The Thirteenth (9 page)

The younger woman was just about to raise the old woman up; Val knew it was now or never. Swinging with all her force, Val swung the bat at her head. With one massive blow, she knocked the girl to the ground.

The young woman’s slumped over the old woman who was trying to speak, although her face was being forced into a very thick pile carpet. “It’s going to be OK, don’t worry. I’m here to save you,” said Val, rolling the young woman aside. It felt like a silly thing to say, but she wanted the old woman to feel safe.

Astonishingly the old woman started to laugh. This wasn’t quite the reaction Val had been hoping for. Something else was bothering her too. The room looked too young in style for an old woman. The furniture was very contemporary. Looking for more clues, Val took in the pictures on the walls. There was one of several girls on what looked like a crazy holiday. Leaving the old woman on the floor, Val picked up the picture. Moving it into the light she saw something that made her stomach churn even more than teleporting: it was a picture of the young woman she had just merrily knocked out. Looking around the room again she saw the laptop, the games console, the fashionable high-heels lying by the settee, shoes that certainly would not fit the old woman who was wearing practical flats. This was the younger woman’s house, Val was suddenly sure of it! That meant that the young woman was the one Val was supposed to be helping. What a huge mistake. How could she get out of this one? Val didn’t even know if she had killed her with the blow from the bat. As she turned towards the young woman’s body to check her pulse, the old woman pushed herself up onto her knees.

“So you are the chosen one; all this time, and you’re it,” she cackled, hugely amused by something that Val didn’t understand.

Val moved swiftly towards the old woman, not bothered any more that she resembled her grandma, or any grandma.

“What do you mean, the chosen one, you stupid old cow?” This was completely out of character for Val, although what was normal about any of this?

“Well that’s just rude. You should have more respect for your elders, even if you are nearly four hundred years their senior.” Val stood for a moment looking at the annoying old woman on the floor, wondering whether she was trying to confuse her or just get on her nerves.

“I don’t care what you say, you’re a crazy old woman and I’m calling the police. They will come and take you away.”

The old woman was now howling with laughter. “What will you tell them? That you teleported here? That you have a special tattoo? That you don’t understand any of this? You stupid little girl! You don’t even know where you are, do you Val?”

Val’s whole body tensed with the old woman’s words. How could she know all these things about her? She needed to find out
now
. Crouching down, she leaned in close to the old woman’s face.

“Who told you my name?” Val’s voice was slow and venomous. The force of her hot breath blew the old woman’s grey fringe up over her forehead. Val moved forward another inch, until their noses were almost touching. “How do you know about the tattoo?” she seethed.

“Does it matter?” spat the old woman. “I’m just disappointed that you are the best they could offer.” Turning her face away from Val in disgust, the old woman began to squirm, slowly altering the way she was propping up her body.

Suddenly her head snapped unnaturally back towards Val. Looking at her with an apple-pie baking, sweet old lady face, she started to speak. “If you untie me, dearest I could tell you everything.” Her voice was almost as thick as treacle. Val thought she was going to be physically sick.

“Shut up. No better, I’ll shut you up.” Val stood up, grabbing the old woman by the arm and lifted her off the ground. Pushing her onto a wooden chair in the corner, she forced her arms backwards over the top of the chair and looked around for something to shut her up.

Val grabbed a discarded yellow duster from a small side table. As she tied it around the old woman’s head, she snapped and snarled at her like a rabid dog. Val had to be careful not to lose a finger, but she needed peace to think clearly if only for a second. After a struggle, she managed to tie the duster over the wrinkly old lips, then gave her a victory slap on her creased forehead.

“That’s for trying to trick me you bitter old hag.”

Val now saw that the young woman on the floor was beginning to stir. Leaving the old woman secured to the chair, Val crouched down by the other woman’s side.

Slowly she opened her eyes. Pain streaked across her face as she looked up At Val. “Who are you?” The woman winced; the pain of speaking was obviously intense.

“Don’t speak for a second.” Val rubbed her arm reassuringly. “My name is Val. I heard screams coming from the street and came to investigate. That’s when I found you on the floor and that old woman going crazy. She seems to be one sail short of the wind, so I have put her over there for her own safety. What happened?” Val felt guilty for lying but it was in her best interest.

The woman carefully placed her hands behind her as she started to sit up. “I came home from my night shift at the hospital, and this crazy old woman, who by the way you
do not
want to untie, must have been waiting for me. Can you believe it, she jumped me from behind.” The woman flinched, drawing a sharp breath, and then carried on telling Val her story. “She was ranting on about how I was special and that the bait was set.” The young woman raised her hand, drawing circles with her index finger on her temple as if to sign that the woman was mad. Val smiled.

“By the way, my name is Jenny.” She offered her hand to Val who gently shook it.

Val took hold of Jenny’s arm to help her to her feet and admitted, “I suspected something was odd. It’s not every day you find an eighty-year-old woman tied up face down on the carpet laughing her head off.” Val noticed the matted bloodstained hair on the back of Jenny’s head. “Do you have a first aid kit handy?”

Jenny nodded and pointed towards the kitchen. “Then let’s go and get you cleaned up.” Val took her arm as Jenny began moving at a snail’s pace towards the kitchen.

All of a sudden Jenny froze. “There’s someone else here.” Val tightened her grip on Jenny’s arm to support her trembling body.

“Who? Was there someone else with the old lady?” Val was beginning to get nervous as well; she didn’t need to meet anyone else tonight.

“Well someone hit me over the head,” Jenny pointed to the lump, “so they must still be in the house.” How embarrassing. Val felt her cheeks getting warm; she was now going to have to look for
herself
.

She patted Jenny on the arm to reassure her. “Let’s have a look around, but first let’s get the bat for protection.”

Val could sense Jenny pulling away. “Just a minute, how did you know I have a bat? Who’s to say you aren’t the old woman’s accomplice?” Val knew she needed to do something to convince Jenny she was not the enemy and fast.

“I saw the bat near you when I walked in, believe me I’m not the person who hit you over the head.” Val looked Jenny straight in the eyes and slowly reached out for her hand. “Do you think I would still be here if I was guilty?” Val said sincerely. Jenny smiled weakly at her; she looked too tired to fight, even if Val had been the attacker.

They cautiously moved back around the room together. The crazy old woman was still reeling like a wild animal in her chair. Releasing Jenny, Val reached out and hastily grabbed the bloodstained bat, and they cautiously moved out of the living room.

As they headed towards the kitchen, Jenny’s voice broke the silence. “I’m going to call the police. They can come and look for the other one,” she said breaking free from Val and heading back to the hall.

Val felt desperate. How could she explain herself to the police, who would quickly realise that she was guilty of attacking Jenny. She still wasn’t sure how the teleporting thing worked, she had touched Jenny several times and nothing had happened. So maybe she hadn’t yet done whatever it was she was suppose to do. Val’s head was starting to hurt with all the unanswered questions spinning in and out. The one thing she was sure of was that she didn’t want the police involved.

She needed to stall Jenny and fast. Val had no better plan in that instant than to started coughing; it had worked on her mum once when she had burnt a hole in one of her tops. She started with a convincing wheeze and then quickly moved to full blown gasping.

“Are you OK?” Jenny asked, moving closer to Val, losing interest for a moment in the phone call. Val instantly took advantage of this opportunity to go into overdrive; it was almost as if she was having a mini convulsion of some sort. Dropping the bat, Val gasped for breath like a pro; she could feel an Oscar coming to her.

“Val, do you want a drink?” Jenny had now changed direction and was leading her by the arm towards the kitchen.

“Yes,” Val spluttered, “please,” coughing a little more and nodding her head. This was going better than expected.

Jenny pulled a glass from a shaker style cupboard above the sink and filled it with water. “Here take this.”

“Thank you. I don’t know what happened. Could we sit down please?” Before Jenny had time to answer, Val was sitting down at a pine table, facing the kitchen door.

Jenny looked concerned. “OK, but only for a second; we really must call the police.” Val nodded and started to gulp the water down. “Can I ask you a question, Val?”

Val nodded she was up for anything that would stop Jenny picking up a phone. “Yeah, sure, fire-away,” she said between gulps.

“Why are you out in the middle of the night in your pyjamas?” As the last word escaped her lips, Val saw the old woman appear behind Jenny, leaping through the air. Val was amazed at her agility. How on earth had she got free? Val was so busy distracting Jenny she hadn’t thought to check on psycho Gran.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Val put her hand down, instinctively reaching for a bat that wasn’t there. Where was it?
Damn,
she had left it in the hall earlier. She realised the seriousness of that mistake when the old woman raised her arm, preparing to smash the bat into the back of Jenny’s head again.

“No!” Val shouted, a surge of anger filling her body, knocking what was left of her water across the table and smashing it into the wall. Val raised her arms, stretching her hands out in front of her, feeling the sensation of lifting an invisible blanket of air. As it rose, Jenny was violently thrown backwards off her chair landing with a heavy thump on the floor.

The old woman was also lifted, twirling into the air like a rag doll in a hurricane, hitting the ceiling with such force that she cracked her silhouette into the plaster. Shards of the ceiling light exploded, flying down onto the floor almost as if it were raining diamonds. Then she landed lifelessly on the wooden floor.

Val stood for a second, her breathing shallow and deliberate, taking in the full extent of what she had just done. It felt like a tornado had been released from each of her hands. She didn’t know how it worked or why, she was just glad it had.

After a few seconds, Jenny appeared over the rim of the table, her hair just slightly dishevelled. “What on earth was that?” She was looking at Val not with fear, but almost in wonder, as if she was intrigued rather than scared by what she had just witnessed.

Val slowly let her eyes focus on Jenny. “I don’t know, but whatever it was I’m sure of one fact, that old woman is not getting up in a hurry.” Val moved over to Jenny’s side of the table to help her to her feet.

Looking at the old woman on the floor surrounded by glittering specks of glass and covered in white plaster, Val contemplated the fact that she actually looked quite angelic.

“Call the police, Jenny, and an ambulance as well.” Val offered her hand to pull her up. As Jenny accepted it, a blue spark went off between them, and Val was gone.

Her insides fizzed and she knew what was coming; as always, the journey back was so much sweeter. At least she knew what was on the other side, even though the trip did resemble a bad fairground ride.

Val landed with a thud, a white toilet seat about three inches from her nose.

She lifted her face slowly. “Just lovely! You try to help people and all you get is a loo in your face. I bet Superman never had to face a deadly toilet.” Val managed to raise a smile as she sat slumped between the toilet and the bidet. All of a sudden, the enormity of what she had done began to sink in. The crazy risk she had taken and the fact that her life was spiralling out of control were deeply disturbing. She curled up in a ball, her arms wrapped around her legs, and began to sob quietly.

After a few minutes, Val realised that the sun was rising on a new day, not just for her, but thanks to her actions, for Jenny as well. Maybe, through all the chaos, something good was eventually going to come from this. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she looked at the rippled sun through the etched bathroom window and was just thankful she had made it home again. Whatever the reason for this thing happening to her, she now knew that if she didn’t follow where it took her, someone would probably get hurt.

Val suddenly realised that she needed to get back to bed before her dad got up. Mike went to work at the crack of dawn and she didn’t want to get caught out of bed and raise any suspicions. She pulled herself up, acknowledging her aches and pains and made her way out of the bathroom. Sneaking down the landing, she slipped into her room and climbed under the bed covers. Her whole body seemed to let out a sigh. It was like slowly releasing air from a tyre. When the whooshing sound had finally stopped coming from between her lips, Val closed her eyes and fell instantly and peacefully asleep.

The morning came far too quickly. Val woke to find her mother was gently shaking her into consciousness and knew that she had managed to sleep through her alarm.

“Come on Val, you will be late for work.” Susan stroked her hair.

“OK Mum,” Val responded sleepily.