The Red to My Grey

by William Dudley Berridge Tuckey

  “Say cheese!” She took a photo and then went back to smelling the flowers she enjoyed so much. Johnson examined the ashes on the ground with one hand while covering his mouth with the other. He spread the ashes away to discover a sheet of metal and some broken tiles covering where the basement used to be. I helped him clear them away and inside the basement was the power box arcing with electricity from several snapped cables. Angel took the first few steps inside and I followed behind her, but suddenly she turned around and yanked me down the steps. Time suddenly fell still into that strange state of existence. I gasped as I pulled my face out of Angel’s chest and I looked behind me to see no one there; it was as if Johnson and Sabrina had disappeared without a trace. Her eyes were glowing brightly, and she wrapped her hands around the back of my neck as she kissed me. The flower in her hair had turned light blue and her lips chilled mine to the point of where I had to stop myself from shivering.

  “What’s gotten into you?”

  “Into me? Are you really as serious as you say you are? It feels like you’re just stalling for time to me.”

  “W-what do you mean?” I stuttered. She pressed herself against me and brought her mouth to my ear.

  “I love you. You love me, don’t you?” she whispered.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Then why are you making me wait?” she slid my hand up her shirt.

  “What’s the rush?” I replied in a sly tone of my own. She didn’t seem to like my answer, so she bit down on my neck and brought her lips to mine afterwards.

  “I’m sick of waiting, Wade,” I rested my hand on the side of her face as I brought my lips closer to hers.

  “Don’t I get any say in this? I would hardly call this fair, Angel,” I said with an accepting smile stuck firmly on my face.

  “Shut up. Giggle. Don’t ever push me away again, okay?”

  “Whatever you say dear ha-ha-ha.” I kissed her and well I’m sure it’s noticeable by now, but Angel has a bad habit of getting whatever she wants. I’m sure I don’t need to explain what happened next…

  After a little while the world fell back into its original state as Angel and I sat against the wall of the basement. Johnson was sharp enough to notice things were out of place in the dark basement. He stared at our red flushed, panting faces with mischievous smiles fixed to them.

  “How crude of you both. I assume you’ve had your fun then?” He said in a somewhat disappointed tone. Sabrina was still confused to what was going on.

  “Yeah, we have, Johnny. Pant.” I wasn’t even sure why we came back to the old house. I didn’t expect things to turn out the way they did. Sabrina sat on the steps and whined, feeling like this was a waste of time.

  “So, we came out here for nothing then? I should have stayed home Sigh.” Angel grabbed both of Sabrina’s hands and whispered something into her ear. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes afterwards and Angel hugged up to my arm as we made our way back to the car.

  “Oh well. At least we know that this house still isn’t home to monstrosities and underhanded deeds anymore. Speaking of homes, you told me you were looking for one, Wade?” Johnson asked as he clicked his seatbelt on once we were inside the car. “Yeah, we are. Why? Do you know a place?”

  He shook his head and explained he knew someone who did. We drove to the bookstore that Raul owned and went inside to speak with him. Johnson liked the idea of keeping tabs on people and it surprised me to find out that they spoke quite frequently with one another.

  “Good evening, Johnson. I see you’ve brought guests, is there something you need?”

  “A good evening to you as well, Raul. I recall you know a place that might serve as suitable accommodation for Angel and Wade here.”

  Angel eyed the monstrous man down with hatred in her eyes and Sabrina was shy around him. I nudged Angel in the arm to quit scowling and Johnson held Sabrina’s hand as she hid behind him. Raul’s eyes burnt bright red as he spoke with us.

  “Hmm I know a place that might meet your needs, but it’s been ‘Vacant’ for quite some time now. It will require some effort in cleaning it up, but all in all it should be affordable for you.”

  “An evicted house?”

  “Yes Johnson. My home before I became like this.”

  “And you would do this for us?” Angel asked sceptically.

  “I can’t see why not. The house is just sitting there gathering dust. I may as well give it to someone who can make use of it.”

  “Why don’t you use it?” He wasn’t making much sense, so I called him out for it.

  “This store is enough for me. After all I can’t actually go out and spend the money I earn here without having someone go in my place. Thankfully, there are a surprising amount of people in Fellbroke willing to help an old monster out.”

  “Then it’s settled, we’ll go check this place out and if it’s still fairly good, we’ll move in,” I said optimistically. Angel was still on guard however, even after Raul handed us a key to go and visit the abandoned home. It was close to the café where Dan worked and slightly closer to Storm Co than Dad’s house. He wasn’t wrong about it being dusty when we went inside and spoiled food in the refrigerator didn’t leave the best first impression, but it couldn’t be helped. All in all, the house was well kept apart from loose floorboards and a broken tap on the kitchen sink. The neighbourhood was so quiet too, only a few houses had their lights on and it was only eight o’clock. With a little convincing from Johnson and me, Angel didn’t seem to mind the idea of moving in there. I discussed it over with Raul later and had everything sorted; this would be our new home.

  Angel and I made it home for dinner and we explained we were considering moving out to Dad and Sophia, there was one condition we had glossed over though.

  “That’s good to hear and all, but there’s something you have to take responsibility for,” Dad said cryptically. “More like someone Jason, if you’re going to move out you have to take Laura with you.”

  “Huh?” Laura, Angel and I reacted simultaneously.

  “The mess you got into with the detective was your fault, not ours. We don’t feel like it’s fair for us to be the ones looking after her when you were the ones who brought her here,” Dad explained.

  “Fair’s fair I guess. You really don’t let me catch a break, old man.”

  We spent the next two weeks moving our stuff and cleaning up the house, so we could move into it; time was spread thin between work and our social life. We had a few sleepless nights because of it over the course of the period. It wasn’t long before we moved in and that Sabrina and Johnson announced the day of their wedding as well. We were going to be busy for a while and I wasn’t going to feel any less exhausted anytime soon either.

  Chapter Twelve

  Well it seems this story’s coming close to its end. Time really flies doesn’t it? I wouldn’t call this a grand finale and I’m not sure if I would call this a heated conclusion. I guess it’s an epilogue to the story.

  I woke up on a dark cloudy day after spending my first night in our new house with Angel and Laura. Angel was still asleep beside me when I opened my eyes. I sat up to see our belongings still in cardboard boxes just past the edge of the bed. We had a new queen-sized bed. As much as I liked my old bed, it could get a little cramped and since we were already in summer it was a bit much not to have some space between us. Our room was upstairs, and the bottom storey had a kitchen, bathroom, laundry and lounge room. Laura was in the room beside us and the house was completely quiet, which was something I wasn’t used to anymore. I yawned and stretched out my arms only to be suddenly pulled back down against the bed by Angel.

  “How’d you sleep?” she asked me with her face against mine as she leaned over me.

  “Pretty good, actually.”

  “Then do you want to have a little fun with me this morning?”

  I went to open my mouth, but she had a certain look in her eyes that left me under the impression that whatever I was going t
o say wasn’t going to matter more than her. It wasn’t until around ten in the morning that Angel was finished indulging herself. I got up out of bed and went downstairs and made us some breakfast. Laura was already dressed and showered, sitting at the table reading one of my science fiction books. I made some coffee to go with toast, even Laura had taken a liking to my coffee. Though sometimes she needed to wash away the aftertaste with juice. I put her meal in front of her and sat down beside Angel at the table.

  “We should probably get you enrolled for school soon. I don’t want you here by yourself.”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve went to school, you think I’ll be okay?”

  “You’ll be fine, Laura. You’re a bright girl, besides, we’re hoping to send you to the same school as Nami. I’m sure she’ll help you out while you’re there.”

  “We’ll go tomorrow afternoon after I finish work. Now, why don’t you be a good little girl and help us pack away our things?” Angel said before kissing Laura on the forehead.

  “Yes, Angel,” she said cheerfully.

  The kitchen may have been reasonably well set up for us that morning, but the rest of the house was still cluttered with our things packed away inside boxes. We spent the rest of the morning putting everything away and rearranging furniture. It was around noon when the doorbell rang and I went to answer it. I opened the door to see Sinclair standing beside Naomi; they were holding hands which looked a little strange since Sinclair was in his beast-taming gear.

  “Oh, hey you two…I don’t remember telling you I moved here.”

  “I am always watching boy,” he said sternly.

  “Right, I suppose you want to come in then.”

  “If it’s not too much trouble,” Naomi said politely while Sinclair constantly kept looking over his shoulder at every passing car. I brought them to the kitchen and started making lunch for everyone. Laura came into the kitchen after packing away her share of boxes.

  “How are you, little one? You seem healthy enough.”

  “I’ve never felt better, thank you for everything Mr Natsuki.”

  “So well mannered, you surely are the detective’s daughter,” he said with a smile.

  Angel walked inside the kitchen and was surprised to see her father. Sinclair praised us for getting our own home as his eyes darted around the room, examining everything thoroughly. After I felt like the formalities were out of the way I asked Sinclair why he was really here.

  “Oh? Is it that strange that I would want to visit my daughter and those she holds dear to her? Or perhaps I’m here to check on the child I brought back from the brink of death? Maybe I just felt like poking around? Who knows? Chuckle.” He was teasing me and enjoyed the exhausted expression I had on my face. Angel hugged up to my arm and dragged Laura to the other side of her.

  “You really should let us know when you want to drop by, Dad.”

  “Ha-ha-ha. My apologies. Now, just how far are you two planning to go I wonder, or are you still clouded by doubt?” he said abruptly while staring at me. I called him out to the front yard to speak with him in private. He stood silently in anticipation of what I was going to say next.

  “You really love toying with me, don’t you?”

  “I’d say it’s become a specialty of mine. Why? Did I hit a nerve?”

  “Sigh. Look, you’re right about the doubt in my mind because there’s been one thing that’s been eating at me ever since I met your daughter. Why was she in that house? Why was she in the hospital in the first place? Was meeting her all a coincidence or did you expect all of this to happen?”

  “As much as I love messing with you, I must be truthful in saying that your meeting with Angel was one of chance, so consider yourself lucky.”

  “Then answer me, why was she in that house?” I kept the pressure on him.

  “Knowing will not bring you any closure, but if you insist then it can’t be helped. I’m sure you’ve seen Angel’s violent side, the side that craves blood.”

  “How could I forget it?” I said while thinking about it.

  “It was that kind of behaviour that made her no different to my beast at times and a day came where she showed her claws against her mother and I.”

  “Where are you going with this?”

  “I showed her the end of my machete to protect Sophia. I wasn’t about to let the very thing that she sacrificed so much for be her end. I truly loved Sophia…in the end she had her heart set for another, that much was out of my control,” I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and things were beginning to make sense.

  “That’s how she ended up in the hospital? Because of you? Let me guess, you locked her away in that house for the same reason. If she was going to act like an animal, she would live in a cage like one.”

  “Don’t twist my reasoning with crude assumption. I love and adore Angel just as much as you do. I left Angel in the house because Sophia ran away to raise your bastard sister and I was already a criminal; there’s no way she could have stayed by my side.”

  “I don’t care, what you did was wrong and not fair on her. You took everything from her…how she doesn’t hate you for that is beyond me.” He then grabbed me by the neck, lifting me off the ground. He gripped tight at the handle of his machete as he decided whether or not to run me through.

  “Did you forget who you were talking to? I am a cold-blooded murderer. I didn’t choose to be like this, I just am. So, tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now?”

  “Because this isn’t you anymore. Cough. You’ve grown as a person too.” He dropped me on the ground and walked a few paces away from me.

  “I suppose you’re right. You made your point clear to the detective that not all people waste second chances. Then it would probably be best if I didn’t waste mine. By that logic I deserve to be the father I never had the chance to be to my daughter, does it not?”

  “I never said you couldn’t be, just don’t expect me to stop resenting you any time soon is all.”

  He agreed to stop tormenting me for a while and went back inside; from that point on it was like our conversation never happened. I kept quiet and didn’t tell anybody what I learned. As we sat around the table for lunch, Sinclair brought out a small envelope and handed it to Angel. She took one peek at what was inside and tried to hand it back. Naomi and Sinclair insisted on us keeping it and once I saw what was inside, I realised what all the commotion was about. There were thousands of dollars, just from looking around eight-thousand.

  “Dad we couldn’t, it’s way too much,” Angel whined. I wasn’t a big fan of owing him anything either.

  “You’ll need it, it’s not as if you’re just living as a couple, you’re looking after the girl too. It’s alright to have a small head start in life.” Naomi put the envelope in my hand and folded my fingers over it.

  “And you’re okay with this, Sinclair? Wait a second, is this money even legal?” I asked cautiously as both Angel and I shot away from the envelope as I dropped it on the table.

  “If you’re asking if it’s blood money…well the dead have no need for it anymore.”

  Angel and Naomi yelled at him while I covered Laura’s ears.

  “I was joking. I’ve always had my ways of earning money without violence or extortion. I used to be a businessman after all.”

  “More like a loan shark,” I whispered under my breath.

  “Fine, I’ll accept this. Stay out of trouble though, Dad. You’ll upset Jasmin,” Angel said as she took the money.

  “Jasmin?” Laura asked as she continued to listen in on us.

  “Oh, you haven’t met her yet. She’s a few years older than you and she’s really nice.” Laura’s face lit up at the thought of meeting her. Sinclair and Naomi stood up from the table and thanked us for our hospitality. After the grand sum of money, it was the least we could do.

  “Well we best be off. Tell Johnson I look forward to his wedding. Farewell for now.” The pair left; as they did, Johnson and S
abrina walked into the kitchen.

  “Oh, Johnny, Sabrina, I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Angel had come back from putting the money away in our room to see them. She sprinted up and hugged them both. She congratulated them for finally having a date for their wedding planned out and we were amazed to see they were finally going through with it. Sabrina was a little embarrassed by it still and Johnson had a calm smile on his face.

  “Getting married young, I’m sure my old self would have found the concept inconceivable.”

  “I guess all it takes is the right kind of girl, Johnny.”

  Angel looked to me with blush in her cheeks and our eyes met.

  “I love you,” she said almost out of impulse. Sabrina was confused on what was going on and stared at us nervously.

  “Yeah, I know. I love you too,” I said confidently, and she hugged me tight. She had a mischievous smile on her face as she faced away from Sabrina. As adorable as the whole thing was, I think she was more or less trying to either tease or maybe encourage Sabrina.

  “Giggle. You’re so funny, Angel, but I think you might be a little unfair on Sabrina,” Laura said after she watched the whole thing play out.

  “You’re messing with me again! I had no idea what was going on. Why do you like picking on me so much?” Sabrina yelled at her as she shook her by the arms while Angel laughed uncontrollably. We all had a bit of a laugh while we watched the two girls deal with each other. Johnson thought our new house seemed as lively as my Dad’s. I had to agree with him on that. No matter where we went, I think we would always find a way to make things more interesting for ourselves. Johnson looked to Laura and introduced himself. I had forgotten he hadn’t had the chance to meet her yet; she was already comfortable enough around both him and Sabrina it was easy to forget.