Soundlessly, she retrieved the vial containing her blood from the pocket of her hoodie. She added the ingredients from the makeshift apothecary in front of her, topped it up with elderflower cordial, then stoppered it and gave it a hearty shake. She clasped it tightly in her grip before relinquishing it to me.
Not allowing myself the luxury of hesitation or forethought, I held the vial up to my lips and drank.
And then everything went black.
As my soul was woven back together, the pain was larger than anything.
All-consuming agony in my ribcage and skull and limbs; a fish hook repeatedly thrust through bone; a thousand dull knitting needles stitching every fibre back together.
Far away, I heard myself screaming.
As blood roared in my ears and my vision gave way to fragmented oblivion, I wanted to die. I lost awareness of my body, my surroundings. I became consumed by the pain; fell into it like it was a physical abyss, a gaping chasm where no life could survive, where I would fall and fall for eternity without ever hitting the bottom.
It was another plane, another dimension, one that should not exist in any reality.
But then slowly, slowly, miraculously, the raging storm clouds faded, and the abyss began to dissipate, and a slice of sunshine shone into the darkness.
Lottie.
The clouds parted. The sun spread.
I was on my hands and knees on the stone floor of the clubhouse, shaking uncontrollably, still wracked with residual pain. She was crouched in front of me, one hand cupped around the back of my sweat-slicked neck, whispering, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay, it’s okay.’
And as I came fully back to myself, I knew it was.
There was no longer a cold psychopath stalking the darkest corners of my mind. There was no more veil, torn or otherwise.
There was just Alice. Spiky, angry, hurt – but Alice, nonetheless. A girl who could hope and love again.
It felt like the first day of my life.
As I started to cry, I looked up at Lottie, embarrassed beyond reason, only to realise she was crying too.
How did she still look like human sunshine when she was crying?
‘I love you,’ I whispered, the words mixed with fat, salty tears, slipping through my lips before I could stop them, and it felt so vulnerable and yet so inevitable, and I knew she loved me too, and mainly I was just relieved that I no longer had to worry about accidentally murdering her in the night. ‘And thank you.’
And then she kissed me, and it was warm and wonderful and right, a sweet-scented yellow field in the summer, and every shaking inch of me melted into her, and then she ruined it all by cupping my jaw with both hands, gazing into my eyes, and whispering:
‘I told you I was Sherlock. Scooby Doo can fuck all the way off.’