A cold wind had picked up since leaving the hospital
A cold wind had picked up since leaving the hospital. It bit at the cheeks and turned Willy's nose the bright red colour of a tomato, as Ruthy had commented on as they walked through the streets. The town was even quieter than usual, giving Willy a cold feeling of dread about Terrence's whereabouts. Isabella was about ten feet in front of him at the moment and currently had started puffing out her chest and speaking in a high pitched voice. She was trying to be brave, but after desperately searching the town, even she was getting a trifle bit concerned.
"Is there anywhere we haven't looked?" Veronica asked Willy after they had rooted through a couple dark alleyways.
"We've been everywhere except the cookhouse." He replied quietly.
"The cookhouse!" Isabella suddenly shouted, almost sounding half mad. Ruthy, who had been the faster walker, and who had been about a pace behind her, jumped back in surprise, as the woman began taking off in a sprint in the direction of the cookhouse. Veronica and Willy looked at each other warily and then took off behind her.
The cookhouse sat in a bad part of town, about a few streets from where Willy's house was. He had never gone past Cherry Street and he hoped he never would have to, however now seemed to be the time where he would have to summon up his courage to go.
Veronica had wound her arm so tightly around Willy's arm as they entered the bad area that he felt as through it was going to fall off. He understood why she would do this, in fact as he passed homeless person after homeless person on the street, and dirty little restaurants which, from the upkeep of the front of the place was not a restaurant you ever wanted to eat at, he felt a need to want to grab onto an arm.
"Terrence would be mad to come down here. It's just the kind of place where you would be robbed!" Ruthy complained, but unlike Willy and Veronica, she had put on a brave face. Just then, a drunken man came staggering out of an alleyway, swayed on the spot and vomited over the pavement. The three kids then decided to head to the other side of the street.
"I mean, I don't mind helping to find Terrence but when it comes down to worrying about my own personal safety then that's when I start to think of…" Veronica began, but Willy cut her off.
"This is Isabella's only son. With any luck we will find Terrence before anything bad happens to him."
"Or us for that matter." Ruthy added.
Veronica put her head down from then on and refused to look around until they reached the cookhouse. Willy watched Isabella carefully as she went off by herself, searching alleyways.
"We really should stick together around here." said Willy. "Take my other arm Roo."
"Oh that's alright Will; I'm perfectly fine with…" Ruthy began, but yelped and grabbed Willy's arm tightly when an alley cat hissed at her.
"You were saying Roo?" Veronica asked, almost laughing.
"I hate cats!" Ruthy said bitterly, picking up the pace and almost dragging Willy and Veronica down the street.
They all decided then, to run over to the trashcan Isabella was searching in, across the way. Ruthy looked at her curiously before telling her,
"I don't think Terrence is in there Isabella."
Isabella replaced the top and quietly chuckled.
"I think this searching will drive me mad as well." She said, and then, thankfully for Willy and Veronica, began walking a little bit slower.
"Where is this cookhouse anyway Will? You said you knew it." said Ruthy.
"My mother used to be friends with a woman who worked there. Really nice woman actually. Her name was Zooey Mint. She was crazy for this boy who was about her age. She would be about nineteen now I think."
"Is that it? The cookhouse?" Veronica asked, stopping in front of a huge brick building. It didn't look very promising, but then again most of the shops on the street were the same way. A huge green banner was stretched out in front of the door and words written in white said "The Cookhouse"
"Do you really think he might be here though Bella?" Willy asked. "I mean think of where we are!"
"We've looked everywhere else." said Isabella, heading over to the door and yanking it open.
The Cookhouse had the appearance of a very large bar. Scuffed wooden tables littered the huge open area which was dimly lit by hanging light fixtures, most of which had almost burnt out light bulbs in them. The room smelt of smoke and alcohol, a disgusting mix. The people who worked and sat at the tables didn't look very promising either. The room was filled with drunks and gamblers playing with scuffed playing cards. The waitresses, and to put it in the most kind way, were not actually covered up. Isabella averted her eyes, completely disgusted, as did the three kids.
"Why in your right mind would you want to even be here?" said Ruthy, the disgust unmistakable in her tone.
"Why would Terrence want to be here is the question?" said Veronica, her eyes averted.
Willy searched the room put couldn't find a sign of Zooey. But then again, he hadn't seen her in years and she might have dyed her hair green or something. Just then however, the door to the kitchen opened and out came from the door the girl he had known when he was only six, five years seemed to have not caught up with her yet. Her arms were taken up by two huge platters of bottled beer. Willy tapped Isabella on the shoulder.
"I know her." He said.
"Oh good. I was hoping I wouldn't have to ask any of these…lovely people." said Isabella. "Where is she?"
Willy pointed out the girl. She was much more modest than all the other waitresses in terms of the way she dressed in a long dirty white apron and equally dirty blue dress. He assumed that these were items given to her. Her nose was slightly dirty and her curly brown hair was in a tangled mess despite tying it up in a ponytail.
"Zooey?" Willy called out.
The girl peered at him through her brown eyes and took a step back in shock.
"It's me. William. Do you remember me at all?"
Zooey warily walked the length of the room and glanced at him through his braces all the while managing to keep the heavy load of bottles supported on her arms.
"How…What happened to you?" she asked timidly. "Where's your mother?"
"In the…mad house." said Willy, and after he said it, he was shocked. He thought it an insult to call it the mad house when his mother was in there, but now the word seemed to slip out freely.
"I'm so sorry. What happened?"
"My father thought she might have been cheating so he kicked her out of the house. She then…well I'm not sure actually what happened after that."
Zooey lowered her head.
"My father kicked me out of the house about a year ago. I married without his permission."
She paused and bit her lip.
"I should be getting back to work."
She began to walk away toward a table but Willy grabbed her arm. Startled by this movement, Zooey's hand slipped and a whole platter of bottles tumbled down to the floor, where they smashed.
Isabella rushed over to her side to help. Willy, Veronica and Ruthy also swept down to the floor to pick up the broken shards.
"If my boss sees this I will be fired." said Zooey. "First I let the boy into the kitchen and then…"
"A boy?" said Isabella lifting her head up. "Young with dark hair?"
"That's him. Said something about a huge lie and how he was going to join the circus."
"Well, at least we know he's sane." said Ruthy sarcastically.
"He's in the back."
I know that at this point there seems to be no end in sight for this but in actual fact, the next chapter is the last. It will be long, since I have a lot of loose ends to tie up. The fact is, the sequel to this, which for the current moment is called "How Sugar Shook The World", might be delayed for a bit since I need to create a whole new set of characters for William's teenage years. Lucky for me, this time, I'll be working with a more colourful cast and the plots will not be as dark. The third sequel which is also titled…yes people, I do think far ahead… "This Is Who I Am For The Rest Of My Life" goes back into some dark elements that you see in this story, only it deals more with the spies than the family issues you see here. I'm really looking forward to writing something more light and fun and this is what the sequel will have. Once again, the next chapter of this story will be the last and it probably will be the longest chapter I will ever write. At least for this story it will be. You have no idea how much satisfaction I will have when I finish this, because, if you have noticed, my stories are like a race. I start off running from the starting point but I can never seem to get even close to the finish line. But now I am almost there and I feel pretty proud of myself.