TWO YEARS LATER
"Do you have your lunch box?"
"Yes!" Jamie squeals.
"Homework?"
"Yes!"
I turn to Jade and Jessie who are too busy playing on their new phones to pack their bags. "You two," I say. "Are your bags packed?"
"Yes." They reply at the same time, still not looking up.
I suddenly look at Jessie and my eyes squint for a moment. It only just dawns on me that she's wearing a skirt and a low top. "Get dressed," I say to her. "Now."
"But Dad-"
"You're twelve!" I shout. "There's no way on this Earth you're dressing like that."
"Aunt Davina bought it me," she sulks. "All the girls are wearing them."
"I'm not," Jade says quietly.
"That's because you're a nerd."
"Jessie!"
"She is." Jessie says with a shrug.
I suddenly see something on her face and I step closer, observing her closely. "Are you...?" I pick her face up with my hand. "Are you wearing make-up?"
"All the girls are-"
"I don't care what all the other girls are wearing. Wash that off. Now."
She stamps her foot in anger and charges for the staircase.
"Told you." Jade shouts up to her.
Ebony passes Jessie on the staircase and comes rushing down while fixing a loose hoop earring into her lobe. "Right, who am I taking?"
"Take Jamie. I'll take the girls when madam up there has done pretending to be thirty."
She nods, slipping on her boots from the bottom of the staircase. "Come on, Jamie." She wanders over to me for a moment and brings her lips to mine. "See you later."
I kiss her back. "I'll call you when I get to Jaguar."
"Looking forward to it."
She gives me a small wink and then stirs Jamie by his shoulders towards the door. I swing my hand on the staircase railing, staring up at the empty hallway.
"Jessie!" I shout.
"Give me a minute!" she screams back.
"Uh, Jase."
I turn around as Ebony calls me from the door, she holds it wide open and I squint my eyes as a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and a tan face stands in the threshold wearing a flowery red and white dress with bright red sandals. She smiles up at me and her blue eyes twinkle.
No, it can't be.
"Isla?" I gasp.
"Hi, Jason," she says. "Who is this?" she points to Ebony with a scowl.
"Jason," Ebony says. "What's going on?"
"Change of plan," I say. "Take the girls too. I'll explain later."
Isla comes inside, keeping her eyes on Ebony and turns to go into the lounge, making herself at home once again.
"Jessie!" I shout.
"Coming!"
"Dad, is that the girl from two years ago?" Jade whispers.
"I think so." I rub my head.
Jessie finally makes an appearance. She runs down the stairs with a clean, washed face and grabs her bag from Jade's grasp. She's now wearing a blue denim dress with black sandals and I'm actually surprised she listened to me.
"Go," I order at the twins. "Before you're late."
They run quickly towards the door and join Jamie out on the driveway, I give Ebony a nod and she gives a look of confusion back.
"I'll call you."
"Mhm." She steps outside and closes the door.
I turn my attention to the nine-year-old intruder that has turned the TV on in the lounge and is sprawled out on the couch.
I go over to the TV and I turn it off, she straightens up the couch. "Explain." I order.
"I was just checking to see if-"
"Not the TV," I cross my arms. "Why are you here? Do your parents know?"
"They dropped me off at school and I walked here," she says. "I was really convincing. It took months but I didn't even mention coming here again and they started to trust me."
"Smart girl," I mumble. "But you know that you don't actually live here, right?"
She looks down at her feet and swings her legs. "Why does no one believe me?"
"Because you're confused! I need to call your parents."
"They're at work."
"Then I'll call the police."
"No, please!"
"Isla, if you stay here, and I don't contact anyone, then by law it's kidnap. I could get into a lot of trouble, do you understand?"
She nods with a frown. "I'm sorry."
"Why do you think you live here?"
"Because I do. I did. I have dreams and they won't go away."
I collapse down onto the armchair, and I lean over. "What dreams?"
"The baby, that I need to see the baby. And you, I dream about you. You was my prince and I was your princess and we lived on Beacon Drive and. . . but I died. I went away, I don't know why."
"Isla, listen to me very carefully. You was born on the same day that my son Jamie was born. So there is a good chance that your mother was in the same hospital, on the same ward and heard or even saw what happened that day. You might have heard her talk about a woman that died that day, that lived on Beacon Drive."
"Lily." she whispers.
"Yes," I nod. "Lily. Lily was my girlfriend."
"She was more than that," she says, meeting my eyes. "You saved her."
"What?"
"She almost died once before. And you saved her. You gave up your dreams that day."
I stare at her, my face falls like stone. "How do you know that?"
"Because I'm-"
She doesn't finish that as a hard knock comes from the door. I get up from the armchair as the knocks bang like thunder across the sky. Three guesses who that is. I open the front door and Isla's familiar mother stands there alone.
"Is she here?" she says in a panic. "Isla. Is she here? The school rang."
"Yeah," I nod. "Come in."
She doesn't waste time, she runs through the entrance passageway and slides into the lounge, taking a large breath of relief.
"Hi, Tracey." Isla says to her.
"Tracey?" I ask.
Tracey looks at me. "She doesn't call me Mum. She says I'm not her Mum. Isla, what the hell are you playing at?"
Isla just shrugs, staring down at her feet.
"Can I speak to you?" I say to Tracey. "Alone."
"Sure, well it's not like she's going to go anywhere, is it?"
I lead Tracey into the kitchen at the other side of the house, and I close the door slightly. Tracey crosses her arms, shuffling with surreal awkwardness.
"I don't know what's going on here," I say. "But that girl has problems."
"Don't you think I know that?" she snarls at me. "We thought she was finally past this. We thought the therapy had helped her. But she was just playing us, wasn't she?"
I nod. "She has memories of my life," I say. "How is that possible?"
"She goes to the same school as your son, he probably told her."
"No. Jamie would have mentioned something. Jade and Jessie would have definitely told me something. She is convinced that she lives here. Once, fair enough I can let that slide. But this is the second time. And she doesn't show any signs that it's going to go away. She said she's having dreams about me and my ex-girlfriend that died, she told me about a memory of her."
Tracey sighs and she looks down, reluctant to share something.
"What?" I say. "What is it?"
"There's something you should know," she says, biting on her nail for a moment before lifting her face to look at me. "I didn't want to mention it two years ago because I didn't want to upset you. You'd probably put a restrainer order on us."
"What?" I demand.
"She doesn't just believe she lives here," she says. "She believes she's Lily. She believes that she is the reincarnated soul of Lily."
"That's insane!" I spit out.
"Yeah, and you've heard it once. Try hearing it over and over again for years. She says that. . . she's trying to make her way back to you."
"What kind of therapist are you taking her to? A quack?"
"He's the best in the country," she says. "She's been referred so many times that they were debating on whether to have her sectioned. They don't understand what it is, she's been reviewed by a mental health professional and he couldn't even diagnose it. The only other explanation is, well, is that she's some kind of psychic. Clairvoyance, they call it. It sounds insane but there could be a chance she's channeling Lily from beyond."
"Beyond?" I laugh, I cover my eyes with my hand. "I really don't have time for this."
"Jason, I can't promise that she won't come back."
"Yes, you can. Just take your daughter and go and if she turns up at my house again I will get that restraining order."
"I'm sorry, again. If I had control over this then we wouldn't be having a problem."
I remain silent and she takes the hint, shouting for Isla and dragging her out of the lounge as Isla screams in defiance.
"Jason!" she screams. "Don't let her take me back, please! Jason! I'm Lily! I am! I'm Lily!" she squeals at the top of her voice, kicking her legs and throwing her arms into the air to hit her mother from any angle she can manage. "I'm Lily!"
"No," I say, watching as the door slams closed. "You're not."