They Came to Help Us

By Lynn Whyte-Heath

Aged thirty-five, Charlotte had led an idealistic lifestyle under the regime of the Martians who came to Earth to save us from self-destruction in the year 2015.

On the birth of her second daughter Holly, Charlotte began to realize that all was not has it appeared. There had been a price for the help the Martians had given. Was the cost too high?

Having being kept in the dark for thirty-five years, she was now on a mission to complete her education, fighting against her familys advice and her own emotions. Is she endangering herself and others? Does she have the strength to overcome her mental demons? Or will she turn a blind eye and allow them to deceive many mothers without their consent? Just because our (predominantly male) government had made an agreement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Apr 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499096675

Lynn Whyte-Heath

Lynn Whyte-Heath is a recently retired train driver, who now finds she has time to proceed with her writing and other hobbies. They Came to Help Us! Is Lynn’s second book. Lynn the sixth of seven children was born in Lancashire and raised by her hardworking mother, who also wrote her biography but sent her only manuscript, written in longhand to a publisher, never to be seen again. Her niece is a self-published author of three novels. Therefore, it must be in Lynn’s blood. She is married to Alan and has two adult children, of whom only one has flown the nest, and a sixteen-year-old border collie. Lynn likes to paint in oil and is learning to play guitar and also plays lawn green bowling and swims daily. Lynn’s first book, Hope for the Future, was finally published in November 2014. Lynn Whyte-Heath is a recently retired train driver, who now finds she has time to proceed with her writing and other hobbies. They Came to Help Us! Is Lynn’s second book. Lynn the sixth of seven children was born in Lancashire and raised by her hardworking mother, who also wrote her biography but sent her only manuscript, written in longhand to a publisher, never to be seen again. Her niece is a self-published author of three novels. Therefore, it must be in Lynn’s blood. She is married to Alan and has two adult children, of whom only one has flown the nest, and a sixteen-year-old border collie. Lynn likes to paint in oil and is learning to play guitar and also plays lawn green bowling and swims daily. Lynn’s first book, Hope for the Future, was finally published in November 2014. https://twitter.com/lynnnanna https://www.facebook.com/lynn.whyteheath http://thebooktrap.weebly.com

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Copyright © 2015 by Lynn Whyte-Heath.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book is licensed only for your personal enjoyment, and may not be re-sold, lent or given away. If you want to share this book with your friends, please buy another copy for each of them. If you did not buy this book, or it was not bought for your use only, please return to Amazon and buy your own copy. Thank you for respecting this author’s hard work.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 04/13/2015

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

695807

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

FOR.

My grown-up children, Jo and Clint. The lights of my life. Xxxx

MANY THANKS TO.

My Husband, Alan -for letting me get on with it.

My Sister, Lesley -my biggest critic and best friend.

All at Booktrap -for encouraging me to carry on.

To all my extended Family -for letting me borrow their names.

xxx

CHAPTER ONE

I awoke suddenly, screaming! Sweating and crying, my heart was thumping in my chest. Once again that horrifying nightmare, always the same… will there be no respite from the horrors of my mind?

Eric, my long suffering husband, jumped up in his bed, not sure what had happened. What is it? he called.

I fought to calm myself, assuring him everything was fine and to go back to sleep, but this was not the truth; everything was not fine. My hands were shaking and I really needed somewhere to run.

Then the baby began to cry. I dragged on my dressing gown and slippers, quickly rushing into the nursery, shushing the baby before she woke her sister.

I carried the baby into the kitchen where I prepared a bottle and changed her; hopefully, she would go back down, because it was only three-thirty.

Holly was only fourteen days old and as bright as a button, looking into my eyes. She was irresistible. We had secretly hoped for a son, as this would be our last child and we already had a daughter, Lucy, aged five. She was our pride and joy, already attending school full time and in the top stream.

As I rocked the baby in my arms, still tearful from my rude awakening, I opened a crack in the shutters, from which I could see the waste disposal units, silently gliding along the plastic rails which encircled the compound. Tubes were slotting into the shoots in the ground, there to facilitate removal of the waste from all the residential units.

I placed the baby safely into her crib and prayed Lucy would not wake up.

Dragging myself into the wet room on my most weary legs, I rinsed my face, removing the sweat and tears caused by my subconscious night time terrors.

Although I quietly returned to my bed, I knew there would be no more sleep for me tonight; there never was after the nightmare, which was a common occurrence.

I lay on the pillows with my arms behind my neck, going over the dream. This was not helping; I was trembling inside. I pushed off my covers violently and began pacing the room, looking for answers. It seemed so real but how could it be? These things could not happen and Eric, although I loved him dearly, could be so patronising sometimes, he would not take me seriously.

I looked at my husband’s back, where the covers had worked loose. He was so toned and suntanned I would have loved to go over and snuggle into him, but he had to get up for work in three… I glanced at the clock… no, two hours.

I decided to let him sleep and so soon after the baby, it could only be a cuddle anyway. Eventually, the alarm went off and Eric whispered off and it stopped.

As he crossed the room to shower, he softly said, morning sexy. I smiled, not feeling very sexy, but these days I would take what I could get.

It was seven thirty when Eric walked into the bedroom carrying a nice cup of tea.

Here you are, he said, smiling brightly. Feeling better?

Fine, I replied, returning his smile, Thank you for the tea.

He left the room whistling to himself.

I heard the front door close behind him as he left for work. He was working in a Government building, removing waste material from Earth to the planet Elkton, where our Mothers and Fathers now lived.

The waste wasn’t smelly rubbish; it was actually compost for the flowers and plants. That is what all the elderly people did; they grew vegetables to feed themselves and also flowers to be brought back and planted in special containers all around the towns and housing complexes on Earth, but not in the ground. This was to prevent any contamination.

I was brought out of my daydream by Lucy walking slowly into the room, and rubbed my eyes.

Holly is awake, Mummy.

Sorry, Darling, I never heard her.

Mummy, she is too little to talk, silly.

Oh, never mind.

Children dressed and fed, Lucy dropped off at school, back on the shuttle and home to do chores. Then I could have the afternoon to myself. I was feeling better and looking forward to a visit from my closest friend Helen, who had called to arrange the visit this morning.

I was lying on the rug in the lounge playing with the baby when Helen arrived.

Hi, Helen, how are you? I enquired.

Oh, I am fine. But more importantly, how are you? Eric called and asked me to check up on you; he said you are not yourself and maybe needed cheering up.

I assured my friend that I wasn’t ill, just not sleeping very well. Going to make the coffee, I told Helen I had been having a recurring nightmare ever since the baby was born.

As I returned with two cups, Helen patted the seat next to her, saying, Come sit and tell me everything. Talking about it might help.

I don’t see how, but here goes, I replied and Helen assured me she wouldn’t interrupt me by placing her index finger on her lips.

"The dream starts at Hollies Birth. I am being pulled on a trolley into the Birthing chamber, Eric is beside me but when I look over my shoulder, the Aid is pushing him out of the room.

I call him back when I hear the click of the lock keeping him out! Just then I feel pressure on my arm and I begin to feel dizzy, though I am still awake.

The aid tells me calmly to try to push. I am in some pain but it’s bearable, and then I hear Holly whimper and feel her being placed into my arms. I glance down to look at her little red wrinkled face as she yells her little heart out, feeling relief and happiness that she is finally in my arms.

But then the Aid whispers, Just another little push for me, and I feel movement but no pain. The Aid walks away with her back to me and I can hear Holly whimpering but as if it were coming from across the room. I look down and Holly is still in my arms! I feel panic rising because I know something is wrong, but I am too tired and helpless to do anything.

I can hear the door open behind me and Eric’s voice, but it closes again, and a second Aid comes in and keeps talking to me, blocking my view.

The first Aid is leaving the room by another door to the side of my bed, and as it slides open, she half turns and I see Holly in her arms. She is walking away with her! And I can’t move, as hard as I try. My limbs are paralysed, my heart is thumping in my chest as she walks further down a long white passageway with Holly in her arms, and I know I will never see her again!

That is when I wake up crying and afraid."

I had tears in my eyes just telling my friend about the dream that was haunting me, my hands were shaking and I could no longer swallow. I rose from my seat feeling the need to move and compose myself. I was gulping air into my lungs.

Helen was startled by my reaction; she leapt from her seat taking me into her arms. Hush now, she said. You will make yourself really ill if you don’t deal with this and soon! She gently rocked me back and forth and then eased me back into my seat, still holding me protectively.

We both sat quietly for a while pondering over the best way to dissolve this issue.

Helen had her arms around my shoulders trying to comfort me and then said, It’s just a dream, probably caused by hormones and the stress of having the baby. Everybody thinks something will go wrong until their baby is safely in their arms. She cheerfully picked up Holly then, saying, And here she is! Safe, sound and so cute.

I smiled at my friend, I know, but why this recurring dream? Do you think I could have possibly had two babies?

Don’t be silly; people don’t have two babies at the same time, ever!

I know but it all seems so real. And people do have two babies; some people have twins.

Yes, but not when they already have a child, she said, frowning, somehow confused at her own words.

We spent the next few hours just chatting and catching up, and planned to meet at her house on Wednesday to go out for a walk and take some exercise.

As she was leaving, Helen called, Don’t worry, it’s just the baby blues; try to get some sleep.

I thought to myself as I waved her off, I wish it were that easy.

After clearing up the seating area, feeling restless and wanting to go outside and scream as loudly as I could, I proceeded to automatically change Holly and settle her into her carrier. The time had flown by and it was now time to pick up Lucy.

Sitting on the shuttle with Holly in my arms, I felt as if the walls were closing in on me. I had the urge to get away from here, now! I actually stood up on the moving shuttle, when a voice called over the speaker, Please remain seated whilst the shuttle is in motion. I sat back down with my heart pounding, feeling hysterical and once again in floods of tears. A hand came on my shoulder from behind and a kind voice enquired if I was alright. It was another mother from the school; I had seen her often but never spoken.

I assured her I was fine. I closed my eyes for a moment, until a speaker beside me informed me that I had to hurry or else I would miss my stop.

Embarrassed, I jumped to my feet and felt people looking at me. As I was leaving the shuttle, I forgot my house-card on the seat. The lady who had tried to help came to walk beside me. She said her name was Lesley and tried to make conversation, but I was rushing so fast she was having trouble keeping up.

I was like that after having my twins, but I went to the medical centre and they sorted me out. ‘Post natal depression’ they said it was. But you don’t have to deal with it on your own, just pop along and it will all be fine.

We finally reached the learning centre.

If you need somebody to talk to or just go for a coffee, give me a shout I am here every day.

I thanked her and hurried off to collect Lucy.

As we walked back to the