Shaston. August 2006.
It was quiet in the road. At least it seemed it. Mind you, as far as she was concerned, it could be very loud and she wouldn't notice. She laid there in the road, unable to move. She was terrified but she couldn't tell anyone. She couldn't scream or cry or talk. She was just there. Alone. Inside her own body. Lost to the world. Although it was quiet; she could hear the distant sound of a siren. Moments later, she saw a strange man look over her and shine a torch into her eyes. His voice sounded distant too even though he was right next to her.
"Hello, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
She says nothing.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Still nothing. She literally cannot make herself speak. Another voice can be heard. A frantic one. A woman comes into view opposite the paramedic. She's frantically trying to see if she's ok.
"LET ME THROUGH, I'M HER MOTHER!"
The Paramedic looks at the mother.
"You're the mother?"
"YES!"
"Ok, can you tell me her name?"
"SARAH! SARAH JONES!"
"Ok. Sarah? Can you hear me?"
Still nothing.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!?"
"We're not sure yet..."
Suddenly, her eyes feel very heavy. She looks up at her mother before everything starts to go black. The last thing she sees is her mother getting even more frantic, calling her name, as the darkness engulfs her completely. She suddenly feels very weird. All she can see is a small dot of white in a sea of black. Suddenly, everything explodes in a sea of vivid colour and magic. It's beautiful. She's not entirely sure what's going on but she certainly likes the look of it. She reaches out and tries to touch it but it seems further away than it actually looks. It's all very strange.
After a few moments of this she sees a man. He's a very weird looking man. But he seems pleasant enough.
"Miss Jones. Very lovely to see you. We apologise for the inconvenience that has been caused to you. But we hope to make your stay as welcoming and comfortable as possible..."
He's dressed in 18th century fashion and has a powdered wig on. She laughs a little bit at the sight of him. He walks away for a moment to check a book.
"Ok...let's see...Sarah Jones of Shaston...born 12th November 2000...not supposed to have died until 2095...that's weird...ok..."
He turns back and looks at her.
"Ok. So. You're about to enter something called The Veil. Now, it's nothing to be scared of. But this is going to be your home for a while...and by a while I mean...well...forever. Any family members you have in here have been contacted and will come and meet you once you're fully integrated into the Veil. But, have fun! Relax, and enjoy eternity!"
He leads her into a rectangular portal which is as colourful as a bright rainbow. This pleases her too.
Suddenly, she feels like there's something pulling her back. She stumbles backwards onto the floor and starts to get dragged away from the portal. The man who met her is confused.
"What!? What's happening!? This isn't possible!"
Panicking, Sarah tries to break free. However, as much as she writhes and struggles, she's continually being dragged backward and upward. The man is shouting up to her.
"MISS JONES, COME BACK! COME BACK!"
Suddenly, everything goes black again, The darkness engulfs her once more and she feels scared. Her fear builds and builds like a volcano about to blow. After a few moments, it gets more and more intense until...BLAM!
A bright light hits her as she appears to be in a room. It looks like a lab of some description but she's not sure. She looks around for a moment before seeing a middle aged man in the corner with a scalpel looking very scared indeed. She's sitting up on a cold metal table with nothing but a sheet to cover her. She looks at the man once more and calmly asks in her Scottish accent:
"I think I'm in the wrong room..."
****
"She was dead...I was there..."
"I don't disagree with you, Mrs Jones".
"So, how come she's here now?"
"I don't know. She was pronounced dead at the scene as you know. I looked at the charts. Brain activity, consciousness, heart beat, all zero. She should be dead!"
Sarah lays in bed sucking on a lollipop as the Doctor and her Mum discuss her condition outside.
"Mrs Jones, there's something else..."
"What?"
The Doctor chooses his words.
"When she...ummm...returned, shall we say...we gave her a full check up. Her lungs are still shutdown, her liver is practically non-existent and her blood is...well...gone!"
The mum looks at the Doctor confused and slightly terrified.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying two miracles have happened. Your daughter coming back from the dead is one...but her being alive at all now is another. She should be dead. I don't know how much plainer I can make that..."
The mum looks at Sarah and isn't sure how to take the news.
"How is that even possible?"
The Doctor offers no answer.
"The only thing I can think to say to you, Mrs Jones, is that there are some things that not even science can explain".
They both look at Sarah. The mum looks terrified.
"And Sarah's now one of them..."
****
Sarah sits at home with her two younger siblings and plays with them like a normal child. While she's doing this, her mum and dad sit at the kitchen table watching them.
"Is she even human anymore?"
"Dan, don't say that!"
"No, Lisa, can we even be sure?"
"Of course she's human. She's our daughter!"
"Then why isn't she pumping blood? Or detoxifying herself? Can she eat? Can she drink? Can she shit? We don't know what she can and can't do anymore!"
"It doesn't matter. She's still our daughter and we need to take care of her!"
The Dad puts his head in his hands.
"It can't be a coincidence..."
"What can't be?"
"Well...look around us! All these weird things happening now! Apparently, there's a kid in Trillingham who can run faster than the speed of light! And I've heard that there's a kid on the other side of town who turn into any element! Oh, and another here who can apparently fall through walls!"
"Dan, they're just stupid stories people come up with to spread bullshit!"
"No. They're real. They've been here for decades! You know the old stories about the Berlin Incident! What if something they did caused this? What if they did this to Sarah?"
"STOP IT! You need to stop letting your mind run away with you. She's your daughter for fuck's sake! Grow a pair and be there for her!"
The dad looks angry.
"If they did something to change my little girl, I'll kill them myself..."
At this point, they hear a thud. They both get up and run into the hallway where Sarah is crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. The two siblings, at the top, not sure what happened or what's going on now.
"SARAH!?"
"Yeah?"
The mum and dad look relieved she's ok.
"What happened?"
"Oh, I slipped!"
She gets up. As she does, the Mum and Dad look horrified at what they can see. Sarah doesn't know yet, but her neck is broken and she's currently looking from a 90 degree angle.
"Mummy, Daddy, why are you sideways?"
****
November 2015, Shaston.
Sarah walks up to a gate. She stares at it for a moment before smiling. Suddenly, a young man comes and stands next to her.
"What the fuck!? You said it'd be easy to get in!"
"Keep your trousers on, Alfie".
"Oh, but it's much more fun without them on".
"Ewww. Gross!"
"Come on...I know you want me really..."
"Please believe me when I say that I would not have sex with you, Alfie Winters, if you were the last human male on this planet. No offence".
"Way things are going we might well be so you might want to reconsider..."
"Go and see if there's any cameras will you? I think I saw something round the corner there..."
"Fine. But you can't escape me forever, Sarah Jones..."
He walks off. Sarah looks disgusted with him.
"Bet I fucking can..." She mutters under her breath.
Once Alfie vanishes from view, she looks once more at the gate. The gaps in the bars are not that generous at all but she still looks at them for a moment. She smiles.
"Challenge accepted..."
She looks around once again before putting herself up to the bars. With all her might, she pushed her arm through. Many bones can be heard clicking as it does but Sarah doesn't seem bothered by it. Her whole arm goes through and repairs itself. Sarah chuckles with excitement. Suddenly:
"I'll never fully understand how that doesn't hurt anymore..."
Sarah looks over and sees a man in 1940s clothes sitting on the pavement looking away from her. Sarah sighs and carries on.
"The wonders of a messed up central nervous system".
"Such a shame...", The man continues, "...to see you wasting such a gift".
"You call it a gift, I call it a curse, let's call the whole thing off, eh?"
"You could use your gift for some much more useful ends rather than trying to break into a secure facility".
"And you could be more useful and keep an eye out".
Sarah manages to push her other arm through.
"You know, we never did anything like this in my day".
"That's probably because most of the thing you could've graffitied were blown up by the Germans".
"It was because we were much better behaved. And disciplined".
"Well, out of the two of us, who isn't dead?"
"That's a terrible defence".
"Shuts you up, though!"
The man stands up and walks over to Sarah.
"Sarah, I'm trying to stop you from doing something monumentally stupid. Like ending up in prison. Because, if that happens, what good are you then?"
"Yeah, well, what good am I now?"
"I know someone whose heart would break hearing you say that".
"Yeah, well, he's been MIA for four years so he obviously doesn't give a toss".
"I'm sure he does".
"Then he's got a very funny way of showing it..."
The man sighs and looks at the bars.
"You're never going to fit your head through there..."
"Is that a challenge?"
"No. It's a physical impossibility. Even you don't know what will happen if you do that. And, thankfully, we won't get to find out tonight".
"Why? Are you going to sweet-talk me out of doing this, Frank?"
"No. Because the Police are here..."
Sarah looks confused and looks to the other side of her body where she's two policemen staring at her unimpressed. Sarah realises she's in trouble. She looks at them, then her arms, then back at the policemen.
"Oh...whoops! Would you believe I tripped over the pavement and fell into this state? What am I like!"
"No. We wouldn't believe it".
Sarah sighs and surrenders.
"Oh well...worth a try..."
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