This will be deleted soon - The Wrong Hope *Complete and Free*

42. Tick

Sally-Anne

Year: 1983, 10th August, Wednesday, Morning, Summer.

When Guy spoke to me again it made me jump. I’d relaxed into the heat of his legs after emptying the whisky bottle and smoking a couple of cigarettes, then at some point I’d brought his hand to my lips. I was so calm the world had just melted away.

“Go make us all some coffee Doll.” Guy told me tiredly. When I came back with 3 cups of fresh black coffee I was surprised to see Guy was no longer in the living room. Setting two cups on the coffee table I brought the third over to Bill. The closer I got the more I shook. Then I realised I’d forgotten to ask Bill how he took his coffee which made me shake even more. I was a terrible hostess. ‘Who cares; kill him.’ My primal friend piped up, stopping me in my tracks.

Bill scootched forward on the recliner. Realising I wasn’t going to come any closer he reached out for the mug.

“Thanks.” Bill said, smiling at me before blowing on his coffee and taking a tentative sip. I didn’t move. With genuine feeling in his summer sky eyes Bill looked at my face and with an apologetic tone said “Sorry I attacked you, didn’t expect a Leech to open the door in a Hunters’ house.”

“You missed.” I told him in a flat voice, not even sure myself what I meant by it. Bill was confused too judging by the way his eyebrows furrowed and he blinked rapidly trying to figure me out. “You ruined my dress.” A sob caught in my throat. The lovely green dress Guy had bought me. I’d only just thought about it.

“I did.” Bill watched me carefully gauging my emotions. “I’ll get you a new one.” His lopsided smile added brightness to his eyes. He settled back in his chair. As he sat back a flash of black lettering on his neck caught my eye. I stepped towards Bill, my sudden curiosity replacing my fear. With gentle fingers I tapped Bill’s jaw wordlessly asking him to expose his neck to me. His heart was steady, his breathing even as he let me look at his tattoo.

A flowing banner was etched into his skin with fancy lettering. I traced the letters with my finger ignoring the pulse that resided there. ‘Fatum Elegit Me’, it was Latin. I’d done a little Latin at school but the reason I knew what it said, the reason it made me pause was that it was exactly like the one my Pa had.

“Fate chose me.” I whispered, taking back my hand but not moving away. Bill didn’t balk at my proximity, instead he took the opportunity to, in a way, return the gesture. His hand was steadier than mine as he brought his hand to my lips holding it there in the same way I’d held Guy’s hand as they had talked. Closing my eyes I breathed in the scent of his skin letting it wash over my tongue. There was a calmness to Bill’s scent, which I enjoyed. It was a smell I couldn’t name. I wondered if he would let me have a taste. Before the thought could solidify into words Bill removed his hand from my mouth and offered it out for me to shake.

“Bill, but I prefer William.” His deep voice warm. I took his hand applying pressure carefully.

“Doll,” I rolled my eyes, “but I prefer Sally-Anne.” I gave him a shy smile before moving to the couch. It seemed Guy didn’t respect anyone's names. William’s jaw dropped and cogs seemed to whirr audibly in his brain.

“William? What was the bolt laced with?” I asked curiously, cradling my coffee.

“Doll, don’t bother Bill.” Guy sat next to me and took up his own cup. “So what are we talking about?” Guy’s subtitle wording allowing me to be part of the conversation.

“That’s Guy’s bracelet.” The words ran out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“It’s cool Doll, Bill is just borrowing it for the duration of his visit.” Guy patted my thigh.

“So Sally-Anne,” William started casually, his eyes flicking to Guy as he spoke, “where are you from?”

“Don’t answer that.” Guy snapped, his mood turning sour. “What you getting at Bill?” He barked.

“Just making conversation Guy, after all Sally-Anne is quite a find wouldn’t you say? The Brice everyone has been looking for.” William hissed.

“You stupid f*****g bitch.” Guy turned on me and I shrank back afraid. “Guy says…”

“Hang on Guy.” William cut him off. “She only told me her first name, I put the rest together, no need to punish the girl.” Guy glared at me before turning back to William.

“Come on Guy, we’ve been friends a long while now, right? What’s with secrecy? I ain’t gonna back out of our deal or nothing but you can’t be keeping this stuff from me.”

“You owe me.” Guy growled, stabbing a finger in William’s direction.

“No kiddin’.” William put his hands up in acknowledgement. “Just cool your beans alrigh’? I ain’t going to be blabbin’, ya know me.” He reassured, Guy nodded, taking a deep breath. “So… what’s her Tick?”

“Take that off and you’ll see.” Guy grinned.

William removed the chain and grunted.

“Whatcha think?” Guy laughed while lighting a cigarette.

“That -” William choked, looking like he was sweating bullets, “is intense.” I had no idea what they were talking about but was certainly surprised when William didn’t put the bracelet back on, choosing instead to stumble over to where I sat and kneel in front of me.

“She seems so tame.” William said to Guy before turning to me. Guy watched, curious. “Do you know what you’re doing Sally-Anne?” I shook my head. Slowly William raised his hand.

“Bill…” Guy warned.

“It’s cool, I got this.” William replied, sounding pained. His hand came to a stop just in front of my mouth and nose, once again I breathed him in and it took me back to that quiet, calm moment we had shared.

“How the hell did you do that?” Guy asked, flabbergasted.

“Just gotta have some patience my friend.” William smiled. “Sally-Anne do you know what a Tick is?” I shook my head softly. William glanced at Guy for permission before continuing. “A Tick is like a skill, but unlike a normal human skill it is magic. Your Tick appears to be the projection of emotions. We are going to do a little exercise to see if it is entirely passive, emotions leaking without control, or if it is something you can manipulate. Right now you are calm. I want you to take that calmness and make it an anchor, something you come back to, ok?” I nodded, breathing the heat that rose from his skin.

“So this is what we are going to do for each emotion; you’re going to pick a memory associated with it - nothing too strong, just testing things out here ‘kay? I know we had a little misunderstanding earlier but we’re friends now right?” His hand brushed against my lips.

“Okay William.” I floated in his eyes as he spoke.

“These are the emotions I want you to try for; fear, calm, happiness, calm, pain, calm, love and back to calm. Very important you go back to calm between each one. Feel them through on your own for one cycle then cycle back though and imagine handing each one to me. When you're ready Sally-Anne.” William told me patiently. It reminded me of when Guy had been teaching me about myself. I didn’t exactly have much say in the matter but I couldn’t help but wonder if I could really trust him.

Closing my eyes I worked through the cycle picking a memory for each feeling as I came to it. William still held his hand to my face making it easy to come back to a calm place between each one.

“I did the first cycle.” I told William shyly.

“Good, you did really well. Now try the other way.” He gave me a warm genuine smile. This time I didn’t close my eyes. Fear was first. I took the memory of my fear from only a few moments ago and pushed it out gently. William instantly went pale and clammy. I started to panic.

“Hey, hey it’s ok Sally-Anne, just go back to calm.” He urged. “There we go.” Happiness was next, I thought about Guy bringing my coffee earlier in the night, it was a small safe piece of happiness. Anything from before was tied to painful memories that could spiral out of control.

“Very nice, you’re doing a good job.” William praised while Guy watched on. Moving back to a calm state I got ready to project pain. I was going to think of Guy telling me I wasn’t a person, it was painful but had lost its edge. However, another thought crept in its place. Guy with his hand clenched on the back of my head, his voice a vicious rasp slicing through my heart as he whispered the truth into my ear ‘big sisters are meant to take care of their little brothers’.

William’s hand fell away from my face as he doubled up. His hand gripped my one knee and his forehead knocked against the other. He was fighting for every breath.

“Dial it back Doll.” Guy chuckled, clearly unbothered by his friend's pain. I couldn’t shake the thought so I imagined pulling the emotion back to me. The tension in his body dissipated and the colour came back to his previously white knuckles.

“I suppose I deserved that.” He told me breathlessly.

“Sorry.” I mumbled not meeting his eyes. I hadn’t meant it but clearly he wouldn’t believe me. William put a shaky hand back up to my face.

“Back to calm please Sally-Anne.” He croaked. I breathed in and let the memory go. His blue eyes are a little bloodshot but he nodded for me to continue. I wanted to make it up to him so I scrapped the memory I’d prepared and pulled a stronger one. I thought of Ricky.

“Oh, oh shit.” William turned to jelly and slid onto the floor. The smile on his face was huge and I instantly felt better. I began to pull back but William waved an arm at me.

“Hang on Sally-Anne, hang on. I could get used to this.” I giggled at his entirely relaxed state. The sound completely surprised everyone.

“Right then,” He sighed contently, “let me backup.” I drew it all back and let William’s emotions be his own once more.

“That was incredible. Your Tick is very powerful and you picked up the control very quickly.” William praised me before turning to Guy. “I’m going to have to have a rethink about what we talked about. Think I might have a bigger fish that will be more suitable for what you’re after. Well time for me to take my leave. Enchanté Miss Brice.” William kissed my hand. “I’ll either call or come by tomorrow night.” He told Guy over his shoulder as he left.

He'd left Guy's chain on the coffee table. I wanted to ask a lot of questions but I refrained. It was impossible to tell if he was mad at me.

"You thirsty Doll?" Guy asked unexpectedly.

"Um… I'm tired." I replied.

"Really?" He leaned over to me and brushed my hair out of my face. "You've had a really hard night. You know I had to do that once. Caught my hand on one of Bill's f*****g bolts, so ye I've gone through that too." Guys grey tinted eyes were full of pity. "Go take a shower, then we will go to bed."

I washed like I was told and binned my dress. It truly was ruined with the hole in the front and my blood on it. I was always surprised that I didn't properly bleed. If I'd been human the front would have been drenched but without a beating heart I summarised there was no pressure ergo my blood pretty much stayed where it was.

Even though he shot me, I liked William. He seemed relaxed with me, unlike Guy who was always on edge it seemed, constantly waiting for me to lose it. I put on the big Eagles tee and headed to the bedroom. Guy had told me about the shirt when I asked, well after he rolled his eyes about how many questions I ask. It was a band he liked. He even played me some of their music, not on vinyl though, some strange rectangle with two holes with little teeth and glossy black tape inside. He called it a 'cassette tape' and hushed me before I could ask a million questions about how it worked. Like all the music I'd heard so far, I didn't like it. I blamed my over sensitive hearing. I carried on wearing the shirt though because Guy hadn't bought me a night dress.

In the bedroom Guy was perched on the edge of the bed scribbling in his notebook. I'd tried to look a few times before he forbade me. He patted the bed and I got in with Guy snuggling next to me.

"Guy says" I tensed. Was Guy going to punish me now? Things had been so good lately and I'd tried my very best to behave. Guy stroked my hair. He must have felt the tension, it was his way of letting me know he wasn't going to hurt me but he didn't want to interrupt himself.

"Tonight you will fall asleep when I do and you will wake up when I do." A strange heavy sensation settled over me, Guy yawned and I relaxed. Well for a second anyway.

"Wait," I said desperately fighting the fog of sleep, "I can't see it again, please the nightmare, if I sleep I'll have a nightmare I just know it." I choked on the words trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to overwhelm me.

"Guy says," his voice soft and sleepy, "you won't have any nightmares without my permission."

As Guy driffed off pulling me with him I had just enough time to realise there was always an edge to Guy's kindness - if it were really kindness at all.