Lilia

It all really began with Jemma or rather ended with her. Lilia had been almost normal. But then what is normal? Her Mother was convinced that a new school and a new life would change everything. As if the trauma of watching your friend die would suddenly vanish when you weren’t reminded of it everyday. Well perhaps her Mother had been right, in some way, but it didn’t stop Lilia seeing the things she saw or hearing the things she heard.

Maybe the trauma of her friend dying had been too much, but it wasn’t as if Lilia hadn’t been expecting it.

It had been a warmer summer than normal that year, Lilia would recall later when the special doctors asked her about the event that they believed changed her. And as summers went it wasn’t all to bad. But in the back of her mind Lilia had known it would be her last as a normal person, well as normal as life allowed her to be.

She had been having the dreams for months, just like she did before Uncle Ryan had died. She had kept quiet then and she kept quiet now, as the dream played itself out in front of her and she saw the ending arrive.

Jemma was seven, and two months older than Lilia. They had known each other since they were at nursery school together. They practically spend day and night together over the summer and since their mothers were also best friends they knew that they would always be around each other. They used to pretend that they were sisters, and they often believed it themselves.

Both girls had been playing in the stone quarry when it happened. They weren’t meant to be in there, but they had sneaked in anyway. New stones had been brought in that day and they were piled higher than normal. Both girls had watched from Jemma’s kitchen window as the stones had been put in place, and as soon as the lorry was gone they had found the normal hole in the fence and made their way to the tallest pile.

It all played out just like it had in Lilia’s dream, night after night. Jemma climbing and climbing and Lilia telling her to be careful that maybe going so high wasn’t such a good idea. But just like in the dream Jemma had said not to be so boring that she knew what she was doing, she went climbing with her Dad ‘every weekend, remember?’

Lilia did remember, but she also remembered the end of the dream.

‘I’m serious Jemma, its not a good idea. Please come down before you get to high.’

‘Don’t be such a big baby’. Jemma had laughed.

No matter what Lilia said or how she said it, it came out exactly the same, as fate would not allow her to change anything. Or perhaps she had left it to late to change it. If only she had listened to her instincts and said something earlier. But she had tried to stop Jemma from going into the yard that day. She had suggested going to the park instead, but Jemma had already noticed the big pile of granite blocks glistening in the sun. Her imagination was already captivated by the glittering blocks. Her dare devil side had been ignited and she never ignored that call. Jemma always had to rise to a challenge, especially if it meant something dangerous. Had she lived into adulthood she would have likely been a race car driver or a stunt double. She always joked about it.

‘I don’t need to go to college.’ She said one day while they watched Indiana Jones. ‘I’m going to go to Hollywood and be a stunt double. My Dad says they get paid lots, and you don’t need a degree to be one. You just need guts and a thrill for danger.’

Her Dad only ever saw her on Sundays, the one day of the week that Jemma and Lilia never saw each other- and he was always filling her head full of wonderful ideas. And according to Lilia’s Mother, those ideas were dangerous ones.

Lilia watched now as her best friend in the whole world climbed and climbed and climbed, despite the protests that Lilia shouted at her.

‘Please Jem, come down. Your going to hurt yourself.’

But just like in the dream Jemma didn’t listen and just as it happened in the dream, night after night; Jemma fell.

It was as if the world froze for a second. As if Jemma would not fall after all. But she did. As Jemma climbed up onto the highest shining rock she swirled around and was about to say I told you so to Lilia when she lost her balance. For Lilia it seemed to take an age for her friend to fall. Her arms flailing as if she could grasp onto the air and it might just materialise something firm for her to hold onto, but it didn’t instead she landed onto the rock below, the one she had used to help navigate her way up to the top. Lilia heard the crack, and it sounded so much worse in real life. Lilia didn’t know what to do next as the dream always ended there, so she acted on instinct and climbed up to the rock, not thinking any more of her own safety. She made it up easily enough, but she wished she hadn’t. A pool of blood was already forming in the small hollow that the broken body of her friend lay in. Lilia hovered over her for a second calling her name, but her eyes were open and nothing seemed to be there any more. It was as if her soul was already gone. The feeling of familiarity wasn’t there any more. Jemma wasn’t there any more. The empty expression that sat on her face and in her eyes made Lilia feel cold.

Suddenly a mist began to rise near Jemma’s body and a shadowy figure hovered over both girls. Through tears Lilia pleaded with the shrouded figure, ‘Please don’t take her. Please let her life.’

The figure did not respond and it did not fade, it simply watched. It watched as Lilia made her way safely down from the blocks of granite. It watched as Lilia ran all the way to the phone box to call her Mum and it watched as the ambulance took the broken and bleeding body of her friend away. It only spoke once the ambulance doors were shut.

‘It won’t be long now.’ Said its whispering, husky voice before it vanished into the ground where it once stood.