Edie | primeval

1.7

OH, MOTHER...

...

It had been two weeks since Edie had spoken to Stephen in that hospital room. The last of the summer weather had diffused into autumn which meant rain. Jess had spent some time with her in an attempt to cheer her up, but it was clear that whatever had happened between Edie and Stephen was not simple.

Luckily, Edie chose to throw herself into her work instead of dwelling on the thought of Stephen. She would have lied if she said she didn't think of him, but she would rather feel the pain now than feel it worse later on.

"Did you hear about the problem with the water?" Jess asked while the two of them were sitting in a local coffee shop.

"No, what happened?" Edie looked up from her book.

"Something was affecting the water pressure," Jess began, "but there was talk of men dressed in black and some kind of creature."

Edie stared at Jess. Men dressed in black and a creature? Was that what the conspiracy theorists favoured now? The talk of the earth being flat must have gotten boring or aliens weren't as viable as they seemed.

"People talk too much," Edie sighed. "It was probably the water pressure and people protesting the council about it."

Edie's phone started to buzz. She didn't recognise the number so let it be.

"That doesn't explain the men or 'creature'," Jess raised her eyebrow.

"Maybe the police were busy," Edie laughed.

Edie returned to her chapter, occasionally sipping her tea while Jess tapped away at her laptop. People were coming and going, keeping the shop at a steady pace.

"Do you prefer the book or the film?" Jess pointed at the copy of Jurassic Park that Edie was reading.

Edie's phone buzzed again.

"The film is more about fighting dinosaurs and action," Edie explained, "the book talks about Chaos Theory and probability. It's interesting."

"Why do you need to know about that?"

"Bringing dinosaurs back to life is dangerous."

There was no point trying to explain the theory- a science of predicting the behaviour of 'inherently unpredictable' systems.

"So... I was thinking," Jess said, "Someone I work with-"

"Jess," Edie said sternly, "I said no."

For the third time, Edie's phone rang.

"Just answer whoever it is," Jess told her, pushing the phone closer towards Edie.

Taking her phone, she stood outside, grateful the rain had stopped. The number wasn't the local area code or mobile number. It didn't even seem to be the number of some scam caller.

"Hello," Edie said, finally answering the phone.

"Where are you?" A woman's voice said. "It's me. Did you get the letter?"

It's a strange thing- remembering someone's voice after so long. It's as though you've heard them on a loop when really there was silence.

"You're alive..."

That was all Edie could say.

"I thought you were smarter than that," the sarcasm was barely tolerable through the phone.

"What do you want?" Edie asked.

"I need to you come to me and I need you to get me out-"

"You've been arrested?"