“Don’t leave me alone. I’ve been waiting for you to come back for ages. I need you.” Tears ran freely down her face as he moved away, leaving her with a loss so great she couldn’t move to chase after him. She sank to the floor, sobs racking her body as she grieved for her lost love. She huddled with her hands wrapped around her knees, tears running freely down her cheeks. What had she done to upset him, to make him leave her alone like this? Hadn’t her life been hard enough in these last months? Didn’t she deserve more than this?
Billie floundered with her emotions, feeling as though she was drowning in a sea of pain with no hope of rescue. A pain she thought she’d left behind. Gasping, she reached for something to pull herself up. Her hands broke the surface of the bath and she opened her eyes, desperate to get the water away from her face. Everything was black and her arms flailed at the surface. Sucking in a breath as she tried to keep her head above water, She screamed and screamed until her voice faded away and the tears took over, hiccupping as she tried to catch a decent breath, fear still clawing at her throat.
A pounding on the door caught her attention. “Mom. Mom, are you okay?”
“Alex? Alex help me. Please help me.” Her heart raced. Thunder rumbled and a bolt of lightning struck close to the house, sending a white light across the sky. She screamed out loud before she could hold it back. Another bolt of lightning zig-zagged across the sky and illuminated the room long enough for her to focus. She was in the bathroom, at home. In the dark.
The door crashed open and her son stood there, torch in hand. “Mom, what happened? I heard you screaming.”
She wiped a hand over her face, embarrassed at being caught in such a state of mental upheaval. “I … I don’t know.” Lightning crashed again and she whimpered and gripped the edge of the bath. The attacks were getting worse. How could she explain that to her son when she couldn’t even comprehend it? Billie had to get help before she lost her mind entirely. Whatever was taunting her was getting closer, dragging her under into a web of madness. That terrified her more than anything had before.
“Hey, it’s a bad storm but it’s alright. I’m here.” He grabbed a towel from the rack and stepped over to the toilet, sitting down on the closed lid while she shook in the cold bath and tried to gather her wits.
“A storm?” She glanced at the window again, hidden from the torch light he pointed at the floor in front of him. Shadows crept up the walls to the high window where she could see the flickering in the dark sky. A storm? Was that all it was? She could have sworn it was … no, it couldn’t have been anything more than that. Billie frowned and tried to remember what she thought it was but her memory was muddled. She’d been trying to relax, to let go of the tension in her shoulders.
“Yeah. Knocked out the power and Granddad said it would take a while to sort it out. He came by before, made sure we had torches.” Her boy spoke in a clear, calm voice that helped bring her back to the present. Holding out the wrap to his mother, Alex shone the torch lower down on the floor while she reached for it. “You must have fallen asleep. You’ve been in here for ages, your candles have burned down to nothing. No wonder you got a fright, waking up in the dark.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” She took the wrap he held out and shakily stood up, hugging it around her as she did. Her head swam and she moaned in protest, desperate not to lose it again. Alex reached out a hand to steady her and she gripped his arm, her legs trembling as she stepped out of the bath onto the bath mat.
“Come on, Mom. Let me get you to bed. Things will look much better in the morning when you’ve had a decent sleep.” He placed his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him, desperate for his comfort. He helped her into the bedroom, the beam of torchlight leading the way. Unabashed, Alex helped her dress in the pyjamas under her pillow, drying her damp hair. Once she was snuggled in bed, he pulled the covers over her body, tucked them under her chin and wiped the damp strands of hair from her face.
Billie reached out a hand and gripped his arm. “Don’t leave me alone. Please don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Mom. You know I’ll sit beside you until you fall asleep.”
“Don’t ever leave me, Alex, I couldn’t bear it if I lost you too.”
Chapter 8
Singleton 1940
“I don’t like you hanging around that boy, Wilhelmina. He’s only after you for the money, thinks that you’re soft enough in the head for him to railroad over you. Only wants the estate because his father was stupid enough to get himself killed in the war and left him and his mother penniless. I won’t stand for it, hear me? Won’t stand for it.” Her father puffed out his chest and raised his chin, looking every inch the master of the house.
“Anyone would think you didn’t love your brother, Papa the way you talk about him and his son.” She made no mention of his derogatory comments about her state of mind. It was a bone of contention between the two of them, but she was comfortable with the fact they didn’t often see eye to eye.
“Don’t insult my intelligence with remarks like that. I held that man in my arms as he passed away from a bullet to the chest, risking my own life so he wouldn’t die alone in a
