The Eternal Child - Episode Three

1

Barbara could hear Christopher and Betty through the loud speaker on her phone. It sounded like Christopher was screaming and crying at the same time. Betty was repeating to herself over and over, three words. He can’t be.

“He can’t be what?” Barbara shouted down the phone.

“But he can’t be. He just can’t.” Betty gibbered “I’ve been talking to him the whole time. He was talking to us just a moment ago.”

“He wasn’t you stupid cow, he was dead. He is dead. Peter’s DEAD” screamed Christopher.

“I did it again didn’t I?” wept Betty.

“Oh my goodness it’s okay Betty I’m coming, Christopher I’m coming” promised Barbara as she made her way to the flesh corridor.

“Don’t you dare” said Christopher. “Don’t you dare come anywhere near me or him, you’ve done enough.”

“Chris…”

“This is what he really meant wasn’t it?” Though Barbara couldn’t see Christopher, the hatred in his voice could not be hidden.

“Who do you mean, David?” asked Barbara.

“No. What Malcolm at the newspaper said.”

“Malcolm?”

“He wished Peter luck but not because of the funeral parlour. He wished Peter luck because of you two.”

“What?”

“He said you have a way of doing things. He said sometimes you can make it a hell of a lot worse before you make it better. I thought he meant when Peter and Betty got kidnapped, you were arrested and I was all alone. But he didn’t mean that, did he. He meant now, he meant Peter’s death.”

Barbara didn’t know what to say, this was a rather big event to unfold over the phone. She felt David, Victor and Jacob’s eyes boring into her, as though she was the worse person in the room.

“The mighty Barbara has nothing to say?” Christopher’s voice came through eerily calm and clear.

“Chris, did Peter tell you what he asked Malcolm after that?”

“Why does that matter”

“Did he tell you?”

“He didn’t need to. I was standing right next to him. I heard what he asked.”

“And what did he ask?”

“He said, but did you always make things better.”

“And what was the answer?”

“In the end”

“I will make things better Chris, I promise you.”

“How can you, it’s too late. Pete’s gone now, you can’t bring him back. You’ve failed.”

“I’m sorry Chris, I didn’t mean for...”

“And you lectured Betty on being a bad influence on Peter…”

“Chris”

“ ..When you’re the bad influence, you sent Pete to his death.”

“But I didn’t kill him Chris, I didn’t.”

“You never do Barbara,” added David. “Yet they still keep dying don’t they.”

The phone went dead, Barbara couldn’t hold back the tears now, she was glad that Christopher couldn’t see them. She wiped her eyes and faced David.

“Are you going to arrest me again David, another dead because of me. That’s what you promised didn’t you?”

“I never said I’d arrest you.” David replied sharply.

“Go on then big man with the gun, shoot me, end it, I can’t stop you. Get your revenge, Justice for all who have died because of me.”

“I’m not going to shoot you.”

“Not even for Marc?”

“You don’t get to say his name.” David raised his gun hand up again, aiming it at Barbara.

“Shoot her, shoot her” Laughed Victor while clapping the remains of his hands together. Jacob looked at his brother a bit puzzled.

“No one will blame you. You can end it all now, just pull the trigger. Do it for Marc, for Pete and everyone else.”

“Do it. Do it” Victor was jumping up and down in his chair with excitement. “Kill her kill her, I don’t need her.”

“What do you mean you don’t need her?” Jacob asked his brother who he had not removed his gaze from him for some considerable time.

“This one’s not important. I’ve got the one I want.”

“Shall I Barbara, shall I really end your reign of terror?” David walked slowly towards Barbara. “You’ve got nothing to live for, all who trust you have either died or turned against you. You can’t even do something as simple as a rescue. You’re a menace, a danger to the public.”

“Then do it.”

2

Betty looked at Peter’s face, his skin shone like all the others. He had been preserved, which meant he had probably been dead since the funeral parlour.

“I have haven’t I, done it again?” Betty said aloud.

“Done what?” said Christopher, now momentarily calmer since hanging up on Barbara.

“It’s the cat and the bird all over again. I just don’t get things right in my head sometimes, like it’s delayed or something. Sometimes animals die, yet I can still hear them.”

“So I’m an animal am I?”

“What are you talking about, are you losing your mind?” asked Christopher. “It’s being around Barbara all this time isn’t it. Most die but you just lost your mind”

“Chris why are you blaming everything on Barbara, I’m the one who was meant to protect Peter. I promised I’d get him out.”

“You made a promise to a dead man” replied Christopher matter-of-factly “It was Barbara who put him there to begin with…”

“I can look after myself thank you.”

“… You should think yourself lucky you’re not dead.”

“It’s not luck Christopher, something else is going on here and I think Barbara’s on the verge of working it out” defended Betty. “Everything in our world happens for a reason, small things connect that you might not have even noticed.”

“Speaking of things you haven’t noticed.”

“But why should I even care. He’s dead, look at him. Pete’s gone so who cares why or who or how. I just want to get out of here.”

“Because Peter cared, he wanted us to find out what happened to his brother and get him back.”

“Can everyone stop talking like I’m not here?”

Betty stopped for a moment. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed.

“Pete?”

“And I never got to talk to him. That’s all I wanted in the end” Christopher continued. “Just to talk to you Pete, to tell you how I really feel.”

“Then talk to me, I’m here”

“He can’t hear you Pete.”

“What?” Christopher didn’t understand, than his face scrunched up. 

“Stop it Betty.”

“I’m so sorry Pete.” Betty continued, ignoring Christopher now altogether. “He can’t hear you because you’re dead.”

“I know, I worked it out when you left the room” replied Peter’s voice

“How?”

“I couldn’t talk any more. It was like I only existed when you were near”

“But I promised”

“I know”

3

David Sighed.

“Like I was ever going to shoot you” he said with a huge grin etched on his face. “Whatever you may think of me Barbara I’m no monster, but neither am I a fool. You won’t find redemption at the end of my gun so you’ll have to find another way to get rid of all that guilt.”

“I don’t seek redemption.” Barbara replied solemnly. “We are all way past that, and speaking of past it, Victor, I think it is time you and I had a word.”

“Finally” Victor smiled.

“These play things of yours, was wondering how indeed you play with them considering your state.” Barbara continued. “Then there was the turning head in the corridor, you thought I didn’t see that did you.”

“It matters not.”

“I thought maybe you control them, but it’s more than that isn’t it. You are them, or rather when they move, they are you.”

“And I didn’t even get to play hide and seek.”

“The thing is, even for a boy who’s somehow returned from the dead, he’s still only a boy. So how does he have the power to jump from body to body at a whim?”

“Who are you actually speaking to now?”

“Who knows, Speaking to myself, to David, to the wall or maybe even to you, but I can tell you who I’m not speaking to.”

“Who are you not speaking to?” sighed the animated corpse.

“I’m not speaking to Victor.”

“Really” Victor laughed.

“It’s time to come clean. Who are you really?”

Suddenly something from within Victor seemed to stir, like the vaguest of movement rippling under his skin, and in the depths of his dark dead eyes was a spark of something blacker still.

“Jacob, leave us.” He screamed.

“But brother” protested Jacob. “What is she talking about?”

“Just playing games brother, she knows I like games.”

“But..?”

Barbara walked over to Jacob and gently pushed him towards the corridor of flesh.

“You will know the truth” She whispered in his ear.

Jacob was sure he felt something heavy fall into his pocket. He looked once more at his brother sitting in his chair. He’d never seen his brother act this… excited. Victor gave him a nod, Jacob smiled back because he had no choice then turned and left the room.

Walking down the crowded silent corridor, Jacob felt into his pocket to see what Barbara had dropped into it. It was one of those mobile phones they seemed to all be obsessed with. Suddenly a song began to play from it. He tapped the green answer button that appeared on screen and held it up to his ear.

4

Once Victor could see that Jacob was long gone, he turned back to face Barbara, giggling like a child even though they all knew he wasn’t, not any more.  

“Who are you really?” Barbara demanded. “You’re not human are you?”

Victor’s face seemed to still be going through some subtle change, but not just that, his voice aged and deepened. It became more guttural, darker more menacing like something that crawled up from the deepest darkest bowels of the earth.

“I was lost long ago in some place I did not know.” It said “I had no body to weigh me down, no hands to work or legs to walk.”

“Get to the point you’re as bad Jacob.”

“I was lost and alone for so long and I felt sad, so very, very sad. I never thought I’d ever see anyone or anything ever again. It was as though my despair had manifested itself all around me and that was the world I would have to live in for all eternity.”

“Wait somewhere in my bag I must have a violin”

The rotting creature ignored Barbara and continued

“But then I heard it, the voice of a lonely child. A child as sad and alone as I was”

“What did you do to him?”                                  

“What could I do? I had no arms, no legs, not even a mouth to speak with and I was still in the nowhere place. But even though I had no ears, I heard him. He was making a wish. He didn’t want to be alone anymore. Somehow that wish was so strong, so powerful it ripped a hole into nowhere and found me.”

“I don’t think you were the one the poor boy wanted.”

“Why not me, we were both the same, both lost and alone. I was huge in a world filled with no one as he was tiny in a world filled with everyone. It took me many, many, attempts to reach him. I’d almost given up hope until one beautiful, magical night he heard me. Finally someone actually heard me.”

“And what did he hear?”

“I told him he wouldn’t be alone anymore. I told him I would protect him”

“And by protecting, you mean stealing his body, killing him in the process.”

“No” the corpse screamed as he stood up before softening his tone once more. “I couldn’t kill that little boy. He was my friend, the first friend in a very long time. I think you misunderstand much, which surprises me Barbara. I never meant to hurt anyone. Before that day I never thought I’d end a single soul.”

“And what day would that be?”

“The day I was re-born.”

“So you admit it, you killed him.”

“No” The body screamed. “I killed the meanest man in the world, but I was too late, the damage had been done.”

“I think I’ve heard enough from the both of you.” David finally spoke up.

Both Barbara and the corpse turned to look at him.

“Yeah you forgot I was here with all you’re flirting, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to stop you. Crusty you’re under arrest.”

“You know I’m getting a little tired of all the corpse jokes” protested the corpse. “This is some sort of 'ism or something.”

“Deadism?” offered Barbara helpfully.

“cadaverism” added David.

“How dare you” the rotten creature screamed. “If this form offends you so much I’m sure I can accommodate.”

In that instant the thing collapsed to the floor. In the same second a grinning man stood up from one of the tables.

“I can be any one I wish…” he hissed. Then that body too fell to the floor as a once beautiful girl took her turn to stand. “Any one you wish….”

As her body sat back down, a vice like grip had hold of David’s leg. He looked to its source, an old lady probably in her nineties with the strength her frail bones shouldn’t be able to manage without snapping.

“… I can switch in a heartbeat” the granny smiled a similar smile. “Well not mine obviously, that packed up years ago.”

Then the old lady’s grip went limp and the rotted one was once again animated.

“You see that’s another interesting thing.” Barbara began once again. 

“If you’ve got the power to be in any body you want and go where ever you please, then the hundred pound question is… Why do you always return back to this disgusting form?”

“Barbara I think the saying is hundred dollar question.” Said David

“I beg your pardon. I’m British. What’s so important about that child’s body, and don’t for one second think I’ll swallow sentimental claptrap.”

“You’re almost there Barbara, and you’re almost right. But Victor is no longer the only important one here.”

5

Back in the basement, Betty tried to make Christopher understand what she didn’t even understand herself. She could hear the dead, that had become perfectly clear, but only the recently deceased. It was as though departing spirits like to hang around their bodies long after they’ve meant to have gone. But Betty wondered did they hang around because they were scared of what was to come, or simply that they had got so used to living in their bodies it was really hard to leave when they had to.

Peter suggested reminding Christopher about the time when they first met, and the first two words he ever said to him, silently mouthing them across a smoke filled room.

“Well, what are the two words?” asked Betty.

“What words?” replied Christopher.

“Not you, Pete…. thanks”

“This isn’t even funny. Isn’t it bad enough he’s gone, why are you doing this to me?”

“Hello There” Betty suddenly said.

“W-what did you say?”

“When you first saw Peter you looked over to him and he mouthed the words Hello There.”

“But how…”

“Pete says you should remember because you both re-lived it in the memory garden.”

“What? And you think that’s enough proof, I’m meant to believe you on that?”

“It’s your choice if you want to believe me or not, just know that I’m new to all this so am unsure how long we’ve got left. I suggest you make up your mind quickly and say whatever you came here to say.”

Christopher gazed over at Peter’s gleaming face. Could he dare believe even for a moment that Peter was still in there somewhere, screaming out without anyone to hear him? Well, anyone but Betty.

“There are so many things I wanted to say to you, I thought long and hard about it while we were trying to find you. But now all of that seems redundant.”

“I still want to hear it” replied Betty.

“I was talking to Peter”

“I know, and he was answering, look it’s easier if I just tell you what he says word for word. I’m not going to edit it like that ghost whisperer.”

“Sometimes I really haven’t got a clue what you are going on about.”

“Too much telly, shall we continue.”

“Pete I was going to leave you, before you’re brother died I was going to go. I was fed up that you’d done nothing with your life, you never did anything about your photography and whenever a disaster happened you jumped straight back into bed with some green like a bloody child.”

“Okay was hoping for something a bit more upbeat.”

“I haven’t finished. Every time I went to end it, stuff kept getting in the way and then your brother died and I didn’t have the heart.”

“But now you do?”

“No, listen. When you and Betty disappeared and Barbara got arrested, I had time to think. I realised how stupid I’d been, I realised I’d been only looking at the bad and had forgotten about everything else. That garden has woken up so many old memories in me, memories from my youth; memories from my time with you; But most importantly it reminded me why I love you.”

“And you couldn’t have worked this all out before I died?”

“You’re hardly the one to talk?”

“I know I know I haven’t been easy to live with.”

“You use your parents as an excuse to smoke that stuff.”

“Speaking of which” Betty said pulling a bag out her pocket, filled with buds and a pre rolled joint. She put it to her lips and lit the end. “Don’t mind me.”

“Not exactly the best moment when I’m trying to make a point” moaned Christopher.

“I can’t believe you’re smoking one when I can’t” said Betty. “Oh that was aimed at me wasn’t it? Think of it as me smoking for the both of us.”

“Can we get back to us please?” asked Christopher.

“Sorry Chris, I’ll shut up from now on. Well I mean I’ll shut up from me, but I’ll still say what Pete tells me.”

“Betty?”

“Chris”

“Shut up”

As the conversation continued, Betty noticed Pete’s voice was ever so slowly becoming quieter as he spoke, as though he was beginning to drift away.

6

Back at the giant hall, Barbara and the corpse continue to play their little game with David feeling like he was lemon in the whole affair.

“Shouldn’t we be going to get Christopher and Betty, we haven’t got a clue what’s happening to them.” David interrupted.

“They’re fine, Christopher’s just getting the chance to have his talk he’s been waiting so long to have.”

“Yes, but soon that time will be over” the creature added. “Soon Pete will fade like all the others. Then he’ll just be an empty vessel, a doll.”

“Why haven’t you gone in his body already, if he’s dead?” asked Barbara.

“I have some rules, all the while the soul lingers I won’t go near.”

“But when Pete’s gone completely, what then?”

“Then I use him like I use everyone else here.”

“Please, whoever you really are, leave him alone.” Barbara pleaded.

“But he’s been exactly where I wanted him to be all along. It just wasn’t the right time.”

“What’s so important about the basement?”

“It’s not the basement, it’s Betty.”

“Betty, don’t you dare touch her.”

“But what are you going to do all the way up here?”

“Christopher’s down there.”

“You think he’s going to stop his own boyfriend. I know men like him, his mind is weak. He only knows what he can see right in front of his eyes, easy meat.”

“I know I'll regret this, but when’s the right time?” asked David.

“You had to ask.” Barbara shook her head.

“The right time is, any… Moment… Now…”

“I’m not fast enough, David you’ve got to run down there.”

“This will be fun, I’ll race you.” The corpse laughed.

Without a second thought David ran towards the corridor of flesh. He could sense movement to the side of him, as he turned his head he saw the dead bodies rise and fall one by one like a freakish Mexican wave. So this was how it would race him, by hopping body to body.

Each body in the corridor went through a similar motion. Some even tried to trick or slow David down. When he finally reached the other end of the corridor, he realised he had only the guy sitting in the chair to get past. But it seemed the guy in the chair had no intention of racing past David, instead he threw himself on top of him, knocking David to the floor. Then the life in the corpse departed, leaving it a dead weight.

With David momentarily immobile, he couldn’t stop the surprise sprinter who ran out from the opposite room. He hurriedly tried to roll the body off of him but by the time David had succeeded, the dead sprinter had got a good head start.

David couldn’t stop the corpse reaching the basement door. It slammed the door shut and locked it before swallowing the key right in front of David’s face, then collapsing to the floor, victory assured.

7

Back in the basement, Christopher hugged Peter’s body.

“I’m going to miss you so much” said Christopher through tears and snot and dribble.

“I’m going to miss you too Chris. And please stop blaming Barbara and Betty about all this, I got them involved remember not the other way round.”

“Okay”

“I don’t regret a single thing Chris. If my death meant these Bastards are going to go down then I’m all for it.”

“It’s not worth it.”

“Oh come on, give me this. Give me a reason for dying, if you think I never had a reason for living.”

“Oh”

“I did though. Have a reason for living that is.”

“Yeah?”

“It was you, you daft brush.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Christopher kissed Peter on the forehead. He felt the slick substance on his lips, it felt disgusting but he didn’t want to wipe it off.

“Peter?”

“He didn’t answer.”

“Peter?”

“I think he’s gone Chris”

“Peter please.”

Betty suddenly noticed the basement door slammed shut and lock. She run up the few steps to it, Christopher seemed too upset to notice.

“Yes, I’m still here” said Peter.

Betty spun round.

“Thank god. I thought you had gone.”

“Christopher you can hear him?” asked Betty.

“Yes.”

“Of course he can hear me” said Peter.

“You’re not dead” cried Christopher

“He’s not Peter” shouted Betty.

Peter stood bolt upright.

“Hello Betty” he said. “We meet again.”

8

Peter looked around. He was still in the chair, in the basement. But everyone else had gone. What’s more, he could move again. Peter stood up, he thought he’d be woozy but he stood fine. The door to the basement flew open, it seemed much brighter through the new opening, and it looked like something was moving just beyond his view.

Then suddenly the shape made more sense. It was lower than a person, unless the person was walking on all fours. The shape stepped out of the light, tip-toed down the stairs and sat a few feet away from Peter. Peter couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Old girl, is that you?”

The dog turned its head to one side. One ear up, the other bent down.

“I understand.” Peter said as he crouched down next to his old friend. 

“That was you in the garden, wasn’t it? I knew you weren’t just a memory.”

Peter slung his arms round the old girl and squeezed real tight, like he was making up for the years they’d been apart.

“And do you know what?” Peter smiled. “I always hoped it would be you.”

Suddenly the dog wriggled out of Peter’s arms and stood back. She kept turning her head to the stairs, like she used to do when she pointed at the cupboard with her biscuits in.

“I feel like we’re having a Lassie moment. Do you want me to go with you?” Peter asked. The Dog barked in response and then slowly ascended the stairs once more. She stopped at the top and turned back to Peter. Her mouth was open. She was either panting or smiling. Peter told himself it was the latter and followed her as she disappeared into the light. Peter could make out blurred shapes, dozens of them, through the haze. He’d finally come home.

To Be Continued