A man moved quickly through the icy streets of France, silver-lined coat pulled tight around himself. He had dirty-blond hair to his shoulders that streamed out behind him, skin with a pallor of a sickened man, eyes like grey blots of fresh ink, watery and wise. He stopped outside the bar and hesitated, wondering if it was worth going in. He hadn't much money, but possibly enough for one drink. Certainly not enough for anything to eat, but a drink in his stomach was better than sod all. He pushed open the door and watched the men within turn to face him as he swore at the cold. A group of men huddled around a table, already drunk, and one man behind the bar. He smiled behind his stubble and greeted them 'good evening'. He walked over and sat at the table beside the men.
"You're not from around here, huh?" Asked one suddenly. The blonde man shrugged.
"It that obvious?" He asked in poor French.
They laughed. "Afraid so. Where are you from then?"
"Eh...English." He mumbled, shrugging, not sure he was using the right word.
"What brings you here?"
"Visiting family." It wasn't a complete lie. The French Sanctuary had his older sister in the staff. "My name's Austin."
"Maurice." Stated the largest of the Frenchmen. Austin reached over and shook his hand.
"Strong grip."
"You have cold hands. Not a nice night to go out without a proper jacket. That doesn't look very warm."
Austin tugged at it. It never was warm. It was full of Necromancer magic. Bloody hell, he was freezing. He suddenly wished he had something woolly to wear. "Well yes, pleasure to meet you..." Austin mumbled. "I mean, I'm in here to get out of the cold. Awful night to spend out there."
"But totally worth it, what we've just been through!" Exclaimed a man named Philippe. The Necromancer nodded uncertainly.
"We're secret service." A man named Honore whispered, tapping the side of his nose.
Well, best way to get information from that from these drunkards didn't seem to Austin to be showing interest. He gave a shy smile and nodded. "I understand, I won't enquire further." It would be suspicious to. He ordered a drink from the barman and felt a hand on his shoulder. This man had introduced himself as Burnell.
"We've just faced the most dangerous targets yet!"
"We take them down for the good of the world." Maurice muttered with a grin.
"They bled light!" Philippe shrieked joyfully.
Austin frowned. "They did?"
"Monsters they were." Muttered the fifth man, who was hunched over his drink. Rene. "Shot that light from their hands and all. You should have seen it." The men kept talking, and Austin didn't touch his drink, even though his throat went dry. He paled even further as the men continued to talk, and he began to realise what he was hearing. This wasn't what...this couldn't be...oh god no...
Austin made his way over to Ireland as fast as he could. He hammered on a door with the palm of his hand. "Solomon!" The only man he'd ever befriended within the Necromancer temples. "Solomon open up!" He yelled. He felt unwell. He hadn't had a chance to eat or drink or get warm or rested he'd been in such a panic. He was absolutely bursting for the loo as well. Who ever said life was easy? Well, Austin Baritone had had it hard for a very long time, and panic never helped his case. The door opened and both men were greeted with grumpy looking men.
"It's two in the morning, Austin."
"I couldn't really wait for the sunrise."
They stared at one another for a while.
"Still living on the streets?"
Austin shrugged. "Not important." He muttered before collapsing. Solomon caught him and rolled his eyes.
"You're an idiot."
"Really need to talk..."
"Shut up." He took the other man into the house and made him sit on the sofa. Baritone curled up at once.
"I'm sorry...but something serious is happening...I was in France and...well...I should start at the beginning."
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Thursday, 10 July 2014
The Cooper Dynasty
Mary Iestin was born with heart difficulties, as was her husband, Hagley 'Lee' Cooper. Now, the main thing Mary had grown up with was solitude and a longing for family and love. When she married Lee, she told him of her dreams and he grinned, saying he wouldn't mind a child to care for. And so they tried for a baby.
And so Eldrida Kirstina was born, the first of what would be 16 children to bear the name Cooper. Sixteen in all. Eldrida, Raphael, Freya, Garnet, Pitney, Dory, Corabelle, Romeo, Donata, Penthea, Saul, Ancel, Bernard, Morven, Zofeyah and Heloise. Sixteen children carried to term.
Nine died at birth due to complications. All born had weakness of the cardiac muscle. The first four died, which was why Mary had so many, because after losing the first four, she was devastated. Eldrida, Raphael, Freya, Garnet, Penthea, Heloise, Pitney, Corabelle and Ancel died before their first birthdays. Their parents were horrified.
I grew up with six siblings. Dory was always the eldest for me, and there was always a huge age gap between myself and Romeo. I was always closest to Saul. He was a few years older, protective, kind and loved playing. He always seemed so happy. That was why I liked him. He was happy and playful and so much fun.
A week after Heloise died, Dad went missing. There was a small-scale search for him, and they found him at our grandfather's old house, hung around the neck with a suicide letter on the side. That was when the downhill stuff started. Dad was dead, and he had had a very well paying job. Mum had no job. I was seven then, only seven. I was scared. I hadn't expected my dad to die. It was scary. I was gone.
I had a panic attack that night, curled up in bed with a cuddly toy stolen off Zofeyah. No-one came. I hyperventilated and cried and nobody came to help!
Saul once read me a book called The Devil's Footsteps, when I was very small. One thing that always stuck in my head was the rhyme.
One in fire, two in blood
Three in storm and four in flood
Five in anger, six in hate
Seven fear and evil eight
Nine in sorrow, ten in pain
Eleven death, twelve life again.
I loved that rhyme. I lived by it, but different.
One cut for sorrow, two for anger, six for hate, seven for fear, eleven when someone close died. Almost like crimson tally marks on my skin, turning slowly to white lines, telling me what I knew, that I was a horrible person.
Seven scared children, living with their mother, mourning the loss of their father. Eight people with heart defects, struggling through life, wishing to be normal. Eight human beings plunged into constant pain and misery and fear. Just to relieve the pressure of all those emotions, each and every one of those eight turns to physical pain. Pain to fix the internal horrors, the storm inside. We just want to help ourselves, but we fall into such a hopeless pit.
Romeo was trying to talk to Dory. He was shouting, begging to him, something was going wrong. I hid under my bed. I heard the thump as Dory hit the ground far below his top floor window. I heard mother screaming as she saw his precious golden curls stained red from his cracked skull. His twisted body. Romeo was having a fit, screaming and crying and just...you couldn't make out anything he was saying. His voice was even more shrill than mother's. I stayed under my bed, aged eight years old, crying silently and hoping against hope that what I knew had happened was wrong.
And then the seven siblings became six. Another funeral was held for Dory Harbin Cooper, and it rained. It rained all day and night, and we cried. Open casket funeral, metal gleaming in the dead boy's teeth. It made me shudder. I forever became averse to braces. I was able to ignore my girlfriend's braces when I was seventeen. I ended up having braces fitted after hers were removed and I just...couldn't sleep...
The metal in my mouth, my older brother's lifeless body.
Donata. Donata was a lovely girl, a princess. She was a dancer, and good at it. She took classes every Wednesday. Slowly, she stopped attending, became enclosed. There was this moment she locked herself in the upstairs bathroom. She never came back out, because when we finally got the door open we found she had drowned herself.
Zofeyah, Romeo, Morven, Saul and me. Five siblings. Five siblings in a big house, running low on money. The fear builds up more and more.
We decided to all play hide and seek. A huge age gap between Romeo, 19, almost an adult, and Saul, about 14. I'm 11, just starting secondary school. Zofeyah is 8, Morven is 10. We want to cheer ourselves up. We're all hungry and Romeo is trying to take our minds off it because there's no food in the pantry. He knows, he's checked about five times in the last hour. Saul turns against the wall and counts, and we all run and hide. I tuck myself in an old toy chest. I remember waiting for a very long time. I needed the bathroom quite badly, but I didn't want to give away my hiding place to Saul. I heard doors go, but no calls of 'I give up'. I remember it clearly. I was in the dark, crammed up and very uncomfortable, and then I heard the jingle of coins and the slam of the front door. Mother going out, I thought.
Saul had looked very excited at the beginning of the game. He was a teenager, but happy and full of life. The hormones didn't get the better of him. The front door went again as someone came home and I gave up, fleeing the chest and going to the toilet. There was this smell of baking in the air that reminded me I was hungry, so I ran downstairs and found Romeo making cupcakes. He asked if Saul had found me, and I shook my head. We went to find Morven and Zofeyah, and neither of them had been found. They had given up on being found and had taken to playing Chess. We ate cakes (and they were divine, because Rome has a real knack for baking) and waited, leaving some aside for tomorrow and one aside for mother and Saul each. I took Mother's up to her.
Saul didn't come back. Morven and I went walking around the park, because when he realised Saul had been missing he started crying. Romeo and Mother were searching the rather large house for him. We went on the swings, had a bit of fun. When we got home, well...that was when I finally noticed blood on the window. There was an ambulance there.
Saul had killed himself. Blood everywhere, cuts and skin and hair torn off, awful words carved into his body, Joker scars...it was a horrific sight.
Four siblings staring in shock at the monstrous sights. Three brothers clinging to one another. One sister living in denial.
Zofeyah would always say her brothers and sister were just away for a while and would come back. It was sad, she would wait by the window for them, even though she knew they were dead. Morven wouldn't speak to any of us. Me and Romeo were on some quite strong medication, half for depression, half for myocardiopathy. He's only eleven now, the day he dies. I went to the bathroom and found all my medication missing, and I panicked. I ran to mum and told her I couldn't find my medicine. She asked me where I'd put it and told me to look harder. She was in a bad mood, a bad way. Romeo was out, selling cakes he'd made by borrowing ingredients, so we could have some money for dinner tonight. We had already sold all of our jewels and vases and the money just ran out too fast because Romeo was so eager to get money he happily took the cheapest price. Anyway, I was frantically looking for my medicine when I felt a hand on my back. I looked, and there stood Zofeyah. What she said next confirmed my worst fears.
"Your pills are lethal when Morven takes them, Bernie."
I'm 17 now, quite a few years since the last suicide. Zofeyah and Romeo live, but attempt. So do I.
Three young people, living in a dark hole, feeling there is no hope for the future and just wishing for a better way out.
And so Eldrida Kirstina was born, the first of what would be 16 children to bear the name Cooper. Sixteen in all. Eldrida, Raphael, Freya, Garnet, Pitney, Dory, Corabelle, Romeo, Donata, Penthea, Saul, Ancel, Bernard, Morven, Zofeyah and Heloise. Sixteen children carried to term.
Nine died at birth due to complications. All born had weakness of the cardiac muscle. The first four died, which was why Mary had so many, because after losing the first four, she was devastated. Eldrida, Raphael, Freya, Garnet, Penthea, Heloise, Pitney, Corabelle and Ancel died before their first birthdays. Their parents were horrified.
I grew up with six siblings. Dory was always the eldest for me, and there was always a huge age gap between myself and Romeo. I was always closest to Saul. He was a few years older, protective, kind and loved playing. He always seemed so happy. That was why I liked him. He was happy and playful and so much fun.
A week after Heloise died, Dad went missing. There was a small-scale search for him, and they found him at our grandfather's old house, hung around the neck with a suicide letter on the side. That was when the downhill stuff started. Dad was dead, and he had had a very well paying job. Mum had no job. I was seven then, only seven. I was scared. I hadn't expected my dad to die. It was scary. I was gone.
I had a panic attack that night, curled up in bed with a cuddly toy stolen off Zofeyah. No-one came. I hyperventilated and cried and nobody came to help!
Saul once read me a book called The Devil's Footsteps, when I was very small. One thing that always stuck in my head was the rhyme.
One in fire, two in blood
Three in storm and four in flood
Five in anger, six in hate
Seven fear and evil eight
Nine in sorrow, ten in pain
Eleven death, twelve life again.
I loved that rhyme. I lived by it, but different.
One cut for sorrow, two for anger, six for hate, seven for fear, eleven when someone close died. Almost like crimson tally marks on my skin, turning slowly to white lines, telling me what I knew, that I was a horrible person.
Seven scared children, living with their mother, mourning the loss of their father. Eight people with heart defects, struggling through life, wishing to be normal. Eight human beings plunged into constant pain and misery and fear. Just to relieve the pressure of all those emotions, each and every one of those eight turns to physical pain. Pain to fix the internal horrors, the storm inside. We just want to help ourselves, but we fall into such a hopeless pit.
Romeo was trying to talk to Dory. He was shouting, begging to him, something was going wrong. I hid under my bed. I heard the thump as Dory hit the ground far below his top floor window. I heard mother screaming as she saw his precious golden curls stained red from his cracked skull. His twisted body. Romeo was having a fit, screaming and crying and just...you couldn't make out anything he was saying. His voice was even more shrill than mother's. I stayed under my bed, aged eight years old, crying silently and hoping against hope that what I knew had happened was wrong.
And then the seven siblings became six. Another funeral was held for Dory Harbin Cooper, and it rained. It rained all day and night, and we cried. Open casket funeral, metal gleaming in the dead boy's teeth. It made me shudder. I forever became averse to braces. I was able to ignore my girlfriend's braces when I was seventeen. I ended up having braces fitted after hers were removed and I just...couldn't sleep...
The metal in my mouth, my older brother's lifeless body.
Donata. Donata was a lovely girl, a princess. She was a dancer, and good at it. She took classes every Wednesday. Slowly, she stopped attending, became enclosed. There was this moment she locked herself in the upstairs bathroom. She never came back out, because when we finally got the door open we found she had drowned herself.
Zofeyah, Romeo, Morven, Saul and me. Five siblings. Five siblings in a big house, running low on money. The fear builds up more and more.
We decided to all play hide and seek. A huge age gap between Romeo, 19, almost an adult, and Saul, about 14. I'm 11, just starting secondary school. Zofeyah is 8, Morven is 10. We want to cheer ourselves up. We're all hungry and Romeo is trying to take our minds off it because there's no food in the pantry. He knows, he's checked about five times in the last hour. Saul turns against the wall and counts, and we all run and hide. I tuck myself in an old toy chest. I remember waiting for a very long time. I needed the bathroom quite badly, but I didn't want to give away my hiding place to Saul. I heard doors go, but no calls of 'I give up'. I remember it clearly. I was in the dark, crammed up and very uncomfortable, and then I heard the jingle of coins and the slam of the front door. Mother going out, I thought.
Saul had looked very excited at the beginning of the game. He was a teenager, but happy and full of life. The hormones didn't get the better of him. The front door went again as someone came home and I gave up, fleeing the chest and going to the toilet. There was this smell of baking in the air that reminded me I was hungry, so I ran downstairs and found Romeo making cupcakes. He asked if Saul had found me, and I shook my head. We went to find Morven and Zofeyah, and neither of them had been found. They had given up on being found and had taken to playing Chess. We ate cakes (and they were divine, because Rome has a real knack for baking) and waited, leaving some aside for tomorrow and one aside for mother and Saul each. I took Mother's up to her.
Saul didn't come back. Morven and I went walking around the park, because when he realised Saul had been missing he started crying. Romeo and Mother were searching the rather large house for him. We went on the swings, had a bit of fun. When we got home, well...that was when I finally noticed blood on the window. There was an ambulance there.
Saul had killed himself. Blood everywhere, cuts and skin and hair torn off, awful words carved into his body, Joker scars...it was a horrific sight.
Four siblings staring in shock at the monstrous sights. Three brothers clinging to one another. One sister living in denial.
Zofeyah would always say her brothers and sister were just away for a while and would come back. It was sad, she would wait by the window for them, even though she knew they were dead. Morven wouldn't speak to any of us. Me and Romeo were on some quite strong medication, half for depression, half for myocardiopathy. He's only eleven now, the day he dies. I went to the bathroom and found all my medication missing, and I panicked. I ran to mum and told her I couldn't find my medicine. She asked me where I'd put it and told me to look harder. She was in a bad mood, a bad way. Romeo was out, selling cakes he'd made by borrowing ingredients, so we could have some money for dinner tonight. We had already sold all of our jewels and vases and the money just ran out too fast because Romeo was so eager to get money he happily took the cheapest price. Anyway, I was frantically looking for my medicine when I felt a hand on my back. I looked, and there stood Zofeyah. What she said next confirmed my worst fears.
"Your pills are lethal when Morven takes them, Bernie."
I'm 17 now, quite a few years since the last suicide. Zofeyah and Romeo live, but attempt. So do I.
Three young people, living in a dark hole, feeling there is no hope for the future and just wishing for a better way out.
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