‘Ready.’
In an instant Lieffe clicked his bony fingers and the world went dark.
2
The Pivotal Moment
In the click of a light switch, Vincent could see again and the sight made his stomach plummet through the floor.Teenagers were milling around him dressed in ill-fitting tuxedos and marshmallow-like ball gowns, haphazardly thrown together paper chains hung from the ceiling and half-eaten cupcakes lay discarded on their trays.Vincent scanned the room.It was as it had been in life, except everything seemed a little more warped and exaggerated.Teens were dancing in strange jerky movements and most of their faces were indistinct, smudged out of existence.Everything was tinged in blue light and the edges of Vincent’s vision seemed a little blurred.
‘This is a memory.This is how I remember it.’Vincent said to himself.But now that I’m actually here, he thought,this isn’t what it was like at all.What Vincent did remember correctly, with a pang in his gut, was the reason they had been here at all that night.He waded through the crowd of kids – far bigger in his memory than it ever had been in real life.As he got closer to the stage there stood Vincent’s old roommate, Sonny Shine.Sonny was a stage name, although the stages he’d actually played on were few and far between.Vincent was one of only three people who knew what Sonny’s real name was – the other two being his own parents.
‘Stupid little princess.’Vincent cocked his head at the familiar voice.Standing just a little in front of him in the crowd of faceless youths were none other than Terry Lark and Harrison Feather, Evie’s old colleagues atThe Teller, the newspaper she had worked for when they met.The men stood together with their heads bowed, sniggering and pointing at a figure a few rows in front of them.Vincent followed their oddly elongated fingers and he saw the bouncing curls of a woman shaking her head in embarrassment at Sonny bumbling around on stage.Vincent tried to move towards her but the lights flickered and an electric shock staggered through him.He groaned.He tried once more and the same happened again.It seemed that he had to fight for Evie in a different way than simply through a crowd.
‘Ah!The Princess’ jester has arrived!’Terry Lark turned to Vincent but his features were twisted.His brows dived dramatically towards the bridge of his spiked nose and his eyes glinted red as the light caught them.
‘How much does she pay you to put up with her, Jester?’Harrison’s face had elongated downwards and his teeth protruded over his bottom lip like a horse.Vincent could feel his fingers twitch into fists.
‘He’s probably got a key to the family vault and he’s allowed to take as much as he wants.It’s not like Princess will miss it!’Terry cackled.
‘That depends on how many other men she’s coaxed into tending to her every need!’Harrison brayed.
‘Nah.No one’s stupid enough to fall for her “innocence”’, Terry air-quoted with spiked nails.‘She claims she wants to work for herself but then swans off to her apartment paid for by dear old daddy while the rest of us barely make a living.’
‘No one’s stupid enough to fall for it, eh?’Harrison nodded at Vincent whose knuckles were white.
‘Ahh, of course.Sorry, mate,’ said Terry.‘Guess there is one person just that stu —’ Vincent’s fist connected with Terry’s face for a second time in his memory.There was thethwackof skin against skin, the crack of Terry’s jaw and the click of Harrison’s camera as the front page photo was taken.The flash was like lightning through the hall and an almighty volt of electricity bolted through Vincent’s body.He just caught the sad eyes of the curly-haired woman as she turned her head before the room went black.
Vincent panicked, not being able to see, with his hand throbbing and his back against the cold floor of the hall.Just as he was about to scramble up to try to find an escape, the lights crackled back into life.Everything was as it had been.The kids, the decorations, Sonny, the woman, Harrison and an unharmed Terry.Like in a video game, he had failed a level but everything had been reset.
‘Ah!The Princess’ jester!Is she climbing your tower tonight?’
In a disconcerting loop, Vincent recalled the first time Terry had said that.Everything looked almost the same as before, but even further exaggerated.Terry’s and Harrison’s faces had never been so demonic.Vincent’s memory had warped with age, like a faded photograph where the ink had run.Vincent pulled himself off the floor to face them again.
‘Ah, he’ll do whatever she says.She’s got him under her dainty little thumb,’ Harrison sneered.
‘Yeah, he’s trained up like her little lap dog.Ruff.Ruff.Ruff, ruff!’Terry snarled and barked whilst Harrison howled with laughter.‘Ruff!Ruff!Ru —’ Terry was out cold before he could get out another bark.The lights faded once more.
Vincent couldn’t help himself.Every time the scene replayed, Terry kept being disgusting, Vincent kept hitting him.After each punch, Vincent was electrocuted – and yet he never felt all that sorry.
‘You know you’re probably one of many men she’s playing with, don’t yo —’Bang.Zap.
‘Tell me, Jester.She’s innocent when she’s out of the house but she’s filthy in bed, isn’t sh —’Thud.Zap.
‘Girls like her always get their own way!Always playing games.Prissy little bitc —’Whack.Zap.
Terry didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut and Vincent didn’t know any other way of silencing him.
The school hall lights came on again and Vincent scanned the crowd for Evie’s hair but this time she had disappeared.He thought back to the real night of this distorted replication he was being forced to live over and over again.He had punched Terry, Harrison had taken a picture that ended up on the front page ofThe Tellerand Evie’s foul mother, Eleanor, had seen it.Eleanor Snow had been embarrassed by Evie’s desire to work as well as her dream of becoming an artist.Eleanor had wanted her daughter to stay at home, marry the man Eleanor had chosen for her and provide her with grandchildren, which was eventually just what Evie had done.However, Evie had put up a fight and demanded that her mother must at least give her a chance to live the life she wanted to live so, reluctantly, Eleanor had agreed.However, there was a caveat: had Evie not progressed in her field within the year, she was to come home.Evie found herself a job as a cartoonist but Vincent’s actions on the night he was reliving had cost Evie her job – they hadn’t known it then but it had been the beginning of the end.
Vincent had thought he was defending Evie’s honour by hitting Terry in his foul mouth but the fact that he’d spent the rest of his life wishing he’d fought for her harder, better, proved that on this night, he hadn’t been defending Evie at all.Not in a way that was actually helpful at least.This was the pivotal moment.Now’s my chance, he thought, as the memory repeated once again.
‘Ah!The Princess’ jester has arrived!She’ll be delighted to see her lapdog!’
‘Maybe she’ll give you a bone,’ Harrison sniggered.
‘Or maybe he’ll giveherone!’They laughed.
‘LISTEN.’Vincent raised his voice, his anger needing to bubble over in some way.He breathed deeply.‘That’senough, Terry.She’s worth a million of you.A million of both of you.’Terry snorted but didn’t retort.‘You’ve made her a princess in your heads because neither of you have any other way to justify your jealousy and bitterness.’
