Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,149

residents by allowing them to enjoy the traditional Georgian bay-style window at the front but also a view to the rear of the property which stretched out over the main town area. The flats were, as a result, relatively large and Celeste had often commented that she had been extremely lucky to be able to rent one of them. A few of them were now privately owned but at least half of them were still rental properties although they were so much in demand that they hardly ever became available.

Celeste had heard about it through a friend of a friend who had given her an inside tip off and so she had been able to get in quickly, even before the flat had been advertised. She often complained that the rent was a bit steep, however, and sometimes took on extra bar and waitressing work in order to make ends meet. Elise had asked her if she had ever considered having a flatmate as she had two bedrooms but she was adamant that she much preferred to live on her own so that she didn’t have to make any excuses about her sometimes-eclectic lifestyle.

Celeste lived in number six on the third floor and Elise dragged herself into the foyer and pressed the button for the lift. Usually, she used the stairs as a concession to a general lack of physical fitness in her life but today she would be lucky to make it to the first floor if she took the stairs, let alone the third. When the lift arrived it was empty and Elise was glad. She hadn’t looked in a mirror so she had no idea what she looked like but she could only imagine that it wasn’t a very pretty sight.

Walking into the lift car she realised that her head was really pounding and she could see flashing lights as objects began to spin. Clearly she had been functioning purely on adrenalin since she had walked out, and now that she was coming down from the enforced high, her body was beginning to present the very real physical symptoms of the injuries that she had sustained.

The lift began its steady climb to the third floor and Elise found herself giggling manically as her body started to feel completely weightless and she imagined that she was actually flying. Her feet didn’t feel like they belonged to her anymore and she started flapping her arms about birdlike, in a bid to take to the skies.

Her senses were rapidly leaving her and as the lift arrived at the third floor, she wobbled out on unfamiliar legs and headed towards the door of number six. She was still flapping her arms in a crazy but rhythmic motion and only paused long enough to press the buzzer, and then carrying on with her bizarre movements as soon as she had released the button.

A mere few seconds later she realised that the door was opening and had just about enough sense left to register her friend’s shocked face before she felt the floor coming towards her.

Within seconds of seeing her friend’s face, blackness hit and she collapsed to the ground, flapping her arms no more.

There was an army doing battle in her head and they were being accompanied by a band of drummers - in fact she was fairly certain that the Sergeant Major was leading his very own military tattoo inside her brain. Never had a hangover felt this bad before and she cracked her eyes open fractionally, initially surprised to register that she didn’t recognise the room or the wallpaper. Still thinking she must be dreaming, she braved opening her eyes a little further, and her vision was instantly filled by the darkest and most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen.

Vaughn. Now she knew that she was dreaming. Vaughn was at his sister’s house and she had clearly just overindulged herself on Christmas Day. She was hallucinating. Perhaps the alcohol still hadn’t worn off.

She closed her eyes again to find the army were still crashing around although the Sergeant Major must have given them an order to be a little bit quieter as the volume seemed to have diminished a fraction.

She tried again, but this time she took in a short breath before she opened her eyes, alarmed to feel pain rip across her chest as she did so. Reflexively she lifted up her left hand to clutch at her chest, only to realise that it was weighted down by