Havermount, Present TimeAislen closed her eyes. She wondered if he knew the trust that she gave him in doing so. Trust, and, if she was honest with herself, weakness. She couldn’t open herself to him whilst meeting his eyes. She knew that, in a way, he would understand. He used his hair for the same escape from eye contact when it was too much for him.In her mind she imagined that she was eighteen again, and they were back in those first moments in the river house… The original bedroom would have been in the same space, just about, she thought, upon reviewing the layout of the house. Yes. The window was more or less in the same place. The internal walls had been moved in order to make space for the bathroom and the walk-in robe, but… it was the same room, she realised with one of those brain-melting moments of re-orientation.“This is the original bedroom,” she said to him. His lips had grazed from lips to hairline, and he breathed in her scent there, taking his time both to absorb
Havermouth, Present TimeThey sat with their shoulders propped up companionably on the headboard, the sheets tangled around their legs, the sex-sweat drying on their skin, and sipped whiskey whilst they shared a joint. She sighed on the exhale and rested her head on his shoulder, perfectly content in the moment.“Heath would tell me off,” Rhett said as he took the joint. “He disapproves of the smoking, nicotine or otherwise, especially inside.” He said as he blew out the smoke, returning it to her.“Of course, he does,” she laughed. “Mr Responsible.”“Hmm,” he leaned his face into her hair to deliver his kiss to the curls. “Five years,” he said.“Five years?” She frowned in confusion and regarded the joint in her fingers in accusation for her slow comprehension, and then realization dawned. “Ah, Rhett, let’s just not,” she complained. “We are all mellow and relaxed after amazing sex… Plus, we agreed, it’s in the past…”“For five years I would draw you,” he said with determination (if
Havermouth, Five Years Before Cameron woke before dawn, and blearily blinked to clear his vision, wondering what had woken him. It was early still, too early for his normal morning chores. He rolled onto his back and saw Jules standing at the end of the bed. “What the f-k, dad?” Cameron shot up to sitting. Jules and Catherine never came into Cameron’s room now that he was eighteen, they respected his den. Thank the f-k that Heath or Rhett, or both, hadn’t crawled into his bed during the night as they sometimes did, he thought immediately. It was one thing to rock up down to the kitchen in the morning with his mates in tow, all fully dressed and showered, and quite another for his dad to discover them all in bed, buck naked and reeking of sex. “Sorry, Cam,” Jules said in his quiet way. “I need your help with something.” “Sure dad,” Cameron threw back the covers and slid out, idly scratching his flank as he searched the floor for his clothes with his foot. He scooped up he jeans and
Havermouth, Present TimeAislen took a rushed shower and stepped out to find Talen in the door of the bathroom holding her towel. He wrapped it around her. “Cameron told me. I will drive you into the town,” he said as he rubbed her dry.“You’re worried,” she observed, touching his cheek, still fascinated by its bareness.“I am concerned,” he corrected as he turned his attention to her hair, running the comb through it. “You predicted this flood and these bodies, and that is something that should be taken seriously. So, I will be the one to take you to town.”“Yes, daddy,” she melted against his chest, wrapping her arms around him. “I love you.”He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “Let’s get you dressed.”She pulled on her black jeans and boots, and a skin-tight black knit jumper with skulls and crossbones provocatively picked out in white and positioned over her breasts, before slicking on eyeliner and bright red lipstick. She fluffed her fingers through her hair to encourage
Havermouth, Present TimeInside the tent was a press of police officers in neon safety vests and bright blue gloves taking photos and filling out forms in a very busy manner. One of the officers, a man a couple of years younger than Aislen and Triquetra, was just holding onto his composure, tears tracking down his face, but his expression set.There was a row of bodies, covered by cloth, and a smell… Something murky and dark, like wet, rotting soil overturned by a gardening fork, or the roots of a tree immersed for generations into river water, that made Aislen think of caves and graves. “So many,” Cameron murmured, shocked.“Over here,” Heath led them through the police and other officials, around the edges of the bodies. Some of them were smaller than others, and Aislen shook her head and averted her eyes. Talen took her hand, and placed a hand on Cameron’s shoulder, offering them both his support.“Thanks Iris,” Heath said to the policewoman who waited by a body.She looked at A
Havermouth, Five Years BeforeIt was a showroom, not a home, Heath thought as he waited for the kettle to boil, his eyes travelling the kitchen and living room. Not a thing out of place, everything picture-perfect, the couch cushions fluffed, the surfaces bare and wiped clean, the framed family photos hiding the truth behind bright, fake smiles.If Charlie woke to less than perfection, Amanda would suffer for it, so whenever Heath was up before his parents, he spent a few minutes doing what he could to save his mother from his father’s temper.There were stargazer lilies in a vase on the table, the blooms perfectly open. As he watched, the orange dust from a stamen drifted down to the table. “F-k,” he hissed out his breath in annoyance as he took a cloth over. He trimmed the stamens from the blooms with his fingernail, wiping the table clear before taking the debris and putting it into the bin and washing the stain from his skin.Satisfied with the room, he sliced a banana and added a
Havermouth, Five Years Before “His dad had words with him,” Rhett said under his breath to Cameron as they dashed through the rain to the Ute. “Ah, f-k,” Cameron grimaced. “Well, we’ll go the river house and f-k the bad mood out of him.” “That’s the spirit,” Rhett laughed and shook the water from himself as Cameron opened the Ute’s door. “I f-king hate the rain.” “That’s just because you’re afraid that it will make your make-up run,” Cameron teased. “Here they come. Let’s get this show on the road,” he hopped into the Ute and started the engine, turning up the heating whilst Rhett got into the front passenger seat. Heath bundled Aislen into the back seat. “Got her,” he said as he stripped off her raincoat shoving it and her bag into the seat as Cameron reversed out of the park. Cameron heard Aislen’s startled inhalation and the start of a protest as Heath dragged her down onto the seat. “F-k man, pretty sure that’s illegal,” Cameron exclaimed on a laugh as Aislen’s eyes met his i
Havermouth, Present TimeThe bridge they’d entered on was underwater. Their police escort scooted his bike back to the window. “In the Ute,” he said leaning in the window. “It’s possibly doable, but I wouldn’t want to try it, myself, and the old train bridge is still open on this side, well above water. It’s like they say, they don’t make them like they used to.”“Very true,” Talen agreed with a vampire’s appreciation for the past.“You’ll have to straddle the train lines, but that track hasn’t been active in twenty years. It’s sort of a secret, though,” he added. “We don’t want the public to use it.”“Understood,” Heath nodded. “We’ll head that way. I’ll be staying on the other side from now on.”“Okay. Good luck to you, Mr Gale.”The path to the train crossing took them through the main street of the town. It was eery, Aislen thought, how empty it was, and just how much water gathered on the road, the drains well and truly swamped by water.Lights attracted her attention in the othe