I glanced at the mangled remains of the bus. Peered past it, towards what was left of the village in the moonlight. If my sister wasn’t on the bus, then there was only one other place she could be.
‘No.’
She looked at me wearily. Glanced down at her clipboard. Pushed her glasses back up her nose and fixed me with her eerie stare.
‘Honestly, Frances, I do hope you weren’t like this when you were alive. It’s exhausting.’
‘COME ON,’ SAID Jill. ‘Don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. I’m not your enemy, I’m your guardian, and it’s my job to make sure you spend your death days in the care of a responsible adult. Now get on the bus.’
‘No,’ I said again.
A few kids cheered.
Jill’s shoulders stiffened. ‘Look, no one under the age of twelve is allowed to wander through the afterlife by themselves. I’m doing this for you, Frances. It’s for your own good.’
‘I can’t just leave and go wandering around the world in some random bus without seeing my family again,’ I said stubbornly. ‘They’re nearby, I just know they are, and I need to wait for them to come back.’
Jill’s face softened slightly, but she shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, dear. If they haven’t made their way back by now, it’s highly likely they’re gone for good. Either way, I can’t leave you unaccompanied in your house – you’ll be all alone.’
‘I don’t care,’ I said loudly. ‘I’m not getting on that bus.’
The cheers on the bus got louder.
A few children started to say, ‘Miss, miss, we don’t want to be on the bus any more either.’
‘Yeah, let us off too!’
Jill contemplated her nicotine-stained fingers longingly. After a moment, she began to root around in her jacket pocket with a shaking hand. She produced a mouldy packet of chewing gum, unwrapped a piece and began to chew it, all the while muttering to herself.
‘You’ve had a child, they said. You’ll love this job, they said. You’ll be a natural. It’s so rewarding caring for children …’
Part of me was sorry for the trouble I was obviously causing her. Jill seemed okay, underneath it all. But I had to stay behind. My family had died because of me. I would wait for them at home. It was the least I could do. Besides, what was it Mum and Dad said, anytime we went anywhere crowded? ‘If we lose each other, stay right where you are, and we’ll come and get you. Don’t go wandering off, okay?’
So that’s what I was going to do. Stay in Cliffstones – or what was left of it. No-brainer.
‘Smell you later,’ I said resolutely, and turned to walk off.
The children clapped and cheered as I tried to circle the back of the bus so I could resume my walk towards the harbour. Yet, just as they’d done before, my legs refused to work. I gave them a frustrated look. I am trying to make a dignified exit here, not shuffle about hopelessly. Any chance you could make an effort?
Jill gave me a sympathetic look. ‘Ah, I see you’ve discovered the Urgent Barrier Enforcement of Juvenile Corpses.’
‘Eh?’ I said through gritted teeth, straining my muscles as hard as I could.
‘Well, it’s a safeguarding measure,’ she said. ‘Put in place to prevent exactly this type of unauthorised wandering by unaccompanied minors. Basically, corpses under the age of twelve aren’t allowed to stray more than a few hundred metres from their home if they’re alone. It got put in place a few years ago, when management finally realised that we couldn’t just have wailing dead youngsters wandering all over the country.’
I did some quick experiments. Irritatingly, Jill was right. My legs did feel as if they were being controlled. When I took a step in the direction of home, they moved easily. Any attempt to go forward, however – like, oooh, I don’t know, towards the harbour to search for my dead family, for example – and they froze completely, as if stuck in cement. I was like one of those supermarket trolleys fitted with an alarm to stop people from taking them further than the car park.
So that was great.
Behind us, the bus of dead children began to fill with impatient sounds; someone was doing a very deliberate sigh. The faces at the windows had changed from expectant to exasperated.
Someone began to sing ‘Why Are We Waiting?’
‘Getting restless,’ muttered Jill. ‘That will be fun to deal with on the M5.’ She did that mouth-pursing thing again. ‘Look, Frances, if you stay behind, you won’t be able to go anywhere, and that will get very boring very quickly, especially when you’re alone. Don’t bring it on yourself – it’s not worth it.’
With a decisive movement, she turned back towards the bus and put one step on the threshold. Its ghostly engine started up again.
I repeated.
She turned from the doorway and regarded me uncertainly.
‘Don’t you want to go to Disney World?’ she said pleadingly. ‘See Donald Duck?’
A few children automatically cheered.
‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘I’m too old for that stuff. Anyway, I won’t be alone. My family’s going to come back for me. They’ll be here soon. I know it.’
In the doorway, Jill fell silent. The dirty yellow headlights of the bus smouldered in the dark.
I pulled my trump card. ‘Besides, if you force me on that bus against my will, I’ll spend years asking if we’re nearly there yet. On repeat. Loudly. In your ear. While I sit next to you.’
She flinched. ‘After all, how
