Chapter Two - Behind Bars

For those of you who haven't heard the song: "Que sera, sera" means "Whatever will be, will be". Image is Brains or, as we know her name now, Sophie-Ying

When Eyes went to bed that night and snuggled into the moth-eaten sheets next to Cockroach (they didn’t have enough beds for one each) he was feeling... edgy - well, more edgy than normal - but he still closed his and managed to drift off to sleep, despite the frog occasionally jumping in his stomach. Why did he eat so many spoonfuls of that... mush?

          His dream started off as it usually did:

 

A young boy crouching in the middle of a field. There was nothing but emptiness, the grass was dull and as dry as rice and the sky was desolate, with only a stale devoid glow emanating from behind the thick cloud line. A single tree, naked and shivering, offering no shelter as the sky began to weep heavy tears. Nevertheless, the child ran for cover. Ran and ran and ran, the metaphoric tears of the sky mixing with the true ones on his cheeks.

A blinding golden light burned his vision, all the while a screaming filled the child’s ears, pierced his stomach, covered him in a blanket of dread.

         

          Then it changed...

 

He was still in a field, but a different one, a nicer one.

Healthier shades and it was warm.

There was a noise, not quite clear, like the static on the radio.

A growling?

No, to steady for that.

It was becoming clearer by the second; metallic crunches, barking orders and the sharp sound of snapping wood.

          There! Coming out onto the fields!

          A metal monster was ploughing through the open ground with more human figures stampeding in its wake.

          A marble rolling across a desk, hitting the first of a long line of dominos, each one driving the next downwards.

          On and on and on and on and...

 

          Eyes woke up, shivering and breathing deeply. The distant warm glow of the giant fire in the sky failed to melt the ice which had suddenly coiled its freezing fingers around his heart. They had to get out of here, RIGHT NOW!

          “Cockroach, get up, you lazy pile of cockney trash,” Eyes yelled at his roommate and began repeatedly hitting the coarse tufts of hair poking out from underneath the covers, “Get up! Get up! Get up!”

Without waiting for an answer, Eyes leapt out of bed, pulled on his hoddie (and only source of warmth) and sprinted into the next room.

“Boss! Boss!” A deranged panic had replaced Jack Frost’s hand on Eyes’ innards and he wasn’t sure he liked it anymore.

“The berries are in the third jar along �" the only one without a hole in it. Now leave me alone, Shadow,” the deep voice was muffled from the feather pillow concealing Boss’ face.

A slight twinge of annoyance flittered around Eyes’ belly for a moment �" he wasn’t Shadow! �" but more important things were on the line if he didn’t get Boss to wake up. So, he did an insane thing, something only the bravest or craziest would do:

He belly flopped Boss at dawn.

“WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! WHO’S HEAD IS GOING IN THE OVEN?!”

“The oven doesn’t work Boss, but I’ll tell you what does,” Eyes had to talk quickly or he was in for the worst Chinese burn in history, “a ten ton destroying machine heading this way. It’s going to knock down the building and its official, so if we don’t move quickly either we’ll be crushed by debris or we’ll be put into care homes!”

Slowly - painfully slowly �" Boss lifted the musky material off of his face, turned his gaze upon Eyes while his bleary eyes widened to show all the whites and his mouth became an “O”. They kept their eyes locked for a second longer, when finally he said, “Wake everyone up, get packing and I’ll go see how much time we have.”

“Rodger that,” Eyes turned to see Knife standing in the door way, he didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but she was taking charge instead of Eyes. Good.

“Ya hear that everyone?” She yelled, her voice loud and clear, “Get up, get dressed and report to the hall way in ten minutes, everything packed! Looks like we’ve gotta go house shopping!” She turned back to Boss, her sharp eyes alight and awake, “You can rely on me.”

“I know,” Boss muttered as he pushed passed, down the stairs and out the front door.

Even through all his eye problems, Eyes could still see the slight darkening of Knife’s cheeks and Cockroach obviously saw it too, because he walked passed saying, “Here comes the bride,” earning him a slap around the head.

ab

I’m running as fast as I can back home. There’s no way we’re getting caught out by that thing.

My legs are burning. No. No, I mustn’t stop. Think of Shadow; how he might get separated from Doctor because you couldn’t stand a little cramp. You’re their leader and they trust you to keep them safe. No matter how your carves protest or your breathing is punctured, you must keep going.

I burst through the front door, startling Brains into dropping her books everywhere. I hurriedly gather up the rotting paper whilst shouting at the top of my voice, “We can’t go out the front, they’ll see us. Roach, you will get that back door open. I don’t care how hard it is, I’ll break the damn thing off its hinges if it comes down to it.”

“There ain’t no need for that kind of talk, Boss,” says the ratty boy scurrying down the creaking stairs, he beams at me with his signature crooked teeth, “Been working at it all week, should have it open in no time.”

“How much time is “no time”?”

He shrugs as paces his bony knees on the matted carpet and begins to pick the lock, “It’s old; might make it trickier.”

“But you told me old locks were easier to pick because they had less mechanisms,” says Brains and her photographic memory.

“Yeah, but this one ain’t been used in years. It’s all stiffened up.”

Now everyone has crowded around the ancient oak door, Cockroach is whistling, growing more and frantic by the second, but we don’t want to show any signs we were here. Officials might be self-righteous but they aren’t all idiots.

“I need something sharp,” says Roach, pointing at a crack in the wood.

“Will this do?” Knife’s namesake is momentarily impaled within the opening and instantly the door clicks open.

“Yep.”

We are out! Daylight cascades across my face while the snug feeling of pride washes in between my bones; she really is amazing. However, no time to dally on the fact, we had to get away. Away, away, “Shadow, take us to a place we can see without being seen.”

“Easy peasy, lemon squeezey, this way!”

He leads us through the woodland, tree after tree after tree. I’m about to question him, when he lets out a joyous cry, “Here! Here is perfect! You want to see without being seen? Try a cliff covered with leaves, we’ll blend right in!”

“Shadow, I think you’ve earned yourself a cookie,” says Cockroach.

So, here we are, lying on our fronts on the cold creamy stone, camouflaged only by own clothes caked in mud.

Down below us someone is setting up a podium, meanwhile, people began filtering in, coming in cars, motorbikes and any other form of transport. Something big must be happening here today and it couldn’t just be for the demolishing that everyone was here, waiting, this early on the morning. Could it?

Well, it looks I was wrong because a hush spread though the audience, like a spillage on a waxy floor. A man, quite chubby with his sandy blond hair so full of hair spray you could see the comb lines this far away, was stepping awkwardly up the stairs and on to the stage.

He coughs once.

Twice.

“Hello, everyone. We are here today because...”

“We know why we’re here, just get it started!” Shouts someone in the crowd, following it is cries of approval from the watchers and the man on stage begins to look worried.

“Um... Well... Let the demolishing begin!”

Cheers and applause erupt from the crowd as a machine with a giant marble on the end moves closer and closer to our home.

ab

No.

No!

They just couldn’t do that!

They just couldn’t destroy my only place of shelter!

Me and Shadow had felt safe there, something we hadn’t felt in ages. We had found a house and friends, we had found a home.

Wait!

Shadow! Where was Shadow?

He was sitting right beside me a moment ago and what would be the point in hiding from me? He must have gone somewhere, but where would he go?

Movement caught my eye down below; a blue speck zooming across the open field towards The Ivy Cottage, his curly brown hair suck out behind him because he simply refused to let me cut it. So, I ran after him, as silently as I could, but I didn’t have his talent of stealth.

He was within sight! He was surrounded my men and a few women in tight uncomfortable looking suits and they were closing in on him. One of the men, big and fat, grabbed Shadows arm, too roughly and shook him.

A blind rage came over me, as it always did when ever my little brother was threatened, “Take your bloody fat hands of my baby brother, fat face!” I jabbed my hand into his collarbone, right between his moobs, watched him stumble back whilst taking Shadow’s hand and tugging him back.

“But Doctor! They’re about to knock it down!”

“I know Shadow, but we can find another place to live. Now come on.”

But it was too late; police had woken up and were coming for us, they were almost on top of us and... and...

A hard hand clamped down on my shoulder, Shadow was pulled from my grasp and my wrists were secured tightly behind my back, so that no matter how I struggled I couldn’t hit his pressure points.

“Stop! Wait! Don’t hurt them! Doctor was just protecting Shadow, she didn’t mean to assault that man there.” They were all standing there and I felt the grip on me slacken as I pulled myself free. I went straight over to where Shadow was held, then backed away until I was level with Brains, Shadow safely behind me.

“What in hells name are you doing? You ain’t gonna knockdown our home, you can’t do that!” Asked Cockroach.

A pretty young woman with blond hair stepped forward, “I’m afraid we can, you don’t own the place so we still have to knock it down.”

Brains voice suddenly filled my ear and a well of hope filled me, she didn’t speak much, but when she did she always, always spoke sense, “Then someone did their homework very badly.”

“Don’t worry, we know what we’re doing,” She spoke like she was talking to a silly little school child.

Well she had another thing coming.

“Don’t patronise me,” Brains said coldly, making Roach smirk, “In order to demolish a building or site, you first have to ensure that the area in question has no inhabitant, animal or human, to certify that the vicinity is safe to dispose. If a resident is within the range then they must be escorted to a temporary living space until further arrangements can be made.”

The woman did a double take - and her face? Priceless.

“Well... yes, exactly,” the woman was taken back and a little confused, “So...,” she looked around at her friends in suits and they all nodded, “We have to knock this down, I guess the only thing that can be done is you’ll have to go to the station for tonight and we’ll try to find someplace else you can go after that.”

“Oh, wonderful. Instead of a grotty old house falling to pieces, I get to stay in a police station with God knows what kind of people coming in and out all night. I feel so privileged.” Eyes could be so miserable when he wanted, so basically; all the time.

“The Station?” Asked Brains, “But I- what? I... don’t-er. Please... about-no...” I stared at her, what was she doing? She had just out smarted this lady and earned at least a little respect from the people here and now she was stuttering? She was usually so clear minded. Why all of a sudden was she so... so... scatterbrained (Hah, Shadow was right; that word did come in useful)? It wasn’t like she had something to hide.

“Don’t worry Brains, they ain’t gonna kill us,” Cockroach took her hand and she seemed to calm a bit, “What’s the worst they know?”

Okay... That was weird. I was pretty sure it’s normally ‘What’s the worst they can do’.

Doesn’t matter really. The crowd watched in silence as we walk away from the area and it felt uncomfortable. The man I knocked over finally stood up after milking it for all thing time and glared at me while muttering to his companion, “Stupid little children; they run away and have nowhere to go except crime and disruption.” Hmm, he is an arse face.

“So, since I will be escorting you there, we might as well get to know each other. My name is Adelaide, what are your names?” Adelaide looked at us... we all looked at Boss. Which names?

Boss thought for a bit, meanwhile the woman got impatient, but before she could say anything, he said, “Coyle Padric, my name’s Coyle.”

Adelaide smiled and nodded, “Irish I believe.”

Boss nodded back and sat down in the car we had been walking to as a blow to the cottage took away one wall and the crowd cheered. The car was massive, more like the limos I’ve heard about, easily big enough to fit us all in.

“What about the rest of you?”

“My names Emini, Emini Phalyn Guard,” said Knife.

“Deston,” Muttered Eyes.

“I’m Lux,” Roach said, grinning.

“Sophie-Ying,” said Brains.

“Zoë Althea,” Me.

“Estmund Stash,” Shadow.

“Stash? That’s a strange name. Why did your parents name you Stash?” That blondie was really getting on my nerves.

“I don’t know why they named him Stash, they’re dead.”

There. That shut her up.

When we got to the police station, we found out that girls and boys had to be split up and, no matter how I complained, they wouldn’t let Shadow come with me into the girl’s part. So, after Roach and Brains had finished goofily hugging each other, I put Shadow into his care with a warning, “Anything happens to Shadow and you’re gonna go swimming in the cooking pot.”

Then suddenly my normal view of "Que sera, sera" was stripped away. The one thought that kept me sane through all these hard years, the thought, "Who wants to live in the past? It's the future that counts." was beaten up beyond that of the family car that night. Two words, that's all it took. Two unspoken words danced around my mind taking away layer upon layer of strength and leaving me vulnerable. 

Two words, “Now what?”