The boy continues to tell his story and things begin to go south for the friends.

Note: I just want to give the usual health warning that due to a sudden rush of blood to my head I decided to write some of the dialogue in accent/dialect, so again apologies if it gets irritating. Also I had hoped to get this finished before Halloween but things at work have suddenly got rather rushed leaving me somewhat knackered by night time and just wanting to vegetate at night. I do however promise to finish it, and hopefully soon.

*********************

The boy bit his lower lip and glanced out the window of the bar, although it was dark out there it was light in the bar and he felt safe for now.

Charlotte saw the girl pale and then pause from her intensely felt narrative, and was about to ask if everything was ok.

The boy, however, had collected his wits and decided to continue. “As I was sayin’ I woke up around three and turned to look at me bedroom window. But somthin’ was blockin’ it. It took us a second but I thought I saw what I assumed was a man lookin’ owt of it.

Now God knows why I said this next thing, as there’s not many good reasons I can think of for a strange bloke to be in me room in the middle of the nite, but instead of asking what the f he was doin’, I thought it best to say ‘Hello’.

That’s when it, as I can’t really call it a he turned round and I got a good look at it. It seemed to stare at me. Not that I could see its face, it was more like a shadow than anythin’ else, but I could feel it starin’ at me. I don’t knaw how long we stared at each other; I don’t think I could have moved. Anyway the next thing I knaw it was beside me bed and I swear I could smell it, it reeked! The stench was really bad, worse than anythin’ I’ve ever smelt. It then pointed at me, or at least it seemed to and screeched ‘You can’t have her! No man can! She’s mine!’ Then it just turned and faded into the shadows.

I thought I screamed, but no one came. If I could have moved, I’m not embarrassed to say I would have ran to my parents room like when I was tiny, but I was too scared te do that either. Lookin’ back I’m surprised I didn’t wet meself, I did sweat a lot. It took me ages to get up the nerve te get out of bed and switch on the lights. I didn’t sleep for the rest of the nite.” The boy paused as he took another sip of his rapidly dwindling drink.

“I don’t think I looked very good when I went downstairs in the mornin’ as Mam tald me te call in sick for work; I didn’t want te be in the house by meself so I tald her na I was fine. She didn’t seem too happy about that but I think she knew I wouldn’t be changin’ me mind. Still seein’ as she likes a good nag she then started ganin on about us needin’ a haircut, instead. I thought that was strange, I’d only had one the previous week and tald her so as I went to grab me car keys.

Mam stopped us though before I could heed out by asking ‘aren’t you forgettin’ someone young man?’ Of course I was! Drew, he’d swapped shifts and I said I would give him a lift into work. So I sat and waited for him in the sittin’ room.

It wasn’t long before the doorbell went though, and Mam called ‘ah there she is’ from the corridor on her way to answer it. I remember wonderin’ who this she was. I didn’t have to wait long as Mam opened the front door sayin’, ‘There you are Mandy, he’s been waitin’ for you’. Al I could think is ‘who the hell’s Mandy?’ It didn’t take me long to find out as a pretty girl with longish chestnut colared hair cam into the room, she looked kinda familiar and had a sort of sheepish, nervous look on her face.

I think I must have stood there with a goofy look on me face for a moment or two just starin’ at her, it made her nervous as I saw her shufflin’ on her feet. I could have sworn I should knawn her, but I had nee idea why. Everythin’ seemed sort of surreal. Mam eventually interrupted by askin’ if I was ‘ever plannin’ to leave?’ I think I said somethin’ like yeah when Drew arrives, which made the girl even more nervous, not that Mam seemed te notice as instead she asked ‘who’s Drew?’

I think I just sort of gapped at her for, well it seemed a while, I mean I’ve knawn Drew all me life he only lived a couple of doors down from me, I didn’t really knaw what to say, it was like she was speakin’ gibberish. I think I eventually said somethin’ like ‘you knaw Andrew Bowes, me friend’, te which she said, ‘oh is he some sort of relative of yours Mandy?’ I think I let out a ‘huh?’ And just stood there starin’ at this girl.

But as I stared, she became sort of more familiar, until it suddenly hit me. I did know her! In fact I remembered doin’ loads of things with her throughout me life, the problem was these were the same things that Drew and me had done! I, um, then fainted.” The boy looked sheepish and stared at his fingernails, he casually thought he should redo them soon. He felt sure there was something wrong there, but putting it to the back of his mind he took a final swig from his glass.

Charlotte gestured for him to carry on. “I woke up on the settee with a sore heed; apparently I’d hit it on a chair on the way down. Mam was havin’ a bit of a fit worryin’, which was sort of annoyin’ as I had a lot of questions that I didn’t think I could ask with her around. It probably took about an hour to convince her that I was fine and didn’t need to go te the doctors or owt. I did agree not te gan to work tough, and, um, well Mandy I suppose, also phoned in te say that she couldn’t make it either.

Eventually, we managed to get rid of Mam as she heeded off round te me Nanas and I could find owt what the hell was ganin on. I think I started out by saying ‘I’m sure you used to be taller and, er, a boy.’

She smiled a bit at me feeble joke but just nodded at the second bit. I actually felt relieved, at least I wasn’t ganin mad, or if I was I wasn’t the only one. I followed up with a ‘well?’ She proceeded te tell me her story, which was fairly brief. I suppose summin’ it up it went ‘I went te sleep a boy and woke up like this!’

I think I asked her to expand on that a bit, which she did. As she said she didn’t remember anythin’ happenin’ but ganin to bed as a boy and wakin’ up as a girl, which was apparently ‘a bit of a shock’. But other things had changed as well, such as she woke up wearin’ pyjamas instead of the boxers she, er, he’d gan to be in and her bedroom had changed te be, well, girly. Not only that but everyone was treatin’ this as normal, that she’d always been Mandy, her parents, her sister, the neighbours on the way over here, me Mam, everyone but me. She seemed surprised that I didn’t think the same.

I don’t think I handled this revelation well and mainly sat there noddin’ as I worked owt how this joke was being pulled on me. After all it all made more sense as a joke, except I couldn’t work owt how me memories of the stuff I did with Drew matched the memories I seemed to have of stuff I did with her.

I started to get a worse headache and gettin’ away from the bigger questions asked ‘are you wearin’ makeup?’ She nodded yes then added, ‘it just sort of happened in the mornin’ as I was gettin’ ready, look I was in shock!’ Actually lookin’ at her she seemed quite calm, I think I smelt perfume. She also seemed dressed like any of the other girls who worked at the supermarket; although she was wearin’ that really pretty blue crystal pendant of hers.” The boy stopped, and looked embarrassed and added sheepishly, “Sorry, I’m doin’ that more often these days.” He cast his eyes down to his now empty glass.

“Doing what?” Charlotte asked.

“Noticin’ things like that.” Charlotte gave him a sympathetic smile and spotting the empty glass asked if he wanted another. He thought he shouldn’t, she still hadn’t finished hers, and he was feeling slightly tipsy already, God he felt like such a lightweight. He accepted her offer.

When she returned from the bar he continued. “So where was I? Yes, I was talkin’ about how Mands seemed quite relaxed about everythin’, if apprehensive around me, it reet unnerved us. I thought if this had happened to me there’s nee way I’d just sit there so calmly, I tald her as much. She blushed quite a bit at that but then had a ga at us for not think about what she was ganin through and how she was just tryin’ to cope. I felt awful, I thought she was ganin to burst inte tears and I can’t stand that. I apologised and asked how she was.

Well, she just shrugged and said she didn’t want te talk about it, fair enough I thought. I wasn’t sure what te dee then. There were so many questions; settlin’ on one I just asked ‘Why Mandy?’ Which got a blank stare so I added ‘I assume it’s short for Amanda? Shouldn’t your name be Andrea instead?’ She just blushed and said she’d always thought ‘Mandy was a nice name actually’.”

“Have you asked her why she said that?” Charlotte butted in. She wasn’t going to say she believed this story, but she felt sure that the strange girl in front of her did.

“No, I’ve not thought about it really, I’ve been a bit busy recently. Do ya think it’s important?”

“Oh no, sorry I was just wondering. Sorry for interrupting.”

The boy continued “I think it was around then that I realised I was just avoidin’ the big issue, so I decided te ask if she had any idea how it had happened? She answered that she had ‘nee idea, but do you think it’s got owt te dee with what happened at Halloween?’ Well that was fairly obvious, on thinkin’ about it, so I just nodded yes.

She then asked if anythin’ had happened te me. I got a bit defensive, so she added ‘just owt strange?’ I told her about what happened the previous nite; she looked concerned, askin’ us if I ‘was alreet?’ Honestly girls can be such worrywarts sometimes!

After discussin’ it for a bit, we decided that we should talk te the others, so I called them and tald them to cam over. They weren’t too keen, especially as I didn’t want te discuss it over the phone, but I think I was direct enough to get them te agree.

It was strange sittin’ with this Mandy who’d been Drew in me house waitin’ for the others to arrive. I don’t think we talked much until Lee and Craig arrived after about 40 minutes, and I hid Mands in the kitchen. I wanted to see what they remembered about Drew. Kev then soon appeared and Chris was late, as usual, but wasn’t that long behind. They all wondered who’d thumped us as they asked about me bruised eye, I didn’t see much point in lyin’ so I told them I’d passed out. They seemed te find it funny.

I think it was Craig who eventually asked ‘so what did you want to see us about then?’ he then added ‘And why’s Drew not here by the way?’ It felt nice knawin’ that I wasn’t the only one who remembered him, but I had to ask ‘Who’s Drew?’ I managed te pull off the puzzled look quite well, I think, at least it seemed to convince them; it probably helped that I could also think of him as Mands as well now.

‘You know the kid that lives down ya street’, he added to which I said ‘oh, you mean Mandy? She’s in the kitchen’, I then shouted for her. I probably shouldn’t have got such a thrill owt of seein’ the looks on their faces as they realised who she was, although I was a bit narked that none of them fainted. Still we soon had them up to speed, we al thought it was reet strange that only us seemed to notice Drew’s change. We thought at the time we must be immune to this perception alterin’ somehow.

I asked if owt weird had happened to them. Nowt had happened to Craig, Chris or Lee but Kev was lookin’ real worried like, so I asked him ‘what?’

Well apparently the Ouija board hadn’t gan in the bin like we’d thought; nope he’d kept it in his room and decided to tack it owt last nite. ‘Why?’ I had to ask him, because he wanted to see if he’d ‘really gone round the bend’, he said.

I wanted to thump him one. Craig jumped in though askin’ ‘ok so what happened?’ Nowt much, he said just that girl’s voice moanin’ about ‘it’s always boys’, he then claimed he’d chucked it back in the bin bag and hid it back in his cupboard. I was havin’ none of it, I’ve knawn him lang enough te knaw when he’s lyin’ and he was doin’ it then, I tald him as much. He wasn’t keen, but as I looked at him I think he could tell how annoyed I was and gave in.

He admitted that ‘there might have been a bit more’. I think we al sort of nodded at him te gan on. So he tald us about how he’d been convinced nowt would happen and been surprised when she started up again. He said he just sat there in shock, with the board in front of him on his bed, as she wittered on.

Apparently as he was sittin’ there ‘she just kept on ganin on and on about how it wasn’t fair that it was always boys’, so he ‘decided to ask what was wrong with boys?’ He’d also added that ‘at least it shut her up for a sec.’ According to Kev, her response was not many of the boys who’d got in touch with her bothered to speak to her, I can’t imagine why! She’d also added how even those that did speak to her had been driven away by ‘him’.

Kev said he’d asked who this him was, and she’d answered that she didn’t really knaw. She claimed she’d never met him, although Kev then tald us she had added ‘well until he’d killed’ her. She’d said it rather calmly according to him and had apparently ‘reet spooked’ him. She’d also added that she thought this ‘man’ had been jealous of her boyfriend.” The boy supped at his new pint, and pondered what he’d just told. He thought he’d repeated Kev’s story accurately so far.

Having decided it seemed ok he continued on. “I think we were all gettin' a bit worked up at this point as it was ganin from bad to worse. But we did discuss it a bit, Kev tald us that although at the time he was well worried, the more he thought about it the more he thought she seemed just lonely. He didn’t think what I’d saw the nite before was her, we al agreed it made more sense that it was this ‘man’.

I think it was then that Chris asked Kev what we al been thinkin’ though; why the hell did he keep on talkin’ to her? He said he hadn’t, he’d picked up the board, bunged it in the bag and put it back in his cupboard.

It al answered quite a few questions but still didn’t explain what had happened to Drew and I tald him so. He’d answered that he thought she’d perked up just before he’d put the board back in the bag, and thinkin’ about it he might have heard her say somethin’ about havin’ an idea.

It was Mands that asked him the obvious of if he thought that ‘this idea was that if boys were bein’ scared away from her, then she’d just have te make sure anyone that she spoke te were girls?’ He just nodded. We al sort of sat there shocked, but it did sort of make sense of everythin’, more than anything else we could think of.”

Charlotte broke in there. “Ok, um well just to clarify for now, but did the girl say anything else about herself?”

“Na Kev said he’d not really asked her much beyond those few questions, but we did decide to sort this out by heeding around his to use the board.

But before heedin’ off I wanted to change from me clothes, so I went up to me room to do that, and Mands heeded off to change as well.

It didn’t tak us long te get changed, and I was on me way back out of me room when I noticed them, some hair clips and a couple of scrunchies. I fair freaked out and got the others running upstairs te see what was wrong.

I told them. Lee found it reet funny and said somethin’ stupid like ‘I’m sure you’ll make a cute girl, you’re blond after al’. He wasn’t laughing so much when I pointed out to the idiot child that he’d be one soon too! I think I may also have tald Kev that if anythin’ did happen te me and the others somehow escaped it, I would make damned certain that he never got a date with any girl in the city again!

I was annoyed and fair slammed the door as I heeded owt to meet Mands so we could al gan to Kev’s. I didn’t get far though, as I crashed into the others who were starin’ across the street at the shadows under the tree opposite.” The boy paused, he wanted to continue, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. He’d known he shouldn’t have had so much to drink; he needed the loos. He excused himself.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Charlotte asked; given what the girl believed was happening to her she thought it might be reassuring not to be alone.

The boy thought for a moment, but the bogs had seemed pretty bright to him, he declined and headed off to the ladies.