Desired Honour

Chapter 7: Mister Turner

Mum looked us up an down before she spoke, and for a second I thought she was going to ask what happened to my brother.
"Are you two OK?" she asked, her eyes watching over me and my brother. We were drenched in sweat and my brother was shaking, but he looked groggy too.

The wind blew the back door shut and a man came to the front door and introduced himself as Mr.Turner. He had a hunched back, had grey hairs on his head, hairs which he didn't have much of. He stammered as he talked and he did look quite old.

"Hello, madam, I am Mr.Turner." He said, whilst slowly walking into the house.
"I am a retired army general and I wish to ask you something." He continued

"Come with me on a special trip and I shall give you £1500."

"Uh....I can't do that, Sir, whoever you are." she said

"I can go mum, since the base went down I've been looking for a way to make money." my brother said "This could be the perfect opportunity to do this."

"I don't think you can handle this..." mum said

"What about me?" I asked "Surely I can do something to help with this."

"Unfortunately this is for military personnel only, so you cannot come, I apologise." Mr.Turner said
My mother regarded what my brother asked for a moment and I couldn't tell what he was thinking, why did he want to leave? After a couple of seconds she started a short breath and said that he could go.

" Don't just stand there, go." she added " before I change my mind."

"Thanks mum" he said, then he turned to the man "So who are you and where are we going."

"We are going to a offshore military base in Greenland." he said " That's where most of our supplies are taken from, but don't tell anybody that."

"Wait a second, were you my general?" my brother asked "I think I remember working for you one time."

"Yes I believe I was, Kent Shadows is it?" he asked

"Yes it is,sir!" my brother replied

"Now, we have to go, see you in two weeks!" Mr.Turner said

"TWO WEEKS!!" my mother and I said in unison. "That's unbelievable, we thought it was gonna be a day." I responded

"Don't worry, remember what we're being paid!" my brother said

My mother dismissed my brother and the old man and they embarked on an adventure and money gaining.

In the kitchen, my mother was a wearing a new matte black fur thing. I guessed it was some kind of coat but mum said, very proudly, that it was a scarf, which confused me because I don't know why she bought a scarf that big. Quite frankly, that thing could kill a bear with it. But mum was in a good mood despite the fact that her son just left with a man she didn't know. I got myself a glass of water, twisting the tap with my hand.

"I saw your friend Kelly at the shopping centre" mum said "and her mother asked me to come for some dinner, sorry Ed, you can't come."

"I snorted into my water, and choked slightly. Not at the thought of meeting Kelly or seeing her but it was that I saw what was on the table for my dinner. Red and white striped boxes sat on the table-it was takeaway fried chicken and a weakened white spirit. I began to giggle, which made my mother stare at me in a curious manner.
"What's wrong Ed?" she asked.
"Nothing mum..." I answered.
In the bright glare of the kitchen light, his scratched and dirty face was obvious." Were you eating the weeds?" she asked and strode over to examine my shoulder, which was bleeding through my shirt somehow. "What were you doing in the garden?"

"I-I- I was cleaning up and I must've cut myself. I....sort of fainted. It was quite hot." I said

"In the winter?" she asked

She looked at me hard and her face was impossible to read. Maybe she was about to reveal her angry side, or smile and say "never mind". Perhaps she was worried about my father. Dad was due home for a long time now, and I really don't believe that he is alive anymore, I really doubt it.
"Go and eat your food," she said shortly. "And then get yourself cleaned up. You stink like a dog."
I, still working hard to stop grinning, sat down and polished off my fried chicken. I was hesitant to drink the white spirit because I was worried I'd laugh too hard then choke on the spirit but in the end I drank it, this one didn't make someone faint.

After dinner I got into the shower and after the shower I got straight into bed. I was extremely tired and achy, as if I'd run a marathon. My bones felt sore. And very sore. I thought about the white spirit and let out a giggle before getting sleepier. I thought I heard a scream come from the distant woods as I drifted off to sleep, still laughing.

The next morning I thought that my night before was all a dream. It must have been because I didn't remember going to sleep in the basement. When I woke up and went upstairs I found that my brother wasn't there like he usually was and that my mother was still sleeping. I went into my room and found my "uncle" in my bed. He must've thought this was funny, it wasn't. I went back downstairs and made myself a cup of tea and observed the empty room. Without my father or brother, the house really seemed to change.

Meanwhile somewhere in the woods...
A man dropped to the floor and slid back into the shadows, panting, watching as the two boys crawled through the woods, crying. Bloodied, scratched, and with tears on their shirts and trousers, they finally came to a stop, clinging on to each other, they just fell asleep there. And the woods were filled with silence.