The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone

Author:Doug Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

32

AVA

The smattering of wooden tables were round the back of the hotel bar, out of sight from the road. But still, should they really be sitting outside, in broad daylight? She felt the baby tumble in a loop between her pelvis and ribs. She sucked some fresh orange and lemonade through a straw and scuffed her feet in the gravel. The wee river behind her was babbling away.

The four of them sat at a table. Heather and Paul were chatting, low and serious, as if they had a lifetime to catch up on. Heather had a large bowl of gin and tonic, Paul sipped a pint of craft lager. Lennox was across from Ava with a can of Coke. They’d dropped the camper at the garage round the corner, where they were working on it out of sight. Paul and the garage guy had an understanding, as if unofficial shit often happened here and authorities never needed to know.

While Paul negotiated at the garage, Lennox, Heather and Ava decided it was best to leave Sandy in the van, hidden in a compartment under the bed. The mechanics wouldn’t go into that part.

The pub was the Loch Ness Inn. The logo on the wall had turned the word ‘inn’ into Nessie, ‘I’ for the head, two ‘n’s for the body. Tourism was crucial in the Highlands, the place depended on it. The tables were full of hikers and cyclists, one young family, local lads near the bar. Midges swarmed down by the river. The sun streaked the garden, shadows growing longer.

‘Are you OK?’ Ava said to Lennox. He was too quiet, and she wanted someone to talk to.

‘Fine.’

‘What were the two of you up to at the castle?’

‘We went swimming.’

‘In the loch?’ Ava glanced at Nessie on the outside of the pub.

Lennox nodded.

‘How did you get down to the water?’

‘We jumped.’

‘That must’ve taken guts.’

Lennox shrugged. ‘We did it together.’

‘How do you mean?’

He sipped his Coke. ‘They kind of wrapped themself around me. Absorbed me into them.’

‘What?’

Lennox stuck his lips out and angled his head. ‘Then they swam with me, like, inside them?’

Ava watched a wasp flirt with her drink, waved it away. ‘What are we involved with?’

Lennox stopped fidgeting and looked straight at her. ‘They’re an alien, obviously.’

She’d assumed as much, of course, but it was still shocking to hear the word out loud. Ava glanced at Paul, still in a confab with Heather. How could they explain this to outsiders?

‘I have so many questions,’ Ava said. ‘How did they get here? Why? What’s their planet like?’

‘Moon.’

‘What?’

‘Sandy comes from a moon not a planet.’

‘They told you?’

Lennox looked sheepish. ‘Enceladus. One of Saturn’s moons.’

‘And you’re only telling me this now?’

Lennox shrugged. ‘I Googled it. It’s covered in ice but has oceans underneath. Heated by volcanoes.’

Ava ran a hand through her hair and laughed. ‘Christ. Anything else you forgot to mention?’

Lennox stayed quiet.

‘Why us?’ Ava said. ‘Why contact us?’

Lennox shuffled his feet under the table. ‘I don’t think there’s anything special about us. That part’s just an accident.

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