Ugly Beautiful (8 page)

Haley turned from the window and smiled warmly, giving Jason her full attention.

'Hi. I'm okay, thank you.'

'Did you have a good sleep?'

'It was fine, yeah.'

Jason let out a sly, suspicious grin, mixed with a curious stare as he ran the memory of last night's strange bathroom scenario through his mind.

'Would you like some tea?'

'Yes, thanks.'

Jason headed back to the kitchen to pour two cups of tea. Haley turned her attention back to the living room window and continued to stare outside. A minute later Jason re-entered the living room with the tea. He placed the two cups down upon the dining table. He seated himself opposite Haley. She smiled before picking up her tea and taking a sip.

'Did you stay up late last night? Haley enquired.

'Not really no. I just had a bath... then went to bed.' replied Jason with a knowing wry smile. Haley took a longer sip from her tea. Jason pondered whether or not to bring up the sleep walking incident from last night. Finally though, he did.

'You know... I think you might be a bit of a sleepwalker.'

'Really?' Haley replied letting out a startled look. 'How so?'

'Well... last night, when I was soaking in the bath, I spotted you, after God knows how long, standing in complete and utter silence outside the bathroom door watching me. And then you just walked away. Never even uttering one word.'

Haley remained silent. She was thinking deeply to herself. She had no recollection of this event at all. She was trying to figure out if Jason was just teasing her or not.

'...And when I followed you out into the hallway and back to your bedroom, you were fast asleep in your bed... like you'd never even left it.'

Haley smiled uncomfortably.

'It was actually a little eerie.' Jason continued, he let out a nervous chuckle. Haley took a deep breath herself before letting a small unexpected grin widen across her face.

'Well... I hope I didn't get to see anything that I wasn't suppose to see.'

Jason smiled. Haley had made her first joke or was it a slight flirt. He enjoyed it all the same.

'That is strange though. I mean I can't even remember getting out of bed at any point during the night. You definitely saw me yeah?'

'Jesus Haley. I wouldn't make something like this up.'

Haley took another long sip from her tea, still thinking hard, until Jason spoke interrupting her train of thought.

'I mean, you never like dreamed of getting up or walking around the cottage or anything did you?'

'No... I...' Haley stuttered, still thinking. She looked a little confused. 'I... I don't know.'

'You don't know? You sound unsure.'

'Well, I did have a dream last night. But it was nothing to do with being here or about you. Or at least I don't think so.'

'You had a dream? Was it a dream about your past?'

'I don't know.' Haley replied sounding nervous. 'But it was the first dream I've had since being here. And to tell you the truth it was a little upsetting.' Haley paused. It was clear to Jason that she wanted to talk about this, but couldn't find the right words or starting point.

'Upsetting... how? Tell me about the dream?'

Haley took another deep breath.

'It's okay. You can trust me.'

Finally she spoke.

'I think, I think it was about... two little girls.' Haley spoke in a tone of voice which was slightly above a frightened whisper. 'I remember they were both around the same age. Maybe eleven or twelve. Maybe they were sisters or best friends I'm not sure. Well these two little girls were making their way down to some kind of basement cellar and it was dark Jason. It was really, really dark. But these girls continued to make their way down the steep cellar stairs. They moved so slow and cautiously, like they knew they were entering some bad, awful place, that they weren't supposed to be. When they reached the bottom and their eyes adjusted to the darkness...'

Haley paused, clearly afraid of talking any further. Her tone was becoming more upset by the second. To Jason it seemed as if she were talking about some real and recent event. It was crazy, but it scared the shit out of him. She looked unsure about whether to continue or not. Jason restrained himself from verbally forcing her to do so by remaining patiently quiet, and in her own time Haley pressed on with the story.

'....When the little girls eyes adjusted to the darkness they continued to walk down a very long, narrow and dark, stone wall corridor. At the end of this corridor they entered into a larger, more spacious room. At the end of this room they could just about make out a big old faint white shaped box. Of course they moved towards the box with great curiosity, of which, the closer they came, the quicker they realised that it was in fact some kind of storage freezer. When the girls reached the freezer they cautiously lifted the lid, lifting it up as high as it would go.'

Haley paused, she looked fixated in a deep trance as she tried to finish the story, yet her eyes gave out a look of pure and utter terror.

'...The little girls Jason. These two little girls peered inside the big open freezer...'

Haley hesitated again. She was struggling for breath, like she was on the edge of hyperventilating. She raised her hands to cover her mouth.

'What is it Haley? What's inside the freezer?' asked Jason, his curiosity overwhelming him. Haley shook her head into her raised hands. She tried her best not to start sobbing.

'I don't... I don't understand it Jason or even why I should be dreaming about such horrific things.'

Haley made an uncomfortable effort to compose herself before speaking again.

'The two little girls peered into that freezer and saw... they saw... nearly a dozen or so dead little babies inside Jason. It was so horrible.'

Jason's face filled with a sickly dread and disgust. How the hell could she be describing such horrific images to him. So sick and detailed like they had actually happened. It chilled him to the bone.

'The freezer was full of dead little babies Jason. Lots and lots of dead little babies. Oh my God!' Haley sobbed.

'Jesus Christ.' said Jason, still horrified by the image. They were the only words he could muster from his speechless mind and out of his mouth.

'It was so horrible Jason. So terrible. I felt shocked. Disgusted. But I couldn't wake up. Then all of a sudden I heard this angry man's voice raging at the two little girls from the top of the cellar stairs. He was screaming at them. Something like 'What the hell are you doing down there? You shouldn't be down here poking your noses around.' And when the girls turned to confront the voice all I could see was a big dark shadow coming down the staircase towards them. They had nowhere to go Jason. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from this bad, bad man. All they could do was crouch against the freezer, covering their little faces with their little hands, as if that would somehow magically make them both invisible to this huge, frightening monster of a man. It was horrible Jason. So, so horrible. I felt so much fear coming from these two little girls. I was so scared about what this awful man was going to do to them...'

Haley stopped if nothing more than to just catch her breath.

'It felt so real Jason. It just felt so real.' A single tear slipped from her eye and trickled down her cheek, then clung to the end of her chin for dear life.

'These girls were so scared and all alone down there in that cellar. So, so alone. I could feel their loneliness like it was running through my very own veins. Burning my blood like acid. …And then I woke up.'

She finished talking and remained quiet for quite some time. Jason eventually leaned towards her and smiled warmly as he placed his hand gently down on top of hers. Haley, appreciating the gesture, smiled softly back at him. They both knew that they had to get out of there, to get some fresh air and to clear their minds.

'Do you want to go for another walk?'

'Yes.' replied Haley, sounding both thankful and relieved at the same time. 'I think I'd like that.'

***

Jason and Haley sat together on top of the hill underneath the small oak tree. They stared out at the beautiful scenic hills, glens, lochs and mountainous all around them. They were both feeling in a relaxed state of bliss.

'There was something I wanted to ask you?' said Haley suddenly breaking their joyful silence. 'But I didn't want it to seem like I was prying again. And don't worry, it's nothing to do with your family.'

'It's okay.' replied Jason smiling. 'Ask away.'

'Why are you here?' said Haley straight to the point.

'What do you mean?' replied Jason innocently, yet knowing perfectly well what she meant, but he'd replied with his usual knee jerk avoidance.

'I mean, what are you really doing here? Living in this cottage all by yourself, all alone out here in secluded isolation. I get the impression that you're hiding away from something... or someone?'

Jason felt uneasy. He blasted his own foolish thoughts for not preparing himself earlier for such a question. Having Haley here, spending all this time with her these past few days, had done a great job of distracting his mind from what he really came here to think about. He was desperate for it to continue.

'I'm just resting, you know. Having a nice little break that's all. Refreshing my thoughts. Recharging my batteries so to speak.'

Haley giggled like a little school girl.

'What's so funny?' asked Jason playing along with her joyful mood.

'You're so funny' replied Haley trying to contain her laughter. 'You don't seem like the kind of person who likes to just sit around thinking for days on end.'

Jason smiled teasingly and pretended to be hurt by Haley's comments.

'How would you know what kind of person I am?'

'Just impressions that's all. Simple, little impressions. Are you in some kind of trouble?'

Jason fell silent. He continued to stare far and wide at the scenic mountains all around. He was contemplating whether to come clean or not, and not just about why he was there, but everything. Everything about his insane life. He really was beginning to feel a great urge to just tell someone. Haley, all about his secrets and the woes burning deep inside of him.

'You really want to know why I'm here?' he said finally.

'Yes.' replied Haley instantly. Jason then leaned, almost teasingly, in towards her and whispered into her ear.

'I stole some money.'

Haley raised her eyebrows acting a little surprised at Jason's revelation.

'Wow, so we could both be a pair of bank robbers then.'

'I didn't steel my money from a bank though. I stole it from some gangsters in the city and a sometimes pretty half decent friend. I never even told him either that I was running away. I just up and left...' Well it was a half truth though Jason, maybe even a quarter truth, but at least he was finally opening up. Surprisingly he found himself feeling a little better. So better in fact that he seriously considered confessing the rest of his brutal story and the violent acts that haunted him over these last few days, but he quickly shrugged it away. He just couldn't. He just couldn't. He wasn't ready for such a bold step and neither was Haley. Not a chance.

'He mustn't have been a very good friend then if you stole some money from him and didn't tell him you were leaving.'

'Actually, he was a real pain in the arse, just like you.' Jason teased.

'Hey.' replied Haley pretending to be upset. She playfully slapped him on the arm.

'But he was good to talk with sometimes, you know. Not as deep and as probing with his line of questioning like you, but thereabouts in his own weird and wonderful way.' Jason smiled remembering some of Gary's own up front, bold and direct advice during their rare and all too brief life conversations. There weren't too many that's for sure, but there were one or two, and always after a few too many whiskies, about the meaning of it all, where did they think they would be in ten years, did they have any regrets about their lives. It was usually while staking out some drug suppliers for a few days who were supposedly on the take or watching over some other local gangsters and planning their next act of violence against them after somehow managing to piss off Jason's father. Haley blushed at the tiny compliment.