The evening was cool, Adam and Susan were sitting outside one of the empty stables. "I wonder what will happen when this is all demolished."
"I guess that we will still be here, but just be sitting on a housing estate. I guess it will be busier." Adam smiled. "You never know..." He suddenly stopped speaking. "What the hell?" The scene around them was changing; the empty yard was fading, and becoming faint before snapping back into vision. Now the yard was still dark but there were faint sounds of movement and there were horses visible over stable doors.
"Adam, what is happening?"
"I don't know." Adam looked around; this is not the yard, as I knew it.
"It is my yard." Susan gasped. "Oh God this is where I worked. No... What is happening?" Susan ran across the yard to the rear block of stables, she paused at the middle loose box and looked over the door, inside was a piebald cob. "Magpie?" A noise made her look up, there was a woman walking towards them.
"Susan. That is... Well, that is you?" Adam stuttered.
"It is..." Susan watched as she walked towards Magpie's stable, she had an apple in her hand. "Adam, no... This is where it starts." She cried out. "Don't make me watch this again!" Susan reached out for herself. The girl stopped dead.
"Who's there?" She glanced around.
Susan leapt forward intending to rugby tackle the girl, trying desperately to stop the inevitable happening. She hit the girl hard doubling her over. Adam watched as she hit her and seemingly merged with her, there was a second where there were two Susan's and then just one standing before him smiling.
"Oh God!" Susan gasped. "This is me! Adam, this is me!"
"You mean?"
"I can walk away." Susan stepped back from the stable. "I don't have to cause it all." She paused, staring at the apple in her hand. "There is just one thing I have to do." She placed the apple to her lips and took a bite, swallowing quickly."
"Susan no!" Adam tried to grab for the apple but his hand went right through. "What have you done?"
"Isn't it obvious? I am stopping this." She paused. "I have to do this Adam. I am toxic."
"But you don't have to be. You could be better."
"What if I wasn’t?" She smiled. "I have lived, I saw what I did. This is for the..." She gasped, clutching her stomach. "Oh oww! I have something I must do."
"What?"
"I have to say sorry to Linda. I really hurt her." She paused. "Thank you Adam. I owe you my life."
"Thank you friend." Adam embraced her. "Just please do one thing."
"Anything."
"Tell Kate I love her..." Adam faded completely.
"Adam..!" Susan cried out as she was alone on the yard, the pain in her stomach drove her on as she staggered to the office.
***
The shrill ringing of the telephone bell cut through Linda’s sleep, she lifted her head and glanced at the clock. "Two in the morning. Who on earth is calling me now?" Pulling back the blankets, she left the warmth of her bed and stumbled downstairs before grabbing the telephone receiver. "Hello..." Her heart sank when she heard Susan at the other end. "What the hell are you doing calling me at this time of the night?" She paused listening. "What do you mean, you are going? Look could this not have waited until the morning? What?" Linda stopped. "Sorry?" The word had caught her by surprise, Susan had never said sorry; she didn't think it had been in her vocabulary. "Sorry for what?" Susan started to gabble, pleading with Linda for forgiveness before she left. "Susan, you are making no sense, please go back to bed we can talk in the morning..." There was a gasp and a sigh at the end of the line before the receiver clattered heavily to the floor. "Susan? Susan!"
Linda snarled to herself as she plunged her feet into cold boots, this was no doubt one of Susan's stupid pranks. However, something was stopping her from just ignoring her this time, something about the way she had spoken, the way she had seemed to be telling the truth. She shook her head, she was no doubt being duped, but if she was, my goodness Susan would get it.
Linda drove slowly to the yard, yawning as she opened the door of her old car and stepped out into the cold. The office lights were on but otherwise there was no sign of life. Linda huffed and pushed the door open. "Look Susan, if you are taking the piss out of me..." She cut her words short as she saw Susan lying on the floor beside the desk. "Oh my God!" She knelt down beside her. "Are you okay?" Her breathing was laboured and her pulse weak. Linda stood up. On the desk, there was an open bottle of poison. She grabbed for the phone and quickly called 999.
Adam watched unseen as Linda waited for the ambulance to arrive, he watched as Susan was placed on a stretcher. He heard that her pulse had become weaker.
"Adam..." Susan tried to sit up but was pushed back down. "Adam. I said sorry. It's okay now!"
"Who is she talking to?" Linda looked around.
"She is hallucinating." The ambulance man frowned. "It’s the poison acting on her body."
***
Susan slowly opened her eyes. The light was painfully bright as she looked around.
"Susan?" The voice faded into her consciousness. She looked around, slightly disappointed that her afterlife seemed to look like a hospital ward. "Susan, how are you feeling?" Susan looked across and saw Linda sitting beside her bed; she was dressed in pyjamas and a ratty dressing gown.
"Linda?"
"Oh God you're alive!" She burst into tears. "I am so glad. I am sorry, if I drove you to this..."
Susan held out her hand grasping Linda’s tightly. "No..." Her voice was rasping, her mouth dry. "No… I owe you everything." She gulped, blinking tears from her eyes. "I am so sorry for what I did to you, to all of you. None of you deserved it, you tried to treat me like a friend and I just hurt you." She sobbed, Linda comforted her gently. "I never had any friends and this is how I treated you..."
Linda wiped her eyes. "You need to rest; we can talk about this later."
"No..." Susan paused. "I have waited so many years to apologise to you. I need to try to explain why I did what I did..." Susan sat up in bed and talked. She spoke for hours, talking about impossible things. Linda listened silently taking in every word.
***
"She's asleep now." Linda looked towards Hilary who had just walked onto the ward. "Oh you've brought me some fresh clothes, thanks!" Linda took the bag. "She is going to be okay..." Linda paused. "She asked for my forgiveness for all she had done, she said she was sorry for everything."
"And you believed her?" Hilary laughed.
"I really think she meant it Hil's"
"Well, I think she had better prove it. It's all too easy to just say sorry."
Susan listened as they spoke, feigning sleep. It was true; she needed to prove that her intentions were true.
***
The day had gone slowly, Linda had promised that she would visit Susan again and had only found out that she had discharged herself when she called the hospital during the afternoon to check visiting times. She was sure that she had gone for good, she had been so keen to apologise and seemed genuinely shy of returning to the yard for fear of meeting people she had previously upset.
Linda could not fathom the change in Susan who the day before had been bullish and nasty but had then tried to take her own life and seemed to be atoning for her behaviour. She had kept saying that she had spent years before she realised that she was being so cruel to everyone. A sudden thought crossed her mind, perhaps she had tried to commit suicide again, and perhaps she had succeeded. In a panic, Linda stood up, unsure what to do or where to go. She picked up the telephone to call the police when she saw a car speeding up the driveway. She recognised the driver and dropped the receiver in fear.
Harry Thompson stepped from his car and flung open the door of the office before approaching Linda. His face was red and he snarled for her to sit down. She slumped heavily in the office chair. Harry stood in front of her.
"I don't know what the hell you did to my daughter!" Linda started to speak. "Shut up and listen to me!" He flung an envelope down on the desk. "I am just glad that I will now on longer have to spend any more time in your company and that our professional relationship is over." He stepped towards Linda, leaning down so she could feel his hot breath on her cheek. "I don't ever want to hear from you again!" He stood quickly pulling the door open, he turned before he left the office. "Don't cross me young lady. I told you before, nobody would miss you and I would take pleasure in dealing with you personally. So don't let our paths cross again Miss Gibbs." He stepped from the office and back into his car leaving in a spray of gravel leaving Linda flustered and sobbing alone in the office.
***
Hilary had spent the afternoon consoling Linda; she was incoherent but refused to go home. She believed that she had caused Susan's death and now Harry Thompson had served her eviction and had threatened her life.
It was now dark and shadows crept around the hedgerows, she was sure she saw a movement and looked up to see a lone person walking slowly up the driveway dragging a heavy suitcase. Hilary squinted before gasping. "It's Susan!"
"I know, it is all about Susan." Linda cried.
"No, she is outside." Hilary opened the door and Susan stepped sheepishly into the office.
"Hello..." She looked down avoiding eye contact.
"You have a nerve showing your face here!" Hilary snarled.
"Hil's please." Linda wiped her eyes. "You are alive, we were worried."
"Linda she has made her father kick you out! Stop being so damn nice!"
Susan reached down and picked up the brown envelope that was still sitting, unopened on the desk. She passed it to Hilary. "Open it. Go on."
Hilary tore open the envelope dragging out the papers inside. She paused for a moment reading them before gasping and letting them flutter to the ground. "You..."
Susan smiled faintly. "I had to prove myself." She turned to Hilary. "I heard you this morning in the hospital." Hilary shrugged, embarrassed. Susan waved her hand at her mumbled apologies. "You are right; I was not to be trusted." She smiled. "I hope this proves it." She reached down collecting the papers and placing them in front of Linda.
"What is this?" Linda looked puzzled, reading aloud. "Transfer of ownership. Land at Redbridge, Dorset including stables and outbuildings and associated accommodation and cottage on Mill Street, Redbridge. Transferred from Thompson Construction Limited to..." Linda stopped dead. "This is some joke..."
"No, it isn't a joke." Susan smiled. "It's yours Linda. It is the only way I could think to apologise."
"But, but..." Linda stammered. "How?"
"I persuaded my father." Susan looked down. Hilary gasped as Susan's hair fell away from her face revealing a black eye and a number of cuts and bruises. "I do have a favour to ask."
"What, anything?"
"I need a job." She paused. "You have every right to say no. Tell me to piss off. But I sort of need somewhere to live and some way to get money." She held her chin up. "My father doesn't have a daughter now. He made that clear."