Ready for slightly insane Alvarr?
Morgana has decided that she will meet Alvarr on a bench in the park. It is a Saturday afternoon, which means there are a lot of children and families around to help her if she gets into trouble. He hasn't arrived yet and she starts to wonder if he is coming at all, he was always one for false promises.
She must look lonely sat on that bench by herself for half an hour, because at one point a young boy, who looked no more than the age of six, comes and sits next to her.
"Hello," he says, without much hesitation.
Morgana turns to him, surprised at his confidence at such a young age. "Hello."
"I'm lost."
"Hi Lost, I'm Morgana. Nice to meet you."
The boy looks at her, slightly confused and then grins at her. She feels immensely proud at this.
"You're funny."
"Thank you. Why are you lost, then?"
"Well," the boy begins in an important voice. "I was in the slide in the play park over there and my Mum went to get ice-cream for me at the ice-cream van. But then I got bored on the slide, so I went to go and find my Mum, but she was nowhere!" He throws his arms in the air for dramatic effect. "And then I saw you on the bench and I thought you looked a bit sad, so I came and sat next to you."
"I'm not sad. I'm just waiting for someone," she reassures him. "Do you think we should try and find your Mum?"
"But I thought when you were lost you had to stay where you were?"
She pauses for a moment. "That's true. You're not supposed to talk to strangers either."
"And?" He asks.
"I'm a stranger."
He frowns at her. "Yes, but you're a nice stranger. You're Morgana. You're funny. And you're looking after me. I'd say we were friends."
"Friends?" They'd only known each other for a minute. That was the thing with children, though. They just trusted everyone and played with anyone, no matter who they were. This boy was fairly small and skinny. He looked a bit like Merlin, with the dark hair and the pale skin, feet dangling off the side of the bench because his legs aren't long enough.
"Yes. Friends," he confirms. "I don't have many friends."
"I find that hard to believe," Morgana says with a small smile, developing a slight fondness for the boy.
"People at school think I'm weed."
Morgana stares at him. What on Earth was he talking about? "I beg your pardon?"
"You know, weed. They say I'm strange," he continues dejectedly, swinging his legs back and forth.
"Oh, weird!" Morgana exclaims, finally understanding what he meant.
He looks at her with a mixture of hurt and confusion, his face crumpling. "You think I'm weed too, don't you?" Tears start rolling down over his chubby cheeks.
"Of course not!" She delves around her coat pockets for a tissue. She had forgotten how easy it was to upset a child. But it could also be very easy to make them feel happy again. She finally manages to find an unused tissue and hands it to him to wipe the tears away, but he has already done that with the end of his scarf. So he just holds the tissue and strokes the soft texture with one of his fingers.
"It's cold, isn't it?" He asks suddenly, completely off topic from a second ago. "I'm glad I've got my scarf on."
"I bet you are. Did you go out in the snow a few weeks ago?"
He turns to her with a massive grin on his face, blue eyes shining. "Oh, yes! I love the snow! Mum even let me buy a sledge this year! We have this massive, gigantic hill outside our house and I went sledging down it! And then I fell out and hurt my leg! Look!" He pulls up his trouser leg to show off a purple bruise and a graze on his knee. "There was so much blood I thought I was going to die!" He exclaims with an astonished expression.
"Really?" Morgana asks, trying to match his shocked tone. "Then it must haven been awful!"
"It was! Did you go out in the snow?"
She smiles at him. He seemed to like this topic a lot. "Yeah, I did. I don't have a sledge though-"
"You can borrow mine!" He interrupts brightly.
She shakes her head with an amused smile. "I don't think I'd fit in it. Anyway, I just made a snowman and had a snowball fight."
"That's cool! Who did you do that with?"
"My boyfriend."
"Ooooh," he says with a giggle and she blushes. "Are you in love?"
"Yes, I think we are."
"You think you are?"
"No, no. We are in love."
"That's good then. What's his name?"
"Merlin."
The boy gasps excitedly and claps his hands together. "What, like the wizard? Can he do spells?"
Morgana laughs kindly. "I don't think so."
"Do you think he'll turn me into a frog?"
"Um, no-"
"Are you a princess?"
"No, sorry."
He frowns again. "You should be. You're very pretty. Yes, you're the princess, Merlin is the prince and I'm the... I can be..."
"You can be the brave, handsome knight who saves the damsel and defeats the dragon," Morgana suggests.
"Oh, no!" He disagrees, looking aghast. "I think dragons are good! I'll go and defeat all the horrible monsters who make people sad."
She looks at him in wonder. If she ever has a child like this then she'll be doing okay. "That's a better idea."
"It is, isn't it? I have lots of good ideas," he says proudly. "Even my Mum thinks so!"
"What kind of ideas?"
"Good ones," he replies vaguely. "I write them down in a book so I don't forget."
"You can write? Already? How old are you?"
"Well, I don't actually write them. I draw them. And I'm six years, three months and twenty-eight days," he says with a serious nod.
"You're counting the days, too?"
"Of course! I'm good at counting."
"What's the highest number you can get up to?"
He pauses to think. "I don't know."
"Shall we find out?" He nods and she feels relieved. This ought to keep him busy for a while. "Should we count together?" He nods again and they do so.
They manage to get to seventy-eight with Morgana's help, before a blonde woman comes rushing around the corner with a terrified look on her face. She spots them on the bench and looks like she wants to collapse from exhaustion.
Morgana taps the boy on the arm and points to her. "Is that your Mum?"
He follows the direction of her finger and then slips off of the bench. "Yeah. I've got to go now." he turns to wave at her with his small hand and then skips off to the blonde woman who looks as though she wants to slap him and hug him at the same time. Fortunately, she chooses the hugging option followed by what appeared to be some stern words afterwards. And then the woman has come over to the bench and is hugging her as well, whispering 'thank you' over and over again.
"It's okay," Morgana says awkwardly, her voice muffled by a wave of blonde hair.
"Do you want me to give you money? I can buy you tea or... or coffee or flowers or whatever you want?" She rushes, taking Morgana's hand.
"I don't want anything. I would've done it for anyone. Not that I actually did much," Morgana insists and the woman seems to understand.
"Okay, okay, but honestly thank you. Mordred come and say thank you!"
"Thanks Morgana," he says happily. He tugs on his mother's sleeve. "Mum... can Morgana come round? I want to show her my book of good ideas."
"Maybe some other time," his Mum says. "Come on, we need to get you home now. Thanks again, oh, what was it? Morgana? Thanks Morgana!" The two start walking away.
"Don't forget that you can borrow my sledge!" Mordred shouts back with a grin. "And ask Merlin if he's a wizard!"
"I will!" She shouts, laughing. They disappear from view.
"Looks like you made a friend," a man says from behind her and she jumps around to face them.
"Do you have to do that?" She snaps and Alvarr shrugs with a smug expression on his face. He comes around to stand in front of the bench. "Aren't you going to sit down?"
"No. I think it would be best if we walked and talked." He offers her an arm but she gets up on her own.
"I didn't think you were coming," Morgana admits as the turn the corner, going past the park Mordred had just been talking about.
"Don't sound so disappointed."
"I'm not. I wanted to talk to you. About the letter," she starts.
"I don't want to talk about letters, Morgana. I want to talk about us."
"How original. I don't think there ever was an us, Alvarr. We were just two people living together, pretending we were in love and trying to make the most of the situation."
He laughs cruelly. "That's it."
"That's what?"
"Pretend. Pretend you don't want me. That you don't miss the excitement. I bet you don't get that with Merlin, do you?"
"I get normality with Merlin. We argue about who ate the last of the cornflakes, not about selling drugs," she says with a smirk. That had sounded good. Hunith would be proud of her.
"Low blow," he shrugs.
"Merlin doesn't hurt me either."
"I don't hurt you."
She snorts. "Obviously. What was it then? Were you just keeping me in my place?"
"Of course. That's what women like you need."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Women need to be weak and scared. You're only here for sex and having children. Nothing more. Women aren't important. But you were. You were clever and bold and you needed it knocked out of you. So that's what I did. Every time you disobeyed me. You needed it drilled into your stupid little head that you only did what I told you to do. It was for your own good, really."
"How very thoughtful of you. My life has been thoroughly enhanced thanks to you Alvarr. I'll make sure to mention you if I win an Oscar." She smiles at her own words, this was rather fun. She really wished Hunith was here to witness it.
"What will you be winning the Oscar for?"
"Oh, I don't know, but I can imagine the speech now. 'Yes, I'd just like to thank my beloved husband, Merlin, who's been with me through thick and thin and I'd also like to say hello to my darling children who are watching this at home! Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to mention my ex-boyfriend, Alvarr, for beating me for over a year just for my own good.'"
"Wow. I'm touched."
"I'm glad. So basically, you just felt intimidated by my presence, then?"
At this point, his hand grabs for her wrist, squeezing tightly and . "Not quite."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Morgana hisses at him in panic, trying to wrench herself free. This was not part of the plan. She hated it when he was in control of her. Like she was some kind of baby bird being dragged away by the menacing fox.
"We're going back to mine. I want to talk in private."
"I don't want to go back to your house. You can't make me."
He takes his mobile out of his coat pocket with his free hand and puts in a number. "I have a friend of mine waiting outside Merlin's house ready to do whatever I tell him to do to that mother of his if you don't come with me."
She wants throw up, but manages to carry on walking. "You're lying."
"Do you really want to take that chance?"
"You don't even know where Merlin lives."
"I've been doing my research. Phone trackers are very useful things."
"You're insane," she whispers, mainly to herself. This was going awfully, horribly wrong. Tears sting at the corners of her eyes. She desperately wants to be sat back on that bench with Mordred talking about his book of good ideas or talking with his mother over a cup of tea. Or with Hunith eating Jammie Dodgers. Or cuddling with Aithusa.
What she really wants is for Merlin to be casually walking through the park and to come and save her. Alvarr would be arrested for... something and Merlin would take her home and tell her he loved her and that he'd never leave her. He'd kiss her hair and tell her she was beautiful and tell her that she was all he wanted and she was everything he cared about and he'd put her first. That was all she really wanted. Someone who would appreciate her and look after her.
"Probably," Alvarr says calmly, breaking her out of her impossible fantasy. "But just remember that you made me like this, okay? It's your fault I'm like this."
"How is it my fault?"
"You a such a stupid woman, Morgana. And there I was thinking I'd managed to get that out of you," he says with mock pity and she wants to slap him.
"I am not stupid."
Alvarr yawns. "So you keep saying. Can we talk about Merlin?"
"I didn't think you liked him that much."
"I don't. I just want to know what you see in him, that's all. What's he got that I haven't?"
She stops walking, despite him clinging onto her arm, and almost keels over from laughter. Alvarr glares at her, people are starting to look. That is the last thing he wants - people noticing them together. Then Morgana finally stops laughing and answers him.
"We have a lot in common."
"Like what? Stupidity? Foolishness?"
"Well, we both actually care about each other for a start."
"I see." They come to the end of the park and begin walking down the main road to his house.
"I don't want to go in." Morgana says bluntly as they stand by the front door. She refuses to go any further. There are far too many bad memories associated with this place and she has no sudden desire to go back inside. She shakes her head to clear it. It was a house, not a prison.
"I can still make that phone call if you'd like?"
"No thanks," she says quickly and reluctantly steps inside the building.
It still smells dreadful. Like cigarette smoke and alcohol and... something else. Maybe she doesn't want to know. The broken glass is still at the bottom of the stairs and there are several more empty crisp packets strewn over the faded carpet than last time. He takes her into the living room.
"Sit down."
Morgana does as he orders without thinking twice, seating herself gingerly on the sofa. She clears her throat as he just watches her. "So um, what... what did you want to talk about? In private?"
"We're going to talk-" He stops speaking when another man walks into the room. Morgana stares at the man in horror. There was no mistaking him this time. It was definitely the ginger man she'd seen here previously when she'd come to take back her belongings and the doctor who had checked her over at the hospital. He seems to recognise her too, eyes focussing on her face. "This is Sammy," Alvarr introduces them. "Well, Sarum, but he prefers it as Sammy."
'Sammy' is still watching her, eyes unblinking. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"No! I mean, I doubt it. I've never seen you before in my life," Morgana says in such a rush that Alvarr gives her an odd look.
"He's good with faces," Alvarr says suspiciously and she feels her stomach flip upside-down,
"You're the woman from the hospital aren't you? That's it! I thought I knew you from somewhere!"
"Hospital?" Alvarr turns to her with a frown. "What did you go to the hospital for?"
"It doesn't matter, it was just a small incident where-"
"Tell me what happened," Alvarr says to Sarum with a sigh.
"You mean you didn't know?"
"Know what?"
She wants to be sick. She should run out of the house right now. Phone for Hunith to come and help her. Instead she stays rooted to her spot on the sofa, watching everything unravel before her eyes.
"That she was pregnant."
Oh dear, Morgana's gotten herself into a spot of bother!
Thank you so much for your lovely reviews! I'm glad that quite a lot of you are liking the Morgana/Hunith relationship because I am too! They're wonderful to write together.
I think this chapter may be one of my better ones , a long one too – well, I think so. I got two new characters in there which I am pleased about, especially Mordred. He has quite an important part in this story, but more towards the end of it all.
Anyway! Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter - what you liked and what you didn't! I enjoy every single review I get!
Oh and also it's my birthday on Saturday! Yay! See if you can guess how old I'm going to be!
Thanks for reading my little story! :)
