Oh, How We Drift

Chapter Fifteen

15.

The winter sunshine was shining blinding light through the clear sky, beaming waves of heat down into Dr.Peters' back garden. Jules sat on the wooden deck chair, staring up at the cotton wool streaks of cloud that drifted around miles above her. Ahdi stood down the end of the garden, plucking at weeds in a flowerbed at the bottom fence. The grass sloped downwards as the garden stretched away from the house, allowing Jules to have a clear view of the horizon beyond. The forest trees parted ways to create a clear line of sight; in the distance Jules could see the steeple of Canterbury Cathedral, stretching upwards out of the surrounding grey like the thorn of a rose.

She looked upwards at the clear, crystal sky, shading her face with the palm of her hand as she squinted her eyes from the light of the sun. The weather had been blisteringly hot for the last few days, almost as if everything had been thrown out of balance. Jules thought to herself, it couldn't be a coincidence that nature happened to turn on its head whilst everything else was happening to her. Perhaps the world didn't like being invaded by strange creatures of the night with a thirst for her blood.

Regardless, the last few days at Dr.Peters' house were a welcome respite from the chaotic situation she had found herself in. The three of them had decided to wait for any reply from Jess, in order to better find out the situation in Purgatory before they embarked for the Great Library. Chris refused to talk in detail about the Library, only stating that things had to be very dire for them to be needed there. He spoke with a sense of dread whenever it came up in conversation, almost as if he knew what lay in wait for them there.

Ahdi was understandably sceptical about the whole idea, given his scientific roots. There was still a large part of him that wanted to remain grounded in reality. His various discussions with Chris about everything around them had peaked his curiosity, but also sparked his cynicism. He'd dealt with life and death situations almost his entire working life, he'd fought to save the lives of patients dying on the operating table, he'd stayed up for hours at a time, not stopping to give himself a well-earned break because five minutes could be the difference between somebody living and somebody dying. And now that he had finally retired from the stress, from the urgency of it all, Ahdi discovered that he had been battling an unseen enemy this entire time. That the whole time he was battling to keep that patient's heartbeat plodding along, there had been somebody waiting in the wings, ready for his moment of failure so they could snatch that person away to wherever needed them most.

Understandably, this gave Chris and him a few differences to settle. Some of which were still far up in the air, waiting to come plummeting down. But there were bigger things for the pair of them to worry about right now, so their separations would have to wait. Ahdi turned and looked up the slope of the garden, spotting Jules reclined in the chair, staring upwards into the gleaming sky, "Is Chris not going to be joining us again?" He shouted.

Jules sat upright in the chair, her feet now touching the warm pavement, "I'm guessing not. He said he doesn't like the sun, apparently it gives him sunburn!"

"A thousand years out of direct sunlight does that to a person!" There was a shout from above Jules' head, Chris' voice coming from an open window.

"Are you in the bathroom right now?" She asked. There was a long silence.

"No." Chris replied bluntly.

Ahdi started up the garden slope, setting his shovel down on the grass, he wore a plaid shirt and dark blue jeans, his age barely showed from his youthful face and decidedly modern outfit, "I can't believe you won't join us Chris. We haven't had weather like this in February for as long as I can remember."