Before Your Eyes

Mystery Of The Outsiders

I came to my senses in a dawdled hare. Upon the flinches and jerks of my body, tiny footsteps patted over to my side. Above my head, the boy leaned over and smiled. His smile turned into hops of thrill. "She's Awake! She's awake!" His words after that blended into shrieks of various pitches. Someone hobbled in through a door. From a distance he was but a blur. Yet his voice stood out like silver in the sand. He was old but lacked the necessities to be frail. "Alright boy! Hop up and down too much, you'll make m'wife jealous! Let's see what we have here then." The man chuckled to himself and came to my bedside. "The young man tells me you're quite the conversationalist! He also tells me about your trip here, you're a very strong lady my dear! Your wounds are minor but will still sting for a day or two. After I brought the doctor down to give you a check up he just said for you to keep it easy." The man's laugh made his thinning hair bounce on the side of his head. "I don't advise you to take another long walk for a week or so! London is mighty far! My brother, Little John, currently has my truck. When he arrives back I'll give you two a lift! Whilst you're here though, I could use a hand with work on the land and in the home. In return you'll have beds, three meals a day and a roof over your head. The wife and young man are already stirring havoc in the kitchen making excess fudge! Between you and me though, if she ever says there's a tray missing, keep her away from my shed!" He was a joyful old man in his early eighties, rather well built for his age. He wore small square glasses that sat on a head which was covered by a few tufts of white hair on his neck and jaw. His white hair evacuated the top of his head and kept to its sanctuary on the sides from one ear to the other. Although his face had more wrinkles than a mountain range, a warm unhidable face took refuge in it. He helped me rise to my wits, easing the pressure on my injuries. Despite being in my late twenties and him in his early eighties, my legs appeared to be the ones which faded.

The house was laced with colour leaving my past painted dull. Where once I had known walls of demise, new found blues emanated these borders with aligned coatings of viability. The marble tiles under my feet shot shivers through my nerves. I could taste the sweet scent of monstrosity coming from the kitchen. Like a cartoon to a pie, My nose lifted me towards its aura. Through the door hunched a small dwarfish woman, time had slowly shrunk her. A line of stepping stools from different heights lay adjacent to the cupboards. The doorframe had been graffitied with markings of line numbers and names of people whom I had not met yet. One of which towered near the top of the frame, high above my head with the name 'Julius 2021'. In a flash the boy sprinted past, apologising for the small knock he had just given me. He leaped onto a chair around a small circular table of family gatherings, ruggedly tucking a tissue into his collar to form some sort of napkin. The grey lady turned around and darted a smile whilst untucking a chair for me to sit. "Come take a seat! Stand up too long, you'll have legs like mine!"

The phone rang. Centering her entire focus towards it, she waddled forward. With the phone shaking in her shrivelled hand the only words to escape her lips were "Hello?" Her demeanour quickly shifted from light hearted to drenched with barely controlled anger. Although she did not express it as most would, I could feel the trembling thunder in her voice seeping out. "Is that so? Well, why don't you get other people to handle it? That's what they are paid for! I'm not gonna be the one who has to explain to the family why you're missing again! You know that your father just wants to see you!" I couldn't make out the mumbles from the telephone but I could tell that the news was not good by the woman's flared nostrils. "You better sort it out and be here when everyone arrives! Not a second later! Good-bye!" She sobbed to herself before the man walked in. "Was it the doctor? If so, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" He puffed up his chest with his words but the woman shook her head and took him to the room opposite, leaving only a crack between the door and the wall. "It was Julius again. He ain't coming George." His speech dripped from his mouth. "I'm sure he had a good reason!"