Lou was finishing washing up after clearing up the kitchen when there was yet another knock at the door. She sighed and her shoulders sagged as she picked up the plastic bowl with the last few sweets in and walked to the front door, hoping it wasn’t a large group of children this time as she was about to run out of treats.
Four costumed children stood there, a vampire, a werewolf, Frankenstein’s monster and a demon, accompanied by a man who was taller than her but not huge. His unruly dark hair was ruffled and scruffy looking but his eyes smiled at her as she opened the door.
“TRICK OR TREAT!” The children chorused.
“Oy!” The man told them. “You can’t trick or treat your own house Rhys!”
The vampire grinned a bit sheepishly. “Oh alright then.” He turned to face the man. “Thanks Mr Morgan.”
“I told you, call me Jack, every one else does, even Tom.” Jack smiled warmly. “Make sure you share some of that with your mum.” He looked over Rhys’ head at Lou. “Kate made me promise that I’d see him home safely before I’m allowed to go home. Craig too.” He shepherded the other three boys away as Rhys went indoors, hugging his mum on the way.
“Thank you.” Lou called to the retreating figure and he half turned to wave, ushering the rest of the boys down the road towards Craig’s house. She closed and locked the door behind her as she went inside.
“Rhys?” She called.
“Yes Mum.” He was only a few steps away, but half hidden behind the door into the living room.
“Would you mind taking down the decorations so we don’t get any more trick or treaters? I’m out of sweets and I’ve had enough. It’s late, it’s school in the morning and you need to have a bath and go to bed.” She sank into her favourite chair.
“I can do that.” Rhys agreed. “If I make you a cup of tea can I eat some of my sweets? Cam’s dad said I should share them with you, do you want some?” He offered her his bag and looking into it Lou could see that it was filled with brightly coloured sweets, gum, fizzy laces and similar sugar laden treats with little or no nutritional value. But lurking part way down was a familiar wrapper.
“Ooh, mini mars!” Lou exclaimed. “Can I have that one?”
“Yeah.” Rhys left the bag in her lap. “I think there’s a twix further down if you want that too.” He heard her rummaging through the bag as he filled the kettle and turned it on.
“No twix but there’s another mini chocolate bar that’s a bit like one.” Lou called through to the kitchen. “You can keep all the little kid sweets and you can eat what you like but when they’re gone then they’re gone and don’t expect any sympathy if you make yourself feel sick.”
“I won’t.” Rhys called back amid the sound of the kettle beginning to boil and mugs clattering and banging together. “Can I make myself a hot juice?”
“Yes, but only use two thirds hot water and top it up with cold from the tap or it’ll be too hot.”
“OK Mum.”
It wasn’t long before Rhys brought Lou’s tea in and she allowed herself to relax a bit while she ate the small chocolate bars and drank the hot tea he’d made.
“You’re getting good at making tea.” She complimented him with a smile. “Is your bag ready for school tomorrow, and your uniform? Got P.E kit sorted?”
Rhys pulled a face. “Yes Mum, it’s all ready.” He hoped it was, but he hadn’t looked in his wardrobe for his uniform yet, he just assumed his mum would have washed and ironed it for him and that it would just be there, all folded and ready.
“Just pop up and check while your drink is cooling please.” She seemed to read his mind, or maybe his expression gave him away. He put his mug down on the old gas fire that they never turned on because it smelled and made him cough and he went upstairs to check his uniform and set out clothes for the morning.
He looked at the clothes strewn about his floor from where he’d got changed into his vampire costume and he knew his mum would yell at him so he started to pick them up. He threw them into the corner where his mucky washing lived without a thought to the envelope stuck in his jeans pocket. He found his school trousers, shirt and jumper and piled them on the chair under his bed and added underwear. Then he rummaged through his drawers for P.E shorts and a t-shirt to shove crumpled into his school bag and he threw a pair of trainers on top as well.
Then he went back downstairs to drink his hot juice. Lou had the news on and there was a warning of heavy rain and possible flash flooding for the following day.
“I’ve sorted uniform and P.E kit.” Rhys told his mum. “And I put my dirty clothes in a pile by the door.”
“Could you bring it down?” Lou asked him. “My pile is by my bedroom door and if you could bring it all down then I can set a load going.”
“Not overnight again Mum!” Rhys complained; his face screwing up as if it was the worst thing in the world. “The washing machine is right under me and it sounds like it’s taking off and it keeps me awake.”
“If I set it going now then it’ll be just about done by the time you’ve had your bath and read your book a bit. Now go and fetch the washing.” Lou wiped a hand over her face. “I don’t want to argue with you Rhys; I just want the washing down here.” She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down as he stamped from the room. But before he set a foot on the stairs there came a scuffling and a scraping from somewhere above them.
“Muuuum!” Rhys wailed as he fled back into the living room. Lou was already on her feet, tea mug safely placed on the fire next to his steaming juice.
“I don’t know.” She admitted, looking up the stairs. “Maybe it was something falling? One of the piles of stuff in your room just collapsing under its own weight?” She tried to make light of it but they both knew that wasn’t what they heard.
Lou started up the stairs with Rhys close behind her. She peered round the corner at the top of the stairs and couldn’t quite see into Rhys’ room. There was no way she could see into her own bedroom from the second step down but she was sure the sound had come from Rhys’ room so she went in there first, not sure what to expect but with her heart thundering in her ears and with Rhys clutching the back of her jumper. “Rhys, let go.” She whispered, putting her hand on his bedroom door, ready to push it open and straining to hear anything moving about in there or elsewhere in the house. She felt his hand let go of the fabric, which relaxed around her but she knew he was close, she could just about feel him breathing.
She pushed at the door. It stuck on something. She pushed again and it shifted a little further, bouncing off something soft. Nothing moved, not a sound came from inside the room as Lou pushed the door open a tiny fraction at a time until she could see part of what was blocking it.
“Oh Rhys!” She reached round to shove him. “It’s your washing that’s fallen over.” She put her shoulder to the door and rammed it wide open.
She stood in his bedroom doorway and stared.
“I thought you told me that you’d piled the washing up?” She asked in a voice that had gone as cold as frost.
“I did.” He pushed himself close to see what she was so angry about.
His bedroom was a mess. It looked like something had exploded in his pile of mucky washing, which was now strewn all over his room. There were socks dangling from the lightshade, a t-shirt hanging from the curtains next to the bottom half of his pyjamas and another t-shirt. Across his bed, desk and chair was more debris. Rhys stared with his mouth hanging open.
“I didn’t do it.” He said, automatically denying it was his fault in any way and feeling his own indignation rising as he knew his mum would blame him anyway. After all, who else could it have been?
Lou turned her head to look down at him.
“I didn’t, I left it in a pile in the doorway and the door was open.”
“You think we had burglars who just messed up your room? House elves perhaps? Special mess pixies?” Lou’s face was paler than usual and her mouth pressed into a tight line and Rhys knew he was in more trouble than ever before. “Don’t tell me lies young man.”
“I’m not lying.” Rhys burst into angry tears. “I left the door open and I didn’t do that. I didn’t throw things round like that. I didn’t Mum, honest.”
Lou stared at him unblinking until he dropped his gaze in surrender. “Well you can just clear up the mess you didn’t make and then you can bring the washing down like I asked you to.” She turned and stamped her way downstairs, leaving Rhys sobbing in the doorway.
He kicked at the clothes that had blocked the door and shoved them back to where he’d left them. Then he set about collecting then rest from around the room. It was only after he’d gathered everything he could find that he realised his jeans were missing. He checked and his school uniform was still folded on his chair.
“You need the map.” A whisper hissed.
“What!” Rhys jumped.
“The map was in the pocket, it would have been lost in the water.”
“The envelope from under the fridge?” Rhys asked, looking around for the voice. “Who are you? Where are you?”
“I fear.”
“You’re scared of me?” Rhys was slowly becoming more curious than afraid now and he didn’t think anything of a strange voice in his bedroom. He did think it probably explained the odd movement under the fridge and the mess he hadn’t made.
“Yes, fear of the big people now the master is gone and she has banished us from our home.”
“Can I see you?” Rhys stood very still. “And can I have my jeans back please? My mum will kill me if I don’t get them back.”
“Then you must have them, but you must keep the map safe.” A folded pair of jeans slid from under Rhys’ pillow and the envelope was laid carefully on top of them. A dark hand could just be seen pushing the fabric out and then it shot back out of sight. Rhys stared at his own hand with straight pale fingers, still grubby from trick or treating, and much larger than the hand he’d just seen.
“What are you?” He asked quietly as he lifted the pillow but whatever it was had already gone. He threw the jeans at the washing pile and tucked the map into the cover of his favourite book. Then Rhys searched his room, tidying it as he went, but looking for the thing that had spoken to him. It would be small, dark and nothing like human.
Tags: darkling, halloween, portal series, rhys