The Power of Five Oblivion

because if we stopped, we might notice that there was no real point in going on. We weren’t living, really. We were surviving. But back then I was too young to notice the difference.
    Jamie and George weren’t punished. Maybe the Council had decided to make allowances because Jamie was a new arrival or maybe it just hadn’t been serious enough to turn any heads. Boys will be boys and all that. There were a nervous few days while we waited for the knock on the door but it didn’t come and soon the whole incident was forgotten … at least on the face of it. Jamie and George patched things up and stopped fighting, but they didn’t spend time together. When one entered the room, the other soon found an excuse to leave.
    I tried to make up with George but it was no good. “You haven’t been the same since he got here, Holly,” he said, miserably. “I don’t know why you’re always on his side.” This wasn’t true, but from the moment Jamie had told me his story he had dragged me into his world, making me an accessory whether I liked it or not. I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about the Old Ones. I had nightmares about them. I wondered if they were somehow responsible for the way we lived now.
    It had become easier to talk to Jamie. Maybe it was because I hadn’t laughed at his story and he knew he could trust me. He told me that he was planning to leave. He was going to escape through the wood and head south to London, even though I did my best to talk him out of it. First he would have to get through the perimeter without being seen. Then he would have to survive out in the wood with nothing to eat or drink. All the fresh water in the village was supplied by a well and it still had to be boiled before it could be drunk. Outside, there was nothing. London was miles away. And although I’d seen pictures of it at school, I had no idea what it was like now. Nobody did.
    “What else can I do, Holly?” Jamie insisted.
    “You can stay here.”
    “And what about my brother? What about Matt and the others? Do you just want me to forget about them?”
    “But how will going to London help?”
    “There’s another door. It’s in a church called St Meredith’s. If I can find it, it may still be working. I can use it to get back.”
    But get back where? Hong Kong wasn’t there any more … or not very much of it. And what about all the other cities with secret doors? A lot could have happened in ten years and at a guess, none of it would have been very nice.
    I didn’t know what to say but in the end it didn’t matter anyway. As things turned out, Jamie’s time in the village was almost over – and mine too.
    There was a holiday. We did have days off now and then – and this was a bright, sunny afternoon when everyone seemed to be in a good mood. At least most of the village had turned out in the main square and a little band – they called themselves The Optimists – was playing, even though their guitars were out of tune and we’d heard all their songs a hundred times before. There was soup and sandwiches to eat and the bakery had even managed several trays of doughnuts, although they would have tasted better if we hadn’t run out of sugar. Some of the smaller kids were playing football. All the adults, particularly the older ones, were dressed up in their best clothes. When I think back to the village, that’s how I like to remember it. We had very little, but even so, every so often we were able to have a good time.
    I was sitting with George on the edge of the square where the road curved round past the town hall and that was why I noticed Miss Keyland, not joining in but walking past, in a hurry to get somewhere.
    I called out her name.
    “Oh … Holly!” She seemed out of breath. There were red pinpricks in her cheeks.
    “Aren’t you staying?” I asked.
    “No, dear. I’m just on my way to Miss Tristram.” Mary Tristram helped out at the school. She lived quite near us on the other side of the garage. “She’s not well.”
    I glanced down. Miss Keyland was wearing heavy walking boots.
    “I thought a walk might do her good,” she explained.
    She hurried away and the next thing I knew, Jamie was at my side. “Holly, I need to talk,” he said.
    George looked at him disdainfully. “I’ll leave you two alone.” He got up and walked in the direction of the band.
    “George…!” I called after him, but he didn’t even turn round. “What is it?” I asked Jamie, not even