Matthew and the Chimney Sweeps: Book One (Completed, Editing)

Chapter Four B: Face Off

To Matthew's horror, Miss Smart, Miss Brock, Mr Xavier and Mr Reed grabbed their faces, their wrinkles and flaps of skin, and began to pull. Matthew only saw a glimpse of ripping before he shut his eyes for the second time, his heart racing uncontrollably. Were they monsters, aliens, vampires in disguise? Were they about to eat him? He wanted to run away, to do something, but he couldn't move.

'It's all right,' said Miss Smart after a while. 'You can open your eyes.'

'Are you going to eat me if I do?' Matthew fumbled from his mouth.

The answer to that was giggling.

'We're not going to eat you,' said Miss Smart. 'Or hurt you. You're safe now.'

Matthew hesitated before slowly opening his eyes.

Four new human faces were now staring at him, their fake ones, their wigs, their fake facial hair strewn beside their feet. Miss Smart, Miss Brock, Mr Xavier and Mr Reed were children.

'What is going on?' Matthew said softly, his heart beating slower. His legs were getting some feeling back.

'Really?' said Mr Reed. 'We rip our faces off' -- he gave a quick pull of his tiny ears -- 'and that's all you can say.' His brown eyes stared in astonishment at Matthew.

Rubbing her freckled nose, Miss Brock said, 'Don't listen to him. He's a moron.'

That's it, Matthew realized, and he slapped himself quite hard across the face. It did not have the desired effect.

'Why did you do that?' asked Mr Xavier. He scrunched up his pale face so much his eyepatch dug into his shaved head.

'I thought I might be dreaming,' said Matthew.

'And I'm the moron,' said Mr Reed.

'Please,' said Matthew, 'someone tell me what's going on?'

'We came to rescue all the children here,' replied Miss Smart, putting a hand through her long flowing dark hair. She had on a smile that made her dimples stand out even more.

'Rrrrrreally?' said Matthew.

'Yeah,' said Miss Brock. Her green eyes seemed brighter than when Matthew had seen them the first time.

'Shame we could only rescue one kid,' said Mr Xavier.

'It is what it is,' said Miss Smart. 'One's better than none. My real name's Chloe, by the way.'

'Jennifer,' said Miss Brock.

'I'm Norman,' said Mr Xavier.

'Never call him Norm,' said Mr Reed. 'He doesn't like that. Oh, and his eyepatch is real, so that you know. Many people don't think it is, but it is. He fell out of a tree when he was younger. A branch went right in his –'

'Are you going to tell him your name or what?' said Norman.

'All right, all right. My name's John.'

'Matthew, not Billy,' said Matthew.

'Orphan?' asked Norman.

Matthew nodded.

'The children we rescue usually are,' said Jennifer. 'We're orphans too.'

'So, you've done this kind of thing before?' asked Matthew.

'A few times,' said Norman.

Matthew looked at each one of his rescuers with admiration. 'Well thank you for rescuing me.' He wasn't going to tell them that he was planning on escaping before they showed up.