The Fifth

by K. D Rawlingson

  After her bizarre poem like words, she looked me straight in the eye and said

  “I do not think for one moment Sadie it is mere coincidence that I meet you last week, I believe it was fate.”

  I had no clue as to what Alice was harping on about, being reborn, mage's and what defeating a darkness. It sounded like a load of nonsense and with having no reply, other than to tell her she was batshit crazy I just ignored what she was said and tried turning the conversation back around to Thomas,

  “Surely there is a cure, something you can give him Alice that will make him better?”

  “The star should help with the darkness that has entered him but nothing can be done to save him. There’s just too much light in his heart. I’m so sorry.”

  "What the fuck are you talking about the star will help him? What darkness? You're crazy, do you even know what you're talking about?"

  "More than you will know. My coven is the oldest in Europe and we have been forewarned about your coming and this time of great darkness, for many years. As I said I do not think it is mere coincidence we have met. Sadie, the star I gave Thomas really is magic. It comes from the root of an elder tree, only a few still exist. It has the power to give light and shield the darkness."

  I stopped her talking, this was utter nonsense it was pissing me off. I’d asked for help, not this.

  “Thank-you for coming Alice, but it’s clear you are crazy, a magic star, covens, demons and mages. What are we in, some kind of fantasy novel. I called you here to help my boy, first you tell me that he has this virus and it will kill him, instead of telling me how I can beat this thing you start spouting on about magic, then you tell me you have given him a magic star that will help keep the darkness away, what the fuck are you playing at?”

  I was getting really fucking angry now. This crazy old lady was talking shit. I needed help for Thomas not tales of magic stars and darkness that was entering my boy,

  “I think maybe it's time you leave, if you can't help him, I will just take Thomas to the hospital.”

  “Wait Sadie, I know this is a lot to take in let me start at the beginning.”

  “The beginning of what?” I shouted, “You're talking fucking crazy. I have a sick child in there and you're talking about telling me a story. No, I think you need to leave.”

  I walked to the kitchen door to show her out. She didn’t argue or shout back just picked up her belonging, said goodbye to Thomas and followed me to the door, just as she was leaving she stopped short and said.

  “I bet you have never been sick a day in your life Sadie, ah, have you? And I bet the injuries you gain last week had healed by the time you had got home ah, am I correct?”

  She didn't give me time to answer just carried on.

  “I also bet you've been experiencing strange talents lately? like great strength or speed?”

  She left a great pause and as much as I didn't want to admit it she was scarily accurate on a few things but this wasn't about me, it was about Thomas. As if she had just read my thoughts Alice carried on talking.

  “I’m so sorry there isn't anything more I can do for Thomas. I would advise that you do not leave this house though as it is very dangerous. You will surely be taken and both of you will be killed if you are found, there are a lot of very nasty people out there now, the darkness is everywhere.”

  Knowing I wasn’t going to get any more help from crazy Alice, I thanked her for coming and asked how much I owed.

  “Nothing dear, just promise me two things.”

  She stood before the door in the way so I couldn't open it and waited for my reply, we stood like that almost nose to nose for a few moments locked in a battle of wills. Finally, I relented, the sooner I gave her my promise, the sooner I could get Thomas to a real doctor.

  “What are they?”

  I wasn't promising anything I didn't know I was promising to, I was a stickler for keeping them, that somehow breaking a promise would have some serious consequences. Even though I felt like I didn't owe anything to Alice, part of me still shifted to the fact that she had come out here. Even if, she had sported a load of crap and she had, she had still risked her life to look over Thomas Whether the star was magic or not (I was betting not) whatever power it held Thomas believed it worked and was looking better. With that though I relented almost all the way.

  “Ok, I will try with all my heart to keep your promises.”

  “I suppose that's the best I'm going to get?”

  I didn’t say anything and waited to hear what she wanted from me.

  “Sadie my first promise is that if, you are still alive you will contact me in 14 days and listen to what I have to say. I have left a number you can reach me on, on the table. Do I have your promise?”

  I didn't need long to think, I just needed her to leave so I could. It was a strange request but one I could promise to.

  “I do, I will call you in 14 days to the day.”

  “The second is that you will not leave this property, you will stay behind the gate and walls. It is very dangerous out there now and with each minute it gets worse.”

  I looked to Alice unable to keep it.

  “I'm sorry Alice, but you know I cannot keep that promise. I need to help Thomas and to do that I must leave.”

  “No Sadie, you mustn’t go to the hospital, they cannot help. I’m sorry but you will lose Thomas, he is infected. He looks to be a lovely boy filled with love and light in his heart but this thing inside him strikes at that very light, the more you hold in your heart the quicker it is, I’m so sorry. The star will help with the pain but Thomas will be gone within the next few hours at most. The best you can do for him is to be there and to not let the darkness take you afterwards, I do hope you’re strong enough.”

  I looked at her like she was crazy, she was fucking crazy, what was all this darkness bollocks about? Whatever it was, I had left Thomas long enough

  “Look, Alice, I will call you in a fortnight but that's the best I can do.”

  I went to reach over her, to open the door when I heard Thomas coughing again.

  “I need to go.”

  I left Alice at the door to show herself out and ran to Thomas. He was sitting up trying to control his coughing. I sat next to him and rubbed his back until it passed. I told him we were going to the hospital and needed to get ready when he suddenly broke down in tears.

  “Hey baby, what’s a matter? Hey calm down, it’s alright I’m here.”

  Thomas was sobbing so hard and he hardly ever cried.

  “Come on baby what's wrong?” I soothed.

  I went to pick him up, too carry him to the car and he started crying even harder so, I stopped knelt down next to him and lifted his chin. I tried not to let the worry reflect on my face, his eyes look all red, more than just the tears creating it

  “Hey, baby talk to me, what's the matter?”

  “I don't want to go to the hospital. Can't we just stay here mummy?”

  “Is that what’s making you so upset?” Thomas nodded

  “Mummy please just stay here you can't go outside he’s is looking for you. It’s dangerous, you are the Fifth.”

  “Who's looking for me darling.” I asked.

  Thomas didn't answer the question he just looked at me like I was insane. Like I should have known the answer.

  He then went back to rolling the star Alice had given him around in his hands.

  “I can hear him when I put this down.” He whispered after a while. I took the star from him to look at it when he screamed. What the fuck!

  “Hey, hey Thomas, what’s a matter baby?”

  But he didn’t answer me, he just carried on screaming.

  "Please, you are scaring me."

  I handed Thomas the star back and he stopped screaming immediately. This was beyond messed up. What the hell was going on? Why had me, taking the star made him scream? I was tempted to go back and get crazy Alice.

  “Talk to me Thomas, what just happened?” />
  “Alice was right mummy the star is magic! It makes me feel better and stops the voices.”

  I look at Thomas filled with fear and concern.

  “What voices?” I found myself asking.

  "The one that keeps telling me to look into the darkness."

  This was so strange but there was so much fear laced in his voice, was he hallucinating?

  "Baby you listen here there is no darkness here only light. Your safe with me ok darling." I got up and pulled back the curtains, I had shut earlier to help him sleep to reveal the end of the day. Enough light entered the room and brighten it.

  I was sure, he must have heard me and Alice talking

  “No mummy not outside, in my head.” He said.

  “If I don't look to the darkness, he will kill me mummy. I don't want to die.”

  “Shhh baby, nothing's happening to you, not while I'm here. We will take you to the hospital and everything will be ok.”

  At that Thomas stood up with only his pants on and started shouting "NO." He then slid down on his heels and started rocking backwards and forward muttering the same word over and over again. “Fifth. Fifth. Fifth.”

  I had no idea how Thomas had heard what Alice and I were talking about but it was clearly making him lose his mind over. I picked my boy up off the floor and sat him on my lap.

  “Hey little man, I’m not sure what you heard when I was talking with Alice in the kitchen but I want you to know that she is just a silly old lady telling stories, everything will be fine.”

  I rocked him gently in my lap until he calmed then laid him back on the sofa while I went to collect the blanket to wrap around him. I sat next to him watching his every move it was like he had fallen sleep one person and awoke totally different

  “How are you feeling little man.” I asked.

  “My head hurts but not as much as when I didn't have the star.”

  I looked at the star in his hand but dared not take it off him again in case of a repeat of the screaming.

  “Why are you the Fifth?” He suddenly said.

  I tried reassuring him, that what he’d heard in the kitchen with Alice was just silly talk and I was no such thing. That I didn’t even know what the Fifth even was. His response completely stunned me

  “The fifth is going to be the most powerful girl in the world and will battle monsters and bad guys and will kill them all.”

  “Oh well, then surely I must be this Fifth thing then.”

  I said giving him a little tickle under his ribs. He started laughing then all off a sudden he screamed, I could feel the pain in his voice

  “Not the dark. Not the dark.”

  He screamed it over and over. I tried to calm him, to let him know he wasn't in the dark. I told him to think of the sun, the biggest light in our universe, of the star that daddy's looks down at him from. The last of the day's rays were streaming in through the windows and I noticed the star in his hand almost glow as it touched the suns raze and strangely Thomas Calmed. This was all getting really fucking weird and I wanted to stop indulging in this nonsense and get Thomas to a hospital.

  I turned my attention back to him to ask if he was warm enough when he started coughing again, I patted his back.

  “That's its cough it all up, darling.”

  “Sick.” Was all he managed to get out.

  I had taken the vase out earlier and replaced it with a plastic bow under the table. I reach under it to give it to him and just in time too before he vomited straight into the bowl. I stroked his back and wiped his head and mouth with the flannel until he finally stopped.

  “Better?” I asked

  “Better. Mummy, will you come and lay with me a minute please?”

  “Of course, I will.”

  I picked Thomas up and pulled him next to me. I cuddled into him breathing in his sweet smell as we lay there I tried to tell myself that he was alright and when the fever passed he would be ok. I don't know why I hadn't just taken him to the hospital there and then. I should do but something stopped me. Thomas had never behaved like that before, he was the most reasonable, calm young man you could meet for a seven-year-old. If, he didn't want to do something he would put up a pretty good reason over for not wanting to do said thing. Like; the time he expressed his feeling of dislike to peas, his argument had been that if he was old enough to eat regular food and not baby food, that his taste buds were also old enough to know what they did and didn't like. And his did not like the taste of peas but they did like broccoli and carrots so maybe, he could have them instead.

  I smiled at the memory. What could I say to that, it was a fair argument indeed and I no longer made him eat peas.

  This was different, the way he had screamed, I couldn't help but think of the voice he said he could hear. Was the star really helping? What was this all about? How could a virus make you hear voices? I was so tired, I had so many screaming concerns; my first being what was I fucking doing? I needed to get him some proper help. With my mind made up, Thomas was just hallucinating. Yes, it was dangerous but I didn't care, Thomas was my main priority and fuck anybody who got in my way. I'd kill them all and I’d proven I could this morning. As I moved to get up, Thomas started shivering.

  “Hey, baby are you cold?”

  "Mummy, I'm freezing, can I have another blanket?”

  I reached over to the ottoman and opened it up to reveal a sack of blankets, I got two out and covered them over Thomas. He was still shivering, so I knelt back down beside him and rubbed my hands over his arms and legs trying to warm him back up. He had gone from hot, to cold in seconds. I couldn't understand it.

  “Ummm that's better.” He said, as he snuggled into the soft blanket.

  As Thomas looked up at me he opened his mouth to say something when his nose started bleeding, I jumped up and grabbed the flannel we had used earlier. I told him to sit up, put his head down, to hold the flannel and pinch his nose so we could stop the bleeding.

  With his head down, I helped pinch the bridge of his nose and waited a few minutes. When I asked Thomas to lift his head back up so I could see if the bleeding had stopped, he did and I saw that his eyes they were now bloodshot and not just red. When had that happened? They looked red earlier but not like this, it was almost as if the whole white part of his eyes had gone red in seconds. That was it, I had sat about too long

  “Thomas I’m just popping upstairs I won't be a second, keep holding your nose do not let go until I get back.”

  I took the stairs two at a time. I was going to get a bag and pack a few bits. I was taking Thomas to the hospital, I couldn't believe I had actually just sat there. Arrghh… I wanted to scream at myself. Why hadn't I just done that in the first place, listening to silly stories of darkness, Thomas needed a doctor, a proper doctor and I was going to make sure he saw one.

  I threw a few bits into the bag, ran back downstairs and into the kitchen I was going to need some kind of weapon in case anybody tried to stop us. I hadn't restocked my supply from earlier so now was the time. I grabbed my boots I had taken off and put them back on, Fuck Susanne's carpets. Fuck it all if anything happened to that boy because I was so damn stupid I don't know what I would do.

  I was running around like a mad-possessed woman. I took a big knife and placed it behind my back and put two smaller ones and place one in each boot this time. I was back with Thomas within about sixty seconds of leaving him, bag in hand ready.

  He looked up at me and I swear he saw the determination in my eyes as his shoulders slumped like he had lost some kind of war.

  "Hey, baby let's look at that nose." I pulled the flannel away but the bleeding still hadn't stopped so I got Thomas to reapply the cloth. He was still in his underwear, I needed to get him dressed but that was going to be hard with blood pouring out his nose. I started with his trousers when they were on I reached for Thomas’s shoes not worrying about socks I had brought down I just chucked him in the bag next to me. There was no way I was getting a t-shirt on him
every time he moved his hand blood would gush out of his nose so I decided it would be better to wrap his top half in a blanket I wasn't going to wait for it to stop I had wasted enough time. I picked Thomas up ready to carry him to the jeep and told Bert to stay here.

  “Please mum, please I don't want to go.” Was all I heard from him on the way to Susanne’s jeep but I didn't care he was going. It was my job to keep him safe, he needed medicine and a real doctor.

  I put Thomas in the front passenger seat and I jumped into the driver's side, as I put the key in the engine Thomas started coughing again only this time bloody spattered everywhere. I couldn't tell if it was coming from his nosebleed or if he had coughed it up. I left the key in the ignition and jumped back out the car, I raced round to the other side and opened the door. Thomas turned to me, tears were streaming down his cheeks, his face was covered in blood I used the blanket I had used to cover him up to wipe some of the blood off his face. Oh, my fucking god. What was I going to do? This was so bad, bad didn't even cover it, I couldn't panic but I didn't know what else to do. Why had I been so stupid I wanted to scream my lungs dry.

  After I had wiped his face I raced back around the jeep and started the engine. I had no time to waste. I got to the front gate, got out to key the code in but it wouldn't work. Wires had been pulled out and were sticking out the side

  “Arrghh!” I shouted in frustration. I had to manually open the fucking gate as the intercom box was broken. Alice must have done it before she left, stupid fucking bitch.

  I had just got to middle of the gates when something told me to look back at Thomas, I noticed he had removed the blanket and was getting out the jeep

  “Hey, hey Thomas what are you doing you need to get back in the car.”

  “Mum I don't feel...” was all I heard before he collapsed on the ground. I hadn't got to him in time and had to scope him off the ground, his fever was back, he felt so hot in my arms. His face looked so pale, even with the fever there was no colour in him at all, his skin looked grey. His red eyes they were just starring right through me.

  “Oh, Thomas baby can you hear me?”