by Lady Lilium
He closed the mobile, slipping it back into his pocket and becoming still.
It was several hours later when it began to get dark, and Reuben had still not returned. Lucas sat there growing bored, sitting in complete silence. He began to get worried.
About another hour or so later the phone rang, catching Lucas by surprise. Its call was loud and persistent breaking the silence.
Lucas heaved himself up. He slouched his way over towards the phone, holding his side and moving gingerly. Lucas wondered who would call at this time.
He stopped before it, and picked up the phone.
‘Hello?’
‘Is this Lucas?’ a female voice said quickly.
‘Yes?’
‘I'm a district nurse from Golden Heart Hospital, your brothers been hit by a car.’
Reuben spent many minutes scanning the whole town, walking in random directions and feeling hopeless. Things had begun to wind down now, and even the crowd in the town centre had begun to break itself up. He wandered now through one of the parks on the edges of the town, thinking he would never find her. But by a phenomenal piece of luck, he actually did. Leaning against a wall she was throwing chunks of bread at the ducks in the pond before her.
There were no streetlights here, though the road next to the pond was still fairly busy. The sun was beginning to dip, and the park was growing dark. By the time Reuben reached her, she had already seen him.
‘I can’t believe I actually found you.’
‘I can’t believe you were stupid enough to try’ she retorted.
Rhian threw the last piece of bread and turned on her heel, storming away.
‘Hey wait where are you going?’ Reuben called after her.
She didn’t answer but continued to walk, her pace quickened.
‘Wait!’
Reuben ran to catch up.
‘Leave me alone!’
‘Hey don’t be like that, I just want to talk to you.’
‘Talk to this,’ she said, pausing only briefly and giving him the finger.
Reuben hesitated. ‘Well there’s no need for that.’
He ran to catch up with her again.
‘Why are you being like this’ Reuben demanded, ‘I just want to talk?’
‘Yeah well I don’t.’
Growing increasingly more irritated; he struggled to keep up with her now, almost jogging.
‘Listen, I understand if you’re upset and confused, it’s not an easy thing.’
She stopped, swinging her head towards him in a sarcastic gesture.
‘Oh and I'm sure you know everything.’
She continued her marching pace.
‘Ok, you're annoyed, I get that. You don’t have to talk just listen ok, we guardians should stick together.’
‘Guardians’ she laughed tutting. ‘I'm perfectly fine on my own, and don’t use that word.’
‘You're lonely? That’s ok you can stick with us, my brother is a guardian as well, like I said our kind should stick together.’
Rhian stopped again, confronting him.
‘Stop talking like I'm a different species’ she shouted.
‘You know I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘I don’t need anybody.’ She made to walk away.
‘Everybody needs someone.’
She spun around again, fuming and puffing her chest out, fists balled.
‘Look stop talking like you know who I am! I don’t need you, I don’t need anyone else and I certainly don’t need these worthless powers! You think it’s so great being a guardian…then do it on your own!’
She shoved him back as hard as she could.
The car running along the road had no time to stop, and Reuben has not time to protect himself.
The vehicle steamed right into him, screeching its wheels to a halt.
Sterilized to a sickening degree, the hospital smelt of disinfectant and emptiness. Its hallways and floor were white and bland with bored-looking nurses at the desk.
Lucas made his enquiries to a lady sitting at her computer; she was pleasant but stiff in her words, pointing him in the right direction. Lucas took the lift.
It was painfully slow.
Lucas tried his best to compose himself as he moved through the building of sickness, keeping his head straight and not looking either side of him. He heard snoring, crying, moaning.
He was made to wash his hands before entering the next room, the push-device on the wall extracted a tiny squirt of some strange soap that required no water. He was reluctant to touch it, though did so anyway.
The room Reuben was in was large, with four beds on one side, and four on the other. Many were occupied, most of which were elderly. Lucas felt apprehensive as he approached Reuben, who lifted his head as he came closer. A few of the other people around had visitors also. Lucas glanced at the bland design of a clock on the wall.
08.15 PM
‘Visiting hours end at half-past’ Lucas told him. ‘I've only got fifteen minutes.’
‘I'm just glad you came’ Reuben smiled.
Reuben was sitting up in his bed, pillows stuffed behind him to prop him up.
He looked in bad shape.
He had bruising on one side of his face, under his eye and on his cheek, and all over his left shoulder. His left arm was in a cast up past his elbow, and he had heavy bandages around his head.
‘Don’t be stupid’ Lucas replied, ‘of course I came.’
‘I mean, during visiting hours, they wouldn’t let you in otherwise.’
‘Do you think I’d let a bunch of pansy nurses and doctors stop me from seeing my brother?’
Reuben smiled gratefully at him. He could always count on his brother. Lucas had always been there for him, no matter what.
Lucas sat on the edge of the bed, watching his brother closely. ‘How do you feel?’
‘Bloody awful.’
Reuben pushed himself higher up on the bed.
‘They think I broke a rib, and my wrist is broken, but I don’t know why they cast it all the way up to where it is.’ He touched his cheek tenderly, then his bandaged head. ‘And I've got a concussion; they’ve given me some drugs that made me throw up. And they said I was lucky not to break my leg too.’
‘What happened?’ Lucas asked.
‘That girl pushed me into the road.’
Lucas diverted his attention. ‘This bed isn’t very comfortable is it?’
‘What are you going to do?’ Reuben asked.
‘I'm going to find her, tonight.’
Reuben didn’t ask why.
‘Here’ Lucas said taking something out of his pocket. ‘I got you this.’
He handed Reuben a partially squashed, stone-cold pasty.
‘Thanks….what is it?’
‘It’s called a Tin-Miners. It’s like a normal pasty but it’s got desert on one end, its apple. Miners apparently used to take it down when they worked. It’s like a whole meal in one, meat at one end, and desert on the other, or at least that’s what the picture in the shop told me.’
‘What did you get for yourself?’
‘Nothing’ Lucas shrugged.
‘But you’ve hardly eaten today’ Reuben protested.
‘And you haven’t eaten anything at all’ Lucas replied.
Reuben nodded. ‘Thanks for bringing me this. I’d offer you something from here, but all the food just takes like air…sorry.’
‘Don’t worry, I'd rather go hungry than eat from this place.’ Lucas sighed. ‘Do you know when you’ll be out?’
‘Hopefully tomorrow, the doctor said if the tingling in my fingers stops I can leave. It was only a minor break.’
‘Great.’
‘Can you open this for me?’
Lucas took the pasty and tore the packet open, handing it back to him.
‘I told Drake’ Lucas said as Reuben began to eat. ‘He said he’ll be here tomorrow.’
‘Great, does anybody else know?’
‘No.
’
‘Good’ Reuben sighed with relief. ‘I’d hate to have to explain myself.’
‘Well good luck explaining why you have a cast on Monday morning.’
Reuben fell silent as a feeling of dread slowly descended upon him.
‘You’ll be fine’ Lucas reassured, ‘don’t worry about it.’
‘Did you bring me something to read?’
‘Sorry I forgot.’
‘That’s ok,’ Reuben shrugged. ‘It’s just that it’s terribly boring in here.’
‘I’ll be back tomorrow.’
There was the sudden sound of a mobile buzzing.
‘That must be Drake’ Lucas said rising from the bed, ‘I’ll tell him you're ok.’
Lucas flipped the mobile open and quickly began to text.
‘You’d better go now’ Reuben said. ‘Visiting hours are almost over and the nurses get really ratty if you hang around, and I don’t want to making a scene.’
Lucas hit the ‘send’ button and snapped the phone shut again.
‘Fine’ he said smiling confidently at his brother. ‘I’ll be back again tomorrow, what time am I allowed to visit?’
‘Two till five in the afternoon, then after that six thirty till eight thirty.’
‘I’ll see you then’ Lucas clicked his fingers at him. ‘I'm going to sell the TV tomorrow morning for some cash. You get some sleep.’
‘See you tomorrow.’
Lucas fought the urge to turn and look back as he walked away, aching in his heart at the hurt of his brother, and the thought of having to leave him here. He realised how Reuben must have felt when he himself had been injured earlier that day. And the guilt.
I shouldn’t have asked him to go.
Once home, Lucas spent the remainder of that night drinking whisky until he fell asleep, waking several hours later in the early hours of the morning, he decided to begin searching for Rhian. However, she could not be found.
He returned home and fell asleep again on the sofa, waking this time when Drake rang at one o’clock in the afternoon.
Chapter Four
First Meeting
Sunday
After a brief phone call with Lucas, Drake met him shortly after in his home.
‘Did you tell Sian what happened?’ Drake asked him, as he sat opposite Lucas on the sofa in the apartment.
‘Yeah’ he grumbled. ‘I told her I can’t see her today because of it. I told her that I can’t leave Reuben on his own.’
‘Really?’ Drake replied. ‘You're not going?’
‘No.’
Drake looked away. ‘And she was ok with that?’
‘Yes.’
‘It would be nice to have some company on the train’ Drake lamented.
‘Sorry’ Lucas mumbled, ‘but…’ he turned away.
‘I know’ Drake nodded, ‘he’s your brother. I understand.’
‘So when are you leaving?’
‘Later today’ Drake replied. ‘I want to see Reuben before I go.’
Lucas smiled at that.
‘Visiting hours are at two o’clock.’
‘That’s great’ Drake beamed happily. ‘We could go together.’
‘Sure’ Lucas nodded. ‘But before we go, could you help me with something?’
‘What is it?’
‘I need to get rid of the TV’ Lucas said, looking over at it.
‘Get rid of it?’ Drake hesitated. But he did not press. ‘Sure’ he finished. ‘Let’s do it now.’
They lifted the TV from its place. Lucas grimaced as they did so, gritting his teeth
‘Are you alright?’ Drake asked with concern. ‘What's happened?’
Lucas paused, still holding one end of the TV.
‘I was’ he began. He sighed then, smiling at Drake weakly. ‘I was attacked by an aberrant’ he finished. ‘I…was cut deeply. But I managed to survive. I will be fine now.’
Drake dipped his head.
‘Let’s go’ he said. ‘The sooner we get rid of this…’
They carried the TV down the stairs, out of the building and through the streets. Lucas tried his best to hide his pain, although the injury still hurt, it felt better than it did the day before.
He found himself wondered for a moment, if he would ever see the aberrant guardian again. Who was he? And where was he now?
Lucas kept his thoughts silent as he walked with Drake, carrying the TV between them. They sold the TV and Lucas took the money, feeling a little more at ease.
‘At least we can eat now’ Lucas mumbled under his breath, counting the amount before pocketing it. He turned to Drake then, grinning at him. ‘Come on, let’s go see Reuben. It’s nearly two o’clock; he wouldn’t want us to be late.’
They stopped off on the way to grab a take-away in the form of a giant pizza. They reached the hospital just in time. Two o’clock exactly. Visiting hours had just started, and Reuben was wide awake and eager to see them.
There were two creatures on the outskirts of the town at this time, beastly things of the type that no ordinary person has ever seen before.
One resembled a dog, though was the size of a giant horse. Its light brown coat was coarse and brush-like, and it bore a tail that arched over its back. Moving on very long legs, the creature’s fox-like ears were constantly twitching and it glared around with narrow pupil-less white eyes. It paused, digging in the dirt and sniffing around. It had found something, and began to dig with long slender fingers on reptilian like claws.
Its companion cackled excitedly, running up beside.
The second creature was very different and much smaller than the first. It walked in a hunched position, its spine always curved. Beside its companion it sniffed the ground with a button nose. But it was far from cute. Deformed and freakish it looked, with red eyes which were pupil-less like its companion. It grinned cruelly with an unseen mouth that was tucked much further below its round head than any normal creature. It had massive rabbit like ears that flopped downwards, brushing the ground when it walked. And its body was jet black, with fur fine and short. Like its companion it began to dig at the earth with deformed feet, its fingers were splayed as if they were broken and twisted at odd angles as it dug.
These creatures were called Li and Kreas.
Kreas crawled forwards across the terrain on his deformed feet. His movements smooth and calculated as he slunk close to the ground, the sun shining off his glossy black coat. Li followed after him, walking gracefully.
Kreas stopped suddenly, sniffing the ground vigorously and laughing like a hyena. Kreas suddenly became still. He extended a single claw with all the gentleness one would think such a creature would lack.
He lifted his hand, draped over the claw, was a single long white hair.
Lucas and Drake stayed with Reuben for three hours until they were asked to leave at five, Lucas promising to return at six-thirty later that day. The doctors were apparently still not yet happy about releasing him because the tingling in his fingers had not stopped, and they wanted to keep an eye on him. But tomorrow, tomorrow Reuben said that he would leave, whether the doctors allowed it or not.
Lucas and Drake trailed out of the hospital, the automatic doors closed behind them, as Lucas turned to Drake to speak.
‘Where are you going now?’
‘I’m going to meet Lauralie’ Drake replied.
‘I thought you were going to see your girlfriend.’
‘I am’ Drake winked, ‘but I'm going to see Lauralie first. I've got a little surprise for her’ he said, nudging Lucas’ arm.
‘Is she going to like this surprise?’ Lucas asked dubiously.
‘She will….’ Drake replied nonchalantly. ‘Perhaps not at first.’
‘Right’ Lucas mumbled slowly. ‘Listen Drake, I’ll see you around ok? I should be going.’
‘I’ll see you around’ Drake oozed smugly. ‘See you Monday.’
‘See you tomorrow. And…don’t do anything stupid.’
�
�I won’t, and don’t worry about Reuben’ Drake waved at him. ‘He’ll be fine.’
Drake clapped his hands suddenly, rubbing them together vigorously and smiling with mischief.
‘This is going to be fun. Oh I can’t wait to see the look on her face.’
Lucas nodded as Drake strode away. Lucas turned, heading in the opposite direction he wandered down the street.
There was nothing for him to do, and he felt bored and lost without Reuben by his side. He decided to wander the town, with lack of anything else to do. It was Sunday today, and the streets were mostly quiet. He wandered for many minutes, not wanting to go home. He went where his feet took him, never slowing down. He walked on.
Lauralie’s face lit up the moment she saw Drake. She jumped off the wall of the fountain and ran over to him.
‘Drake! It’s great to see you, what took you so long?’
She was looking as beautiful as ever today, wearing high moss coloured boots, a black skirt and a red and green patterned top that clung to her gorgeous figure.
‘You look nice today’ Drake commented. ‘Are you dressing up for someone?’
‘What?’ Lauralie laughed, raising an eyebrow at him in amusement. ‘What are you talking about? These are my regular clothes. Are you hitting on me? Anyway you didn’t answer my question. What took you so long?’
‘Sorry, it was um….traffic.’
‘But you walked’ she said cocking her head slyly. ‘Are you teasing me?’
Drake grinned wordlessly, taking her by the arm and walking with her.
‘What's gotten into you?’ she asked suspiciously. ‘You're up to something.’
‘Just walk with me’ he answered. ‘There are two people I want you to meet; and who very much want to meet you.’
‘What? Lauralie frowned. ‘Who? What are you up to Drake?’
He led her to another place not too far away, walking slowly through the streets. Around them people wandered back and forth as they drifted from one shop to the next, sitting on the benches outside or drinking at the coffee shops.
