Running Shoes (The Shades of Northwood)



  THE SHADES OF NORTHWOOD:

  RUNNING SHOES

  Wendy Maddocks

  ©2011 by Wendy Maddocks

  Other works by Wendy Maddocks

  Stand alone novels

  Twisted evil

  Into the darkness

  Short story collections

  The thrill of the Chase

  A Shade too young

  The Shades of Northwood series

  Running shoes

  Circle of arms

  Unfinished business

  Kiss at midnight

  Circle of the Fallen series

  Angels of America

  Poetry collections

  When I was young

  Before the dawn

  Screenplays

  RISK

  Non-fiction

  Student: dazed and confused

   

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Giving birth to you was definitely easier than this… and that took 24 hours.”

  `”Great way to make me feel special, Mom.”

  “Oh honey, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant – “

  “It’s okay,” Katie grinned. She held the lid of one box down while her mother suffocated it with parcel tape. “I’m shattered too.” There were piles of boxes filling her bedroom. She stood up and put her hands to her aching lower back. “My back’s killing me. Must be my age catching up with me.”

  “You’ll live. I don’t think I can even get up.”

  Katie stretched out a hand and pulled her mother up. They put the box on one of the piles and sat down on her bed.

  They had both been huddled in this room for the entire weekend bboxing up Katie’s entire life so far. 16 and a half years. A handful of clothes were still somewhere in the washing cycle but everything else was neatly packed away in the boxes had finished and randomly thrown into the ones she had done. But everything had been labelled –books – papers – makeup and hair – computer stuff. Both of them looked around without a word. Almost everything was packed away now but Katie had a feeling she would be working into the night unravelling her jumble of jewellery and ironing those last few clothes. Also, there was a final check to make sure she hadn’t left anything important behind.

  “I can’t believe how much junk I had.” Three or four black bags peeked around the poster covered door. “And I never even knew I had half of it.”

  “We always made you tidy your room but I guess we never made sure you actually threw anything out.”

  Katie rolled her eyes and let herself fall back on the bed. It was quite late in the evening and it was all she could do not to just curl up and close her eyes. The alarm had gone off at eight this morning although, after spending the day in this stuffy, little room and in the sticky heat of high summer, the day felt like it had been much longer. The windows had been open all day and a fan had been whirring away on full. But Katie had no intention of complaining – The oh-so-predictable British weather would likely be raining again by the end of the week.

  “Tea’s ready!” a voice shouted up the stairs. “Well, in about ten minutes.”

  “Thanks Dad!” Hunger had started biting at Katie as soon as tea was mentioned. “No more Dad making tea at the weekend.”

  “We’ll visit when you tell us you’re settled. We can make your tea then.”

  “I’m going to have to learn how to cook.” Katie jumped off her bed and tore through the open book boxes by the window. “I don’t know how to cook. What am I going to eat?”

  “Katie, love. You’ve been helping me cook since you started school. I don’t think you’ll starve.” The older woman got up too and left the room. A door down the hall squeaked.

  A setting sun washed the room in an orangey haze. The moon was already shining brightly, just waiting for the sun to go down so it could be the best thing about the night. Katie stood at the window and looked straight in front. If she angled her head up just the right amount, the houses opposite looked like they were miles away rather than just across the road and the park across the road filled her view. Never again would she have this view. Not that she would miss it that much now that a car park had cut through half of it. But still… it was the park she ran through every day and where Dad had taught her to ride a bike. With a sigh, Katie closed the window and grabbed her pumps.

  “Brought you something.”

  A hand brandished a cookbook under her nose. A student cookbook that looked like it had never been opened.

  Katie left her laces undone as she took the book and flicked through it. Half of it was simple food involving pasta, sausage or some kind of casserole. Some were five minute recipes and a handful were desserts or dinner party food. “Thanks Mom.” She hugged her mother.

  “Stop that or you’ll make me cry.”

  “I know. I’m nearly there too.”

  Katie took the book and dropped into a box and taped it shut with a half-laugh. “I’ll put the fire station on standby when I get there.”

  “Do your laces before you break your neck and then we can’t rent your room out.”

  Katie tied her pumps with fingers so practised she did not need to watch herself then followed the other woman down the bare, wooden stairs. Dad was still banging around in the kitchen so they sat at the table and watched him make a mess. Tea on Sunday was only sandwiches and maybe a slice of quiche but today Dad was making an effort. Sandwiches had been replaced by rolls, quiche by pizza and he had bought a cake too.

  “Dan!” Katie shouted. Her little sister came running in and plopped down in the seat next to her. “What are you wearing?” It used to be a yellow sun dress but Dan liked to play in the mud so it was now a mostly brown smock. “Dad, Mom, you didn’t need to do this. We went out last night so I’m all partied out.”

  “This isn’t a party ‘cos there aren’t any people.”

  “This is an indoor party.”

  “Still, I’d rather just have a last normal, family night tonight.”

  “Oh, honey, we just couldn’t help but give you a tiny celebration. A last night just doing ordinary things wouldn’t have been very special.”

  “I know. It just makes it harder.” Katie glared at her sister who was trying to steal the mushrooms off her pizza slice. “Dan, pack it in.” The younger girl shrank away from her and Katie was just as surprised as her sister when they both started hugging each other. “It takes me moving out to realise I quite like you, titch. Usually.”

  Their parents looked at each other. The two girls did love each other, they could see that, but not even a Nazi interrogation would otherwise get them to admit it. Their father opened the cupboard under the sink and brought out a case of fizzy pop. He opened the case and passed cans out. Katie broke hers open and drained half of it in one go. “So, when me and Mom were dying of thirst up there you never thought to bring these up. Nice.”

  He nodded at the basket of clothes in the corner – some crumpled and some freshly ironed.

  “Cool. Sleep for me tonight.”

  “Katie?” Dan asked. “When you go away will it be forever?”

  “I hope not.”

  “So, can I have your room if you go for a long time? It’s bigger than mine.”

  Mom touched the smaller girls’ hand. “Katie will come back to visit sometimes and she’ll need her own bed to sleep in. So, no, you can’t have her room. Besides, yours is just as big. It’s just a different shape.”

  Katie went to the drawer and got out a sharp knife. “Cake?”

  Everyone wanted some. When all four of them had a slice of the sponge cake wit
h orange chocolate icing and strawberry cream, and were sat in the front room with the TV chattering away in the corner, Dan opened the drawer in the coffee table and took something out. She was always squirreling things away in every conceivable hiding place so no-one paid any attention. She slid to the floor and crawled over to her parents on the little two-seater settee. “Can we give it to her now?”

  “Okay.”

  “Remember what we said earlier. Don’t go over the top.”

  “Katie. We made this for you.”

  It was a red leather photo album with three quarters of the spaces filled in with pictures of Mom and Dad when they were expecting Katie, all her school photos, some from birthdays and Christmases, and a few holidays. Every single one of them brought back such strong and wonderful memories that Katie had trouble not crying. “It’s really pretty.” And it was. Red glitter sparkled at the edges of the cover and gold glitter speckled every page.

  “I chose and decorated the album and Mom and Dad chose the pictures. Oh, this was meant to go on to but it kept falling off.” Dan reached back into the drawer and brought out a string of pastelly seashells. They were still curled into the loose spiral they had been meant to be fastened in.

  “I’ll keep it safe always. Why are there blank spaces?”

  “Because you still have a lot of life left to live.”

  Dad could be surprisingly sweet at times.

  “I’m going for a walk in the park.” Katie got up and gave all of her family a quick kiss then headed for the front door. There was someone’s hairbrush on the bottom stair which she dragged through her long hair and tied it up in a ponytail, not bothered that it was dirty and straggling everywhere. Then she slung her baseball jacket over her arm, matching cap over the worst of her hair and jogged out the front door. The door swung closed behind her. The evening was not quite dark but the disappearance of the sun had dropped the temperature a few degrees –enough for there to be a chill in the air but not enough to cool Katie enough to put her jacket on. She turned left at the end of her road and headed for the row of shops opposite. There were two newsagents, a betting shop and a local hair salon that had given her that dreaded first haircut at age three. Until then, Mom had trimmed it every few weeks. Katie was glad that the salon was closed for the weekend because Antoine would probably have some kind of seizure if he saw her hair in the state it was in. Behind the shops was a block of flats – commonly known as Heroin Heights due to the fact the local council had set up a rehab group for addicts there. Katie was just glad they had decided to try and help people with their problems rather than just ignore them. Who really cared if they were on the same estate? Next to the block of flats was a small residents car park and lock ups. The good cars usually went into the garages and the beaten up or barely running bangers were left in the car park. Coming through here to get to the park was not high on the list of things Katie would miss but then she couldn’t quite get her head around not doing this again for a very long time. If ever.

  Katie jumped the low wall that separated the building from the street and from there walked right up to the park gates. They were half open and she walked in.

  Running from one end of the park to the tea rooms a few hundred metres away were low stone bollards. Katie stepped up onto the first one and began hopping the foot or so between each one. About 3 years ago, Dan had lost her balance and fallen off the third post from the end, hitting the ground badly and spraining her ankle. That was a fun Easter Sunday spent in the hospital. Dad had been beside himself with worry in case the X-rays showed a fracture or worse. Katie just remembered being a bit annoyed that they weren’t going to be home in time to watch Mary Poppins and a bit bewildered. She’d never been inside a hospital before and only once since.

  Thinking about that, Katie dropped from the bollards and decided to go to the tea rooms. It was closed but a woman near the door offered to get her a cold drink and a snack before she locked up for the night.

  “What’ll be dear?”

  “Are you sure? I thought it was against the rules to serve after hours.”

  “Well, it’s a bit naughty but I can’t see the harm in a drink and some sweets.”

  “Orange juice, crisps and a Twix. Or whatever you have.”

  The older lady scurried away into the building. “Won’t be long. I know there’s some bits around here some place. Now where’d that stupid boy put the juices?”

  “Don’t worry if you can’t find it.”

  “No, it’s here. I know it.” A minute later, a fuzzy grey head backed out of the yellow building and turned to show the kind old woman holding a plastic tray of snacks for Katie. “I put a pack of mints on for you. I always like to have sucky sweets handy in case the urge takes me.”

  “How much do I owe you?” Katie reached for her wallet.

  “Come back tomorrow and we’ll settle up then.”

  “I’m leaving the city tomorrow. I’d hate to go without a clear deck.”

  “What’s a sweet young girl like you doing leaving the city? Moving house I suppose.” The old woman – there were tiny pin holes in her jumper where a name tag had once rested but had obviously been taken off for the night. “Parents always take children away from here. Too much pollution – asthma and allergies. Nonsense, it is.”

  “I’m moving on my own actually.”

  “All the more reason not to take your money then. I never rang it up.” She leaned in as though she were sharing a great secret. “No-one will ever know.”

  Katie dug in her wallet and pressed a handful of loose change into the woman’s hand. “Give it to charity then. I’d just go away feeling as though I had a debt to pay.” Katie moved to a seat and put her tray down while she tried to work the zips on the jacket pockets. Dan had gunked them up with God-knows-what again. “Little sisters. Glitter glue.”

  “So I see. My own younger sister used to steal my clothes. Of course, they were my big sisters before mine.”

  “Yeah, we learned about hand me down culture in history. But it turned out some nice people like you.”

  “I’m glad you think so. Well, my kitty won’t wait forever for his dinner so I’ll be off. I treated him to fresh salmon tonight.” She shrugged her handbag into the bend of her elbow and tottered off towards the gate. And then she was gone.

  Katie sat and swirled her straw around the clear plastic cup, picking at her crisps, and thinking about what the old lady had said to her a few minutes ago. What actually was she doing leaving home at 16? Apart from a week long family holiday every couple of years and some school trips, she had never really left the city. And now she was going to try to make it alone in some town she’d never heard of before. No, this was not the time to get nostalgic and needy. Katie had been looking forward to this change for months and she was going to make the most of it. Of course there were going to be times when she felt homesick… but she would get over that. Just like she would soon forget this night. Her last night at home.

  “Don’t you start crying. I’m no good with crying girls.”

  “Huh? I’m not crying.” Katie looked up to see a boy – well, maybe a young man, it was hard to tell in the deepening dark. “Who are you?”

  “You’re about to cry. I know the signs.”

  The newcomer had bright green eyes – Katie could tell that because the moonlight bounced off them and made them shine – so big and round she might have played marbles with them. He sat down before she could see what he was wearing but there was a creak when he moved like leather that hadn’t been fully broken in. A cowboy had dangled from a string over his wrist and he rested his hat on the table and folded his arms on top. “Now you’re starin’ at me. I think I’m uncomfortable with this too.”

  “I’m not staring. At least, I don’t mean to be.” The boy just came up and spoke to her without ever seeing her before so Katie reasoned she had good reason to stare. She told
him as much.

  “I just saw you here and I felt like I wanted to talk to you. Boys get lonely too.”

  “I know.” Boy, did she. “You know it’s junkie central round the corner?”

  “I can handle myself but you’re just a kid. Why are you here?”

  “I’m saying nothing until you tell me who you are and why you’re talking to me.”

  The reasons for talking to this girl were many, so many he couldn’t think of one.

  “Let’s keep our secrets secret, okay?” Katie glanced at the boy and nearly swore. It was the eyes. They begged her to look deep into them and tell him everything she refused to admit to even herself. She swung her arms into her jacket, picked her chocolate off the tray and wandered away from the table, leaving her rubbish on the table. A few yards away, she risked a peek back to see if the boy had gotten bored and disappeared but no such luck. He was watching her walk away and making no move to empty her tray into the nearest bin. Maybe she shouldn’t have left it – littering was a bit of a pet hate – but she wanted to see what he would do. Katie faced forward to step over a flower bed and when she turned back, the table was empty and he was standing by the bin. Then he started moving slowly towards her. It almost looked as though he was gliding but she could hear, if not see, every footstep. So she started walking forwards. The footsteps kept coming. Walk a bit faster. The steps sped up just a fraction… then a fraction more. Katie turned and started walking backwards, looking behind her every few steps to make sure there was nothing to fall over but never taking more than one eye off he person following her. She didn’t like the way he was chasing after her – matching her step for step, copying every minute turn and waver in direction. It was almost as though he were tailgating her. The thought made her turn around again, walk faster and faster, stopping every so often just to see if he would, and then break into a run. She was a good runner and had run cross country for the city but this required sprinting which she was no better at than the average person. Her legs got in a muddle as she heaved herself to the top of the hill overlooking the city below and she fell to the ground hard.

  “Bollocks.” Katie yelped when she tried to move her legs back into a rising position. She was propped up on her elbows and breathing hard – more panicked than breathless. The man was still coming towards her but slowly now. Evidently, having a girl lying helpless in a deserted park was not exciting enough to hurry himself but he still seemed determined to get to her. Katie even tried to use her arms to scramble away from him. Not that that got her far.

  He seemed to be enjoying watching her struggle. Then he was standing right in front of her so Katie did the only thing she could thing of. She laughed in his face.

  Screaming would do no good because there was no-one close enough to hear – not counting the ducks on the lake. Why she laughed – no idea. It just seemed like the only thing she wanted to do. And suddenly, the green-eyed boy was crumpled on the grass beside her giggling like a loon.

  “Why are we laughing?” he managed to get out between fits of laughter. Which only made Katie laugh harder. Maybe it was because she had no answer to his question. Fear and shrieking was the appropriate thing to do but right now, she didn’t feel frightened or even alarmed. She felt like she was giggling over something stupid with a boy she met in the park. She took several deep breaths to stop laughing – the longer she giggled, the harder it would be to stop any time soon. Plus, she was getting a painful stitch. At least she was not on the verge of tears any more. Well she was but these felt like happy tears.

  The boy glanced over at the lake and, all in a moment, his laughter dried up. "Why did you run?”

  Katie shrugged. The reasoning she’d held when he started following her seemed all a bit too far away. “Habit.”

  “Sensible habit to have”

  “When there’s a strange guy following you, you run.”

  “I heard you talking to that woman. Why are you leaving?”

  “You ask a lot of questions for some-one who hasn’t even told me his name.”

  “Jack. Why are you leaving?”

  “Don’t do well with small talk either, do you?” Katie stretched her legs out and worked her ankle. It was not painful as such. Just a bit sore. Maybe a bruise would start coming out in the morning. “So many reasons. I was –“ a tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her that spilling everything to Jack was a bad idea but she decided to just talk over it. She wanted to tell him why she was leaving. After all, there was no-one else she could, or wanted to, tell. But only the stuff she wanted him to know. Some stuff Katie wasn’t ready to say out loud yet. “I was offered a place at some academy because some bloke saw me run. So I’m moving to this town I’ve never heard of with a group of students at the college.”

  “You seem quite calm about it.”

  “I’m happy. It’ll give me freedom and I really need to get out of this place. But I’m scared.” Leaving her family behind was a massive step. It had to happen sooner or later though. “I want to go. I really do and I’m really looking forward to going away and being a grown woman instead of somebody’s kid. A few months ago when I decided to go, there was an age of summer to get ready and then it came on all of a sudden.”

  “Won’t they keep your place for a few weeks until you’ve had more time to prepare? Return library books and say goodbye to your friends.”

  “I don’t have friends. I hang out with people from school but I can’t say I’ll miss any of them when I go.” Katie got up and bounced on the balls of her feet, mentally plotting a circuit around the open areas of the park which would bring her back to the gates. “I’m going to walk this off before my ankle seizes up.” She limped down the mound towards the lake and was walking normally by the time she reached the waters edge. She was suddenly aware of jack walking a few steps behind her. The shadow on the ground showed only Katie’s stretching off behind but as Jack was behind her too, she couldn’t see his without looking back. And that would have informed him that she wanted him to follow.

  “You’ve got me. I’ll be your friend.”

  Katie stopped and let him catch up to her. “You just met me.” Those eyes though… there was honesty in them and Katie found herself believing him. “And that means I’ll have to say goodbye to you.”

  “Is that so bad? There’ll be at least one person who’ll miss you. It’s one more than you had before.” Jack shrugged.

  “Tomorrow morning, my dad takes me to my new house and then I’m on my own. My own cooking and cleaning and paying all my own bills. My parents will help me out until I’m eighteen and then I guess I’ll try and get a job. I’m trying to think of it as an adventure but it’s a damn scary one.”

  “I know. When people have taken care of you all your life and then bam, you’ve only got yourself to rely on. But I know you’ll do fine out there.”

  And she believed that too.

  “You ran from me – even when you hurt your ankle. You barely spoke to me until you knew my name. Engaging somebody in conversation, knowing their identity, trying to distract them by being beautiful.” Katie raised her hand to her bumpy hairstyle and ran her fingers through the ends. “Yes, even though. It’s clever, minimises the risk of an attack.”

  “It’s getting late. I should go home.”

  “Where’s home?”

  Katie jerked her thumb towards her house. “Just over the road. As long as I’m back soon, we can still hang out.”

  They carried on walking for a few more minutes, watching the sky get darker and darker. Although Jack was closer to the lake than she was, Katie could almost feel him watching her. It made her want to say something just to fill up the silence. Having no more she wanted to say posed a problem. Stopping for s second and turning her head, Katie found herself looking straight into huge green eyes than nearly swallowed her up. She suddenly felt a flush rise up on her face and she felt qui
te warm even though the night had cooled her to the point of being chilled. It was horribly embarrassing to be caught staring at someone with no words or reason for gawping. But wait – hadn’t Jack been doing the same thing?

  “This is… yeah, I’m humiliated.”

  “Don’t feel bad, Katie.” Jack started walking again. Katie started watching his cowboy hat swing from his arm. Then her eyes dipped to his gorgeous backside. “Snap out of it, girl. You’re never gonna see him again.” She slapped herself lightly and then jogged up beside him.

  The tiniest grin crept onto his face. “Stare away. I’m going to.”

  “You’re not some weird stalker type are you?”

  “I’m only here for the night and you’re leaving tomorrow. You might never see me again so let’s just have a nice, friendly walk.”

  “A midnight stroll with a stranger. What could be safer?” Only she did feel safe. They had reached the gates – had they circled the park already? “This is my stop.”

  “I’d like to walk you home.”

  “It’s not far.” Nothing would happen to her tonight, or nothing that she really feared. Besides, when Jack took her hand with a grip so air-light he was barely touching her, she knew he was taking her home and that he would even chase the shadows away if they scared her.

  “I insist.”

 

  CHAPTER TWO