Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Wednesday morning

Despite George’s warnings, Rainie was disappointed not to have met Dheera while making her way through the woods. Now that she was home she picked up the phone and dialed her dad’s mobile number. He would be more likely to answer than her mother who hated the phone interrupting her conversations and writing. Her dad was pleased to hear from her and enquired about George and Toby, when he was satisfied there were no problems, Rainie told him about her homework task that asked her to find a picture of a childhood holiday and so she needed to know where the DVDs with family photos were kept. Her father explained in which cabinet in her mum’s office she’s have to delve and how the filing system worked. Rainie quickly filled her father in on George’s refiling of mum’s notebooks and drafts by novel. Her father grunted and proposed to keep this secret between them until her mother had finished her latest novel and her agent had sold the publishing rights internationally. Meanwhile they’d have to pray her mother wouldn’t want to go up to the attic to look for some inspiration. Rainie said goodbye and put the phone down. She felt bad about lying, but knew her parents would panic and call the emergency doctor if they were to find out she’s seen her ‘imaginary’ friend again.

She went to her mother’s office, switched on the computer and quickly found the cabinet. Now fully understanding her mother’s logic relating to filing things it was easy to locate the DVD of the summer holiday ten years ago. She put the CD in the drive and listened to it whizz. Clicking through the icons the pictures loaded on displayed as small thumbnails on the screen. Rainie enlarged it. She would have to find some landmarks that could help her locate where they had been and therefore where she might have met or been with Dheera before. There were views far and wide across hills and meadows, with Toby and her were flying kites in a few of them. There were pictures of her in familiar places and towns in the county and Rainie wondered if perhaps that year they hadn’t gone on a proper holiday. Grandpa had been ill after all and it would make sense if they’d stayed near and had opted for days out instead. It was a bit frustrating as she had nothing concrete to go on. Then suddenly she came across a picture of some standing stones. It immediately got her attention. Standing stones are mysterious, just like the girl. Could there be a connection?

Rainie turned on the wifi and googled standing stones in Kent. Five different sites came up on the screen. Coldrum Long Barrow, White horse stone, The devil’s stone (Rainie didn’t like the sound of that), Kit’s Coty and the Countless stones. Rainie clicked on the first to look at images. She felt a tingle go down her spine.  Coldrum Long Barrow definitely resembled the stones in the photographs.

A small group of standing stones stood on the edge of a hill or an earthen mound. They were upright and very close together. The view in the background didn’t give much away as it was just endless hills, and fields separated by hedgerows without a house or building to be seen in the distance. The stones seemed to be encircled by smaller stones.  

Rainie clicked on the link to the National Trust website and read:

Coldrum Longbarrow is the least-damaged megalithic longbarrow in Kent and takes its name from the now demolished Coldrum Lodge Farm.

It's possible the name 'Coldrum' derived from the old Cornish word 'Galdrum' which means 'place of enchantments'. Owned in perpetuity by us since 1926 in memorial of Benjamin Harrison, an Ightham historian, this 3,000 year-old burial chamber is the only one of those originally present in the Medway Valley to remain virtually intact.

A burial site. Of all the things Rainie had imagined a burial site wasn’t one of them. Place of enchantment yes, that seemed to make sense in connection with Dheera. But how was a girl that had stepped out of an egg connected to a burial site? This seemed to bring up more questions than answers and she wasn’t even sure this was where she’d been with Dheera at all. This was just all so confusing. Rainie turned the computer off in frustration. She pushed the seat back and stared out of the window. Where to now? George had more answers than he was willing to give, but how to pry them out? If only she’d never gone into the woods to do stupid cartwheels she was way too old for anyway. She would never have seen the egg, never have met Dheera, never have ended up feeling trapped. Rainie walked out of the office and slammed the door for good measure. Steering clear of the woods, she took the long way back to George’s house. In anger she pushed the pedals hard and found herself back at Sunnyside much sooner than she wanted. Nowhere else to go she put her bike in the shed.

“Rainie?” George asked when she walked in.

“The one and only” she replied.

“Where have you been?” George asked, a worried tone to his voice.

Wondering what she’d done wrong she said “I’ve been home looking for photos of the holiday you said I spent with …” Rainie looked around the see of Toby was within earshot and whispered “Dheera”.

“Dheera? I told you to leave it alone. Last time she caused nothing but trouble. Honestly Rainie.” Rainie saw the anger flare in her grandfather’s eyes. She was surprised by the outburst. Yesterday afternoon George had taken down all those boxes to help her and now this.

“But Grandad you took all mum’s boxes down from the loft yesterday to help me find answers”. George looked surprised. “I never”.

“You did” Rainie said, stunned. She wasn’t going mad was she? “You even reorganised the boxes by novel.” George looked at her as if indeed she’d gone mad. Then walked briskly up the stairs. Opened the hatch and slid the stairs out. “Turn the light on for me, will you?” he ordered and Rainie obliged.

To his consternation George saw indeed that the boxes had been recently moved and renamed in his own handwriting, with the names of the novels on them. He couldn’t believe his eyes. 

When had he done this? He had no recollection of it happening. George climbed down the rungs carefully taking his time, more to reflect upon what he just had seen and upon what Rainie had claimed than anything else. Rainie was concerned. George had been so certain he hadn’t done anything with the boxes and yet he had. Was Grandad becoming forgetful? But you wouldn’t forget an entire afternoon would you? Raine made a mental note to look up early signs of Alzheimer. She looked concerned at George.

“Well, you better tell me exactly what happened yesterday, what I did and what I said.” George was looking stricken.

“Are you alright grandad?” Rainie asked.

“What do you think?” George looked annoyed at his granddaughter.

Well, Rainie thought, should have kept your mouth. You’ve just been told him he lost at least half a day of his memory. She placed her hand on his arm, steadying him as he descended the last rung.

“And before you say anything there is nothing wrong with my memory”. George said. He shook Rainie’s hand off his arm, not wanting to be patronised. Rainie followed him to the living room and sat down next to him on the sofa.

“I can only tell you what happened from the moment I arrived home from school yesterday”

George nodded “What time?”

“It must have been about half past three” Rainie continued “you were on the floor putting notebooks and printed drafts of mum’s books back in their boxes. You said you’d taken them down from the loft and because you couldn’t make head nor tail of the filing system decided to re order them by novel, instead of number and colour.” George listened attentively. “When I came home you said I should go to the kitchen because Debs had dropped by and brought cake. I asked if you had agreed to disagree and you said sort of. Then I went into the kitchen, made myself a cup of tea, since you already had one I didn’t make you any and then it dawned on me you might have taken the boxes down to look for the notebook containing the notes of mum’s interview with me about my imaginary friend. I was pleased you had a chance of heart on that one too. I asked you and you waved it about.” Rainie looked to check George hadn’t suddenly remembered anything of this, but he still looked puzzled. “You asked me to help you take all the boxes back to the loft, Toby came home and helped and then we sat down to look at the notes.” Rainie finished.

“Where is your mum’s notebook now?” George asked.

Rainie retrieved it from her rucksack and gave it to George. “How odd, annoyingly odd, that it just doesn’t ring a bell” George said stroking the cover “How could I forget doing such a big job? Or even wanting to search for the notebook in the first place?” George sounded a little scared thought Rainie.

Which is exactly what he was. He didn’t want to show Rainie his anxiety, although he was sure she had picked up on it. Forgetting hours of his day could only mean one thing. The girl had already started to put things into action and was attempting to take him, her only obstacle, out of the equation. George wasn’t going to let it happen. He had to make it very clear to Rainie what she had done before, what she probably wanted to do again. How could he make it clear to his beloved, curious granddaughter?  

“Do you think Dheera is causing the memory loss?” George’s train of thought was interrupted.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I lost some time too. Remember Toby thought I had a blackout when he found me at home?” Rainie said.

“Yes…” George said, waiting for an explanation.

“Sorry I overheard you two talking” Rainie explained, “I had just met Dheera and it was as if a fog blocked my brain or something. I am not explaining this very well am I?” Rainie said.

“No, no, you are explaining it well. I have a similar feeling, when I think back about yesterday afternoon, I can only remember Debs’ visit, leaving cake for us and apologizing for her behaviour lately, then nothing until cooking dinner. Anything in between I just can’t seem to get to, like you said as if there is a misty barrier to thick to look into, blocking view.”

“Is this the trouble you were talking about when you referred to Dheera?” Rainie asked.

“No, I wasn’t. Although this is part of it, the least harmful part.” George made a decision. He was taking a big risk and hoped he wasn’t going to regret it. “I’m going to tell you everything that happened, things that I saw ten years ago and things you told me. We have to put an end to this, to her.”

Rainie was surprised by her Grandfather’s determination. She had heard George’s fighting talk before, but it had always been about politics. Not actually threatening people. If you could call Dheera a person. Rainie wasn’t sure.

   

George went to the kitchen and Rainie followed him. From behind her grandmother’s cookbooks, George retrieved an envelope. It looked old and there were stains on it, no doubt from the various little jars and boxes of food that had been stored in front of it. He handed it to Rainie. “Here’s everything I know” George said. “Take it with you to your room and read it. Once you’ve read it we’ll talk about it okay?” Rainie nodded and watched her Grandfather walk out of the back door to his beloved garden where he sat down on the bench. Rainie looked further into the garden and thought she caught a glimpse of Mrs. Tamaro. Was she somehow involved in this too? The thought crossed her mind but she quickly dismissed it. No need to become suspect of the whole world now, was there.

Sitting at her desk Rainie placed the three note books and the envelope next to one another. Her own, brand new one with her sketches and notes and old one from when she was four. Mum’s containing the transcript of the interview and George’s letter containing her memories of the events that took place ten years ago and first brought Dheera into their lives. Rainie felt reluctant to open it. She had wanted answers and here they were in front of her, but now she was afraid to discover what it might reveal. Postponing the inevitable Rainie opened her own notebook first. She glanced over her notes about the standing stones and looked at the list of questions. Then she carefully opened George’s envelope and slipped out the letter.

Dheera contemplated the scene she had just witnessed. Would George’s account be honest? Would it be the whole truth, she wondered. 

“I can take you to the stones” Keira suggested. “I helped your mother, remember?”

“It has to be Eliza” she answered. “She’s getting close to the truth now and then we can put the plan into action.”

Keira felt worried “Just make sure she or anyone else in that family doesn’t get hurt this time around.” Probably a futile request Keira thought. Dheera made no comment.

The grey squirrel had slipped out of the house without either Dheera or Keira noticing. It had not liked what he had overheard and realised it was in way too deep. Should just have stayed up in the tree when the egg had first appeared in the woods, he thought. It wanted to go back home, but when it reached the property boundary his brain had become all foggy and he’d forgotten what he had wanted to do.