The Write Dream (Storage Ghosts) (3 page)

Grace
and Marie gazed in wonder at the scenery surrounding them.

“We’re
in your picture,” Grace said.

Marie
nodded. “I can’t believe it! That castle took me forever to draw. And over
there is the cave where the Dragon Lord sleeps. What’s happening now? I can
hear a voice. Oh! It’s Andrew’s!”

Grace
listened for a moment. “He’s narrating the story. Are you okay? You’re
shaking.”

Marie
clutched her hands together. “It’s the shock of hearing his voice again. I’d forgotten
about this story. Are we moving?”

Grace
nodded. The painted path beneath their feet seemed to be carrying them forward
in the story.

They
listened as Andrew told the tale of a brave knight and his battle against the
Dragon Lord. There were evil princesses, beautiful witches, talking owls and
even dancing gnomes. Andrew made the story tie together beautifully. Grace
gasped as the hero came up against yet another challenge, convinced this time
that it was the end for him. But Andrew thought of a clever twist and the hero
was soon on his way again.

Marie
stood taller as she listened to her son’s voice. Her chest seemed to be
expanding as more pride was absorbed with the long forgotten words.

The
drama heated up and the hero had to face his biggest foe, the Dragon Lord.

The
story abruptly ended and Grace and Marie found themselves thrust back into the
shop. It was so sudden that Grace fell to the floor, as if she’d been flung off
a merry go round.

She
looked up at Marie. “What happened? Where did the story go?”

Marie’s
forehead wrinkled. “I don’t know. Unless... let me look at that story again.
Andrew always put a date on them.”

Marie
inspected the book. She looked back at Grace, her face seemed to shimmer. In a quiet
voice she said, “He wrote it just before I died. He never finished it.”

Grace
stood up and walked closer to Marie. Even though her arm hung in mid air Grace
put it around Marie’s shoulder anyway. “I’m so sorry. He must have been
overcome with grief.”

“But
he can’t just stop writing! I died 5 years ago. What if he’s never written
anything else? What if his heart is dying because he’s doing a job he hates?
Grace, what can we do?”

“I
need to speak to him. I don’t know what I’m going to say but I’ll think of
something,” Grace said.

“How
will you get to speak to him? Will you ask him to come here?” Marie asked.

Grace
indicated her head towards the laptop. “I’ve got an idea.”

Chapter 6

At
Grace’s home the next morning Marie paced up and down. She said, “Are you sure
he’ll turn up? What if they send Brian?”

Grace
said, “I asked for the name of the person they were sending round. I told them
I was worried about security and I didn’t want to let just anyone into my home.
I must have sounded paranoid.”

Marie
stopped pacing. “What are you going to say to him? Are you going to tell him
that you can see me?”

Grace
quickly shook her head. “I haven’t told anyone that I can see ghosts, and I’m
not going to start now. I’ll think of something. I’ve got his story notebooks,
maybe I can steer the conversation towards them. I’m glad you’re here. The
other ghosts that I’ve talked to were attached to their items and were able to
travel with them. I wasn’t sure if you would be attached to the notebooks.”

Marie
gave a little smile. “Must be my amazing pictures. Oh! I feel nervous!”

There
was a knock at the door.

Grace
gave Marie a reassuring look. “I’ll do what I can.”

Grace
opened the door to a smartly dressed young man, he had the same nose and eyes
as Marie. Grace noted that the suit he was wearing seemed too big for him. Was
he supposed to grow into it?

He
held his hand out. “Ms Abrahams? I’m Andrew Braithwaite. You called Thompson’s
Security for a free security check?”

Grace
took his hand and shook it. “Yes! Thank you for fitting me in so soon. Do come
in!”

Andrew
stepped through the door and wiped his feet. “Did the lady on the phone explain
that I can only give you a quick security check? We’re inundated with work at
the moment.”

“Yes!
Yes! A quickie should be fine!” Grace said in a voice that was far too high.

Andrew
gave her a searching look. He quickly glanced back at the closed door.

Marie
was at Grace’s side. She said, “Grace, you need to calm down, you’re scaring
him.”

I’m
scaring myself, Grace thought.

Marie
said, “Look at him, so tall and grown up. He looks more like his dad than ever.
But look at his eyes, there’s a sadness there.”

Andrew
gave a little cough. He said, “Where shall we start? With the survey. The front
door perhaps?”

“Yes,
good place to start,” Grace said with a bright smile.

Andrew
turned his back to her and began to examine the door. He opened it to check the
lock.

Grace
had a sudden fear that he would take off running down the street.

She
took a deep breath to calm herself down. She’d let him get on with the survey
and chat to him in a general way, like normal people did.

“Have
you been doing this job long?” Grace asked in what she hoped was a normal
voice.

Andrew
didn’t look up from his clip board. “About a year. I work for my auntie and
uncle. It’s a family business. How long have you had this 3 lever mortice lock?
It’s not the strongest one, I’d recommend a 5 or 7 lever.”

“Oh,
right, thank you,” Grace said. She waited a moment and said, “Didn’t you want
to go to university? I thought most young people went these days.”

Andrew
wrote something down then closed the door. He turned back to Grace and said,
“What’s the point? I knew I was going to end up working in the family business.
And, as my Auntie Sharon says, university is for layabouts, people who can’t be
bothered to get jobs. I might as well start working and earning money. Have you
got another exit door? At the back or side?”

Grace
looked at Marie. She had a face like thunder. She seethed, “Those are not his
words! He always wanted to go to university. I can’t believe Sharon would say
that to him.”

Grace
showed Andrew the back door. He opened it and began his inspection. She said,
“I went to university, I had the best time of my life. I made lots of friends
and learnt so much. I certainly didn’t feel like a layabout!”

She
gave a forced laugh but Andrew didn’t join in. He closed the door and said,
“The security on your doors is appalling, someone could easily kick them and
gain entrance. I’ll put down recommendations on the survey for you. Can I look
at your windows?”

“Yes,
follow me. As I was saying, university life was wonderful. Didn’t you ever
consider going?”

She
stopped and looked at Andrew. He lowered his clipboard and gazed into the
distance for a moment. The corner of his mouth raised slightly. He said, “I did
have a dream of going a long time ago. I even knew which ones I wanted to try
for.” He brought his look abruptly

back
to Grace and raised his board. “But, as Auntie Sharon says, dreams are for
dreamers, there’s no place for them in the real world. Do you have key operated
locks on your windows?”

Grace
was starting to hate Auntie Sharon with her negative words. She was obviously
having a bad influence on Andrew.

She
took him into the living room, flicking a glance at his writing notebooks that
she’d placed on the table in front of the sofa.

Andrew
looked at the windows, shaking his head slightly. Marie followed him
everywhere, love shining out of her eyes. Grace’s heart twisted to see the love
there, the love that Andrew would never see again.

She
quickly pushed away thoughts of her own parents, she didn’t have time to dwell
on them and feel sorry for herself.

Grace
sat down on the sofa. She was determined to help Marie and Andrew somehow. But
what if he was happy with his work? Could Marie accept that?

Andrew
put his pen in his pocket. He checked his watch. “I’ve finished the survey.
I’ve got a couple of minutes to go through it, if you like?”

“Please,
and do sit down,” Grace said. She looked at the notebooks again. They were
beginning to feel like unexploded bombs. Would Andrew notice them?

Andrew
sat down on the sofa and put the clipboard on the table, right in front of the
books.

Grace
held her breath.

Andrew
said, “If I can draw your attention to the first line of the survey.” He
indicated towards the form on the clipboard.

Grace
gave a pretend squint and said, “Can you point to it? I haven’t got my glasses
with me.”

Andrew
moved forward slightly and moved his pointed finger towards the form.

Grace
watched his eyes. They flicked off the form and towards the notebooks. Andrew’s
pointed finger began to shake. His face turned as white as his mother’s.

Chapter 7

“What
... where did you get those?” Andrew asked, his eyes never leaving the
notebooks.

Grace
hated lying to him but she could hardly tell him the truth. She’d just have to
be as frugal with the truth as she could.

“I
found them in a storage unit. My brother’s been buying units and stocking the
items in his shop. Well, it’s our shop really. Well, it used to be belong to
...”

“I
don’t understand it,” Andrew interrupted. He snatched the top notebook up.
“It’s not possible, these can’t be mine.”

Grace
kept quiet as Andrew flicked through the pages. He finally looked at Grace.
“These are mine. Where did you say you got them from?”

“From
a storage locker. There were other items in there too, personal things like
clothes and jewellery. Do you know who they could belong to?”

Andrew
picked up another notebook and flicked through it. A small smile grew on his
face. “I’d forgotten about these characters.”

“I’ve
had a look through them, you’re a talented writer. I love the illustrations.”

The
small smile died, Andrew put the notebook back. “Yeah, they are good.” He
looked at his watch. “I have to go, I’ll leave this survey for you, my number’s
at the top along with our office address. Thank you for contacting Thompson’s
Security.”

He
stood up and fastened his suit jacket.

Marie
was at his side. “No! Don’t let him leave. Ask him about his writing!”

Grace
stood up too. “I love the story about the Dragon Lord but it isn’t finished.
What happened? Did the hero win?”

Andrew
pursed his lips as if considering the matter. “I know what happens, I never got
round to writing it.”

Grace
picked up the pile of notebooks and held them out. “You have to finish it.
You’ve got a real talent, you could be a published writer.”

Andrew
ignored the books. “No, thanks, they belong to the past. I’ve got work to do.”

He
headed towards the front door.

“Wait!”
Grace called. “Can you help me with the other items that we found in the
storage locker? They might belong to someone you know, someone who wants them
back.”

Grace
quickly described some of the items.

Andrew
looked puzzled. “My mum had a necklace like that but all her things were lost
during a removal. My Auntie Sharon was furious with the removal people but they
said there was nothing they could do.”

Marie
cried out, “What removal people? What’s he talking about?”

“Perhaps
if I showed you the items you could see if they belonged to your mum,” Grace
said.

Andrew
gave her a hard look. “I doubt it, Auntie Sharon did the best she could to get
mum’s stuff  back. What’s going on here? Are you trying to get me to buy
something? It seems a bit of a coincidence that you call me round here after
finding my old stories.”

Grace
didn’t know what to say, she didn’t want to alienate him any further. She gave
him an embarrassed smile and said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I
wanted to find out who the items belonged to. Are you sure you don’t want your
notebooks?”

Andrew
opened the front door. In a cold voice he said, “Throw them away, I don’t need
them anymore.”

He
strode out of the house leaving the door open after him.

“Don’t
let him go!” Marie wailed.

“I
wasn’t going to get any further with him,” Grace said. “Let me have a think,
there must be something else I can do. I could show him some of your
belongings, then he’ll know I’m telling him the truth.”

“Talking
to yourself again, Grace? You do that a lot,” Frankie said as he walked through
the front door. “Was that young man just here? What did you say to him?”
Frankie wiggled his eyebrows. “Or should I ask what did you do to him?”