Once Susanne finally realised that it really had been Ryan's idea and that we truly loved each other she actually started saying hello and being friendlier, but it wasn't until at Thomas`s third birthday party that's things really changed. Susanne had to be rushed to the hospital after falling down the stairs at the hall where the party was being held. She had broken her leg. No surprise there really in the shoes she was wearing. I don't think I'll ever get that picture out my head of Susanne sprawled at the bottom of the stairs in her white gloves and pearls, her pale blue two-piece dress and white shoes with heels the size of Everest, hair pinned up so tight it looked it was giving her a facelift. There was green and black icing all over her face, hands, and legs. Susanne's perfect pristine image ruined, she must have slipped on a dinosaur cupcake one of the children had dropped. She was taken to the hospital and had to have her leg reset and put in a cast. Of course, Ryan's father Eric was away on a business trips so that left me, Ryan and Thomas to look after her for the next 6 weeks. Susanne had argued that she could get a nurse in but Ryan wasn't having any of it. It was his mum after all and I think he thought it would help to bring us closer. Thomas and I moved into Susanne`s house to help out. Ryan had to stay home due to work but was over his mums every weekend and whenever he was at home early enough. Things changed between me and Susanne after that she wasn't as frosty or mean. I began realising She liked to show affection with gifts and money which she'd done on a number of times but when she actually gave me a kiss and cuddle when I'd left telling me she would arrange a lunch soon I knew somewhere I was beginning to become accepted. Don't get me wrong things weren't perfect she could still throw a dig here and there if my hair was just scraped back or I had no make-up on. Which let's face it was always, but the more I got to know Susanne the more I understood that was just her way of fussing.
I picked a bottle of wine in the mid-price range hopefully good enough I wouldn't be having any snide remarks.
After grabbing the wine, I had to pop into work for a few hours and send a load of invoices or my boss would be on my arse about the shortage of funds coming in. I hated my boss Barry, he wasn't the boss of the whole company I had worked at for the last five years but he was the boss of the finance department I worked in. He is a lazy man who sits in his chair all day barking out orders as if he was king of a country and we his servants somehow, he's always sweating as if he's just done a 15k run even though I'm pretty sure he hadn't ran for anything in his whole life. He has these tiny beady little eyes that feel like they're watching you, above all, he is an arrogant, sleazy fuck that thinks he is right about everything even when he's been proven wrong and thinks he's god's gift to women which he isn't. Barry has a habit of throwing laude comments around, about how well-endowed he is or something along those lines. I had slapped him a few years back at the Christmas party for grabbing my arse, I would have liked to think he would think twice about doing it again but a week later when we returned to work he was still the same old Barry, he trapped me in the copy room or closet room it is so small, taking up the whole door way and tried to stroke my arm telling me that he was so lucky to have me and that if I ever needed anything at all, I only needed to ask. Sounds nice right...... no, what he was hinting at with his winking and stroking was if I ever wanted to jump in the sack with him he was more than willing. Urghhh. Shaking that nasty memory away I walked into the office prepaid to get all the invoices done today as quickly as possible and get out of there to make Thomas's play at 1.30pm As I walked in Barry strolled up to me.
“Nice to see your pretty face today Sadie, yep cock definitely agrees with me.” He grabbed what I could only guess was his tine tiny todge.
“Fuck off Barry I'm not in the mood to deal with you or your tiny tackle today go bother one of the other girls”.
I went to stomp past him and as I did he tried to slap my arse telling me to “lighten up” and that maybe I needed to see how big his cock actually was and what he could do with it, that maybe afterward I wouldn't be such an uptight cow. What the fuck!
Now Barry could be laude and crass but even for him, that was distasteful. I don't know what came over me I swear I only meant to shove him out the way but what actually happened was I picked him up and threw him across the room and through the plaster wall dividing our side of the office with sales. I must have done it with such a force! How the hell had I just done that? I put my head down and ran into my office, I didn't stop to help Barry. It’s not like he didn't deserve it, grabbing my laptop off the desk and the folders I needed to get all the invoicing done, I left there as quickly as possible. I didn't know what had just happened and I certainly couldn't explain to anyone else how I had just done what I had. Barry was at least 14 stone, now don't get me wrong I was a strong girl for my 5.5ft petit frame but just picking up 14 stone of dead weight and throwing it across a room with enough force to go through a wall even if it was a thin crappy plaster one, hell knows how I had done that. Walking as fast as humanly possible without actually jogging or running I made it back to my car without anyone stopping me. What was happening today? Beeping the alarm off I got in the car and was trying to take a few deep breaths. I was so getting the sack. My phone rang, pulling it out of my pocket I expected it to be Barry pissed as hell at what I'd done. I had scurried out of the office so quick hoping that in all the confusion no one would see me leave, I had seen Barry getting up red-faced but surrounded by staff all pandering to him so I knew he was ok and wasn't seriously hurt.
I looked at the screen on my phone and was surprised to see it was Sol calling me, I hadn't spoken to him for a few weeks and was so pleased to hear from him with everything that was going on in Japan I was going to try calling him in a bit anyway, he must have been feeling the same.
“Hey, what’s up bro?”
"Nothing much Sadie bell, just checking in. I suppose you've heard what's going on over in Japan sis it's fucking crazy I had a flight to go to Tokyo with the boss tomorrow but obviously, it's been cancelled. To be honest sis I don't even know if there is still a Tokyo."
“I know Sol, I saw it on the news this morning I can't believe it, where are you now?”
“I'm at home in bed”
“Alright for some”
"It is half 5 in the morning here I am allowed to sleep you no."
“Err well you’re not sleeping!”
“Oh, shut it Sadie bell lucky for you the boss just called giving me a few days off as we can't go to Tokyo now, so I thought I'd check in with my little sister.”
"What check in as in coming to England for a proper visit or a phone check-in?"
"proper check-in, I've got to pop into the office and drop off some paperwork. Then I was gonna look into flights see what they have… that's if your have me for a few days of course?
After screaming and hollering at my excitement I calmed down, I went on to tell him how I had been up late the night before sorting Thomas`s costume and how cute he was going to look in it. We spoke about a few other mundane bits and pieces and I ended the call with a promise to video Thomas`s play and send it to him for him to watch on the plane. He hated not being there to see his nephew grow up so I made as many videos as I could and sent them to him at the end of each month. I didn't say anything about Barry. What could I say “hey check this out bro, I just pick up my fat sleazy boss, chucked him across a room and through a wall.” Yeah, I wouldn't sound nuts at all. What a day this was turning out to be. Fuck it! I would deal with the Barry situation Monday. I still had the invoicing to get done, Thomas`s play to watch and Susanne and Eric to deal with and now my big brother was coming to see me. I popped in an old school Garage cd and pumped up the volume. A little bit of garage always made me feel better and I soon forgot about Barry.
Singing away to Call it fate of all things, I pulled up at the house grabbed all the folders and the laptop and let myself in the door. I greeted an overexcited Bert and before I could set to work I quickly took him for a quick run in the field, if I didn't he
would only be on my case until I did and with the day I had ahead I might not get another chance. Just before one o'clock I turned off the laptop having completed all the invoicing and prepping some other bits of work ready for next week and changed from my slippers to shoes. I gave the dog a few guilt treats as I was leaving him again and left to meet Ryan so we could watch Thomas`s play together.
I got into the car and put the key in the ignition when the ground began to shake...
Chapter 2:
My hands gripped the steering wheel as I starred out the window. The shaking was quite intense but Time seemed to have slowed down, it was like I was watching a slow-moving movie and my car window was the television screen. The house across from me slowly glided from side to side and the houses on each side of it slid into the same formation almost like an elegant dance, not the crazy shaking it felt like. Dust and light debris floated to the ground, I had a brief thought about how everybody was and how bad this was going to get when the shaking stopped. It felt like it lasted was about 10 minutes even though the clock hadn’t turned from the numbers it read as I had got in so must have been no longer than about 30 seconds.
I took a deep breath, had a look around and saw no real damage. This must have been some kind of shock wave from what was going on in Japan and China, Thomas's play popped into my head I needed to get going. I started the car and the song I’d been listening to earlier pumped out the speakers, I turned it off as my nerves were now too on edge and I needed a bit of silence.
As I pulled up at the school the clock read 1:15 pm, I was a bit early to meet Ryan at the gate as arranged time of 1:30 pm so, thought I'd walk over to him at work, there looked to be a crowd gathering across the road, about 15 people were standing side by side at the back of the community centre that was being built across from the school.
The community centre was Ryan’s project and where he was working, the construction firm he ran Make change together was building a place for the community. It was going to hold all sorts of clubs; from the different age group of scouts and guides to; a knitting club the old ladies held on Thursday. It had space for birthday and Christmas parties, fun days and it was going to be opened up to the school when they needed it. The biggest project was to be a big garden with a hedged maze that both kids and adults could use on weekends, holidays and such. Ryan and the team had put in mini fire pits right at the back of the field for a bit for camping (small groups of scouts that kind of thing), and last had built a playground all leading up to a party room.
Ryan had organized all of it, well ok most of it. Maybe I was a bit bias considering it was his idea and he'd helped in both the planning and building. Of course, the community had got involved also but it had become a second child to him, he was involved with every detail, I was so proud. He had started a fund a few years back as the village had very little, he held fundraising events, appealed to the local council for help and of course because of his last name McNeil he got some of his parent's friends to give some pretty hefty donations.
Ryan was like that he hated the money side of his family and had always earnt his own share in life but he was not silly and using a few connections here and there in the right way, plus a lot of hard work was how he managed to fund the project.
Ryan had said last week that they were close to finishing, that he and a few other local builders had to plaster the party room, once that had been completed and the fence at the end of the field painted it was only decorating to go. Ryan had said they were on target for the opening as planned on the first day of the six weeks school holiday. Ryan loved our community he wanted Thomas to have a nice place to grow up. Ryan knew, what felt like everyone, he often went to coffee mornings, played in the pub darts team, football on Sunday with the dads and sons, went to the local cricket club when it was quiz night, was at church fundraisers to help. That was one of the things I love about him. He was so kind-hearted he would give his last pound in his world if it could help someone else, but it was also one of the things that caused tension in our relationship. Ryan is so outgoing, so fun loving and a people person, I am two steps away from classing myself as a hermit.
As I walked across the road to see what was going on I scanned the crowd, he was probably there we still had fifteen minutes before Thomas`s play. I thought that maybe a tree or something had come down in the earthquake and if that was the case Ryan would be helping any way he could, as I got closer I could see one of Thomas`s friends mum crying. I didn't know her name ...I had a feeling Maybe it was Karen or something? I am not like Ryan I do not do the mummy thing at school and get there earlier then I need to be so I can chat and gossip. I'm there dead on time so I can give Thomas a kiss and wave goodbye as the doors to the school opens, I'm never at the coffee mornings or the local church. I have a mouth like a sewer and am utter rubbish at small talk. I cross the road to avoid talking and being social not that I'm mean it's just I've got no patience for gossip and the likes of and one of the drawbacks of living in a small village is that's pretty much all anyone wants to do. Instead of chatting at the school, in the cafe on coffee mornings or whatever it is those mums do. I would much prefer curling up with a coffee and a nice book, sometimes I wonder what Ryan sees in me we are so different we are like fire and ice or day and night. But then maybe that's why we work. “I am the night you are my light” I’d often say to him when we were alone.
I got closer to the crowd but happen to steer away from Karen, I hated it when people cry, I never know what to say to them. I would see what was happening on the other side “Well what the fuck!” I saw what everybody was crowding about, a massive sinkhole had opened up at the back of the community centre all the fencing was gone and all that was left was a hole that looked like it was deep enough to reach the middle of the earth. It was about 20foot-wide. There was a man beside the hole covered in dirt, he looked as if he had been crying too as pale streak lined his face. I had seen that face somewhere but couldn't think of where? Being that is was a small place it could have been anywhere.
What the hell had happened here? It was obviously more than just a hole appearing that's for sure. I must have been staring at the man because as he looked up, our eyes meet and he turned as white as a ghost, even under all that dirt I could see his colour change. Why was seeing me, making him look like that?
Feeling increasingly agitated I scanned the crowd for Ryan. Where was he? I couldn't find him anywhere. I ducked through the people trying to find him. About 40 people had gathered now most looked like the mums and dads ready for the school play. I couldn’t put my finger on it but suddenly something heavy settled in my stomach, I turned around to check the school gate across the road to see if Ryan was there and I bumped straight into the man who had turned white. “Sadie McNeil is that you?”
"Yes, it's me can I help you? Are you ok? You look very pale." Ignoring my questions, the pale man touched my shoulder "I'm Pete, I have been working with Ryan on the community project, Mrs. McNeil please could I speak with you a moment"
Ahh! So, that's where I'd seen him before, I remembered now, it was at the pub a few months back, he had walked in with his wife and Ryan had introduced us, we hadn't stayed long after that as we had a table booked at my favourite restaurant Itallia in Ashbane and I wanted to get there on time. I walked with Pete over to a quiet spot away from the crowd and in the distance, I could hear sirens. "Mrs. McNeil, Sadie I'm so, so, sorry to tell you this but Ryan is gone……. He's dead."
“DEAD! Gone! what do u mean no he's not he meant to be meeting me for Thomas’s play.” I blurted out.
Was this man for real? I was about to leave not prepared to listen to any more nonsense but Pete was standing in my way "Sadie I'm so sorry. It's all my fault I was painting the fence when Ryan came over, he said he was meeting you in a bit at the school to watch Thomas`s play and would be back in an hour or so, we got chatting about how well the centre was looking when my phone rang, Ryan told me to grab it and took the paint gun I was using. As I got t
o the phone the earthquake started, suddenly there was dust everywhere and I couldn't see a thing. It smelt so bad I thought I was going to be sick then it cleared like there wasn't even any dust, to begin with and the smell just went, strangest thing I've ever seen, it was like it just vanished and, in its place, was this hole and R Ry Ryan was gone, just gone nowhere to be seen he must have fallen straight through it."
I didn't hear any more of what Pete was saying all I could see was him crying. A loud buzzing noise started in my ears, I couldn't think straight, all of my life with Ryan was flashing through my head as I push past people and ran to the side of the sinkhole. Ryan's sandy blond hair, his beautiful brown eyes that always looked like he was smiling through them, his laugh, that was so infectious it made you laugh yourself even if you hadn`t heard the joke. This morning in the shower, him the other day running around with Thomas on his shoulders, oh my god Thomas what was I going to tell him.
I look down the massive hole to see if there was any sign of him. He might be trapped on the side or hurt or something but as I peered over I could clearly see that nothing could survive in that, the hole looked to be hundreds of metres deep as if there was no bottom to it just darkness, the sides were pretty smooth, it looked as if a missive hole had just been drilled out and everything inside of it had fallen straight to the centre of the earth.
The Fifth: Darkness series Page 3
