Beyond The Tribe - alternative and parallel stories by the fans

Blaze

Episode Forty One

Danni nervously approached Lex’s room and stuck her head around the door. ‘Erm… hi Lex.’
Lex jumped, ‘Danni? Don’t you knock?’
‘Oh sorry.’
‘No problem, only kidding. Come and sit down.’
She moved nervously over to him and sat on the end of the bed, just like she had been doing the last few days.
‘What’s up Danni? Is there something wrong?’
‘Me and Bray are back together. Not that that’s wrong. In fact its great. Yeah, great,’ she repeated as though trying more to convince herself than him. She put on a smile.
‘I’m so happy for you, I know you two are made for each other.’ But Danni was too caught up with trying to hide her own feelings that she failed to notice the hint of sarcasm in Lex’s voice.
‘So is he OK about you being here?’
‘Yeah, sure, he said ‘have fun’.’
‘Right, we’ll have to see what we can do!’ he smiled.

Ebony nearly got the fright of her life as she felt the hand on her shoulder. ‘Er… what are you doing?’
‘Nothing!’ she hissed, ‘Just go away Chloe, I’m not doing anything.’
Seth appeared around the corner. ‘Hi Chloe! What’s she up to this time?’ he teased.
‘She’s listening to what Lex and Danni are talking about,’ she put simply.
‘I am not!’
‘Then why are you whispering?’ asked Chloe innocently.
‘I’m…’ she put on a louder, normal voice. ‘I’m not.’
‘I thought Bray and Danni were back together now…’
‘They are,’ said Seth firmly, looking straight at Ebony.
‘Well what’s Danni doing with Lex then?’
‘Good question,’ murmured Ebony.
‘Lex and Danni are just friends. I mean it’s like you and that little one… you know the devious one….’
‘KC?’ supplied Chloe.
‘Yeah, well you and KC are friends but you don’t fancy him do you?’
Chloe pulled a disgusted face. ‘Yuk! No! but doesn’t Bray mind that Danni and Lex slept together?’
‘Nope.’
‘Shut up Ebony! Look, Chloe, they didn’t sleep together, so Bray has nothing to mind.’
‘OK.. Well have either of you seen Patsy?’
‘No,’ they answered simultaneously. Chloe walked off a bit confused.
‘You know, I think that girl might actually have her head screwed on,’ said Ebony.
Seth stepped closer. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
Ebony smiled innocently. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘You know exactly what I’m talking about, and I don’t think Bray’s going to like it.’
‘Bray’s not going to like what?’ Ebony fluttered her eyelashes.
‘I don’t know what I ever saw in you. I thought there might be some decency in you, somewhere,’ Seth murmured to himself.
Ebony leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek ‘I love you too.’ And she walked off laughing.

Episode Forty Two

Bray was feeling on top oaf the world. Everything was back in its rightful place, Danni was with him and his strength was returning. He didn’t even care about the way he looked anymore because he knew Danni would love him whatever.
He woke up from a troubled sleep and looked at the clock on his wall, it was time for supper and he realised he must have been asleep for about four hours. He hauled himself out of bed and was about to call for Seth but then he thought he’d try on his own. His head was still a little dizzy from sleep and his eyes were just become accustomed to the light, streaming in from the balcony.
He stopped to rest and leaned against the wall, Ebony walked swiftly around the corner and was surprised to see him out of bed, ‘Bray? Are you all right?’ she asked, genuinely concerned.
‘Yeah I’m fine I just…’
Ebony grabbed his arm to support him, he gratefully leant on her shoulder. ‘So where would you like to go?’ she asked, smiling.
‘Just over there, I thought I’d join you for supper.’
‘That’s great. Oh….’ She stopped abruptly and Bray followed her gaze to one of the tables in the canteen. Danni and Lex were sitting together engaged in some fascinating conversation, Danni was laughing at every sentence he uttered and Lex was lapping it up.
‘It’s OK, Ebony, she’s allowed to talk to him isn’t she? She’s allowed to have friends.’
‘Yeah, it’s just…’
‘Just what?’
‘Nothing.’ She changed the conversation quickly and called over to Seth, slumped over a cup of coffee on a corner table. ‘Hey Seth! Wake up and give me a hand!’ she barked.
Seth looked up quickly and then sighed as he realised it was Ebony. ‘Sure, sorry Bray, I was just gonna bring you something in.’
‘No need. I just came to see my girlfriend.’
Danni, who had been pretending she hadn’t noticed him yet, shuddered. Lex caught the expression but said nothing. He got up quickly and offered Bray the chair, he collapsed gratefully into it.
‘Well I know she’s dying to see you,’ said Lex. ‘She’s been talking about you all day!’
Danni blushed, should she have been talking about him all day? She shot him a quick death stare but he just laughed, ‘Look, I gotta go now, bye.’
Bray turned to Danni, ‘You should have come to see me, it would have been OK to wake me you know.’
‘I didn’t want to disturb you Bray,’ she mumbled.
There was a bit of silence, Danni concentrating on her meal.
‘So how did the meeting go?’
‘What meeting?’
‘You said you and Lex and Alice were getting together, something about market security.’
‘Oh that meeting…’
Alice leaned over from a near table. ‘There was a meeting and Lex didn’t tell me? God he’s so useless. So fill us in Danni, what did you decide?’
Danni stuttered and stammered. Ebony raised her eyebrows and looked towards Bray. ‘Nothing, it was just general ideas.’
‘Yeah but what ideas?’ prompted Alice, genuinely interested.
‘Well we were thinking about getting some sort of a register for regular traders and maybe giving trading permits so we can monitor things more closely.’ Lex leaned over the table, ‘Sorry, I forgot my drink. I thought it was quite productive didn’t you Danni?’
‘Er… yes.’
‘And sorry Alice, we looked for you but you weren’t around. Have you been out today?’
‘I was at the farm earlier but then…’
‘Yep that was probably it. Sorry, we didn’t look very hard, Danni was keen to get started.’
‘I’m sure she was,’ said Ebony under her breath.
It was too loud though and nearly everyone caught it. There was an embarrassed silence. Seth was gonna say something but then he thought it was better to leave Ebony to stew in the juices of everyone else’s disapproval.
Lex broke the silence, ‘Yeah well anyway.. I’m going to bed now, get an early night and everything.’
‘ ‘night Lex,’ called Bray.
‘Yeah good night everyone.’
Danni glanced nervously at the clock on the wall. Surely nine o’clock was a little excessive for Lex, her heart leapt; maybe this was he wanted her to come and see him… maybe…
‘Danni so what do you think?’ someone’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
‘Huh?’ she looked around and realised it was Alice. ‘Oh sorry I wasn’t listening… what was that…?’

Episode Forty Three

Danni didn’t talk much during the rest of the meal. But everyone was keen to talk to Bray so he didn’t really notice, but Ebony did and she was eager to point it out. ‘Are you OK there Danni?’
‘Er... yeah, why?’
‘Its just you’ve been a bit quiet. Is everything all right?’
Brays attention had been drawn to it now and he put a concerned arm around her.
‘Look, I’m fine,’ said Danni firmly. ‘What about you Ebony? What are you up to at the moment?’
‘Oh nothing really, just the usual security business.’
Bray got up stiffly, ‘I’m going back to my room now. Are you coming Danni?’
‘Yeah, sure,’ she got up and helped him back to his room.
He collapsed onto the bed, after a moment he pulled himself up to sit, in front of her. ‘You know, Ebony’s right, you are quiet, are you sure nothing's up?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine Bray, I’m just tired.’ She glanced nervously towards the door.
‘Really? Coz I was hoping you’d like to stay for a bit.’ He put his arms around her waist but she disentangled herself.
‘Sorry Bray, but I’m really tired. I’ve gotta be up early and everything.’ She headed for the door.
‘What for?’
‘You know… that um… thing.’ But she disappeared around the door before Bray could protest.
Seth strolled into the room. ‘Where’s she going?’
‘She says she’s going to bed, that she’s tired. But I get the feeling she’s ignoring you.’
‘What? Danni? No wonder she’s tired, from what I’ve heard she’s been crying all night and not getting much sleep at all, until you two made up of course.’
‘Oh well that’s all right. I mean, its not all right, that was terrible of me to do that to her. From now on, I’m going to trust her, whatever she tells me I’ll believe.’
Seth nodded. ‘Good idea. Danni deserves it.’

Danni checked nervously around her before heading down to Lex’s room, she was too busy looking around behind her that she didn’t really look where she was going.
‘Danni!’
‘Yeah?’ Danni turned around to see Lex in the process of taking off his trousers.
‘Well don’t just stand there! Turn around!’
‘Oh god, sorry.’ Danni turned to hide her shamed face against the wall. She was still screaming to herself in embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks burning when she felt the tap on her shoulder. ‘Er… yeah?’ she cringed, not daring to move her eyes away from a fixed spot on the wall.
‘You can around now,’ he laughed.
Danni turned around slowly. She didn’t dare lift her head to his face so her downcast eyes met a glass in front of his bare chest. She looked up at him in surprise.
‘Well since you’re here, you might as well have a drink,’ he handed he the glass then went over to the side of his room, picked up his jacket and started putting it on. ‘I wasn’t expecting you though. I thought I said I was going to bed.’
‘You did, I just thought….’
‘What?’
‘Oh nothing. Anyway, cheers,’ she took a sip of the wine. ‘Mmmm. This is classy Lex… for you,’ she teased.
‘What do you mean? I’ll have you know I’m a classy kinda guy.’
‘Oh really? So aren’t you having any?’
‘I’ve got to be up early, for the market so don’t you keep me too long tonight. You’re a bad influence on me, you know that?’
‘Me?! I thought it was the other way round!’
‘Well who’s the one with the alcohol then?’
Danni laughed into her glass. ‘And I really am sorry about walking in on you like that.’
‘Oh that? I’ve forgotten about it already. Apart from the look on your face of course!’
‘Don’t! It’s embarrassing enough as it is.’
‘And if the others should find out…?’ he threatened slyly.
Her expression went deadly serious. ‘You can’t tell them Lex.’
Lex looked confused, ‘Its OK Danni. I won’t, not if you don’t want me too.’
Danni nodded gently in acknowledgement and sat down on the bed, staring into the wine glass she was clutching with two hands and swirling the opalescent liquid round and round.
He sat down beside her. ‘You know,’ she said. ‘Those are the exact words I was hoping Bray to say when I told him about my father.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He tried to make me tell the others, I felt so guilty then, hiding it from you all.’
‘I would have done exactly the same. We all would and it was hardly your fault anyway. And as for Patsy and Chloe, they were more concerned who killed Bob than their parents.’
Danni smiled as Lex continued. ‘Yeah, its strange I can’t imagine any of us with parents now, can you? I mean, Trudy with a mother? No way, and what about Ebony’s parents: I’d love to know what they were like!’
‘Quite something I should imagine,’ she murmured.
‘Danni are you alright?’ She was getting that far away, detached look.
‘Yeah, mmm.. fine. Just tired.’
‘Maybe you should go back to bed?’
‘Just a second longer,’ her eyes were beginning to close and she was swaying slightly, the wine glass fell from her hand and the contents dripped over the end of the bed.
‘Danni! Danni! What’s wrong!’ he put his arms up to steady her but her whole body went limp and she collapsed onto his shoulder. Her could hear her breathing gently so he carefully laid her down on the bed. Then leaning forward he picked up the glass from the floor and held it up to the candle light. The light just caught on some white residue left in the bottom of the glass.
‘Ebony,’ he said to himself.

Episode Forty Four

He pulled the covers over her and got up purposefully and strode out the door. He ran up the stairs and moved around the corner into Ebony’s room. She was sitting up in bed reading. When she saw him she smiled and put the book down.
‘What have you done to her?’ he demanded.
‘I wondered when you’d turn up. Sooner than I expected but then again, subtlety’s never been Danni’s strong point.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Well I thought she’d wait at least half an hour before going to see you.’ She looked at the clock on her wall, ‘It's only ten, Lex.’
‘I don’t care. What have you done to her?’
‘Nothing much, in fact she’ll probably get the best night’s sleep she’s had in ages. She’ll be fine in the morning, or maybe nearer late afternoon. I don’t know, how much did she drink?’ she asked, still sounding unconcerned.
‘A whole glass.’
‘In that case she’ll be good as new by tomorrow evening.’
‘Why are you doing this Ebony? What have you got against Danni?’
‘Danni? Nothing.’
‘I want you to explain to Bray. Now,’ Lex grabbed her by the arm and attempted to pull her out of bed.
But she just twisted her wrist around and out of his grasp. ‘Wait a minute, Lex, I want you to consider you position.’
‘There is no ‘position’. I take Danni back to bed and I’ll let you explain to Bray what happened.’
‘There are two problems with that brilliantly thought out plan, Lex. One, where’s your proof?’
‘I’ve got the glass. There’s still stuff left in it.’
‘That’s where we come to the second problem. What are you going to say? ‘Look Bray; here’s your girlfriend and she’s drunk a potentially lethal dose of valium so I’ll just put her back to bed and she’ll be fine tomorrow.’' Ebony laughed.
‘Lethal?!’
‘10mg with alcohol is always a little dangerous, but the results were incredible, don’t you think.’
‘Right. That’s it, I’m getting Seth,’ Lex headed straight for the door.
‘You don’t think things through, do you Lex?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘She could be alright. And then, oh I forgot, Bray didn’t know Danni was coming to see you, she told him she was going to bed.’
‘So what?’
‘It might look a little suspicious, that’s all. And that’s the last thing Danni would want. After all, she did lie to him.’
‘No more games Ebony. What’s gonna happen to Danni, If she dies I’ll….’
‘You’re hardly in a position to make threats.’
‘And why would that be?’
‘I happen to be the only one with the antidote, Lex. This is Mazicon.’ She smiled as she held up a small bottle with clear liquid inside, ‘So I’ll tell you what to do; run back to your little friend and just check that she’s still breathing every 10 minutes or so. If her breathing slows, come running and I’ll make a bargain with you for the antidote. If it stops, Seth’s your last hope. And you’d better run. She might be dead already.’
Lex didn’t stop to answer he ran out onto the balcony and down to his room. When he saw her lying motionless on the bed his heart stopped for a moment. The he leaned over and scooped her up in his arms, titling his head sideways to listen for sounds of life. A wave of relief swept over him as he laid her back down on the bed. Her face looked so peaceful that anger blazed inside him for Ebony. How could she do this? How could she be so heartless? He took Danni’s limp hand and held it tight.
‘Don’t die Danni. I love you,’ he whispered.

Episode Forty Five

Alice checked her watch, it was getting late and the market was just about to start so she headed down the corridor to see Lex. The door was ajar and so she pushed it open. To her surprise, the first thing that met her eyes was Danni on the bed, then she saw Lex asleep on the floor below her, his back propped up by the wall. Then her eyes fell on the overturned wine glass on the floor. It was obviously a good night. So much for the new Lex, she’d really thought he was improving but now…. Why should she do all the work to cover for his little parties? Still…she couldn’t bring herself to wake them so she walked back out and decided that she wouldn’t skip breakfast after all.
Salene was there and so was Ebony, in a corner looking preoccupied. She hadn’t expected Danni to have a whole glass, she didn’t think she’d drink that quickly. The plan was that the valium would knock her out before she finished. And Lex? Why didn’t he have any? At least there was someone to look after Danni in case things did go wrong. Anyway, he hadn’t been back to her so Danni must be OK.
‘Lex is sleeping like a baby,’ commented Alice as she sat down at the table with Salene.
Ebony gasped, ‘He’s asleep?’
‘Er.. yeah. Is that so strange?’
‘No, sorry, I was just thinking about something else.’
‘And you’ll never guess who was with him?' Salene looked up. ‘Danni.’
‘What?!’ cried Salene. ‘She slept with Lex? You’ve got to tell Bray. After everything we…’
‘No, no, he was on the floor.’
‘The floor?’ Salene’s look of disgust turned to confusion.
‘Yep, just on the floor beside her. With a few empty glasses strewn around the place.’
Ebony drew her chair over to the table. ‘Another wild night together?’ she said cynically.
Alice nodded, ‘Yep, looks like it.’
‘Another one?’ put in Salene. ‘You mean this hasn’t been the first.’
‘Of course not. There have been loads. There was the one on the morning of the trial with Briar. And there was the one which you caught the end of and god knows how many more!’
‘But I’m not sure I approve of sleep overs,’ put in Alice quietly.
‘I still think there’s something more going on here than we know about.’
‘You know, Salene, I think you’re right. I mean we all saw the way Danni reacted when you accused her. In my opinion you did the best thing you could there. You were just right,’ said Ebony.
Alice nodded in agreement, ‘And I heard it was Lex who got them back together.’
‘In my opinion, that was a mistake. I don’t think Bray should trust her. Is it just me?’ asked Ebony innocently.
‘No, you’re not alone on that one.’
Ebony sat back and smiled, listening to the others numerate Danni’s faults. So her plan wasn't a complete wash out after all...

Episodes 46-50
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