The house at the centre of the multiverse

Chapter 2

Ben entered the small dingy stairwell that led up to the second floor flat that he and his parents lived in, the lights flickered like a cheap horror movie as he trudged up the stairs. It smelt strongly of what he could only describe as a lambs sweaty groin, the smell drifted up from the Turkish takeaway next door to clog up the nose, it wasn't a smell you could get used to either. He knew his parents didn't have much money but surely they could have found a better place to live than here, he was sure this was child abuse.

He paused for a moment at the door, to try and look a little more sad.

Opening it he stepped into the small but clean flat, a stark contrast to the stairwell. A liberal use of flowery air freshener was currently in use. It now smelt like a slutty lambs groin.

His mom was stood in the hallway as he walked in, she turned to smile at him.

"There's my little baby. I'm so sorry to hear about your great uncle." She held out her arms to give him a hug, which he avoided like the plague.

"Mom, sheesh! Only on your birthday!" she rolled her eyes as she grabbed him and dragged him in close and violated his personal space with love. He 'supposed' he could allow her one hug, after all her uncle had just died. As he was slowly realising why smothered was spelt with mother he could hear voices coming from the living room. One he recognized as his dads, the other though was unfamiliar. A light bubbly female voice. He pulled away from his mom.

"Who's here?" was it another family member he hadn't known about?

"Oh it's the lawyer; she arrived this morning to let your dad know about his uncle."

"It was dads uncle?"

"Yeah, they didn't speak." God damn it, she got a free hug. He had to remind himself to not give her one on her birthday.

"Oh, are they sorting stuff out?" then a thought crossed his mind as his heart skipped a beat. "Wait, was uncle Gregory rich? Are we getting money?"

"It's Jeremy," Ben inwardly groaned, why couldn't he get the damn name right. "And try not to sound too excited, he has just died."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." He forgot he was supposed to be feeling sad. "But was he rich?"

"He had a bit of money I think."

"Fuck yeah!" his mom shot him a disappointed glance, which squashed his exuberance. "Sorry." But all the things he could buy! A Gaming computer!

"When you go in there, you better behave." He was semi lost in thoughts of buying nice stuff. A 50 inch TV!

"I will." A car? Ou, would there be enough for a Telsa? He was getting excited.

"And you better get rid of that smile on your face." Ben frowned a little, he hadn't realised he'd been smiling while thinking about of all the stuff he could have.

"Sorry."

"Ready?" Ben tried to look solemn, when he thought he had it down he quickly nodded to his mom. As she opened the door to the living room she shook her head in disappointment, wondering how he had turned out like this.

In the sparsely decorated living room Ben's dad was sat on the worn couch talking to a short pudgy woman wearing a bright striped pink and orange power suit. She had a large orange beehive hairstyle and pink diamond studded glasses. She must have been about fifty but seemed to style her makeup after a twenty year old clown. She clutched a large brown envelope to her rather ample chest. She was giggling manically over something his dad had said.

"Oh behave you!" she chided in a rather shrill voice. Than when she noticed Ben her ruby red lips split into a very large smile that lit up her round face. "Ouuu! This young man must be Benjamin! Just as handsome as his daddy!" she gushed.