Secret Isle (working title)
an excerpt

The best part about being away from home is going back again. At least, that's what Katie had always thought. And so it followed that the journey home could never be too awful. No matter how many screaming kids there were, no matter how late the bus arrived, Katie was comforted by the thought of home. She couldn't wait to have a hot bath - a proper bath- and to curl up in front of the TV in her old blanket. She longed for a steaming bowl of her mother's soup, served with think sliced of buttered bread. She was looking forward to her mother's smile, and a big hug, and just feeling like she was right where she should be, for a little while.
The bus hit a pot-hole, and buckled and shook, sending various pieces of luggage flying. But Katie forgave it. She even forgave the rather hairy man sitting two rows away, yelling obscenities, who smelled faintly of piss. All she cared about was having a peaceful night in her own warm bed.

When the bus finally arrived at Victoria station, it was two hours late. Katie had been expecting this, however. She smiled as she tried to remember the last time it had arrived on time. Being late was almost part of the fun. She got her luggage out from the hold, and made her way to the subway. London had always seemed a very strange city to her: there were so many people who cared so very little about each other. From the bus station to her front door, not one person offered to help her with her three suitcases and some people even tutted at her when they saw her coming. At the back of her mind there was a distinct urge to yell at them, but thankfully it was kept in check by her strong desire to make it home in one piece. Anyway, however strange London seemed to Katie, it was the city she had called lived in for over 15 years; the place where her mother made the world's greatest bowl of Scotch broth this side of Lewis. Home is where the heart is, and Katie's heart belonged in a small apartment in Redbridge, just above a Chinese Take Away. By the time she reached the flat it was beginning to get dark. She pulled her bags up three flights of stairs, and fumbled for her key ring. She could smell the soup. Her key stuck in the lock, just as it always did, but eventfully gave in with a slightly deranged sounding 'click'. Katie pushed the door with her feet, and dragged two of the cases over the threshold with a joyful "Hey!" She then turned and lifted in the third, pulling the door shut behind her.
When there was no response from her mother, she took of her jacket and threw it over the worn green couch.
"Hello? I'm back! Damn bus was late again. Ha ha."
She paused for an answer, but none came. How very odd. She made her way into the kitchen, but it was empty.
"Mum?"
Weird.
The soup smell that had greeted her in the hallway had apparently been merely a figment of her imagination, as there was no soup on the boil. She checked the fridge and microwave, but there was nothing there, save a carton of Florida orange juice, and some out of date milk. It wasn't like her mother not to have dinner laid out and waiting for her when she got back. She hoped she wasn't ill or something. She went to the bedroom.
"Mum? You OK?" No reply here either. Mum wasn't home.
Very weird.
Ah well, not to worry. It was probably nothing. Mum must’ve forgotten to do a shop earlier in the week, and gone out when she realised her insatiable gannet of a daughter was coming home. Most likely she’d been waylaid looking at shoes, or chatting to some old dear at the checkout of Tescos. So soup and a smile would have to wait. That was OK. It meant that Katie could enjoy her bath without being chided for wasting all the hot water. She grinned at the thought, and put her cases by her bed before heading for the bathroom.
No sooner had she stepped out into the hallway than she saw a small dark shape dart across her path, nearly tripping her over. Katie flicked on the light to confront her fleet footed assailant.
“Silly cat.” She smiled at the little black fur ball sitting in the corner, and bent down to greet it. The cat padded over to her and rubbed its chin against her jeans.
“So, Daffy,” Katie asked the creature,” Where’s mum then?”
Daffy mewed softly, and lay down, displaying her belly for rubbing. As Katie tickled her stomach, Daffy pawed at her hand. Katie laughed.
“Are you happy to see me, cat?”
Daffy purred quietly as if she was.

Daffy wasn’t really their cat, so to speak. She was more like a long time house guest who came and went as she pleased. Most of the time she acted like Mum and Katie were her own little adopted family, but there were times she disappeared for weeks on end. When she was younger, Katie used to get quite upset when her cat friend went AWOL, but since she had realised that no matter how long the absence Daffy always seemed to come back, Katie was happy just to let her do her own thing. She figured Daffy owed them, as they had found her floundering in the duck pond in the park, trying desperately to pull herself up onto the bank. They had taken her home and fed her lots of milk and chicken, and Katie had nursed her in front of the fire until she recovered from her ordeal. Daffy, on the other hand, acted as if they owed her for something. Katie was yet to figure out what. Either way, Katie was glad to see that at least someone was home to welcome her back.
“Good girl, Daffy.” She said, giving Daffy’s belly a final rub before continuing towards the bathroom. Daffy sat up and looked at her with slight bewilderment before running over behind her. Katie had to balance herself to avoid tripping over the little thing. She flicked on the bathroom light, and turned on the taps. The sound of the water filling the bath was soothing as she undressed. Catching sight of herself in the mirror, Katie made a face. Too many takeaways were taking their toll on her thighs. Mum would surely find some way of bringing that up at some point. But no matter. Daffy sat on the back of the toilet, watching as the room filled with steam. Katie added bubble bath that was meant to smell like a tropical island, but in fact smelled more like pineapples in cola, and enjoyed the sight of the bubbles growing big and frothy. It was quite an old bath, but it was long and deep, and Katie let the water reach almost to the point of overflowing before she turned off the tap. Mmmm. Lovely hot bath. Katie dipped her toe into the water and recoiled. It was just on the safe side of burning: perfect. Bracing herself, Katie stepped in and eased herself down into the bubbles. She could feel her skin redden as she did so, like a boiled lobster, as her mother would say. Sighing, she laid her head back against the side of the bath and closed her eyes, breathing in the tropical steam. Lying in the water, she felt all the stresses and strains of the last few weeks melt away from her. All the exams, the term papers, the heavy nights out, disappeared into the soap. From outside, she could hear the faint sounds of traffic and people on the streets, and the few birds that nested close by, and the TV from the flat next door. She lay there for a while re-familiarising herself with the noise of the city.
This must have been boring for Daffy, because Katie opened her eyes to see two green feline ones staring back at her from the side of the bath. It gave her a fright. Daffy was standing on the rim of the bathtub, looking at Katie intently. Katie moved her foot to splash the cat, who quickly jumped back down to the floor and meowed. Katie giggled, partly at herself.
“Hungry, are you?”
Daffy meowed yet again, and Katie sighed. She pulled herself out of the tub and grabbed her towel, shivering as her wet skin met the evening air. She dried herself and pulled the plug out. Her dressing gown was warm from the radiator, and felt lovely and soft when she put it on.
“Right then, cat.”

There wasn’t much food in the flat at all, but Katie was able to find a tin of cat food at the back of one of the cupboards. Once Daffy was sorted and eating away, Katie turned to deal with her own grumbling stomach. She couldn’t have a big meal now, in case mum wanted to cook for her when she got home, or had bought something special for dinner. But she couldn’t go much longer without having anything to eat either. She hadn’t eaten since Gretna. A small snack couldn’t hurt though and the lack of food made a large one impossible anyway. Mum should really have been back by now with the shopping. Where was she? That woman really needed to get herself a mobile phone, Katie thought. She made a mental note to get her one for her birthday. Katie already knew there was nothing much in the fridge, and searching the cupboards and freezer all she could find was a bag of frozen peas, some fish fingers, and a Tupperware box containing what was left of a batch of her mother’s famous soup. Well, mum wouldn’t mind her having the soup. Not if she was going to be making a fresh batch when she got back in any case. She fired it into the microwave and set the timer for 5 minutes, then went to check the TV.
Television was the one aspect of modern life Katie’s mother seemed up to date on. They were subscribed to just about every channel going, and Katie’s mum would frequently complain that there weren’t enough. Every night before, she would map out the next night’s viewing plan and set reminders for what she wanted to watch, to ensure she never missed anything. As Katie turned the set on, a bright blue reminder for ‘The Good Life’ flashed up at her. In her head, she tutted at her mother for pre-planning to watch re-runs, and cancelled the little blue box. Scrolling through the hundreds of channels, she couldn’t help but agree with her mother that there didn’t seem to be enough on. But, she thought to herself, that was probably more to do with how bad the programming choices the channels made were, rather than there not being enough. After a few minutes of flicking, she settled on a sci-fi film that seemed to involve alien termites taking over the earth. Hardly high brow entertainment, but just what she wanted for relaxing with her soup. Besides, Bruce Campbell was playing the human so it couldn’t be that bad.
The microwave pinged, and Katie retrieved a bowl from the sink before carefully filling it with piping hot broth. There was no bread to dip in it, but Katie remembered she had a half eaten sandwich left over from the bus, so she got that from her bedroom and settled down on the couch to eat. Katie smiled, and took a spoonful of soup. It was as good as she remembered. Daffy joined her, curling up against her side and purring, and the two of them sat together, watching Bruce kick some alien butt. This was what being home was all about, Katie thought to herself.
Except something was missing.