Fresh Air
Hey guys! This is my first fanfic! Please go easy on me? And do let me know if you wanna hear any more chapters? Okay, so let the fanfic begin!
Clive's POV
They said I had a life sentence. They said security would surround my cell. Liars. Personally, I wouldn't call three months a life sentence. I drew in the air around me. It was fresh, sweet almost. I didn't really expect any different after spending time in prison. There were not many roads or houses on Dartmoor, just sheep, grass, cows – country stuff. Isolated. That was the word. I felt a little guilty, walking along one of the many public footpaths, branches and leaves brushing past my face as if attempting to catch me, to place me back into that hell hole. I never wanted to go back to prison, and that was a fact. When I was first thrown in there, I promised that when I got out, I would change, a new me. Knocking out a prison guard and stealing his clothes is not a good start to that life. But still, how could I complain? Even if it was hard and my future was uncertain, I was out wasn't I? And one of the things that I knew for certain - there was a lot more to come.
A twig snapped under my foot and my thoughts faded back into reality. All of a sudden, questions hammered into my head and began spinning. How far had I walked? Would anyone find me here? Where would I go next? What if I went hungry? Where would I spend the night? What would they do if I went back...? As all these thoughts subsided, I started to feel dizzy. Steadying myself on a rock, I sorted my thoughts out. I narrowed my choices down to two. The city nearest here was Plymouth, to the South, or, I could travel to Exeter, father to the North. Exeter was nearer my destination, however, Plymouth was nearer to here... I would work it out later, first, I needed to figure out how, if possible, I was to get to one of those cities.
About an hour later, I had travelled back along the path and out to the side of one of the few roads across Dartmoor. As I travelled up it, I found a sign.
'Bus Stop'
Yes! Just what I was searching for! I slumped again the sign, panting. Pigeons flew across the cloudless sky. The sun shone down on me, setting my skin alight with it's intense heat. By studying it, I could see that it was around midday. Soon, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wheels aproching, crunching on the stones of the badly-maintained road. Holding my hand out, I signalled the bus to stop. But wait – I had no money! What was I to do now?
Before I could take action, I saw the destination of the bus above the windscreen.
'Town Centre, Plymouth'
Perfect! Making sure the bus driver wasn't looking, I ducked behind a rock, hoping he didn't see me. The bus pulled up and the doors folded open. At the speed of light, I almost silently crawled below the bus driver's desk, making sure his gaze did not wonder onto the sight of my devious action, took a seat next to a window and was about to signal to the people on the bus to stay quiet when I saw that most of them were so old they seemed incapable of speaking and if they weren't they were in deep in the land of pixies and fairy dust (in other words, asleep or daydreaming). "I swear I saw... signal... not... hmph." the driver mumbled, obviously deeply confused by this strange speculation.
Soon, I arrived. There were many people in the middle of town, some shopping, some on skateboards and some just hanging around. There were also many buses too. Some coming, some going, almost every second! I waited, constantly scanning the busses for a sign saying 'London'. That bus didn't come in five minutes, nor ten, nor twenty for that matter. I decided to ask one of the bus drivers for any information they had. I was slightly worried as to whether the driver would recognise me or not but I was in the middle of Plymouth, and nobody had recognised me yet so why should a bus driver know? As soon as the next bus came, I got on. "Excuse me mister." I asked, trying not to let my worries show, that would only make him curious. "Yes sonny?"
"I'm trying to find the next bus to London, would you happen to know when that comes?"
"Let me see sonny, it comes in approximately five minutes. Enjoy your journey!"
"I will, thank you"
Phew, that was a relief. Those five minutes seemed to take hours but, sure enough, it came. I decided to try my old trick, i got on all fours, behind all the other people wanting to get on. Clink, clunck, clink went the money. I crawled through...
"Oy! What do you think you're doin'?"
"It's okay, he's with us!"
There was a girl, she looked around eighteen. She had short, very dark brown hair and semi-dark skin.
"Look, you can have your money!" Another girl called, presumably the first girl's friend. She slammed the money down on the desk with such force even I was a bit intimidated. She looked the same age as the first girl. She was a bit taller though, with darkish brown hair to her shoulders and relatively light skin.
"Come over and sit with us." The first girl hissed in my ear.
On our way back to our seats, I thanked the girls and introduced myself.
"No probs." The first girl stated with a colossal smile. "I'm Esme by the way."
"I'm Aylexis, you can call me Aylex though." Grinned the second girl.
Now that I was closer to them, I could see the girls' appearances better. Aylex was pretty. She had green/hazel eyes and her hair was in layers. Esme, however, was stunning. She had dark brown eyes that seemed to twinkle under the light and her almost black hair was shaped around her face. I was so busy staring at Esme's eyes that I didn't hear Aylex asking me a question.
"Hello? Earth to Clive, can you hear me?"
"What? Oh yeah, sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, why were you trying to get on the bus without paying?"
As far as they looked like they wouldn't say anything, I couldn't risk telling them my secret. Besides, there were people on the bus that might overhear our conversation.
"I, uh, have no money." At least that was partly true.
"Really?" Esme asked, her beautiful smile creasing into a worried frown. "Like, no money at all?"
"Yeah."
"You poor thing!" Esme stated, her frown dissolving into a look of determination. "We have to lend Clive some money Aylex!"
"No, really it's fine." That was lying there. Downright lying. I really needed some money.
"No, it's fine. I don't mind giving you money – it's not like I'm short of it or anything!" Aylex smiled, getting out her purse.
"Honestlly, I'm fine." How stupid was I?
"Well, if you insist. At least take five pounds though won't you?"
"You were going to give me more?"
"Just take it!"
"Fine."
I could tell that I was going to like these two, especially Esme. We talked for all of the four hours bus drive and, surprisingly, none of it was in the slightest boring! I learnt that they were students from London, roommates and best friends who studied together at the same university. They were visiting Plymouth to see a friend.
"Bye Esme, bye Aylex!"
"Bye Clive!" They both called in chorus and giggled.
We had arranged that we would all stay friends and I had both of the girls' mobile numbers. They had said that I could come visit them sometime. I was to look forward to that date with great anticipation.
I stepped off the bus and stared into the word towering above me. London was so vast! So big! So busy! I hoped that nobody would recognise me here – why hadn't anyone recognised me before?
I knew the way to my destination off by heart. The streets of London smelt so familiar! I was so glad to be here again! I reached the door of my destination and I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. No answer. "Hello? Is anyone there?" No answer. I turned the door handle to see that the door was unlocked. Something was very wrong here. I crept through the house. "Hello? Professor? Luke? Flora?" I tip toed up the stairs, not a sound emitted from the soles of my shoes. I checked the study, the living room, the kitchen, bathroom, the professor's room – just one more room now: Flora's room. "Flora?" I called...
I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I opened the door. I gasped. It was like a pitch black curtain had been pulled over the world. "Flora? Are you in here?" I called to which there was no answer. The room was cold and had an eerie feel to it. As I scrambled for the light switch, I felt a hand grab hold of my arm. "Flora? Is that you?" I jumped as the light turned on to reveal Flora staring my way. "Flora!" I grinned. "It's so nice to –". Flora's makeup was smudged, her hair like a crow's nest and her face, ah, her face... A look of madness was creased across Flora's forehead. An evil mad look. There was a sign of a smile at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes... they looked so cold. So empty. That portrail of emotion will haunt me in my sleep for all eternity... But still, I stayed calm. Flora began to dig her nails in to my flesh. "YOU LOVE ME. Don't you Clive?"
"Flora, please stop, you're hurting me." I stated, polka faced. This caused her to dig her nails in harder.
"I LOVE YOU, CLIVEY, DON'T YOU LOVE ME BACK?" Her voice was hoarse and croaky, like an old woman's. Growing in volume.
"Excuse me?"
"YOU DON'T LOVE ME, DO YOU CLIVEY?" Flora was screeching now. A grin had appeared at the sides of her mouth. Her voice softened. "Well, Clive, if you don't love me, I guess you are of no use to me!" Flora drew her hand back, tiny drops of blood appearing where her nails had been. I wanted to run, to run fast into the horizon and never come back. But I couldn't. I was frozen. She reached behind her back.
"F-Flora." I stuttered. "Please."
"ENOUGH!"Flora screeched once more.
"W-what hap-happened to you Flora?" A single tear ran down my cheek. "You used to be so happy, so nice, so pretty! What happened!" I began to get angry, shouting towards the end of the sentence. This seemed to daze Flora slightly and for a moment, I swear I saw her old self return.
"I saw what being evil could be like, Clive, you would know wouldn't you! Why don't you join me? Together, we can destroy London!"
"Wait, what do you mean, 'I saw what being evil could be like'?"
"Clivey, darling, I did not resist back when you 'kidnapped' me for no reason! I thought it would be fun to see what mischief you could get into..." There was a glint of madness in her eye. I'm not going to lie, I was utterly terrified.
"Flora! Please, I've changed! Don't take the wrong path like I did!"
"TOO LATE!" Flora squealed in delight.
Everything seemed to be in slow motion from then on, Flora took the knife out from behind her back and aimed it at my chest, the blood pumping through her faster than lightning, her eyes seemed to be alight – she seemed so happy, yet so creepily evil. My life seemed to flash before my eyes at that moment, Esme, prison, court, Layton, home, foster parents, explosion, dad, mum... mum... MUM... MUM!
"Clive..."
"Mum!"
"Clive... listen to me... you have to do something for me..."
"Anything, mum!"
"You have to move... out of the way..."
"Mum... mum? MUM! I DON'T WANT TO GO! DON'T MAKE ME LEAVE!"
"Shh... Clive... you know you have... to leave... you have your whole life ahead of you..."
"MUM! NO, MUM!"
Everything went white... and then, it faded...
Things seemed a lot faster from then on, I plucked up the courage to move to the side, but not far enough. Flora brought the knife down into my arm. I screamed. I was falling. Down, down. Everything faded into black...
I got up. "Ouch!"
"Be careful, Clive!"
"Esme, is that you?"
"Yes! Now lie down again!"
"Why is everything blurry and white?"
"You're in hospital, Clive. You really scared me..." Esme whispered, trailing off towards the end, sounding a little hurt.
"Why?" I asked, my vision returning.
"I, I don't know." Esme said, "I mean, me and Aylex found you in some house, you had a knife through your arm and here we are. I don't know anything more than that."
There was silence for a while, with only the ticking of the clock to entertain us. I decided to tell her. Everything.
Esme was shocked after hearing my story. "You won't tell, will you?"
"Never."
And so, this is kind of the ending to my story. There are a few things I need to say though:
Don't worry, I wasn't put in jail again.
The reason why nobody recognised me was because the court somehow believed I was seventeen so treated me as a child and did not publish my name nor appearance.
Flora died. Don't ask how. Please.
I got a new name and Esme and Aylex invited me to live in the spare bedroom in their flat. My arm is healed and life is good... for now.
The Professor was okay and Luke too, don't worry, the Professor had just gone to see him in America.