Metal by Thomas Hall

Author:Thomas Hall [Hall, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Teajam Publishing
Published: 2017-10-02T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

RICHARD SPENT MOST OF THE DAY HIDING FROM them. His parents were more welcoming and provided a place for them to sleep.

He tried for almost an hour, but then accepted that sleep would not come, and gave up trying.

The house was quiet and he suspected that no one else was having the same troubles. He went to the kitchen and found Richard’s parents there drinking coffee.

He stopped at the door. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think anyone else was awake.”

“Oh we don’t sleep during the day,” the old woman said. “And no need to apologise. It’s nice to meet some of Richard’s friends.”

Brett grimaced. “I wouldn’t exactly call us friends,” he said.

“No? Well, whatever you are. Do you want something to drink? Kettle’s boiled.”

“Coffee would be good,” he said.

“Take a seat then, I’ll bring it over.” She turned to her husband. “Move over Frank, make some space for the young man.”

The old man, Frank, looked at Brett with an expression he had seen on Richard’s face all too often. “Maybe I should go,” Brett said.

The chair closest to him shot out and the old man looked at him. “Sit,” he said.

Brett did.

“You’re from the tunnels?” the old woman said.

“That’s right,” Brett said. He didn’t want to talk about himself. Talking about himself led people to ask him questions and the last thing he wanted to do was answer those. So, he changed the subject to something he was sure most mothers were happy to talk about; their children. “Is Richard an only child?”

The old woman froze halfway between the counter and the table. Frank glared at Brett but didn’t say anything.

“He had a sister,” she said. “She died.”

“I’m sorry,” Brett said. He wished he could change the subject again, but his mind had gone blank.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Frank said. “You didn’t kill her.”

“It was before we had the device,” she said.

“Mary, you don’t have to...” Frank said.

“I’m fine,” she said and Brett could tell that she was. The woman was strong, but he supposed most people were now. She turned back to Brett. “Ellen was a quiet girl, always in a world of her own. We used to joke that she hadn’t even realised that the Machines had turned against us. What was that place she made up Frank?”

“Eyersome?” he said.

“That’s right,” Mary said. “ Eyersome. She spent half her life talking to animals that didn’t exist and pretending she was a princess. She was twenty years old when she died, but she still acted as if she was six.”

“Was she close to Richard?” Brett said, thinking that he could guess how this story went, but he was wrong.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Mary said. “They had an interesting relationship. When they were little, you couldn’t separate them. He was younger than her, of course, and he thought she was the greatest thing in the world. Then as they grew up, he started to realise that she was different. When he started bringing friends home, he realised that she was also an embarrassment.

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