Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood) (28 page)

“No change?”
asked Lainy in a whisper. There was no need for the quiet tone but
the clinical setting seemed to demand it.

“I thought she
moved but I must’ve imagined it.”

“Mind plays
tricks on you when you want something badly enough.” She looked
down at a white plastic bag in her hand as if just remembering she
had it, and held it out. “Adam said you haven’t eaten.”

Katie looked in
the bag – a tuna salad sandwich, chocolate chip muffin and a bottle
of fizzy drink. She noticed with a sudden ache that it was the same
brand as she had drunk on her last night with her family.

“And I’ll be
checking for leftovers. Go. Eat. You need the sugar.”

Lainy made a
move to shoo the girl out of the room and take her bedside seat
over when she noticed how exhausted the young girl looked. It
wasn’t surprising really – not after training for the race, finding
her own feet in a new place and having to spend valuable time here.
And she didn’t even know about the paranormal parts of town yet.
She was surprised when Katie threw her arms around her in a hug. It
was a bit like having a daughter, she supposed, a vulnerable child
who was being forced to grow up way too fast.

Thanking her,
and meaning it more than anything she could think off, Katie
scooted off to the little waiting room around the corner and sat
down on the first seat she saw that wasn’t dirty or littered with
magazines. Collapsed into the chair was probably a better word than
sat down. The crushing tiredness had come washing over her like a
sudden tide but she could only say here for a few gulps of her
drink and until her legs stopped feeling like cooked spaghetti.
I’m too young for this.
No matter how irrational Dr de Rossa
had made her fear seem, there was no way she was spending longer
than was absolutely necessary in this place.

The rain had
stopped and the sunshine struggling through the clouds was drying
up the puddles that lay here and there. No sooner had she found a
bench facing the academy building a hundred yards away that she
tore into the lunch – her watch begged afternoon snack time – like
a savage. Her stomach had been growling for about an hour. It
didn’t take long before she was brushing crumbs off her lap and
draining the last few drops of her drink. Eating had only made her
hungrier. It always seemed to work that way. Weird. Her stomach
seemed to have a mind of its own when it came to being kicked out
of the three square meals a day routine. Then again, stuffing down
what she could when she could looked dangerously like
becoming
routine. She leaned back on the bench and took a
deep breath. The cool, clean air even tasted fresher. It wasn’t the
polluted crap she had grown up breathing – other than a couple of
motor vehicles that shipped people around town, there were no dirty
exhaust fumes or carbon emissions. She could get used to this. She
realised she already was starting to forget how lucky she was not
to be dodging cars all the time. Katie started. She had been on the
verge of falling asleep, breathing crisp cool air and thinking of…
nothing but how great the day was.

Rising, the
words ELAINE PIERCE 1975 – 2009 were engraved on a gold plaque
right behind her head, jumped out. It was one in a long line of
plaques that dotted benches right along the grassy edge. A girl had
been just 24 years old when she died. That suddenly made the day
really not great at all. And then Katie remembered why she had been
trying to find things she loved about this town. They were things
she didn’t want to think about, and decided to take a slow jog home
to avoid them.

“Glad the
rain’s stopped.”

Katie whirled
to face the woman who had spoken to her. A woman half-ran across
the road without looking and started walking beside her. It took a
minute to place the face, but even then, Katie didn’t have a name
to go with it.

“I don’t think
we’ll have anymore for tonight.”

“Oh.” She
really didn’t have any feelings either way about the weather. “I
don’t mind rain. There’s something nice about curling up inside and
shutting the world out. Little things make me happy.”

“I’m only going
as far as the school. You don’t mind me walking with you?”

“Course not. I
could use the company.”

“Homesick?”

“Maybe a bit. I
just feel out of place here – like I don’t belong here. I’m sure
I’ll get used to it though.”

“It takes time.
I’ve lived here years and I still don’t fully know my way
around.”

“Great. I’ll
still be getting lost when I’m 30. There’s a life plan.” She smiled
at the older woman and continued. “Sorry, I don’t even know your
name. in my head I’m calling you Hospital Lady.”

“Marcie.”
Marcie held her hand out to be shaken. “But I’ll answer to Hospital
Lady. Or Bus Lady.”

“I’m not great
with names so you might have to.”

“So, why’re you
here? Obviously, you’re one of the academy’s new recruits because
why else would anyone live here? But you’re so young. You must be
something special.”

Katie shrugged
and reached up to tug on the peak of the cap that was no longer
there. Must have left it at the hospital. Damned if she was
traipsing all the way back to get it now. She started twirling a
mostly straight clump of hour around her fingers and wondered
whether to blush or cringe. She was starting to accept that she was
talented enough to warrant Levenson’s training programme but
accepting –
really
accepting – that she deserved it was
another matter entirely. “That’s what they tell me. I think it’s
because everyone else is a bit older than me, they just seem more
confident with who they are and everything. But I wasn’t brought
here to give up and just be a scared little kid. You know?”

“I do but
there’s nothing wrong with getting a tiny bit over-whelmed by it
all. Any time you need a mom while you’re here, just call me.”
Marcie scribbled her home phone number on a scrap of paper and
handed it over. Katie took it and stuffed it in her backpack.
“Anyway, I’m in Saturdays race too. We can run together. If you
think I can keep up.”

“Don’t think
it’s gonna be a problem. I’m only running to get back into the
swing of it. Crap, I’m an idiot, I’m Katie.”

“The school’s
down here.” Marcie pointed off down a side street when Katie moved
to carry on straight. “It’s not far if you want to come. And
Freddie likes meeting new people.”

Katie liked
talking to Marcie and decided to go with her. Going home would mean
dealing with her housemates and all their crap. No, not right now.
They walked in a friendly silence the few blocks to the school. A
few parents lined the edges of the playground and walked off with
their children when the hundred or so kids streamed out. Most, even
ones as young as four or five, began the trek home alone. She
supposed there was no real worry about car accidents or abduction.
A dozen or so young boys – maybe the odd girl too, they were too
far away to be completely sure – raced onto the chalked football
pitch and began booting a ball about – just passing it to each
other and whacking it towards goal, no regard for teams or
rules.

“Five minutes
Freddie!” Marcie yelled. “You’ve got chores to do.”

That gave Katie
time to look around her. The building was oldish and built with
pretty red brick. It seemed much smaller than her old primary
school but it probably wasn’t really. Everything seemed smaller the
bigger you got.

A young boy of
six or seven years old kicked one last goal and then came rushing
over to throw himself at Marcie. “Mommy! Can I have some sweeties?”
he turned and looked Katie up and down. He pointed at her and
looked questioningly at his mother.

“Later, okay.
Freddie, this is Mommy’s new friend, your Aunt Katie.”

“Hi,” he said,
shy. As with most children, the shyness was nothing but a memory
when the Mom-encouraged introductions were over. “Are you coming to
our house for dinner.”

“No, I have my
own house and my friends are waiting for me.”

“That’s okay. I
don’t like vegetables and Mom makes me eat peas when there are
visitors.”

Katie leant
down and whispered in the little boys’ ear. “I like peas so next
time, you can sneak me yours.”

The three of
them started the walk back to the main road, Katie and Marcie
holding Freddie’s hands and swinging his arms between them. “Aunt
Katie, do you have monsters under your bed?”

No, I have
them
in
my bed
, she thought and shook her head. “Nope.
No such thing as monsters.”

“Freddie has
bed monsters, bathroom monsters, time to tidy up monsters. Were we
ever that strange?”

“My sister
believes in all those things too. She’s 12.”

“So there’s no
end in sight?” Marcie shook her head. “I’ll be old and wrinkly
before he gets out of this monster phase. Still, it’s better than
the screamy, bitey, fighty phase. God, I don’t miss that.”

“Sounds like
you had fun. Makes me want to have one of my own.” Like, never.

“So, there’s no
monsters. You promise?”

“Cross my heart
and hope to die.” She rushed the words out, trying not to think
about where the saying might have come from. Part of her – the
innocent, naïve part that she’d been feeling slowly dying for so
long feebly protested, telling her that if she didn’t think about
her situation then maybe it would all just stop. “This is where we
split. Be good, Freddie and I’ll see you soon.”

He pulled free
and started dribbling an empty Coke can along the street. He was as
good as boys Katie’s own age from her old school. Surely
professional football clubs would be fighting over him in a few
years.

As long as he
got out of this place in time.

“I told you
he’d love you.”

“He’s a sweet
kid.”

“You’re sweet
too. You just have to let yourself be sweet.”

“Once again,
you lost me.” But Katie was sure she understood what Marcie was
getting at anyway. There just wasn’t time to be a sweet kid.

Back at home,
Katie dumped her bag and comfy jacket in the hall and went into the
kitchen. She wanted to run the cold water until it was bone
achingly freezing and splash it all over her face both to cool
herself down and to wake herself up. There was something wrong with
the sink – she could tell as soon as she entered the room. It took
a minute or two to figure out what it was though. That’s how slowly
her brain was working. In the bottom of the sink were masses of
dark brown curls. She scooped them out and piled the curls on the
drainer until she washed her face and then wrapped the curls in
kitchen roll and left them.

She followed
voices into the living room. Adam was sitting back in his favourite
chair and staring at an almost bald Leo. They were discussing
Adams’ music collection but they both went quiet and looked up when
she walked in.

“Okay, have I
turned green or something?”

“You turned
pretty much paper white. Did you eat?” A sensible first question
from Adam and Katie wished she had a funny shot to make, one of the
snarky but good-natured comebacks they had fallen into the habit of
trading but she only nodded.

Marcie was
right. Maybe. She could at least try being just a kid and not the
bitter and hard woman she thought she needed to be. “Thanks. I
needed it.”

“We’re playing
Monopoly when Jaye’s dressed. Wouldn’t be the same without
you.”

“You know I’m
just going to buy Mayfair and Park Lane, build hotels and kick all
your arses. But hey ho, don’t say I never warned you.”

Adam started to
rummage around the games in the bottom of the bookcase and began to
set up, whistling some non-tune. Meantime, Katie turned to Leo and
opened her mouth. There was nothing she wanted to talk to him
about, nothing she needed to ask him, but she felt as though she
should say something. Before she could organise any words though,
he ran a hand over his freshly buzzed head.

“I had to do
something. It was driving me nuts, having to keep it tidy all the
time.”

“Oh. Right. It
looks … actually, it looks really wrong on you.”

He seemed
pleased with it though. Or maybe pleased was too strong a word – he
looked relieved to be rid of it. “And?” he challenged. Poking fun
at him was obviously pushing the boundaries of their truce too
far.

“Just
saying.”

They fell
quiet; him helping Adam sort out the fake money and her flicking
through a magazine and not really looking at the pictures. She was,
instead, watching the waking nightmare in her head. She was on her
knees in a dark, wet place. A light flicked on behind her – the
glare was artificial enough to be a street lamp. But it was too
bright, too big, to be just a light. She turned around and squinted
at a massive floodlight, trapping her in a rough circle of white
light. It hurt to look right at it. Katie moved back to face
forwards and squinted. The sudden light had made her surroundings
seem even darker somehow, though a few blinks and her dream eyes
started to adjust. Where was she? She put her hands on her thighs
and rested back on her feet. It was beyond her ability to get to
her feet – her legs were locked into the kneeling position and she
felt like she had to stay like that. At least, for now. Something
huge and blacker than everything else loomed up in front of her and
she could make out the soaking grass she was kneeling on. The
track. Somehow, her mind had taken her back to the track, her safe
place, the place where nothing bad had happened to her.

That you know
of.

The huge H in
front of her was the high jump and the long dented pit fifty metres
to her right was the long jump pit. The strange net cage she knew
was behind her was the shot put circle. This was good. This was her
home turf. She’d be okay to sleep here for a few minutes.