If you’d like to look back at Chapter One, you can find that here. Otherwise, here comes Chapter Two. I hope you like it 🙂
Chapter Two
Discovery
It had become a way of life.
Wake up, work, go home, play with Gwen upstairs, ignore whatever went on downstairs. Wait for calm, go down and eat supper, then back upstairs. Help Gwen settle in for the night, think for a while, go to sleep.
Repeat.
Right now Alec was in the latter stages of the routine. Gwen had been overjoyed to see him when he got home, and he’d entertained her for hours with a wide array of the little toys she’d received already in her short life.
He wondered if she knew what went on between Mom and Dad, if she was able to understand even a little bit of the yelling that had resumed beneath them.
As if in response, Gwen burbled happily, swinging a teddy bear with wild abandon as a strand of drool dripped from her chin to her lap.
He grinned. Guess not.
“They say ignorance is bliss, Gwen,” he said. She blew a bubble of agreement.
He looked around wistfully at the large room where they spent most of their time together. He supposed he should be thankful for it; it was quite spacious and pleasantly arranged, with big windows that let in cheery amounts of daylight. His bed lay under them, across the room from Gwen’s crib, and they had a wide space of open carpet between them, now strewn about with toddler toys. A bookshelf here and there along the walls, a toy-box, and some decorations gave the place an almost magazine-worthy look.
A glance outside told him that Gwen’s bedtime was nearing, a fact confirmed by her long, satisfied yawn of contentment.
She was a good kid, he knew, and if there was any positive to his parents’ fighting, it was the bond he’d developed with his sister.
Slipping out to the bathroom quickly, he pressed a little bead of toothpaste onto her brush for her to suck on. He’d never really understood why they bothered having her “brush” her teeth, but hey – maybe it was the start of a good habit. She seemed to like it and it put her in a good mood before bed.
By the looks of it, Gwen was more than ready for sleep; dropping her toothbrush on the bathroom floor, she rubbed her eyes and held up her arms, signalling her tiredness. With a heave, he hauled her up and carried her back to their room, laying her in her crib before saying her prayer with her.
Within minutes, her eyes were closed and she was drifting away.
He watched for a moment, making sure she settled into the deep, easy breathing of sleep, noting idly how the setting sun set a golden halo into her head of blonde, wispy hair. She’d taken after their mom, fair and pretty.
Alec, on the other hand, resembled both of his parents. A thick head of sandy hair from his father, the grey-blue eyes of his mother. Short like mom, compact like dad. Like both of them, and at the same time, like neither.
Sitting down on his bed, he looked out the great windows towards their backyard and beyond to Amun Hills, which sprawled out like a rolling, hilly, emerald sea. The evening was especially beautiful, the sky painted with a sweeping golden hue, harmless billowing clouds limned with light, like great puffy ships drifting on the idle summer blue.
Alec was enthralled. For a blessed, quiet moment, he let himself drift with the clouds, breathing in the stillness of the season, watching the ever-shifting grace of the heavenscape.
But as the minutes passed, an uncomfortable thought burrowed its way into the silence.
He was alone. And it didn’t feel right.
It wasn’t that he minded being alone from time to time; in fact, he often preferred it.
But alone in this way, day after day, in his own home, in his own family. Alone at work, alone at home, alone in life.
As he sat there, eyes searching the sky thoughtfully, he knew that something was wrong with his life. It was a small thought at first, but a deep one, and as he considered his world he knew with increasing certainty that it was true.
He’d faced the thought before, and usually he was able to look the other way, throw his thoughts elsewhere, lose himself in some activity or another. But right now, he couldn’t shrug away from its weight. The fact bore down on him relentlessly, pinning him where he was until he recognized its truth.
This was his existence. Alone.
He fought it, but knew he couldn’t win. It became too much, and the knowledge of his loneliness gave way to something worse.
A wave of sadness — frustrated, hopeless sadness – washed over him, tugging him down, pulling on his heart.
But why? he asked himself. What am I supposed to do?
It was as though a pit opened up in the bottom of his soul, dropping the floor out from under everything that held up his happiness and joy. An ache settled into the bottom of his throat and gripped his chest, pushing him to do what he hated most. But he couldn’t help it.
His eyes were welling with tears, he knew. One by one they dripped out, sliding down his cheeks, tickling his nostrils with briny, mocking fingers. He resisted, determined not to cry, hating every tear, staring straight out at the clouds, trying to will himself back to happiness.
In the end, he couldn’t. Dropping his head to his arms where they rested on the window sill, he let go and wept, sobs soon shaking his body.
The minutes stretched out as the sun sunk into the western horizon, and still his tears flowed. It seemed to help a little, as if the little salty drops filled up some sorrowful void and made him feel less hopeless.
He didn’t know how long he sat there, but when he finally ran out of tears and his throat seemed swollen and raw, he lifted his head and found that the sun had sunk into its bed. Night was near, its coming seen in the shadows that draped the treeline, but for now a peach glow still clung to the sky, a memory of hope.
Alec’s gaze dropped then, from the sky, to the slopes of Amun Hills, to his own backyard, which he looked at with some small measure of satisfaction, scrubbing his face dry with a corner of his bed’s coverlet. His problems still remained but the new line of thought was a welcome distraction.
He’d done his best to keep the yard well maintained, thanks to some of the tips he’d picked up from the workers at Amun Hills. He’d scythed through the tall grasses at the back to create a path leading to the course, which he used on his way to and from work. He mowed the lawn twice a week, dodging around various items – a swing set, a sandbox, a birdbath – and striving to keep a straight line. He even had a direction rotation, to give the lawn a nice diamond-hatching pattern.
He frowned. There was a space between the sandbox and the swing set which was supposed to be open, with no obstacle or ornament. It was about 12 yards square of lush green grass, but currently there looked to be something standing in the middle of it. In the failing light, he could see only its shadowed form and the most basic of details.
He cocked his head to the side and tried to figure out what it was, happy to brush aside his loneliness. Had mom gotten a statue recently? A boulder?
It looked like it might reach up to his hip, but it was wide enough that it seemed squat. The top had a rounded look to it, as though the whole thing was roughly cylindrical.
Oddly, Alec felt a pull, a sudden desire to go outside and take a look. He couldn’t tell where it came from but he was sick of sitting in his room, and he had plenty of time before he had to go to bed. Quietly, he tiptoed away, closing the door gently behind him, and creeping downstairs. He wasn’t sure why, but something told him he should avoid his parents if at all possible.
The back door pulled to with a muffled click and he padded quietly out into the yard. He’d managed to get a pair of shoes on, to go with his light hoodie and jeans. The nights were getting cooler this time of year; hot during the day but chilly soon after the sun went down.
A light dew had sprung up already on the grass, but he didn’t notice, eyes trained instead on the odd shape he’d come out to look at. It was still where it had been when he looked from his window, motionless, quiet. As he drew near, his curiosity only climbed, for it was obviously not a statue, nor a boulder.
It was… something else.
Beyond the shape it seemed to Alec that something waved lazily through the air – a tail?
“You should be afraid, Alec,” he murmured under his breath. “Really afraid. What’s going on?”
Without warning, the top of the shape shifted, a quick shaking movement like someone wagging their head, and two eyes blinked open, each about the size of Alec’s fist. He froze, shock widening his gaze and hammering through his heart.
“He… Hello?” he murmured nervously. “Are you… what are you doing here?”
The creature didn’t answer, blinking instead, one eye lazily trailing the other. Something drew Alec onward. Shaking, he took another step and more of the creature’s features became clear.
It looked like a massive, squat owl of some kind, eyes bright and wide and huge, peering at him coolly with light green luminescence. It looked brown – it was hard to tell in the light – but it definitely had feathers: they were ruffling in the slight breeze that drifted across the yard. Its wings were tucked at its sides as it studied him.
Surprised at his own lack of fear, Alec stepped closer and peered past the creature.
“Yes, boy,” a raspy voice said dryly, “I have a tail.”
“Ack!” Alec squawked in surprise, stumbling back and falling on his bottom. It could talk!
“You… you can speak?!” he wheezed.
The owl thing blinked, cocking its head sideways and staring at him as though he were crazy. “Of course I can speak. And from the sounds of it, quite a lot better than you. Do you do anything other than squealing and squeaking, human?”
Struggling to his feet, Alec searched for a reply.
“Honestly,” the thing continued, “I don’t see what Caradoc wants with you.”
“What do you mean?” Alec stammered.
“I’ve been sitting in your yard for a couple of hours now and between you and your parents…” it paused, a taunting glint entering its eyes, “I’m not particularly impressed.”
Alec’s head shot up at the jab. “Hey!” he protested angrily, “Is that what they do where you’re from? Just show up and start throwing insults at people?”
The owl thing opened its beak and laughed, a harsh clacking noise deep in its throat. Spreading its wings it began to stroke them in slow, powerful circles. It seemed odd to see such a large bird lift into flight, but, buffeted by its wind, Alec could understand how. As it rose up into the air, tail darting here and there, the creature called down to him challengingly.
“Why don’t you come and find out, boy? Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two – do try to keep up!”
With that, it set out towards the golf course, soaring over the green and down the fairway of Hole #13.
Alec spared a quick glance back at his house, wondering whether or not he should tell his parents. As he thought about it, however, he heard their yelling start anew, the beginning of another argument. Angry, he shook his head and turned his back to them, squaring his shoulders determinedly.
They probably wouldn’t even know he was gone.
Catching sight of the strange creature, he took off in pursuit.
…and there you have it. Thank you for reading!
Until next time,
~ Martyn McGrath
