It was obvious who Theo was as the rest of them all knew the first time they laid eyes on him that he was a natural born leader. And then there was their comic relief, one she had to admit during all this crazy she was more than grateful for. And then there was her friend Ena, who was obviously as strong minded as she was smart, which only left her…the shy one. She didn’t really know yet what she brought to the group and she was getting paranoid that the others would soon be asking the same question.
“Rightybee my little supernatural new-born’s, now we get to the good stuff!” Pip said bringing them full circle and in front of the door they knew they really wanted to see behind. Even from the moment they first stepped foot inside Afterlife they had heard Pip talk about their bedrooms and now knowing Pip a little better, they had a feeling they wouldn’t be disappointed.
She had seemed to go out of her way to make the teens feel as at home as they possibly could given their circumstances and once she finally opened that door and saw each of their faces light up, she knew she had hit the ball out of the ballpark once again.
“Oh my,” Janie whispered putting her hand to her mouth as it had dropped open.
“It’s…it’s…” Ena tried to find the words but soon realised there weren’t any.
“Now that is a holy cheese on a cracker moment,” Zane said, easily finding the right words and Theo just whistled and said,
“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
“Balls!” Ivan shouted making all the teens look back at him in surprise.
“Not what I was expecting but okay, I will take it,” Pip said shrugging her shoulders.
“Basketballs!” Ivan shouted again pointing at the tallest wall that had nine basketball hoops all spread out, with one closest to the floor which was ideal for little Janie and the tallest one at least two storeys high.
After seeing this Ivan was lost and practically ran over to the wall, taking nothing else of the room in thanks to his tunnel vision for his obvious passion. He quickly started picking up balls from the big basket situated under the hoops and started shooting them through each like a pro.
“Okay, so we lost the big guy,” Zane said making Janie giggle.
“Wow, he’s really good,” Theo said and he couldn’t help but notice how happy Pip looked just watching Ivan getting lost in his own slice of heaven.
“Oh no! Oh no! Now that right there is a holy cheese on a cracker moment…no scrap that, and let’s just go with Holy Crap my pants Batman, but look at that beauty!” Zane said noticing what he would call his own heaven. Then he ran towards a flashing neon light that read ‘Theatre Open’, skilfully dodging anything else in his way.
“Now that is cool,” Ena said walking over towards the wall of shelves that housed the biggest collection of DVDs that she had ever seen, one that Zane was already scanning his way through.
“I didn’t even know they’d made that many movies,” Ena said turning back to Pip who was now looking at them with the same happiness Theo had seen when she had been watching Ivan. It quickly became apparent to Theo that even though he didn’t know if she was an Angel or Demon, there was no denying that there stood a soul who found great pleasure in giving to others.
Theo walked around the different seating areas that were a mixture of funky looking chairs, to where the others were stood. The ‘Theatre’ part of the room consisted of a row of six reclining seats that all looked like Lazyboys, with everything from speakers in the head rests, to cup holders and even USB ports. They all faced the large white projector screen that was yet to be filled with the colourful world of Hollywood.
Each seat even had its own quirky table for snacks next to it which were classic movie themed. There was a giant metal Alien from the movie, that held up a glass top and even a life sized R2D2 that did the same thing. There was also a giant hulk hand that smashed through the metal top, giving you places to put your drinks around the top of his green fist. A zombie dressed like a dead butler holding a bloody cloth over one arm whilst the other held a piece of red glass that looked to be overflowing with fake blood.
Then there was the tamer looking bucket with hearts that spilled over and climbed up over the glass, creating its own heart shape in doing so. They even had an Alice in Wonderland style one with a stack of tea pots and china tea sets all coming from the upturned Mad Hatter’s top hat. Theo had to wonder where someone would even buy furniture like this!
Even the walls were covered in framed classic movie posters and the far wall held every teen’s dream room accessory…a snack bar! This came complete with popcorn machine, glass jars filled with pick ‘n mix sweets, a fridge loaded with every type of soda you could think of and…
“A bowl of fruit?” Ena asked picking up a banana and showing it to Pip.
“I was told to add something healthy,” she said shrugging her shoulders and smirking at the small bowl that held no more than three pieces of fruit.
“Oh, this is so awesome!” Zane said finding yet another movie he wanted to watch and adding it to his growing pile, one he was struggling to hold steady.
“You know you live here now and those movies you can watch anytime.” Ena said trying to get it through to him but he just shook his head and leant in closer to her before saying,
“But what if this is all a trick and they take away this carrot for bad behaviour? No, I can’t risk it, I will just hide these away in my room just in case.” Hearing this Pip burst out laughing.
“Most of your teachers are demons, Dude…what type of bad behaviour do you think a demon would ever punish you for? Besides, they still have their hands full with me, so don’t sweat it, sweetie. No one will ever come into your space unless you ask them to, well other than the cleaner of course.”
“Uh…our what now? I’m sorry I think my ears might be playing tricks on me, did she say cleaner?” Zane said to Theo as both him and Ena took a step closer to Pip.
“Are you for real?” Ena said finding herself on the same page as Theo and Zane in the cleaning department and like them it probably had something to do with growing up in a children’s home.
“I told you, Supernatural lottery treacle tots, besides, you guys have more important things to do, like learn Mary Poppins style how to clean your rooms without even lifting a finger… Now that’s what I call…
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”
“You’re joking right, she’s joking she’s not joking.” Theo asked only adding this last part when a smirking Pip shook her head.
“I like be clean.” Ivan said, only now coming to join the rest of them after he had finished shooting hoops.
“That’s the spirit big kiddo, now why don’t you each go and check out your rooms, whilst I order some pizza, ‘cause I don’t know about you but I wanna make like a turtle.” Pip said and then parted with a little wave like the queen before disappearing out the door.
“I no understand.”
“Yeah, you and me both, big dude.” Zane said in reply to Ivan’s confusion, one that matched the rest of the group.
“Seriously guys, I mean can you believe this place?” Ena said turning back to the room and looking up at the second floor, which was a large mezzanine level. A very cool spiral staircase connected the two floors and thanks to its modern design, it looked as though each of the clear plastic steps was floating mid-air.
“It’s very cool.” Janie agreed quietly, whilst the others were clearly more vocal about it.
“Me like place like this, it be like playground,” Ivan said looking back to his obvious favourite part...the hoops.
“Then if you like that, you guys are gonna freak out when you see what I just found!” Theo said after taking a better look round. He had walked behind the staircase and found a whole other room and this one he had a feeling they were all going to enjoy equally.
“Holy Mother and her cleaning lady! This is freaking AWESOME!” Zane said as he joined Theo after skidding around the corner and holding onto the
banister to steady himself. The room opened out like some sort of ultimate mancave and the huge sign on the wall said ‘Choose your Weapon’. Of course, this was in reference to what filled the room and it was far from weaponry.
“Would you check out that set up, they must have every Xbox One and Ps4 game ever made. And look at those gaming chairs, you know what this means dude?” Zane said slapping Theo on the back.
“Plenty of time to rot your brains killing Zombies and then becoming one,” Ena said winking at Janie when she giggled.
“Well I was thinking more hours of gaming without a dead ass, but yeah, killing Zombies sounds like fun too.”
“Trust you to focus on that part,” Ena scoffed.
Other than the main gaming station, which dominated the room with its 98inch HD smart TV, the wall also held every popular gaming console since the early 90’s. Each of these were hooked up to their own smaller TV’s, complete with themed shelving surround housing the games for each. Expensive looking leather gaming chairs were positioned in front of them, along with a cool seating area behind. This was complete with a huge Pac Man seat that looked as though it was trying to swallow anyone who sat in it and a huge coffee table in the shape of a giant PlayStation controller with glass on top.
There were other popular games situated further in the room all on a high polished, oak wooden floor that had multi coloured arrows painted in different directions around the room. You had pool and foosball tables, dart boards, air hockey and table tennis and all were framed around the room with a mixture of old school and new video arcade games. These included some of the classics like Donkey Kong, Centipede and Ms. Pac-Man, mixed with the new stuff, which drew in the teens like moths to the flame.
Movie themed pinball machines like the Hobbit and Ironman were just begging to be played, that was until the teens saw the Star Wars battle pod, Aliens Armageddon shooting game and a Dance Revolution X, complete with neon flashing lights. Even the walls had retro entertainment stuck to them, with classic board games hung there by Velcro with the pieces hidden behind.
“Okay, so I know we all died and I can’t speak for you guys but I definitely did something right in life because I know I just woke up in heaven!” Zane said and Theo walked further in the room and said,
“No, no dude, we are all there right along with you.” And this was where the fun really began.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say…LET’S CHECK OUT OUR ROOMS!” Ena said shouting this last part and running for the staircase ahead of the others.
“Where we go all?” Ivan asked looking around as if there was something he couldn’t see. Janie looked back and smiled at her new friend, feeling protective and liking his naïve kind nature.
“We are all going to check our new rooms, should we go together?” she said nodding to where the others had run off to.
“I be liking that much very,” he told her, grateful that he had a friend who seemed to understand him better than anyone he had ever met before. She seemed to know just what he was thinking, even though he knew that his words came out all jumbled.
“Janie, I…” he was just about to tell her how he felt when he was cut short by an almighty scream that came from above.
“Ena!” Janie said but Ivan was already gone. Janie ran towards the staircase, zig zagging around the table top games until she was just in time to see something incredible. Ivan was looking up at the balcony one second and then disappearing the next. Janie ran the rest of the way to see that Ivan had suddenly leapt to the second level and was now hanging from the railings like an overweight Tarzan.
“What the…?” Janie heard from above before seeing the others all appear.
“Uh, dude, crazy question I know, but what are you doing?” Zane asked looking over the metal rail to find Ivan gripping on for dear life.
“What happened?” Theo shouted down to Janie who was looking up at them from below just as bewildered as they were.
“I don’t know, we heard Ena scream and then he was gone. I think he just leapt up there,” she told them and Ena popped her head over and said sheepishly,
“I was just excited at seeing my room…Oops, sorry Ivan,” she added when she saw Ivan still hanging there.
“Okay, so it’s all good, just a misunderstanding,” Theo said expecting Ivan to have moved by now.
“Uh…if it’s all good then what is the big guy still doing there?” Zane whispered to him and Theo shrugged his shoulders.
“Alright big guy, come on up,” Theo said trying to prompt him to move.
“I... cannot,” he forced out and Theo, Zane and Ena all exchanged confused looks before looking back down to Ivan when he said the last words they ever expected to hear from such a big guy…
“I scared of... height.”
15
Russian King Kong
“Come again?” Zane said after hearing that the big guy was scared of heights. He looked down at a terrified looking Ivan and then back again to Theo, who he was hoping had an idea to get their friend back over the railings.
“I no like…” Ivan tried to finish that sentence but one look down and he stumbled on his words, this time out of fear and not his lack of knowledge for the English language.
“Okay, okay, Ivan look at me,” Theo said taking charge and trying to get him focused on coming back up, not the possibility of falling down.
“Right, I need you to reach up and grab this top rail and then pull yourself up…Ivan?” Theo quickly noticed that one look at where Theo wanted him to put his hand and Ivan was too lost in the labyrinth of his fear to find his way out of it again.
“I…I…sorry,” he stammered shaking his head in little frantic movements telling the others that for the moment, he was going nowhere.
“What’s happening, why is he still hanging there?!” Janie shouted up obviously becoming increasingly more concerned as the seconds ticked by.
“He’s a bit…” Zane stopped for a second as he saw Ivan wince, obviously feeling ashamed for being so afraid, so he whispered behind his hand,
“Scared.”
After hearing this Janie was off on a mission, grabbing anything and everything she could find that was soft and would make a significantly better landing than the hard floor. She struggled one handed to grab cushions off chairs, but she managed to strip sofas so that only the bare frames were left. She even managed to pull all the bean bags from the sunken seating area and started piling them on top of one another. Zane didn’t say anything but he couldn’t help wonder what it was going to look like if Ivan was to fall and if there would be an explosion of tiny white polystyrene balls like he suspected there would be.
Well it certainly looked a sight down there, with everything from a Burger shaped bean bag to a whole Millennium Falcon one. There was even one that looked like a giant shark with its mouth open where you would sit. However, given what it was now being used for, it wasn’t the best image to instil confidence in someone dropping from above into its waiting mouth. It had to be said that Pip certainly had a unique sense of interior decorating, Zane thought with a hidden smirk.
Theo looked back down at Ivan and then back at the three of them, knowing without a doubt that there was no way they could pull him back up, even with their combined strength. Now, maybe if they had been here a while longer and had learned some of what they all hoped were some cool, kick ass powers they might have had a chance. However, in reality, it had been a day and the only thing they had learned so far was how not to get lost, thanks to Pip’s tour and for Theo, the added bonus on how to piss off a Death Dealer.
Now they were faced with one of their own in a sticky situation and for once, Theo didn’t have a clue how to help someone. So, when it was Zane who spoke up, he was both surprised and thankful…oh, and a little confused at that.
“King Kong!” Zane shouted making Ena frown and Theo raise an eyebrow.
“Just work with me here…Okay, listen up big man, you’re no longer Ivan.”
“I no Ivan?” he said in such a way that if he hadn’t been using his hands to grip on for dear life then he would have scratched his head in confusion.
“No, you’re not. You’re freaking King Kong man!” Zane said in such a way that if you were blind it would have been believable.
“What?!” Ena hissed.
“I said work with me here… I know what I’m doing.” Zane insisted, muttering this last part to himself. She was about to say more when Theo intervened and shook his head, telling her silently not to go there. Then they all watched as Zane worked his magic, something that shocked them all.
“Now close your eyes and listen to the sound of my voice.”
“But I…” Ivan started to say but was quickly cut off when Zane grabbed his hand that was quickly turning white from gripping onto the railing for ages. In fact, none of them quite knew how he had been holding on for so long as it was, not considering how heavy he must be.
“Look at me. You. Are. Not. Ivan.” Zane said forcefully, squeezing his hand and finally getting him to stop looking at the ground.
“I no Ivan?”
“No. You are not Ivan. And do you know how I know. Because Ivan didn’t just leap up here to save the girl without thinking,” Zane told him.
“I did not?” he asked obviously as confused as the rest of them.
“No, you didn’t. Ivan is afraid of heights but King Kong, now that is a hairy ass dude that isn’t scared of anything! And he was the one that just wanted to save the girl without thinking. Now that girl is still in trouble and needs your help,” Zane said sounding his most serious yet. It was astounding really, considering all the things he had faced since first stepping foot on that bus and it took seeing one of his new friends too terrified to move to get him to finally act like life wasn’t just some big joke.
“Girl needs your help!” he said through gritted teeth, rolling his hand in the air and trying to prompt a suitable response from Ena, who didn’t know it but was supposed to be playing the damsel in distress right now.
The Glass Dagger (Afterlife Chronicles Book 1) Page 13
