Chapter two
Evening turned to night as the sun left the sky and the darkness took over. There were no stars, nor had there been for a long time. In all their life, Oswin and Drayfus had never seen a star, only read about them in books.
The sky was coated with a thick cape of smog, the air its self was heavy and hard to breath in. It wasn’t so bad for them as they lived miles away from the city, but they could still smell the poison every morning and night.
Oswin sat on the sofa, reading Bitten. Her legs were tucked up and her only source of light was a candle on the coffee table next to her. Her eyes were so glued to the page, that she didn’t even notice Drayfus calling her name.
“OY!” He yelled, flicking her in the head with his finger,
“OW!” She cried, putting down her book and glaring at him. “what?”
“don’t you ever do anything but read?” he asked, sitting next to her.
“I like reading, its better then talking to you.”
“Charming.”
Oswin sighed and looked at him, “I didn’t mean it,”
“I know,” he said, taking the book of her so he could lie down on her lap. There was a moment of silence. “do you think we’ll be like papa and Tato when we’re older?”
“how so?”
“you know; do you think we’ll love each other like they do?”
It took a moment for Oswin to process what her brother was saying, was he suggesting becoming more then siblings? She looked into his honey eyes, she could tell by the way he was gazing at her he was serious.
Her heart began to thump hard in her chest. She had read may books about love and crushes, but she never encountered it, how could she? The only people she had ever known was her family, she had never stepped foot out of the village.
She had never know what it was like to meet other people. How would she know if she wanted to be with Drayfus?
There was no doubt he was handsome. He had wavy golden hair and a face that looked like it was chiselled out of stone. She had never really noticed her brothers looks before, she had never thought about it. Only now she was concentrating, she did feel an urge to be closer, to touch his freckled skin.
Her heart pounded louder and harder than ever, before she even knew what she was doing she was leaning closer to his face. Drayfus sat up and leaned in too, his palms felt sweaty, it wasn’t the first time he had kissed his sister, they did it tones of times before. But they were just pecks of politeness, never like this.
He did want to kiss Oswin, her lips looked so soft and tender. Just before their lips touched, the moment was broken by a loud bang and a cry from Michael.
“SHIT! JENNY HELP”
They both giggled at their father’s idiocy, though felt disappointed at the interruption.
“I AM IN TERRIBLE PAIN”
They both got up and decided to check on him since Jenny didn’t seem to care. They entered his room to find him on the floor with blood running down his face.
“I’ll get the first aid kit,” said Oswin, already making her way to the bathroom.
Drayfus, sighed and sat him up, he was getting tired of his Papa being a complete moron.
“What did you do this time?” He asked, brushing his hair out the way to see the gash.
“I was trying to get my sledge hammer, and that box fell on my head.” He said, gesturing to a dusty box on its side.
“Why did you want your sledge hammer?” Drayfus asked. “actually I don’t want to know.”
Oswin came back in with a green box in her right hand and a damp flannel in her left.
“I’ll take care of Papa; you go get Tato.” She said, kneeling down by the dazed twat.
Drayfus got up and headed to the balcony, Jenny was known for their ‘little time-outs’ when Michael got on thier nerves; which happened to be more often than not.
He slid the Japanese style glass door open, Jenny was leaning over the banister, taking deep puffs of his cigarette. Drayfus stood next to them, he could smell the bitter sweet smoke that surrounded them.
“We need your help cleaning Papa up,” Drayfus saw Jenny’s blank face, he tried to guess what mood they were in, but trying to guess Jenny’s mood is almost impossible.
Their bright green eyes never once met Drayfus’, only continued to gaze at the scenery.
Drayfus looked down into the water below them. There once was a train station and tracks below, but it had long been deep under water.
Jenny said it was because of global warming causing the water level to rise. The was a wall everyone called the border keeping the water out of the villages and cities; the flat was just tall enough to be able to look over it. Drayfus and Oswin liked to imagine it was a river like the ones they saw in their picture books.
Drayfus looked into the distance to the right of him, he could see the cloud of dirt and chemicals towering over London. That was where most people had immigrated to when WW3 began.
Jenny said “they promised a home and work, but all they got was a swamped city of the homeless and sick.” Drayfus would often wonder who ‘they’ were. Whenever he asked, Jenny would just sigh and say “Bad people”.
Drayfus looked up at jenny again, still waiting for an answer. Jenny simply took another deep breath, sucking in the relaxing fumes.
“I wonder if Abby is there…” they muttered quietly, looking over at london
“You’re daughter?” Drayfus asked.
Abby was Jenny’s oldest, although they weren’t related by blood. Fang had adopted her when she was three. Her parents neglected her and her older half-brother Danny.
Danny went to go live with his aunt, but Abby was left in a foster home. Even though she was adopted in Fang’s name, Jenny still saw her as a daughter, since they and fang were ‘lovers’ at the time, and Abby saw them as a parent figure. Even when they split up, Jenny continued to look out for her.
After her husband, Damion, passed away she left the small village she grew up in. she packed a small suitcase with clothes, money and food, took her five children and left. She never even said goodbye to Jenny, just left a letter.
The letter contained little information, just that she loved them and couldn’t bear to say goodbye in person.
Naturally, Jenny took it hard, but couldn’t go after her as they had no idea of where she was and that they had two tiny babies to take care of.
Michael tried to reassure Jenny, but even he had a worried look in his eye. How could a single mother survive of a few days of food and a couple hundred quid with five children? Was she even still alive?
Jenny sighed deeply, they missed her every day. “I wish you and Oswin could have known her. You were only babes when she left.”
Drayfus didn’t know what to say. He wanted to hug Jenny tightly and tell them she was okay and safe, but he didn’t know that, and he was afraid that if he touched Jenny, they would shatter completely.
Jenny finally put out his cigarette on the crystal ashtray,
“Come on then, lets’ go make sure your Papa still alive.”
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