Strangers (Fighting the Darkness series)

Holidays are the best medicine

SINCE COMING HOME WITH MY ARM IN A SLING AND ME LOOKING like a half girl, half mummified zombie with huge bags under my eyes, my mum decided it would be nice if we went on a little holiday. Well I guess the look was appropriate. It was only a few weeks until Halloween. It seemed like it was only yesterday I was battling monsters, not unconscious for three and a half weeks. At least I knew there were more to come on the 31st.

“We’re going on holiday the two weeks you have off school. We’re gonna go to the beach.” she said. “The first week we’re gonna be at a hotel and the second week we’re gonna stay at your cousin Jason’s house.”

Oh wondrous joy.

“But mum, I don’t need a holiday. I’ve got to study for my exams coming up after the holidays. You know all the classes I’ve missed. Just leave me here, at home, and you two go as a little romantic break, as a gift from me. You’re really becoming clingy. I am seventeen you know and have been for the past few months. If I get a job, are you gonna keep an eye on me and hold my hand through everything I do?” I said.

“Well tough, everything’s already paid for. We aren’t wasting it.”

“Well, why don’t you take Julie, your other daughter?”

“She’s going to Canada tomorrow with Arthur for their first year anniversary. Don’t worry, the rooms are conjoined with double beds and so is the bathroom.”

“Well, can’t I at least bring Louise along? She’s had it just as rough as I have.”

“I spoke to Louise’s family, and they said they’re going on holiday just like we are. So how about someone else like Crystal, or even Claire. You haven’t hung out with her in a while since she went on holiday in Australia because of that shit with that weird stalker from school that you told me about. You can ask her mum for permission and if she says yes, you can bring her along.”

“Remind me to pack the condoms and Rohypnol. We’re going to have such a party.” I said with the straightest poker face I could pull. My mum didn’t look at all pleased but at least my dad got the punch line. Really, she can’t take a joke.

I never told mum who was actually sending me all the gifts. She only knew about the medal and flowers Jordan gave me after my daring rescue.

I called Claire. I asked her about how she was doing and how here little brothers were, what her holiday was like and if she had taken any pictures. Then I told her about how I got into an accident with Louise. She was a bit worried and sounded really sorry that she didn’t call after coming back but when I told her about having a little holiday myself, she insisted on coming along to ‘make sure I wouldn’t hurt myself again’.

We arrived at the hotel around 2:25. Now, when my mum said a holiday, I was expecting a second rate Bed & Breakfast in the middle of the countryside with a fair distance from the beach, leaving a beautiful sea view. But, instead, she had to choose the most extravagant and expensive hotel that even royalty has visited, with a direct outlook over the pier and the dock; which seemed a bit of a bad idea, because the weather was starting to creep into the spring minuses of late February, and I don’t think anyone wants ice cold sea water sprayed onto their faces.

“Wow,” said Claire. “The hotel in Australia was only half as big as this.”

Claire Peters was another of my closest friends. I had started to talk to her in high school and ever since then, we’ve been as inseparable as me and Louise. She has an extreme personality, which, if I had never met her, would never have influenced me, therefore making me who I am today, which everybody liked. Thank God I met her.