Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Monday evening

Rainie couldn’t sleep. Her mind returning again and again to the same three questions. Who was the girl? How did she know Rainie and why was she here? Would she show up again in her dreams? Too afraid to even close her eyes Rainie went down the stairs and into the small kitchen and warmed some milk. As she’d expected her Grandfather came down shortly afterwards and sat down at the table.

“Toby thinks you’ve had a black out”. Never one for diplomacy George went right to the crux of the matter. Gran wouldn’t think anything strange, but a girl stepping out of an egg?

“I don’t think I had a black out”, which was true. George looked at her and took her notebook out of her pocket.

“I found this outside earlier. It must have toppled out of the box you fetched.” Rainie felt her knees go weak. Her cheeks became hot. Of all the things to lose... George patted the seat next to him. Rainie sat down and stared at her milk. “These are beautiful drawings” Rainie looked up to see George watching her expectantly, questioningly. Rainie pursed her lips. George sighed. “When did you see her?” Rainie looked away thinking hard. Her? Did grandad know something or was he just guessing? Moments passed, George waited. The silence stretched until George finally said.

 “Here’s what I think happened.” Rainie didn’t dare look at her grandfather.

“You went into the woods and saw a beautifully decorated green egg…”

 “Teal” interrupted Rainie, giving herself away. “Sorry, carry on” she said.

“Why don’t you carry on.” said George gently, although his worst fears had just been confirmed. Rainie breathed in deeply, stood up and checked to make sure Toby wasn’t eavesdropping. Then she told George what had happened in the woods earlier and her wondering who the girl was and how she knew her name.

“She called me Eliza grandad” Rainie whispered “No one calls me Eliza anymore.”

George got up and boiled the kettle. He took his time making tea and didn’t speak a word. Rainie could tell however, that George was thinking hard. Reflecting on what to say and how to say it. George was indeed doing just that. Rainie was too old to be just told what to do, she would probably do the exact opposite. George decided to quench her curiosity a little, hoping she would quickly lose interest.  

“Her name is Dheera” Rainie gulped and nearly knocked over her milk. George had turned her back on her, walked to the book case and retrieved an old notebook tucked away conveniently behind some paperbacks on the top shelf. “I believe this is your very first sketchbook. You asked me to hide it for you when I moved here.”

“But I must have been four”. George nodded. “Have a look inside”. He said encouragingly.

Rainie stared at George, then looked at the book. She had no recollection of ever having owned it. She caressed the cover and picked it up. Smelling the old paper. Although the writing inside was little more than undecipherable marks, they were very clear. The pictures were good. A lot better than she would have expected of her four-year-old self. The egg was there, it was broken in several pieces on the opposite page. The colour was strikingly close to the real thing. It must have taken her ages to find the exact right shade. Rainie turned the page. There was a picture of a manga girl pasted on it. She had coloured the hair blue, not bluebell blue, more of a corn blue. Rainie wondered if it was the same girl. Without prompting George spoke.

“I stayed with you and your parents after Rose had passed away. I remember you talking about her and describing her. You were extremely frustrated that you couldn’t draw her properly. Then one afternoon we were watching TV and you pointed at it and said ‘That’s Dheera, but with blue hair’. I bought you a manga and you cut out that picture and coloured it. When your parents saw it they assumed she was your imaginary friend.”

Rainie smiled. A memory surfaced. She was in the kitchen with her mum. Her mum had asked for lots of details and Rainie had happily obliged her. She couldn’t remember what she had said, but she did recall her mum’s serious interested face, writing down every word Rainie told her and giving her the most beautiful smile. Mum said she would use her descriptions in her new book. Rainie had felt incredibly proud to have helped her mum write a book.  Though come to think of it, it hadn’t actually made the final draft of any book her mother had written.

“I never believed she was imaginary.” George said while getting up. He took a risk and said: “She caused a lot of trouble. I want you to stay away from her.” He didn’t dare wait for Rainie’s reaction and quickly headed up the stairs. Rainie was left wondering what trouble, but knew it would be useless asking George about it now. She flicked through her old sketchbook and smiled. Really not bad drawing for a four-year old, maybe she was indeed talented enough to pursue this.

Dheera had heard it all. Anger was boiling inside her and she had to use all of her self-control not to take the roof off the building. Not realising the depth of her anger the grey squirrel flippantly remarked: “I hope you have a plan B”. He was rewarded with a fling shot flight going across to the other side of the garden.