‘In eighteen years? Believe me, I’ve seen every square inch of this estate. Well, except the Monastery.’ She shuddered.
‘The Monastery?’
‘It’s just a nickname for a spooky old house on the edge of the Harling Estate.’ She waved a hand, dismissing the subject. ‘We’re bound here, you see. Can’t cross the estate boundary. We can go anywhere we like within it but there’s no way to leave. If Danny was here, I’d have seen him,’ she added firmly.
‘So he… what? Went on somewhere else? Ceased to exist? What happens after death?’
Bloody hell, that was a huge question! I held my breath, wondering if I was about to hear something earth-shattering, and if I was actually ready for her answer.
‘I have no idea,’ she said simply. ‘I only know what happened to us. The other ghosts that live on the estate,’ she added quickly. ‘We died and stayed here in this form. Where the others go, I have no idea. If they go anywhere. I have no insider information if that’s what you’re hoping.’
‘This is mind-blowing,’ I said. And to think, I’d poured scorn onIt’s Haunted!whenever it was on television, and called Madam Mariska, the famous medium, a fraud! Maybe she was telling the truth, after all. ‘But – but that night. Can you remember it?’
‘Oh,’ she said coldly, ‘I can remember every moment.’
‘Everymoment?’ I asked. ‘Eventhatone? The actual moment when you…’
‘Wow, you’re pretty morbid, you know that?’ Brooke said, her lip curling. ‘Fancy asking me that! You do realise you could be asking me to relive a horrific trauma? I could have post-traumatic stress disorder for all you know.’
‘Do you?’
‘I don’t think so,’ she said, considering. ‘I suppose I’d know by now, wouldn’t I?’
‘Itwastactless of me to ask,’ I said, ashamed. ‘I’ve never been in this position before. It’s all very confusing.’
‘It’s all right. I understand.’ Brooke sighed. ‘I don’t remember the actual accident, if it’s any consolation. One minute I was at the party, the next I was being shown to this place and told it was my new home. It was all very confusing for me, too.’
‘I expect it’s a blessing,’ I consoled her. ‘Better not to have those pictures in your head.’
‘Mm.’ Brooke sighed. ‘Much better.’
17
BROOKE
Brooke couldn’t believe she was sitting here with Kirsty, of all people. It was all Danny’s fault. He’d started talking about her for the first time in eighteen years, and saying her name had conjured her up. She was like bloody Beetlejuice! Well, sort of.
She couldn’t help noticing how much her cousin had aged. Kirsty had been in her twenties the last time she’d seen her. Now she must be in her mid-forties. She had lines around her eyes and across her forehead, and she’d put a bit of weight on round her middle. Those skinny jeans she used to wear would look awful on her now, unless she wore a baggy top instead of tucking her T-shirt in the way she used to. At least Brooke had kept her figure. One perk of having died at twenty-five she supposed.
It was sheer luck that Danny wasn’t here this afternoon. He’d told her he was nervous about the song and Silas had offered to coach him for the afternoon. She’d thought he was nuts, because he had the best voice of any of the ghosts, and who’d choose to spend an afternoon alone with Silas if they could help it? But that was Danny for you.
She’d been quite cross about him going off without her, but it was a good job as it turned out. Imagine if she’d been with him when she’d spotted Kirsty! Imagine ifhe’dspotted Kirsty!
And that was the problem. She definitely didn’t want him to see her. Not now, especially. Not when he finally seemed to be taking baby steps forward, mentioning her name and all that. And he’d been nicer to Brooke lately, and a bit less miserable. If he set eyes on his wife again that would be that. He’d be back at square one.
Worse in fact, because seeing her again would make it much harder for him to let her go again, and she would have to leave in the end. Wouldn’t she? What was she even doing here anyway? Was this some sort of vigil for Danny? She could understand it if it was the anniversary of their death, or a special occasion, but it wasn’t. It was just another ordinary day. It made no sense.
And now here she was, asking Brooke awkward questions and bringing up that awful day of all things. Well, Brooke would tell her the gist of it, but she couldn’t go into any details. She might slip up and reveal that Danny was around after all, and the one thing Brooke had to make sure of was that Kirsty and Danny were never reunited.
Briefly, she filled Kirsty in on the fateful events of that night in February 2008, and Kirsty listened, tears rolling down her cheeks. Brooke wondered guiltily how many more tears there’d have been if she’d told her the full truth…
* * *
Brooke
Saturday 16 February 2008
Opening her eyes, Brooke found herself lying on the hard ground, looking up at a dark sky and wondering where on earth she was and what had happened. She lay quite still for a few moments, trying to remember, but when nothing came back to her, she gingerly sat up.
