Chapter Nineteen:
Sunday. The day the Bible says God rested. The day millions of Christians and Catholics worldwide wake early to make it to Mass or the Sunday Service... To me, it was just another day of sleeping until twelve in the afternoon, showering, grabbing something quick to eat and hitting the books so that I would be prepared for everything on Monday. Mum used to say that she would get me a tailored suit-and-tie combination and teach me how to use a coffee machine like my namesake. That was when she thought he was dead, though. Then I met him, and she saw that he was alive and well, and she wouldn't explain anything to me. She probably thought I was too young to understand, and then she and Dad would argue about whether or not to tell me about Mum's "home business", with him giving the pro's and con's about how I was a lot smarter and more mature than other seven-year-olds. Then she would turn around and say that something called "the 456" wanted me because of her "home business", and it would go on like that for hours, and they would both act the happy-in-love couple in the mornings, pretending that nothing had gone on the previous night. I didn't question them, and they didn't raise any need to question- it would just be a normal day.
This particular Sunday, however, Mum looked far more shaken than she usually did as she entered the kitchen while I grabbed an apple. I looked her over while chewing the fruit, and noticed that her hands were shaking as she poured hot water into two stormy grey mugs.
"Is everything okay, Mum?" I asked, swallowing the apple. She looked at me- her normally kind brown eyes which held glitter were wide and bloodshot with fright. She put the kettle down and looked away, as though ashamed of something. "Mum," I sighed. "You forget that I can understand more than most children my age." It might have sounded pompous, but that was always the best thing to say when I wanted to know something.
Just as she opened her mouth, I dropped my apple, and felt overcome with a strange, electrically-buzzing sensation. My eyes became cold while my body felt like a wax candle, and my throat started feeling stretched and scratchy.
----------------------------------------------
I stared in horror at my son as he started taking grunted breaths, and opened his mouth unmasking that evil noise which sounded like a dying radio. I covered my mouthed and yelled "RHYS!" at the same time as I heard "GWEN!" coming from the back garden. Then, the noise stopped, and the 456 spoke again...
"From the ashes of this Earth is where we shall rule... From the ashes of this Earth is where we shall rule... From the ashes of this Earth is where we shall rule... Give them unto us, Gwen... Give her unto us, Jack... Give them unto us, Ianto."
Then, the noise of the dying radio came back, and after a few seconds, it stopped and I.J. looked up at me. "Well," he cocked his head to the side and stared up at me with those wide hazel eyes. "What's wrong? You look more scared than you did before."