The Companion

We closed up at five most days but there was a last minute rush this afternoon, what with summer days being longer and hotter, so we shut the shop a little later than expected.

“Right, I’m sorry, Kylie… Doctor, I have to leave. I had an appointment, hopefully I can still make it in time,” said Marie after we’d cleaned up most of the stuff from today.

“That’s no problem, I can do the rest,” I said as I washed one of the scoopers in the sink.

“I see you’ve warmed a bit,” she said quietly to me, gesturing to where the Doctor was putting some cones away.

“Oh shut up,” I said.

“I told you so.”

“Get to your appointment, will you?” I said, laughing.

“All right, then, I’ll see you tomorrow. Good work today, Doctor,” she said and she gave him a pat on the back before she left.

“She’s right, you know, Doctor. You’re pretty good at the whole ice cream thing,” I said.

“Well, I do like to build my skills. You never know, might come in handy,” he said and I looked over to see him going to fetch some more left over cones. Just as he walked away, his neat stack fell over and out of the cupboard in which he has been assembling it and he cursed as he went to pick all the cones up.

“Its all right, Doctor. I can do that,” I said, rushing over to him, helping to pick up the fallen cones.

“Don’t worry, happens all the time. Silly me, clumsy old Doctor,” he said, sounding a bit flustered but still in high spirits.

Together we began to restack the cones onto the shelf, which didn’t take too long at all. Once we’d finished, the Doctor straightened up, brushed his shirt off let out a sigh of satisfaction.

“Well, what next?” he asked eagerly.

“There’s not much left to do. I’ve got a few dishes to clean and that’s about it. You’re free to go if you like Doctor,” I said, kindly. I can’t lie, he’s a very likeable character, quite youthful as well. Wonderful with kids. They all seemed to love him today.

“Are you sure? I can help if you like,” he said, bouncing on his toes.

“No, that’s fine, Doctor. But thank you for offering,” I said, smiling.

“Will you be ok here by yourself?” he asked, seeming to be genuinely concerned.

“I’ll be fine, Doctor. I’ve been doing this for a while now, don’t you worry. Besides, Harry should be here soon,” I said, checking my watch as I went back to the sink.

“Right, ok, well, I’ll see you in five- I mean the morning, see you in the morning… I hope,” he said, keeping conversation light although I swear I could detect some kind of worry beneath the cheeriness.

“You’re funny, Doctor,” I said, chuckling at his last couple words.

“Thank you… funny’s good,” he said, adding the last part as an afterthought.

“Well… don’t let me keep you,” I said for he seemed to be a bit preoccupied, staring into space.

“Right…uh, yes, good bye Kylie. Have a good night with Curly,” he said, heading towards the door.

“I will. See you in the morning, Doctor,” I said and with that he left and I let out a sigh as I resumed the washing of the dishes. Luckily it didn’t take too long anyway and I proceeded to put everything away and make sure it was all neat and tidy for the next day.

I went to grab my things and was just about to head out the back door, checking my phone as I went when I saw a bright light coming from across the room behind one of the cupboards. I took a few steps towards it, weary of getting too close.

“Is someone there?” I called, not really expecting an answer but still, it paid to check. The light seemed to quiver a little.

“Is that you, Harry?” I don’t know what made me say that, for I knew somehow that it clearly wasn’t him. The light seemed almost otherworldly, very much unlike something that Harry could produce or in fact anything that I had seen before.

I took a few more steps towards the light but before I could get any closer it just seemed to go out and the room was left in a half-light. I considered going to have a look behind the cupboard but thought better of it.

I quickly went over to turn the light off before going to the back door. I opened it and took a step over the threshold before glancing back at the cupboard, which seemed as normal as ever. I shook my head a little, hoping that I wasn’t going mad and pulled the door closed, locking it behind me.

Harry was sat in the car with his phone out. I walked over, looking around me every step of the way, almost expecting something or someone to jump out and reveal themselves as the guilty party. Getting closer to the car, I ran the last few strides, pulled the door open and jumped in, letting out a sigh.

“Hey, babe. I was just about to text you. You all right? You’re breathing a bit fast,” said Harry, putting a comforting hand on my knee.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” I said before leaning over to give him my usual greeting kiss.

“Long day?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, closed a bit later than we expected. There was a rush at the end of the day. I haven’t seen it so busy at 5 o’clock.”

“How did the new guy go?”

“Pretty well actually. He’s very efficient and fantastic with the kids that come in. I guess Marie made a good call hiring him. A bit of stress was taken off what with having that extra pair of hands.”

“Well, that’s good. See, I knew you’d get used to him.”

“Yeah, I suppose. He’s very nice as well.”

“Is that so?” said Harry, raising an eyebrow in jest.

“You know what I mean, Harry,” I said, laughing at his expression.

“Yeah, but you know me, I like to tease.”

“Well, you’re not too bad at it,” I replied, chuckling before looking out the window briefly in the direction of the back door.

“You look a little shaken, babe. You sure you’re all right?” Harry asked, as I turned back, his eyes searching my own.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just saw something a bit weird is all.”

“What was it?”

“Just a light. Nothing too serious.”

Harry gave me one of those looks as if he knew I wasn’t telling the whole truth and I have to say, he was reading me quite well. But I wasn’t too sure of what I had seen anyway so I was uncertain as to how I would go about talking about it.

“I’m fine, Harry. Don’t worry. I’m sure it was just a car going past or something,” I said, trying to convince myself at the same time even though I knew it sure as hell wasn’t a car.

Notes