Kay felt a feeling of impending doom as she realised whatthe true reason was behind this uncharacteristic show of reconciliation. Thetrusting, young girl was about to fall right into his clutches.
“Really?” said Anna.
The Polish girl stopped and turned back to face him,allowing him to walk right up to her. It was a fatal mistake, one for which shewas about to pay with her life.
“Of course not, you stupid cow,” said McVie, pulling out aknife and grabbing hold of her. Anna screamed, but he swiftly cut her off witha hand over the mouth.
“Have a go at me in the pub, would you? Make me look stupid?You don’t even belong in this country. Now keep still, bitch, unless you wantme to slit your throat.”
Anna wriggled in an attempt to break free. She was wayyounger and fitter than the sweating, mound of blubber who was trying to forcehimself upon her, but what he lacked in fitness he had in weight. Forcing herto the ground, he put the full weight of his twenty stone on top of her,pinning her down and making her gasp for air. It was exactly the same move hehad tried to do to Kay in her flat a few days before.
She simply couldn’t bear to watch any more of this. Whatevermay be set in stone in her own timeline, this was happening here and now andthere was no way she could stand idly by and let this version of the terrifiedgirl be raped and murdered in front of her.
She knew the identity of the attacker now. That was what shehad come here to find out. So was there any need for this temporary version ofAnna to suffer? There wasn’t and Kay simply had to do something.
With McVie now tearing at the girl’s clothes, Kay launchedherself out from behind the tree and ran right at him in an attempt to push himaway. He was much heavier than she was, but she carried enough speed for hermighty shove to knock him off her. As he struggled to regain his balance,temporarily confused by the surprise attack, Anna managed to scramble free.
“Run, Anna!” shouted Kay. “Just run and don’t look back!”
“Oh, you’ve done it now!” shouted McVie, a crazed look inhis eyes as he recovered sufficiently to grab hold of Kay, knife in hand. “Youare so fucking dead.”
“Kay,” screamed Anna, seemingly rooted to the spot.
“Go and get help!” shouted Kay. Relieved, she saw Anna turnand begin to run.
“You’re dead,” hissed McVie.
Terrified as she was, Kay felt a strange sense of detachmentas she saw the knife flash before her. He was holding her down with one handand wielding the knife with the other, as he brought it down against her neck.At first, the steel felt cold against her skin, then strangely warm. With asickening shock she realised he had slit her throat and felt consciousnessbegin to slip away from her.
“Please don’t let this be the end” was her final thought asshe drifted away, desperately hoping that the angel would be watching over her,ready to whisk her home.
Chapter Twenty-One
December 2018
Suddenly Kay was back in front of the wardrobe mirror in herbedroom. She may have been back in her original body, but the sensations fromthe experience she had just been through still coursed through her. Like wakingfrom a nightmare, she felt a sense of panic as conflicting signals in her brainsent her into a state of shock, believing that her throat in this body had beenslit, too.
Unable to see her true reflection with the image of theangel looking back at her, instinctively her hand went to her neck to checkthat her skin remained unbroken. The relief she felt in discovering herselfintact did nothing to alleviate her feelings. Shaking with fear and adrenalin,she turned and flopped onto the bed, sobbing her heart out at the horrificordeal she had just endured.
After a minute or two, she composed herself and sat up onthe bed, looking into the mirror. The angel was still there, but hadn’t spokenduring Kay’s traumatic last few moments. Now, as Kay wiped the tears from hereyes, the angel spoke.
“Better now?” she asked.
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be better again,” replied Kay. “I’vejust discovered what it feels like to die.”
“It’s just as well I got you out of there when I did, then,”replied the angel. “In another moment or two you would have been lost.”
“Even though it wasn’t the same body?” asked Kay.
“Yes,” replied the angel. “It may have been a duplicatebody, but the essence of what makes you, your spirit if you like, was locked upinside that body.”
“You should have warned me,” said Kay.
“I did try to, remember? But you were a woman on a mission.”
Kay had to concede that the angel was right. She wouldn’thave been able to talk Kay out of going, whatever she had said.
“Well, it’s all over now,” said Kay. “And I’ve got a killerto bring to justice.”
“It seems that you do,” said the angel. “So, I guess I willbe seeing you tomorrow for your last trip?”
Kay hadn’t even begun to think about where to go next.
“You know, after what I’ve just been through, I am not sureI want to go back again just yet,” said Kay. “Can you give me a few more daysto think about it?”
“It doesn’t really work like that,” replied the angel. “Sixdays, all in a row, that’s the deal. You can’t bank them for future use.”
“Yes, but imagine the good I could do if I did,” argued Kay.“You saw what I achieved by going back to Christmas Eve. If I go somewheretomorrow, it will only be for fun, really. I’ve no more mysteries to solve,wrongs to right, or anything else constructive to do in the past.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, is there? Just indulgeyourself. You enjoyed going to see the midnight sun, didn’t you? And going backto Christmas Day as a kid?”
“Of course,” said Kay. “But now I’ve seen the power thatthis gift can deliver,
