Beyond The Tribe - alternative and parallel stories by the fans

Blaze

Episode Twenty Six

‘About time too!’ called Briar as Danni walked into the room. Danni cringed as the noise level pierced her skull like an iron poker. ‘So can we start?’ continued Briar.
‘Er... sure,’ Danni sat on a nearby chair and laid her head back against the Mall’s wall.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Alice, who was sitting next to her. ‘You look terrible! Late night?’
‘You could say that,’ replied Danni, uncertain whether or not it had been.
But Briar stepped straight in and began presenting the case, ‘So Danni - let me get this straight. If I produce the victim and he doesn’t want to press charges, then the charges against Kurt, the accused, will be dropped?’
‘I suppose…’
‘Good. Then I’ll call my first witness to the stand. You,’ she pointed to Spike leaning nonchalantly against a nearby wall next to Ebony. ‘Can you describe the victim for me?’
‘Short, bright green hair, pale skin. About 14, 15.’
‘In short, is this the guy?’ Briar gestured to Seth and he brought in a boy of about 14, maybe older, with luminous green hair.
‘Er… yeah,’ replied Spike uncertainly, not wanting to confirm the case of Ebony’s rival.
‘You can stand down.’
Ebony stood up, ‘Don’t you want to know what he saw?’
‘What he saw is irrelevant if Rick doesn’t want to press charges. So, Rick, do you want to press charges?’
‘No,’ came the less than eager reply.
‘Why the hell not?’ demanded Ebony. ‘Look at your face, I take it that was him!’
‘Yeah, but I don’t want to press charges,’ he repeated with a little more conviction, although he made it clear that the statement was against his will.
‘That’s settled then,’ butted in Briar. ‘So Danni? Will you drop the charges?’
Everyone turned towards Danni’s chair.
‘Danni?! Danni!’ called Briar angrily but all she got in reply was the sound of gentle snoozing.

The rest of the day was a bit of a disaster. After that Briar had immediately taken off with Kurt and Rick in tow, both of them eyeballing each other. Briar had said a quick word to Seth who had been once more abandoned, and to Ebony’s horror she was certain Seth had told Briar what happened between them last night. Briar had given her a ‘look’ on the way out. Alice had tried to wake Danni with very little response so Ryan was called upon and he nobly carried her upstairs and put her to bed.
‘Is she sick?’ asked a concerned Salene to Seth who was also standing over the bed looking down at Danni, fast asleep.
‘I don’t think so,’ replied Seth. ‘But then I don’t know what she’s feeling - I mean if she’s hurting. We’ll wait until she wakes up, but one thing’s for sure. She needs some serious sleep.’
Meanwhile Ryan’s conscience was being racked. Danni in Lex’s bedroom? But Danni was going out with Bray, but Bray was out of action at the moment… was the first thought that came into his head. Then the ‘there must be a more reasonable explanation’ thought came up. Trouble was that Salene was usually the one who helped with these kinds of thoughts and Danni had told him not to tell anyone. He thought he’d approach Lex first, just to see if… But then he was even sure what he was meant to see!

Ebony went to see Seth again, but with a new plan of action in tow. She was going to ask Seth what happened last night… or at least she remembered that. The question was why? He didn’t seem to like her that much and she hated the idea of him using her, but it wasn’t like that…
She entered Bray’s room more cautiously this time. ‘Hi Bray? How are you feeling?’
‘Much better thanks. Are you looking for Seth?’
Ebony paused. Had he told Bray too? ‘Yes,’ she replied cautiously. ‘How did you guess?’
‘You’ve got that mad glint in your eye, the one that you get when you’re absolutely seething. Why what’s he done?’
‘Mad glint?!’ Ebony laughed trying to cover over Bray’s last question. ‘I do not have a mad glint!’
‘You do Ebony, you can’t deny it: you’ve had it as long as I’ve known you.’
‘Actually I remember Zoot saying something about that…’
‘Oh by the way, have you seen Danni? She said she’d visit me last night but she didn’t turn up and then she usually comes in the mornings but she hasn’t been either.’
Ebony’s mind raced. She was suspicious of Danni’s whereabouts, especially the ‘last seen with Lex’ bit and the ‘her own bed hasn’t been slept in’ bit. She wondered how she could plant some seeds of suspicion without dropping them too obviously. ‘You know Bray, I’m not sure. The last time anyone saw her was last night, she was jut talking and having a laugh, I think they must have run over. Oh!’ she said and then stopped herself as though she’d revealed too much.
‘What Ebony?’
‘Nothing. Sorry I shouldn’t have…’
‘Who was she with?’ asked Bray, his curiosity roused.
‘Only Lex. They were just sitting together,’ said Ebony, making it sound over casual on purpose. Then she pretended to change the subject quickly. ‘So have you seen Seth?’
‘Er... yeah,’ replied Bray distractedly. ‘He went to the clinic for a couple of hours with Ellie and Dal.’
‘Great,’ said Ebony to herself.
As she swept out of the room she nearly forgot all about her search for Seth. The look on Bray’s face when she’d said that Danni had spent the evening with Lex! It was great. She stopped and silently thanked Shakespeare for his greatest character… Iago. The seed of mistrust were definitely sown, all she had to do now was to water them. On her way along the balcony she bumped into Ryan. ‘Ryan! Bray wants to see you!’
‘What?’ a look of guilt spread over his face.
Ebony smiled, she knew he the worst ever liar! ‘Yeah. Can you go in now? Got a spare moment?’ she asked sweetly.
‘Er… sure…’

Episode Twenty Seven

'Hi Bray,’ Ryan said nervously. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Sure,’ said Bray, wondering why Ryan was visiting. Salene had probably sent him, she’d been in nearly every five minutes to check he was OK. ‘Take a seat,’ he said indicating towards a chair.
Ryan shuffled across the room and sat down, trying to avoid Bray’s eyes. Ryan sat there feeling the guilt of schoolboy who’s crimes had just been discovered. Bray must have called him here to ask about Danni and what Ryan had witnesses this morning It was obvious something was up. Bray just couldn’t figure him out. ‘Ryan?’ he called.
Ryan lifted his head, a look of dread on his face. ‘Er.. yeah?’
‘Are you OK?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Did you er.. want something?’
Ryan was unsure whether this question required the answer, ‘Yes Bray I think I should tell you that I saw….’ Or whether it was just an innocent inquiry. ‘Er… er.. erm…’ he said turning redder and redder.
Bray kindly saved him. ‘So how are things going in the mall? Has Ebony taken over yet?’
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief and his shoulders relaxed. ‘Er no. Actually, I haven’t seen that much of her. Apart from yesterday at the trial when…’ he remembered Ebony who was the one to tell him to look for Danni and then he stopped again.
Luckily it was Salene who saved him this time. ‘Hi Bray! Oh hi Ryan. Bray can I steal Ryan for a minute? I want to have a word about lessons tomorrow.’
‘Sure,’ said Bray, plunged into confusion by the conversation, or lack of it.
As he was left for another space of time to stare at the wall he couldn’t stop his mind wandering back to the conversation with Ebony earlier, she was nervous about something, and so was Ryan. Was there something they weren’t telling him?

Jack grabbed a plate and sat down at the one of the corner tables. Ellie still hadn’t appeared and, he realised, Dal was around either. As Alice walked in, he took his chance. ‘Alice, have you seen Ellie?’
‘Why have you lost her?’
‘Yes.. I mean no…’
‘Easy Jack, she went to the clinic to help out, with Seth and Dal.’
‘Oh. Right,’ Jack said. Why hadn’t he been invited? Or at least informed?!
Alice looked around her. The room was fairly silent. Ryan was staring absentmindedly into his bowl of baked beans and Salene was poured over a dictionary. Jack was sulking and Danni, well Danni looked as though she was about to collapse into her soup. Alice laughed to herself at the spectacle but only Tai-san looked up so Alice moved over and sat by her.
Lex walked into the room with a grin on his face, he saw Danni alone on the table and walked over behind her. ‘Rough night?’ he called into her left ear from behind her.
She jumped in alarm then looked round and saw who it was. ‘Oh it’s you.’
Lex sat down beside her. ‘It’s good to see you too. So how are you feeling?’
‘Worse than you obviously.’
‘Oh come on Danni! You’re just not used to it, and from what I heard, you got up late this morning!’
Danni moved her head closer to his so that the others wouldn’t overhear. ‘Umm.. Lex, what happened?’
Lex looked shocked and serious. ‘You mean.. you mean you don’t remember?’ he said incredulously.
Danni’s eyes widened, but Lex continued, sounding sincere. ‘The… the things you said to me Danni? What we shared, I’ll treasure it forever… You can’t just forget a thing like that, it was special.’
Danni reeled in horror and hoped she was still dreaming… She looked around at the others to see if they’d heard but they were all eating, totally unconcerned.

Episode Twenty Eight

Lex broke into a laugh. He couldn’t restrain himself; the look on Danni’s tortured face was too much for him!
‘What?’ she demanded.
‘Just you.’
‘You can’t be serious. We didn’t? Did we?’
‘What do you think, Danni?’
‘Er...’
‘Oh come on! Do you really think I’d do that to you? You should have seen the state you were in.’
‘You mean nothing happened?’ Danni asked, her wide eyes imploring him.
Lex laughed again, ‘No Danni. Nothing happened.’
She breathed a sigh of relief, ‘So er... what did happen?’
Lex leant in, mocking her strained, secret voice. ‘You got drunk and passed out on the bed.’
‘What?!’
Lex was finding it hard to speak through his laughter, ‘It’s true. I’m sorry Danni, but you really can’t take your drink. I could hardly believe it when you keeled over on the bed. It was only the third bottle. I tried to stop you but you kept saying "Lex, no. I can do this, one more drink I’ll be all right, just you see"'
He stopped laughing now. Danni was still looking serious and through her confusion there was a glimmer of relief. He continued more soberly, ‘No, seriously. I wasn’t really in the state to carry you back to your own bed so I just tucked you up in mine and went to sleep in Trudi’s old room. I hope that was OK.’
The confusion left Danni now, she gave a short laugh at her own stupidity. ‘Yeah nice one Lex, I can’t believe I believed you! I mean with you!?!’
‘Oi! It’s not that unbelievable is it?’
She laughed again, ‘Sorry. The point is I can’t remember anything from when we sat down to... the second bottle was it?’
‘I think that was the point when you really started to leave me.’
‘But seriously Lex, Thanks.’
‘That’s OK. I enjoyed myself; we had a good time.’
‘Yeah,’ agreed Danni. ‘I think.’

Only Tai-san noticed Lex and Danni laughing and talking, the others were a bit caught up in their own affairs. Tai-san smiled; it was good to see Danni enjoying herself again after all the troubles she’d been through. And it was good for Lex too - he needed a friend. She was too trusting to think anything more.

Episode Twenty Nine

At the clinic Dal was waiting impatiently in the downstairs rooms which used to be an old kitchen. The clinic was based in an old luxury hotel. Briar had chosen well; there were plenty of individual rooms for in-patients, good washing and cooking facilities, and a few good general rooms. The nurses and helpers were mostly kids who didn’t have anywhere else to go and didn’t mind working for a living. Either that or they were old patients who’d stayed on. Seth was the only who stayed because he needed to - his epilepsy made him vulnerable out on the streets but with Briar he enjoyed about as much freedom as he expected possible without any more drugs to control his condition.
Dal looked at his watch, it was getting late and Seth and Ellie had promised to meet him here 20 minutes ago. He was tired and annoyed. It had been a hard day but worthwhile. Briar had allowed him to tag along on most of the emergencies, not as exciting as ER but still interesting. She let him sew up someone’s leg! Poor guy, to be practised on like that, but Dal had got through it OK and Briar had even said he should take up needlework.

He heard footsteps and laughter descending the stairs, the kitchen door opened and Seth walking in close behind Ellie, whose face was red from laughter. ‘Hi Dal? Are you ready to go?’
‘Yes and I have been for the last half hour.’
‘What? It’s only just...’ said Ellie looking down at her watch. ‘Oh sorry, I completely forgot. Seth was telling me about this one patient who...’
‘Can we go?’
‘Oh, sure. Sorry.’
So they set off back for the mall in the dusk. Dal walked on ahead, wanting to be left alone in the city at night. Ellie and Seth lagged behind talking and laughing but from what Dal could hear it was Ellie who was talking the most, with only an odd comment from Seth which seemed to make quite an impact.
Finally he was out of the sewers and into the mall, the others were quite a way behind him; he just heard them jump down from the ladder into the sewer as he openned the door into the mall.
Jack was coming down the stairs and caught sight of him. ‘Hi Dal? Seen Ellie.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Well er.. where is she?’
‘About an hour behind me,’ said Dal as he marched up the stairs past Jack.
‘What?’ Jack called after him, but then he heard the door open and saw Ellie arrive in the Mall. ‘Oh hi Ellie!’
‘Hi Jack.’
‘I was, er, wondering if you’d like to erm, just head out. I mean I haven’t seen you all day.’
Ellie was about to answer then she noticed Seth had started to walk off. ‘Oh bye Seth! I had fun today, thanks!’
‘No problem, you were great,’ said Seth without turning around.
Ellie just smiled as her eyes followed him up the stairs.
Jack waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention. ‘Hello?’
‘Hmmm. What?’

Episode Thirty

Bray was glad to see Seth, he’d missed having him around that day. Besides, the bedroom ceiling was getting annoying and as his strength returned to him he felt there were better ways he could pass the day. Danni had only been to see him once, and then it wasn’t exactly for a long time. He couldn’t help noticing her yawn and however much he tried to stop it, his mind kept asking: why is she so tired? He even tried to tell himself that he was boring her but it didn’t work. Finally she left, to get some rest, she didn’t say it but when Salene came in with a cup of coffee and few minutes later…
‘You must have really worn Danni out! She’s gone straight to bed.’
‘So she is tired? I wondered why she kept yawning. I wondered if it was me.’
Salene laughed, ‘No Bray. She was really tired this morning. I guess you heard she fell asleep during the trial?’
‘What?! No!’
‘Oh yeah, this morning, no one could find her but eventually she turned up looking only half awake and then…’
‘When was this?’
‘This morning. Oh you mean what time? I guess around 11am.’
‘She’s usually up by then,’ murmured Bray to himself.
‘Yeah. Odd that. Anyway, must go. I’ll drop back in later. Bye.’ And she left the room.
Seth noticed the slightly strained look on Bray’s face. ‘Feels like no one ever tells you anything yeah?’
‘Yeah. I mean, no.’
‘Well that girl’s in here often enough.’
‘Salene?’
‘Yeah. Has.. er has she got a kind of thing for you?’
‘No,’ said Bray. ‘At least, I hope not… you see me and Danni…’
‘Who?’
‘The girl who was in here earlier.’
‘Oh right, you mean the tired one.’
Bray laughed, ‘Yeah, well we’re going out.’
Seth raised his eyebrows, it was almost imperceptible.
‘What?!’ Bray asked.
‘Nothing. Look, I’ve gotta find the mystic chick about some stuff for your arm.’
Bray laughed to himself: ‘the mystic chick’! it was the best description of Tai-san he’d ever heard. Seth went to find her and Bray was left alone again with his thoughts. He was sure there was something going on, Ebony avoiding questionings, Salene rushing off, Seth with excuses. Then he stopped himself. ‘Too paranoid,’ he murmured to himself.
‘What was that?’ Ebony was standing in the doorway.
Bray looked round, embarrassed. ‘Oh nothing. Hi Ebony.’ Again, he thought.
‘I just wanted to check about earlier. It didn’t mean anything, you know.’
‘What?’
‘What I said about Danni.’
‘Er… yeah. Um… what did you say about Danni?’
‘Oh nothing.’
‘Well then by nothing, you obviously didn’t mean anything,’ Bray said, haltingly.
Ebony looked confused, then guilty. ‘Erm…that’s right. Sorry. Gotta to go and… oh never mind.’ And she backed awkwardly out of the room leaving Bray’s mind to burn in bewilderment and suspicion.

Episodes 31 - 35
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