The six o' clock morning was grey which perfectly complemented the dull and lifeless personality of Veilham. Darren sighed and sat up in his hospital bed. He had been hospitalised for about a week now and was only just beginning to recover. His eyes searched around the room ,as they had done for the past seven days, and he signalled over to the nurse in the corner that he was ready for breakfast. She looked at him, almost menacingly, for a few seconds before walking out through the door.
'God' He thought to himself. 'If only I could have a beer.'
The date was 4th January, 1980. Darren was ten.
Rain trickled down the car windows as Louise (Darren's mum) drove him to his gran's house.
It was strange however, there was someone else in the car, someone who Darren didn't know. Their presence seemed wrong. Darren could sense something was off. His mum had been acting oddly since that morning, packing clothes.. Lots of clothes, into her suitcase and when Darren asked her about it she just ignored him or said she was late for something.
'Late for what?' Darren wondered.
His mum pulled up to his gran's house, it was massive. He could remember running around its many halls for hours on end, always finding new rooms to explore. It was situated on the highest point of Veilham where only a few other mansions resided. However these other mansions and manors were much larger than his Gran's, it made him slightly jealous, but not jealous enough to make an issue out of it.
Dropping him off at the front gate, his mum passed him a suitcase that was overloaded with contents. This was the moment Darren realised something was truly wrong. His mum wasn't getting out of the car.
"Sorry sweetie, just remember mummy loves you."
These words stuck with Darren ever since the moment they were uttered.
"What..?" Darren ran over to the car, dropping his suitcase onto the soaked pavement.
Tears began to stream from his eyes as he banged on the car door.
His mum wiped her face with a tissue and started the car engine again.
The man in the car still hadn't moved, he hadn't shown any sign of being a human.
"What do you mean, where are you going?" His tears synced with the raindrops as they hit the floor.
"Who is that man in the car with you..?" Darren was screaming now. "DON'T LEAVE ME.. PLEASE MUM!!"
She began to drive away as the gate behind him to his Gran's mansion began to open. "It's ok, Darren.. Come inside I'll get you something to dry you up." His Gran was waiting for him on the other side of the gate.
The rain felt like blades cascading down and stabbing into his body. He collapsed to the floor, drowning his knees in the pooling rainwater.
"WHAT DID I DO!!!" He shouted, watching as the car and his mum became a blur in the distance.
"Come on Darren, you're going to become freezing, standing out there in the rain." She beckoned him over, however Darren took no notice and continued to stare into the distance.. In the hopes that the car would turn around.
The car never turned around.
For the rest of Darren's youth he was living with his Gran (Theresa Cotton). When he turned 20 he began to work for The Pale Mare. He enjoyed serving drinks and cleaning the glasses, there was something so interesting about it. He didn't know why he felt this way but he also didn't care, he just wanted to make sure that his 70 year old Gran was still doing alright.
The nurse walked back into his hospital room, a bowl of... Something in her hand.
"Erm," Darren peered into the bowl as she sat it down on his bedside table. "What is that?" He questioned. They had always served him two slices of toasted white bread with one sausage and a fried egg. Whatever this was wasn't that.
The nurse looked down at him, annoyed. "It's porridge.. What, you've never seen it before?"
"I've seen porridge before and that," He looked back into the grey gloopy substance residing in the bowl. "That.. Isn't it."
"Well, the chef made it, so you eat it." The nurse said as she turned and walked out of the room.
"Fuck this." Darren turned over pulling his greasy bedsheet up and shutting his eyes, in the hopes of getting some more sleep.
His phone buzzed.
'What?' He thought, not expecting any messages at this hour. He sat back up and reached over to the nightstand, lifting his phone off the surface. Clicking the power button, Darren's heart sank.
"No.. No." He opened his messages.
One unopened message from... Louise Briggs.
'You've got to be kiddin' me.' Darren opened the message.
"Hey son, how are you doing? So I just worked my way up in my company and they are allowing me to come back to England to see you. Sorry for everything."
Darren shed a tear as he read.
'How can she type this.. What kinda fucked up..' He clenched his fist.
'Sorry? What the fuck do you mean sorry?!' Without thinking he threw his phone across the room. It shattered on impact.
'After how many years.. I'd forgotten all about her. Why type now? Does she know I'm in hospital? Why would she do this? She can't just expect me to forgive her!' He held his head in his hands.
The door opened and the nurse ran into the room.
"What happened!?" She said as her eyes searched the room for the cause of the noise, eventually landing on the broken phone, which was lying in pieces on the floor. "Why'd you do that Darren." She said with a stern tone as if she was talking to him as his teacher.
'This is why I told Clara that we shouldn't allow the patients to have their phones until they are mentally stable.' Looking over to Darren, who still had his head in his hands, she walked over and sat on the end of his bed.
"You okay?"
"Yeah.. I'm fine just.. Leave me alone for a bit please." Darren clasped his head tighter, indicating that a conversation was not what he wanted.
"Alright, I'm just checking up on you because you did just wake up all the other patients.. Please just don't do that again."
"Ok."
She walked back out of the room. Leaving Darren, leaving him again... Leaving him alone
Darren sighed, wiping the tears from his face and lay back down.. Heading back to sleep.
"Alright Carmen, you're free to go." The officer chuckled as he unlocked the door to her cell, mocking her.
"Fuck off Ryan." Carmen stood up and began to walk towards the gate.
"Woah.. Woah, just remind me.. Who's the one in the cage? You. Right, now apologise." Ryan took the key out of the lock and lent onto the iron bars. "C'mon, say it." He stared at her.
She moaned, "Ughh, sorry Ryan."
"Hah, look at you apologising to me."
"So, let me out.." Carmen rattled the bars.
Ryan leaned in close to the bars. His breath smelled of coffee and something sour. "One kiss, yeah?" He whispered. "Then I'll let you out."
Carmen lent in and.. Headbutted him, sending him down onto the floor, clutching his bleeding nose.
"Aghh, you bitch." He got up and unlocked the cell door. "You're lucky that I'm forced to do this."
"Thanks Ryan." Carmen said as she exited her cell, blowing him a kiss as she walked away, down the concrete corridor.
Walking out of the building and down the stairs she noticed Will, looking up at the entrance to the station. As soon as she saw him he turned around.
'What.' Carmen walked down the remaining stairs and approached him.
"Hey.. You alright?" She asked, sitting down on the bench Will was standing next to. "You waiting for someone?"
No response.
"I mean, if you are, you don't have to stand, there's a bench right here."
"No I'm fine standing, sorr- no wait.. thanks." Will sounded nervous.
"You don't look fine." She replied, looking at him.
Will stood cross legged, picking at his thumb wearing a black suit with black trousers, which had some sort of stain on them. Covering her mouth, she chuckled at him.
"What the fuck are you wearing, It's Saturday. You don't work on a Saturday.. Do you?"
"Nope, defo not, ha.. That would be stupid. These are just the only cloves I have." He fixed his hair as he spoke.
"You do not need to fix your hair mate, there is practically nobody here." She chuckled at him again, but she was right. Not a single soul could be spotted in the square that the police station was situated in.
"I mean, you are here.." Will said, instantly regretting his words.
"I.. I am here, you are correct, but what makes you think I care about your hair." She said,
"Never mind.. forget I said anything. I'll go now." Will began to walk away, pulling up his trousers as he went.
"Wait... Were you waiting for me?" Carmen blushed.
"No.. No." Will continued walking. "I guess I'll see you and your friends again at some point."
"Huh.. Wait, why do you still want to hang out with us after.. The incident. I would've thought a man like you.. An accountant wouldn't.. y'know."
"Nah, you guys seem cool." He shouted back to her before turning a corner and leaving Carmen's eyesight.
For a second, she thought she saw something broken in him, something that looked like her.
"Well... You definitely got that wrong." She said, rising from the bench and making her way to the local tobacco shop.
"You definitely got that wrong." She said, lighting her cigarette.