The Inbetween

Holly glanced around at everyone with a smile on her face; Tom had fallen asleep on her shoulder and Jay and Siva had fallen into each other as they slept. Max had been in and out of sleeping but had got up to go to the toilet, and Nathan was fighting sleep with all of his might. She glanced at the clock; twenty to twelve. She didn’t feel frightened this time, though, and didn’t feel sick either.

“Nathan,” she whispered, giggling when he snapped his head up in her direction.

“What’s up?” He mumbled.

She paused; “I love you.” She avoided making eye contact for a moment, and finally looked up to see him smiling. “I never told you much, cos I was fourteen and I mean, who loved their brother at fourteen?” She joked and he smiled. “And I’ll miss you, too,” she cut him off from replying, “But I swear to God, if you try anything like what you done last time, I will find a way to haunt your ass.”

He laughed loudly causing Tom to stir; “I won’t, I promise,” he whispered. “But I will miss you. No doubt about it.”

She smiled but didn’t say anything as Max came back into the room. “Hi,” she smiled.

He smiled back and came to sit on the other side of her, kissing her head as he sat down and throwing an arm around her shoulder managing to punch Tom in the face. Tom made an undecipherable noise before jumping awake; “The fuck?!”

“Oops, sorry,” Max said in a deadpan tone, “Didn’t see you there.” He winked at Holly who laughed. “How’re you feeling?” he asked her.

“I feel good,” she nodded, “Really. I’m ready for this – I’m more than ready,” she laughed and smiled at Nathan when she saw him smile out of the corner of her eye.

“Good,” he said, squeezing her shoulder before standing up and kicking Jay’s legs. “Bird, wake up.” Jay jumped awake and bashed his head against Siva’s which woke him up. Max shrugged; “Beats me having to wake him,” he laughed before sitting down again.

“What time is it?” He asked, stretching out.

“Ten to,” Nathan said. Jay pushed himself up and made his way over to Holly, pulling her up and wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug.

“I’ll miss you,” he smiled, and this time she noticed that even though his eyes were shining, tears weren’t streaming down his face. This made her happy. “But you’re going to a better place than here.”

She grinned, “Thank God,” she laughed and pulled away, turning to look at everyone. “I’ll always be watching over you,” she said, quietly at first. She voiced her thoughts that she’d only shared with Nathan so far; “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to come back again.” She glanced to the floor and when she glanced up Tom had got to his feet too. “So this is pretty much the last time you’ll see me. But like I said, I’ll be watching over you so I’ll still see you all the time,” she laughed, trying to inject a little humour. She saw smiles on their faces which made her smile. “I’ll miss you all like crazy, you were – and still are – the best friends I ever did and ever will have, and I can’t thank you all enough for what you’ve done for me.”

No one said anything as they pulled her into another group hug. Someone’s hand found hers and as soon as she felt the absolute warmth shooting up her arm she knew it was Nathan. She squeezed his hand as the five boys squeezed her tightly. They stood like that for a good five minutes until she felt Nathan’s hand leave hers. Everyone broke away and she reached up, unclasping the necklace from around her neck. “What are you-” Nathan started but Holly grabbed his hand and forced the necklace into his hand.

“I know they wouldn’t let you have this but I know how much you wanted it, so here. It’s not going to be much use to me wherever I’m going.” Nathan smiled and his hand clasped around hers before he pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you,” he whispered and she nodded her head, unable to speak. She glanced at the clock and saw it was a minute to twelve. She pulled away from Nathan, kissing his cheek as he kissed hers then standing before them all. After a few moments she couldn’t take their wide eyed stares and laughed, moving her hands up to cover her face slightly.

“…okay this is awkward, stop staring at me!”

“But Holly, you’re glowing.” Tom said. And it was the truth. They watched as Holly raised her hands in front of her eyes to see that she literally was glowing. The light surrounding her started of as a soft golden glow, but with each passing second, the closer it got to midnight, it light shone brighter. She looked away from her hands and into their eyes and all five of them gasped. Her eyes were glowing too; not black like the first time, but even whiter than when she showed them her death in the café. She smiled at them and let her hands fall to her side, the light growing brighter and brighter until they had to close their eyes. They heard a gust of wind and when they opened their eyes she was gone. The loose-leaf sheets of paper around the coffee table were fluttering, the only sign that anything had happened. They glanced between each other, blowing out their breaths they had been holding. Jay silently went to the kitchen as everyone sat down again and Nathan was faintly aware of the kettle boiling as he glanced down at Holly’s locket in his hand. She wrapped his hands around it and smiled, sitting down next to Max whose hand immediately went to Nathan’s ear.



Holly smiled.

She hadn’t moved from the spot she’d been standing in. Her hair was still fluttering around her from the gust of wind and she watched Nathan hold her locket in his hand. She glanced around and frowned when she saw outside. Despite it being midnight, outside looked as if it was midday. She made her way over to the window and her breath caught in her throat. It looked to be a glorious sunset outside, the sun scorching the horizon. The scene outside wasn’t the street that should have been there; it was a field with a huge willow tree just over to the left. She grinned at it and when she blinked she was outside. She felt grass between her toes and looked down, wiggling her toes when she realised she was barefoot. She glanced behind her to catch a glimpse of her brother’s house but saw a vast cornfield instead. The sun cast a beautiful colour over the whole field and she couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

She took a few steps forward towards the tree and laughed even louder, the feeling of being totally free washing over her. She relished in the feeling of the soft blades of grass on the soles of her feet and she started running, letting herself laugh even louder. The breeze picked up her curls and the bottom of the yellow sundress she was wearing and let it all fly out behind her.

She stopped running when she reached the willow tree and tossed her head back to look up at it. She breathed heavily but she was grinning.

She was finally free.



Nathan thanked Jay as he took his cup of tea from him. Jay smiled and sat down opposite him. Just as he sat down though, Nathan heard Holly’s laugh. He frowned to the mug in his hand and glanced up, only to see everyone else doing the same. Had they heard her laughing too? They listened for a few moments before they heard it again, this time a lot louder and they grinned to each other after a few moments.

She was finally free.