Ludicrous Devine - Draft

Ludicrous Devine1

Chapter 12

~*Wake up!*~3

Lone woke up under a tree.  As he raised himself, the mourning sunlight burned his eyes like it had so many times before.  His hands were shaking in the morning dew as a few condensed droplets rolled down his back, a black and purple soiled longsleeve shirt only preventing exposure to the world.  Lone did not remember how he got where he was, wherever he was, thinking only of where to go next, and to avoid the law, which still may have been after him.  The night before was the first time I met him, travelling on the train from Mellar to Drums’s Cross.  This morning he was still ragged as ever when I found him under the tree.  As I walked with Rhi around the grounds, I saw a shady figure stand up, delving into his left trouser pocket, venomously shoving whatever it was into his mouth with no regard to his surroundings, and the two teens approaching him as he descended to his knees.  The immediate surroundings he didn’t notice were immensily deceiving, so no doubt he had no idea he was inside the walls of the HeartSoul orphanage.  The broad oak above was the most hardened and lonely tree in the yard area, the rest having been killed off over the decades by poisonous soil.  Leading down a gentle slope of suspiciously lush green grass was a park with various clumps of smaller oaks, beech and other trees, I don’t know their names, I’m not a big fan, you’ll maybe see why.4

We approached the tree unnoted of the criminal hiding underneath.  Lone was still scoffing on his knees as two figures finally blocked the sun he hated so much.  As he looked up, his squalid visage flashed me back to the night before, as he hid in the corner adjacent my seat on the ancient locomotive.  Standing quizzically, I remarked “Didn’t I see you last…”, before I could finish, the beset Lone turned to grab his rucksack and run, only to fall on his face after comically dwindling with his arms swinging as he tripped over an unnoticed grounded root.  Rhi let out a typically girlish giggle as I sniggered and sounded “you ok man?”.  Instead of a witty retort, Lone this time just lay there, staring as a big pink worm stretched out to greet the inside of his nose.  5

~1~6

This time, Lone flinched backwards banging his head against the solid wood with a vexatious grunt of discontent, “heh, it’s just not your day”, “go to hell” he muttered apathetically.7

“Let’s go” said Rhi impatiently. “Nah, screw that, we gotta get back in like 10 minutes.  You got a spark?”.  A knowing Rhi knowingly reached into both pockets, her long straight red hair proving no veil from her sobering face as her hands reached deeper.  “Bleh!” she finally exclaimed in the cutest discontent.  My sorrow soon became fear as a magic floating lighter came in from the left, prompting a sharp jolt back only to remember the boy in black.  One of the strangest things about Lone is his presence, he’s almost like a shadow no one would notice, something that inevitably cursed him in his mind, but provided as elemental on his escapes.  Without remorse I took the lighter whilst at the same time pulling out a shillelagh.  Shillelagh are what we called cannabis joints referring to a short Irish beating stick, because we sometimes took an awful beating.  So, as we had every morning I could remember, as much as such short-term memory could allow, the ritual of shillelagh began as we both crashed against the tree, the entire quietness of the area allowing for the two thuds echoing from the trees, which really should have hurt more than they did, I guess the drugs had just desensitised us.8

Smoking as many drugs as we could was not really a matter of peer-pressure or social acceleration, but out of the sheer boredom of life experienced at HeartSoul, whilst giving a nice mental breakaway from constant generic thoughts.  Quitting was always an option as our health deteriorated, we could really stop at anytime, but there was no point, we let ourselves waste away, and as wisely observed by Rhi “It shortens the sentence”.9

We puffed and passed taking in every contour and colour of the deceiving park, and letting out an immense glow of amorphous acrid smoke, constantly twisting and contorting, glazing the scene, revealing it for it’s true self.  The startling revelation of Lone asking for a pass wasn’t as surprising this time, anti-climactic as it was, I demanded “Hey.  Who are you?”.  Lone took back a long drag and paused.  His head drooped down and his scruffy shoulder length hair covered his face.  He brought his head back and moaned incoherently with a throaty voice. “Huh?” voiced Rhi.  “Lone!” growled the unstable adolescant, clearly distressed.  An equally distressed Rhi said what she always said “Whatever.  What the hell kinda name is that anyway?!”.  It was obvious they weren’t going to get along, so I played the 10

~2~11

benevolent middle man, “so, where you from Lone?”.  Again he sat in 12

silence, his memories flooding, visions of destruction, a woman crying, Lone stared blankly.13

“Whatever” said Rhi again “let’s get back”.  She stood up.14

“Yeah, good plan.  You got somewhere to go Lone?”15

“Not really” he replied soberly.16

“Neither do we.  This place isn’t too bad I guess…”17

“it’s shit!” Interrupted Rhi.18

“Heh, yeah, fair enough.  Hey, you wanna come with us?  You could probably get cleaned up, get some grub.  Looks like you need it”19

Lone didn’t answer, it had been so long since someone made the effort to speak to him, he was unsure on how to act.20

“Whatever” said Rhi again, “hurry up before I kill you”21

I knew she meant it, so I got up and turned to the boy whose name escaped my mind. “Last chance”.  It was like he didn’t hear me, so I gave up, to be honest I don’t know why I was so accommodating to a guy who I had seen getting chased by the law for who knows what, theft? Drugs? Violence? Terrorism? He didn’t strike me as a hardened criminal, more an insecure, immature child.  I put the matter out of my mind and ran to meet Rhi already marching back towards HeartSoul.  The annoyingly indecisive Lone called out “Wait” and stood up gingerly, picking up his bag and coming towards us with a soft limp. “Greetings” I felt welcoming “I’m Rede, she’s Rhiannon.” I extended my hand. “Ok, well lets get out of the open” remarked Lone, and contiuned past in the direction of Rhiannon.  I stood disappointed, not that he didn’t shake my hand, but the dark aura around him seemed lifted, he wasn’t going to be the darkened figure I imagined he would be.  I shrugged my shoulders and walked on clear bearing with the two.22

HeartSoul was more than just an orphanage, it was full of minor and apparently rehabilitating criminals, as well as a few runaways.  It was as old as the big oak, planted on it’s establishment with good intentions in mind which had long faded since.  It presented the aura of an old Victorian workhouse, of course substinance a little more secure.  As we walked closer, the walls grew closer, the enclosure which spread around the whole park drew in to what we called ‘The Holds’23