Chapter Four

Paul had thought that the plane journey had been frightening until he had got into the car with Sivlia. He had no idea a Fiat Punto could go so fast. She drove a steady 150kph the whole time they were on the motorway. He was glad he had opted for the back seat. Jason was not bothered by it at all, he liked to speed a little himself. That is why, when they had organised the hire car it had been decided that Paul would drive. Funny how things don't always go the way you expect

"So why do you want to go to Fátima?" Silvia asked Jason.

"Curiosity more than anything, I just want to see a place where people actually believe that such a thing took place. I mean do they really parade around with a statue of the Virgin Mary' on a pedestal?"

"Yes, and they would find your comments insulting" Silvia was not a catholic, but she respected other peoples beliefs.

"I read that the Pope said the 'Virgin' had saved him from his death, in the assassination attempt on the 13 may 1981..." Added Paul

"Yes that is one of the days of the apparitions" Silvia responded. "So what do you think of the recent apparitions?" She looked into her rear view mirror at Paul. He shifted in his seat.

"That, is what we are here to find out." Interrupted Jason, "The recent apparitions happened nowhere near Fátima, but in the Algarve. Why is that I wonder?"

"I don't know," Silvia answered vaguely, "I haven't really thought about it."

The fact was, she had, and lately it was the only thing she could think of. The past week on New York, had been what had prompted her to come back to Portugal, it was the only way to find out if her life had been a complete lie. The terrible things her mother had told her before she had left just couldn't be true. The letters from her grandfather she had found hidden in the trunk in her mother's attic; the ones her mother had never wanted her to find. She could not even think about her father...
Silvia was so deep in thought that she nearly missed the turning and without any warning or consideration for her passengers she slammed on the brakes and veered to the right, into her lane.

"Are you out of your fucking mind!?" Paul shouted at her.

She slammed on the breaks again, pulled into the hard shoulder and got out of the car.

"What the hell is up with her?" Asked Jason.

"I think you were right Jason I think she is a wacko".

Silvia just stood in front of the car.

"Do  you think I should go and see if she is OK?", Paul asked Jason.

"Not a clue, she might attack you"

They both laughed.

Silvia wiped away her tears, she did not want them to see that she had been crying, and most certainly did not want to come across all needy and weepy, not at all. She had to pull herself together and fast, she needed them both and she knew it, it had been fate that had brought them together. They could help her, she knew they could.

She walked back to the car.

"I am sorry, I think I am over tired, maybe I shouldn't be driving"

Paul was somewhat relieved.

"I'll drive", he declared jumping into the driver's seat. It would not be difficult, the GPS was already logged on to their destination. Technology, where would we be without it?

The rest of the journey was calm, Silvia had fallen asleep and Jason tapped away on his laptop, the sound was soothing. Jason had been writing more and more lately, more than likely he was updating his blogs, or Facebook.

"What are you writing?"
"The usual, verbs adjectives and stuff"

"Har har, You have been writing since we left London, are you onto something?"

Jason rubbed his eyes and shut down his laptop.
"I don't know, I mean that is the things with conspiracies, you never really know, until you are in the thick of it. Then it is too late. You are either dead meat, or just another paranoid freak."

"What happened to that woman?" asked Paul.

"Jenny? Not a clue, I never heard form her again."

"Maybe she was abducted by aliens again," Paul laughed

"Hey, it is no laughing matter," protested Jason

"Come on Jason, you don't still believe in Alien abductions?"

"I never have believed in Alien abductions."

"Sorry I forgot", mocked Paul, "you believe that these people are abducted by the military, used for experiments that they can't do legally, blasted with a virtual reality and sent back home with a twisted conception of what happened to them."

"They only usually come back with the memories they are 'programmed' to remember after their virtually reality", confirmed Jason, "but Jenny remembered the real 'Aliens' and the 'space ship'".

"What do you mean?" Paul was puzzled.

"Well it is all a scenario like a Hollywood film set only the victims are usually so drugged they don't take any of it in. It is quite a shabby set too. The aliens she described were a bunch of men in white coats. Not like the way others have described them. Jenny was taken a few years ago and the recent death of her father kind of gave her a instant recall of her memory files. She was pregnant when she was abducted and when she came back she wasn't"

"Why would they want babies for god's sake? Come on Jay, they could not get away with things like that, not this day and age. Look how the world is wired these days, someone craps in a bucket in South America today and it is on Youtube by tomorrow, they just couldn't get away with it".

"They can, because people are more interested in seeing the guy crap in a bucket, can't you see the full picture? Believe me you have no idea of the things that go on on this planet."

The discussion was getting a little heated.

"I am a journalist of course I know."

"With all due respect Paul you have never been out of London.".

Paul had to admit, he had been somewhat, sheltered. He blamed his parents for that, although not in the traditional Freudian sense, as a cop out, but because of the way they had brought him up. Devout Jehovah Witness's, they had smothered him in God, and God's plan since he was born; He had worn a suit since he was 3 years old, a habit he just couldn't seem to break.

"I just have to believe that people are not that evil."

Silvia stirred in the back seat alarming them a little.

"So do you reckon you have a chance then," asked Jason tilting his head in Silvia's direction.

"I am not sure I want to after that little episode earlier."

Silvia yawned and sat up, both of them hoped she hadn't heard what they had just said. She hadn't.
Yawning once again and stretching her arms over her head and asked,
 "Are we there yet?"