Strange Baby part 4

Everything draped in misery, a murky sky arching over a grey chapel; sombre suited strangers gathered in clusters, unforced tears upon taught faces. Angelica pausing by the taxi, fighting down the panic rising in her.
Do any of them know that I was the last person to see Gail alive? What if they ask awkward questions? What can I say...how can I face her parents? I can’t turn back...best to stay at a distance. ‘How much do I owe you?’
‘That’s all taken care of,’ the taxi-man grunted.
‘What do you mean?’
‘My instructions - bring you here, wait, then take you home, payment already sorted.’
‘But that’s impossible. I couldn’t have...surely...oh never mind...nothing has made sense since I woke up, why should this?’
She follows the mourners into the main hall, still annoyed and confused.
I didn’t even need the bloody taxi, I could have used my car. Still,
there’s no point in trying to figure it out; apparently my name is Alice,
and Wonderland has been taken over by Hammer Horror. My best plan is to stay out of the way.
She seats herself at the back of the room by the exit, safe she hopes. Gail’s plain coffin lies on a raised platform, next to a simple altar; her family huddled in grief along the front row.
Dear God...I can’t face them...I’ll got to pieces...or worse.
Once everyone is seated, a tall young vicar in black and white robes, slowly stutters his way through an A4 eulogy. Angelica feels her tears flowing again.
I watched her die...heard her screams...couldn’t save her. What in Christ's name is there to cremate...a coffin full of ashes?
The door behind her eases open as a young woman in a grey suit enters, huffing down next to her. Angelica shudders as she realises it’s Sandra, Gail’s dubious friend.
‘You wouldn’t believe it,’ the newcomer whispers in a full, round voice,’ I left early especially...bloody car broke down. I’ve got a jinx, sure of it...weddings and funerals, always late.’
‘They’ve just started,’ Angelica says warily. You’re the cause of all this, she fumes inside. If you had just kept your mouth shut perhaps Gail might still be alive!
‘Still can’t believe she’s gone.’ Sandra continues, staring at the plain coffin. ‘So quickly...just goes to show. I was talking to her the day it happened. She was really miffed about that seance.’
‘What...what did you say?’
‘She kept ranting on about what a rip off it was; complete rubbish, she said.’
‘You spoke to Gail after the seance?’
‘Yes, last Friday. I told her, when I was there it was all absolutely genuine, but she wouldn’t believe me. Who’d have thought she’d be dead by the evening?’
‘Gail was alive after the seance,’ Angelica whispers to herself.
‘And what a way to go? They said it was a chance in a million.’
‘What was?’
‘Being killed by lightning.’
‘Lightning!?’ Angelica cries, earning annoyed stares from the fluffy haired vicar and a few turned heads.
‘Gail was killed by lightning?’
‘Yes, in that freak storm Friday evening. God knows what she was doing on a bike in the middle of that...typical Gail. You must have read it in the local paper?’
‘I...’ Angelica stutters, stuck for an answer. ‘Of course...it’s the shock...I’m still reeling.’
‘You and the rest of us. I was completely gutted when I heard. Her parents are a wreck. Say...are you all right? All the colour’s gone from you.’
‘I feel a bit sick. I need some air.’ Angelica bolts for the exit, running for the fresh air as fast as she can, clutching at a low wall outside, trying to pant down the retching in her stomach. She rushes to the taxi, head still spinning.
‘Blimey, that was quick.’
‘Just take me home!’

Slamming the front door behind her, she makes straight for the scattered newspapers on the floor. ‘It must be here...it’s got to be...yes!’ she cries, holding it up like a first prize, throwing it onto the coffee table, tearing at the pages, stopping dead when Gail suddenly stares back at her. Slowly reading the headline. ‘Local girl killed in freak accident...heaviest storm in years...cycling...freak lightning...killed instantly.’ Angelica leans back completely dazed.
It was all a dream...the seance, the fire...I must have gone into shock after she died...literally out of my mind for days...and the fire...of course... Gail was burnt...I must have made some crazy mix up in my dreams. So what should I do now...laugh or cry? I’ve regained my sanity but lost my friend...might have been better the other way round.
The doorbell rings.
‘Oh what now? If it’s that taxi driver again?’ she growls, wrenching the door open, gasping in amazement. ‘Gail!?’
‘Hi Ange, how are you feeling?’ Gail breezes past her gaping friend, rosy cheeked, sweetly scented and very much alive. ‘Sorry I couldn’t pop round earlier, only Auntie had a fit the same day you phoned sick. She’s gone completely wobbly, moaning all the time that she’s not long for this world. By the look of her she’s probably right.’
Angelica remains stunned by the open door.
‘Are you all right Ange? You’ve gone a very funny colour. It’s flu I bet, there’s a lot of it around.’
‘I’ve...been...ill?’ she mumbles, finally closing the door.
‘Yes, you phoned last week. Oh, I should have called round long ago, but Auntie is very demanding and mum can’t handle it on her own. Still, you got my message on the answer phone?’
Angelica blinks. The room has changed, the letters gone, all the newspapers stacked neatly in a rack. She is wearing a red pullover with white slacks; there are sandwiches and a mug of coffee on the table by the sofa.
‘Any chance of coffee?’ Gail huffs, sitting down. ‘I can’t stay long. Geraldine is covering for me.’
‘Yes...sure. I’ll pour you a mug.’ Angelica forces her shaky legs towards the kitchen.
‘Oh by the way,’ Gail shouts. ‘I cancelled the seance.’
‘What!?’ Angelica swings around with the coffee pot in her hand.
‘Well, what with you being sick and Auntie gasping her last, it just wasn’t on.’
‘The seance never took place!?’
‘Madam Gorgel was very good about it.’ Gail twitters on. ‘She said as soon as everything was all right again, we could have another go.’
Angelica turns again, carefully replacing the coffee pot on the warmer. I’m loosing it again...everything is slipping and sliding. I have nightmares about things that haven’t happened...my friend is dead one minute then drinking my coffee the next! It’s all a roller-coaster, twisting and turning. It must be a dream.
Dear God, then I’m back to gin fantasies. I’ll pinch myself and see what happens...there...nothing...nothing has changed. What kind of dream is it that stays the same even after you’ve pinched yourself?...the one called reality I suppose.
‘Here’s your coffee,’ she sighs, returning to her friend. But it isn’t Gail sitting on the sofa; a young man in his twenties, with short black hair and roasted almond eyes stands up before her.
‘Toby? How did you get in here?’
‘Through the front door, just like you.’ Toby says, taking the mug from her.
‘But I don’t understand, where’s Gail?’
Her confusion brings a frown to Toby’s face.‘Considering we’ve just come back from her funeral, I find that a very strange question.’
‘Funeral?’ Angelica stares blankly at her boyfriend, then down at herself, now wearing a black blouse with matching pleated skirt that she’d bought in the last Winter sale. Sinking shakily onto the sofa she clasps her head in her hands. ‘What’s happening to me, what’s happening to me?’
Toby embraces her tenderly. ‘It’s the shock love. You’ve been through a tough time. It’s bound to have wiped you out. Gail died so suddenly.’
‘Yes,’Angelica sobs, ‘and so horribly...to be killed by lightning.’
‘What’s lightning got to do with it?’
‘That’s how Gail died.’
Toby pulls a newspaper from the coffee table. Angelica can’t believe her eyes. It’s the one she had been reading, with the same photo of Gail, only now the headline is completely different. ‘Local girl killed by hit and run driver,’ she reads aloud.
‘The bastard drove through a red light, knocked Gail from her bike, then rode on. They’re still looking for him.’
‘Toby,’ Angelica whispers, still staring at Gail’s picture. ‘I think the shock has driven me mad. I’m seeing things, hearing things that can’t possibly be true. I’ve had terrible dreams, I’ve seen Gail dead and alive. She was here, right here in my flat, large as life, then I turned round and you were here.’
‘Now you’re really mixed up Angelica, this is my flat. You’ve been staying with me ever since Gail died. Remember, you said you didn’t want to be alone.’
Angelica looks around bewildered. She is in Toby’s living room, sitting on his dark blue upholstered sofa. The large bookcase covering one wall, the tall standard lamp behind her, the curtains, the windows, the doors start crowding in on her. ‘I’ve got to go to the bathroom!’ she gasps, running from the room.