Anomaly Read online

  ‘I…’

  ‘Don’t,’ Dani said sharply though not unkindly, holding out her hand. She gave him a weak smile. ‘It’s OK, I know that look; sorry, you don’t have to speak about her if you don’t want to. I get it.’ Kyle nodded as he tried his best to hide his relief.

  ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ she said.

  He followed her back up to Blue Bar, her heavy boots clanging against the stairs. They finished tidying up just after four, and then brought down the shutters over the bar. They left the SU, and headed towards the library. Their flat was situated at the top of campus and their route took them up a slowly rising path, framed by the academic buildings. They passed in front of the chapel and over a public concourse then turned right up the hill. It was a steady incline, the bottom half was a wide path and the top half was a narrow tarmacked road. It was the most central point on campus, with easy access to all the buildings the students would ever need.

  ‘God I hate this hill,’ Dani said. ‘It feels like it goes on forever.’ She hunched her shoulders in her leather jacket. They fell silent but it wasn’t the easy, calming silence Kyle was used to. He felt her eyes flickering to the side of his face as she chewed her bottom lip. His friends knew about his past, Cameron had made sure of that. Kyle wasn’t sure whether he hated him or was grateful. They had been friends for years and Cameron knew all about her, he had seen it all, he had been there. Cameron had stuck by him afterwards, even when Kyle had distanced himself.

  ‘I think there’s someone in those bushes,’ Dani said, drawing him out of his thoughts. He had heard the confusion in her tone and his dark eyes followed her line of sight.

  ‘You’re right,’ Kyle said. He broke out into a fast jog, crossing onto the tarmacked half of the slope, angling towards the physics building. A pair of canvas shoes could be seen sticking out of one of the bushes.

  ‘Oh my god, it’s Cameron!’ Dani said in alarm, her footsteps echoing behind him. Kyle frowned. Cameron’s arms were badly scratched, his glasses at an angle, and twigs decorated his caramel hair.

  ‘Hey guys,’ Cameron said, his words slurring. ‘What you doing?’

  ‘What are we doing?’ Dani scowled crossly. ‘What the heck are you doing, more like? Jesus Cameron.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, as he tried to put a finger to his lips, missing and touching his chin instead. He tried to pull a thoughtful expression which would have been comical at any other time. ‘Yes, I am the son of God,’ he slurred.

  ‘Right, get up,’ she said. ‘Kyle, help.’ She moved to the left side of Cameron’s body and put an arm around his back.

  ‘Man, you’re not even a fresher,’ Kyle said, going to his right side and supporting most of his weight as they hoisted him out of the bushes. Cameron’s grey beanie fell off in the process and Kyle scooped it up, stuffing it into his back pocket.

  ‘Re-fresher’s!’ Cameron said loudly. ‘Woo!’ He jumped on the spot for a few seconds.

  ‘You’re such a child,’ Dani said crossly.

  ‘No, no, Dani! Children can’t drink.’ He turned sharply to Kyle. ‘Kyle? Do you remember when me, you and Alice…’ His left leg gave way and he stumbled heavily into Dani. Kyle gripped him tightly, pulling him upright again despite the spasm of pain in his chest. Alice, Alice, Alice, her name reverberated cruelly through Kyle’s skull.

  ‘Whoa, take it easy; just concentrate on your feet OK?’ Kyle said, batting away his thoughts and letting out a little huff as he adjusted Cameron’s weight once more. Cameron dutifully looked down at his feet, and his face broke into a tired, alcohol-induced grin.

  ‘Kyle,’ he said with difficulty, ‘we don’t have any feet.’

  Three

  Sophia’s way of picking a Master’s Degree may have been unconventional to most people but it made perfect sense to her, given the gifts she had. A red oak tree had flashed through her mind when she had browsed through the university booklets, so she intuitively applied to Red Oak University. Her family had initially disapproved. ‘Sophia,’ Grandma Flo had said, ‘we have visions all the time; not all of them are important. You have one of the greatest minds in the physics world, the top universities are desperate to have you, and you even have a recommendation from CERN, why would you waste your time at a university like Red Oak?’ The others had agreed, but Sophia had argued her case. ‘What if it is important? What if it has something to do with Kyle? How can I discover anything when I only make up a quarter of the team?’ Flo had just smiled sadly at her. ‘There’s nothing we can do about that now, the timelines have moved on and so should we.’

  Sophia was running late; she shook her head in annoyance and quickened her pace. She was still angry with her family and hurt by their lack of support. She breathed in deeply and exhaled her anger on a long breath; harbouring Negative emotions only led to a build-up in Negative energy and no one wanted that. Tonight she was giving her first presentation at Red Oak.

  Sophia hurried up to the physics building, smoothing her wavy dark hair as she crossed into the reception. This should be a piece of cake, she thought. She had rehearsed her presentation hundreds of times and the audience would only be a couple of professors, some elderly people and a handful of physics students. She went up a flight of stairs and hurried down a corridor; she could hear the idle chatter of a dozen voices coming from the lecture theatre, so she straightened her shoulders and pulled a friendly smile.

  Professor Green’s face lit up with relief as she entered and a hushed silence fell over the room. She put down her bag and shrugged out of her coat.

  ‘I’m sorry I’m late, though I hope you’ve had plenty of time to enjoy the tea and coffee,’ she said with a grin; that drew a couple of chuckles from her audience. Good, she thought. At twenty-two she was young in the physics world and that often drew confusion from the older professors, however her reputation and papers exceeded her years and she was considered something of a child genius. She fished out a memory stick from her trouser pocket and stuck it into the computer. Her files were all there. She brought up her presentation on the overhead projector and her opening slide appeared on the screen above and behind her. Virtual Particles and Time appeared at the centre of the blue screen. She smiled and clasped her hands together as she turned to face her audience.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, professors and students,’ she said in a loud clear voice, her dark eyes scanning the faces.

  ‘I’m here to…’ her voice faded as her eyes locked onto a young man sitting at the back. It was him, he was here! Her thoughts stopped and her mouth became dry as her eyes flickered to the person seated on his right, a Deykashee soul, the brightest soul Sophia had ever seen. They… are here. She blinked and caught other members of her audience turning their heads and muttering under their breaths. They were here, but not in the way the Letos had once hoped. The red oak tree she thought as giddiness threatened to overtake her senses, her intuition had been right! Kyle shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and she recognised Cameron Goodchild on his left; she had met Cameron, along with his peers, only a few days ago. Cameron leant towards Kyle and muttered something into his ear. The Deykashee soul stared at Sophia with her vivid blue eyes and Professor Green looked stricken. Sophia coughed.

  ‘Sorry,’ she croaked bringing the audience’s attention back to her. She sipped some water. ‘I’ve just got a tickle in my throat.’ She muffled a cough for show and then smiled pleasantly, her audience relaxed and she did her best not to stare at Kyle and his Deykashee soul.

  ‘What are virtual particles?’ she began, launching effortlessly into her presentation. She could see Professor Green smiling now and she quickly moved on. ‘And time for that matter?’ She sighed dramatically. ‘How do we even explain time? It always seems so slow when anyone else does a presentation doesn’t it?’ A ripple of laugher made its way through the front rows. Good, I’m winning them back. ‘How can you o
bserve something that is constantly popping in and out of existence?’ she asked. ‘Is it even the same thing that you observed mere moments ago if it has disappeared and reappeared again?’ She clicked a button on a small handheld device and her second slide appeared. She stole a glance towards the Deykashee soul and supressed a frown. She shouldn’t be here, not like this. A tingling sensation spread through her body, her stomach fluttered, and she could feel the Positive energy charging through the air. Oh Alice, she thought as she glanced at the Deykashee soul, what have you done?

  Four

  She waited for that moment, that first moment, just as he opened his eyes. The first blink before realisation hit and the truth consumed him. Every morning was the same, it was the one moment she could always count on, when she would see a fleeting shadow of the old Kyle. It gave her the smallest measure of hope, but it was still hope. His body moved restlessly, as his mind swayed over the lines between fiction and reality. Alice stepped closer to his bed, whilst his eyelids fluttered tauntingly. He opened them slowly, and as the sleep haze lifted, golden amber speckles seemed to ignite, like stardust floating around the edges of his chocolate eyes. It lasted mere seconds, then those speckles died out, their light vanishing. It came from remembering his loss, a death that had corrupted his eyes, and turned them dark. Her death.

  Alice stepped back as he came to. He had been dreaming again and, with every dream, whether it was good or bad, his expression was always pained. He stumbled out of bed and took three long strides to the mirror above his wash basin. He patted down the odd tufts of bed hair and adopted his mild stoic look, a mask that would help him to make it through the day. He dressed quickly into simple sweats and worn trainers, before picking up his keys and mobile. He selected a playlist and plugged in a pair of black earphones, securing his belongings in a zipped pocket.

  He jogged out of the block and into crisp morning air, like he did nearly every morning. Alice followed. She had no choice, she was a Deykashee soul, and her soul was bound to his. It wasn’t a common occurrence; she had been vehemently stubborn. Her death had stolen everything from her and she had refused to fully move on. The few hours after she had passed away had felt like years; it had been a shock to say the least. Alice had always been scientific and analytical, she had never believed in anything beyond death. She had presumed people just ceased to exist – she had been very wrong. The afterlife was complicated; there were forces and energies that the living weren’t even aware of. There were rules, universal rules that couldn’t be ignored or changed, rules that separated out the souls and determined their states within eternity – and not all of those states were good.

  Alice focussed on Kyle, keeping pace with him easily as they ran along the edges of the sports fields. It was one of the perks of being deceased, no bodily limitations. She had been watching him for just over two years and his routine since starting university had barely changed. They looped around the sports fields and then down through the centre of campus, where the old buildings loomed with windows like vacant eyes, no sign of movement from the living. Kyle increased the pace, unaware of her presence as they passed the library and rounded a corner. He took a narrow road through the trees and up to the old, red-bricked, manor house, which was hidden from view, but was still part of the university. Kyle ran past the old manor and alongside the first of nine lakes dotted between large patches of woodland. She fell behind him as he darted off into the trees.

  Alice heard the steady beat of his trainers hitting the path, his laboured breathing and the muffled rhythm of his music. Her vision was better than it had ever been when she had been alive; she saw colours with perfect clarity and her senses were sharper too. Death had literally opened her eyes; she could see things that the living wouldn’t see and she could feel things that the living wouldn’t feel. Death had allowed her to see the souls of the living and the dead, an extra sense beyond the five primary living senses. She had learned to read the emotions of every nearby soul as easily as if she were reading a book. Souls appeared for her as little bubbles of energy, about the size of a grapefruit, hovering just below the sternum. Alice thought they looked like rainbows and the inside of a Tesla coil, mixed with a lava lamp. A soul was the closest living description to what she was and what became of people when they died. One of the first things she had learnt in the afterlife was that people didn’t have souls, they were souls. They had bodies, at least for a short while.

  She gazed at Kyle’s back, his soul appearing for her as a ghostly ball, definitely there, but not physical. His colours were far from typical for a young man. She could see layers of colours, like the layers of the earth, moving around in patterns. Some of the layers were moving faster than others, but all were shrouded by a layer of grey. It was dense and thick, choking the other colours as it suffocated his emotions. A wave of sadness and compassion washed over her. She had hoped that time would help heal the wounds she had left behind. Her death was reflected in his soul as though it was a testament to her short-lived life; his soul was more of a tombstone than her actual grave.

  Alice felt a sudden heat accompanied by a fluttering sensation, and then an image forced its way behind her eyes. She saw Kyle running ahead of her, just as he was now. A root from a large tree protruded out of the path like a curved handlebar. He caught his left foot on it and his ankle twisted sharply; she heard him cry out in pain as he stumbled forward and hit the ground, grazing his palms. Alice let out an involuntary gasp, and the image faded as quickly as it had arrived. She felt her energy levels falter, and watched as her arms began to fade in and out. Deykashee souls didn’t need to sleep but they did need to rest sometimes, they were very much like rechargeable batteries. If they used too much energy then they had to wait for their energy to return again. She calmed her thoughts and focussed on her arms, willing back their solidity, and then she searched the path ahead. Her mind had jumped the timelines again, showing her a possible future scenario. It was a defence mechanism all Deykashee souls had due to their bond with their living counterpart. If the person they were attached to was in danger, then the minds of the Deykashee souls would sometimes jump forwards and reveal certain scenarios. Ahrl believed it was linked back to The Thirteen’s old world, and to the fountain.

  Alice spotted the root up ahead, and focussed on an ability that the deceased used all the time. She could place suggestions into the minds of the living. It wasn’t an accurate ability as she wasn’t allowed to affect freewill, but it did help provide choices to the unsuspecting living, good choices. It didn’t work all the time, but her chances were better when her target was more relaxed, and right now Kyle was both distracted and relaxed. Her eyes narrowed in on Kyle’s soul, and she felt what could only be described as a bolt of electricity, shooting across their invisible bond. She pushed away her fears and concerns as she repeated a silent mantra in her mind – Move to the right Kyle, just a little to the right. She repeated this over and over, as she followed him in a sort of meditative trance. She felt her energy drain, and was just about to pull back, when he moved a few inches to the right. She smiled, and retracted her mind as she came up beside him. He noticed the root as they passed it, a quick flash of relief crossing his features, and a shake of his head as he berated himself for not noticing it earlier. Suggestions were useful sometimes, but Deykashee souls had to think carefully before they tried to place one. Sometimes it was better to conserve energy.

  He stopped suddenly, breathing hard, sweat spreading in dark patches through his clothing. Alice stopped beside him and focussed on her fading body; she appeared more ghostly now and she didn’t like it. She watched him as he put his hands on his hips, taking deep, steadying breaths. He had a lean, strong frame, and broad shoulders, his muscles were defined, but not overbearing. His skin was clear, with a healthy light tan, and his dark brown hair fell in jagged layers against his forehead. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply; his thoughts were miles away, and a hint of a smile graced his lips
. She stared, mesmerised for a short while. Was he happy because he had missed that root? Or was something else on his mind? She wondered desperately what his thoughts were about, and envied them for making him smile. He opened his eyes again and carried on.

  Finally, once he had looped round most of the campus, he headed back to his block. He shrugged out of his outer layer and dried his face with it as he opened the front door. Two more doors stood to the left and right, and a central staircase led up to the upper floors. Grey, coarse carpet scratched under his trainers as he turned left and entered a narrow hallway, just as Stuart stumbled out of his bedroom. The hallway had three doors on either side. One was a bathroom and another was their communal kitchen, the four remaining doors were the bedrooms. Stuart groggily ran a pale hand through deep burgundy hair; he was small and slim, with blue eyes and a black lip ring.

  ‘Morning,’ Kyle said. Stuart grunted in reply, trudging off down to the bathroom as though he had just come out of hibernation. Cameron appeared from the kitchen then, his hair poking out from underneath his grey beanie. He smiled as Stuart went past and rubbed his knuckles into the top of his head.

  ‘You alright Stuart?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Stuart mumbled knocking his hand away, and then he disappeared from view.