The Lighter That Shone Like A Star (Story of The South) (4 page)

“What’s up Tommy?” Jimmie asked Haze, seeing his confused expression.

“I have an anonymous message about the gig in Pipton,” he replied.

“Oh right, what does it say?” Jake mumbled through a mouth full of pizza.

“It’s instructions,” Haze said, slowly reading the mysterious message. The other four looked at him, waiting for him to continue but Haze was too stunned to speak.

Naithian walked over to him. “Instructions for what, Tom?” he asked.

“Instructions to save somebody’s life.”

Haze looked up at Naithian and handed him the ScribblePad. Naithian read and re-read the message. His confused expression mirrored that of Haze.

“Who’s Max Myers?”

Sofia arrived at her front door and braced herself for the screaming; the school would have told her parents that she had skipped all but one of her lessons and this news would not be at all well received.

She had skived off school once before and her father had taken
away her ScribblePad for two weeks, a harsh punishment that she could not bear to be repeated. To make things worse, Light on the Landing had scribbled to say they had a Big Announcement and would give more information tomorrow. Sofia was sure it would be the ticket release date for their Hurburt gigs and she could not be the last to know this information.

Max Myers had taken Sofia by surprise –
that much was for certain. To her, Max had always been a shy boy who either spent his time with his boring friends, Matthew and Russell, or at home with his parents.

Sofia knew nothing about him and yet they had been in several of the same classes since their very first day at school. In fact, until today they had barely said more than two words to each other.

Without any intention, Max had become somewhat of a mystery to Sofia and this, she guessed, is what had attracted her to him. Of course, she had always thought that he was okay-looking, but she was also aware that boys fawned over her. It made her ashamed to admit it, but she could probably have chosen any boy in Pipton and they would fall at her knees.

Sofia did not want just any boy, though. She wanted a caring, fun, loving, good-hearted boyfriend.
Someone like Max.

Another thought entered her mind as she stood on her doorstep: Anne-
Alica also liked Max. The two best friends often spoke about which boys they found attractive and who they fancied, but Sofia had never planned to tell Anne-Alicia of her feelings for Max because she could not imagine her friend’s reaction.

She trusted Anne-Alicia more than she trusted anyone else, except perhaps Freddie, but still she kept this secret. However, one night during a sleepover Anne-Alicia had voiced her own feelings towards Max.

Sofia kept quiet as she listened to her closest friend speak lovingly of her mystery boy but Anne-Alicia knew Sofia well, perhaps even better than Sofia knew herself. Eventually, Sofia was forced to admit the truth and the girls sat in silence. They reached an agreement that they would not pursue their feelings and if it was meant to be then fate would decide.

Whilst Sofia felt that fate had finally decided, she was not sure that Anne-Alicia would agree.

There were more important things to worry about now though, namely what would meet her when she crossed the threshold. Taking a sharp breath inwards, she turned the door handle and entered her house. Her mother was standing with her fists clenched on her hips. Waiting.

“Mum, listen. I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. See, there’s this boy and…” she began to explain, barely pausing to breathe. Her mother shook her head, but not in her usual disappointed way. This time it was different.

“What’s the matter?” Sofia asked, curiously.

“Honestly, I have absolutely no bloody idea,” her mum replied. “Your brother comes in and goes straight to his room, five minutes later your dad comes home and does the same. Then, I receive a phone call from your school to say both of my children decided their education is less important than who knows what else!” Marie Vassallo sounded exasperated. “This house drives me crazy!”

Sofia had only truly listened to one part of what her mother had said. She looked past her mum, who seemed to understand. “Yes, go! Please! At least one of us will know what’s going on!”

Sofia had already reached the staircase so did not hear her mother’s usual rant that tended to conclude with, ‘sometimes I want to pack my bags and leave the lot of you, see how you’d manage then!’

Arriving at her brother’s bedroom door, she knocked their secret knock that they had invented over ten years ago. She had not used it since they were children, but Sofia felt it was necessary now; Freddie was not one to lock himself in his room after a day at school. Usually he would come home, go to the fridge, and eat until his mother warned him that if he did not finish his dinner, he would wear it instead.

A red-eyed Freddie came to the door and Sofia noticed a bluish tint to his usually blond hair. Before she could ask him why he had been crying, he put his arms around his sister and sobbed into her shoulder. Sofia hugged him back not saying a word. She felt completely useless not knowing what was making her brother cry, although she knew how much she was helping simply by being there.

It was unusual for Freddie to cry, especially now he was sixteen and a man, but Sofia had always been the one to comfort him when tears came. The twins stood there for almost five minutes before his sobs subsided and Freddie relaxed his arms, taking a step back. Their matching emerald green eyes met each other and Sofia knew.

“You and Lornea broke up.” It was not a question.

Freddie nodded and his lower lip trembled, daring him to cry once more. He fought back the tears and instead went back inside his room to sit on his bed. Sofia waited outside until he motioned her to come in.

“You always wait,” he said, almost smiling in spite of himself.

“Well, it’s forbidden to enter a man’s bedroom without permission, you know that,” she stated, simply.

“You’re my twin sister,
Sofia, you don’t need permission to come into my bedroom. We did share a womb for nine months, remember?”

With a slight smile, she entered his bedroom and perched
next to him on the edge of his large mattress. Freddie’s room was a lot grander than Sofia’s, boasting a king-sized bed with soft cotton linen.

His wardrobe could hold three times as many clothes as the still-growing man owned, which is what Sofia envied most - she owned so many skirts, dresses, tops, shoes… that her carpet had become what her mother called a ‘
floordrobe’. To her deep resentment, Sofia’s parents refused to buy her any new garments unless she donated some to charity first.

Freddie also had a spacious desk at which he could work in peace, a television that perched on the wall opposite his bed, and a small fish tank. Sofia had the smallest bedroom in the house and she had sacrificed whatever floor space that was not covered by clothes for a double-bed. The computer in her mother’s study was where she did school work and she had neither a television nor a fish tank in her bedroom, although she could live without the fish, she supposed – she struggled to find space for even herself in her room, such luxuries were certainly out of the question.

Sofia had never truly questioned why she had the smaller room, she simply accepted that Freddie was a man and men needed more space to grow. Besides, Sofia knew she was always welcome to watch Freddie’s television, feed his fish, or work on his computer, just so long as she asked first and Lornea was not there.

The redhead looked up at the side of her brother’s face and noted how he was beginning to grow facial hair. It made her feel sad, somehow. He was becoming a true adult while most of the time she still felt like a child.

“So, what happened between you two?” she asked.

Freddie sighed heavily before explaining about Lornea’s father’s new job and how they had to move to Salmont, pausing only to take deep breaths and refrain from crying again.

When they had left school, Freddie and Lornea walked to Klop, a neighbouring village where they would be unknown and not run the risk of being caught by one of the several nosy inhabitants of Pipton.

Klop was a cosy village a short walk away from Pipton, if you knew your way. If you were not familiar with the journey, you would almost certainly become lost.

It was a scenic stroll through the yellow meadow, across the river, through the field of flowers, along the mouth of the woods until you reached the Stone Circle. Then, you knew to enter the woods and follow the muddy tracks through the trees. That was the only way of knowing if you were going in the right direction and would leave the woods in Klop.

Children, adults, and elders alike had made their way to the Stone Circle only to spend hours searching the woods for the right path. Some would eventually find themselves in Klop, but the majority ended up back in the field of flowers.

There had been tales of people entering the forest only never to return again. These tales always had the same conclusion: they had been sought by Naegis.

Such rumours were no longer believed, of course, and if someone entered the woods only to never return, they were presumed missing and eventually dead. Only three people still held the previous belief: Max and Harvey Myers, and Mary Harding.

Freddie and Lornea had journeyed to Klop many times before this so had no worries of getting lost or suddenly finding themselves in a mythical land. The couple walked hand in hand, talking normally as if nothing was different. As Freddie helped Lornea across the river, ignoring the bridge that lay just a few metres away, she looked at him sadly. Silently, they began to amble across the field of flowers, until Lornea broke the silence.

Freddie looked up at Sofia, who was regarding him sadly.

“She told me she didn’t know whether it would be better to finish things then or to wait for two weeks,’ he told his sister. “She said that the next two weeks wouldn’t be the same and that we’d just be preoccupied with our thoughts. I didn’t know what to say. I just…” He sighed sadly and looked at his lap. “I just let her speak and when she said she thought it’d be best to end things there and then, I let it happen. I didn’t even fight for her. What kind of man does that make me? I let the woman I love walk out of my life.”

Sofia gently chewed on her bottom lip while she tried to find the right words that might help her brother. She could think of nothing, but spoke anyway.

“Fred, I think Lornea’s right. I mean, maybe it is best that it ended while it was good, rather than spend two weeks together being miserable. At least now you can get used to being friends and besides, you can still scribble and call each other when she’s gone. You won’t lose her for ever.”

Freddie’s gaze remained fixed on the patch of cream carpet visible between his legs.

“I know. But then we got to Klop and just walked through the village and I bought her lunch. It was really nice, y’know. It felt like nothing had changed. And then when we got back, I walked her home but…” He paused, remembering the moment was clearly painful. “I went to kiss her goodbye but she put her arm between us and just shook her head. That was it. After over a year together we’re suddenly meant to be just friends.”

Sofia noticed the change in his voice. It had become less sad and angrier instead. Sofia saw a red streak flash briefly through his hair. She hoped that it was not just a trick of the light. She hoped that they had not been in Hurburt for so long that they had lost the will to fight. Freddie rose from his bed and looked down at Sofia.

“You know what?” he began, loudly. “Lornea doesn’t get to make this decision on her own. I don’t care what’s sensible. I’m going to waste as much time with the girl I love, because I might never see her again.”

This time Sofia was sure she was seeing correctly as his hair flashed angrily from his natural bright blond colour to fiery red, matching her own.

She smiled. “Good. But Freddie, before you go, just one thing…”

“What?” he asked, curiously.

“You have a visitor.” She looked towards the doorway and Freddie’s eyes followed. There, in his doorway, stood Lornea, her face red and puffy from crying.

“I love you,” he whispered, unable to talk for fear of crying once more.

Lornea smiled, but she could not talk for she was too stunned and too emotional. Instead, she raised one finger to her eye, moved her hand down to rest over her heart, pointed weakly at the boy she loved, and finally held up two fingers. They walked together and embraced in a passionate kiss. Sofia stood up from Freddie’s bed and made to leave.

“Oh, umm, hi Lornea, how are you?” she said. Freddie, still wrapped around his girlfriend, stretched out one arm and pushed his sister through the door.

Sofia giggled and decided to go downstairs and talk to her mother in the hopes that she would be able to avoid punishment if she made the first move. However, when she heard her mum talking to herself frantically in the kitchen, whatever hope she had quickly evaporated.

Poking her head round the kitchen door, she saw that her mum was cooking, or rather burning, curried vegetables and chickpeas.

“Umm… Mum?” she said tentatively.

“Sofia,” her mum replied, sweetly, taking the saucepans off the hobs and turning to face her daughter. Sofia found it unsettling that her mother was not stone-faced and yelling.

“How’s Freddie?” she asked, kindly.

“He’s fine, I’m sure he’d rather speak to you himself, and I’m not sure how his story finishes. Although, I’m pretty sure I can guess…” She muttered the last part so her mother could not hear.

“Okay, I’ll speak to him later. And how are you?” she asked, smiling.

“Me? Oh, I’m… I’m fine. How are you?” Sofia was taken aback by her mother’s soft tones.
Why is she being so nice? Why isn’t she shouting at me? Why is she asking me how I am? Something bad must have happened with dad. 
As Sofia’s mind reeled, she tried to listen to her mum and ignore her inner voice.