Dead of Winter - James Goss [62]
‘I see,’ he said, and handed me a twenty pound note. ‘Come on, let’s go and see if Princess Amy has woken up yet.’
I looked at fake Amy. Her perpetual smile and her frozen gaze. ‘Please,’ I said, shuffling. ‘Please can we stop?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘We’ve got to carry on dancing. We’ve got to. Not much longer now. Come on, babes.’ And she dragged me round. I trod on her toes. I’d been doing that quite a lot, to be truthful. At first by accident, and then a bit maliciously. She never complained. She wasn’t Amy. The real Amy had long ago abandoned me… Dancing to death…
She dragged me on, round and round that beach. Some of the other patients had already given up. Mr Nevil lay there, rain spattering over him, his dog tugging at his collar, trying to get him up again.
The storm crashed around us.
A hand tapped Amy on the shoulder.
‘Hi,’ said a voice. ‘Can I cut in?’
It was Amy. Real Amy. Standing there. She hadn’t forgotten me! She’d come to rescue me! She looked murderous.
Fake Amy smiled back at her, empty as ever.
‘Well,’ said Real Amy. ‘Aren’t you going to tell Rory he’s a rubbish dancer? I know I would.’
‘I love him,’ said Fake Amy.
Real Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Which of us do you prefer, husband dearest?’ Her face narrowed dangerously. ‘Think very carefully about your answer.’
‘Well…’ I began. ‘She is very nice to me.’
‘Rory Williams,’ Real Amy thundered. ‘You don’t like nice.’
‘It’s a change.’
‘I love you,’ cooed Fake Amy. ‘You dance so much better than the Doctor.’
‘Silly.’ Real Amy nudged her in the ribs. ‘Hippos dance better than the Doctor.’ She turned back to me. ‘Rory, listen. Very quickly. You have to say it out loud. I know you’re thinking it… but you have to say it.’
‘What?’
Amy tapped her duplicate again. ‘Say it. Go on. About her.’
‘That she’s not real?’
‘Perfect.’ Amy laughed. ‘Say it again, like you mean it.’
‘Don’t listen to her, my love!’ Fake Amy looked at me, startled, then fell down, vanishing into the mist.
‘Result!’ Amy giggled, hugging me.
I held on to her. She smelt as wonderful as ever. I’d missed her so much.
‘I am so tired,’ I said, and fell asleep.
Dr Bloom’s Journal
7th December 1783
Fool! Fool! Fool!
This journal is the story of my life’s work. Although now that my life is over, it seems strange that my work will continue.
It seems stupid to admit that I had no idea that so much of my life was a lie. Who was Perdita? Was she ever real? I have a vague memory – a memory of once talking to a charming woman as we shared a table by Lake Geneva, of sharing a sticky gateau. Was my wife based on that? Half a memory of a charming afternoon? Did The Sea give me what I was missing – a companion, a help-meet… purely altruistically, for the best of reasons, or to drive forward its own plans?
Have I really been curing people? Or have I been bringing it a constant supply of victims? What have I done?
And that’s as close as I, the great Doctor Johann Bloom can get to analysis at the moment. For, at the moment, I am simply a man staring in horror at a bundle covered in a blanket and grieving for it. Grieving for my wife. She was real to me. The most wonderful person I ever knew has been taken away from me…
I worked with her for so long. Making this clinic a truly amazing place. Doing what I thought was really wonderful work. Sharing every day with her. Delighting when I made her laugh. Marvelling at how, no matter what the setback, she always knew just what to say. I loved her. I loved her so much. Yet it was all a lie.
And now I know what to do about it.
What Amy Remembered
To be frank, that was easier than I thought it would be. I’d got Rory back and dispatched a sinister alien duplicate. I was glad the mist rolled over her quite quickly – I got a glimpse of what was happening to her, and it wasn’t pretty.
I grabbed Rory. The poor lamb was pretty much dead on his feet. He looked awful. I dragged him up the beach and onto a sand dune. The storm was all around us – it was really pretty incredible. Land, sea and sky had