Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows

I can’t see anything. Everything around me is black. I try to raise my hand up in front of me but I can’t see it. I’m alone in the darkness. Where am I?

“Hey, Lewis!” a voice cries out.

I turn around and I’m blinded by the sudden brightness of the sun shining in my eyes. What’s going on?

“Hey!” the voice cries out again. “Earth to Lewis!”

To my left I see a small girl wearing a white one-piece sunflower patterned dress which trails to just below her knees. Her light brown eyes are wide with excitement as she pushes away her shoulder height curly brown her from her face. There is a smudge of dirt on her right cheek and a small cut in the corner of her tiny pink lips.

“Hey!” she yells out again at me. “What are you doing?”

“Me?” I ask, confused. “What do you mean? Who’s Lewis?”

“Stop being an idiot. John and Edward are already playing with the football because you’re so slow. We can go back inside and watch the telly for a bit if you want.”

“Sure, Sky.”

I don’t know why I call her Sky. In fact I’m not sure where I am. I stand there in a bit of a daze for a minute or two. Slowly it all comes back to me. I’m in Saint Wilfred’s Children’s Care Home. I must have been confused after I fell and hit my head on the swing.

“Wait!” I shout to Sky. “I changed my mind. Let’s go play football with Edward.”

“Huh? Why would I want to do that? Last time John barged me so hard I twisted my ankle. He’s too rough.”

I puff my cheeks up and kick the grass. If she wants to go back inside then she can go by herself. Turning my back to her I start stretching my legs.

“Come on, Lewis,” she moans. “Besides you promised you would do anything I say today because it’s my birthday!”

“Aw fine! You’re so annoying!”

“Ha, you were the one who lost that game of chess. Deal with it.”

“I only lost because you cheated…”

“How did I cheat?! Stop being a sore loser!”

“Castles can’t move diagonally. I let you have that one. You know you can’t beat me in a proper game. No-one can!”

This time Sky puffs up her cheeks and stomps over to me. I jump backwards to avoid her kick. No way am I going to let her kick me in the nards again.

“Stop doing that!” I say. “You’re ten years old now so start acting like it.”

“So are you,” she spits back at me.

“Fine. I’ll come back inside.”

“Wait. Let’s sneak around the back.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The vultures!”

“Oh Mr. Brody and Ms. Haskins? The carers won’t care.”

“No, they’ll make us take a bath! I don’t want to. I just want to go play games before we wash up.”

I laugh out loud at Sky’s stubbornness, but I still nod. I don’t want to get told off by them either. Sky grabs my hand and pulls me along as we both start running across the grass. We run straight past the mahogany entrance and turn the corner at the end of the stone building. John and Edward are playing football a little way off behind us and I can’t help but feel a hint of jealousy. I can’t believe I’m being dragged off by Sky again. Gosh, she’s always such a joy-kill.

We speed around the side of the building and head towards the glass door at the back. Before we can reach it the white frame of the window rattles and we stop dead in our tracks. The glass door slides open and Mr. Brody steps out. I groan and kick the grass with my trainers. God he’s annoying.

Mr. Brody looks at us and scratches his balding white head before laughing.

“You two trying to get out after having a bath, eh?”

“No!” I yell.

I turn around and try to run away but Sky – who is still holding my hand – pulls me back and glares at me.

“Hey!” she hisses. “Don’t think you’re leaving me alone in this. If I go down you’re coming with me!”

“Let me go!” I hiss back. “I’m not getting caught by the vultures just because of you.”

Before Sky has the time to reply Mr. Brody is already walking towards us. He rubs his grey beard a little as his large frame draws closer.

“Alright you two,” he says. “Go take a shower.”

“Argh! I don’t want to!” I say whilst folding my arms. “Leave me alone!”

“Lewis! That’s not a very nice thing to say to someone. Be a good boy and take a shower.”

Sky tugs on my t-shirt and glares at me. I recognise the look in her eyes and decide to give up. Strands of my black hair fall in front of my eyes and I tuck it behind my left ear. That’s getting annoying too. Maybe I should cut my hair.

“Fine.”

With that I start heading inside with Sky on my tail. I don’t look at her as she follows me inside. I never should have listened to her after all. I wait to make sure Mr. Brody is watching me as I enter so I can make a big deal out of stomping my feet and throwing a fit. I even slam the glass door shut behind me after Sky enters. He doesn’t seem to mind too much, irritating me even more.

“Hey, Lewis. Wait,” Sky says.

“Leave me alone,” I hiss at her.

“Come on, don’t throw a fit.”

I pick up my pace and run down the hallway. Once I’ve reached the staircase I start jumping up each wooden step as fast as I can. Sky easily keeps up with me, chasing me down as if there is no tomorrow.

“What do you want?” I say to her.

“Is the little baby going to throw a hissy fit?” she says, sticking her tongue out.

“If you’re not careful I’ll throw you down a well,” I hiss.

“Sure you will. Assuming you can find a well anywhere around here. Or don’t tell me you’re going to dig one up?”

I try my best to ignore her sassy tone, but to no avail. She knows exactly which buttons to push.

“Stop trying to play smart with words,” I say.

“I’m not. It’s not as if we are playing Scrabble you know.”

That final remark does it. I turn my back to her and dash across the landing and turn right. How much of a bug can she be?

“Lewis!” she cries out. I turn around again instinctively; I can’t help it.

“What? Go away.”

“Tonight? The usual?”

My mood lightens up a little bit. It is better than nothing right? I raise my hand and give her a thumbs up. After that I turn around again and dash into my room a few doors down. I immediately feel comfortable being back in my room.

The walls are all navy blue because stupid Brody and Haskins wouldn’t let me colour it black. One day I’ll do that. My bed which is tucked away in the corner of the room to my left is messy. I didn’t make my bed this morning and the light-green sheets are creased and untidy. That can be dealt with later.

I walk across the brown wooden floor and kick my trainers off my feet. So much for having fun on a Saturday. Maybe I should play around on my computer? I’m very tempted to do it but I know if I don’t go and take that shower soon Brody will come down on me hard. I wonder if I can trick him if I just wet my hair and face.

I stand in front of the mirror screwed into the wall above my desk. My pale reflection greets me in the mirror. My deep blue eyes stare right back at me. I take notice of the tiny mole under my left eye and my weirdly small nose. I don’t have any freckles or whatever – thank god – but I have a small pimple on my left cheek. Damn. That doesn’t look nice. My chin has dirt on it and there is still some dirt in my hair. My hair trails down to just above my shoulders; around my neck. Seems like I should cut it before it gets more irritating than it is now. I already have to constantly flick it out of my eyes all the time. It might be nice to try and gel it after I cut it.

Looks like I have to take a shower after all. I stink of sweat. Eurgh. Taking off my shirt, I grab my towel and soap and rush out of my room. I catch a glimpse of the others coming back up the stairs to their rooms and I start running. No way am I going to still be in the shower when they come in. I’m getting to the T.V first today.

Edward sees me sprinting towards the showers and takes off after me. Great. I turn around and stick my tongue out at him as I run down the hallway, take another right and push open the door to the boys’ shower room. No-one else is inside, as expected. My favourite shower – in the corner of the room nearby the windows – is free and I head straight inside.

I shiver as I dry my hair with the blow-dryer. I go as fast as I can before dropping it and racing back downstairs. Before I even enter the games room I can already hear the sound of the telly. Someone got there first by the looks of it. Walking inside I see Sky sitting on the couch, swinging her legs up and down while her head sways from left to right in tune with the music on the show she is watching.

“Hey, Sky” I say. “How did you get here so fast?”

Sky turns around to look at me and grins. She waves her hand at me, signalling for me to come over – which I do.

“Hey, L,” she says. “By the way, I’ve never asked. Why did you nickname me Sky?”

“Huh? That’s random.”

“I’m just wondering.”

“Well, when I first met you, you were always silent and calm. You never talked to anyone and just stared up into the sky all the time. Figured I should name you something you like, right? Hence the name Sky. Don’t you like it?”

“I like it better than my real name: Florence Thea Smoke. It’s a weird name if you ask me. With a surname like Smoke I have no idea what they were thinking naming me Florence.”

“Ha, I give everyone the best names.”

“Whatever. You called Henry a tomato-head. How is that a name?”

“It suits him doesn’t it? His head looks like a tomato, especially since he’s always turning red.”

“Sometimes you’re a real tool, Lewis.”

I shrug my shoulders and turn to look at her. I admit I’m a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes, but I can’t help it. Sometimes I just get a little carried away, although it isn’t something that I will admit openly.

“It’s almost nine and it is dark out. Do you want to go?”

“Might as well. The vultures will send us to bed soon anyway.”

Both I and Sky get up from the sofa and start heading out to the garden. The glass door is locked but we know where Haskins hides the key; under the small gnome next to the plant plot in the coat room. I hurry to get it and slip it into my back pocket after unlocking the door. Taking Sky’s hand I pull her with me outside and lock the door after us. We both can’t help but giggle as we run across the grass, in between the pale pink hydrangeas.

I pick one of them off the stem and tuck it into Sky’s hair. She grins at me as she plays with it, twisting her already curly brown curls even more.

“We haven’t done this for a while have we?” I say.

“Only because you got fostered by the Griffins.”

“Yeah, but I made sure I made a fit and got dumped back here. They were too wacky.”

“How?”

“The son and daughter were all kinds of weird. For example, every other night the boy would be found sleeping on the floor of the toilet. They just creeped me out.”

“So that made you want to act up and come back here?”

“It’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“You’re too picky. Goodness knows how you’ll survive without me.”

“Doesn’t matter right now. Look, we’re here,” I say, pointing to the tiny clearing behind the bushes at the end of the garden. Sky’s face lights up and she races ahead of me while pulling me along. I tighten my hand around hers and run forward with a grin on my face too. When we reach the clearing, Sky and I drop down and roll onto our backs.

“Look at that one,” Sky says, pointing to a particularly bright star that stands out from all the others. “That one’s cute!”

“It’s alright,” I say. “But it stands out too much. I like that one better.” I point to a pale star shining just a little way off from a cluster of bright ones.

“Huh? You’re weird.”

“Like you’re not?”

Both Sky and I end up laughing, picking out different stars and arguing which one is better.