The Former World Read online

  V leaned over the table, staring directly at Rach. She delivered the words slowly, as if she were talking to a child. Or Will. “What… does… he… look… like?” Then she sat back in her chair expectantly, arms crossed over her chest.

  Rach gave me a meaningful look; she and I often discussed Veronica’s eccentricities whilst at work. V would kill me if she knew. “He’s tall… he has dark hair, kind of long but not hippy long, I think he straightens it… kind of indie. He’d fit in well at The Pit.”

  A smile spread involuntarily across my face; he sounded exactly my type. I looked at V excitedly, before turning back to Rach. “Is he single?” I saw Will shake his head again out the corner of my eye. I ignored him; I usually do.

  “I’m not sure…” she said, slowly, obviously thinking back to her latest book club meeting. “He didn’t mention anyone, but then he didn’t really mention much. He doesn’t know anyone around here though, apart from his mum, obviously; he left all his friends back in Dublin. He told me his dad died and Ireland held too many memories for his mum.”

  My heart fluttered, and not just because I was imagining a tall, handsome Irish man wandering down Main Street. Connor was an outsider here, he’d left his entire life behind in another country and now he was starting out again. I’d never been an outsider anywhere; I’d been born here and had never left apart from the occasional holiday. To leave everything behind and start over somewhere new was exactly what I wanted to do, something I’d been planning with Veronica since the start of high school. I felt a little jealous of Connor Maguire.

  Then again, he had only ended up in Little Forest.

  All of a sudden I got an overwhelming urge to see this person for myself. I glanced at the novelty Elvis clock on the wall: it was half past one. Cocktail was usually open until two on Fridays and Saturdays, but it often closed earlier if there weren’t any customers (or if the only customers left were so drunk they had to be ordered out of the bar, which happened quite often).

  I looked at Veronica until I caught her eye, and she stared at me quizzically. “V, I’m not feeling too good. Walk me home?”

  I thought I was being pretty convincing - after all, I did have a pretty big headache - but V instantly caught my drift. I swear, sometimes it was like we could read each other’s minds, or that we had some kind of psychic link. Or maybe we just spent way too much time together.

  Either way, Veronica didn’t hesitate in her answer. “Absolutely, see you soon guys!”

  Rach looked at me with genuine concern, and I felt a slight pang of guilt for lying. “Feel better Beth! And Happy Birthday again, girls! Maybe a few less drinks next time?”

  Yes, Mother. I smiled at her as I slid out of the booth and towards the door, Veronica walking beside me.

  As soon as we were outside, V grabbed my hand. “Cocktail?”

  I nodded, smiling drunkenly. I was excited at the prospect of finally meeting Connor Maguire, and yet something was niggling at the back of my mind; I thought back to the girl in the club and Emma running off into the darkness. It had definitely been a strange night, and now that we were outside in the cold and the dark, I wondered if I shouldn’t just go home and go to bed instead.

  Veronica was looking at me with concern. “Are you OK, Beth? I thought you were joking when you said you didn’t feel well.”

  “I’m fine, it’s nothing. Why, do I look ill or something?”

  “You look… pale.”

  I managed a laugh. “What’s new?”

  V threw me a suspicious glance. Nothing ever got past Veronica, but I smiled at her until she nodded and started walking off at her usual fast, determined pace.

  We continued down a more or less deserted Main Street before turning onto Forest Way, where I could see the glowing neon ‘Cocktail!’ sign at the end of the road. As I was looking at it, the bright pink letters suddenly turned black and I became aware of a slightly sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I took a deep breath, inhaling the cold, wintry air. I’d obviously had far too much to drink.

  Veronica saw the sign too. “Crap!” She dragged me onto the other side of the road where we walked slowly past the art gallery, stopping outside the Village Hall opposite the bar. Kneeling down behind the small hedge, we waited, holding our breath and trying not to laugh at the same time. My sick feeling was gone and my heart was beating rapidly; Little Forest didn’t offer much in the way of exciting new things to do and I found myself enjoying this different Friday night activity.

  Don’t judge me - if nothing else, it was taking my mind off the earlier events of the night, and that was definitely a good thing.

  The front door of the bar opened and a tall man with dark, incredibly straight hair - as Rach had said - emerged from the darkness into the bright glow of the old-fashioned street lamp. I only saw his face for a second before he turned back to lock the door, but what I saw looked nice. Very nice.

  He had smooth-looking skin, prominent cheekbones, and deep, dark eyes which were only partially covered by his brown hair. He was wearing all black (not surprising as it was Cocktail’s dress code), with a dark brown leather jacket over the top. His clothes - the leather jacket in particular - somehow made him seem even more mysterious. I didn’t know many people who could pull off that kind of coat; Will had tried one on in a shop once and Veronica and I had laughed so hard that tears had actually sprung to our eyes. Unsurprisingly, that was the last time Will ever came shopping with us.

  Connor checked the door before turning round on the spot. It was such a sudden movement that it caught me off guard and I jumped a little, making the hedge rustle. V shot me a warning glance, but she was obviously trying to stop herself from laughing; she’d clamped her lips shut in an apparent attempt to stop any sound escaping from her mouth.

  I watched as Connor meticulously scanned the area in front of him. He looked down Forest Way, he stared at the parked cars, and he seemed to search every inch of the buildings on our side of the road. I held my breath as his dark eyes wandered over the hedge we were hiding behind, but the light must have been too dim for him to make us out. After a couple more seconds, Connor checked the door of Cocktail again, peered in the windows of the now deserted bar, and walked a few steps so he could stare down the alley that wound round to the back of the building.

  After his search he walked off towards Main Street, looking around him as he went.

  V started laughing quietly. “What was that about? That is one paranoid guy.”

  I stared back at her. “Quite rightly paranoid, I’d say. We are hiding in the bushes spying on him…”

  Veronica threw her head back and laughed.

  “Shh!” I peered over the hedge again to see Connor further down the street, apparently too far away to hear the racket Veronica was making.

  He still looked like he was on the lookout for someone - or something - and I got the feeling it wasn’t us he was worried about.

  ***

  It did feel slightly wrong to follow him home, but I have to admit I was intrigued, both by Connor and by his behaviour.

  We were halfway along Forest Way when we had to dive behind a parked car to avoid The Couple coming towards us from the direction of the Diner; I couldn’t even begin to describe how embarrassed I’d be if Rach saw what we were doing. Even though she was eighteen - three years younger than V and I - she was older than her years and I knew she’d only lecture me on being childish. We waited for them to walk off towards Max’s house (Max lived next to the cemetery of all places, where he sponged off his too-nice brother), and then ran to catch up with Connor, who was now quite far ahead and had missed bumping into Rach by a good thirty feet or so.

  We followed him over the cross roads, along Coley Road, and continued as he turned right onto Pine Street. It looked like he was heading for Castle Road - which would take him out of the village - but he stopped at the very last house on the street and let himself in. Before he closed the door he looked out, combing the dark with his eyes. I was s
ure we’d be busted that time but he didn’t seem to notice our silhouettes in the blackness, and he shut the door to his house quickly and quietly.

  I turned to look at Veronica and it seemed to hit her at the same time that it hit me: we were officially stalkers. As if my life couldn’t get any more pathetic.

  We turned round quickly and ran back down Pine Street in the direction of the housing estate. After a few minutes of full on running, we stopped and gave in to all the laughter we’d been bottling up inside us. A light turned on in an upstairs window of a nearby cottage and we started running again, the laughing only receding when we reached Veronica’s house.

  V tried to catch her breath while she fished her key out of her bag. “I really hope no one saw us; we might have to leave Little Forest sooner than we thought.”

  I laughed, the thought pleasing me. “That might not be such a bad idea. See you in the Diner after my shift tomorrow?”

  Veronica nodded. “We can discuss our escape!”

  I hugged my partner in crime, still laughing. “Happy Birthday, V.”

  “Right back at you.”

  We both smiled and I turned to walk the short distance home. We lived in adjoining streets on the housing estate and it took me approximately two minutes to walk back to my house.

  As it turned out, we wouldn’t discuss our escape the next day.

  In fact, I wouldn’t speak properly with Veronica again for the next two months.

  That night was the start of everything, alright.

  Chapter Two

  The next day started normally enough.

  I woke up to a bright, sunny room and a dark, splitting headache. Cursing the drink, I dragged myself out of bed and walked over to the window to let in some much needed fresh air. Saturday mornings were usually quiet in Little Forest; the fact that most of the residents liked a drink or two on weekends resulted in a lot of closed curtains in the surrounding houses, even at 11 a.m.

  The only life I could see were a couple of kids playing on the grass outside the primary school.

  I always thought the school seemed creepy on weekends; without the multitudes of parents dropping off their children, kids running and screaming, and lollipop ladies hovering at the side of the road, the vacant car park and empty playground seemed sad and lonely. My mind briefly flickered to the little girl from last night, but I pushed the thought away.

  I didn’t want to think about that now, especially not with my current hangover headache.

  After letting the breeze in, I sat down on my bed and surveyed the bombsite that was my room. I usually loved my bedroom - it was spacious with two large windows, there was a nice big double bed in the middle of the back wall, and it was painted my favourite colour: purple. Whenever V came over, though, it miraculously changed into a complete dive within thirty minutes; clothes and CDs were strewn everywhere, not to mention the wine bottles, glasses, and remains of our quick dinner. I made a mental note to get ready at Veronica’s house next Friday.

  Keaton - my black and white cat - emerged from under a pile of laundry and meowed at me expectantly, making me groan at the high-pitched sound, and a second later, without any warning, a piercing pain shattered through my upper body. I instinctively threw my right hand against my chest and tried to breathe in deeply.

  I couldn’t.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I’d never felt anything like it, and I vaguely wondered if I should be seeing my boring life flash in front of my eyes.

  I gasped frantically for air as I grabbed my phone off my bed, with no idea as to who would be best to call. As soon as I’d touched it, however, it started ringing and I saw Veronica’s name on the display. Thank God.

  I’d just pressed ‘answer’ when the phone stopped ringing. The pain stopped too.

  I realised I was breathing easily.

  I was fine.

  The pain had gone as swiftly as it had arrived. I took a deep breath to be sure, and was amazed to find that nothing was wrong. Absolutely everything seemed normal again.

  I took some more breaths as I registered the time display on my phone. Even with my mind preoccupied, I realised I was late.

  I tried to push my weird episode to the back of my mind. That’s what I usually did with things like this, so I knew it wouldn’t exactly be lonely there. The back of my mind was a dark and murky place, filled with memories and thoughts that I either couldn’t explain, or didn’t want to.

  I sat up slowly, still bewildered, and reluctantly headed to the bathroom to get ready for work.

  ***

  I heard his voice two hours into my shift; I was stacking popcorn boxes at the end of the counter and I looked up to see Connor, third from the front in the line for tickets.

  Without really thinking, I ran to the other end of the long, black counter top and almost knocked Rach off her chair in my eagerness. She looked up in shock, probably wondering if she’d done anything wrong. As I was slightly senior, I was technically allowed to boss Rach around, which of course I didn’t. Usually.

  “Rach, can we switch?” I asked hurriedly but quietly, not wanting to attract Connor’s attention to my irrational behaviour.

  Rach was about to question me but one glance at the queue told her the reason for my weirdness. As she stood up, she glared at me in a confused kind of way (which I supposed was normal as she had no idea I knew what Connor looked like other than from her vague description) before stalking off to take up the less-desirable position on the food counter; being in charge of tickets didn’t result in you being covered in sticky popcorn, slushie overflow and ketchup.

  I sat down quickly and served two couples, all the while trying to think of something witty or interesting to say to Connor. All too soon he was at the front of the queue, saying “Afternoon” and smiling at me in a polite but disinterested way. He was wearing the same brown leather jacket as last night but this time without the Tom Cruise uniform. In its place, he had on a dark green V-neck jumper and from what I could tell, dark blue jeans. Of course, I didn’t want to stare too hard in that direction, so I decided to embarrass myself in a different way instead. This happens more frequently than I’d like.

  Before he could open his mouth, I opened mine. My big, fat mouth. “Hi Connor!” I almost shouted, beaming at him in a way that I could tell was idiotic, but with no way of stopping it.

  He did a double take and laughed in surprise before answering in a smooth, gentle Irish accent. “I’m sorry… have we met?”

  My face started burning uncontrollably as I realised that, drunken stalking activities aside, we hadn’t actually met. There was an awkward pause while he waited for my explanation, and I was incredibly aware of how red my cheeks must be. I smiled again, more shyly this time, and tried to deliver my lie as convincingly as possible. “No, not exactly. But this is a small village, you’re kind of big news. I… heard your accent.” A cough from near the slushie machine made me turn round to see Rach smiling at us expectantly. “Oh, and Rach is one of my best friends.”

  Connor looked over at Rach and waved. “Ah, didn’t see you there!”

  Rach waved back before giving me another annoyed glare.

  Connor smiled at me again, this time in a more friendly way. “Well it’s nice to meet you, sure…” he trailed off as his deep brown eyes wandered down to read my Picture House name tag, “Beth…?”

  I smiled back, a bit more relaxed. “Powers. And same here.”

  “Powers, like the whiskey!”

  I nodded enthusiastically, not knowing what he was talking about. I wasn’t a big whiskey fan.

  Connor placed a twenty in my hand. “Right, so. I’d like two tickets for Night Watcher 3D please.”

  I smiled and started getting his ticket, my brain racing. Going by how edgy he’d been walking home alone last night I hadn’t pegged him for a horror fan, and yet here he was asking for tickets to the goriest, most explicit slasher film that had come out in a long time.

  Realising that he’d ask
ed for two tickets, I looked up quickly, noticing the woman standing next to him for the first time.

  Connor saw my reaction. “Oh! Sorry, Beth. This is me mam.” My stomach did a stupid mini leap when I heard how casually he used my name.

  Now that I looked at her, I could see the family resemblance. She seemed older than my parents - in her fifties maybe - and she had exactly the same colour eyes and hair (although I guessed dye might have had something to do with the latter) as her son. She had a friendly but tired face, and she smiled quickly while she introduced herself. “Jackie.”

  “Hi Jackie,” I answered politely, and gave the tickets and change to Connor. I didn’t know any twenty-something guy who’d take his mother to the cinema, let alone to see a gory 3D horror flick, and I couldn’t decide if it was really sweet or just a bit weird. Jackie definitely didn’t seem the type to enjoy something like Night Watcher 3D, although there was a slight haunted look about her that I supposed fitted with the subject matter.

  “Right, you’re in Screen Two which is upstairs on the right, and here are your 3D glasses.” I handed the glasses to Connor and couldn’t help but beam stupidly at him again. “Welcome to Little Forest.”

  They both thanked me before walking off towards the stairs, and I stared after them for a good few seconds before I heard an irritated cough and realised there were other customers waiting.

  Turning to see Ralph Cooper and his annoying group of friends waiting to be served, I immediately stood up. “Rach!” I yelled, highly unprofessionally. “Switch.” She glared at me again as she took her seat back and I couldn’t help but smile as I turned towards the stairs. “I’m just going to check Screen Two.”

  ***

  After a couple of hours spent in and around the biggest screening room, double checking everything from the cleanliness of the toilets to the amount of popcorn left on the floor, the film ended and I waited outside to take everyone’s 3D glasses back.

  Everybody seemed enthusiastic about the film, particularly the gruesome ending which involved five full minutes of 3D blood bursting out of the screen, and they filed out of the room quickly.