Chapter Text
Recomend list to this soundtrack while you're reading this chapter
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Throughout all the seasons they've spent together, throughout their adolescence and now, nothing is like this moment, the feeling of mutual understanding between the two of them. "I would give anything to make you the happiest man, even if the world is now over."
He shakes his head as if he's listening to music, but he's not, he's listening to all the voices, thoughts, and actions that the two of them have made until they get here. His sigh is heavy, full of relief and frustration. "You already make me happy, I just want you to promise me one thing..."
"Anything."
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22 years ago
"Scientists are still trying to understand what disease is affecting flour mill workers around the globe. " -The television reporter says, speaking with admirable confidence. "Several people are currently in hospital, reports of more patients are coming in every minute. Symptoms can range from coughs to spasms to mood swings." -She pauses and looks at a small piece of paper in her hand. "If you are suffering from these symptoms, seek medical help immedia–"
The channel switches abruptly to a football match, Simon looks back, pouting and clutching himself.
His father is sitting on the sofa, a bottle of beer in hand, around him lots of crushed bottles and cans, he's going to get drunk again, like every night. He lifts the bottle and takes a long swig before turning to the blond boy cowering on the floor.
"Fuck off, you little shite, go and see your bloody brother or something." -The voice is scratchy and thick, sending shivers down Simon's body. "Just get out of my sight." -His father coughs slightly and spits on the floor.
The little boy gets up from the floor and walks silently out of the room, not wanting to stress his father, not wanting to feel the pain of a punch against his stomach.
The house is dirty, there's no point in cleaning it because in less than a few hours it's dirty again with pizza boxes, produce, bottles of booze, Simon's mum contributes to this state of the house, the cleanest place is possibly Simon and his brother's room, Simon makes a point of leaving the place clean so that his little brother will be okay.
The smell of tomatoes perfumes the small corridor he walks down, the kitchen has the light on and a low, quiet humming echoes. His mum is stirring something in the pan, he knows what's for dinner, it's been the same for a few weeks, it's sickening to eat the same thing, but it's what they have. Tomato soup. Several cans open and thrown on the floor, making more permanent stains that can't be cleaned up.
Simon hears the neighbour's dogs barking outside, frustrated about something. The birds sing affectionately to other birds, and the wind blows through the trees and roof tiles of the house, the weather chilling even next to the cooker, which is warm.
"Mum..." -The boy calls out, mumbling to his mother, a woman with greasy blonde hair, fair skin with freckles, a little chubby who always wears long shirts to hide the marks and stains left by her husband. Simon hates it, hates that they have to live with him, and hates his mum for doing nothing.
She stops humming and looks down, her empty expression that used to look at the window, now looks down and faces her son in a warm and happy way, as if he were a ray of sunshine in the middle of the storm. Perhaps that's what her children are to her, but little does she know that the sun can burn and hurt more than the storm.
"Simon, my baby, what's wrong?" -She asks with a little smile on her face. "Are you hungry?" -Simon nods, he's hungry, but saying he wanted to eat something else would result in nothing more than some swearing or chastisement. "The soup will be ready soon, dear, why don't you help me set the table."
Simon nods, he liked helping with something, even the smallest thing, it made him feel useful for something.
He walks over to the cupboard next to the rusty fridge, takes out one plate at a time and starts to put them on the table, one for mum, one for him, Tommy doesn't need a plate as he only drinks milk, his mum turns off the heat on the cooker, and the last plate-
CRACK!!!
Simon trips over one of the tomato cans, the plate he was carrying is thrown to the floor, and the sound of breaking china rings out in the room along with a gasp from someone, probably his mum. Simon gets up slowly, his knees aching a little from the fall, and he looks up to see his mother with her hand covering her mouth.
Before she can say anything, approaching footsteps are heard, along with a shouting voice. "What the fuck is going on?!" -Simon looks down and shudders, he doesn't like this, he was wrong to break the plate, and now he's going to be punished for it. It's going to hurt again.
Footsteps stop at the kitchen door, Simon doesn't risk looking up, he knows that staring is an affront. "You only know how to annoy others, don't you, you little brat?!" -The man shouts at the child. "I should have hit you harder yesterday so you'd learn!" -The footsteps are approaching now, and at the same moment all Simon's air is taken away, a kick to the child's stomach sends him tumbling backwards.
Simon curls in on himself as he tries to breathe calmly, he trembles scared and hurt, his eyes blurred by the tears that yearn to spill from his eyes.
His mum just stands there and stares at the floor, she never does anything, she just waits for her husband to finish the job to kiss her son on the forehead and say ‘it was nothing’, before sending him to his room until the next day comes.
His father turns round and looks at the pan on the hob, he sniffs the air, and turns back to Simon. "So that you learn not to make a mess in this house, you're not having dinner tonight. Do you understand me?!" -Simon, still shaking and with his eyes closed now, just nods.
He opens a drawer in the counter and takes out a spoon, takes the pan from the hob and starts to walk back to the living room, but pauses momentarily and turns back to Simon. "Stop crying, only faggots cry!" -And then he continues walking and disappears from sight.
Simon lies for a few more seconds on the dirty floor, his stomach aching from the kick, tears now streaming down his face. A hand on his shoulder makes him jump in fright. "Shh... Shh... It's all right, love." -Simon relaxes a little at his mum's touch, she slowly helps him to his feet and runs her hand over his clothes to clean off the dirt.
She gives Simon a small kiss on the forehead. "Go to your room, darling, and play with Tommy..." -She gets up from the floor only to bend down a few steps again and start cleaning up the shards of porcelain.
Simon rubs his face and starts to wipe his eyes, wiping the phlegm on the collar of his shirt. He walks to his room and opens and closes the door slowly, he doesn't want to arouse his father's anger again. From his room, his father can be heard shouting something and coughing loudly.
He walks over to the cot next to his bed and sees his little brother asleep. If he had woken up, Simon would have been able to play with him with the little plastic cars and soldiers they have. Simon won't wake his brother, and hopes that Tommy doesn't wake up crying either, because he knows that the blame will fall on him. Even though he didn't do anything.
Simon lies in bed, pulls the covers over himself and looks out of the window at the world outside, taking in the stars and the moon.
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Again Simon was sitting in front of the television, but this time there was no one kicking him out or hitting him, there was just his brother playing next to him and Simon watching a cartoon on the television, the cartoon was about a boy who could turn into aliens, it was a good cartoon and Simon's favourite, he liked one of the aliens who was a ghost. Simon wanted to be able to do the same as the alien, scare someone until they shivered, or walk through walls, that would be really cool.
Simon, when alone with his brother, likes to talk about the cartoons he watches on television, or the things he sees when he's outside, like the colourful birds that fly, or the snails that are slow and shrink their little antennae... or it was their eyes, Simon never knew how to tell, not that he needed to, Tommy wouldn't understand anyway.
Simon looks at his brother who is holding two little soldiers and banging them against each other, he laughs at the scene.
A knock on the door makes Simon startle, he looks at the door and remains silent until there is another knock on the door, only louder this time.
Simon quickly wonders if it isn't his father, but dismisses the possibility, since his father was somewhere in the city with some woman, Simon doesn't understand why he goes out with other women, but at least he doesn't stay at home so it's a good thing he could marry one of these women and finally leave Simon, Tommy and Mum alone.
Mum's footsteps are heard coming out of the kitchen, and in a few seconds she appears in the living room, smiling at the children and going to the door to open it. Meanwhile Simon approaches his brother and sits next to him, listening to the conversation of whoever is at the door.
“Hello, would you happen to be Mrs Riley?“ -A rough, strong voice asks. Simon can't see the man at the door, but he's probably not alone.
“Hi, yes, that would be me.“ -Mum says softly, crossing her arms over her breasts while holding a cloth between her hands. “Who are you?“ -She asks hesitantly.
“We work for the Federal Disaster Response Agency.“ -Something leather is shown, as Simon hears the rustle of a wallet, he wonders if it's like those action films where the cops take off their badges, are they secret agents? “I'm Sergeant Ramirez and this is my partner, Sergeant Allen, we're investigating a break-in that took place last night at one of the factories in Longsight.“
Another voice now speaks too, a more energetic and confident one. “Apparently, the security cameras filmed your husband with some other guys breaking into the factory,“ -Mum puts her hand over her mouth, she doesn't even look surprised, well, not really surprised, Simon's father never does anything good but disappear for days. “Have you had any contact with your husband since last night? Did he come home today?“
Mum slowly lowers her hand and shakes her head in denial. "No, no sir, he left two days ago and so far he hasn't come home-"
"WOFF!" -A loud bark from the neighbour's dog makes Simon jump, he looks to the window and sees the sun setting already, the orange illuminates a part of the wall, where there is a torn and stained wallpaper, will it ever get a new one? It's beautiful in a way, Simon likes this moment, when the sun is like this, it's admirable, Simon would like to capture these moments sometimes. Mum says there's an object that can do that, she has one tucked away somewhere, she calls it a Polaroid camera.
Simon doesn't even notice when his gaze fixes on the toys on the floor, but when Tommy murmurs, he snaps out of his trance. "Ghua...Gyh..." -Tommy begins to speak his indecipherable words, Simon wonders if it isn't a secret language that his brother has invented, he drops the little plastic soldiers he was playing with.
"What is it Tommy?" -Simon asks in a light tone, his little brother looks at him with big, dark eyes, just like Simon's, eyes the colour of chocolate. "Are you hungry? I don't know if Mum's going to make us anything today..." -And as he speaks, his tummy rumbles.
"Gya! Ghew!" -Tommy starts wriggling now at Simon's side, and he grabs his brother who has started to crawl away. Tommy struggles even more in Simon's arms.
Simon, not understanding at all, looks up as he pouts at his brother's actions. "Why are you being a troublemaker, Tom–" - the words choke in the child's throat.
He understands why Tommy is struggling and getting agitated. Standing at the window, blocking out the last drops of sunlight left over from the day, is a human figure. Simon shudders and freezes in place as he sees his father staring back at him, his arms wrapped around Tommy tightening, but he doesn't look like that just because it's his father in the window, no, he looks like that because of his father's face.
His eyes are completely wide open and red, his already white skin is even paler, there are several small veins protruding from around his eyes, small bloodstained wounds and purple patches around his face, and an intense groan of pain is heard through the window. Gasping breaths that sound like he's run several kilometres fog up the glass.
All of this, combined with Simon's fear and shivers, and the night that begins to hang over, makes the situation completely like a horror film. Little did Simon know that it would change his life in the future.
"Mum..." -he whispered slowly, trying to find the strength in his thin voice, while Tommy moaned random words. His father raises his arms, which are curled into fists, and slams them against the glass, causing it to crack instantly and be stained with more fresh blood. "MUM! MUMMY!" -he shouts loudly now, desperate.
Simon lifts his brother and carries him, almost knocking him over in the process as he doesn't have much strength, he runs over to his mum and the two ‘policemen’, they look at him strangely and try to understand why the child is panting and shaking. "What is it, love?" -She asks serenely, Simon looks towards the window which gives another loud bang, now making his mum also observe the creature outside which is perhaps the true form of his terrible father. "Oh my God!" -She screams, grabbing Tommy from Simon and taking Simon by the hand. She takes steps backwards, slamming into the wall.
The two guys go deeper into the house, trying to understand what's going on, until they both see the same scene at the window. Loud, agonising moans are heard, more crashes against the glass, only this time several large shards fly to the ground and chip even more. One of the guys, Ramirez from what Simon has identified, points at his partner and speaks in a loud and clear tone. "Get these three to the car, take them to the station and call for reinforcements!" -The other man opens his mouth to say something, but Ramirez shuts him down. "That's an order! They're starting to spread out!"
His partner just nods and starts directing Simon and his mum towards the vehicle, apparently. Simon clamps his strong hands on his mother's leg as they hurry to the car, he trembles with fear, and when they're all settled inside, he hugs his mother as if she were the only safe branch that won't break off at the top of the tree.
Allen, the other guy, starts talking to the radio, Simon doesn't know what he's talking about, he's more worried about stopping shaking. His eyes are purely closed and he's leaning against his mum's arm, who's trying to calm Tommy down, who started crying when the situation got out of hand.
The car begins to move slowly, entering the main street. And from a distance, inside the house, Simon can hear warning cries, agonised moans that sound like an animal about to die, and finally, gun shots.
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5 years later
"So children, can anyone tell me how many years it's been since the pandemic?" -The teacher asks with a smile on her face, the same smile Simon's mum used to give to please his dad.
"Five!" -A girl replies, raising her arm and speaking loudly.
"Well done Isabel." -The teacher says hello. "Now, who can tell me why?" -She continues asking the other children, who are excited to learn. Except for Simon, who looks out of the rusty barred window, outside he sees FEDRA soldiers walking along the pavement, civilians walking to their jobs in search of rations to feed themselves. Manchester's buildings were already dry of paint and blackened with mould, everything was so dull and cold.
Five years had passed since the Cordyceps pandemic began and their father had finally left them alone. Simon thought he could finally be happy with Mum and Tommy, but he was wrong, completely wrong.
After the police station, they were transferred to a quarantine zone, if Simon remembers correctly, and then they were parked in a flat good enough for them to live in, at least it was better than the house they lived in.
Mum started working more and more often in those five years, having little time for him and Tommy, and when she did, she slept almost all day. Simon, only ten years old, was looking after Tommy and the flat, taking his brother to school and feeding him lunch, and sweeping the house and washing the dishes at home. He wanted to help his mum so she wouldn't have to worry. So far, everything was fine.
And at school, Simon didn't care much for the other children, he rarely talked to them, seeing the way they looked at him and muttered about him, he felt no interest. Unlike him, Tommy made lots of friends quickly, every time he saw Tommy around it was like watching ants at work, Tommy made a queue that followed him around.
At first, Simon was sad sometimes, going to the toilet to cry in one of the cabins because he had no one to play with and talk to apart from his brother. He was a child who just wanted a friend. But as time went by, Simon gave up hope that anyone would want him around, he was satisfied with what he had... or he lied to himself about it.
A great pastime at school, apart from studying, was reading the books in the tiny library there, hardly any of the other students went there to read, so Simon could enjoy the quiet time without interruptions, his favourite books being fantasy ones, Percy Jackson, Narnia, Dune, these were some of the favourites, other books promised continuations, but then came the pandemic... Simon liked to write down his thoughts about their continuations, wondering if they would be good endings, if new characters would appear. All questions that would never be answered...
Simon almost jumps out of his chair when the bell rings, the vibration echoing through the corridors signalling the end of the school day. Without wasting much time, he put his school supplies in his backpack and walked towards the school exit to wait for his brother.
It didn't take long, maybe a minute or two of waiting, and Tommy began to leave the school, saying goodbye and waving to his classmates. The FEDRA soldiers always kept an eye on the children passing by.
"Simon!" -Tommy shouted, running up to his brother and stopping beside him. "I made a new friend today!" -That hurts a bit, even if he tries to say it doesn't.
"Good Tommy, tell me about him?" -He asks, wondering who these children are.
"Okay, so, his name is Ivan and..." -Tommy starts to tell them all about this Ivan, apparently the child is the daughter of one of the teachers, Ivan likes orange sweets which is a strange and disgusting choice for Simon, the boy likes to make paper aeroplanes and show his tongue when he's upset, and Tommy says more things that start to get lost for Simon as they go along.
Simon is always on the lookout for danger, as the city isn't safe for anyone, but luckily the FEDRA guards and other police officers keep an eye on the corners as the children go to their own homes. The city is bustling, full of people going about their business, but the discomfort in everyone's eyes sends shivers down the spine.
When Simon hears the bang of a door opening, he grabs Tommy's hand, the two children look up startled at the sound and see several officers pointing guns at people who are kneeling down with their hands on their heads. It's quite common. Several people also stopped to watch the spectacle unfold, whispering among themselves about each person kneeling.
"Come on Tommy..." -He mumbles to his brother when he realises that one of the devices has started beeping and one of the kneeling women has started begging for her life. Simon doesn't like listening to the impossible clemencies of condemned people. It's horrendous. Tommy follows Simon, he opens his mouth to say something but Simon quickly cuts him off. "Just ignore the noise, don't look." -The arm that was holding Tommy's hand is now slung over the boy's shoulder.
Gunfire echoes behind them, and the shouts of excitement cease.
The Riley brothers don't look back.
It doesn't take more than fifteen minutes for the brothers to arrive at the flat where they live, the façade is all collapsed and everything looks dangerous from afar, but for Simon and Tommy it's just another normal day.
They climb the solid wood stairs, which are completely dirty and littered with bottles. Simon kicks one of the bottles and sees it fall all the way down the stairs, but it doesn't break as he thought it would. They go up to the third floor where their house is, number 109 marked with white paint that's almost rubbed off on the door, Tommy always likes to paint with the school paints he has so they don't fade.
When they open the door they are surprised by the sound of crying coming from the table, Simon quickly puts his brother behind him, but relaxes when he realises that the crying is coming from his mother. Mum rarely comes home before them, and when she does she cries. Simon asked once but Mum told him not to worry, so he never asked again.
The two of them reach her and hug her, it's the only comfort they can give. She hugs them back, her hands caressing the faces of her brothers who look at her worriedly.
"It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay." -she says, but not to the children, but to herself, a plea for everything to be all right with them.
After the meeting with Mum, the two of them sit at the table with her, Tommy excitedly telling Mum about his day and his new little friend, Simon smiles watching Tommy happy with Mum, seeing his brother's innocence in this terrible world, lucky he didn't grow up completely with Dad, he can't imagine what it would be like.
Simon is thankful every day that his father is dead, yes, even if everything is bad he doesn't have to be beaten by him, or see his mother subjected to his horrible treatment, he doesn't have to go hungry or wait to play.
He continues to do his maths homework, he never liked maths, he likes literature and creating stories, he would never let anyone read obvious. At some point Mum gets up to start cooking something on their rusty cooker, Tommy approaches him and asks for help with his homework, Simon doesn't refuse him and asks what the homework is about, luckily his is English, something Simon knows how to help with at least.
After about twenty minutes or so, Mum approaches with two plates in hand, she places them in front of the two brothers who push their books aside to make room. The food on the plate is the usual, beans, rice, corn and a small piece of meat already cut up by Mum so they don't have to worry.
The rations she's put on the table aren't enough for all of them.
"Aren't you going to eat, Mum?" -Simon asked, looking at her who was helping Tommy to eat.
"I'll eat later, darling." -She gives him a fake smile, Simon just nods and continues eating.
Mum hasn't been able to buy food for her to eat either, she used to be a bit chubby, but now she's thinner, with deep circles under her eyes and greasy hair, sometimes she doesn't shower just so that her children can, after all, the water isn't even free anymore.
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3 years later
"What's this Mum?" -Simon asked. In his hands was a small box tied with a white ribbon that looked more like yellow. Shaking the box, he could feel and hear something inside.
His mum was sitting next to him at the dining table where a candle illuminated the room, Tommy was asleep in his room, it was already night, but Simon could still hear the big FEDRA patrol cars outside in the city, no gunfire tonight, thank God.
"Today is your birthday, it's a little present." -The yellow light of the candle illuminates a gentle smile on his face. "I know it's not much, but I hope you like it."
Of course Simon would like it, getting a present from Mum was something he loved, he treasured everything she gave him. He'd never received a cake like Tommy, even though Mum said it was for both of them, Simon never believed it, he knew the truth.
He gently pulled the ribbon from the box, and as soon as it was removed he opened the small paper box. Inside the box was something Simon had only seen in pictures in school books.
"A camera?" -The camera has a rainbow stripe in the centre, if he remembers correctly this is a Polaroid camera. Next to the camera inside the box are three other small boxes. "What's that?"
"These are the films, every time the camera doesn't take any more pictures, you have to change it with a new film from these little boxes." -She explains as she shows the camera how to change the films. "You also need batteries for it to work, but this one is already inside."
She hands the camera to Simon who analyses it, noticing a little dust and stains on it, but doesn't comment in depth. He wonders what his mum had to give him in exchange for this gift.
"Can I take a picture of you?" -Simon asked.
"Of course, darling." -She fixes her hair and quickly explains how to take the photo, after a few seconds a white flash flashes and slowly the photo begins to print, Simon catches it before it falls out of the camera. "It takes a while before the photo appears." -Simon just nods. "Why don't you put the camera away and go to sleep? Tomorrow-"
A shout from the corridor and the upper floors makes her go quiet, she looks up with wide, alert eyes, again a shout is heard, she turns her gaze to Simon whispering quickly. "Go to your room and lock the door." -Simon opens his mouth to protest, but his mother's gaze silences him.
Quickly, Simon walks to his room, putting the box away next to his backpack. He closes the door and turns the key, then bends down and looks through the keyhole.
He watches his mum slowly open the door, looking out into the corridor which has electric light unlike the small candlelit room in the flat, nothing happens until then, Simon hears mum saying something in the corridor. Talking to a neighbour perhaps?
Out of nowhere, a gunshot echoes down the corridor, Simon sees the bullet pass quickly and hit something not yet seen. A scream that sounds more like a snarl echoes down the corridor, Simon sees his mum running into the house in an attempt to close the door quickly.
But it was no use.
He saw what was causing all the commotion, just as his father had been on the day the outbreak began, there were two figures running from the hallway, one of the figures passed so quickly that Simon couldn't identify what it looked like, he heard screams and another shot, possibly the neighbour.
But Simon doesn't care, his heart is pounding fast in his chest as he sees the other figure, running down the corridor towards his mother who can't close the door in time.
She falls to the floor, causing a loud noise to echo around the room, a cold bead of sweat runs down Simon's forehead, she turns round coughing short of breath, the creature wastes no time and lunges at Mum, she puts her arms out in front of her, trying to defend herself.
The creature grunts loudly and horribly, each punch and blow against Mum's arms leaves scratches and blood dripping, by the light of the candle Simon can see the drool dripping with each scream. The red blood, looking black against the light.
From behind, Simon heard a yawn, in one agile movement he turned round and with hurried steps he covered Tommy's mouth with his own hand before the boy could say anything.
The grunts on the other side of the door mixed with another, thinner scream, Simon knew what was happening on the other side, he could smell the metallic odour starting to invade his nose.
From the little light provided by the streetlights, Simon could see the panicked look on Tommy's face, who now also realised the horror that must have been behind the door. "Don't make any noise Tom..." -Simon whispered in his brother's ear, which was slowly beginning to shake.
The noises stopped after a while, just leaving the silence of the night outside the window, sometimes a low grunt was heard, but Simon held on tightly to Tommy as he closed his eyes, muttering to himself ‘Don't be real, don't be real, Mum's fine, Mum's fine’.
Gradually the night began to pass, the street began to emit various car sounds, which soon turned into conversations, murmurs. Again the creatures' screams erupted, but this time several shots were fired, and the screams stopped soon afterwards.
Heavy footsteps approached the door, the handle turned but the person couldn't get in, Simon heard someone talking but the sound of the voices still didn't register for him, the only ones running on a loop were his mother's screams.
Mum always said God existed, and this time Simon hoped that if he did, she'd be right on the other side of the door.
He jumped back, his arms still wrapped around Tommy as if he were holding a teddy bear, the door was shattered and a soldier pointed a rifle inside, the light of a torch momentarily blinding Simon who blinked a few times, recovering his perception.
"God, two children..." -The soldier says with a hint of melancholy. He slowly approaches, bending down in front of the brothers. "Are you all right?"
Were they? Simon couldn't tell, deciding to just nod in the affirmative. "Right..." -The soldier looked back, seeing his colleague looking round the kitchen. "Pack some clothes in your backpacks, I'll take you somewhere safe." -He says, getting up from the floor.
As the sole moved away, Simon slowly let go of Tommy's mouth and he hugged him back, letting out a choked sob. Simon hugged him back, stroking his hair.
They stayed there for perhaps a few minutes, until Simon got up and started filling his and Tommy's bags. He hadn't forgotten the box with the camera, deciding to put the camera and its films inside the bag in a position that wouldn't break it.
Before leaving the room, Simon grabbed some of his mum's things and put them in his pocket.
He took Tommy on his lap, pressing his head into his shoulder so that he wouldn't see what was waiting for them outside.
But that didn't stop Simon from seeing what was left of his mum on the bloody floor.
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1 year later
"Tommy, I can't keep getting you out of trouble if you keep creating more of them!" -Simon shouted at his brother.
The two of them were in the room that had been given to them since they were placed in the orphanage, well, more like a prison full of incompetent children.
Ever since the two of them arrived, Tommy has been nothing but trouble. The counsellor Tommy was put with told Simon that maybe he still hasn't come to terms with his mum's death. Yeah? No kidding. Simon almost snorted in the counsellor's face. Simon thought that maybe with time Tommy would get better, but so far there hasn't been much progress.
"Shut up! You don't understand!" -Tommy shouted back, throwing his arms in the air. He marched towards the door and opened it. "I hate you!" -And then he slammed the door hard, causing some of the floor to shake around.
Letting out a tired sigh, Simon sat down on the bed, slowly running his fingers over his face, blinking deeply a few times before grabbing something from his pocket.
He pulled out the photo of his mum, the edges of the Polaroid were already yellow, but in good condition. A year later he still hadn't taken another picture, not even of his brother, afraid that if he started taking pictures, he wouldn't have any use for the camera after a while.
"I don't know what to do Mum... I wish you were here." -His mother's loving gaze stares back at him, sometimes if he stayed in the picture he could hear her sweet voice.
Swallowing dryly, he put the photo back in his pocket and got up, heading out, not to follow Tommy, but because he needed to distract his mind from so much stress.
He headed for the library, hoping to find a story interesting enough to forget everything for a moment and enter the world of his imagination.
Luckily, when he entered the library there was no one there, at least not that he could see.
Going into the fantasy section, he began to look for something among the shelves, perhaps comics, it had been a while since he'd read something like that. Perhaps he could look for a few volumes of Tex, hide them under his shirt and leave them in his room so he wouldn't have to go out afterwards.
As he searched, Simon heard a bang on the other side of the bookcase, making him tense up for a moment, until he heard a grunt of pain from someone.
Slowly he turned round the bookcase until he finally realised what had happened, lying on the floor scratching his head and around several knocked-over books was a boy.
"Crap...Ugh." -The boy slowly pulled himself forward, sitting up and looking around on the floor at the books mumbling something, and then he looked up, his blue eyes seeing Simon watching him.
"Oh, sorry, did I get in your way, mate?" -The boy asked, starting to grab books from the floor and form piles.
Simon shook his head. "No, I was just... are you okay?’
The boy rose from the floor with one of the piles. "Yeah, yeah, it's just that I was trying to pick up one of the books." -With his head he pointed to a book separated from the piles. "But I accidentally knocked others over." -He started trying to put the books back, but his height wasn't helping him. "Can you give me a hand since you're tall?"
Simon made a face, honestly he didn't want to, but this boy is going to knock over more books and get in the way even more, so Simon just nodded and approached, starting to pick up some books and put them where they should be.
They stayed there for about three or five minutes, not talking at all until it was over. When they had finished, the boy clapped his hands, wiping off the dust.
"Thanks for your help." -The boy taps Simon on the shoulder, surprising him a little. "Name's John."
He doesn't say anything for a second, until he huffs and gives his name too. "Simon."
"Nice to meet you Simon." -The boy, John, gives a smile.