The Shadow Setters Book 1: Prominence

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next few days were something of a blur for Jason as he busied himself with the preparation of his new bedroom to accommodate his future studying and gaming requirements. A whole day was spent cleaning and re-arranging the large room to his taste although he frequently looked up from his efforts and tutted to himself constantly. He had found more of the strange sticky vein-like marks dotted around on the walls and wiped them off as best he could as he came across them. Surprisingly to Jason, David had dismissed the marks when informed of them without even examining them for himself, saying that the house had been stood empty for quite some time and old houses react to cold damp conditions inside and that things like that were something they would just have to get used to. Regardless of that feeble conclusion, Jason knew that the general state of the d\u00e9cor would drive him to madness if things were not amended swiftly. He had put that down to living his entire life in pristine surroundings which was maintained by a cleaner that took care of things. With no such luxury out in the middle of nowhere, David Conroy had taken great joy informing his son that his own en suite's cleanliness was now his own responsibility. This situation was a culture shock in so many dimensions, a shift from one end of the spectrum to the other. 

One day melted into the next in a blurred pattern of intense sleep that Jason could still not fully comprehend and the un-lifting bleakness of the outside world that he thought looked as if it had not showed any evidence that the sun still existed in the solar system any more. If anything, Jason thought that if it were at all possible, it had got ever so slightly bleaker and the days even shorter. His contact to the outside world via texting to Katee and his closest friends kept the concept alive that there was a world still revolving beyond the dim blanket that he felt hidden under. The constant banter supplied by the boys and Katee's re-assuring affections forced sunshine through the winter darkness. 

Jason's efforts were rewarded on the third day as content with his work on the room at an end and with the addition of some personal items including some overtly large posters which made a good job of obscuring the drab surface beneath, he finally unpacked the Maelstrom and gave the state of the art games console a run through it's paces with no further thought as to any secondary plan to fill the rest of his day. This was his driving force to get the room done and he had followed his father's wishes on the subject completely. Now was the time to abuse the privilege of free time to the maximum. Jason immersed himself into his newly discovered gaming world. Just for a few hours he was in the world of Scum killer, a rogue vigilante cop secretly mopping up the streets of criminals, drifting away and playing the part of the hero he had always dreamed he would be as most men do at one stage or other in their lives, a hero who had the power to change things around him just as he wished with no consequence, just as he wished he could achieve in the real world. 

It was late afternoon before Jason hit a roadblock. He had reached a part of the game that no matter how many times he tried, he could not get past. He thought of saving his progress and moving on to another game, and he had a fair selection to choose from in which to do so but this adventure had pulled him in deeply, to the point that he could not let go even if he wanted to. His frustration had threatened to boil over into anger at his inability to solve the puzzle. He had walked away from it, fixed himself a drink and a snack which had calmed him down initially but when he was ready to resume, the same problem blighted him. There seemed to be only one solution to the problem. Jason forcibly clicked out of his newly discovered world and was re-introduced to his real, less desirable one as if emerging from a trance like state. Kato was sprawled across his bed deep in slumber. He stiffly pulled his frame out of the office chair and paced to the top of the stairs and shouted down to his father and waited. No reply. David had been in and out all day just as he had been for the past few days but Jason could not recall hearing his father go out this time, such was his depth of engrossment in his current task. He had even received three texts whilst immersed in his play, two amusing jokes, both the same, one from Spider, one from Grant, the other from Katee checking on his progress. He remembered vaguely hearing the text tone sounding but was quickly dragged back into more engaging matters before he reacted to them. Jason had a thought in his mind and he had to act on it. He had no internet connection to look up the solution so he must find a shop that sold console magazines and hope that an answer sat within its pages. Whilst getting ready to go out, he had come up with the perfect plan to kill quite a few birds with one stone. He would jog around the surrounding area to scout for a newsagents shop whilst at the same time find a little course in which he can run around and burn off some of those grease fests that he had been abusing his body with since he had arrived here, just over a week ago. Genius.