In the crazy city where I live, there is a dark secret in my own home, of treacherous danger and furious evil creatures that live in the dark.
Can Luke Johnson find out his families secret?
Disclaimer: This book is based on Darren Shan's Lord Loss, the characters are my own but their personalities are Darren Shan's.
The Darkness of the Night
Chapter 1 – Grieving
Double Spanish on a Friday afternoon, what utter torture! Just as I am thinking that there is a knock at the door. My teacher Mrs Carson opens it and I spot my Dad standing outside.
There has only been one reason why my parents have turned up at school unexpectedly, to tell me that someone has died or been killed. I look closer at my dads face, worried,
because there are tears in his eyes. Great that means someone is dead . . . again. My nana Sarah died only last year, my Aunt Julie a year before her and my cousin Joe two years before her. I don't know why so many of my family have died in only a few years, they just have. I hate going to funerals, the pain, the steady chanting, and the deep, heavy thud as the coffin hits the ground and the crashes as the soil and stones hit the coffin.
At home about half an hour later, sat on the sofa with my dad (Steve) my mum (Sophie) and my sister (Hannah) and me, we all have a cup of tea in our hands, all of us sitting staring at the blank TV screen. As soon as we got in our parents told us that our granddad Jimmy died in a car accident. He died in hospital this morning.
"Are you guys going to be ok?" my dad asks me and my sister.
"Yeah, I will be fine." I say straight away.
"You sure?" dad asks questionably.
"Yes" I say firmly
"Ok, how bout you Hannah?" mum asks
"Ye . . . ye . . . yes, I think so" she says stutteringly.
"Come here!" mum says turning to hug her.
"It's just, loads of our family have died in the last few years, and it . . . its s . . . so hard to deal with, all the funerals, the grief." She says sobbing into mum's shoulder.
"Look we've all got time off work and school to deal with it, ok?" dad asks.
"Yeah, that's cool, thanks dad." I say thankfully.
"Yeah, time off will be good, thanks dad." Hannah says, almost crying again.
"Don't forget I have to go away this weekend", dad says.
"Why? I thought you were off work." Mum says
"Its not work, its that time of the month when I go away, like I do every month." Dad explains
"Oh yea" mum and Hannah say together
"What thing" I ask blackly
The thing with my family is that there is a dark secret, something that has been kept from me since I was born, I can't tell you how much I want to know what the secret is, I always say, every month when dad says he's got to go away, I always ask, but I don't get an answer. Or if I do its"It doesn't matter" or "Never mind" It drives me crazy, when I was younger, it didn't matter, but as I have got older and wiser I want to know, no, I need to know what and why and where my dad goes, even if it is something stupid and irrelevant, even if it something for me, I just need to know, so badly.
"Hey sis! You feeling ok now?" I ask my sister after tea two hours later.
"Yeah I fine thanks, you?" she replies.
"I'm super thanks"
"So what you want" she asks
"Well, I have been wondering for some time, can you please tell me where . . . "I begin
"Where dad goes every month and why?" she finishes for me.
"Well yeah" I say.
"Sorry, can't tell you. Not up to me, dad said not to tell anyone, he only told me and mum. I don't know why, he just did, just ask him." Hannah says.
"No, last time I asked him he just walked away, and other times when I've asked him he just said it wasn't my business, so what's the point?" I explain.
"What's the matter with you two?" mum asks, sticking her head around the door.
"Nothing is the matt . . . "I begin
"He wants to know where and why dad goes away every month, and I did tell him that dad didn't want anyone but me and you to minnow about it, I also told him to ask dad if he really wants to know." Hannah says.
"Ok, ok, I asked, big deal. I just want to know. I hate being kept in the dark." I admit.
"As your sister told you, it isn't up to us who your dad tells; it's his problem, ok? Just speak to him about it if you're really that bothered by it." Mum tells me.
"Look, I have asked him before, and he's walked away and told me it isn't my business and to forget about it. But I can't forget about it, I need to know. Please tell me, please, please, please." I plead.
"I wish I could tell you, I really, really do, but I can't. I'm sorry, Luke." Mum says. "We do care about you"
"Yeah, we do bro," Hannah agrees.
"Yeah I know you do, its just I have know that there is a secret for years. But I thought you had a good reason for keeping me in the dark, but now, as I'm getting older, I thought you wouldn't keep secrets from me, it doesn't matter what it is, were family and should always stick together." I tell them.
"Remember that your at Josh's this weekend." Mum reminds me.
"Yeah, I know." I tell her.