on the Carmonic Gas.” Andre scraped and bowed, eager to please. Dark Suit hurried over to the lift, changing his jacket en route. Pressing the button for the first floor, he straightened his tie and forced a smile. The doors slid open.
Carmen positioned herself outside the lift, hands on hips. She knew her father, Anthony, disappeared to places at strange times, but she knew not where. When the doors slid open, she was poised, the words on her lips. It was her mother. Again. She had texted to say:
hi carm
cant make it 2nite
hav fun n e way
hav sent mamma mia 2 ur email
put it on dvd+watch it wiv didi
mum xxx
Her mother was supposed to have come home that night and taken her shopping. Instead, she sent her the downloaded version of Mamma Mia! to watch with her best friend, Delilah. Typical. So what did Carmen do? Run to Daddy.
Anthony sighed. He wished he were back in the lab. Instead, he was listening to Carmen babbling about “Mum having urgent business and she couldn’t leave Amsterdam until next week.” A smile crossed his lips. Excellent. He could spend more “quality time” with Blanche. Blanche was 12th on the long list of lady friends Anthony had enjoyed spending “quality time” with. Anthony had patiently explained the situation to Carmen. Her mum (Cecilia) was always away on business and how could he expect to wait for her to come back? On average, Cecilia was present for 10 days out of a possible maximum of 31 in a month. Of course, just because she was home didn’t mean the lady friend had to leave. Oh no. he had had an annexe built for just that. But he still found time, between his research and lady friends, to spoil Carmen. He doted on her, using Cecilia’s influence to take Carmen to premieres, matinees, concerts and book signings. In the past year, Carmen had been photographed with the cast of Mamma Mia!, Harry Potter And The Order of The Phoenix, Wild Child, The Duchess and You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. Her walls were plastered with photos of her with bands, actors, actresses, singers, orchestras, dancers and authors. But the biggest and brightest photo was the family photo. It was taken in Greece, Cecilia, Anthony and Carmen posing in front of the Parthenon. Cecilia is laughing, Carmen is smiling, tossing hr hair, eyes focused seemingly at the camera, while actually flirting with the cute photographer’s assistant. Anthony, resplendent in a t-shirt and shorts, is smiling at his wife and daughter, arm round Cecilia. Carmen looked at it fondly now. Her mother had spent the last 20 days in Amsterdam, and looked set to spend the next 4 or 5 there too. Carmen guessed that Dominic was keeping her, sightseeing. Dominic, supposedly her mother’s assistant, but now her lover. What Carmen didn’t know was that her mother wasn’t in Amsterdam. She wasn’t even in Holland. She was in Paris, eating lunch on the Eiffel Tower. Carmen did know about the divorce papers, both in Cecilia and Anthony’s briefcases. But she didn’t know about the small velvet box that Dominic produced, our about the kiss that her mother gave him before saying “yes.” But that was when things started to go horribly wrong.
Carmen stood in the bus stop the next day, waiting to get to school (Blue Valley High School) and running over what she was going to say in her head. When the bus, a rickety old Rosary & Jacobs, arrived, she traipsed right to the back. She carelessly chucked her bag onto the full length, horizontal seat right at the back and flopped in the seat facing Delilah, sliding to one side so that she could put her feet up next to Delilah. Delilah, known to one and all as Didi, wisely said nothing until the rest of their posse was seated, simply moving her feet and bag, as did Carmen, as each person got on. Their posse consisted of eight of the coolest, hottest, richest girls in school.
There was Carmen, with chestnut coloured, wavy hair held back with a scarf.
Didi, her long auburn hair plaited and wound into cute, spiky buns.
Lola, her blonde hair in Princess Leia-style coils.
Katie, her dark blonde hair pulled back in her trademark high ponytail.
Juliana, dark, curly hair scraped back into a wild ponytail.
Aimee, her long, poker-straight, black hair in a loose bun, accessorised with twin chopsticks.
Caitlin, with her Noel Fielding-inspired, feathered, strawberry blonde hair.
And Gemma, her short black hair pushed out of her eyes with a black hair band, then spiked up.
Nobody dared to try and take their seats. One new Year 6 girl had tried once and been sent packing immediately, everyone staring. You didn’t mess with the Posse. They wore their hair defiantly and their uniform to the extreme. “To the extreme” meant their skirts were short, their blazer lapels covered in badges and their shoes had two inch heels. They silently dared teachers to say something.
As the Posse were piling off the bus, Anthony was stepping carefully into the lift. He slid a panel to one side and pressed the button that was revealed. A mechanical voice asked for his password and he typed it in: “B-L-A-N-C-H-E-1-2.” The same mechanical voice simpered a “Thank you, sir!” Before the lift began to drop at tremendous speed. Andre was poised outside the lift in the basement lab, and the second the doors whirred open, Andre was bowing and scraping. For, if you hadn’t guessed, Dark Suit was, of course, none other than Anthony.
Ashleigh Dale stood in her form room anxiously. Another day. Another day of electronic registers, hurried espressos, running taps and the constant cry of “Miss, Miss!” And another day of quick glances at the Posse. Especially at Carmen. Ashleigh, known to her colleagues (and pupils, but not to her face) as Ash, knew that by getting close to Carmen she was getting close to Anthony. And once she was close to him, it would be a matter of time before he got rid of Blanche and dated her, Ashleigh, instead. It wasn’t difficult to get close to Carmen. Carmen idolised Miss Dale. Yet while Ash clearly thought that Carmen knew nothing of her intentions, the Posse gossiped about poor Ash behind her back. Especially about Ash and Anthony. Carmen joined in wholeheartedly after a while, making jokes about Ash at home: “Now then Carmen, I want an accurate, hand-painted reconstruction of the Mona Lisa by Wednesday. And maybe then you could start painting my bedroom ceiling like that of the Sistine Chapel???” But in reality, Ash was getting closer and closer to Anthony. And he was drifting further and further away from Blanche. It was only a matter of time.
As Anthony roamed amongst the beakers and phials of his laboratory, he was pondering: What to do about Blanche?? For she had seen his laboratory. She would have to be given memory-removal gas. But he was pondering even more deeply: If I choose Ashleigh Dale next, should I show her the laboratory?? He seemed to make up his mind and turned on his heel, stalking back to the lift. He went directly to the annexe, where he knew Blanche was sleeping and quickly administered a powerful anaesthetic, before summoning his bodyguard, Al, to carry her down to the lab. He knew what would happen. The gas would erase Blanche’s memory of the last 12 months and she would then be left outside her parents’ home. Sighing, he pulled his cell phone from deep within his jacket and punched in Ashleigh’s number.
Ash punched the air triumphantly. It was the call she had been waiting for. It was Anthony. Summoning her. Finally. But… Carmen. She looked up to Ash so much and now she was about to forfeit that respect. Ashleigh shrugged, grabbed her car keys and rushed for the door. But someone had got their first. Moira, the head of the Art Department, was blocking the door. Ash muttered an excuse and pushed past, running to her car, increasing her speed and changing direction when she spotted the Posse coming the other way. She arrived at Anthony’s house twenty minutes later, to find Anthony waiting for her.
Carmen slid her house key smoothly into the front door, twisting it to the left. The Posse padded silently into the hallway, placing their bags down under the stairs and slipping their shoes off. “Dad?” Carmen shouted. No answer. “He must be in the annexe,” she informed everyone. The tiptoed over to the door that led to the annexe. All the doors were open except one. The lounge door was ajar. Carmen inched it open enough to peep around then hurriedly pulled her head back. “What?” Didi asked. Carmen shook her head. Didi stuck her head around the door. She yanked it back, hitting her head on the doorframe. The soft thump carried quickly, but the Posse weren’t around to hear it. They had sprinted up to Carmen’s bedroom and jumped onto the bed. Everyone wanted to know what Carmen and Didi had seen. Carmen just staring straight ahead. Didi looked to Carmen for reassurance, permission. Carmen nodded her head slightly. Didi blurted out what she had seen. “Anthony and Ash. Kissing. On the sofa.” She sounded shocked. Everyone looked automatically at Carmen, before swivelling their eyes to the family photograph tacked to the wall. The sound of the dinner bell startled them. They walked slowly downstairs in a defensive formation, V-shaped, like migrating geese, with Carmen directly behind Didi, who was in front. They sat around the dinner table, whispering to each other. The doors swung open again. Anthony walked in. with Ash. Instantly, 8 pairs of steely eyes locked on the couple as they sat down opposite the Posse, who, as one, edged their chairs back an inch. Everyone sat in silence for about a minute, before Carmen scraped her chair back, dodged deftly around the table and launched herself furiously at Ash. Words were occasionally distinguishable, along with the sound of sharp slaps and crying. Anthony, after about a minute of staring, transfixed at this, shouted out and dragged Carmen off Ash, who was crumpled, cowering, on the floor, her cheeks bright red. Anthony went to slap Carmen but the Posse got there first, pulling her firmly but gently up the stairs. They phoned their parents and made up excuses to stay the night, asking for pyjamas, toilet bags, clean underwear etc to be sent over. It was a matter of pride: one of their own had been attacked.
The next day, the Posse boarded the bus together, nodding at Milly, the bus driver and Carmen’s aunt. When they arrived at school, they lingered by the lockers until the registration bell rang, and then trooped upstairs. Ash was taking the register, her cheeks covered in about an inch of foundation and one arm in a sling. Most of the class were whispering behind their hands when the Posse walked in and sat down. The Posse looked at Ash, snorted with laughter and high fived. Carmen was summoned to the office immediately after. Ash had taken the one good seat and was spinning on it infuriatingly. She indicated Carmen should sit. “I will not be pressing Assault Charges. This is making your Dad so unhappy. If you were OK with us being together he would be so happy.” Ashleigh burbled. Yeah, you think you’re making him so happy. Just like the previous 12 lady friends, Carmen thought bitterly. “We could be so happy together, me and Anthony and your Mum and Dominic…” Ash continued, but she got no further. Carmen exploded. “DON’T GO TELLING ME WHAT MAKES MY DAD HAPPY! YOU THINK YOU’RE SO SPECIAL, HE’LL SETTLE DOWN WITH YOU AND START A FAMILY! THAT’S WHAT THE LAST 12 WOMEN THOUGHT AND THEY ALL DISAPPEARED, WHICH IS WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING WHEN MY DAD GETS BORED OF YOU! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY FAMILY, YOU SELFISH BITCH, LET ALONE MY MOTHER! JUST STAY OUT OF MY LIFE!” Carmen screamed. She wrenched open the door, grabbed her bag and ran out of the room, followed by the Posse.
They ran straight out the school gates, turned left and ran for it, rounding the corner, still running. They kept running until they reached a bus stop. A bus was due in four minutes, but it was due to go straight past the school. Carmen whispered the plan to the others. Three minutes later, bus picked up three girls, all in Blue Valley High Uniform. Their blazers were immaculate, free of badges except for one girl, who had a badge reading “School Council.” Their skirts were knee-length, their shoes flat and boring. Their hair was scraped back into ponytails, one had glasses on and they looked pretty ordinary. In actuality, it was Caitlin, Juliana and Gemma. They had pulled all the badges off their blazers, pulled down their skirts, scraped their hair back into ponytails and wiped off their makeup, which made them look totally different. At the next stop, Carmen, Lola and Aimee got on, similarly disguised, and then Didi and Katie. Their tickets said Blue Valley High, and that was indeed where they would be going. But Carmen had called her Aunt Milly, who was going to meet them at the bus stop across the road from where they were getting off.
The girls filed off and dashed to the school, playing the part of girls very late for school. They waited inside the gate then sprinted over to Milly’s bus. She handed them the bags of clothes she had stashed in her cab and they climbed to the top deck as Milly drove off. They pulled on the clothes (Very inconspicuous-jeans and t-shirts) and crouched under the seats.
Arriving in Salisbury at 11am, they hastened straight to City Centre, where they hailed a taxi to take them to Stella’s, a friend of Cecilia’s.
Stella greeted them all with hugs, before sitting down and listening gravely to their story. “sure, of course you can crash here for a few days,” she assured them, but the next morning she rushed off and phoned the police.
The person who arrived for them, unbelievably, was Ash. She promptly burst into tears at the sight of Carmen embracing her and inspecting her. Carmen didn’t even want to think about what Anthony and Ash had been doing that night. In reality, they had been up all night, drinking espressos and rubbing sleep from their eyes. The caffeine still hadn’t worn off Ash, who hailed a taxi.
Anthony was furious when Carmen got home. He slapped her and told her to never, ever do that again, and couldn’t she at least try to get on with Ash? Like that’s ever going to happen, Carmen thought sulkily. But she tried, for the next three months. Until Cecilia came home.
Cecilia came home with Dominic in May 2009. As soon as she was in the door she was flashing her engagement ring. Ash hadn’t had enough time to hide. Cecilia looked her up and down with a trained eye, but passed no comment. Ash skulked off at the next possible opportunity, presumably to her studio in the annexe.
It wasn’t until Cecilia was settled on the white leather sofa in Carmen’s bedroom that she passed comment. “Nice woman your father picked up,” Cecilia started. Carmen fumed inwardly. “Shame she’s your form tutor. But she seems to make him happy. He’s got her and I’ve got Dominic. When the divorce comes through, Dominic and I will be getting married. I think your father and that woman might be thinking of something else first.” She continued. Carmen was obviously pleased that Cecilia refused to say Ash’s name, but wondered what she meant. “Ah well,” Cecilia finished. “Must dash. Dom and I are going house hunting!” She bustled out of the door. Carmen was still confused about what her mother had meant… unless… no, she couldn’t be…
Carmen sprinted down the corridor, hurtled down the stairs and crashed through doors, all the while shouting Ash’s name. A startled head appeared from the studio. “ASH!” Carmen yelled, although Ash was just a metre away. “Are you pregnant??” Ash looked startled. “How do you know about that?” she asked. Carmen turned around and ran. Out the front door, through the front gates and into the road. Ash bolted after her, following the same route, out the front door, through the front gates and into the road.
But where Carmen had looked first, Ash did not. She was so concerned with not letting Carmen escape again she did not Stop, Look, Listen or Look Again. Carmen’s desperate cry came a fraction of a second too late. Ash was in the road. There was no way the driver of the Land Rover could have stopped in time. He was over the speed limit, drunk at the wheel and in a stolen car. It was like slow motion. The Land Rover smashing into Ash, Ash flying up into the air, Ash hitting the bonnet with a sickening crunch, Ash being flung off, Ash smacking the road. Screaming. Punching in 9-9-9 on her phone. The ambulance sirens. Holding Ash’s hand all the way to the hospital. Standing outside Intensive Care when Anthony arrived. Sitting on a lurid orange plastic chair, flicking aimlessly through a magazine, sipping warm cola. Ash after the operation, pale and floppy, covered in lacerations and swathed in bandages. The rise and fall of Ash’s chest. Talking to her softly. Knowing that there was no baby, never had been. Apologising deeply to the still slumbering Ash. The rabbit-in-headlights look came because it was what Ash and Anthony wanted, secretly, and Carmen wasn’t meant to know. Crying. Holding Ash’s hand. Seeing Ash’s eyelids flutter. Crying, this time with relief.
Six months on. Carmen sat on the sofa, cuddled up with Ash. The lift doors slid open and Anthony stepped out. Carmen gently lifted Ash’s arm from her shoulders and slipped over to the lift. As the doors closed, Carmen shoved her foot in the doors, forced them open and stepped inside. Looked around for a button, but the only one in sight was “G” for Ground Floor, where she already was. She started knocking on panels, until she found one that sounded hollow. Placing her hand on it, Carmen tried to move it but it wouldn’t budge. Until she kept her hand on it and moved it to the side. The reward was the revelation of a keyboard and button labelled “B.” But it obviously needed a password. Carmen pondered for a second then smiled and typed in “A-S-H-L-E-I-G-H.” she pressed the button. Nothing. She tried again. “A-S-H-L-E-I-G-H-1-3.” This time, the press of the button jerked the lift into action.
The doors slid open to reveal a large white room. White walls, white desks and chairs, white linoleum floor, people in white coats. The only colour came from the bubbling beakers of liquid on the desks, connected with pipes and tubes and suspended over Bunsen burners. As the doors slid open, 12 pairs of eyes slid to her. One person shouted out. Another shouted too: “Warn the boss!” The tallest man shouted: “No don’t, this is Carmen. The boss’s daughter!” Carmen stepped back into the lift. And straight into Anthony.
Anthony frowned down at Carmen. She thought that she might be granted a reprieve and get off with a light “Go to your room!” but he reached over and slapped her, hard across the face. He seized her arm and dragged her over to a chair in the centre of the room, issuing commands all the way. The whole laboratory went into lockdown. Anthony manhandled a struggling Carmen into the chair, tying her to it with thick leather bands. He ignored her protests and continued, wrapping the bands tightly before hurrying into a large concrete room and swinging the door shut.
Tendrils of a thick orange gas started seeping into the room from vents in the floor and they gradually but surely overwhelmed Carmen, weakening her struggles until she was still. Finally, she slumped to one side, the gas cleared and Anthony emerged from the concrete room. A smile caressed his lips. “Excellent,” he hissed, to nobody in particular. “Prepare for loading.” As the men hurried around him, he lifted Carmen up and placed her in the lift. “Sleep tight little one,” he whispered and stepped back. It had begun.
Carmen awoke slumped in the lift. What had happened? She remembered going into the lift, but then… nothing. But, then again, it was kind of hot in there. The floor was getting rapidly warmer and the walls were uncomfortable too. She started to panic. There was no way out! The doors were stuck fast, but then Carmen remembered a trick she had seen on TV. She groped around on the ceiling until she felt a hidden latch. She slid it to one side and a trapdoor swung open. Reaching up, she grasped the edge of the hatchway and pulled herself up, until she was suspended, half-in and half-out of the lift. She saw she was in the middle of a long shaft. At the top there was a speck of light-the doors, she presumed. In front of her were a chain and a long, well-oiled cable. The chain had broad links and proved to be stretched taut when she plucked it. Sighing, she placed her left foot in one link, her right foot in a higher up link and positioned her hands to start climbing. It was going to be tough.
Ash first knew something was wrong when she woke up and Carmen wasn’t there. Carmen wasn’t in the house, annexe or grounds either. She couldn’t have gone out? Ash wondered. She dismissed the worry and settled back to sleep on the sofa. But it was two hours later she became aware of a presence in the hall. Creeping to the door, she heard laboured, panting breaths and sobbing. Flinging the door open, she found Carmen collapsed on the hall carpet, covered in grease, dirt, oil and smoke, with twin tear-tracks down her face. She was shaking all over, gasping and choking for breath, each heavy and obviously painful. The lift doors yawned open behind her, like an open mouth. Ash went to peer in, but her vertigo set in and she leaned back, dizzy. She picked up the phone and started to dial.
When Carmen awoke again, she was in a hospital bed, hooked up to an oxygen machine and several drips. A sign above her bed declared her name. A bunch of yellow fabric flowers sat in a blue ceramic jar on her bed-stand. As she began to move her head, she saw Ash sitting by her bedside, smacking the side of her mobile phone, trying to get a signal. She saw the Nurse walk past, shooting disapproving looks at her. There was no sign of Anthony.
It was two months after that that the announcement came. Ash was pregnant. Carmen, strangely, felt that she could finally accept this fact, but she wasn’t quite sure why. The divorce had been finalised and the date for Cecilia and Dominic’s wedding was set. A bedroom was already being converted into a nursery, painted and furnished all in white, with a beautiful window seat looking over the cherry orchard. Baby clothes were being born at a rate of knots, and when it turned out the baby was to actually be twins, the buying doubled. Ash was due in September, but, as she joked, she was bound to be late, she always was.
As it turned out, Ash delivered thirteen days early, on the 7th of September. She gave birth in Mercy Hospital, to fraternal twins, a boy, named Jamie, and a girl, named Sophie. Anthony was yet again mysteriously absent until the twins were three days old. Carmen had been the first to hold Sophie, before Ash even got a look in! But Ash had insisted on holding Jamie, the younger twin (by ten minutes) first. The nurses joked about trying to hold them both at the same time when they were a bit bigger. Ash just lay back weakly, enjoying her little miracles.
Carmen delivered the news of the twins’ birth at school the next day, claiming to know “from her sources,” as she had not yet revealed the relationship between Ash and her father.
Moira Gilling sighed into her coffee. If Ash thought that her relationship with Anthony was private, she was wrong. Half the staff in school was gossiping about her in private and the other half publicly. Well, she, Moira Gilling, would end that. She selected “Print 50” from her menu and the printer whirred into life.
A shadow flicked across her computer. It was Amelia, the other teacher in the department. “Stop right there, Moira. What do you think you’re doing?”
A smile caressed Moira’s lips. She cackled. “Exposing Ash’s relationship with Anthony. She will be forced to leave the school in shame. And then I, Moira Gilling, can be Head Of Art!”
Amelia stared at her, appalled. A look of horror passed across her face. “But, but, that’s despicable! That’s an outrage!” Amelia spluttered, and launched herself at Moira, scratching and biting. They tussled on the floor for several minutes, the disquieting hum of the printer providing background music.
Finally, they both stood, panting for breath. The printer stopped whirring abruptly. The two women stood facing each other. Their eyes flicked to the printer, before they simultaneously lunged for it. Amelia got there first, grabbing the print-outs and ramming them into the shredder. Moira caught up, ramming into Amelia, knocking her off balance so she fell to the floor. Before Amelia could get up or retaliate, Moira had picked up a chair. The last thing Amelia remembered was seeing a chair smashing down towards her and opening her mouth in a silent scream. “Now to deal with the brat,” Moira muttered under her breath.
Carmen was sitting in her Form Room when the summons came from Moira. As Carmen walked in, Moira set onto her, kicking and scratching. Finally, she stopped. Carmen got up and ran, as fast as she could, out into the classroom, into the corridor and straight into Ash, who was carrying a poster, looking at it with a shocked expression. She dropped it as soon as she saw Carmen. Her mouth opened in an “O” of horror. “What has she done to you?” Ash cried. The last thing Carmen remembered was falling forward, or maybe it was down, down, down…
Amelia sat up with a start, banging her head on a hard horizontal surface above her head. She swore. She realised she was shackled to a table. Her head pounded and her back complained, but she pulled herself up. A shadowy figure was advancing towards her with a torch.
Ash knelt down. In her hand a scalpel glinted. Amelia cowered, but Ash took the scalpel and began to hack through the ropes that bound Amelia to the table. Suddenly, without warning, Amelia slumped into Ash’s arms.
Carmen awoke, shivering violently. The nightmare had come again. The horrible one, where she was falling. She was lying in a hospital bed, clothed in a flimsy cotton nightdress. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. What had happened? And then it all returned. Moira. Ash. Amelia. Blood. Falling. And then she was back in her dream, screaming, until a hand clasped hers, clutching it tightly, and tugged her back to reality. It was Ash, sitting there in the semi-dark ward, smiling at her. Carmen settled back, and for the first night in two weeks slept untroubled.
It was just a few days later that Amelia came to. Moira had gone, vanished into the unknown, and with her all hopes of assault charges and compensation. Carmen was back at school, although her secret was out. She endured dirty looks, cruel words and slaps, to come out fighting, albeit minus several friends. Juliana had deserted her in favour of Hayley, a tall, blonde girl and the two had struck up a fair relationship.
Carmen was not alright. She was emotionally and physically scarred, with twin scars writhing their way around her wrists and up her arms until her elbows. Her best friend had deserted her and the Posse’s relationship was on a knife edge, not to mention the fact that everyone except her had a boyfriend. Ash had been busy with the twins and Anthony had been disappearing for longer periods, leaving Carmen to focus her energy on other activities.
She was going on increasingly long treks on her horse, Celestial, tailed by her dog, Arwyn, and, occasionally, Ash and the twins. It was on one such trek that Carmen suddenly realised. She could leave all this behind. Move on. Move out. She was 17, she was practically independent. Spurring Celestial forward, she cantered off, leaving a startled Ash alone.
Ash, bedraggled and covered in mud arrived through the front door as Carmen snapped her suitcase closed and bounced up and down on it in an attempt to shut it. Ash was concerned. Carmen couldn’t just leave school. Or home. Where would she go?
Carmen was quite unconcerned. Mr Travers had promised her suitable accommodation at her part-time job, a PowerPoint creator for the Anti-Nuclear Council. She grabbed her car keys and suitcase, ran outside, hugged Ash goodbye and drove off at speed. Arriving several breakneck minutes later at the back of the ANC office block, she grabbed her suitcase again, locked the car and sauntered in, apparently unconcerned. Signing in at Reception, she went up in the lift to the 12th floor, where she stopped outside Mr Travers’ office. She raised her hand to knock, but as she did, the door opened. Carmen started and jumped back, just as a tall, slim handsome Chinese man stepped out. He had swept-back black hair, piercing brown eyes and coffee-coloured skin. He was mid-height and muscular and wearing a suit, sans jacket and tie.
He grabbed her arm. “Craig Hughes, at your service, madame,” he whispered. His voice was silky smooth. “Are you an agent?”
“No, sir. I’m the PowerPoint girl. And please let go, you’re hurting me!” Carmen squeaked.
“So sorry, madame. Here’s my card.” And with that, he was gone.
Carmen slipped into Mr Travers’ office. In an instant, six guns were trained on her. Mr Travers looked astounded. Then a slow smirk crept across his features. “Carmen Dale-Bryanston. I was wondering when you would grace us with an appearance. I believe you, ahh, heard something, in the corridor. I don’t think we can let you go. You see, the Anti-Nuclear Council is not, in fact, just a council. It is a Militia. A group of trained assassins, terrorists and killers. This time next month, you will be one. You can kiss goodbye to the life you once led, Carmen”
Three of the guards stepped forward and seized Carmen, dragging her across the room towards a seemingly solid wall. But they reached it and passed through it and soon they were deep underground, and Carmen and her guards had reached an uneasy truce. By the time they reached their destination, Carmen was totally still.
It took just three weeks of intensive training before Carmen was ready to take on a mission. In those 3 weeks, she learned to kill people silently and in cold blood. She learned the art of garrotting, stabbing, shooting and of course: the art of the silent killer.
But she was totally unprepared for the mission assigned to her. It was waiting for her one morning as she awoke. It was a simple brown envelope, about A4 sized and it contained one sheet of paper, on which were printed the words: KILL ASHLEIGH DALE, and a long, thin kitchen knife. Carmen allowed her composure to slip for a few seconds, before pulling it back together. She quietly visited General Travers before slipping off like a shadow to complete her task, kitchen knife in a sheath on her leg.
Ash was quietly crying at her computer, tears rolling down her face, along her neck and dripping onto her top. It was not unusual for her to partake in this activity nowadays. Since Carmen disappeared, Ash did little else. A shadow passed across her. Something had passed the window, she subconsciously registered. The door opened then shut again quietly. Ash turned. A familiar pair of eyes glinted at her. “Carmen!” Ash said. “You came back!”
“I came back to kill you,” Carmen replied.
“But… why? Carmen?” Ash whispered.
“Because that’s who I am now. I’m not a child. Get real.” Carmen hissed, and plunged her knife up to the handle into Ash’s chest, before running for her life.
And all Ash could do was look down and wonder why the blood was pouring down the right hand side.
Carmen arrived back at HQ out of breath and carrying a bloody knife. She was so sure she could do it, yet when the time came… it was too hard. Ash had been there through the good and the bad. Ash had been the mother Carmen had lost out on. A better mother than Cecilia, that much was sure. But now all Carmen felt was remorse. She had deliberately stabbed Ash in the right hand side, sparing her life. It would cause pain, but Ash was alive. Now all Carmen had to do was convince General Travers that Ash was more use to them that way.
Ash lay in a hospital bed, drips pumping fluids in and out of her. Her right side felt as though it had been run over. Anthony was at her side and the twins were sitting awkwardly on two orange plastic chairs next to him. Ash tried to sit up, but fell back with a cry of pain as a red hot needle of pain shot along her right side. That wasn’t just her imagination. Something warm flowed down her side. Blood. She realised she must have broken the scab over her wound. Wound. She remembered now. Carmen. Carmen had stabbed her. She cried out. The next thing she knew, Anthony was at her side, stroking her forehead. She pushed him away. “Carmen.” Her voice cracked. Anthony soothed her. “Hush now. You know Carmen passed away,” he whispered.
And then Ash started to sob.
Carmen sat on the sofa nibbling her nails. She had told General Travers alright. He had finally come round to her point of view, but assigned her to work with Craig in the future. She knew it was… unprofessional. She knew their feelings would affect them both deeply. But she could never have imagined how deeply.
It was two months later that the unprofessional thing happened. Craig and Carmen were on a stake-out, watching the home of a prominent nuclear scientist. Turning to face each other after three hours of no activity, they stared deep into each others eyes. Craig leaned forwards and kissed her, and Carmen, taken by surprise, paused, before kissing him back. They succumbed to the love they shared and so ensued a night of passion, followed by a dishevelled, hurried morning, as the nuclear scientist emerged from her house, and Craig, unprepared, had had to shoot her before she could leave. But not a word was spoken about the night before, and when Carmen turned up outside Craig’s apartment, she was welcomed inside. But still no talk of that night.
It was three months later that Carmen broke the news to Craig, who broke it to General Travers gently, who went berserk and trashed his office. Nobody could believe it: Carmen was pregnant and she was one of their best agents.
Ash flopped down with the newspaper. The headline grabbed her attention immediately: “PREGNANT AGENT THREATENS TO CAUSE RIFT IN ANM” it blared. What’s more, there was a photo. Although she was covering her face, it was undoubtedly Carmen. She couldn’t believe it. Carmen. Pregnant? No way. It must be a mistake. It had to be.
Carmen sat opposite Craig, who was staring vacantly at a mark on the ceiling. Suddenly it came back in a flood. Anthony’s laboratory. She jumped up suddenly, startling Craig out of his reverie. In a few quick words, she explained the situation to him. It took a little long to phone General Travers and alert him, but within the hour, Carmen and Craig were on their way to Anthony’s.
Pulling up along the road, they skulked along behind the hedge until the gates were in sight, then ran for it, straight around the back, in through the annexe and into the lift. Trepidation rose inside Carmen as she typed in the password. She wasn’t sure about this. But then the doors were opening and there was Anthony, framed with a ring of light and flanked by two thugs. Craig opened fire, hitting Anthony, the thugs and exploding a beaker of liquid. Within seconds, the lab was on fire, beakers exploding and adding to the mayhem, while gas escaped from ruptured pipes. Craig dragged Carmen back into the lift as the fire really took hold, and as they stepped out into the house, the ground noticeably shook. There was a smash behind them. It was Ash.
Ash stared down at the puddle of chocolate ice-cream at her feet, then across the hall at Carmen and the stranger she was with. He drew his gun. “No,” Carmen whispered. “Let me deal with this one.” All Ash could look at was the distinctive curve of Carmen’s belly and the way the stranger looked at her and put two and two together. But then Carmen was screaming and falling and clutching her stomach and in that instant, Ash knew that Carmen had lost the baby.
The next thing Carmen knew, she was in Ash’s hall, lying on the floor in Craig’s arms, in utter agony. Craig was deliberating with Ash about taking Carmen to a public hospital. “We can’t. If we do they’ll arrest her. And me. And you, for being here. We can’t. I have to take her back to HQ.” Craig said, with the air of someone who had said it many times before. “And you’re coming with me” he finished. Ash looked bewildered. “But why??” she stuttered. Craig smiled grimly. “Because you know too much: become a benefactor of the ANM or you and your whole family will be eradicated,” he hissed menacingly. Ash took a step back and nodded slowly. “OK” she whispered.
Arriving at HQ, Ash stared in wonder at all the technology, head swivelling sickeningly. General Travers was furious, but as he learned of the power Ash had, he came around. Carmen was rushed to the infirmary, and soon learnt herself that she had lost the baby.
Taking six months off any missions and confined to surveillance with Craig, it was unsurprising when she announced, just nine months after losing her first child, that she was pregnant again. Craig badgered General Travers until he agreed to make Carmen stay at HQ until she had given birth.
It was in those six months that Carmen lived dangerously. She acquired an expensive taste in men: she chose three high-ranking, highly-paid men in the ANM and spent time with each of them in a week. Craig took a back seat and Carmen painted the town red. She drove men mad: the seduction, the catch, the let-down. She enjoyed trying them all on for size, comparing them, seeing who could give the best good times and who could take the dizzying lows caused by the strange hormones that pregnancy brings. She whispered sweet nothings in their ears and hand fed them little bits of what they fancied. But then came the birth of her daughter and everything changed.
Because Carmen delivered a girl, Callie Emma, on the 22nd of June 2013. Noughts and Crosses had been Carmen’s favourite book as a child and she decided to name her children after the characters in the book. So as Carmen looked down at Callie, she felt a rush of pride. She knew something big had started.
Callie wriggled around a little on her highchair. Her au pair was trying to feed her runny egg and soldiers, but Callie wasn’t having any of it. She wanted Mummy, and she wanted Mummy right now, this very minute. She opened her mouth to take a deep breath, but her au pair quickly fished in her pocket, found a dummy and shoved it into Callie’s mouth. Danger averted. There were footsteps on the stairs and Carmen appeared, looking disgruntled and grumpy, as per usual. Snatching Callie, she pulled the dummy out of her daughter’s mouth, threw it in the bin and, with Callie balanced precariously on one hip so as to avoid her sensitive, swollen stomach, where you could feel the little feet of her second child kicking.
Callie sat by her cot, staring down at her new baby sister, Sephy. Sephy waved her chubby little fists in Callie’s direction and Callie vowed to be the best big sister ever.
Sephy lay on her rug in the garden, kicking her legs and chuckling. Callie Emma sat beside her, and her au pair was in the house, making up Sephy’s bottle. All of a sudden, a man had dropped silently over the hedge and ran towards Sephy. As he lunged for her, Callie jumped on his back and clung on with all her might. He lashed out and tried to dislodge her, but he failed and as he twisted around, he fell, and instantly Callie was on him, pinning him down. The au pair appeared, shrieked, and dropped Sephy’s bottle. The man seemed to give in, and when the police arrived, he went quietly.
It was later revealed he was John Hicks, a prominent nuclear supporter, and he found the very concept that anyone did not support it incredible. In other words, he was a fanatic, and he had discovered Carmen and Craig’s home and decided to try and eradicate them. When Ash arrived at Carmen’s for coffee, she cuddled Callie, kissed Sephy on the forehead and sat down to gossip with Carmen. Spreading out a newspaper between them, they noticed Carmen was simply referred to as “A prominent Anti-Nuclear supporter from a gated community.” Because Carmen and Craig had been forced to move into a gated community after all the pregnant hassle, and they were referred to as “Anti-Nuclear supporters.” Because with two children and numbers three and four on the way, they could not risk their family. Cypress Creek was the perfect place for them.
As Carmen lay back weakly, she heard the sound any mother anticipates eagerly: the sound of her new-born twin daughters crying. Although she had heard it twice before, it was always such a joyous moment for her, as after losing her first child, childbirth was an anxious time. “Samantha,” she decided out loud. “Sammi. And Jasmine. Jazz.” The nurse smiled and asked Craig to provide the relevant paperwork. “Sure,” he replied. “We have all the time in the world together.”
But as it was, they did not have all the time in the world. Because when Carmen went Christmas shopping that year, the tragedy struck. Craig and Carmen were sat in the front of the car, arguing about the best route. Jazz and Sammi were sat behind them, strapped into their car seats, and behind them, Callie and Sephy sat. As Carmen stopped at traffic lights, Callie was dimly aware of a builder’s van parked in a drive, perpendicular to the car. And as she watched, the ladder of the top of the van started to move. Callie watched in horror as it smashed through the driver’s window of her car, instantly killing Carmen and Craig. Glass showered her and her sisters like sharp confetti. Somewhere in the distance, sirens sounded. “Mum?” Callie asked, before bursting into tears.
So what happened next? Callie, Sephy, Jazz and Sammi moved in with Ash and grew up dimly remembering Carmen and Craig, but knowing Ash at “Mum” and Sophie and Jamie as siblings. They grew up, got married, had children, and gradually forgot Carmen. But Ash could never forget Carmen, as the baby she surrendered to a stronger woman, or the headstrong teenager who idolised her, or the tortured young woman who had been to hell and back for her.
Can you blame her?
