Vengeance Child

He had to get out of the din. That and find Jay. Archer slipped unnoticed through the hostel’s side door. ‘Jay’s gonna get the bracelet. That’ll make everything OK.’

He staggered before the blast of chilled air racing up the deserted street. Leaves flew. Mist streamed like smoke from an old-fashioned locomotive. Even though it was mid-afternoon in May the sky had turned black. Gloom filled the narrow streets. Along with the fog it made the houses seem as if they lay in murky depths. Had the river flooded the town? Was he underwater? In that shocked state he wasn’t sure. Thoughts didn’t run as they should in his head. Constantly, he pictured his father with bullets lodged in his face. Twigs scuttled down the street like spiky-legged insects. In his mind he saw his father’s coffin. Only this time he, Archer, lay in the oblong box. All that wet soil pressing down. It would hold the lid shut for ever. Dazed, he pushed on through airborne debris. A newspaper wrapped around his face to blind him. Maybe when he pulled it away he’d find he really was lying in a coffin . . . in the dark . . . alone . . . listening for hungry worms . . . Archer yanked the paper away. A figure stood there in the mist.

The shadowy form moved closer. ‘Remember me?’

‘I’m the mayor.’ The tall man smiled down at him. ‘I’m glad I’ve found you.’

‘You look as if you need some help.’

‘Aren’t you worried about something?’

‘Why aren’t you back in the hostel?’

‘I-I don’t want to,’ Archer stammered.

‘It’s going to get all stormy out here. You won’t like that, will you?’

Archer was so preoccupied with his worries that he failed to notice how edgy the man seemed. He constantly checked the street as if he expected someone to appear at any minute. The boy strove to clear his mind of all those jangling thoughts that had no right to be there.

Mayor Wilkes sidled up. ‘You don’t look well, little fellow. You’ve not had this stomach bug, have you?’

Archer shook his head.

‘That’s a relief. You know this is a bad sickness. Really bad. People are dying.’

‘Uh?’ The word ‘die’ penetrated the fog of disordered thoughts.

‘Oh, yes. Dr Nazra told me so. Victor Brodman’s got the disease. In a few hours he might be dead.’ The mayor loomed closer. ‘Archer . . . it is Archer, isn’t it? You smiled when I said that Victor is going to die. Why’s that?’

‘He said he’d marry Laura.’

‘Oh? Well, there’ll be none of that now. Victor will be going to his own funeral rather than a wedding.’ The mayor stepped even closer. ‘I told you about people dying because I can trust you. You’re very grown up, you know. I bet you’re more intelligent, brainier, than the rest. You know I’m right, don’t you?’

Archer hadn’t experienced anything like this before. A grown-up who talked to him like another grown-up. Even though Archer had an old face, his diminutive stature along with curly, little boy blue hair made people talk down to him like he was a baby. This he liked. A big important man that trusted Archer. The boy straightened to make himself taller.

When he spoke he fancied his voice had become deeper, almost manlike. ‘I’ve got something really important to do.’

‘Oh? What?’ Mayor Wilkes asked.

‘I’ve got to find Jay. It’s important. Most important thing in the world.’

‘I’m sure he’ll turn up soon. Look, my house is round the corner. Why don’t we get out of the cold?’

In the window of the post office Archer saw reflections of himself and the mayor. So that’s how people see us, he thought. A big grown-up man and a tiny boy with curly hair? Archer shook his head, determined to be grown-up. ‘I’ve got to find Jay.’

The man put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘I understand. But first—’

A pair of figures hurried down the street. Mayor Wilkes quickly stepped back from the boy. The men went to a cottage where a window shutter had broken loose. It swung back and forth on its hinges with a metallic screeching.

A woman with long silver hair rushed from a nearby house. ‘Mayor Wilkes, have you seen Dr Nazra? I can’t wake my Frank up. He’s had this bug . . .’

‘Try the surgery,’ Wilkes told her. As if the wind whisked her away she rushed up the lane. The mayor smiled falsely at Archer. ‘I know, we can find Jay together. Now we’re friends we can help each other.’

‘I dunno,’ Archer began doubtfully.

‘This Jay, is he the one that the other children don’t like?’

‘I’ve got to find him now! It’s really important. He’s said Laura’s name and my name, and—’

‘Yes, yes, I’m sure the child can be vexing.’

‘Now he’s gone . . . I don’t know where to look for him.’

‘You know, Archer, I saw him not five minutes ago.’

‘Oh?’ Hope surged in Archer’s chest.

‘Absolutely. He was going that way.’ Wilkes pointed into the teeth of the gale. ‘He headed up that pathway there, toward the forest. Come on, we’ll track him down together.’