‘Do you want to talk?’ Cherry asked tentatively.
‘No. Well, yes. But no.’ He shrugged, stirring the tea hard.
‘I know you’ve found it difficult. Seeing what everyone else has and wondering why you don’t have it yourself, but… I didn’t really think about bad people getting pleasure from the bad things they do. That’s got to be a hard thing to see,’ Cherry said, edging her way towards him slowly.
‘I don’t trust anyone,’ Chase admitted. ‘I don’t know how.’
‘I understand that. But maybe… maybe, the only person you need to trust is me?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘What if we stick together from now on? Team up? If someone’s bad, I’ll know just by looking at their Meddlums and I can tell you about them so that you know, despite all the good things you might see.’
‘… and if someone’s good, I’ll know just by looking at them too, despite all the bad things you see… ’
‘It’s perfect!’ Cherry was at Chase’s side now and she smiled up at him.
‘It’s not perfect, Cherry.’
‘What? Why?’
‘If you decide to leave, to… join the Guild, you’ll have your feelings removed. Your actual, literal feelings… whatever they may be…’ he stirred his tea again, ‘… will evaporate. You won’t be you any more.’ His voice was sad and he reached out a hand and stroked her warm cheek with the back of his fingers. Once upon a time Cherry may have flinched, pulled away or maybe even left altogether at this kind of close contact. However, for the first time, she didn’t want to move away. She welcomed it, because she’d finally found someone who understood the complexity of who and what she was, someone she could talk to freely without having to edit out the monsters.
‘I don’t know what to do.’
‘What do you want to do? Stop listening to everyone else’s feelings and listen to your own.’
So, instead of running, Cherry leaned into Chase’s touch and closed her eyes and listened.
Chase hadn’t touched anyone like this before. Relationships had always been a thing of passion but as quickly as a match is struck and fizzles out, so did his love affairs. He had never touched anyone with anything but lust burning in his mind and passion sizzling on his fingertips but this… this was different. Cherry was different – and not in the way people often say they’re different. This wasn’t the eating-dessert-before-dinner different, nor was it the I-sleep-with-my-head-at-the-foot-of-the-bed kind of different. Those people were normal people who did different things out of habit. Habits they’d picked up from other inherently normal people. Cherry herself, her soul and her spirit, were different. It wasn’t just that she didn’t do or see normal things. Cherry also took the bad things she saw and tried to flip them to do good. She had a genuine desire to help people, all people, people she’d never met, and that was what made her different to anyone Chase had ever met. Chase had seen people joyously hating one another, feeding off their love of others’ misfortune. He’d seen happiness where there shouldn’t ever be happiness, but in Cherry it fit like a perfect glove.
His hand moved to the back of her neck and he brought her in closer to him. She gently lifted herself onto tiptoe and their lips, finally, touched. Both Chase and Cherry had had kisses before but this may as well have been their first – it was like no kiss either of them had experienced before. As soon as their lips parted, they could taste the Belonging and Honesty on each other’s tongues and they laughed into each other’s mouths. Chase slipped an arm around Cherry’s pyjamaed waist and pulled her closer to him and held her there.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
‘For what?’
‘For leaving.’
He pushed her away gently so he could look her in the eyes. ‘So you’ve decided, then?’
‘I can’t think of another way around it,’ Cherry said, tears coming to her eyes.
‘There must be something else we can do!’ Chase said urgently.
‘Live normally?’ she said and shrugged. ‘Try to ignore what we can see and just live with it. Stop helping people.’
‘Would you be content with that?’ he asked and she shrugged again. ‘Then that’s not an option. I’m not having you unhappy.’
‘If I go to the Guild I’ll be… nothing. Unhappy is better than nothing. And then we can stay together.’
‘True, but there has to be a better way. One that won’t make you miserable. We’ll figure this out, I promise.’ And then he pulled her in to taste that concoction of Belonging and Honesty once more.
Cherry’s phone buzzed in her pocket.
‘Mood killer,’ Chase said against her lips.
‘Sorry.’ She pulled the phone out of her pyjama pocket. It was a Facebook notification from the Psychic Sisters page, letting everyone know about their event tomorrow.
‘They don’t hang about, do they?’ Chase laughed. ‘That reminds me… money! You actually asked for money!’ Cherry had almost forgotten about the wad of cash sitting in her other pocket.
‘I was planning to split it between all their clients. The ones most affected, at least. Seems only fair they get something back.’
Chase curled out his bottom lip and nodded approvingly. ‘Nice touch. You definitely should have pushed for more, though. I can’t even begin to fathom how much of this town’s cash has paid for Dani’s acrylic nails. Too much.’
‘Well, at least —’
BANGBANGBANG!
Cherry and Chase both jumped apart at the sound of Sally slapping her open palm against the door. Cherry unlocked the door and beckoned her in.
‘Sally?’ Cherry said, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Have you seen it?!’ Sally shrieked.
‘Seen what?’ Cherry asked.
‘HAVE YOU SEEN IT?!’ Sally shrieked again.
‘Have I seen what, Sally?’ Cherry said patiently, holding out her arms to calm Sally.
‘The event. Velina. Danior,’ she said between breaths. ‘The event. At their shop. Tomorrow.’
Chase and Cherry shared a look. ‘Yes, I did see, actually.’ Cherry reached behind her for her mug of tea and sipped it, trying to hide her smile.
‘No one can go,’ Sally said, holding Cherry’s gaze. ‘I won’t allow it.’
‘Am I missing something?’ Chase asked.
‘No one can go!’ Sally said louder. ‘I won’t let them!’
‘Why, Sally? Why shouldn’t anyone go?’ Cherry was trying to keep track of what Sally was saying, but it wasn’t making much sense.
‘Because it’s me.’ Sally dropped to her knees and started sobbing. These weren’t the practised crocodile tears they’d seen earlier. Her shoulders heaved up and down and the tears ran in long streams through the gaps between her fingers. ‘It’s me. It’s me, it’s me, it’s me.’
‘Oh, Sally! What’s going on? What’s you?’ Cherry sank to Sally’s side and put her arms around her but Sally pulled away, holding out her trembling hands, fending Cherry off.
‘No, please don’t give me sympathy. I can’t stand it. I don’t deserve it. Least of all from you.’
‘Sally. Please. Talk to us,’ Cherry pleaded. ‘Tell us what this is all about.’
‘Sally… you don’t just go to my mother for readings. Do you?’ Chase said quietly. He had remained standing and Cherry looked up at him in confusion. What was going on? Sally shook her head, more tears pouring onto the slate floor.
‘What do you mean? What do you go there for?’ Cherry asked.
Sally steadied herself with a few deep breaths and once her lip had stopped quivering she said, ‘I go there… to snitch.’
16
The Snitch
Sally sat on the floor clasping a cup of tea with both hands but the shock had made her bones cold and there was no warming her up. She was now sitting cross-legged and refused to move anywhere more comfortable.
‘So you became a sort of… spy? For Velina?’ Cherry asked, rubbing Sally’s shoulder.
‘Not sort of. That’s exactly what I am.’
‘But… why? Why would you do that?’ Cherry was trying so hard not to judge but the news had come so out of the blue she couldn’t help but feel betrayed.
‘It wasn’t out of choice.’ Her lip started to tremble but she shook her head and blinked several times, pushing the tears back down. ‘I was married, did you know that?’ She smiled. ‘We were childhood sweethearts. Met when we were just fifteen. He asked me on a date and took me to the ice cream parlour. We shared a banana split and that was it.’ She looked wistful for a moment, lost in her memories. ‘Just like that our fates were intertwined so when he died, he… he took a part of me with him. It’s inevitable, I guess. We were married for over twenty years so of course that was going to happen. I went to Velina and Danior hoping they could help me. I was desperate – there were so many things I never got to say to him, so many things I wanted to apologise for, and Danior said she would help me.’
A muscle in Chase’s jaw jutted out from his cheek.
‘I went back to them, time and time again. I was fed lie after lie and so much false hope at each meeting but I couldn’t see through it, until one day Velina said something that didn’t match up. Ron and I had this ridiculous way of saying we loved each other. I’d kiss the air twice and he’d shoot the kisses down with his hands as if they were guns. Just a bit of fun, y’know. Something no one else understood apart from us.’ Sally became a younger Sally as she talked of times gone by. Cherry caught Chase wiggling his fingers subtly towards the window but only he could see Nostalgia, waltzing outside the window.
‘There was one particular session when Velina told me Ron was in the room,’ Sally continued. ‘I asked her what Ron did when I kissed the air twice and she said he simply blew kisses back at me. It was like flipping a switch. In an instant I realised it had all been lies and deception. I couldn’t take it, I couldn’t believe that all that time when I thought I had this connection with Ron… Well, angry doesn’t cut it. I shouted, screamed, I even ripped down half of that bloody beaded curtain.’ Sally laughed bitterly. ‘I stormed out of their shop, determined to out them as frauds when Danior caught up with me and told me she knew.’
‘Knew what?’ Cherry asked, drawn in.
‘She knew about…’ Sally swallowed hard and spoke into her lap, ‘… my… other man.’
‘Other man?’ Cherry’s hand faltered at Sally’s shoulder.
‘You cheated on Ron?!’ Chase gasped.
‘Please don’t judge me,’ Sally said. ‘I loved Ron, I did, but I fell for someone else too. I never wanted to hurt anyone. It just happened.’
‘But, Sally,’ Cherry said, glancing out the window. ‘That doesn’t justify —’
‘I know! It’s been over thirty years. I know what I did and just how wrong it was and I’ve had to live with that guilt every. Single. Day.’ Sally sniffed. ‘And then Danior… she saw me with… the other man after Ron’s funeral. I was breaking it off,’ she added quickly before Cherry’s expression could contort into one of disapproval. Sally kept her composure but the tears kept pouring down her cheeks. ‘I loved Ron with all my heart, I really did. I still do. He really did take a part of me with him when he died and I just wanted to move on and honour his memory. It was my small way of trying to make it up to him but when Danior found out, that was the end of that, and the end my life as I knew it.’
‘How?’ Chase asked.
‘I wasn’t the only person to love or miss Ron. Everyone knew him, everyone loved him and the whole town mourned him. Everyone would have burnt me at the stake had they known what I’d done.’
‘Why did anyone have to know? What you did was wrong, but it was still your business. No one else’s. And you were trying to move on,’ Cherry said.
‘It became Danior’s business as soon as she realised she could use it to her advantage.’ Sally’s lip trembled.
‘My aunt,’ Chase said, ‘has a way of using people’s personal and private information against them and to her advantage. I’ve watched her do it over and over again. Had I known, Sally, I —’
Sally held up her hand and shook her head. ‘This was my bed and I had to lie in it.’ She took a sip of tea. ‘Danior said that she’d tell everyone, that she’d announce it at a town hall meeting or at church or she’d tell each of her clients when they came in to the shop. She threatened to turn me into the most hated woman in town and I couldn’t face losing anything else after losing Ron. I was scared.’
‘Anyone would be,’ Chase said. ‘My aunt can be… quite intimidating when she wants to be.’
‘So I begged her not to say anything,’ Sally said in a small voice. ‘I told her I’d do anything as long as she kept my secret.’
‘And what did Danior do?’ Cherry asked, but she already knew the answer.
‘She took advantage of the situation,’ Sally said.
‘Of course she did,’ Chase almost spat the words out.
‘And now she’s taking advantage of everyone else too. Because of me and what I’ve told her and Velina.’ Chase and Cherry shared a look.
‘What do you mean?’ Chase asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.
‘This town may not be huge, but its secrets? It has so many, and I’ve uncovered many of them over the years. Especially recently.’ Sally’s eyes flickered towards Cherry but she quickly took another sip from her mug. ‘I’ve told them everything I found out and they used that information when customers would come in for genuine readings. But they’ve been up to something else the last couple of times I’ve been in there, scheming secretly, and it got me worried. I told them yesterday that I wouldn’t do it any more. I said enough is enough and it had all gone too far and now this! Now they’re holding this stupid event and I know they’re going to tell everyone my secret. They’re going to use what I’ve told them against everyone too and it’s all my fault!’
‘No, they won’t,’ Cherry said determinedly. ‘It’s going to be okay.’
‘Cherry…’ Chase warned, thinking of Happy and the Guild. ‘You need to be careful.’
‘It’ll be fine,’ Cherry said. ‘We’ll figure it out.’
Chase shook his head. ‘There’s no stopping those two. They’re villains, cold-hearted villains.’
‘Villains are always defeated,’ Cherry countered.
Chase stretched out his hand, taking Cherry’s hand, her palms slippery against his, cold and dry. ‘But this isn’t a story and in the real world, the wicked usually win.’ He squeezed her fingers to try to make her understand, but she pulled away.
‘I refuse to accept that,’ she said.
‘Chase is right,’ Sally sniffed.
‘No, he’s not.’ Cherry said and then after a moment added, ‘He’s only right if we do nothing. If we give up, Velina and Danior win by default. We don’t have to make it easy for them and we won’t ever win if we don’t even try.’
Chase couldn’t help but smile at Cherry’s conviction. ‘Okay,’ Chase said. ‘What do you propose exactly?’
‘The event is tomorrow,’ Sally said. ‘We won’t be able to stop it in time.’
‘I’m not saying we stop it,’ Cherry said quickly, sharing a look with Chase. They still needed the townspeople to take the Normality pills, after all. ‘It will look too suspicious if it’s called off so quickly. We’ll need to think of something else to make sure Velina and Danior don’t hurt anyone.’
‘We have less than twenty-four hours,’ Chase pointed out.
‘Jack Bauer only had twenty-four hours. The crew of the Protector only had thirteen seconds when the Omega 13 was activated.’
‘That’s Galaxy Quest!’ Chase said.
‘So?’
‘It’s fiction. This isn’t.’
‘It’s stranger than,’ Cherry said.
‘That doesn’t matter! This is real! These are real people with real lives and…’ Chase caught Sally’s head bowing further towards the ground and he realised she was ac
cepting her fate. A fate he was condemning her to with absolute certainty by refusing his help. ‘And… and… we’d be fools not to try,’ he sighed. Sally sobbed softly and Cherry clapped her hands together.
‘GREAT!’ She grinned.
‘But how?’ Chase asked. ‘What are we going to do?’
Cherry started to pace. ‘Tell me about your mum and aunt. Be specific. I need details.’
Chase groaned and swept his hands through his hair. ‘They’re awful, awful people.’
‘Tell us something we don’t already know,’ Sally said, trying to push herself up onto the nearest bench.
Chase moved behind her to take hold of her under her arms and hoist her up. ‘Dani is more blatant about her wrongdoing…’ He struggled with Sally’s weight, ‘but Velina is quiet yet calculating.’ He exhaled. ‘It makes her more dangerous somehow.’
‘It’s always the quiet ones. Thank you, dear,’ Sally said now that she was settled and patting Chase’s hands resting on her shoulders. ‘They lie and lie and lie and lie. It’s all they’ve ever done and all they’ll ever do. They don’t need humble pie. They need honest pie.’ Sally chuckled to herself. ‘Then again, I reckon they could do with a lot of humble pie too, y’know. I’ve never met anyone else with so little human decency in my entire life and do y’know what else? I think they’ve never in a million…’ Sally’s voice drifted up and away, almost colliding with the lightbulbs above, making them flicker. Cherry was lost in her own thoughts and Chase looked at her, hard. He had a horrible feeling he knew exactly what she was thinking.
‘You can’t,’ Chase said, making Cherry jump.
‘Can’t what?’ Sally asked, confused.
‘I can!’ Cherry said, marching through to the kitchen. Chase followed her, leaving Sally looking after them in bewilderment.
‘No, I mean… you literally can’t,’ Chase said once they were out of Sally’s earshot. ‘Happy. The Guild. They’ve got tabs on you. Big Brother is watching you. If you dish out anything to anyone they’re going to know. They’ll take you away and put you in one of their prisons.’