The Fifth: Darkness series

by K. D Rawlingson

  It was the start of something new for me. I met a guy, Ryan, he was 26, had sandy blond hair and brown eyes, he told me he worked for himself as a builder, was of average build and was no taller than about 5.8 but he gave the impression he was much taller by the way he held himself. He was the life of the party, knew everybody in there, the barmen, the bouncers, even the bloody DJ. He was the complete opposite of me. We talked and danced all night there was an instant chemistry between us and after exchanging numbers we agreed to meet the next day. Within a few months, I was head over heels in love. Life finally started fitting into place. Ryan and I got a little flat together, it was on the 9th floor of a high rise just off the town centre in Ashbane but hey who was I to complain it was all ours, shut the door and the world could just bugger off. I started to be more like my old self I got a job as a trainee accounts manager made a few new friends. I was never the life and sole of the party but found a steady rhythm to life and liked where I fitted in. We had our first-year anniversary together in our own home and a fabulous Christmas. When I found out I was 3 weeks pregnant at the beginning of the February I was over the moon. I couldn't wait to tell Ryan and Sol and they were so pleased. Me and Ryan got married in May and had a baby boy we named Thomas in September, Ryan's parents and a lot of so-called friends called us crazy said that we were too young and it was too quick in our relationship to be settling down getting married and having kids, but what they didn't realise was I felt far more years under me, had to endure so much by 20, more than most feel at 50. I was ready for this. I loved my Husband and little boy, I was happy; this was the right time for me. I`d had so much bloody drama in my life I just wanted a bit of me time, a bit of time for us to be happy, peaceful, normal, no drama no more sadness.

  I thank my lucky stars I got that time because if I thought my life before Ryan and Thomas was full of drama and sadness then I sure had a lot to learn

  Chapter 1:

  7 YEARS LATER…

  BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEP

  BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEP

  BEEEEEEP "Yes yes alright I'm getting up" I didn't need to look up at the clock as I turned the alarm off I knew it would read 6:30 am. Ryan was already up his side of the bed was empty which meant he had let the dog out, I could hear the cups in the kitchen cling together along with the bubbling of the kettle heating up. I laid there for a moment groaning at the thought of how much I had to do today and how tired I was. When I heard Ryan get in the shower I knew it was time to get up. I rolled out of bed and went downstairs. Three hours' sleep was not enough, I had been a real crappy parent and left Thomas's costume to the last minute. It had been one of those jobs I would get to later. I had collected the cardboard and the bits and pieces needed to build it and over the last couple of weeks it had sat in the corner ready to start, but it had been a really busy few weeks. Ryan was getting to the end of his project and was working pretty much seven days a week, work had me doing all hours due to auditors coming in so, by the time I had collected Thomas, done the dinner, bath, and bed, tidied up and sat down at ten o'clock each night I was knackered. I had kept telling myself I would start it tomorrow. Well, tomorrow was the play and he needed a costume. Thomas was going to be the tin man from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz and as much as I couldn't wait to see him perform… why couldn't he have been a cat or something where I could just pop him in some leggings and paint a few whiskers on? No, I had been up till 2 o'clock this morning cutting cardboard sticking it together, plastering tin foil all over it in a bid to make it look like the tin man. Ryan had been no help at all he had been working late and not got home till gone 10 pm that evening, covered in grime and dust. He had showered, eaten his dinner and promptly fell asleep on the sofa after adamantly denying he wouldn't and wanted to watch a football game he had recorded. Of course, he had fallen asleep but by then I was too caught up in the cutting and sticking that changing the channel had been too much bother so, after it had finished and reverted back to normal telly I ended up watching some documentary thing about birds I wasn't really paying attention to and then about two hours of the news.

  Finally, after only attempting to stick an antenna on for the tenth time did it stay in place and I was graced with bed.

  What I had ended up with was more like a robot but it would have to do and after putting all the bit of rubbish in the bin, turning off the news, locking up the house and trying unsuccessfully to wake up Ryan I decided to just cover him with a blanket and went up to bed. Only to find that when I got there Bert our massive Labrador dog was sprawled over my side, sliding him over onto Ryan`s side I climbed in next to him knackered. However, sleep refused to come. I lay awake thinking about the news I had just been watching. Breaking news had scrolled along the bottom of the screen just before I'd turned it off. The newsreader read there had been two big earthquakes, one on the coast of Japan and one in China. Thousands were presumed dead with the death toll to rise by the thousands with the coming tsunami.

  I stood to watch for a few moments but thought sleep was loudly calling so I switched it off and strolled up to bed thanking my lucky stars we didn't live in an earthquake country.

  My house was nestled in a little cul-de-sac in a village in Kent, in the south-east of England. We moved here not long after Thomas's second birthday. The flat in Ashbane was getting crowded the older he got. Applewood was set in the country and I had lived here for a while after mum had passed. It was quiet and serene; the local primary school was small but was nice. Ryan had moved around a lot as a child and adapted well in most situation and probably where he got his love for people from, he loved living in a town with the hustle and bustle so, when I suggested Applewood as a possible moving place I wasn't sure what he would say but as usual he surprised me with loving the idea. It wasn't long before we found a little a two up, two down style house we could call our own. Ryan had put on a lovely extension on the back of the house to make it bigger a few years ago. We had a cosy front room with big bay windows letting in lots of light, a door leading to the hall. At the end of the hall, we had a large kitchen-diner and my beautiful bi-fold doors leading to the back garden, opening the dining room and kitchen to become part of the garden in the summer. Now 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs it had changed so much over the years, there was still bits to finish but it was ours and far better than the 1-bedroom, 9th-floor high rise building we first lived in together. Where we live might see the odd earthquake, one or two every few years but never over 4.2 on the rector scale. Never really any critical damage, one year I can recall seeing my draws in the front room move slightly that was the worse we got it. The ones over in places like Japan and China have destroyed whole cities in the past, the news lady had said the one to hit Japan originated about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean and was recorded at being the worse the world has ever seen, readings look to be above 9.8 on the rector scale although China`s wasn't as bad at 7.7, tens of thousands were still presumed dead or missing. Experts were now fearing due to the close proximity to one another there was a high possibility of more to come. They were talking about Japan being situated along the world's most active earthquake belt called the Pacific Ring of Fire and the ramifications could be felt worldwide.

  I'm no expert but even I know that means bad, like half of Japan could be destroyed bad. 9.8. I couldn’t imagine how much devastation was being caused while I tried to sleep.

  After what seemed like an eternity of worrying I must have finally drifted off into a fretful sleep. I kept dreaming about something being released or being set free I couldn't remember any more than that only it seemed really important in my dream. Eventually, my subconscious let go of whatever I was dreaming about and I finally fell into a peaceful sleep for all of an hour or so.

  So, after dragging my arse out of bed, letting the dog back in I checked on Thomas`s robot to make sure all the foil had stuck and nothing had fallen off. To my complete and utter shock, everything was still in tacked and didn't look too bad. I had managed t
o make a big square body had covered it in silver tin foil, stuck some buttons on and drew on a door and some hinges on the other side. It was nowhere near perfect but hey Thomas was seven as long as he thought it was ok that was all that mattered. The helmet was square(ish) with the front cut out and an old wire coat hanger poked in the top to look like an antenna. I had found an old silver top with long arm's that I had worn in my younger and far less fashionable days and thought Thomas could wear it underneath. The body had been too wide so I had cut it down the back and resewn it to make it smaller, I used an old pair of Thomas's grey school trousers and sprayed them with silver glitter and done the same to his wellies.

  At that moment Thomas came running in: “Have you finished it, mummy, could you, do it?” He was so pleased as I handed it over.

  “Can I try it on now?” His excited blue eyes pleaded with me.

  “Go on take it to your room and try it on quickly before we have to get ready for school.”

  Thomas was out the door running upstairs to his bedroom in a flash. Knowing he was so excited about the play today, I went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted up to be careful not to break it.

  “Sadie!”

  I heard Ryan shout from the bathroom “can you grab me a towel please babe?”

  How is it he always forgets his towel? I swear he does it on purpose so I can see him naked and wet, he knows it undoes me nearly every time but this morning I had too much to do I didn’t have time to fall around it the shower. I took some towels out the airing cupboard, I had the strange feeling like the world was on my shoulders this morning and couldn't shake it off. As I walked in Ryan was just putting shower gel on the sponge, “Arrhh baby perfect timing as always, fancy giving your hubby a scrub?”

  His handsome face peered out the shower and I was engulfed in his manly smell, his deep brown eyes were heavy and lustful as he smiled at me and lent over for a kiss, how could I say no to that? I slipped out my dressing gown and shorts and slid into the shower squirming in the heat. "Ryan, I can't be long Thomas is only trying on his costume for the play today!"

  “Shhh, baby looking at this sexy body first thing every morning I'm already about to explode.” Giggling at his remarks knowing full well I looked like shit in the mornings I took the sponge from him and washed all my worries away. After a very satisfying shower, I got dressed quickly, unlike Ryan who spent far longer than me getting ready.

  I found Thomas in his room strutting up and down pretending he was a robot, after admiring my handiwork and how damn cute he looked I told Thomas to take it off while I got on with the morning chores. Once Ryan`s packed lunch was done, Thomas’s breakfast finished and I’d got him showered, I left Thomas to put his school clothes on while I made myself a cup of coffee and switched on the TV. That's when I saw it half of Japan had been destroyed, China was not fairing much better, neither was Thailand or South Korea the news was saying this was the biggest natural disaster since record began. Millions of people were presumed dead across these countries with the death toll continuing to rise. A nuclear power plant had been shut down on the coast of China, meaning the power was out for millions. The news only knew so much as nothing had been reported out of either country for the last hour. The news kept referring to it as a news blackout, something I’d never heard of before. There were talks a tsunami had hit all along the Pacific but they were awaiting clarification. This was bad.

  I called to Ryan to come and see what I was looking at, it looked like half the dam country had been wiped off the map, which I supposed it had. I couldn't believe what I was watching. Ryan strolled in not a care in the world looking super yummy, he was now clean shaven and had removed the bits of stubble that had been tickling my neck in the shower, he hair was gelled back making his sandy blonde hair darker than normal and was ready for a hard day of work. I loved it when he was in his work clothes don't ask me why but something about a pair of timberlands with joggers tucked in. I know crazy right but hey each to their own and all that. "What's up babe?" He said planting a kiss on my cheek

  “Look, Ryan, I saw last night that there had been an earthquake but I didn't realise it was this bad.”

  With Japan and China being hit by multiple earthquakes and tsunamis their countries would be facing devastation for years to come.

  Oh, my god, would this have an effect on us? Usually when things like this happen people say “oh no” and get on with their day to day stuff but this seemed so much worse than anything we had seen before. Was this going to re-shape the world as we know it?

  We stood there, staring at the TV for what seemed like half the morning even though it hadn't really been that long at all before everyday life set back in with Thomas, running in from the bedroom dressed and ready for school. We had to be at school for 8:45 am so I really needed to get on and Ryan had to get going. I gave Ryan a kiss goodbye as he left for work, he told me not to worry too much that everything would be ok and he would see me later. I wasn't so sure, but smiled and said he was probably right and I would be fine.

  All the tension I had shed an hour or so ago with Ryan in the shower felt like it had returned with vengeance. I tried to not worry but I just couldn't shake the feeling. Focusing on my little man and the positives it was Friday, it was Thomas's big play and Ryan had a rare day off tomorrow which we hadn’t told anyone about, that way we could all have a lie in with no phones ringing and then we were going to spend the day together, in the evening we had plans to go around Ryan’s parents for dinner so no cooking. But right now, I needed to finish getting ready and set off to school.

  I walked Thomas into school, he had put his helmet on and had strode in like a little star. My Thomas was a little stunner, he had a lot my attributes in that he had my dark hair colouring, my olive skin and my blue eyes with golden little specs but he was all Ryan is his personality. He was funny, kind, always happy and super calm in most situations and so smart he would be turning eight in a few months and I could see he was growing up, soon he wouldn't be excited about dressing up and toys, soon it would be gadgets, girls, and cars.

  After dropping Thomas, I set off to work stopping at the shop along the way as I had to grab a nice bottle of wine for tomorrow night. Susanne and Eric had been away on holiday for the past few months doing a cruise around some islands or another then ending the trip with a stay at their house in Scotland. They had started the drive back early yesterday morning and were stopping off for a stay at a hotel last night before resetting off this morning, Ryan's mother Susanne had told him she wasn't happy with the arrangements she had wanted to fly but Eric Ryan's father had insisted they drive that he hadn't taken his Bentley out for some time and it would be a nice way to end their holiday, in the end, she finally agreed and they were due back later today. First world problems and all that!

  Ryan, had a totally different upbringing to me although a lot of work all the same. Ryan was nothing like his mum or dad but family was still everything to him, Eric and Susanne had money and that in its self is fine but they often gave the impression they were better than everybody else. When I first meet them, it was by accident back when Ryan and I lived apart. I had been spending more and more time at his place we had decided that we were going to move in together that morning that we would look for a place of our own. It was a Sunday, I had run out of all clean clothes and was dressed in 3-day old jeans with Ryan's t-shirt on, my hair was scrapped back, I had no make-up on. My plan had been to laze about for a bit while Ryan showered and changed, he was helping with a project at the homeless shelter to build more tables and chairs from some donated wood and all he had left to do was pop over to stain the remaining tables and they would be ready to be used. He was only going to be a few hours. I would shower while he was out then, go back to mine to get some clean clothes and be back for when he was finished. However, ten minutes after he left the doorbell rang I thought it was Ryan and he'd forgotten his keys or something so was surprised when it was his parents at the door and not him. Susanne gave t
he impression straight away that Ryan was too good for me, especially as Ryan was there only child and stayed for no more than 30 seconds before leaving clearly showing her distain for me. For the first year together, Susanne hardly spoke to me. Eric was ok but was away a lot on business so I didn't really see much of him.

  When Susanne found out I was carrying Thomas and me and Ryan had gotten married she hit the roof, hating me even more and blamed me for trapping her only son then refused to speak to either of us. After a while she realised I wasn't going anywhere and Ryan was a grown man, he had explained that the wedding had been his idea which it had been. We had gone on a little holiday, a long weekend away before Thomas arrived, to Cornwall. It was a surprising hot May and Ryan had thought it would be nice, he said it would be cooler by the sea, which it was, and I could soak my swollen ankles in the cool water. On our last day, we had been walking through this lovely village when we came upon this beautiful little church. Ryan had gotten down on one knee and asked me to marry him right there and then. I remember thinking he was messing about, thought he was crazy but then he pulled out a ring and lead me inside where there was a minister waiting to perform the ceremony. I didn't know how he'd set it up and still don't to this day but I loved every second of it. Ryan had known then I wasn't a people person I would have hated the thought of a big wedding everybody staring at me, he said that he liked the idea of having this special day to ourselves that only we shared it.