Halo of Fires by Joseph Kiel

Author:Joseph Kiel [Kiel, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7.2

Eddie didn’t know why he was wasting his time staring at the empty page. The deadline for the essay was eight days away and there was no way he was going to complete it in time. He couldn’t even start the damned thing by then. Besides, the assignment brief was about as inspiring and inviting as a cold, steel wall.

On his desk were three textbooks he’d taken from the library weeks ago. He knew how these assignments worked: you scanned through the books to find relevant quotes to make it look like you’d been studious, and then you slapped them in wherever you could. Eddie had flipped through one of them, but his search was fruitless.

There was his entire failure in one blank piece of A4 paper. By now he should have found something to inspire him, a career he would commit his life to. It’s how it seemed to work with everyone else his age, like they’d tapped into their genetic code and cracked their soul purpose.

Yeah, I’m going to Luton University to study Drama and then I want to be a drama teacher… I’m going to take my NVQs and then I’m going to be a mechanic…

Everyone else had it all worked out so elegantly. Why couldn’t Eddie? It sometimes felt that he brought nothing to the world. The page was as empty as himself. Devoid. Barren. Doing nothing. Bringing nothing.

But worse still, Eddie didn’t even care.

How was he going to pass this year and make it through to the third year? The more time he spent on his Sports Studies degree, the more of his life he was wasting. He may as well just jack it all in right now. But the thought of doing that worried him. What would he do then? There was absolutely nothing in this world to do!

Eddie looked to his bedroom window where a film of condensation veiled the nocturnal landscape. He got up and tried wiping his sleeve over it, but much to his frustration it had no effect at all. The moisture had probably got in between the panes of double-glazing on these shabby windows.

A sound distracted him, the scuff of claws against carpet. At his feet, Meriadoc twitched in his sleep, immersed in a dream of running through fields, searching out endless smells and sounds.

He noticed his mouth twitching too. Maybe he was now barking at a cat or the rabbits that ran from him. Perhaps he’d even caught one of them. In which case he wouldn’t be barking at all, he’d be chewing.

Chewing dream rabbits because he wants to eat a real rabbit.

Eddie crouched before him and stroked his head, at which point Meriadoc jolted awake. The realisation melted into his eyes that he was no longer running around in a dream field chasing dream rabbits, but was now in the real bedroom of his real, directionless master. The dog nuzzled into Eddie’s hand.

‘You’re a funny old mutt.’

He should have been rid of him by now, especially as he couldn’t afford to feed him.

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