Shouldn't Be

chapter 3

A week had passed since Neil had first wandered into town. He'd never stayed in one place this long before. He knew that he should move on, that he'd get found out and questions would be asked. But Neil kept finding reasons to stay one more day. Deep down he knew he was just making excuses; he liked hanging out with Jason, who was different just like him. The two of them had spent the day in the wood, over the last few days they had been building a tree house. It was fun to do and it gave Neil somewhere proper to sleep outside. They were back at Jason's house now, well, just outside it.

“Bye Jason” said Neil as he turned to go.

“Hehe” grinned Jason “I'll see you tomorrow Neil... you know... you're the first friend I’ve had for ages”

Neil stared as the door closed, then, slowly, he smiled and turned to head back. It was getting dark so there weren't many people in the park. Even so Neil made absolutely sure no one was watching when he ducked into the bushes. By now he'd learnt the path way into the woods as well as Jason. He stood up and stretched as he came out into the clearing. The tree house was looking good and Neil nimbly climbed up the makeshift ladder that had been attached to the tree trunk. Inside was a table, two beanbags, a supply of food and a thin mattress and sleeping bag where Neil got ready to sleep. As he curled up in the warm sleeping bag he looked out of the window up at the moon hidden behind a thin layer of cloud. And as he drifted off to sleep Neil thought to himself as he had for the last week.

I can stay another day, one more day won't hurt...

*

Neil awoke to birdsong and sunlight streaming in through the glassless window. He blinked hard and the fumbled around for his watch. When he saw the time he blinked, checked it once more, blinked again and then cannoned out his sleeping bag and into his clothes. He'd overslept.

Strange Neil thought to himself Where's Jason? I'm in the tree house so even if I overslept he should have come here by now and woken me.

Slightly confused, Neil grabbed some crisps from the food supply and climbed down the ladder with them in his mouth. As he did when leaving the wood during the day he took the route out onto the old railway. He ate his snack thoughtfully as he wandered along. When he reached the hedge and came out onto the road Neil picked up the pace and jogged through town towards Jason's house. As he entered the avenue where Jason's house was, a car left. That's not particularly unusual but this car had blacked out windows which caught Neil's eye. He shrugged and walked across the road to Jason's house. He rang the doorbell and waited. But there was no familiar thundering of Jason rushing down the stairs. The door opened to reveal Jason's mum.

“Hello Mrs Standbridge, is Jason there?”

“Oh, hello Neil” she said “sorry but Jason's not here right now. His father and I are going on our anniversary so he's gone to stay with his aunt and uncle for a while”

Neil stared at her thoughtfully while gears clicked and whirred in his head.

“Sorry” he said, a dull ache slowly growing inside him “but something doesn't add up. Why are you sending him away in the middle of a school week?”

“Oh, well, we've always done this, we have permission from his school”

“I see... a big trip like that he must have known about it, but last night Jason said he'd see me tomorrow...”

“Ah, well, we kept it a secret you see, Jason does like to see his cousins so we thought it would be a nice surprise”

“When did he go?” asked Neil fishing for more information, the dull ache was getting worse.

“You literally just missed him, I wouldn't be surprised if you had passed their car”

Neil instantly thought of that car with the blacked out windows, the dull ache intensified again.

“I see” said Neil smiling “Oh well, thank you anyway”

He turned to go.

“Oh, one last thing” he said over his shoulder “I can remember Jason talking about his family, he's an only child right?”

“Yes that's right” Jason's mother replied behind him.

“I see, yes, he said he was an only child... just like both his parents...”

There was silence behind him as Neil set off, he took that as confirmation. Neil's mind went back to the first things Jason had said to him.

…I'm under suspicion…I healed in days what should have killed me…'Government' people…ran lots of tests on me…

Neil racked his brains and a later conversation came to mind. Jason had been talking again and mentioned that when the tests had been authorised the 'Government' people had taken him to some sort of military compound to the north of the town to perform them. The dull ache had become a cold, sharp feeling in Neil's chest. His friend, his first friend in ages, had been taken by the government. Neil looked down at his hands, he wasn't going to just let this happen, he could do something about this.

“And anyone who gets in my way” he said to himself as he started to walk north “is gonna burn!”

Neil was not in a good mood.