A Darker Shade Of Pale

[Keeper]

Black sat back against the rock and let out a long sigh of relief and then winced as a shooting pain lanced across his chest.
He thought he probably had a broken rib or two.
He was bleeding from cuts above and below his left eye, like a boxer after a tough, long fight. His right ear was ringing after someone had kicked him in the head.
After that, was when he’d changed his mind about taking a beating, but he had still wanted to make things appear as real as possible.
After much scrambling and tousling with the six of them, Black had managed to reduce them down to just Josh. Callum had applied just enough force to give the boy a good going over while simultaneously receiving the same from him.
Eventually the two had run out of steam and both collapsed, exhausted.
Josh looked at his friends lying on the dirt all around him.
Three were probably unconscious, one was curled in a ball holding his shoulder and whimpering in agony.
Another had lost a tooth, been so worried about his parent’s reaction that he’d run off.
Josh dragged himself over to the rock near Callum and let out a sigh of his own.
Then he chuckled.
“You’re a fucking head-case Black, you know that, right?”
“And you’re a dick, Josh!”
“Yeah, but I’m loveable, right?”
“No, you’re not! But I get it. Your brother is the Golden Child!”
“Fuck off!”
“Hey, I’m not saying that to be an asshole, Josh. I know your parents give you a hard time because Dan is Mr Perfect, in their eyes.”
“You fuckin’ spying on me?”
“Nah, there was a guy, Tony, in my last school. He was a tool, like you! But he had the same shit at home, only it was his younger sister. She could do no wrong. He’d come to school and take it out on me.”
“So you moved out here?”
“Nope! Well, obviously yes, but not right away. I took it a while, then got pissed off and kicked his ass one day. He ended up my best friend”
“So what? That made it all better?”
The scepticism in Josh’s voice was almost palpable.
“No. But I got him to calm down at school and that gave his parents lass to have a go at him for. Plus I started seeing his sister. She was cute as a button!”
Josh laughed. “Fuck yeah!”
“Not that I’m looking to be your best buddy or start dating your brother or anything sick like that!”
Both were quiet, their laboured breath, the wind blowing through the trees, an eagle screeching somewhere overhead were the only sounds could be heard as the woodland carried on like nothing had happened.
Black shifted, stretching out his leg and wincing again as something in his chest hurt.
“Why did you come out here to protect that little worm, man?” Josh asked.
“Firstly,” Black answered slowly as though considering his words, “he’s a friend. Secondly, if you think life at home is bad for you, it’s jack-shit compared to what he gets. I figured the guy could use a break.”
Josh was silent again for a while. “Tough break!” he said at last.
“Yeah.”
Eventually black grunted and groaned his way to his feet and offered Josh a hand up.
Battered, bruised and bleeding, the two began to make their way back towards school.
“What about those guys?” Josh asked.
“What about them? They’ll all be ok, trust me. I’m going to just leave them and deal with the fallout in the morning.”
Josh shrugged but said nothing and carried on walking.

[Keeper]

Chaya Black let out an audible gasp when the front door latch was turned.
Both she and Lucille, who was sitting with Callum’s mother nursing a glass of home-made lemonade, turned to face it.
“Oh my god!” Chaya exclaimed in horror, rushing over to Callum and wrapping him in her arms.
“I was so worried! What happened?”
“Got in a fight, but it’s alright. Everything is fine, mom.”
“I thought I’d told you about fighting?”
Callum suddenly noticed Lucille and ignored Chaya’s comment.
“Hi,” he said trying to act cool and his the sudden thrill of excitement that ran through him.
The Chaya heard his voice in her head.
“I went to help a boy who was getting bullied at school and home. I had to let the fight look convincing. Don’t worry, I’m fine and so are they. The boy is a psychic, mom. Another telepath. He knows about me too. Don’t panic, I’ll sort it, but we’ll need to move again.”
Chaya’s expression was full of concern.
“It’s okay, Mrs Black. I’ll look after him if you need to go to work?” Lucille offered.
Chaya smiled. “That’s really nice, but perhaps I should stay home tonight?”
“Mom! It’s fine, I’ll be fine!”
Chaya sighed. “Jesus Callum, you’ll be the death of me!”
“Sorry, mom. I love you,” he said as he hugged her again and inwardly smiled when he saw Lucille’s melting expression.