Lou was in the kitchen peeling potatoes and listening to the rain hammer on the windows and against the back door when she heard the front door slam open and then shut again.
“Rhys?” She pulled a tea towel from the back of a chair and wiped her hands as she stepped through to the living room where Rhys stood soaked and dripping in the doorway. She smiled and struggled not to laugh. “Is it raining?” She spluttered and he nodded, sending sprays of water across the room.
“Oh pack that in and go and get dry and changed.” She flicked the tea towel at him and he shook his head and upper body like a dog, spraying more water everywhere. “Rhys!” She laughed, “Go and dry off before you flood the place.”
He ran up the stairs laughing as she called him an elephant for the amount of noise he made and burst into his room, eyes searching out the stone and the book with the map tucked into it. The stone was there, untouched and his room looked exactly as it had when he’d left for school. He picked it up in cold wet hands and it definitely felt warm.
He peeled off his sodden clothes and threw them into a corner as he looked for dry underwear and his favourite jeans that had escaped the wash because the small thing had hidden them under his pillow. They were still crumpled on the chair under his bed, right where he’d dumped them before going to bed the night before and with nothing changed Rhys was beginning to think he’d imagined it all. He pulled on the jeans and a t-shirt that was a little bit too small but he liked it anyway and he went downstairs where he could smell the start of things cooking and by the smell it was sausages and mash, one of his favourites.
“I’m dry.” He called to his mum. “Can I watch telly?”
“In here and do homework first.” She called back and Rhys groaned and then grabbed his book bag suddenly worried that everything inside would be soaked and he’d be in so much trouble if it was. He wiped the worst of the wet from the outside and tore back the flap to check.
“Darklings took the wet from it.” A voice whispered in his ear and he dropped the bag and spun his head round so fast that something in his neck clenched in hot pain, and there was nothing to see but a shadow that slipped behind the chair.
“Your hair is dripping.” A small towel hit Rhys on the shoulder as the pain in his neck was easing and Lou was standing in the doorway to the kitchen waiting for him to use the towel. “Are your books wet?”
“I was just checking.” Rhys rubbed the towel over his head until it was wetter than he was and then he dropped it on the floor to retrieve his book bag only to find that it was perfectly dry and so were the books inside. “They’re dry.” He sounded surprised.
“Well, those were designed to be reasonably waterproof but I’m surprised it stood up against that.” Lou nodded at the rain still hammering against the windows but starting to slow down a little bit. “Come on, sit at the table while I’m cooking and you can ask for help if you need it.”
Rhys spent the best part of half an hour working on homework after he made a mess of the first half of it and had to start again. He was too preoccupied with the voice that had spoken to him again and then vanished and although the lure of the TV was pulling at him he was also starting to feel cold and hungry and he did want to go into his room where he might just find out a bit more about the Darklings, whatever they were.
But by the time he’d finished his homework and packed away his books dinner was ready and the books were replaced on the table by a plate of steaming mashed potato, brown glistening sausages and carrots floating in a lake of rich brown gravy.
Feeling full, warm and slightly sleepy Rhys and his mum settled down to watch TV together, even if it was just repeats.
“When can I get a games console?” Rhys asked, watching the Christmas adverts longingly.
“You know we can’t afford one, and the games are expensive too.” Lou smiled at him sadly. She would have loved to be able to buy him the things he wanted but it just wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Her job at the local shop only just paid the bills and put food on the table. Even with the benefits top up she got it was still very tight some weeks and there was little left for luxuries and extras. She had some money saved for Christmas and she’d worked out that there was a little more spare over the next few weeks that she could use to get Rhys a new coat and maybe those trainers he’d had his eye on.
Rhys sat there and scowled at the small screen flickering in the corner. It was one of his favourite programmes and he’d watch them over and over again but tonight he was annoyed and Lou could understand why,
“I hate you and I hate living here.” His face darkened and he folded his arms tight across his chest. Lou let it slide past her, knowing he was just angry.
“Here is home.” A now familiar voice whispered in his ear sounding puzzled.
“Leave me alone.” He shot back and Lou looked at him curiously as he was clearly not talking to her. He sat and fumed, frustrated that it felt like everyone he knew had some sort of games console and they didn’t have anything, not even a computer and even the TV was a small one. Most of the year they coped and Rhys was fine, but when the adverts for Christmas started it was hard for him to understand why they couldn’t afford things and it had just got harder since his dad had disappeared. He’d just walked out one day, Lou had assumed he was going to work and he’d never come home. He’d not arrived at work, had quit his job the day before and not told her so no-one was worried about him, no-one looked for him and she was left to pick up the pieces of her own life and Rhys’ too. It wasn’t easy for either of them and she knew Rhys simmered with unresolved anger and he thought his dad had just left them and maybe one day he might come back. But Lou suspected he’d gone for good and they’d never see him again.
“I’m going to put the kettle on.” She said loudly, even though she knew he wasn’t really listening. “I don’t suppose a hot chocolate would help you remember how to smile?”
“It might.” Rhys grudgingly agreed and he started to unfold his arms. “Have we got any marsh mallows?”
“Sorry.” Lou ruffled his hair and he pulled away with a look like thunder. “Still want a hot chocolate though?”
“Yeah.” Rhys was disappointed but it was still better than nothing or a cold drink. Then the noise came from upstairs, a scuffling and scratching and he was sure it came from his room.
“Darklings need you.” The voice whispered and this time he didn’t bother looking round, knowing he wouldn’t see anything.
“Don’t care.” He muttered.
“Need you.”
Rhys thought for a moment, determined to stay in his angry and grumpy mood but curiosity got the better of him and he found himself wondering what might be upstairs. The scuffling came again.
“Mum.” He got up and poked his head round the kitchen doorway. “I’m cold, just going to get a jumper.”
“OK, don’t take too long.”
He fled upstairs and into his room, where he was expecting it to have been trashed again with clothes thrown about. He pushed up his door nervously and saw clear floor covered with a carpet that his mum called oatmeal but it looked like porridge to Rhys. His round football rug was straight and flat at the bottom of the short ladder on his bed. His bed was made, duvet smooth and neat, two pillows plumped and together with pyjamas just poking out from between them. His books were tidy on the shelf and his wardrobe was closed. Even his bear was sitting there on the pillows nice and neatly.
But next to the bear was something else. It looked at Rhys, tipped its head to one side and its mouth widened in what might have been a smile or an attempt at a smile by someone who didn’t quite know how smiles worked. If it had straightened up and stood next to him then its head would have just come up to his hip, but its legs were folded beneath it and its shoulders were hunched so it looked like it had no neck. Long limbs curled around a short, thin body and it was wearing what looked like leather trousers and tunic with oversized boots. The handle of a short knife stuck out of a narrow belt and a long fingered hand rested on the hilt. Its face was dark, like wet wood and as lined and wrinkled as the bark of a tree. Gnarled skin surrounded deep set black eyes that were beneath long tufted ears that stuck up from the top of its head and when it opened its mouth Rhys gasped but stopped himself from screaming. Its teeth were many, in lines like a shark and as viciously pointed and its tongue was startlingly red against the dark of its skin as it flicked upwards to wet dry lips. It held itself very still as Rhys stared.
Tags: darkling, Nano, NaNoWriMo, November, portal series, rhys