want me to come over?' I asked pointlessly.
'Why? What are you going to be able to do?'
'You need someone with you. What about your mum?' 'She's not here. She's staying with my aunt in London .'
'Is there anyone else who could...'
'Who could what? What's anyone else going to be able to do?'
'Have you thought about calling the doctor out? He might be able to give her something to...'
'She doesn't need drugs,' she said abruptly.
'Look, just do me a favour and think about it will you?' I pleaded. 'It might help her to...'
'No!'
'Maybe she just needs sleep then. Let her get this out of her system and I bet she'll be fine in the morning.'
'Do you really think so?'
If I was completely honest I didn't, but that wasn't what I told Clare.
'Of course I do,' I lied through gritted teeth.
I heard another loud crash from the other end of the phone line. Clare sniffed back more tears.
'I've got to go,' she sobbed.
'Do you want me to come over?' I asked again.
'No, it's okay. If I need you I'll call.'
Another crash. I heard Clare call out to Penny before she put the phone down.
Chapter 23
In stark contrast to the previous morning, the next day I hid myself away in bed for as long as I could. I lay on my back with my head buried under the covers, almost too afraid to look out. What the hell was happening to my world? It seemed to be falling apart at the seams and I had no idea why. I began to think that I must have been the cause of all the grief. I was, after all, the common denominator. In less than forty-eight hours my girlfriend had accused me of having an affair, an old family friend had turned against me for no reason and, now, my best friend's little girl seemed to be beginning to self-destruct. Normally I would have confided in Rob and asked him his opinion. Nowadays, however, everything I told him seemed to be freely shared with his alien friend. I much preferred to keep my mounting problems to myself. Yet again I had spent a sleepless night staring at the walls and ceiling of my bedroom for what had felt like an eternity. The bed had seemed huge, cold and empty without Siobhan. In the darkness I managed to convince myself that it really was me who was to blame. It had to be. The sudden change in the behaviour of many other people around me was inexplicable. The idea that I was losing my mind seemed much more probable than the bizarre alternative - that Siobhan, Penny and Joe Porter had somehow all lost their collective grip on reality.
Just after seven I had heard the front door slam shut. That had been Rob leaving. I was seeing less and less of him each day, not that that was a problem. But he always seemed to have that fucking alien in tow. There were only three hundred and sixty-odd aliens as oppose to Christ knows how many millions of humans in the country. So why did that one in particular want to spend all his time with my brother?
Eight o'clock slowly passed, as did nine and then ten. I watched the figures on my alarm clock as they marched on mercilessly towards eleven. Minutes before the hour I finally forced myself to get up, more because I desperately needed to go to the toilet than for any other reason. As soon as I was up I felt dangerously vulnerable, tiptoeing through the house in my underwear, bracing myself against the bitter autumn cold. The central heating had long since gone off. Had I got up earlier I would have been warm, but that was the price I paid for my laziness. The thought of going back to bed again was dangerously tempting. There was nothing stopping me spending a day hiding behind the soft armour plating of my duvet and sheets.
The kitchen cupboards were bare. I didn't even have enough milk for a cup of tea and I quickly reached the inevitable conclusion that I was going to have to go down to the shops. The thought filled me with dread. The last thing I wanted to do was speak to people. The prospect of traipsing along the cold, wet and miserable streets of Thatcham was far from appealing. Dejected, I showered and dressed.
Outside was as grey and unpleasant as I had expected. I