Love In The Wrong Dimension (Romantic Ghost Story) (12 page)

She stayed with Alice for another half hour or so, before deciding it was time to go home. It had crossed her mind that this flat should really be home, after all, it was where she had lived before she died. But she liked it at Jack’s house. Alice would be there more often, now that she was going out with Jack, and she had started to think of Susie as a little sister, but mostly, it was because of Tom that she had stayed. Tom, who made her laugh one minute, but drove her mad the next. He was gorgeous, sexy and charming, but haunted by a tragic past that prevented him from moving on to a better place. She wanted to help him, but she was beginning to realise that you could only help someone if they wanted to be helped, and it was becoming blatantly obvious that Tom had given up the fight a long time ago. But she couldn’t help wanting to persist, to keep chipping away at the shell he had encased himself in, confident that, one day, she would break through and he would finally open up to her. She wasn’t going to give up on him. She had developed feelings for him that went deeper than anything she had ever felt for anyone, and she was going to stand by him, whether he liked it or not.

“
Hello stranger,” he smiled, as she returned to Jack’s house, “where have you been?”

“
With Alice. She’s got an interview tomorrow and she needed a bit of help with her outfit.” She smiled as she imagined Alice turning up at the interview looking like a little green elf. She hoped she had hidden the offending top well enough for Alice not to find it.

“
Where’s Susie?” s
he asked, looking around.

“
I’m not sure. She said something about visiting a friend.” He sighed as he looked at her. “I had a chat with her. You know, about her mum.”

“
Oh.”

“
You’re right. She is unhappy and I feel awful, because it never occurred to me that she would still be feeling bad after all this time. She always seems so bright and cheerful.”

“
She knows you have a lot on your mind. She doesn’t want to burden you with her problems.”

“
Oh god, that makes me feel even worse.”

Jemma walked over to him and gently touched his arm. “I’m sorry about the way I told you,” she said, “I should have been more tactful. Tact isn’t exactly my strongest quality, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“
You’re honest, that’s all and that’s something to be proud of. How am I going to help the poor kid?”

“
Would you be okay
if she was to leave without you?”

A shadow momentarily crossed his face befo
re he answered, “Yes, if it were possible. I’d miss her dreadfully, but I hate to see her so unhappy. If there’s a way for her to go back without me, then I’d be happy for her.”

Jemma was satisfied with his answer, if he was happy for Susie to go back, then that’s all that mattered. She smiled at him and felt a little flutter of something deep inside her as he smiled back, and she remembered, almost fondly, how she had called him Hot Lips when she had first arrived. That seemed like such a long time ago now, even though time apparently didn’t exist anymore.

“
I might as well go and
talk to Max straight away,” she said reluctantly, “I keep putting it off, but I suppose now’s as good a time as any.”

“
Do you want me to come with you?”

“
No, if he doesn’t like you, he may not want to talk. I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

As she walked through the open door to the living room though, she wished she had taken Tom up on his offer. Max made her feel nervous and, on top of that, she couldn’t get Susie’s warning out of her head. As she looked at him now, she felt the same sense of unease that she always felt around him. He had an air of danger about him, or was it evil? Either way, it unsettled her and it was with enormous effort that she swallowed her fear and smiled nervously.

“
Er, Max?” S
he hesitated, trying to think of what to say. ‘Remember, he’s just a harmless old spook’, she told herself. He studied her quietly for a few moments, and a look of something that looked a bit like pain, followed immediately by anger, spread over his face.

“
What do you want?” he growled, in a deep, gravelly voice.

“
Erm, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?”

“
What?”

She coughed nervously.
“Er, as you know, I want to leave this place, and you told me before that there’s only one way out and that’s through a wormhole, and I was, well, I wondering if you would tell me how I’d locate ....” her voice trailed off as she saw the hostile expression on Max’s face.

“
Think you’re so fucking clever, don’t you,” he snarled.

“
Oh, no, I just...”

“
Come here,” he growled.

Jemma had never been up close to Max before
, and the thought terrified her, but something inside her wanted to know more about this sinister man so, slowly, she moved closer to him, feeling more uncomfortable with every step, until she was standing in front of him. Up close, she was surprised to see that he wasn’t as old as she had first thought, and that he looked wet, his old fashioned clothes, possibly early twentieth century, were clinging to his body, as if he had just climbed out of a swimming pool.

“
Are you wet?” she couldn’t help asking, her quest momentarily forgotten.

“
Of course I bloody am. I drowned didn’t I?”

“
Oh, I didn’t know. What happened?” she asked, her curiosity momentarily replacing her fear.

For a moment, Jemma thought he was going to shout
at her, but then he started speaking, almost calmly. “I was on a boat, a big boat built for the rich. I got a job on it, shovelling coal in the engine room. Bloody hard work, but it was a job, and there was the possibility of staying in America and starting a new life. But the bloody boat sank.” He paused momentarily, and then suddenly threw Jemma a wild glare and said, “They said it was unsinkable!”

“
Oh my god,” whispered Jemma. “Y
ou were on the Titanic?”

The
brief calmness in his voice earlier was gone again and it was now trembling as he continued. “The night it happened, I had gone up onto the passenger deck. We weren’t allowed up there, but it was late and I needed some air. There was a couple up there, walking on the deck, but I didn’t take much notice of them. When we hit the iceberg, the missus slipped and fell onto the deck and I went over and helped him pick her up. She was a bit shaken, but alright. I helped them!”

Jemma found it incredible that she was talking to someone who had actually been on the Titanic. She had seen countless films and television programmes about it, but here she was, getting the story first hand, from someone who had actually been there.

“
When we were in the water,” he continued, “I saw a lifeboat and tried to swim towards it, but it was so cold. Someone was sitting in it looking into the water for survivors. I managed to get quite close, and saw that the person in the boat was the man whose wife I had helped. I called to him for help, but he bloody ignored me. He turned away and got someone else out of the water, leaving me to drown. I had helped him and his wife and then he left me to fucking drown!” Max shouted, the fury in his voice rising so quickly that it terrified her. But then he stopped talking and there was a deathly silence as Jemma stared at Max, whose eyes were now filled with a rage that must have been festering for nearly a hundred years. Jemma searched desperately for something appropriate to say, but what the hell do you say to something like that, she thought, remaining silent.

“
It was his fault that I died. He could have saved me, but he left me in that water and he’s going to pay,” his voice was now terrifyingly dark, and Jemma knew, without doubt, that he meant it.

“
Who was he?” she asked, somehow dreading the answer.

“
It was him, wasn’t it. George
fucking
Cresswell, Tom’s grandfather.” He spat the words out as if they were poison.

So that’s why Max was haunting Jack’s house. He had followed George all the way back here so he could get his revenge. Jemma realised that now probably wouldn’t be a good time to persist with her questions. He had got himself worked up into this terrible rage that had the potential to erupt into something even more dark and dangerous, and there was no way she was going to risk that. So instead, she said she was sorry to hear his story, and bade a hasty goodnight, before getting out of the room as quickly as she could.

When she was on her own again, she kept replaying the conversation in her head. Max’s anger had terrified her, and she was in no doubt that Max wanted revenge. She knew that Tom’s grandfather wasn’t in this dimension though, probably because he had done nothing wrong. It was very likely that he hadn’t even seen or heard Max in the water, after all, it must have been very dark, and Max would have been so cold that his voice wouldn’t have had enough strength for it to be heard. And yet, Max had been adamant that George was going to pay one way or another, but if George wasn’t here, how would Max exact his revenge?

But Jemma already knew the answer, and a dark feeling of foreboding gripped her, as she realised that there was only one person who Max
could
get his revenge on.

Alice stood outside the restaurant and smiled when she saw the sign over the window –
Glitz
. The silver and gold letters looked like they were made of tiny sparkling crystals which made it look glamorous, and, well - glitzy. She looked through one of the windows, which was surrounded by tiny white fairy lights on the inside, and saw a colourful, stylish room with tables of various sizes strategically placed for customer comfort and privacy. Instinctively she knew that this place was going to be fun, and she wanted to be a part of it – and she hadn’t even walked through the door yet.

She glanced at her reflection in the window, and was glad she couldn’t find that green jumper this morning. It was very odd how it had disappeared like that, she was sure she had put it on the chair before she had gone to bed, and she certainly didn’t remember picking the red top out. But whatever the explanation, it had done her a favour, because the red top looked so much better, and that, along with her lucky bangle, had given her a much needed confidence boost.

She glanced at her watch. Two minutes to ten. Perfect. She pushed open the door, stepped inside and was greeted by the distinctive sound of Abba. She loved Abba, so that was another good omen.

“
I’ll be right with you,” called a voice from behind a door.

Alice looked around the restaurant and felt a flutter of excitement. She really loved this place, with its twinkling lights, delicious smell of fresh coffee and warm, friendly feel, and that was without the buzz of customers. The walls were covered with mirrors and pictures of seventies and eighties pop stars. The bleached oak tables were laid with stylish plain silver cutlery, and stylish silver candlesticks with tall white candles were neatly placed among the shiny wine glasses and crisp, clean linen napkins. The seats were covered in red velvet, giving the whole place a feeling of comfort, mixed with hint of decadence.

“
Sorry about that,” said the voice, as its owner emerged from behind the door. “You must be Alice. I’m Oscar, named after the great Oscar Wilde. Actually, my mum tells me I was named after my granny’s dog, but Oscar Wilde sounds so much better, don’t you think?” he said, with a wink.

“
Absolutely,” grinned Alice, “unless the dog was very clever and very beautiful.”

“
He was a wire-haired sausage dog!”

“
Oh. Oscar Wilde it is then,” laughed Alice, feeling completely relaxed with this bubbly, flamboyant man. He was tall, with perfectly styled blonde hair, equally perfect manicured hands, and was wearing a black t-shirt, which had ABBA written across it in silver glitter. His blue eyes sparkled almost as much as the glitter on his t-shirt.

“
Do you want a coffee? I’m desperate for another cup, I can’t function until I’ve got at least three shots of espresso inside me.”

As Oscar expertly produced two cups of steaming coffee from the large espresso machine, he glanced over at Alice.

“
So, tell me about yourself. Do you like Abba?”

“
Yes, I love Abba,” she enthused.

“
Good, who’s your favourite?”

“
Oh, I’m not sure. The blonde one, I think.”

“
Agnetha? She’s great, but I love Frida. I met her once you know, she was so nice. She’s a very beautiful lady. Did you know she’s a princess now?”

This was the most unusual interview that Alice had ever been to. When Oscar had asked her to tell him about herself, she assumed that he had meant her work experience. She certainly hadn’t expected a discussion on which member of Abba she liked best.

When she left, over an hour later, she still didn’t feel like she’d just been to a job interview. They had chatted about music, food, New York and his boyfriend, Dean, who was the cook at Glitz. She didn’t recall Oscar actually telling her that she had got the job, but guessed she probably had when he asked if she could start the following week.

Afterwards, a
s she walked up Camden High Street, Alice felt like skipping. She had just got a job. And not only that, Glitz was the most amazing restaurant she had ever been to, and Oscar was going to be so much fun to work with. She couldn’t wait to tell Jack. She would cook him a nice meal, and later, they would go up to Hampstead for a celebratory drink, she thought, excitedly.