Annie Christie's Family Fictions:
Episode Eleven
Genre: Drama
Swearwords: None.
Description: Dare to kiss and tell?
_____________________________________________________________________
It was Monday. I tried to tell myself it was all Ellie’s imagination. Like Ollie had said. It was her way of coping with dad leaving and the holiday from hell. It was like the days of Bengo. Ellie invented Bengo when I went to school and she was left at home alone. Bengo was Ellie’s version of ‘Binker’ in that poem by A.A.Milne my mum was so keen on reading us all when we were wee.
I told myself Ollie was right. I guess it wouldn’t take much for her to invent a teenage version in the form of Alasdair. I just wished she could have picked a better name for her imaginary boyfriend. I wished she’d let me into her world so that she didn’t need an imaginary friend. She had me, her real brother, why did she need someone else? I realised that, most of all, I needed her and she had cut me off. Dad had gone and mum and Ollie had been sucked to the dark side with Marco, and I was all alone. No Bengo for me. No Alasdair for me. No one for me. And no one to ask what to do, except Ollie. I didn’t fancy my chances with him. He’d probably just laugh at me for being as much of a sook as Ellie was.
But I was worried too. If Ellie was caught up in something, real or imaginary, it seemed clear that she intended to go out in the boat on Thursday, the anniversary of the drowning of Daisy Cheape. What if Alasdair was real? I mean, what if he was a real ghost. And he’d come back to get Ellie to drown because in some sick way that would free the spirit of Daisy.
Maybe I’d been reading too many stupid books. Maybe I had nothing better to think about. But I was getting really worried. And I wasn’t going to let Ellie out in the boat on her own, that was for sure. Not without getting a look at this Alasdair – real or imaginary – first.
I knew I couldn’t just tag along with Ellie but I must confess to trying to stalk her. It didn’t work. I don’t know if she knew I was there, but she gave me the slip pretty easily. I didn’t have any more luck trying to get hold of her diary again. Maybe she knew I’d read it, she certainly kept it well hidden, nearly as well hidden as she was keeping herself. I hardly saw her on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. More than once I thought about talking to Ollie but I could never find a way to bring it up without sounding like a complete idiot myself, so I kept it to myself. And waited for Thursday. We’d both read that she was going to ask us to take part in the dare on Thursday. So I waited to see what would happen. Maybe it would rain. Like that would stop her.
True to form on Thursday morning as she was leaving the breakfast table, Ellie announced she was going to Castle Dare. No one blinked an eye. It was like any other, ordinary day. By that stage in the holiday it seemed like no one cared what anyone else was doing any more.
‘Enjoy yourself,’ Marco said.
‘It’s great she’s got a boyfriend,’ he said to mum after Ellie had gone. I wanted to punch him. I always wanted to punch him. It was the one emotion that stayed constant over that time of turmoil, my desire to land a punch straight on Marco’s smug, self-satisfied face.
I knew Ellie was going to lay plans with Alasdair. I hoped that it was all in her imagination. Then I hoped that it was real and he was just playing her along. I didn’t know what I hoped most but I went to check out the boat all the same.
I spent the morning sitting there on the shore of the loch, feeling like an idiot. Ellie was probably up at Castle Dare for all I knew. With the real or imaginary Alasdair. That’s what comes from reading someone’s private diary. There was a moment when I even wondered if Ellie had been making it all up just to freak me out. Like a story. Maybe even Ollie was in on the act, after all he’d encouraged me to read the thing. I wouldn’t have put it past him but I couldn’t take the risk. There are worse things in life than looking and feeling stupid, right?
My rumbling stomach drew me back, against my will, to the Pink Cottage. The rest of them were sat down there, including Ellie, and mum said, ‘We were about to send out a search party.’
I didn’t respond. There was nothing I wanted to say to any of them at that moment.
It was at lunch that Mum and Marco announced they were going for a drive to Tobermory that afternoon. They said they had things to talk about – and they didn’t encourage any of us to come with them. None of us volunteered. Even Ollie didn’t want to play gooseberry to that conversation, it seemed.
When they’d gone, Ellie turned to Ollie and me who were, as usual, reluctantly sharing the washing up. He got to wash and I had to dry of course.
‘I’m going out in the boat,’ she said.
‘Marco’s boat?’ Ollie said – what other boat, stupid? I thought.
‘I want you both to come,’ she said. ‘To row the boat.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘I can’t do it on my own,’ she said.
‘I’ll come,’ said Ollie. ‘I want to meet Alasdair.’ There was just the slightest hint of a sneer in his voice. He’d clearly remembered what he read in the diary. But he didn’t know what I did, about the date of the drowning and the brothers and all that. Fleetingly, I wished I’d told him.
‘Do you even know what day this is?’ I asked as we made our way to where the boat was.
‘It’s Thursday,’ Ellie said.
‘It’s the anniversary of Daisy Cheape,’ I said.
‘So?’
‘The hundredth anniversary,’ I said, hoping something might click.
‘So what?’
‘So maybe it’s a bit ghoulish to go out in a boat on the anniversary of a drowning, don’t you think?’ I said.
‘What’s rattling your cage?’ Ollie said. ‘I want to meet this great Alasdair if you don’t.’
‘Why can’t he come over to Castle Dare like usual?’ I asked. ‘Why do we have to go to his side of the loch?’
I didn’t really want to row the boat across the loch, dare or no dare. It looked choppy even without all the other possible supernatural elements playing their part.
‘Are you coming or not?’ Ellie asked and got into the boat.
‘Oh, all right,’ I said. There was obviously no putting her off and she’d be safer with both of us than not.
So off we set.
It was a warm day, but like I said, the water was choppy. We were sweating it pretty quickly but we still weren’t moving fast enough for Ellie.
Eventually we got to the other side. But there was no Alasdair to be seen. The whole thing was a wild goose chase. There was definitely no Alasdair.
‘Maybe I got it wrong,’ Ellie said as we rowed our way back to the Tiroran side.
‘Got what wrong?’ I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew.’
‘The dare,’ she said. ‘Maybe you weren’t supposed to come.’
‘Maybe it’s all in your head,’ Ollie said unkindly. He was pissed off at the energy expended for so little reward. He wanted to get something of a rise out of Ellie, which I thought was just cruel. It was clear to me that Ellie thought Alasdair was real. So either she was mad, or Alasdair was real in some sort of way and had let her down or… Either way, Ollie being a pig about it wasn’t going to help.
Ollie got out of the boat and left us there.
‘Did you read my diary?’ Ellie asked.
‘Yes, Ellie, I did,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘He is real,’ she said, and started to cry.
‘I know he is,’ I said, though I didn’t believe it. ‘So what now, Ellie?’
‘I’m going to Castle Dare,’ she said. ‘To see if he’s there. Maybe him and Helen are going to meet me there.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ I said.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I want to go on my own.’
‘But he said we could all meet up, didn’t he?’ I asked. ‘I want to meet him. And her.’
So we headed off to Castle Dare together.
Predictably, there was no one there. Ellie got pretty upset.
‘Go away,’ she said. ‘He won’t come if you’re here.’
‘Ellie,’ I said. ‘Do you know that Daisy’s real name was Helen.’
‘Like mine,’ she said. ‘So what?’
‘So I think you should read something,’ I said and took her into the National Trust property. The woman wasn’t there and nor was anyone else. Nor was the bit of paper I’d seen before.
‘Ellie,’ I said, ‘I read this bit of paper here the other day which said about the drowning. In the middle of the loch. Helen or Daisy and her brothers were crossing the loch. Do you think…?’
‘Think what?’ she said.
‘They were going to meet Alasdair?’ I said.
And she just looked at me. And burst into tears.
‘You don’t believe me,’ she said. ‘I thought you…’
‘Oh, Ellie, I believe you,’ I said. ‘That’s what worries me. Now come on back to the Cottage. Please.’
Swearwords: None.
Description: Dare to kiss and tell?
_____________________________________________________________________
It was Monday. I tried to tell myself it was all Ellie’s imagination. Like Ollie had said. It was her way of coping with dad leaving and the holiday from hell. It was like the days of Bengo. Ellie invented Bengo when I went to school and she was left at home alone. Bengo was Ellie’s version of ‘Binker’ in that poem by A.A.Milne my mum was so keen on reading us all when we were wee.
I told myself Ollie was right. I guess it wouldn’t take much for her to invent a teenage version in the form of Alasdair. I just wished she could have picked a better name for her imaginary boyfriend. I wished she’d let me into her world so that she didn’t need an imaginary friend. She had me, her real brother, why did she need someone else? I realised that, most of all, I needed her and she had cut me off. Dad had gone and mum and Ollie had been sucked to the dark side with Marco, and I was all alone. No Bengo for me. No Alasdair for me. No one for me. And no one to ask what to do, except Ollie. I didn’t fancy my chances with him. He’d probably just laugh at me for being as much of a sook as Ellie was.
But I was worried too. If Ellie was caught up in something, real or imaginary, it seemed clear that she intended to go out in the boat on Thursday, the anniversary of the drowning of Daisy Cheape. What if Alasdair was real? I mean, what if he was a real ghost. And he’d come back to get Ellie to drown because in some sick way that would free the spirit of Daisy.
Maybe I’d been reading too many stupid books. Maybe I had nothing better to think about. But I was getting really worried. And I wasn’t going to let Ellie out in the boat on her own, that was for sure. Not without getting a look at this Alasdair – real or imaginary – first.
I knew I couldn’t just tag along with Ellie but I must confess to trying to stalk her. It didn’t work. I don’t know if she knew I was there, but she gave me the slip pretty easily. I didn’t have any more luck trying to get hold of her diary again. Maybe she knew I’d read it, she certainly kept it well hidden, nearly as well hidden as she was keeping herself. I hardly saw her on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. More than once I thought about talking to Ollie but I could never find a way to bring it up without sounding like a complete idiot myself, so I kept it to myself. And waited for Thursday. We’d both read that she was going to ask us to take part in the dare on Thursday. So I waited to see what would happen. Maybe it would rain. Like that would stop her.
True to form on Thursday morning as she was leaving the breakfast table, Ellie announced she was going to Castle Dare. No one blinked an eye. It was like any other, ordinary day. By that stage in the holiday it seemed like no one cared what anyone else was doing any more.
‘Enjoy yourself,’ Marco said.
‘It’s great she’s got a boyfriend,’ he said to mum after Ellie had gone. I wanted to punch him. I always wanted to punch him. It was the one emotion that stayed constant over that time of turmoil, my desire to land a punch straight on Marco’s smug, self-satisfied face.
I knew Ellie was going to lay plans with Alasdair. I hoped that it was all in her imagination. Then I hoped that it was real and he was just playing her along. I didn’t know what I hoped most but I went to check out the boat all the same.
I spent the morning sitting there on the shore of the loch, feeling like an idiot. Ellie was probably up at Castle Dare for all I knew. With the real or imaginary Alasdair. That’s what comes from reading someone’s private diary. There was a moment when I even wondered if Ellie had been making it all up just to freak me out. Like a story. Maybe even Ollie was in on the act, after all he’d encouraged me to read the thing. I wouldn’t have put it past him but I couldn’t take the risk. There are worse things in life than looking and feeling stupid, right?
My rumbling stomach drew me back, against my will, to the Pink Cottage. The rest of them were sat down there, including Ellie, and mum said, ‘We were about to send out a search party.’
I didn’t respond. There was nothing I wanted to say to any of them at that moment.
It was at lunch that Mum and Marco announced they were going for a drive to Tobermory that afternoon. They said they had things to talk about – and they didn’t encourage any of us to come with them. None of us volunteered. Even Ollie didn’t want to play gooseberry to that conversation, it seemed.
When they’d gone, Ellie turned to Ollie and me who were, as usual, reluctantly sharing the washing up. He got to wash and I had to dry of course.
‘I’m going out in the boat,’ she said.
‘Marco’s boat?’ Ollie said – what other boat, stupid? I thought.
‘I want you both to come,’ she said. ‘To row the boat.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘I can’t do it on my own,’ she said.
‘I’ll come,’ said Ollie. ‘I want to meet Alasdair.’ There was just the slightest hint of a sneer in his voice. He’d clearly remembered what he read in the diary. But he didn’t know what I did, about the date of the drowning and the brothers and all that. Fleetingly, I wished I’d told him.
‘Do you even know what day this is?’ I asked as we made our way to where the boat was.
‘It’s Thursday,’ Ellie said.
‘It’s the anniversary of Daisy Cheape,’ I said.
‘So?’
‘The hundredth anniversary,’ I said, hoping something might click.
‘So what?’
‘So maybe it’s a bit ghoulish to go out in a boat on the anniversary of a drowning, don’t you think?’ I said.
‘What’s rattling your cage?’ Ollie said. ‘I want to meet this great Alasdair if you don’t.’
‘Why can’t he come over to Castle Dare like usual?’ I asked. ‘Why do we have to go to his side of the loch?’
I didn’t really want to row the boat across the loch, dare or no dare. It looked choppy even without all the other possible supernatural elements playing their part.
‘Are you coming or not?’ Ellie asked and got into the boat.
‘Oh, all right,’ I said. There was obviously no putting her off and she’d be safer with both of us than not.
So off we set.
It was a warm day, but like I said, the water was choppy. We were sweating it pretty quickly but we still weren’t moving fast enough for Ellie.
Eventually we got to the other side. But there was no Alasdair to be seen. The whole thing was a wild goose chase. There was definitely no Alasdair.
‘Maybe I got it wrong,’ Ellie said as we rowed our way back to the Tiroran side.
‘Got what wrong?’ I asked, though I was pretty sure I knew.’
‘The dare,’ she said. ‘Maybe you weren’t supposed to come.’
‘Maybe it’s all in your head,’ Ollie said unkindly. He was pissed off at the energy expended for so little reward. He wanted to get something of a rise out of Ellie, which I thought was just cruel. It was clear to me that Ellie thought Alasdair was real. So either she was mad, or Alasdair was real in some sort of way and had let her down or… Either way, Ollie being a pig about it wasn’t going to help.
Ollie got out of the boat and left us there.
‘Did you read my diary?’ Ellie asked.
‘Yes, Ellie, I did,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘He is real,’ she said, and started to cry.
‘I know he is,’ I said, though I didn’t believe it. ‘So what now, Ellie?’
‘I’m going to Castle Dare,’ she said. ‘To see if he’s there. Maybe him and Helen are going to meet me there.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ I said.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I want to go on my own.’
‘But he said we could all meet up, didn’t he?’ I asked. ‘I want to meet him. And her.’
So we headed off to Castle Dare together.
Predictably, there was no one there. Ellie got pretty upset.
‘Go away,’ she said. ‘He won’t come if you’re here.’
‘Ellie,’ I said. ‘Do you know that Daisy’s real name was Helen.’
‘Like mine,’ she said. ‘So what?’
‘So I think you should read something,’ I said and took her into the National Trust property. The woman wasn’t there and nor was anyone else. Nor was the bit of paper I’d seen before.
‘Ellie,’ I said, ‘I read this bit of paper here the other day which said about the drowning. In the middle of the loch. Helen or Daisy and her brothers were crossing the loch. Do you think…?’
‘Think what?’ she said.
‘They were going to meet Alasdair?’ I said.
And she just looked at me. And burst into tears.
‘You don’t believe me,’ she said. ‘I thought you…’
‘Oh, Ellie, I believe you,’ I said. ‘That’s what worries me. Now come on back to the Cottage. Please.’
About the Author
Annie Christie is a pretty ordinary person, except that she was born Annie Christie and then married a man called Christie and so is still called Christie despite having taken on her husband’s name. She sometimes wonders if she should have called herself Christie-Christie: but who would believe that?
Born near Drum of Wartle in Aberdeenshire, Annie moved as swiftly as possible to a place with a less bizarre name – Edinburgh – but the bizarreness chased her and she now lives with her husband Rab in rural Galloway, with a Kirkcudbrightshire postcode. (That's Cur coo bree shire to the uninitiated.) She is an active member of the Infinite Jigsaw Project and is now happy to be welcomed into McStorytellers with her first published serial, Family Fictions.
Born near Drum of Wartle in Aberdeenshire, Annie moved as swiftly as possible to a place with a less bizarre name – Edinburgh – but the bizarreness chased her and she now lives with her husband Rab in rural Galloway, with a Kirkcudbrightshire postcode. (That's Cur coo bree shire to the uninitiated.) She is an active member of the Infinite Jigsaw Project and is now happy to be welcomed into McStorytellers with her first published serial, Family Fictions.