Ok. I know I seemed to have skipped a few events, but right now I'm shaking in my fabulous space boots. I'm currently standing fifteen meters away from Dervish and Grubbs Grady's house.
I was released from the asylum with a mobile. The doctor's ring every week, once a week on Monday night at seven. I've been out for seven days now. And I spent those seven days hitchhiking here, as no one in my old town would give me a lift, due to my previous residence.
'Oi, You', someone shouted from behind me. I turned to look at them, wondering who would use the word "Oi" to start a sentence.
'Bill-E Spleen', I laughed as he looked at me weirdly, before smirking.
'Oh, so you've heard of me', he smiled, flattening his hair.
'Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that', I smiled as he walked closer to me.
'Are you a friend of dervish's or Grubbs?' Bill-E asked.
'Well, Dervish offered to help me, but I don't think he really knows I'm coming, or more to the point, that I'm here', I rambled as Bill-E nodded, actually listening.
'Well, let's let him know you're here, shall we?' Bill-E asked, offering his arm to me. I laughed and linked my arm with his as he led me closer to the door I had been staring at, hoping no one would come out of it. Bill-E pushed open the door and pulled me inside.
'Dervish?' he shouted as I heard something shuffle in the room to the right of us.
'He's in town, Bill-E', someone shouted before making him or herself known.
'Bugger, Grubbs. Uh…what's your name?' Bill-E asked turning to me.
'Oh, Riley Sanchez', I smiled.
'Oh, you', Grubbs said uncomfortably, 'Yeah, Dervish told me you might show up, I'm Grubbs, and this is Bill-E', Grubbs smiled, holding out his hand. I shook it as Bill-E looked uncomfortable now.
'Oh, So you're a Demon Orphan too?' Bill-E said rather rudely.
'Uh, Yeah, I guess you could say that', I mumbled, looking away from the two boys in front of me.
'Did you know Dervish is my father?' Bill-E asked proudly.
'No, I didn't', I smiled, flashing my book at Grubbs. He nodded in realisation and smiled.
'Grubbs…' Someone shouted from behind us, only noticing us when he walked in the door.
'Dervish, Riley's here…' Grubbs smiled as Dervish looked at me and nodded. I nodded back and he smiled.
'Welcome, Riley', Dervish smiled wider as he switched his attention from me to Grubbs.
'Grubbs, there's some mail for you here, I picked it up from the Vale, and if I had have known Riley was going to be here I would've picked up more than frozen pizza for dinner', Dervish mumbled half the stuff.
'I, Uh, don't mind, it's probably better than the cardboard sandwiches I got fed at the asylum', I answered uncomfortably; fully aware Grubbs and Bill-E's eyes were now on me.
'You were in an insane asylum?' Bill-E gaped, looking from me to Dervish.
'I was not insane, if that's what you're asking. My grandparents didn't believe me about the…' I couldn't say it.
'Demons', Grubbs muttered.
'Yeah, so they sent me to the asylum', I finished.
'Anyway, let's get off the topic of asylum's and get straight into the introductory', Dervish smiled, handing the pizza and mail to Grubbs and Bill-E before showing me around, telling me all the stuff I already read in the book. It wasn't until near the end of the tour that I told him.
'Uh, Dervish, I uh, read the book', I mumbled nervously as I showed him the lord loss book.
'Oh, I've never read the book personally, but what does this Darren Shan say?' Dervish asked.
'Basically everything you're telling me now', I smiled as he nodded in understanding.
'Then I shall leave you to choose one of the many bedrooms to claim your own, jobs start in the morning. You take over Grubb's jobs I believe', Dervish smiled and headed up stairs to what I assumed was his study.
'He's gone?' I heard someone mutter behind me. I didn't know whether that was a rhetorical question or not, but I answered it anyway.
'Yeah, he's gone to his study', I mumbled, heading down the hall, two pairs of footsteps behind me. One pair of footsteps died away as I found a room, which seemed inhabited. 'You know what Dervish always says, Grubbs'.
'You've read the book, right?' he asked.
'Yeah, a million times, why?' I asked, dumping my bag on the bed and turning to face him.
'Well, what I want to know is, did your parents…go out…like mine?' he was mumbling, obviously he still hadn't come to terms with the whole demon thing. Even though he did fight with them and play a game of chess against the leader.
'Pretty much yeah', I nodded, sitting on the bed beside my bag.
'How can you be so calm?' he asked, I don't know whether he was upset or angry. 'How can you just sit there and not be feeling any pain, any…emptiness?' he was angry.
'Some people don't believe in my morals, but I, all my life, have believed not to invest to much emotion into anything when there is a large chance you will lose them'; I answered shrugging my shoulders. 'I mean, of course I cared for my parents, if they got hurt, I'd give them the support they needed, but I never…loved them, I guess would be the words'.
'How, how can you live by that, everybody needs love', it was a rhetorical question.
'I get love, Grubbs, I do, but I just don't give it back, after my younger brother's death when I was two, I just decided now would be the time to stop caring', I shrugged again and he nodded.
'I understand', he sat down on the other side of my bag.
'You don't', I smiled nervously as he nodded.
'No, I don't, but they are your moral's and just because I don't understand them, nor do I like them, that doesn't mean I have to judge you', he smiled back and I nodded at him.
'True', I smiled as the door that I hadn't noticed that had been closed, opened with a bang.
'Dervish burnt the pizza and is attempting to bake muffins', Bill-E shouted with amusement as I smiled wider.
'I think this would be one thing you'll be grateful that I'm here for', I laughed, patting Grubbs on the shoulder as I got up and smiled at Bill-E as I passed.
'I so hope she cooks better than Dervish', I heard Bill-E exclaim as two pairs of footsteps started behind me again.
'Dervish?' I asked, as the three of us walked into the kitchen, coughing. 'You in there somewhere?'
'I, uh, burnt the pizza's'; Dervish muttered as I heard cluttering and a bang in front of me somewhere.
'I think you need to open a few…' I exclaimed, running into the glass kitchen door before opening it, 'Doors!'
'Yeah, what she said', I heard Bill-E exclaim from somewhere near me. Once the smoke had cleared, I set on throwing out the burnt pizzas and then set my sights on throwing something together for dinner.
'Where'd you learn to cook?' Grubbs asked. The three gentlemen had found their new source of entertainment. Me.
'My mum, before she died, she used to be the chef for the local café. I worked there every now and then…and the more I came in to work, the more she taught me. I can cook anything you ask me too', I smiled, heading over to the fridge and pulling out a lunchbox full of cold meat for sandwiches.
'Oh. Can you cook chocolate chip pikelets?' Bill-E asked, almost foaming at the mouth of the sound of such a delicious treat.
'Pretty much, Saturday morning, when you're not at school, I'll make some. I'm up pretty early, I go for a jog around four or five and train for about an hour, so head on over after seven', I was muttering as I was doing all the cooking, completely forgetting this wasn't my house. It made me feel so much at home I could not believe it.
'Awesome', Grubbs and Bill-E chanted before walking out to the lounge room with their dinner.
'Why jog so early?' Dervish asked me as I sat a plate in front of him covered in salad and cooked salami.
'Gets the system going, also jogs the mind and gives me a chance to think about previous events. Why?' I asked him curiously as he looked oddly at the cooked salami.
'I might join you one morning, that's all. I usually go jogging about seven, seven thirty, depending on Grubitsch and his plans', Dervish smiled, after finally eating the toasted salami.
'You plan your day around Grubbs?' I asked him curiously; unsure of whether this guy was as sincere and trusting as he sounded on the phone.
'Yes. I like to know what he's doing so that if I need his help, I can use him when he's not doing anything', Dervish answered, taking another bite of salami. 'Are you not eating?'
'I never eat dinner. I cannot sleep otherwise', I smiled, pulling a tea towel out of a drawer and set my sights upon doing the dishes.
'No. No Riley. This is your first night here. Yes you shall be doing dishes, but not tonight, go watch television with the boys', Dervish ordered. I knew it was an order because as soon as I continued heading for the dishes, he stood up.
'Ok, but if you need help, just call me', I smiled as I slapped the tea towel down on the bench and headed through the now plain to see kitchen door, into the lounge room to where Bill-E and Grubbs were watching boxing.
'Do you like boxing, Riles?' Grubbs asked; plate and cutlery set to the side clean and his fists in the air pretending to be the boxers.
'Trained for a year to be one', I smiled, sitting on the floor in front of the couch, twitching my head every now and then when a boxer would get hit or would avoid a hit.
'Really, why'd you quit?' Grubbs asked as I started to kneel moving twice as much.
'Parent's', I said simply now standing to the side of the room, pretending to be the Ukrainian boxer.
'I'm going to head up to bed, got to get up early after all', I yawned, 'Night Dervish', I added popping my head into the kitchen before heading upstairs in a house that a few hours ago would look haunted and creepy, but now, it just feels like home.
'Wake-y, Wake-y', someone whispered tickling the bridge of my nose, causing me to sniff and inhale… women's perfume?
'What?' I asked rather annoyed that I was woken from my rather peaceful slumber.
'Whoa, no need to be grumpy', the lady said as I looked up at her. 'I'm Meera'.
'Oh, so you're the "fucking hot" Meera I've heard less than I thought about', I laughed as she just smiled at me as I sat up, remembering to keep the doona higher than my armpits. I had a little habit of sleeping in my underwear.
'Ah, so they've drooled about me, have they?' she smiled as I nodded. 'Why are you so haughty taughty?' she asked, indicating to the doona.
'No shirt, no pant's', I smiled as she nodded.
'Another underwear sleeper', she smiled. She seemed to smile a lot.
'Yeah, it's comfortable', I laughed as she reached up and ripped the doona down. I groaned, as I tried my hardest to cover myself up.
'Where on earth did you get all these bruises?' she asked eyes wide as I just looked away.
'At night I dream about them. They come to me in my dreams, tell me that I am next, and then it feels like there inside of me, it feels like they're controlling me, and then…' I mumbled, indicating to the bruises.
'You don't know anything about me, do you?' she asked as I shook my head. All I managed to hear about Meera from Bill-E and Grubbs was Drooling noises. 'Well, I came here to dervish not long back, screaming on about…Demons. He helped me and told me everything was going to be ok'.
'And this has what to do with my bruises?' I asked, slightly confused.
'Well, I used to dream, nightmares. It always made me think that Demon's were inside me. So I started to hit myself, and get others so riled up that they hit me, and I never fought back. I nearly killed myself and they put me into an asylum. Dervish came to visit me and told me that he could help. And then, as I said, I came here screaming about Demon's and he helped', Meera stated quietly.
'Another one, Dervish just seems to attract the weirdo's doesn't he?' I smiled, as I flicked my legs out onto the other side of the bed before sanding up.
'Not attract them per say, just, I don't know…' Meera seemed to fall into an uncomfortable silence.
'Yeah, I kind of know what you mean'; I muttered not actually knowing anything, just trying to rid of the awkwardness.
'Well, all right, I have been instructed to take you outside', Said Meera standing up with a rather awkward smile plastered on her face.
'Uh ok, you think before you drag my tired ass outside, that I can possible slip some pants on?' I asked rather childishly. 'You know, I'm just asking?'
'Oh, yeah of course…' Meera said stupidly as she turned to face the door.
'So I'm being babysat as well?' I asked, as she just shook her head.
'You are way to like me', Meera muttered, before making her way silently out the door, closing it softly behind her.
'And yet…' I sighed, 'I am nothing like you'. I continued to mutter under my breath as I walked my way over to my suitcase, in my attempt to find a pair of pants. I flipped the lid up and nearly screamed, which was something I didn't do to often. My clothes were gone. I jumped up quicker than I thought was capable and bounded over to the single stout cupboard sitting in the corner of the room. Ever so slowly I found myself shaking as I opened the door.
'What the?' I muttered as my clothes hung neatly, side by side in the wardrobe. I looked down and I found to little draws sitting on the bottom. I opened the one closest to me and found it to be full of my personal items such as a little bit of makeup and what not. I made my way to the other draw but figured it wasn't worth finding out, I could already guess what was in it.
I grabbed the first pair of jeans hanging in the line and slipped them off of the coat hanger. Undoing the button, I slipped my right leg in first before slipping my left in. I was just about to jump to pull them up when the door to the right of the wardrobe flung open and caused me to fall backwards mid jump.
'Good morn…Oh', a rather embarrassed voice mumbled as I just sighed in pain on the floor. I heard the footsteps back track and the door slam closed as I rolled onto my side.
'This day just keeps getting better and better', I muttered as I heaved myself up with the help of the still open wardrobe. I managed to slip my jeans on, do up the button and slip a belt on before the door opened again.
'Sorry', said a rather red faced Bill-E.
'It's ok', I yawned as I buckled my belt up and opened the other draw next to the personal items. I pulled out a pair of socks, closed the draw and closed the doors to the wardrobe and sat down on the edge of the bed.
'Meera told me you were putting on pants, but she said you'd be finished by now', Bill-E muttered, heading hanging low.
'Bill-E, do me a favour?' I yawned again, slipping the left sock on first, then the right.
'Hm?' he mumbled, looking up quickly.
'Hand me those shows by the door?' I sighed.
'Oh, yeah, sure', he mumbled, still facing the floor. He bent down and picked up the shoes, walked over and handed them to me before he lifted his head.
'Thanks, B', I muttered trying not to yawn again as I slipped my left foot into the respective shoe and the right into the other.
'You ready?' Meera muttered, sticking her head around the door.
'Lead the way', I smiled, standing up and walking passed Bill-E out the door.
'Bill-E', Meera shouted as we walked down the stairs. I heard him jump and jog after us.
'So what's the big deal on getting me up?' I muttered, as we stepped out into the sunlight and I had to brace my retinas against the overly bright outdoors.
'I have no idea', the muffled voice of Meera muttered as she looked around her jacket.
'Okay', I mumbled, feeling slightly worried all of a sudden.