Five

Words: 1136

This is the second vignette in Five, although being the fourth I wrote. This is one of the first thoughts that lurked in my mind when I thought to take on the writing challenge... A big thanks to Erin French and Imbrii for telling me their thoughts on it ^_____^



Two: Movin' On

When Riff looks out the window he sees sunny, blue skies with the top of an oak tree that is home to dozens of birds. He sees this same sky even when it's rainy, which is quite a lot. Riff doesn't like the rain, so he pretends that the sky is sunny and blue all day long.

He doesn't remember if he liked birds before coming to this place, where a woman takes care of him and speaks in a soft voice, but he likes watching them fly across that bright and eternally blue sky. Early in the spring he sees the baby birds just learning how to fly; he can tell that they're babies because they don't fly with the grace of their parents. Birds sing pretty songs, he thinks, and the woman he sees every day tells him he's right. Riff likes her. He thinks she's nice and pretty; she reminds him of his mother.

Once a day, if he's good, she takes him out of his room and down to a game area where other men like him play billiards and bagatelle. Riff doesn't know how to play those games so he sits and watches everyone else, occasionally engaging in conversation with someone new. Sometimes if it's quiet and he's paying attention, he can hear the soft tinkling of a piano next door. Riff likes the piano and the woman who cares for him tells him she used to play it as a girl. He likes hearing her tell him stories, over and over again.

When Riff asks, the woman tells him gently that he's at Bethlehem and that makes him happy; it reminds him of a song he and his brother used to sing during Christmastime. He doesn't remember who his brother is, but he knows he had one because the woman says so. Riff asks if the oak tree outside his window is his brother because he likes it, and the woman always humors him and tells him yes, the oak tree outside his window is his brother. And that makes Riff happy.

Sometimes he has a visitor. About once a week the same man visits and talks with him; he reminds Riff of his father, so he likes that man. And Riff thinks the man likes him, too, because he visits him so often, but sometimes the man scares Riff because he has a pushy tone and doesn't care to hear about how many birds flew past his window that morning.

Riff likes the woman better because she listens to him.

The man who visits Riff tells him that his name is Alexis, but Riff sometimes has to ask him what it is because he forgets. Alexis always asks him to come to his house and work for him, but Riff doesn't want to leave the nice woman, his brother the tree, or even the billiard and bagatelle-tables he never plays at; he tells the man this, but Alexis offers to teach him how to play those games and even says that he'll plant an oak tree outside Riff's window. He tells him he has a room of his own and Riff likes hearing this, although he says he likes the room he has now better.

Alexis has visited him for years, but Riff won't go home with him. He says he's happy and content where he is; he likes the blue skies and the tinkling of the piano. Sometimes Alexis gets impatient and he yells at Riff, telling him that he'll still see blue skies at his new home and he'll even be able to play the piano, but then the woman who cares for Riff cuts off the visit and tells Alexis to go home; but he comes back again the next week with the same question.

This week when Alexis visits Riff, something new happens; Alexis brings a visitor. This makes Riff happy because he enjoys seeing new people. He likes going to the game room for this reason because he meets someone new every day there, but he wonders why he doesn't see some people anymore. The woman who cares for Riff tells him that it's because those people were "cured" and were able to go home; she tells him that Riff can go home whenever he wants, but he chooses to stay.

Riff smiles at Alexis' visitor. He thinks he looks like a blackbird that lives in the oak tree outside his window, and when he says that, Riff's blackbird blushes. Alexis introduces his visitor as his son Cain, but Riff is content to call him Mr. Blackbird because he can't think to remember his name.

Alexis tells him that his son is fifteen years old and he'd like to see Riff become friends with him. Riff likes that idea and on the subject begins to tell Mr. Blackbird about the oak tree outside his window and the families of birds that live there. Alexis' son is a little shy, but he doesn't seem to mind hearing about the things his father thinks very mundane; even if he did mind, though, Riff would tell him anyway.

He likes telling about those things.

Riff tells Mr. Blackbird about how the grandfather clock in the game room stopped and how that made him sad because he really liked the pendulums that swung back and forth. That seems to remind Alexis' son of something he read recently and he asks Riff if he's ever read Edgar Allan Poe, but even though he can, Riff doesn't read. He says that the black ink and small letters look unfriendly so he tries not to read if he can help it.

This response seems to make Mr. Blackbird smile and laugh, and that, more than anything, makes Riff happy. He decides he likes it when Mr. Blackbird smiles and he tells him that a smile makes him cute.

Mr. Blackbird blushes and their visit comes to an end when the woman who cares for Riff ushers Alexis and his son out. That makes Riff sad, but the woman tells him that Mr. Blackbird unwittingly had an unacceptable influence on Riff, so he stares out the window and tries to look for blackbirds flying into his view of the blue sky.

Against the woman's wishes, Alexis comes back alone and talks with Riff for a bit. He tells Riff that Mr. Blackbird grew attached to him quickly, which was very rare for his character. This makes Riff happy and when Alexis asks him if he'll come home and work for him, Riff tells him yes.

Alexis smiles and Riff asks if he's made him happy. The man tells him yes, and when Riff asks why, he says it's because his plan is working.

And a blackbird flies across the sunny, blue sky.



Notes: Hey, this is the only one with notes... Anyway, a lot of things are implied in this vignette without being outright said. The timeline for this is when he's in the mental institution, but he's still in there instead of out in the Hargreaves household as a servant. Bethlehem was the name of one of two mental institutions in London, and bagatelle is a game sort of like billiards (which is like pool)...but I don't know how it's played. Because writing about the pendulum reminded me, it therefore reminded Cain of the title The Pit and the Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe. I figured he'd be the sort to read that... And I really don't know if blackbirds are native to Europe, but...um...this is an AU! I can do anything with this! ...Besides, haven't you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Two blackbirds could have come over with coconuts...or something...