Part 1
Darkness. That’s all there was.
BANG! "Ow! Somebody get a light! I knew that generator wouldn’t last." Harley muttered to herself. Suddenly a spark of light flared up from nowhere and a candle lit up the face of Leia.
"What’s going on? I come in from foraging for food to a pitch black warehouse, I knew that generator wouldn’t last, trust Max to think it would!" she looked at Harley, wondering what she would say next.
"How could you say about your boyfriend? Anyway I said that generator wouldn’t last before you did. Go and find Max or some candles would you? We need some light." She snatched the candle off of Leia, who glared at Harley and stormed off, the purple bunches of hair on her head bouncing off into the dark.
"Whose stupid idea was it to make her leader anyway? What ever happened to being the Freedom Fighters? The tribe against slavery and war? Well why do I feel like a slave?" She was actually talking to herself, but then a torch light flicked on and the beam hit her square in the face, half blinding her. Then Max’s voice spoke out-
"Don’t worry Laigh, Harley’s always like that, you should know, you’ve been here long enough." Laigh smiled and closed her eyes for a brief second. She then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss (Laigh, by the way, was what everyone called her as she hated her proper name)
"Max! Are you trying to blind me?" She laughed "Anyway, you’re right, I have been here a long time. Too long."
"Hey don’t get any ideas you, I know what your like" Max lit his face up with the torch he was holding, "Now then, let’s go and find those candles..."
...Laigh sighed as she sat on the area of beach that was just outside the warehouse that the Freedom Fighter’s lived in. She sighed and thought of how they had come together, there was only five of them, her, Harley, Max, Scott and Lucy. She had been all alone ‘til she met Scott and Luce, who originally found the warehouse but were soon discovered by Harley and then she’d met Max. She sighed again, and thought of that day. She had been walking through the city when she had heard the distinct siren of the Locos car, she had hidden in the exact same place as Max, who quickly introduced himself and when the Locos had passed by, they went back to the warehouse as Max had nowhere to stay and they soon fell head over heels in love with each other. The only person who had ever acted strangely about this was Harley. Probably jealous, thought Laigh, oh well her stupid life. Thinking of the Locos made a sharp throbbing pain come into her heart and she reached into her pocket and took out a folded photograph, on the photo was herself, a bit younger and laughing her head off over something, at both sides of her were two boys, they looked older than her but they weren’t much older. The one on the left was blonde haired, the one on the right brown haired, the same as her. They all looked so happy, in the old days...
"You really miss them don’t you?" a gentle voice said
"Wouldn’t you miss your cousins, especially if they were as close as these two were to me Luce?" Laigh asked, teary eyed. Lucy sat down next to her, and put her arm around Laigh, "Who do you miss the most, in your opinion?" She asked,
"I miss them both as much as the other!" Laigh said, shocked that anyone could ask that, "Why do you think I’d miss one more than the other?"
"Well because Martin became Zoot, and Bray just disappeared" Lucy said, a little embarrassed that she’d even brought it up
"Just because of that you think I’d like one more than the other?" Laigh was appalled.
"I.. I’m sorry Leia, I guess I just didn’t think." Luce said "Do you wish that you’d gone off with the Locusts then? You know, when Zoo.. I mean, Martin, asked you to?"
"Yes.. No.. I don’t know" Laigh put her head down "Just leave me alone OK?" Lucy walked off. Laigh started to cry more, Martin’s final plea to her started to fly around her head once again.
"Come with me Laigh, I’ll look after you, so will the rest of the Locos. Power and Chaos is the only way now". She’d just walked away, that wasn’t the life she’d wanted. But something else started to come into her head. The day she’d seen the Locusts, without him for the first time, where was he? That’s all she wanted to know, where her beloved cousin had gone, and Bray? Where was he? He wasn’t with Ebony, that was for sure. Laigh put the photo away and walked inside.
"Oh c’mon Max, you know you want me" Harley was saying, her arms wrapped around him, her face close to his. He was trying to get away but her grip just tightened
"Stop it Har, if Laigh sees..."
"If Laigh sees what?" Laigh leant against the door frame, her arms folded and an angry gleam in her eyes
"Sweetheart, it’s not what it looks like..." Max managed to get out of Harley’s arms and put his hands on Laigh’s shoulders, she knocked then off and said
"Don’t ‘sweetheart’ me you creep" She stormed off, Max running after her
"Laigh, Leia, please you have to believe me, you know Harley’s been after me for ages! But I don’t want her, I love you!" Laigh stopped in her tracks.
"You do?" she asked
"Yes, c’mon, you know I do" he said taking her hand in his "Will you marry me?"
Laigh had to sit down quickly
"Marry you, but how?"
"I don’t know, we’ll get Harley to marry us."
"That slag? No way!"
"OK Lucy or Scott then"
"Oh Max of course I will!" She threw her arms around him and they went in for a long, passionate kiss when-
"Hey what’s going on?" Scott interrupted,
"Laigh says she’ll marry me!" Max said happily
"Hey great! Can I be your best man?" Scott said with a wink
"Yeah sure!" Max replied, he kissed Laigh, who smiled happily at him
"What am I going to wear?" she asked cheekily
"Anything you want!" he replied
"I bet it’ll be purple!" Scott said laughing, they all began to laugh then, purple was what Laigh wore all the time, at the moment she was wearing purple boots, purple trousers and a lilac top and not to mention her purple hair and nails, the only thing that wasn’t purple was the blue crescent moon in the centre of her forehead, the Freedom Fighter logo. Well it looks like things can only get better, Laigh thought happily to herself.
Later on that evening, everyone was asleep except for Laigh, who was sat drinking a cup of coffee in the ‘dining area’, Lucy crept up silently behind her and put her hand on Laigh’s shoulder
"God Lucy! What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?!?" Laigh shouted
"Shhhhh, everyone else’s asleep" Lucy said. Her face was pale.
"Luce, what’s wrong?" Laigh asked, pulling out a seat for her to sit on, Lucy sat down,
"I don’t know how to tell you this, but I heard you were getting married to Max so I thought I’d better, oh why did I have to hear..." she wailed
"Just spit it out Luce, it can’t be that bad" Laigh said
"It is though. I heard Max and Harley talking earlier..."
"So? What’s wrong with that?" Laigh interrupted
"It was what they were talking about, I hate to be the one to tell you this but..."
"But what?!" Laigh was ready to hit Lucy if she didn’t tell her
"Max and Harley have been sleeping together. There, I said it, so..."
"YOU WHAT?!?!" Laigh screamed "You must be mistaken.."
"I’m not, I really wish I am but I know, Harley told me the other day and threatened to kill me if I told anyone, especially you" Lucy was close to tears
"What were they saying earlier then?" Laigh was also close to crying
"Max told her that he’d proposed and you’d said yes, and Harley was mad, she asked him if all those times with her had meant anything to him, he said yes but he wanted to keep you happy." Lucy started to cry "I’m so sorry Laigh"
"It’s alright" sobbed Laigh, who wasn’t one to cry "Look go to bed, try and forget about it OK, whatever you do, DON’T TELL HARLEY YOU TOLD ME."
Laigh, her heart broken, left the room.
Daybreak, Max was snuggled under the covers of his and Laigh’s bed.
"Laigh darling, I’m cold, come and warm me up" He rolled over to her side of the bed to discover that she wasn’t there. He opened his eyes to find a piece of paper lying on her pillow. He sat up and unfolded it, on it said-
"Dear Max,
I had to leave, Harley has gone too far this time and so have you, I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for what you have done. Maybe in time but I clearly don’t think so. Say goodbye to Luce and Scott for me. I now realise that they were my only true friends. Do not come looking for me, all I can say is that I have gone to do what I should have done a long time ago.
-Leia."
Part 2
Caw, caw, the seagull cried overhead. Laigh opened her eyes, the sea was gently crashing against the rocks, she sat up, and stretched her back, she then realised that she had been lying on a stone all night which had made her back ache. She thought about the night before, "Oh why did it have to happen?" she said out loud, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes, she didn’t wipe them away, she just let them fall into her lap. Maybe I’ll be better off without them, she thought, maybe I’ll be able to make a new start, do the things I’ve always wanted to do, get a little place in the country, maybe grow my own food- "Oh who am I kidding?" Laigh stood up and shouted out "It’s just a stupid dream, I’ll just be here, alone, unless..." she sat down again and took the photo out of her pocket, she smiled deeply at how close her, Martin and Bray looked on it, that party was amazing, shame they didn’t know that it would be the last party they would have together, as it was a month or so before the virus had struck... "I will find you, whatever it takes," Laigh said directly to the photo, "I will." She got up and left the beach, and headed towards the city.
"You guys, Scott, Lucy! Where are you?" Max came rushing out of the bedroom holding the note in the air.
"Hey what’s wrong, man?" Scott asked, stretching as he came out of his room, half asleep.
"Laigh’s gone! She’s left me!" he shouted.
"What?!? You’re kidding right?" Lucy came dashing in.
"I wish I was," Max replied "I really did." Lucy turned away so no one could see how guilty she looked, she felt terrible, and wished that she’d never told her.
"What’s this? Leia’s gone?" Harley sauntered in casually. "Oh well, you win some, you lose some..."
"Don’t be so insensitive!" snapped Scott; "Hey I’m so sorry Max, you must be gutted" he put a reassuring hand on Max’s shoulder. "You know we’re all here for you, but why would she do something like this? It’s crazy, she loved you so much!" he left the room, shaking his head confusedly.
"Who knows, who knows?" Lucy sighed and quickly followed Scott out. Harley walked up to Max, who was clearly upset.
"On this letter it says "Harley has gone too far this time and so have you" what does it mean? What have I done that’s so wrong?" He indicated this on the letter.
"Hey Max, forget about her" Harley slipped her arms around him, "she obviously doesn’t care, just think, now we can be together" she tried to kiss him but he pulled away.
"NO! stop this Harley, it’s madness!" he turned away from her and went back to his room.
"You’ll forget about her soon!" shouted Harley. "I guarantee.."
The City was silent, Laigh walked along the road which went past the old shopping mall, she stopped in front of it and smiled, she remember her first shopping spree there. Martin and Bray had told her she could have anything she wanted, as a ‘welcome to your new home’ kind of present, she’d picked the necklace she was wearing at that moment; she placed her hand on the soft feathers that were hung around the cord on her neck. She’d fallen in love with the necklace as soon as she’d seen it so she couldn’t resist it. She sighed, and all of a sudden jumped as she heard the wailing siren of the Loco’s car, but this time she didn’t hide; she stood boldly in the middle of the road, hoping that it wouldn’t run her down; but when she saw the ex-police car coming towards her at a terrific speed she realised that Ebony was not riding on top like she usually did, where was she? Had she gone the same way as Martin? The car, luckily for Laigh, stopped right in front of her and what looked like the new Loco leader shouted.
"Hey look a Freedom Fighter!" he pointed at the moon on her forehead. "Hey, little girl, have you come to try and stop us from taking slaves?" the tribe laughed at her, Laigh just glared at the boy and shouted back.
"Who are you? Where’s Zoot and Ebony?"
"I’m Spike, the new leader," the boy shouted back, the others cheered. "Zoot went away a long time ago, on some sort of journey, according to Ebony, and as for her, well she ran off with this guy called Bray." the others started to look threatening and started to advance "Now I’ve answered your stupid questions are you going to get out of the way or am I going to have to knock you down?"
"I’ll gladly move, thank you" Laigh said back sweetly, she stepped onto the pavement and the car sped away, the siren blaring. Her heart was jumping, Ebony was with Bray? But where? And what had happened to Martin? This was all confusing and the city was starting to disagree with her, so she decided to head off for the country and sort her head out.
The country air was refreshing, she ran down a hill, the wind blowing in her face, and then sat down. She started to remember her parents...
"Leia, darling we have some news, " Her mother had said. "Your father has got a new job, but not here. We’re moving out to New Zealand, your dad’s home town to be exact"
"You mean I can be with Martin and Bray all the time?" She had said excitedly.
"Well not all the time, but a lot more than just for a week in the summer" her mum had laughed cheerfully. That had been 3 months before the dreaded virus, she thought, what if we’d never moved from England? I’d probably be all alone still, she sighed and heard her father’s final words in her head, that had been so long ago, but it still felt like yesterday...
"Leia you have to be strong, please for our sakes, look after yourself, I’m sure Bray and Martin will look after you, just remember, your parents love you no matter what and we’ll always be watching over you" he’d then hugged her and left her, in the middle of a crowded hall of people she didn’t know, she remembered one person from that place in particular, she’d come up to Laigh one evening while she’d been crying.
"Hey don’t cry," she’d said soothingly and put an arm around her shoulders, "Everything will be just fine, I’m sure it will, now here, I’m Salene, I’ll look after you until you or I leave" Salene, such a nice name, thought Laigh, and such a nice person too; but one morning when Laigh had woken up she had gone, along with 3 children she had been looking after, now what were their names? Patsy, Paul and Cleo? "Oh well I’m sure they were something like that," she sighed "I wish I could have gone with them..."
"Scott, have you got a minute?" Lucy came up behind Scott, who had been working on fixing the generator, he stood up and banged his head in the process.
"OW! Lucy, please? Can’t you see I’m busy?" He said roughly, rubbing his head.
"Oh I’m so sorry!" exclaimed Lucy "But it’s urgent, it’s about Laigh..."
"What about her?" asked Scott gently, Lucy burst into tears.
"It’s all my fault! I’m such an idiot for telling her!" She sobbed.
"No you’re not! Now what’s wrong?" Scott put his arm around Lucy.
"The other day Harley told me that she’d slept with.. with Max" Lucy sobbed harder.
"WHAT?!? That’s impossible! He’s in love with Laigh!" Scott exclaimed.
"Well it happened, I know because the other night I heard Harley having a go at Max because he’d proposed to Laigh, she asked him if all those times with her had meant anything to him, he said yes" Lucy was choked up.
"Well, wait a moment, you didn’t..." Scott looked at Lucy, who nodded her head sorrowfully. "You did, you told Laigh, how could you?"
"I didn’t want her to make a terrible mistake by marrying him then finding out about Harley, please you can’t say a word to anyone, you have to promise..."
"OK, Luce, I promise," Scott held Lucy in his arms. Harley came walking into the room.
"Oh come on Lucy, get over it, Laigh’s gone and she’s not coming back" She said spitefully.
"She will! You just wait!" shouted Lucy.
"Come on, it’s obvious that she didn’t love him or else she would have stayed" answered Harley, she then went back out.
"One of these days, you’re gonna pay for what you did Har, you just wait and see..." muttered Scott.
Back at the beach, Laigh was by a rock pool, washing away the last piece of her that was anything to do with the Freedom Fighters, the blue crescent moon on her forehead, she had decided that she didn’t want anything to do with them anymore. She then went and sat in the same spot as she had spent the night before, she thought about her eventful day, she had discovered a lot of useful information but still felt a million miles away from Bray and Martin, "Where can you guys be?" She asked herself, "You can’t be that far away." She picked up a stone and launched it towards the sea, it obviously didn’t hit the rough waves but she was so fed up she felt she had to throw something. The sun had started to set, the red rays of light lit up her face and the cold evening wind started to make her shiver. Her thoughts began to wander back to the evening before, what Lucy had said and how she’d felt when Max had asked her to marry him, "Of course, it’s all starting to become clear," she exclaimed to herself, "The way Max had acted when Harley was all over him when I came in that afternoon, he wanted to hide all evidence of him and Harley by proposing, he didn’t really want to marry me at all!" she started to cry, she felt terrible, she’d trusted him for all that time and he’d just gone and thrown it all back in her face. To try and forget about that, the photo once again came out, "Oh Bray, oh Martin, where can you be?" she sobbed, "I miss you, I need you both here with me." she put the photo in her lap and remembered something Bray had said to her when the news about the virus had first come out,
"Don’t worry Laigh, whenever you’re lonely and feel that you need me or Martin, just sing our song, you’ll feel a lot better." she smiled and began to sing ‘To You I Belong’ by her favourite group B*Witched, she sang it out, loud and clearly in her sweet and gentle voice that so many people had loved, suddenly, from out of nowhere a voice shouted,
"Leia? Laigh! Is it really you?" She stood up quickly, recognizing the voice instantly. There, coming towards her quickly were two people. One, she had never seen before, a girl with blonde knotted hair but the other, could it be really? Bray?
Part 3
"Bray! Bray! Oh my God! Is it really you?" the smile on Laigh’s face couldn’t have got any bigger as she ran across the sands, straight into the arms of one of her favourite cousins,
"Yes Laigh it’s me" he said happily "I heard you singing our song. Where have you been? How are you?"
"Better now you’re here!" Laigh laughed, she gave him one final squeeze and then let go of him. The girl with the blonde knots looked confused, she put her hand on Bray’s arm and said
"Erm, sorry to break up the reunion but who’s this?" she seemed very threatened by the presence of Laigh,
"Oh sorry Amber, hey no need to look so worried, this is my cousin Leia"
"Please, Laigh" Laigh smiled and put her hand out to Amber, who immediately relaxed and took it.
"You never told me you had a cousin Bray," she said "Let alone an English one, how did you end up here?"
"My dad and Bray’s dad were brothers," answered Laigh, "Twins, to be exact. Anyway my dad got a job in England, where he met my mum, who got married and then had me, about 3 months before the virus we moved here because dad wanted to be near his family and had got a job here and so that’s my story," Laigh gave Bray a cunning look, "So, how long have you two been together? You seem to be pretty close, and how come you’re on the beach, do you live near here?" Bray smiled and looked at Amber, who also had a smile on her face,
"Not long, it’s actually a long story, we live in the mall and we’re on the beach because we had to get away from the others" he answered
"Others? There are more of you?" Laigh inquired
"Another 15 of us, to be precise," replied Amber "That’s including a dog, a pig and a chicken"
"Wow! So have you got a name?" Laigh asked
"We’re the Mall Rats" Bray said proudly "Hey are you with a tribe Laigh? Or are you a loner?"
"I was with a tribe, but something happened and I’m not going back, I was looking for you, or Martin" she replied, Bray looked troubled when she mentioned Martin, but she just ignored it
"So are you sleeping on the beach?" Amber asked gently "Please, come back with us, even though there’s so many of us, there’s still plenty of space"
"Are you sure?" Laigh asked "I wouldn’t like to impose..."
"You’re not," Amber said "I’m sure Bray would love it if you came back with us, wouldn’t you?" She looked Bray in the eye, he smiled thankfully at her
"Of course I would. Come on, you can tell us why you’re not going back to your tribe on the way"
"Alright, if your sure..." Laigh said cautiously
"Of course we’re sure!" exclaimed Bray and Amber together, they looked at each other and smiled, they then all walked off together, arm in arm.
"I can’t believe that! How awful!" Amber exclaimed as they walked into the mall, Laigh couldn’t believe how much the place had changed since the last time she had shopped there.
"I can’t believe that anyone could do that, I don’t think he loved you. I mean, I would NEVER ever do anything like that to Amber because I love her so much..." he looked at Amber and took her hand, she smiled lovingly at him and they started to kiss
"Ahem," Laigh cleared her throat "I’d like to meet the others, if that’s alright with you two..." Amber and Bray stopped and started to go red,
"Sorry cus, we got carried away I guess," Bray said. "OK let’s go and find the others."
"Hey everyone! Could you come here please? Amber and I want you to meet someone" Bray shouted out as they entered the cafe. A group of people came from different directions, they were an assorted bunch, there was a boy with bright red hair, a dark skinned boy with dark hair, a girl who had blue and pink hair, holding her hand was a long haired boy who looked suspiciously at Laigh, a little girl with pigtails and a boy with spiky hair.
"Who’s this? What does she want?" the boy with long hair demanded to know
"Shut up Lex, everyone this is my cousin Laigh. Laigh, this is everyone"
‘Everyone’ introduced themselves, she found out that they boy with red hair was Jack, the boy with him was Dal, the girl with the multicoloured hair was Zandra, Lex’s wife, the girl with pigtails was Patsy and the spiky haired boy was KC. Just then another girl came in, she had bright red hair and Laigh recognized her straight away
"Salene? Is it really you?" Laigh exclaimed
"Laigh? That’s your name right?" Salene asked "Wow! How are you?" they hugged and it was Bray’s turn to look confused.
"How do you two know each other?" He asked.
"We met at one of the drop off points when the adults evacuated!" Laigh explained, just then another girl came in, about the same age as Patsy, who now Laigh had also recognized "You were there too! Now what’s your name? Cleo?"
"No Cloe," The little girl told her "and this is Tai-San" Laigh smiled at the girl, older than Cloe, stood next to her.
"Hey you haven’t met Trudy yet!" Patsy said, stroking Bob the dog.
"Of course, erm actually you’re in for a surprise when you meet her" Bray said mysteriously. "Follow me, we’ll go and find her" They went to a room where a pretty girl with blue and black hair was nursing a baby.
"Come on Brady, go to sleep" she said gently
"Trudy?" Bray whispered, as not to disturb the baby, "I’d like you to meet mine and Martin’s cousin Laigh. Laigh this is Trudy and this is Brady, Martin’s daughter."
"What? You’re joking right?" Laigh exclaimed softly.
"He’s not, I’m afraid," said Trudy "It’s nice to meet you Laigh. There, she’s finally asleep, come on, let’s leave her now". They all left the room quietly, Laigh was quite overwhelmed by everything that had happened so far, but she was exhausted, she began to yawn.
"Laigh you must be exhausted, come on, let’s find Amber and then we’ll find you a bed, she’ll know where to put you." Bray put his arm around her "I’m so glad I found you"
"And I’m glad I found you too." Laigh said sleepily.
A lone candle flickered in the dark. Max was sat staring at it, almost as if it had hypnotized him. Harley came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned around, looking up at her. He noticed that her eye make up was a mess, two black streaks down her face, and her eyes were red, she looked like she’d been crying.
"Harley, what’s wrong?" Max asked, standing up to let her sit down on his seat
"Why does everyone hate me so much?" she sniffled. "What do I do to make them all hate me? I mean, I tried to cheer Lucy up this afternoon and all she did was shout at me." Her sobs became harder, Max put his arm around her shoulder
"You know this whole Laigh thing’s upset us all, Har. I mean, I want to know what I’ve done wrong, I really do," Harley then noticed how red Max’s eyes looked, she could tell that he’d been crying as well, and was about to start again, much to the annoyance of her. "I have to find her, I can’t let her go. I love her..."
"Well she can’t love you or else she’d still be here. Why don’t you just get over her?" she snapped
"How could you say that? No you’re right." He sighed. "She can’t love me or else she’d be here now, with me. Harley thank you, maybe it should have been you I had fallen for at the start." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, nothing major, just a friendly gesture. However Harley saw that as her moment to strike, she grabbed hold of the front of Max’s top, pulled him towards her and gave him a passionate kiss. He pulled away and looked her in the eye. Thinking that maybe she’d made a big mistake Harley stood up and started to run to her room, majorly embarrassed. However, the next thing she knew was Max’s strong hand pulling her round to look at him as she reached the door of her room and kissing her, this time a lot more meaningfully. They carried on kissing as they stepped backwards into Harley’s room...
Laigh sat up quickly. She was gasping for breath and a cold sweat had formed on her forehead. That was a bad dream, she thought to herself and decided to get a drink, she was walking to the cafe when as she passed Bray and Amber’s room she could hear murmuring. She couldn’t help but listen.
"What do you think of Laigh then?" she heard Bray ask
"She’s great, I feel really sorry about her and that Max though, I can’t believe the nerve of that Harley!" Amber replied
"So do you think she should stay?"
"Yes, I’d love her to stay but we have to cast a vote, you know the rules" Amber said softly "I don’t think Lex would like it if we just said "yeah, sure, of course you can stay" without his say, do you?"
"No you’re right. Amber?" Bray asked even more gently than ever, so gently that Laigh could only just hear him
"Mmmm?" Amber sounded as if she was half asleep
"You know I love you, don’t you?" He asked
"Of course, what made you ask that?" Amber sounded extremely suspicious,
"Because I want to ask you something, but I don’t know how to as I know how you feel about it" Bray is acting very strangely, thought Laigh, what’s he up to?
"Just spit it out Bray!" Amber sounded annoyed, and very tired.
"Will you, errr, oh it doesn’t matter, just go to sleep and forget I ever brought it up" Laigh was slowly working out what Bray wanted to ask,
"Just say it Bray" Laigh whispered to herself
"TELL ME!" Amber was REALLY feeling tormented now
"Will you marry me?" Bray blurted it out, Laigh moved so she could see Amber’s face, she looked very, very shocked
"What?!? Are you crazy?!?" She exclaimed "After what Laigh told us this afternoon?!? I don’t think that’s a very good idea at all!"
"Amber, please! I love you so much, it would make me so happy and I’m sure Laigh would be happy for us too!" Bray pleaded. That’s all Laigh heard, she decided to go back to bed and see what would happen in the morning, when Amber had made her mind up properly. She smiled to herself, I’m so glad to be here, she thought as she climbed back into bed, I just hope I’ve made the right decision...
Part 4
Max opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was someone’s arms around him. Laigh! he thought, can it really be? He then looked around him, and it all came rushing back. The night before, what had he done?
"Good morning honey," A sweet voice said from behind him, he felt someone kissing the back of his neck.
"Harley! God what am I doing here?" He jumped out of bed, taking the covers with him,
"What’s wrong?" she asked him sleepily. "You know what you wanted last night and I thought you needed, loosening up" She sat up, she had got dressed again during the night for some reason. The next thing they knew, Lucy was standing at the door
"Max!" she screamed, horrified "How could you?" she ran out of the room, shouting for Scott, she met him halfway to the door, she ran straight into his arms
"What’s wrong?" he asked gently, as he could see there was something definitely not right
"Max, Harley, they...." her voice trailed off and Max ran from Harley’s room, putting his top on. Scott, now knowing why Lucy was so distraught, went up to Max and grabbed him by the front of his top
"How could you?" he said, his eyes narrowed, "How could you do this to Laigh? No wonder she ran away, if you’ve been cheating on her"
"It’s not what it looks like!" Max panicked, how could he have been so stupid?
"No, of course it’s not. Give it up Max, you’ve been caught and now it’s time to face the consequences" Scott threw him on the ground, and put his arm around Lucy, they walked away disgustedly. Max got up and Harley came and put her hands on his shoulders
"Don’t worry, you still got me" she said, looking lovingly into his eyes
"Get off me!" Max pushed her away. "It’s all your fault that this has happened. You’re a bitch Harley, and it’s no wonder that no one likes you." He walked out, Harley running after him, but he slammed the door as he left
"You’ll be back." she smiled to herself.
"Laigh, Laigh? Oh come on, wake up!" She felt someone rocking her backwards and forwards,
"Oh leave me alone would you?" she groaned. She’d hardly been able to sleep after what she’d heard the night before.
"Please it’s time for breakfast!" Laigh opened her eyes, and found Patsy and Cloe looking down at her
"Yeah Bray told us to get you up" Patsy said, she then lowered her voice and added "I think him and Amber have fallen out" Laigh decided she’d better get up and see for herself, she hoped that it wasn’t too major because she’d feel even more guilty for coming because she already felt bad about what Amber had said before, about not wanting to marry Bray because of what had happened between her and Max.
"Let me get ready then kids," she smiled at them "Tell the others I’ll be there in a moment" Cloe and Patsy left and Laigh got out of bed.
What met her in the cafe was a big argument. She’d heard it as she was leaving her room and ran. Amber and Bray were stood in the middle of the room, glaring at each other, the others were watching.
"Hey what’s going on?" Laigh asked, putting herself between the feuding couple
"He started it" Amber muttered
"No she did" Bray said back
"Hang on, you two are starting to sound like five-year-olds " Laigh said "Now both of you sit down and eat your breakfast, we’ll sort it out later." Bray, taken aback at his cousin’s attitude, sat down immediately, next to Trudy. Amber sat next to Laigh and Laigh whispered
"Now what’s going on?"
"It’s awful!" Amber said, looking hurt and confused "I think he got out of the wrong side of bed this morning, all I did was ask him if he’d get you up and he exploded! He told me to let you rest but I thought you’d want breakfast with all of us, you know, so you can get to know us better but he kept saying no, so I said fine but then the next thing I know he was telling Cloe and Patsy to go and fetch you, so I asked him why he’d done that and that’s when the argument started" there were tears running down her face, but then her expression changed as if she had just realised something "Oh, I know why now, sorry I just thought..."
"What is it then?" Laigh asked, even though she knew herself why Bray was being so nasty
"Sorry I can’t say. Bray, can we talk?" Amber got up and went to him "In private?" Bray looked softly at her and nodded, they went out of the room
"What was that all about?" Zandra asked, looking at Laigh
"Sorry, she wouldn’t say" Laigh answered. Lex and Zandra looked at each other as if to say ‘she’s knows, she’s just keeping it secret, just like Bray would’ and then left the room, hand in hand. Salene came and sat with Laigh, followed by Ryan
"It’s OK if you can’t say, just ignore Lex and Zandra, they’re like that all the time" Salene smiled at Laigh, who smiled back. Ryan said, gesturing to her plate,
"Laigh? Aren’t you hungry? Can I have your share?" Laigh gave her plate to Ryan
"Amber told us your story, it’s terrible" Tai-San said from her seat
"Yeah, it was" Trudy said "I don’t know how you could have felt when you were told about Max and Harley"
"It was awful" Laigh sighed "But that’s the past, I don’t want to think about it"
"Who was in your tribe Laigh? Apart from Max and Harley?" Cloe asked
"There was only two others, Lucy and Scott" Laigh replied
"What were they like?" she continued
"My two best friends in the world, I could have trusted them through anything" Laigh answered "I think they really fancy each other but Scott would NEVER say and Lucy’s really shy, but who knows?"
"Yeah I mean Bray and Amber got together!" Trudy said
"Yeah but everyone saw that coming didn’t they?" Salene said
"Talking of those two..." Laigh said and left the room. There, at the bottom of the stairs, were Bray and Amber hugging each other happily. Laigh sighed a sigh of relief, and went to her room.
"How could he? How?" Lucy was still distraught now after about an hour
"Calm down, you saw Max leave," Scott had his arm round Lucy’s shoulders as they sat on the beach
"Yeah but he’ll be back, I know he will!" she said angrily. "How could he?" She shook her head and Scott held her even closer
"I don’t know, but I know I don’t want to be here any longer" Scott looked out at the sea, the waves smashing themselves at the rocks as usual
"Me too" Lucy said. "I just need to get away from here, start again." Scott looked at Lucy.
"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?" He asked
"You mean... Run away?"
"Yeah let’s try and find Laigh, we can all start again!" he looked at Lucy. "What do you think?"
"I think," Lucy said smiling at Scott. "That you are a genius!" She kissed him, and he kissed her back, they looked at each other, both shocked at what they had done, and then looked down at their feet.
"When shall we go then?" He asked her.
"How about now, when we’ve got our things" Lucy said excitedly.
"Great let’s go and get our stuff together then!" They both got up and ran towards the warehouse.
Laigh was singing along to a B*Witched CD, thanks to Jack and Dal’s wind turbine as she’d borrowed a battery from them.
"Wow! You’ve got a great voice!" Patsy exclaimed. Laigh realised she had gained an audience and took a sweeping bow, they laughed and applauded her as the song finished. She stopped the disc, and Cloe asked
"Will you teach me to sing?"
"Me too!" Patsy jumped up and down
"Sure! If you want to!" Laigh laughed and said "Why don’t you practice now and I’ll be back in a minute? I just want to talk to Bray for a moment" Cloe and Patsy started to sing loudly and tunelessly as Laigh went looking for Bray, she found him in Trudy’s room with Trudy and Brady.
"Have you told Laigh about Martin yet?" Trudy was asking
"No I can’t, it would break her in two" Bray sighed "But I guess I’d better..."
"Why what’s wrong with Martin? What’s happened?" Laigh demanded to know as she walked into the room
"Laigh, I don’t know how to say this but" Bray sighed again "He died."
"WHAT!?! He hasn’t, NO! I won’t believe you!" Laigh was furious. How could Bray say that?
"It’s true, he fell from the first floor of the mall," Trudy said gently "He’d only just met Brady"
"You mean he died here? How come he was here? Who did this?" Laigh needed answers
"No one did anything, it was an accident" Bray explained, "I promise it wasn’t meant to happen"
"Yeah but it did, didn’t it? Anyway, I still don’t believe you" Laigh retorted
"It’s true though," Ebony walked into the room "Sorry I was passing by and couldn’t help over hearing. Well Laigh, long time no see" Laigh stood up and looked at Ebony, who put her arms out and they hugged
"Where have you been?" Bray asked Ebony
"Around, but I’m back now" Ebony said "So, how did you get here Laigh?" She turned around, and realised Laigh had left the room.
Meanwhile, back at the warehouse, Scott and Lucy had got their things and were about to leave when Max walked in.
"Where are you going?" Max demanded to know.
"We’re leaving" Scott replied, "We don’t want to be anywhere near either you or Harley anymore."
"What? Where are you going to go?" Max was shocked
"We’re going to find Laigh" Lucy said. "Just think, you and Harley’ll have the whole place to yourselves" With that, they both left.
"No, come back!" Max shouted. "You can’t do this!" But it was too late, they’d gone.
Part 5
"Are you sure that we’re doing the right thing?" Lucy was starting to get second thoughts as her and Scott walked down the beach. He turned and looked at her angrily.
"Why, do you think we are?" he asked. "Do you want to go back because if you do that’s fine with me but don’t think I am" He carried on walking, Lucy had to run to keep up with him.
"Scott, Scott! Wait up, you know I’ll come with you, I’m just worried about Max, that’s all"
"Forget about him, he’s not worth it," Scott muttered "All I can say is I hope he’s feeling proud of himself. He’s lost everything he ever cared about, his girlfriend and his friends. All he’s got left is Harley and that’s not much, is it?"
"I guess not," Lucy said quietly, and silently followed Scott. In her head she said to herself, I just hope we find Laigh, before she does something drastic...
Laigh was still giving Bray the silent treatment.
"Laigh, please talk to me" He begged
"Why should I?" Laigh said nastily. "Why didn’t you tell me earlier about Martin? How could you let me believe that he was still alive?" Tears were running down her face, it felt like there was a boulder in her stomach. Amber walked in, Trudy and Ebony had explained what had happened so she went up to Bray and whispered.
"Come on, let her have some time to herself now." She put her arm around his shoulders and they walked away together. Laigh then broke down. Sobbing uncontrollably she sat alone, wishing she had had the chance to say goodbye to him. Why him, she thought, I loved him so much and he had so much to live for so why? She got up, she knew that she had to say goodbye properly so she went to find someone, anyone, who would know where Martin was buried. The first person she bumped into was Jack, he could see she was upset straight away
"Hey what’s wrong?" he asked. She smiled tearfully at him, she couldn’t help it, his lisp was extremely cute.
"Did you know about Martin?" She asked him
"You mean Zoot? It depends what you mean" he didn’t want to bring up the fact that he was dead if she didn’t know.
"That he died." She said sadly "You knew what I meant, but it was nice of you to be careful not to say anything about it, just in case" he smiled at her
"Yeah of course I did, I’m really sorry that you didn’t get to say goodbye. I understand that you, him and Bray have always been close, am I right?"
"Yes, we have" she smiled dreamily, thinking of the good old times again "I was wondering, do you know where he was buried?"
"I was there at the funeral, it was a really sad moment, even though I really didn’t know Zoo... I mean, Martin" he looked at her, and she could see he meant it. "The Demon Dogs had taken over the cemetery so we went to the beach and put him on a boat, we sent it out to sea alight." He sighed, remembering how upset Bray had been. "A real warrior’s funeral"
"Thanks a lot Jack!" She suddenly seemed a lot brighter and she started to run, calling out behind her "If the other’s ask where I am, just tell them I’ve gone to say farewell to my cousin!"
The beach. It didn’t seem two minutes since she’d last been there. She looked out to sea and thought of Martin. He had been such laugh when he was younger, he always had a good joke to tell her. But then he changed, why, she didn’t know but she did know how gutted he had been when his parents, her aunt and uncle, had died. He’d been so angry and he was in a permanent bad mood. What had happened to the gentle, happy go lucky boy she had known? It was the same with Bray, he’d grown up so much since the last time they’d been together, more responsible than ever. I guess that’s what happens when everything you ever knew disappears, she thought, you have to change for the best, or worst. Once again she looked out at the stormy waves and reached for the necklace around her neck. She took it off and put it up in the air. The wind blew her hair back as she shouted.
"Goodbye my friend! May you rest in peace forever, I hope you’re back with your parents. If you are, give them my love" She pulled her arm back and was about to throw the necklace into the foamy waters when she felt a hand hold her back. She turned and there was Bray.
"I don’t think that Martin would want you to do that," He smiled. "He knew how much you loved that necklace." Laigh smiled back at him, and threw her arms around him
"I’m sorry for being so angry with you. It’s not your fault that this happened" she held him close to her. "Just don’t you go and leave me now, I want at least one of you around"
"Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere" He held her and then pushed her back, looking at her face. "You’ve grown up so much, I realised that this morning with how you handled me and Amber. We’re sorry about that, by the way, it was just a stupid argument"
"I know what happened last night" she owned up, "I couldn’t help eavesdropping on your conversation"
"What did you hear?" he asked her wonderingly
"I heard you ask her to marry you, and I heard her answer" she replied. "Sorry, I feel it’s all my fault"
"It’s OK, really" Bray told her "It’s all sorted now, she was just a little shocked, that’s all"
"I think you should ask her again, and tell her I really don’t mind at all!" Laigh looked at her cousin "Thank you for taking me in. I feel like I have a family again, except for Lex and Zandra, what’s wrong with them?"
"Don’t ask, if Lex seems over protective over Zandra it’s because she’s having his baby" Bray explained.
"Oh, I thought she looked a little... large" She said carefully, not wanting to seem offensive "Shall we go back?"
"Yeah, Salene was just going to start dinner" Bray said, and put his arm around his cousin’s back as they started to go back towards the mall.
It was very quiet in the mall when they returned, Laigh was puzzled, where was everyone? Bray seemed to know what was going on but obviously wasn’t letting on. "Come on, let’s go up to the cafe and see what’s going on" He said, leading her by the hand up the stairs.
"SURPRISE!!!" Everyone shouted, they were all standing under a banner which read ‘Welcome to the Mall Rats Laigh!’ Laigh was so shocked it felt like her heart missed a couple of beats.
"What’s all this?" She asked, totally amazed.
"We had a vote while you were out to see whether you could stay or not" Amber explained. "It was unanimous, well almost..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at Lex, who was sat in the corner sulking. Zandra went up to Laigh and said
"I’m sorry that we didn’t get off to a good start, I hope we can become friends" and smiled hopefully, Laigh smiled back.
"Of course we can" she said. Cloe piped up
"I’m hungry, can we eat now?"
"Of course" Salene smiled, and they all sat down to dinner.
Max was still in a daze. Why had everyone left him on his own? With Harley? He put his head on the table and sighed, he knew that he could only blame himself for all of this, he was the one who’d gone and slept with Harley. She entered the room, and put her hand on his back, he jumped and looked at her, she smiled at him, he just glared back.
"You manipulative cow" he said nastily, his eyes narrowed to slits "This is all your doing, last night’s tears was just a show weren’t they?"
"No, I was genuinely upset, but not about everyone falling out with me, but because you wouldn’t admit the truth" she said, sitting next to him.
"And what exactly IS the truth?" he asked
"That you love me, and always have, that you were never really bothered about Laigh as she’s just a little girl compared to me?" she flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave him a smouldering look, he turned his back to her.
"The only little girl I see is you" he said, and was about to walk away when Harley said.
"Don’t try and blame me for all this, there’s only one guilty person and that’s you. I was just following my feelings" He sighed, she was right, it was his fault, and it always would be.
Lucy was shivering. The evening had turned very cold and she was only wearing a thin shirt and jeans. Scott was holding her close to him, trying to keep her warm
"Don’t worry, it’ll get better than this, I promise" he said
"Are you sure? I don’t think it will, I think I made a big mistake by coming" Lucy’s teeth were chattering, Scott knew they wouldn’t survive long if they had to live like this.
"Tomorrow we’ll look for a proper place to live, just for tonight we’ll have to stay here. Just try and get some sleep." He held her closer to him, and kissed the top of her head. He’d always been really fond of Lucy but just lately his feelings had become a lot stronger. It’s funny how the worst of times bring people together, he thought.
"Scott? Do you think we’ll find Laigh?" Lucy asked weakly, she felt awful once again, she felt that everything that had happened was her fault and at that moment in time she felt she had lost all hope of ever being happy again.
"Let’s just hope so Luce," He sighed "Let’s just hope..."
Part 6
"Morning guys!" Laigh bounced into the cafe, she was feeling lively but hungry "What’s for breakfast?"
"Scrambled eggs" Salene announced, passing her a plate. Laigh sat down to eat, well this day’s got off to a good start, she thought to herself as she ate, no argument like yesterday anyway. That moment Bray and Amber walked in looking very pleased with themselves. Bray cleared his throat and called out
"You guys? I have an announcement to make," he took Amber’s hand, who smiled lovingly at him "Amber and I are getting married!"
"Hey great!" Laigh got up and started to hug them both. As she did she whispered to Bray "I’m glad you asked her again"
"Actually, she beat me to it!" Bray said
"Wow! You mean she asked you?!?" Laigh was totally shocked at this
"Yeah! When she woke up she just came out with it!" his eyes were sparkling happily. Everyone seemed pleased for them, except for Trudy, who was sat in the corner scowling at the happy couple, Laigh went up to her and asked.
"What’s wrong, Trude? Are you OK?"
"Yes fine." Trudy said between clenched teeth and stormed off, Laigh watched her, she could tell that there was something definitely wrong with Trudy and she wasn’t saying, but before she jumped to any conclusions she really needed to know what had happened in the past, before Bray and Amber. Had there been something between Trudy and her cousin?
Lucy was barely conscience, Scott was cradling her in his arms
"I can’t go on Scott, I’m too cold and hungry" Lucy said weakly
"Don’t say that Lucy! You can do it. Look, there’s shelter not far from here, the old mall, I’m sure it’s empty. You can make it, I promise you" he rocked her gently, he felt tears in his eyes, he couldn’t let her die, not now they’d got this far. "Luce? Please, I beg you, don’t leave me now," he whispered. "I love you." He picked her up and started to walk towards the mall...
Max was sat on the edge of his bed, just thinking about his sad and worthless life. He thought about when he’d asked Laigh to marry him, how happy and proud he’d felt. She probably now thought that that had been a plan to hide him and Harley, that’s if she was even thinking about him. He wondered if she had managed to find Bray or Martin, what she was doing at that moment. He fell back and looked at the roof, why did he ever come along and ruin her life? That’s how he felt about her, he’d wrecked her life by hiding in the same place that she had all that time ago, he sighed and carried on staring. Little did he know that Harley was standing at the door watching him. She rolled her eyes and said
"Get over it Max! What are you gonna do? Stay in here and waste your life away?"
"I might as well" he rolled onto his side and sighed again, this time more grumpily. He was fed up with Harley trying to get his attention all of the time, he just wanted to be left alone "Go away, stop pestering me" he said sulkily
"Fine, if that’s how you want to be" she sauntered off, smiling smugly to herself, she’d got just what she’d wanted- Max to herself.
Amber was sat in her room, making yet another one of her famous cleaning rotas and humming the wedding march, Laigh smiled at her. She was stood behind her so Amber didn’t know she was there until she looked up and saw her in the mirror in front of her
"Oh hi Laigh, I didn’t know you were there, sit down" Amber gestured to the edge of her bed, Laigh sat and asked
"So what happened then, how did you feel?"
"What do you mean?" Amber asked, slightly confused
"Y’know, when Bray asked you to marry him?" she was being cryptic on purpose, as she was making sure that Amber didn’t know that she knew that she’d been the one to propose
"Oh he didn’t" Amber said smugly "I asked him"
"Cool! How did it happen then, why did you ask him?"
"Well, it all started the other night, the night before the argument," Amber explained "he asked me to marry him and I said no, he was upset and that’s why we argued the next day, sorry I couldn’t tell you" Laigh nodded understandingly. "Anyway after we made up I felt guilty about it because I love him so much and I guess he just sort of caught me off guard, so I thought about it and this morning I asked him. You should have seen his face!" She smiled dreamily
"Any ideas to what kind of wedding you want?" Laigh asked. She loved weddings and the more romantic, the better.
"Nothing too much, I don’t think" Amber looked up from the rota and directly at Laigh "probably just a small ceremony here then a party of some kind"
"Who’s going to marry you?"
"Probably Tai-San, she did the first attempt at Lex and Zandra’s" Amber said. That confused Laigh
"First attempt?" she asked
"Yeah, it was rudely interrupted by Ebony and by the time they finally did get married Zandra and Tai-San had fallen out and so I had to do it in the end"
"I couldn’t imagine you doing the ceremony" Laigh smiled. Amber smiled back.
"Neither could I, it took a lot of persuasion from Zandra, and Sasha" A sad look came into her eye as she mentioned his name
"Sasha? Who’s that?" Laigh asked gently, she could tell that this was a difficult thing for Amber to talk about
"He’s who I was with before Bray, I loved him, I was even going to leave this place for him" she looked around her, "but I couldn’t do it in the end." she sighed.
"Why not?" Laigh was feeling a little sad for Amber
"The Mall Rat’s needed me, and I had feelings for your cousin, he would have left if I’d gone" she looked quite upset and Laigh decided that she needed to change the subject quickly.
"While we’re on the subject of Bray," Laigh asked, "Can I ask a question?"
"Sure, what?" Amber seemed a little suspicious about this, as she thought that Laigh knew everything about him.
"Did anything ever happen between him and Trudy?" Laigh needed to know this, it was starting to annoy her as it was stuck in the back of her mind
"Not really, no." Amber started "She was really hung up on him when she first had Brady, she was suffering with post-natal depression but there was something going on between him and Salene and her and Trudy had a major fight over him. Well it all ended with Trudy having an overdose, then when we managed to save her she ran away and Salene started to suffer with bulimia because she felt guilty as she had left Trudy to die." she sighed, it had obviously been a stressful time for the whole tribe. "Luckily for us they’re both over him now. Why did you want to know?"
"Oh just wondered, are you sure she’s over him?" Laigh asked, she remembered Trudy’s face earlier
"Yeah, why would you think otherwise?" Amber was mystified by Laigh’s question, why wouldn’t she be over him?
"Well, when you announced your engagement this morning she looked so angry, well more jealous" Laigh explained "So I just thought..."
"No, it’s OK, I’m sure there’s some logical explanation for it." Amber looked back at her rota and filled in the last blank square. "There. Done at last, let’s go and put this up, shall we?" They were just about to get up when they heard an almighty crash, they jumped out of their seats and ran out of the room, the others were already out in the main part when they got out of Amber’s room "What’s going on!?!" Amber exclaimed
"It was one of the trip wires in the sewers!" Dal shouted agitatedly, and they stood ready for an attack. Scott entered, carrying a half-dead Lucy. Laigh was shocked, she ran down the stairs exclaiming
"Scott! What’s happened? Lucy! Oh no she isn’t..."
"Almost, help us, please" he looked painfully at Lucy then at Laigh, then at the rest of the tribe
"Who’s this Laigh?" Lex asked suspiciously as usual
"This is Scott and Lucy, from my old tribe," Laigh said quickly "Please, you have to help Luce, I’ll never forgive myself if she dies..."
Part 7
Bray took Lucy off of Scott gently as he could see that he was exhausted. Laigh threw her arms around Scott and started to sob into his shoulder, tears were running down his face, tears of both joy and sorrow.
"I’m so glad you found me!" Laigh sniffled "Why are you here? What’s happened? Why is Lucy so ill?" Scott looked at her apologetically.
"I’m sorry, we both missed you so much and we needed to know you were OK, she told me about Max and Harley but now I wish that I’d never made her leave" His voice started to crack, Laigh held him in her arms and let him cry on her shoulder, she could tell he was very tired, hungry and worried.
"C’mon, you need to rest, you’re shattered" Salene said sympathetically, and she and Laigh led him to a spare bed. When they’d settled him down Laigh went to her room, where they had put Lucy. Amber and Bray were stood over her, looking calm while Dal took her temperature.
"How is she? Will she be alright?" Laigh looked hopefully at Dal
"Yes, she’ll be fine. Her temperature is normal, she’s just tired, hungry and dehydrated." Laigh breathed a sigh of relief. She would never have been able to forgive herself if Luce had died. She already felt bad for leaving those two in the first place, they hadn’t done anything wrong, after all.
"How’s Scott?" Amber placed her hand on Laigh’s shoulder
"Fine, fast asleep. What’s happened? That’s all I want to know, they wouldn’t leave for nothing-" Laigh was starting to get worked up
"Calm down, you’ll find out when Scott is not so tired or when Lucy’s better. Now come on, you look like you could do with a hot drink." Amber put her arm around Laigh’s shoulders and her and Bray led Laigh out. They went and sat in the cafe, Amber started to make them all a cup of coffee, Bray put his arm around Laigh as she started to sob once again
"It’s all my fault! I should never have left them! Why did this have to happen?" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed harder, her shoulders raising and dropping as she gasped for air.
"It’s not your fault Laigh, it’s Max and Harley that have done this" Bray said sensitively "don’t blame yourself" he rubbed her back gently and looked at Amber, who looked sympathetically at Laigh then at Bray, she brought the drinks over to the table, she placed one in Laigh’s hands, which were shaking.
"Here, drink this, it’ll make you feel better" Amber said as she sat down. Salene walked in and looked at them.
"How are you feeling Laigh?" She asked
"A little better, how’s Scott?" Laigh asked wearily
"Still fast asleep, so’s Lucy. Watch out though, Lex’s on the warpath, he thinks that you’re trying to take over the Mall" Salene rolled her eyes
"You’re kidding me! He gets worse," Bray sighed. He looked again at Laigh, she looked absolutely exhausted. "You should go and get some sleep Laigh" She nodded, and got up and started to leave the room. She turned and looked at Bray, Amber and Salene
"I love you guys, thank you so much" she smiled
"We love you too Laigh, let’s hope Lucy is better in the morning" Amber smiled back, Bray looked at her and took her hand. Laigh felt content as she walked towards her room. She’d got everything she’d ever wanted since the virus here, Bray, Scott, Lucy and new friends. The only thing she hadn’t got was one of the most important things to her- love. Not love that comes from friends and relatives, but the kind of love that only one person had ever given her- Max...
Laigh’s hair was sweeping off of her face as she stood on the hill, it was totally purple with silvery streaks, her eyes were transfixed on something on the horizon, what, she didn’t know. She was wearing a beautiful lilac dress that flowed around her ankles and the long train at the back was fluttering in the gentle breeze. Suddenly her legs felt weak and she started to roll down the hill, faster and faster until she reached the bottom. She felt dazed as she stared at a pair of boots, she looked up at the boot-wearers face, however she couldn’t see it as the sun was directly behind his head and so it blocked out his features. She got up and gasped as she looked into Max’s eyes.
"Laigh, come home please, I need you" He took her hand. Her head was throbbing and she could feel something trickling down the back of her neck, she put her hand on it and looked - blood? All of a sudden everything started to spin, she hear Max say "Laigh? Laigh are you OK?" but then she fell to the ground as everything around went black...
"Laigh? Laigh are you OK?" She sat up quickly, gasping for air. A cold sweat covered her forehead and made her shiver. Jack was sat next to her, his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him with wide shocked eyes.
"You were having a nightmare, I was just checking on Lucy when you started tossing and turning. You worried me" Laigh relaxed a little and whispered to him
"It was awful, I died" he put his arms around her and she began to cry, she was so scared. What happened in that dream? Jack wondered, why is she so upset? Laigh then remembered about Lucy "How is she?" she asked, going up to her bed where Lucy lay in a peaceful sleep "How’s Scott?"
"They’re both fine, actually Scott’s up, eating breakfast with the others" this made Laigh smile, she ran to the cafe where Scott was sat eating his breakfast
"Scott!" Laigh exclaimed. He looked at her and jumped up, they threw their arms around each other "How are you feeling?"
"Much better, thanks" he let go of her and they sat down together. Salene and Trudy smiled at them
"How’s Lucy this morning Laigh?" Salene inquired
"Fine, just fine, thank goodness" Laigh answered, blowing a strand of hair away from her eyes
"What do you mean, thank goodness?" Trudy asked
"I just mean that I would have felt so bad if she had..." her voice trailed off as she looked at Scott. He placed his hand on hers
"It’s OK Laigh, it wasn’t your fault. If it was anyone’s it was mine" he said guiltily "we should never have left"
"Why did you leave Scott?" Bray asked. Laigh looked at him inquisitively, she needed to know what had troubled them so much.
"It got too much at the warehouse, something happened which shocked Lucy and left me feeling so sorry for you..."
"What?!?" Laigh was bewildered
"Lucy walked in on Max and Harley... In bed. I’m so sorry" Scott could hardly say the words. Laigh was shocked. So it hadn’t been a misunderstanding, Max and Harley HAD been sleeping together. She was about to open her mouth when -
"Hey Laigh! Scott! Lucy’s awake!" Jack rushed in, looking happy. Laigh’s anger turned to joy. She jumped up and kissed the first person she came to, which happened to be Jack. He blushed and turned very shy "Well, erm, I..." he stammered, Laigh and Scott could the laughter of the others echoing through the mall as they ran to Lucy.
"Laigh? Is it really you?" Lucy asked weakly. She couldn’t believe it, they’d found Laigh. Laigh threw her arms around Lucy and so did Scott "Woah, be careful, don’t squash me!" Lucy said. Laigh laughed and pulled back, she sat on a chair nearby and Scott sat next to Lucy on the edge of the bed, his arm around her.
"Well, what have I missed?" Laigh winked at them. Both of them began to blush and Scott took his arm away
"Nothing, honest" Scott tried to worm his way out of the situation "I was just pleased to see her awake, that’s all" Laigh just smiled
"Laigh, did Scott tell you why we left?" Lucy asked gently. Laigh sighed, she didn’t want this to come up again
"Yes, I should have guessed really that it was something to do with them" Lucy could see that Laigh didn’t want to talk about this and so quickly changed the subject.
"So, you seem to have landed on your feet. What tribe is this? The only person I’ve seen is the guy with the red hair. He’s cute, isn’t he?"
"You mean Jack? He is sweet. This tribe’s the Mall Rats. Oh I’ve just realised I haven’t introduced you to Bray!" Laigh brought her hand up to her forehead.
"What about me?" Bray and Amber entered, Amber was carrying a tray with a cup of tea on it for Lucy
"I thought you’d like a drink Lucy" Amber handed her the cup, she took it and sipped it.
"Lucy, this is my cousin Bray! And this is Amber, his girlfriend. They’re getting married!" Laigh introduced Bray and Amber to Lucy. She smiled at them
"So you finally found him! It’s nice to meet you at long last, I’ve heard lots of good things about you" Lucy said politely. Bray smiled at her
"That’s great to hear!" he laughed "I’ve heard some good things about you two as well. Laigh really missed you both."
"I did!" exclaimed Laigh. "But we’re back together now and that’s all that matters." With that, Scott, Lucy and Laigh hugged each other. Amber and Bray crept out silently, when they were out of hearing distance Amber said
"It’s good to Laigh back with her friends, isn’t it?"
"Yeah," Bray sighed contentedly "I wonder what they’ll do now? Shall we invite them to stay?"
"Let’s wait for a while, I mean they might decide to go and start a new tribe together, far away from the troubles of Max and Harley" Amber replied
"Do you think they’ve heard the last of those two?" Bray asked her, as he had noticed how unsure she had been when she’d mentioned them
"I don’t think so, but only time will tell." Amber said distantly.
Part 8
Max was walking around the warehouse, he needed to get out of there as it was starting to get claustrophobic. He was just walking towards the door as he noticed Harley sat looking at her diary, she had a strange look on her face. He just shrugged and opened the door, it was raining. Harley looked up as she heard the creaking hinges.
"Max, wait! We have to talk" She sounded genuinely troubled about something, but Max couldn’t care less. He looked at her then walked out of the door, out into the thunderstorm "Max!" Harley got up and went to the door however she stopped herself. He’d be back later, she would have to wait to talk to him.
Laigh, Scott and Lucy were still talking. They had been joined by Salene, who was sat on a stool next to Laigh.
"So what are you two planning to do next?" Salene asked
"Well if it’s alright with Bray and Amber we’d like to stay here for a little while. They are the leaders, right?" Scott asked
"Yeah they are, so’s Lex though, and he’s a harder nut to crack" Laigh said
"You’re right about the ‘nut’ part!" Salene joked
"Yeah he’s crazy!" Laigh laughed "I mean, who else would think that us three were trying to take over the mall!"
"Excuse me, that’s my husband you’re talking about" Zandra walked in, having heard everything
"Oh sorry Zan, we didn’t know you were out there" Salene looked at Laigh, they both started to snigger, trying to hide their laughter. Zandra looked disgustedly at them both. She rolled her eyes and said to Lucy
"Hi, I’m Zandra. We haven’t been introduced yet" she put her hand out, Lucy took it
"So you’re married to this Lex? I haven’t met him yet"
"Oh you will be soon, I promise" Laigh said. "He’ll make himself known" At that moment Patsy and Cloe waltzed in, they were wet through and were carrying a huge bunch of flowers which they handed to Lucy
"These are for you" Patsy announced
"We’re glad you’re feeling better" Cloe added. Lucy smiled at them,
"What are your names?" she asked
"This is Cloe and this is Patsy" Laigh presented them to Lucy.
"Can you sing?" Cloe asked "Laigh’s got a really pretty voice"
"I know she has, I can’t sing at all I’m afraid. I wish I could though" Lucy said a little wearily
"Talking of singing, it’s time I gave you guys a lesson." Laigh could see Lucy was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all of these visitors "C’mon everyone, let’s leave Lucy to rest. You too Scott" she could he was going to object. They all left the room, Lucy sighed. It was wonderful to be back with Laigh.
Later that day. The rain had finally stopped and Laigh went up onto the roof, there was a rainbow arching across the sky and Amber was stood looking out at the city.
"Amber?" Laigh asked, she jumped. She’d been thinking deeply about something
"Oh Laigh it’s you, how are you feeling?"
"Fine, where’s Bray?" Laigh asked, she hadn’t seen him for a while
"He’s gone foraging for food," Amber sighed "I worry about him, you know." she looked back out towards the city
"Why? He’s a big boy, I think he can look after himself" Laigh thought Amber was being a bit over protective
"It’s just that we’ve been through so much, I don’t think I could bear to lose him." she sighed again. Laigh could tell there was something else bothering her
"What’s really wrong Am? I can tell you’re hiding something" Amber fell to the ground and started to cry. Laigh was worried. Had they fallen out again? She put her hand on Amber’s back "Come on, you can tell me"
. "I... I think I’m pregnant!" she wailed. Laigh was confused, what was so wrong with that?
"That’s great! Isn’t it?" Laigh asked
"No! He doesn’t want children yet, and neither do I!" she sobbed "I mean, we’ve already got Brady to think about, and Zandra’s pregnant, we can’t cope with three babies, can we?"
"I think you’d better tell him" Laigh said gently
"Not yet, after the wedding" she replied. "Could you leave me on my own now?" Laigh got up and walked away.
Max walked into the warehouse, he was freezing from the rain and, for once, was glad to be back. He’d only just got through the door when -
"Max, I’m so glad you’re back! I was so worried!" Harley came running out of her room when she heard the door close. She threw her arms around him, but he just pushed her off
"Get off me Harley, I’m not interested in you or your little dramas" he stormed off to his room. Harley was upset, why wouldn’t he listen to her? They were the only two left now and they really needed to sit down and talk about what they were going to do. She sighed, he’d never understand after everything, he’d just think that she was playing another one of her games, but she wasn’t. She loved him, really and also if they didn’t sort everything out they wouldn’t last much longer...
Laigh was sat thinking about the day’s events, the last couple of days had been different, a little more interesting. She sighed, how could she think of this as one big adventure? This was real life and boy, was it ever tough. She though back to Amber, stood on the roof. I hope she’s OK, she thought to herself. Zandra walked in, and looked at Laigh
"Hi, what’s wrong? You look troubled" she asked, was Zandra being sensitive?
"Just thinking, that’s all" Laigh said, vaguely
"Well it looks as if there’s something wrong to me and I know the best way to stop you feeling troubled" announced Zandra, she sounded like a person off of a television advertisement "Let me give you a make over."
"A what?" Laigh was amazed, Zandra was offering to give her a make over?
"C’mon, it’ll be fun, and you’ll look great for Amber and Bray’s wedding" Zandra urged her.
"OK, OK I’m coming" Laigh thought she better be polite, especially after what she had said about Lex earlier
"Great." Zandra smiled satisfactorily...
..."Ta da! All done!" Zandra couldn’t help but be pleased with herself, Laigh was looking at her face and hair in the mirror when Bray, Amber and Salene walked in
"Wow! You look amazing! Salene exclaimed. Laigh DID look fantastic, she had lilac and silver patterns on her cheeks and a silver star in the centre of her forehead, her hair looked great too, after much persuasion Laigh had let Zandra take out her bunches (that was a great sacrifice for Laigh) and now her hair was totally purple with silver streaks. However there was something about it that seemed familiar to her...
"Zandra you did a great job, thanks! You were right as well, I do feel a lot better" she smiled happily
"Told you so, didn’t I?" Zandra said smugly. Laigh looked at Bray
"So what do you think?" she asked him, giving a little twirl
"You look stunning, is it for the wedding?" he asked
"Yeah, hey Amber, maybe you should let Laigh be your bridesmaid, I mean she looks so good!" suggested Zandra
"Would you like to, Laigh?" Amber asked
"Well I thought that Patsy and Cloe would be your bridesmaids" Laigh replied "I mean they are younger and I bet they’d love to dress up"
"They did for my wedding" Zandra said "They looked good too"
"Yeah because you did their make up" Salene said back.
"Naturally" Zandra replied
"Hey have you got a dress yet Amber?" Laigh asked her
"No, not yet. Shall we go and look for one now?" Amber answered, Laigh nodded
"OK, let’s go. We’ll see you guys later!" she called over her shoulder as she and Amber walked out of the room together. Bray followed behind, Laigh noticed him and turned to stop him "And where do you think you’re going?" she asked
"To help?" he said cautiously
"I don’t think so, go away!" Laigh ordered, he walked away, leaving Amber and Laigh alone. "So, have you told him yet?" Laigh asked. Amber looked at her confusedly but Laigh knew that she knew what she was talking about, Laigh gave her an appalled look and said "Amber! You HAVE to tell him! You can’t keep this a secret, it’s too important!"
"I told you" Amber said apologetically "I can’t, not yet anyway. I don’t even know for sure if I am or not. Let me wait until after the wedding, please"
"Well when are you planning to get married?" Laigh asked
"We were going to announce it at dinner," Amber sighed "But I suppose I can tell you beforehand, tomorrow, hopefully."
"That’s a bit short-notice" Laigh said, a little shocked
"I know, we just want to get it out of the way." Amber was holding a long, embroidered dress upto herself as she looked in the mirror. It was totally not what Amber would usually wear but it looked great "What do you think?"
"It’s perfect." Laigh said with enthusiasm "Now I need something to wear" they smiled at each other
"Are you sure that Bray’s going to be OK about the baby?" Amber asked nervously
"I’m sure" Laigh said reassuringly "Totally sure."
"Well let’s just hope so." Amber sighed.
"Max? Are you in there?" Harley asked with a little caution. Max mumbled something that Harley couldn’t make out, so she just went in anyway. "Look we really need to talk about what we’re gonna do" she looked at him pitifully. Max turned to look at her
"Actually, we don’t need to talk because it’s upto you what you want to do as you’re going to be the only one left." Harley was shocked, what was he saying?
"What do you mean, I’m going to be the only one left?" Harley asked, hoping that he wouldn’t say what she thought he was going to say
"I leaving, first thing tomorrow morning" he explained
"What?!? Where are you going to go?" Harley exclaimed
"I’m going to find Laigh and make up with her, and then perhaps we can start again. Alone, without your interference" Max said cruelly
"No! Please, you’ve got to stay!" Harley pleaded
"Why should I?" Max asked
"Because, because I need you!" Harley replied "We have to stick together now, especially now" she ran out of the room in tears. Why wouldn’t he understand her? She was in trouble, it was her fault as well. What was she going to do now?...
Part 9
Laigh opened her eyes, she turned over to look at Lucy, who was making her bed. She sat up and exclaimed
"Lucy! You’re up!"
"Yeah, I was getting bored of being in bed so I thought I’d go and check out this place. It’s big, isn’t it?"
"Yeah, it’s so different from when I used to shop here"
"Well I should think so, I mean it’s used as a home now" Lucy smiled at Laigh. "Are you getting up?" she then asked
"Yeah, I’m starving" Laigh said as she jumped out of bed. They walked to the cafe, talking about Scott. As they entered they realised that they’d walked in on the middle of an announcement. Bray was standing in the middle of the cafe, Amber was sat at his side, they both looked at Laigh and Lucy as they walked in
"Good morning Laigh, Lucy. Did you sleep well?" Amber asked
"Yes, thanks" Lucy replied "Where’s Scott?"
"He’s gone for a walk with Patsy, Cloe and Trudy" Bray replied "They decided to take Brady for a walk"
"Bray?" Tai-San interrupted "You were going to announce something?"
"Of course" Bray remembered "I hope you lot are ready because Amber and I have decided to get married..."
"We knew that already" KC butted in
"Well if you’d let me finish KC I would have said that Amber and I are getting married today" Bray finished
"What?!?" exclaimed the others "You can’t be serious!"
"Well, I’m not bothered" Lex said nonchalantly "The sooner it’s over with, the sooner Laigh can leave"
"What do you mean by that Lex?" Laigh asked
"I mean that you and your little friends can get out of here after the wedding" Lex said threateningly
"Lex shut up!" Zandra warned "They can stay for as long as they want as far as I’m concerned, I like them!" she looked at Laigh and Lucy, who was starting to look a little scared of Lex. "Just ignore him, he’s being stupid" At that moment Scott, Cloe, Patsy and Trudy, who was pushing Brady in a pushchair came in.
"What’s going on here?" Scott asked, standing next to Lucy and Laigh
"Bray and Amber are getting married today!" Lucy exclaimed "Isn’t it wonderful?"
"Yeah! Congratulations guys" Scott said to Bray and Amber, who smiled at each other. Laigh glanced quickly at Trudy, to see her reaction to the news. Once again she was looking very jealous. Just as I thought, Laigh thought to herself, she still has feelings for Bray, maybe I should talk to her. Her thoughts were broken by Zandra, who pulled herself up out of her chair (she was looking very pregnant) and declared.
"Anyone who wants their hair and make up doing better come with me, if those two are getting married today I’ll have a lot of work to do." Salene, Patsy, Cloe and Trudy followed her out of the cafe but then Zandra came back
"You too Amber" she said. Amber sighed and rolled her eyes, she then gave Bray a quick kiss and followed Zandra. Laigh sat down with Bray he looked at her and smiled
"Are you sure you’re doing the right thing Bray?" asked Laigh "Y’know, getting married so soon?"
"Yes, Amber and I had a long talk about it last night" Bray replied, pretty sure of himself "Anyway I have a surprise for her"
"What?" Laigh inquired
"You wait and see where we’re getting married!" he winked at her. Laigh laughed at him he laughed back
"I missed you so much, you know" she said gently
"Missed you too, do you still think of what may have happened if you’d stayed with Max?" he asked
"I wish I didn’t, but yes" she sighed "I can’t help but wonder if we could have sorted things out" her heart was aching, did she still have feelings for him? Even after what he did?
"Laigh, you don’t still care for him, do you?" Bray asked her slowly. She opened her mouth to reply when Patsy and Cloe came skidding in.
"Laigh! Laigh! We have a surprise for you!" Cloe said eagerly
"Come on, please!" Patsy had grabbed hold of Laigh’s hand and was pulling her arm vigorously
"OK! I’m coming!" Laigh giggled she looked at Bray as she was dragged out of the cafe by an impatient Patsy "Now close your eyes!" Patsy was jumping around madly. Laigh did as she was told, they led her into a room and Patsy let go of her hand
"Now open!" Cloe said excitedly. Laigh opened her eyes and gasped. There, in front of her, was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. It was long and lilac with a long train. "It’s what you can wear for the wedding!" Cloe explained. Laigh couldn’t believe it
"I couldn’t!" she gasped "I mean, it’s Amber’s big day, she should be the one to wear it, it’s gorgeous!"
"It doesn’t matter about me, I’ve got my dress" Amber said from behind her, Laigh turned and gasped again, Amber looked stunning. She was wearing the most beautiful ivory coloured wedding dress, her hair was flowing down her back and she had a white veil on her head
"Oh my..." Laigh couldn’t finish her words "Bray is going to go wild! You look so perfect!" Amber laughed
"You think so?" she asked
"I know so!" Laigh replied firmly
"Try on your dress!" Cloe exclaimed once again
"OK I will" Laigh said. A few minutes later she was looking at herself in the mirror, Patsy, Cloe, Salene and Zandra were stood admiring Amber and Laigh’s dresses. Then it came to her, Laigh realised where she had seen this dress and her hair and make up before - the dream. Was it going to come true? Was she going to die? Her eyes widened and she ran out of the room, almost in tears. The others were shocked
"Laigh! Come back!" Amber shouted after her, however she was so upset that she couldn’t hear anything. She ran into Scott and Jack, who were talking about the water filter
"Laigh! What’s wrong?" Jack asked as she flung herself into his arms, he looked at Scott, who took her off of him
"Sit down Laigh, and tell us what’s wrong" they sat, Jack looked Laigh up and down
"You look amazing Laigh, why are you crying?" he asked sympathetically
"You remember that dream I had the other day Jack?" she asked him, in-between sobs
"You mean the one where you... You..." he couldn’t bring himself to say it, she nodded
"This is what I was wearing in the dream" she wailed and put her head on Scott’s shoulder, he put his arm around her
"It must have been a coincidence" he said, trying to comfort her
"No, it can’t have been it’s too weird to be a coincidence" she sobbed "I’m going to die, and Max is going to be there..."
Part 10
"Is everyone ready? It’s time to get married!" Bray was running around in a panic when Jack ran upto him.
"Bray, it’s Laigh!" Jack gasped, exhausted from running
"What about her? Is she alright?" Bray exclaimed, even more panicked by Jack
"She’s upset, she thinks she’s going to die!" Jack said a little more quietly
"What?!?" Bray was astonished
"She had this dream the other morning" Jack explained "She was on a hill and rolled down it, banging her head on something on the way, when she hit the bottom, Max was there. She said that was when she died"
"Well why does that mean that it’s going to happen?" Bray said "It was a dream!"
"It’s because in this dream she was wearing a dress, and the others have just given her a dress that’s exactly the same" Jack said "I’m really worried about her, so are the others. You’d better go and see her" Bray looked a little worried and went to Laigh’s room, she was sat on her bed, her eyes were red but she had calmed down a lot. When Bray entered she stood up, he gasped
"You look beautiful!" he said gently
"Thanks, oh Bray what am I going to do?" a fresh flood of tears started and she threw herself at him. He wrapped her in his arms
"It’s OK, Laigh, it was a dream. I promise I’ll look after you" he whispered in her ear
"You will?" she asked. She looked at him as he nodded slowly. She held him closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Amber was stood behind them
"Bray? Are you ready to go?" she asked him. Bray turned to look at his true love, as he did his eyes almost fell out of their sockets and his jaw nearly hit the ground, he was speechless
"I... I...." were his only words
"What do you think?" Amber asked, spinning around so he could see the whole thing. However he was too lost for words and so grabbed hold of her and kissed her. The others watched on as he finally found his voice
"I’m ready when you are. But there’s one thing"
"What?" she asked suspiciously
"Close your eyes and you’ll see soon" she sighed exasperatedly and smiled as she closed her eyes. He put his arms around her waist and led her out "Follow me" he said to the others and they left the mall.
Max was packing his bags. He had wanted to get an early start but Harley had been in the way and so he was behind in his plans. Harley was stood in the doorway, she was distraught, she couldn’t let him leave.
"Please don’t go Max!" she pleaded
"Shut up Harley, you’re driving me crazy!" Max fastened the final bag and picked it up. He walked to the door, Harley blocked it
"Please no!" Harley moaned
"Get out of my way!" Max pushed her out of the way angrily, she fell on the floor and burst into tears
"No, you can’t leave me!" she wept. Max just carried on walking to the door. Suddenly she jumped up and ran towards it herself "If you go, I’ll follow you" she threatened, he laughed
"You wouldn’t dare Harley" he said
"You just watch me" she said boldly. He swung open the door and stepped out, Harley stopped, she decided she’d follow him in a minute, so he’d think that she’d given up, when really she hadn’t. She needed some time to think anyway, she’d got something she really needed to get off of her chest, and she had to think of a way to tell him...
"Now open!" Bray announced to his bride-to-be. Amber opened her eyes and it was her turn to look shocked. They were all stood in a little clearing in the woods, there were flowers in bloom all around and the trees were swaying gently in the breeze
"It’s amazing!" Amber said softly, she held Bray close to her. Tai-San turned to them and asked
"Are you guys ready?" they looked at each other and nodded. Laigh noticed however how nervous they both looked, especially Amber, as she knew what she had to tell Bray soon. The group all stood behind Bray, Amber and Tai-San. "We are gathered today to celebrate the union of these two people" Tai-San began...
"Max! Max wait!" Harley was running after Max, she had finally decided to follow
"Oh so you changed your mind then" he said, unsurprised
"I have to tell you something, if I don’t it’ll kill me!" she confessed
"Here we go, another drama!" he said, annoyed.
"You have to listen to me Max, please!" Suddenly he stopped and put his finger to his mouth
"Shhhh, listen, I hear cheering" he whispered. Harley listened, he was right, just ahead there was something going on. Max started to jog towards it, closely followed by Harley
"Max don’t think you can get out of this that easily!" she said
"For goodness sake, what is it!" he sighed as they entered the clearing where the Mall Rats happened to be
"I’m pregnant!" she said loudly.
The cheering stopped and everyone turned sharply. Laigh, Scott and Lucy were shocked to see Max and Harley stood before them. Laigh was bewildered
"Max?" she said softly
"Laigh, Luce, Scott? What the..." Max was as equally shocked
"Oh my..." Harley said
"You’re pregnant Harley?" Lucy asked "Is it...?" Harley nodded. Laigh felt like someone had punched her in the stomach, Max and Harley were having a baby? She turned to look at Bray and Amber, Amber looked pained. All of a sudden she wailed
"I can’t keep it to myself any longer! Bray I’m having your child!" Bray’s eyes opened wide,
"What?" he asked, but then he smiled and pulled he close to her "That’s great" he said
"Are you sure?" she asked
"Sure as anything." he said reassuringly. They hugged, the others watched everything in amazement, then Zandra grabbed hold of her bump
"Ohhhh, that hurt" she groaned, Lex dashed upto her
"Zan, what’s wrong?" he asked
"Nothing, I’m fine really" she said unsurely
"Max, how could you?" Laigh screamed angrily, she knew now just how much she cared about him
"I’m sorry, I didn’t know..." he started, however that’s all Laigh heard as she started to run away, sobbing her heart out.
Laigh stood on the hill, sobbing even harder. Why was she so upset over this? Her relationship with Max had finished over a month ago, yet she still felt betrayed. She sat down and put her arms around her knees and her head upon them and cried harder. Bray and Amber came running up, exhausted from the run up the hill. Bray was panting as he said
"Laigh, please don’t cry! It was over between you and Max"
"It doesn’t matter" Laigh turned to look at them, tears rolling down her cheeks "I still loved him"
"Loved?" Amber asked "So those feelings have gone?"
"I don’t know" wailed Laigh. "when Harley announced that she was having his child it was the final blow. It honestly felt like he’d ripped out my heart and stamped on it." She stood up and ran into Bray’s arms "Where’s the others?"
"We left them behind" he sighed "so what do you want to do?"
"I want it to end." she said softly. "that’s all I want. I want to start again, somewhere as far away as possible. Somewhere were no one knows what has happened to me and so won’t feel sorry for me."
Jack, Cloe, Patsy and KC came running up to Bray and Amber, they were stood at the bottom of the hill looking down at something, they had their arms around each other.
"Bray, Amber you have to come quickly!" Patsy exclaimed, "Zandra’s gone into labour, we need your help!" Bray turned around, tears rolling down his face. Amber was the same when she turned around, they were both very upset.
"Hey what’s wrong guys? Where’s Laigh?" Jack could tell they were hiding something. They parted to reveal the makeshift grave that lay behind them. The others gasped, they couldn’t believe it.
"No! She can’t be dead!" Patsy whispered, Cloe took hold of her hand. Jack stepped forward to Bray and said
"I’m sorry Bray, I can’t believe she’s gone" He nodded, he was too upset to speak, Amber cleared her throat
"It’s true, she slipped as we were walking and rolled down the hill, she hit her head against a sharp rock," Jack was amazed. Just like the dream, he thought. Amber continued. "She just had enough time to say goodbye and give Bray a gift" She looked at Bray, who was holding the feathered necklace that he and Martin had bought her. He stroked the feathers and whispered
"I hope you’ll be happy Laigh. I think you made the right decision. I love you..."
..."Hey we’re almost there!" Cloe was dancing around,
"This tribe sounds really cool!" added Zandra, holding Lex Junior, her baby, in her arms. The Mall Rats were off to see a new tribe, this tribe was no ordinary one though, it was a group of wandering performers who did special performances for food and other useful things. Bray smiled at her then looked at Amber
"Are you alright?" he asked her worriedly as she was starting to look tired
"Fine." she smiled back "just this little one kicking away as usual" she patted her slowly growing bump, he squeezed her hand and looked her gently in the eye. This performance was particularly special for them. They finally reached the spot where the afternoon’s performance was going to be. Jack and Dal gave the doorman some batteries, their payment for the show and they all went to sit down. They had just got comfortable when -
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Wandering Minstrel show!" announced a boy totally in green. Suddenly there was a giant puff of smoke and the show began, music was playing and a troupe of acrobat/dancers came cartwheeling in to the beat. They did a dance then when the music stopped they came into a crowd in the middle of the stage. Slow music started to play and they all scattered and left the stage. There, dancing beautifully, was a girl dressed totally in white with a white feathered mask on. The Mall Rats were entranced by this girl’s movements, Lucy whispered to Bray.
"If Laigh wasn’t dead I would swear that was her" He smiled at her, if only she knew the truth. When the music ended everyone stood and clapped loudly, the girl took a sweeping bow and leapt off the stage. She wandered past the Rats, smiling as she went, the only two who actually saw though were Bray and Amber, the others were watching the next act, which had started. Laigh pulled her mask off to reveal her face, she winked at her cousin and Amber, who waved back. Her secret was safe, for now...
