A trusty steed called Monty.
2246 Words
Ester stretched in bed. The sun spilt from the bottom of her curtains, and leaked across the floor, illuminating her room. It was a bomb-site; piles of clothes littered the floor.
She checked her phone – 5 missed calls – all Penny, 6 texts – all Penny, again.
Exhibit A) Hey, let me know when you get there. Love you, Pen xx
Exhibit B) Hey text me! I miss you, Pen xx
Exhibit C) Oi, text me back smelESTER. You better be charging your phone! Penny xx
ExhibitD) ESTER MAEVE CROFTS!
Exhibit E) Right you’ve got 1 hour before I start calling the FBI, the CIA, The Sheriff of the bloody universe. TEXT. ME. BACK.
Shit. s**t. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
Penny answered on the first ring.
“Where the hell have you been?” Penny’s voice smoked through the phone. Ester cringed.
“I’m so so so sorry Pen -”
“-You’d better be! I was ready to catch a flight, I’d packed my knickers and mosquito spray! I’d FOREWARNED my boss I may need to go and RESCUE my sister who’d been abducted, or trafficked into another country.”
“I am really sorry Penny” Ester chewed her lip “I just…”
“Just forgot about me, again!” She sighed, but eventually her resolve crumbled “I miss you, you fool. How is everything? What’s your new place like?”
As Ester described the lodge, she leant against the window sill, watching the trees lightly sway in the breeze, their long limbs almost waving her, inviting her outside.
“So what’s your plan for the rest of the day?”
“Ummm…”
“Do you have food?”
“Not y-“
“What about transport?”
“Well it’s only been-“
“What about meeting your new colleagues? That way you could forewarn your boss about your condition and the prescriptions you’ll-“
“Ok ok, Penny stop!” Ester rolled her eyes, and Penny grumbled at the other end of the phone. “I’ll somehow get into town – oh thank you for the taxi by the way, nice touch- do a food shop, swing by the surgery and then perhaps do a little exploring later. Happy?”
“Sorry Ester, I just worry about you, with everything that’s happened the last couple of-“
“I know” Ester cut her off. She didn’t want Penny to reach into their uneasy, recent past – it could be her undoing. A reticent silence stretched between them for a moment, as Ester watched the long grass shake and shiver in the wind. Behind, in the depths of the forest, shapes of animals seemed to race here and there.
“You’re the only one I’ve got left” Penny’s voice fractured on the last word, and Ester’s heart was in her throat, guilty for snapping at her sister.
“I know”
“Please keep me posted, a text a day is all I ask. Maybe a call every few days?”
“I think I can stick to that” Ester laughed “I miss you and I love you. Thank you for being you, speak soon”
“Miss and love you too”.
Penny was only 18 months older than Ester, and yet had taken her responsibilities of ‘big sister’ very seriously from a young age. It seemed to Ester that Penny had grown her strengths around Ester’s weaknesses – where Ester was trusting and naïve, Penny had made sure she herself was cautious and cynical. Where Ester was unorganised and messy, her sister was ordered, consistent and disciplined. And Ester knew, it had all been for her, to protect her from the world.
Ester shook out her bun, and ran her hands through her hair, right.
Penny’s advised to do list:
· Find transport
· Drop into work
· Food shop
· Exploring (Ester’s addition to the list)
In the shed outside, Ester found an old yellow bicycle. The paint was flaking off in places, and it squealed unhappily when the wheels spun, but it was perfect. She ran her hands over the handlebar, the rubber had worn smooth. A basket was screwed onto the front, a plastic plague of a smiley face was wedged between two of the wires, it had probably once looked cheerful, but now had an oddly sinister look with a half-faded eye and cracked mouth.
“That’s transport sorted” Ester pattered it, hopped on and began to weave her way up the lane. For the first half a mile she was flanked by evergreens. The smell of pines was everywhere, the sky was a patchwork of blue and white.
She pulled over once to quickly take a photo and send it to Penny, then continued on.
Ester and Penny’s difference didn’t stop at their characteristics. Their appearances where polar opposites too. Penny was immaculate, tall and slender, tanned and chocolate haired – A catwalk model with elegance and grace – her movements appeared effortless and efficient like herself in life. Ester however, was always in some state of having misbuttoned her shirt, or windswept. Her hair was blonde, skin pale and gently freckled, stature petite but athletic. But of course, they weren’t blood related, Ester had been adopted. Ester had known this since she was little.
The trees slowly retreated, and a smattering of buildings and houses sprung up in their place – the trees now a safe distance behind. The town was quaint and quiet from the outside. Trucks, trailers and the odd car pootled along at an easy pace.
“Excuse me?” Ester pulled up outside a hairdresser, to where an elderly lady stood, placing her handbag on her shoulder, “Do you know where the doctors surgery is please?”
“Of course, honey”, she smiled “Up past the traffic lights, past the supermarket on your right and it's on your left, blue front door. Can’t miss it”
“Thank you”
Ok, so shop first, then doctors. Ester only got the essentials to fit in the front basket of her bicycle – chocolate, milk, eggs, ham, chocolate and some fruit. As she slung her foot over the saddle, a large black car pulled up to the pavement up ahead, outside an official looking business. She pressed the peddles.
Then, like a spark, a tremor skittered through Ester’s hands. Her heart suddenly quickening. Time slowed.
And as she frowned a man stepped out the house, phone to his ear.
Perfect…the voice whispered.
Someone opened the car door for him.
Ester’s hands began to shake violently. Something stirred within her.
Heart hurting.
Fingers trembling.
At the last moment, before ducking into the car, he frowned and his dark eyes found hers.
He paused.
Finally…
Then the world went sideways. Ester’s elbow hit the pavement first, then her knees and lastly her head.
Quick and sharp pain splintered from her elbow and Ester opened her eyes. The man with dark eyes leapt forwards, but just before he was too close, warm hands beneath her arms hoisted her from the pavement.
The dark-haired man stopped dead. His frown firmly fixed behind her.
“Ester” She was spun around, to face a dazzlingly blonde head of hair, and big bright eyes.
“Stevie?” He brushed down her arms, and swatted away the hair from her face.
“At least your memory’s ok then” He tried to chuckle before he exclaimed “What happened? Are you ok?”
“I’m fine… I’m fine, I must’ve just-“ She looked back, but he was gone. The car was pulling away. The tinted windows preventing her from peering in.
“Wow – where the heck did you get that thing?!” He pointed to the bike, an arm still supporting her. Ester shook her head, coming to her senses slightly. She extricated herself from Stevie.
“My trusty steed” She smiled, righting it.
“Nothing trusty about it” He muttered.
“I found it in the shed outside the lodge. It was me, I just wasn’t concentrating that’s all”
“Hmm I think we should still get your elbow checked out by my aunt C, it’s bleeding quite a tonne”
Shit – great first impression. Hi, I’m your new nurse and I can’t even ride a bicycle – Esther thought.
“Honestly, I’m fine, I’m a quick healer!”
“No I insist, plus it’s a good reason to meet the new boss, huh?”
Great…
Stevie pushed the bike along for her.
“Stevie who was that guy with the Range Rover?”
“Which guy?”
“On the pavement when I fell?”
“Didn’t see him” Stevie stated swiftly “Hey, do you fancy a lift back? I’m going up to the lake at 4 anyway so it’s on my way.”
“That…. Would be great, thank you” She smiled tightly, “Actually, what about my trusty steed?”
“I think death trap would be more appropriate for that, don’t you think?”
Ester snorted and rolled her eyes.
“I can sling her in the back of the bed”
“I saw her as more of a… Monty, actually”
It was Stevie’s turn to roll his eyes at her.
* * * *
The surgery was pristine. It was a whitewashes house, like you’d expect in a TV series set in a small American town. The door was royal blue. Worktops gleamed proudly and quiet reigned. Little decorated the walls, except a clock, a certificate and the practice rules of behaviour.
“Auntie Helena?” Stevie address a white-haired woman in a lab coat. Sharp bob, minimal make up. Posh watch on her wrist. Goodness, Penny would’ve liked her immaculate style.
“Stevie” She smiled, wrinkles crisscrossed her face, like a timeline of a difficult life.
“This is Ester Croft, the new nurse” He present me with a small hand wave.
“Nice to meet you Doctor Collins” Ester murmured in her best, please-like-me voice.
Her eyes travelled from toe to crown. Then came to rest on Ester's elbow and dirty top.
“Well Ester, it already seems you’ve got yourself into a spot of bother” She turned to her office, “Hop on the bed” she commanded, authoriritively.
Ester pulled a horrified expression at Stevie, who just smiled and gave her the thumbs up.
Her legs dangled from the bed, whilst Stevie leant against the wall beside her. Doctor Collins washed her hands.
“So, how’re you finding Lightwood Ester?”
“It’s lovely, I’ve still got a bit of exploring to do however”
Doctor Collins turned and raised her eyebrows.
“Well do not go off on your own, the woods may look appealing but they’re dangerous... Especially if you’re not certain on your surroundings” Her eyes flickered to Stevie, they seemed to share the same though.
“Now let’s take a look at your elbow... Oh, it’s just a wide graze, nothing too serious”
Stevie frowned “It looked so much worse earlier!”
Doctor Collins briefed Ester a little on what was expected when she started in a few days. She seemed to Ester like the kind of person who lived to work, everything else besides her job was irrelevant. And Ester was ok with that, clear boundaries were good, right?
Stevie dropped her back home as darkness had begun to bleed into the sky. In case of emergencies he’d plumbed his number into his phone, propped her bike against the wall, gave her a last “Are you sure you’re ok?” and then went on his way.
Ester opened her patio doors and ate her omelette on the step, looking out beyond her garden. The myriad of greens were now variations of greys, browns and black. In contrast, the sky shone brighter, stars like crushed glass glinted above her. The breeze tickled up her arms and toiled with her hair lightly.
Crack.
Ester stilled. Her ears strained for more sound.
Nothing.
Ester’s eyes traversed the fringe of trees.
Nothing.
Sighing she stood, brushing herself off.
Crack.
This time Ester walked towards the little fence at the bottom of her garden.
Penny would’ve told her to run inside, her senses told her.
The breeze picked up. She looked at the last of her omelette and placed it just beyond the fence.
A bit of a measly dinner for anything bigger than a house-cat.
As Ester turned towards the house, set for bed, a pair of dark eyes watched on.
- Writer
