Alutheria

Glad to hear I'm not alone!

Chapter 6 is about 50% written at this point. I'm sorry for the long delay. I'd love nothing more than to spend my days writing this story and others, but unfortunately my work has been taking a lot of my energy as of late. I've got a lot if ideas and scenes I want to get to with this story and I hope you can bear with me a little longer until the next instalment.

The king returns! Its great to see this continued. And poor Zach. He's going to have hell to pay once Kelly catches up with him, isn't he?

I've no plans to stop, don't worry. I'm writing chapter 6 as we speak.

Chapter 5: Skip Jane had changed out of her mud caked soccer uniform, George noticed. In its place she had donned a pair of full-length dark green cargo shorts and a Denim jacket over a simple white top. “Uh, hi.” George mumbled awkwardly at Alice and Jane, both of whom were smiling at him. He didn’t know if Alice was just in the habit of inviting the girl next door over for drinks or if this was some spur of the moment invitation, but either way it was an unwelcome surprise for him. At least now the nappies were out of sight. He noticed a third glass sitting untouched on the countertop filled with what looked like orange juice and realised that it must be for him. “Hi again!” Jane replied as she sipped her own drink. “I was just wondering if you wanted to come out and play this afternoon? I know you’ve probably got vacation plans already, but your mom invited me in and said you had some free time today.” George thought about clarifying that Alice was just his godmother but stayed quiet as he sipped his drink. Yup. Orange juice. Alice nodded. “We’re going into the city tomorrow to pick up some new clothes, but I thought we’d do that in the afternoon, given his jetlag issues. But he should be perfectly free come the evening if you two wanted to do something. I don't really want you out after dark, and I’m sure your dad would agree with me there Jane. If you wanted to play some games indoors or watch a movie or something, I’m sure I can arrange something.” “Sounds great! I'll let my dad know tonight.” Jane turned back to George. “You want to go out now then? We could go down to the creek and throw rocks or something.” She suggested. They both went quiet waiting for George to reply. He was still playing catchup on the conversation as he took gulps of his orange juice. Grateful that he had an excuse not to speak right away. “Uh, yeah, sure. Sounds good.” He muttered. Alice nodded towards the front door and smiled at George again. “Well, you’re wasting sunlight! Go on and play! I’m not letting you waste away your days playing Pokémon!” George blushed at this slightly. “After you then, I guess.” He left his mostly empty glass back on the counter and looked to Jane as she started moving out into the hallway where she’d left her shoes on the shoe rack and started pulling them on. A set of worn white sneakers that she quickly laced up. George followed suit and pulled his own white and grey trainers on, working on doing the laces up in a double bow as his mind raced. He didn’t mind going outside to play. Far from it, he enjoyed time outside. It was just a matter of finding someone to do it with. Now he had exactly that. He just wished it was someone who didn’t know about his bedtime issues. Jane moved to get the door as George finished with the last of the laces, and Alice called through from the kitchen as she heard the clunk of the handle being pulled. “Don’t go too far alright? You’ve got my number on your phones if you need me!” “We won’t Mrs Warding!” Jane replied as they opened the door. “I’m only going to take him to the creek, I promise!” George followed her outside and shut the door behind him, his eyes squinting as the blazing summer sun assaulted his corneas. He double checked that he had his phone in his pocket. His Nintendo, which was usually in his other pocket, was upstairs in his room charging. Jane had walked ahead and was waiting for him at the end of the driveway. As he caught up, she set of down the pavement in the opposite direction from where his godmother had driven him in. He had assumed that there wouldn’t be anything else back here but more rows of expensive looking houses, but if Jane was walking them this way there must be a way down to a creek somewhere. “There’s a big, wooded area behind the last houses here.” Jane told him as if reading his mind. “The whole place is part of a national park, I think. Its only twenty minutes from there to the creek.” “What do you wanna do there? Hide a body?” Jane laughed at his joke, and he felt his own tension ease slightly. “Depends, you got a body to hide? I was thinking we could throw pebbles and stuff. Do you know how to skip them? I can show you how.” “Yeah, that sounds cool.” He nodded, as the two of them kept up a quick pace and found themselves passing the last set of houses. The road ended in an abrupt cul-de-sac, and just beyond that was a small worn wooden fence separating the end of the suburb from the edge of the woods. A small dirt path led off the pavement up to a bolted wooden gate. Jane went ahead to open it and he walked through behind her. “We could just go exploring and stuff if you’d rather do that. The woods here are huge. I’ve lived here since I was in diapers and there’s still loads of it I’ve never been in.” She spoke casually as she closed the gate behind them. George didn’t react to her mention of diapers, but the word abruptly pulled his predicament back into the forefront of his mind, and he tried to force it back out by focusing on where he was. The dirt path winded into the forest before them. A sea of brown trunks smothered in green foliage spread before them and quickly cut them off from view of the homes that backed onto it. The sun still pierced through the canopy of leaves but was far less harsh than it had been under open sky, and he was thankful for that. He kicked himself as he realised, he’d left his sunglasses back in his room. Oh well, he’d have to manage without. “Well, we can do both, I guess. My god-mum didn’t say when she wanted me back, so I think we have until it gets dark? When is that, by the way?” “A couple of hours at least. We’ve got plenty of time, don't worry.” Jane replied as she continued forward, clearly knowing where she was going as they went deeper into the woods. “You ever skip stones before?” She asked, “I can show you how.” “Does seeing how far you can throw a rock out to sea count?” George asked. “Um, no, never skipped stones before. There was a kid in my class back home who could do it really well, he was always so smug about it.” He blinked. “Not saying you’re smug or anything.” he spoke sheepishly. “Oh, I can be smug alright, but let me show you why first.” Jane teased back, as the winding path they were following started to slope downwards, and Jane picked up the pace. George did his best to keep up, but the terrain wasn’t in his favour. The plants and trees grew tighter and narrowed more, whilst the dirt path itself seemed lodged with uneven stones and exposed roots pushing to the surface. He could feel the larger stones pushing uncomfortably through the thin soles of his shoes, and realised that stiff jeans and trainers weren’t the best clothes to be out exploring in. At last, the path suddenly widened, and he followed Jane out into an open rocky area where the sound of rushing water could be heard. They were on an outcropping that jutted into the bend of a moderately large river. Water that was so clear it was practically transparent flowed past them at a steady pace, and George could easily see the bed of rocks and occasional scrap of wood and other debris that made up the river floor. Treelines flanked either side of the river, a dozen or so feet back from the edge of the water. He could follow the path of the river down for what seemed like miles and miles as it carved and wound its way through the woods. A planked bridge crossed the water about thirty feet away or so at ground level, and in the distance, he could see another bridge, this one elevated about 20 feet above the river and looking substantially larger. “Wow, this is cool.” George said. He’d not been expecting the place to be this big. There were a few other people out here as well, further down the path at the side of the river they were on he could see a couple of grownups moving to cross the wooden bridge, their backs turned to him. It reminded him that they really weren’t that far from civilisation, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell from where they were. “Yeah, it's pretty good, huh?” Jane nodded, a slight smirk on her face. “Come on, let me show you how to skip!” She sounded excited as she did some skipping of her own towards the bank of the river, before squatting down and retrieving a handful of small, smooth, flat black stones. She discarded a few, then came back over to George. “Take these ones.” She held out her right hand. “Don’t worry, I gave you a few good ones.” She joked. George wasn’t sure how you even knew which stones were good for skipping, but he smiled at her joke all the same. He held them in his hand, still wet and cold from being in the river. Tiny grains of dirt and debris clung to them and onto his palm as he thumbed through them. Ultimately picking one at random and holding it in his right hand, the remainder held in his left. “Alright, watch this!” He snapped his eyes up as Jane called to him and he watched her get ready to throw. A black oval glinted in her palm as she pulled her arm back and turned her body in a way that reminded him a bit of the shotput events he’d watched when the Olympics were on TV. Was stone skipping an Olympic sport? Even if it wasn’t, Jane made it look like it should be. With practiced movement she spun suddenly and loosed the stone at a perfect angle out downstream towards the bridges. George watched as it shot out over the water, a grin of amazement growing on his face as he watched it bounce once, twice, thrice against the surface of the river. It made a grand total of six skips before finally succumbing to gravity and sinking out of sight to the depths. “That was cool!” He exclaimed, as Jane looked confident and did a mock bow. “Show me!” He demanded in excitement, and Jane agreed, as he took up position close to her. “Hold it between your thumb and middle finger, like this.” She began explaining to him as he adjusted his grip. “Stand like I did and flick your wrist at the last second. Try and throw it out and down at the same time.” She kept giving him pointers as he adjusted his hold and his stance until she seemed satisfied, then did his best to mimic the moves she had done. The stone flew out into the water, but only managed a single tired skip before it drowned. It looked a rather paltry effort compared to what Jane had managed just before. He moved another stone from his left hand to his right and tried again. Once more only managing a single skip. He looked at Jane. “Just keep trying!” She told him. I’ve been doing it for years, and that was a good throw!” The words of encouragement stopped his spirits from deflating any further, and then he moved to try a third time, but was stopped just as he started to swing his arm. “Wait, why don’t you try the other hand, maybe that will help.” She suggested. “Does that really matter?” George asked. “I mean, it might.” She shrugged. “Are you right or left-handed?” “I’m left-handed.” “Try that then.” He nodded, switching hands before lining himself up to try again. He mentally went over the tips she’d told him, then took aim, remembering to flick his wrist just in time as the stone shot forward. Right away he could tell this one had a lot more energy behind it that the last two attempts. It bounced once, twice, three times in long flat arks, water rippling away with each impact on the water. “Yeah!” He laughed, and grinned. George had always sucked at sports. He was always last – or near enough to last – to get picked for teams, and Tuesdays were the worst day of the week because that was the day he had a double lesson of P.E. in the morning. This was different though. Away from school and mocking peers, from expectations and crowds, he was doing something because he wanted to and because it was fun. Not because the adults in his life told him he had to. He picked another stone and aimed for a repeat performance. It didn’t go quite as far as this time, but still managed three skips before sinking. For the first time since getting off the plane, he felt properly happy and excited about his summer holiday. Like his troubles and worries were being washed away in the current of the river. “That was great! Told you it would help.” Jane cheered him on and skipped one of her own now. Four skips. A target for him to match. They locked eyes, and wordlessly agreed to the contest as they began to take turns. The sun starting to sink in the sky as the evening hours whittled away, interrupted only by the wildlife of the woods and the splashing of stones in the water.

First draft of chapter 5 is 90% done now. Sorry this has been taking so long.

Do you remember what the premise was?

Yeah, fun times but busy times for me. I've got chapter 5 roughly outlined and I know what's going to happen and what its going to look like. Just need to sit down and write it up properly now. Sorry for keeping everyone waiting so long between chapters. I want to try and be more consistent and regular with chapter posts this coming year.

Why do I get the sinking feeling that Chris is going to end up siding with Kelly over Zack once they come face to face? Another excellent chapter, as always.

I'm not stopping, I promise. Life's just been rather busy of late. I'll aim to try and get a new chapter up soon :).

Ugh. Can I just give Zach a hug and get him away from psycho Kelly at this point? Poor, poor kid. He really needs help, and I hope he gets it soon. Excellent chapter as always.

Thoroughly enjoying this story so far. And another little glimpse into Dr Paige's program. I do hope that we're going to get to see more of her and the clinic at some point.

I couldn't possibly say. 😉 He's rather emotional and vulnerable at the moment. Cut off entirely from familiarity and his usual support structure, plus the home life issues I've hinted at. He probably is over-reacting to a degree, but he's also an 11 year old boy who's under stress from multiple issues in his life at the moment. I hope his reactions can be read as reasonably realistic given that. As always, the comments & feedback are greatly appreciated!

Chapter 4 - The Girl Next Door George expelled air through his nose and blinked slowly as he tried to get his bladder to respond to his commands. The men's room was typical of public restrooms in that it had an abundance of urinals and a lack of stalls. He’d counted a dozen of the former but only two of the latter in the white tiled room. He hated using urinals, especially if it was busy. He simply didn’t like anyone being able to see him pee. He’d once heard someone call him shy for it, but he’d rolled his eyes. Yeah, I’m shy cause I don’t like going to the toilet in public. Sure thing. Now, after waiting for ages outside the two engaged stalls he’d finally gotten into one and tried to make himself relax in front of the white bowl that dominated the cramped compartment. He didn’t need to go all that much, but he knew that the coke he’d had with lunch would be changing that rather soon. It was stupid timing really. He’d go now, only to have to really go once they were back on the road. So dumb. After a few seconds his bladder got the message and drained unceremoniously into the toilet. He cleaned himself up and waved his hand in front of the little black motion sensor to trigger the flush, then walked out to wash his hands. After spending too long trying to figure out how to work the strange looking soap container, he realised it was another motion sensor. Irritated, he waved his hand under it impatiently. The sensor activated and a small dribble of lukewarm pink gel fell into his open palm. Hastily, he rubbed it around his palms and fingers, then washed it off before grabbing a pile of towels from a wall mounted container and dried his hands. Stepping back out into the hallway, he jumped back suddenly as one of the other bathroom doors flung out suddenly and almost hit him. He could see a blue symbol on that door indicating that it was a baby changing area. As he sidestepped the wooden obstacle, he caught sight of the woman who had almost hit him. An older lady with grey hair, in faded jeans and a light orange top, holding the hand of a younger girl who looked about five or six, and his eyes widened slightly as he caught the crescent of crinkled white peeking out of the latter's dark blue shorts, and realised she was wearing a nappy. Under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have even noticed it – though it was a bit strange for a girl that old to not be toilet trained. But now it brought last night's accident rushing to the front of his mind, and he felt a fresh wave of shame and anger come over him. The older woman stopped her for a second to adjust the girl's purple cardigan and fix her peaking underwear, and George took the opportunity to quickly get past them and back towards his godmother. “Did you fall in?” She smirked at him as he got close to her, and he rolled his eyes. “There was a queue.” He muttered. “Can we go now?” She nodded. “Just waiting on you.” She reminded him, as they began to walk back towards the entrance then back out into the car park. He quickly opened the door to his side and hopped into the front, shutting the door with a bit more force than he needed to. “George, don’t slam the door like that please!” Alice exclaimed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.” He huffed. Alice looked like she was about to say something else for a second, but then shook her head and started the engine. George waited until it was clear he wasn’t about to be spoken too, then pulled out his 3DS and resumed his Pokémon game. He looked up briefly, catching sight of their shopping in the back seat. The packs of nappies sitting out in the open, mocking him. He quickly went back to his game. By the time they were most of the way home, the power sign on his Nintendo was flashing red, and George found himself hurrying through a battle so he could save his progress. With nothing else to do, he began looking out the windows, trying to spot anything interesting. The entire drive so far had been done in silence, and now it was getting to him. Giving up on his solitary staring he reluctantly turned back to his guardian. “I’m sorry I slammed the door.” He tried to sound sincere, but his words still seemed to exit his mouth as a sulking huff. “That’s ok.” Alice nodded as she looked at him from behind her sunglasses. He couldn’t discern her expression. She didn’t look mad, but she didn’t look happy with him either. If he’d been with his mum, he wouldn’t have cared. But he was Alice’s guest, and besides feeling a little guilty about his stropping, he was now also worried about what his mum would say if Alice decided to report back to her. His heart sank further as he realised that if she did speak to him mum soon, she’d probably mention the bedwetting. The silence hung in the air between them. Thick and unwelcome. George returned to staring out of the window and wonder why it had to take forever to drive anyplace over here. At some point Alice put the radio on and he tried to let the familiar roster of pop music push his worries away. After what felt like forever, they found themselves on a stretch of suburban road that felt slightly familiar, and his feeling was confirmed as he started to recognise the large, luxurious looking homes that now flanked them on both sides as Alice slowed to a stop outside of the large luxury suburban house that was now his home for the next seven weeks. He eyed the dashboard, waiting until the little seatbelt light turned off before unclicking his and opening the door and stepping out onto the carved stone driveway. As he did, he caught Alice looking at him, and she wordlessly motioned towards the backseat, and he nodded. He opened the door to the back of the car, and picked up the bag of chocolate and crisps, sliding the handles over his wrist as he looked at the pack of Easy-Ups and Goodnites. Reluctantly he reached forward and grabbed those as well, managing to balance one in each hand against his sides as the weight of his candy haul caused the plastic handles on that bag to dig into his arm slightly. So focused on balancing the shopping he was that he didn’t notice the girl standing on the pavement watching him. She had short blond hair and was wearing a set of mud-stained clothes. A light blue shirt with a black number 11 on the front, and elasticated grey shorts. Their eyes met, and there was an awkward pause before she decided to speak first. “Oh. Uh, hi. I’m Jane. I live just next door.” She motioned with her hand back behind her, towards the house next to Alice’s. “Are you staying with Ms Moore? She said she had someone staying over this week.” It took George a second to figure out that she was talking about Alice. “Yeah, I’m staying for the summer with her. She’s my godmother.” He explained, trying his level best to keep his focus on Jane, and not on the two packs of nappies he was holding on to. As if by not drawing any attention she might somehow miss them. Standing here, out in the open with them, in front of a girl his own age, it felt like was holding something radioactive. His heartbeat drummed faster. “Cool. I didn’t know Ms Moor had family in England.” She picked up on his accent right away. “Uh, welcome to America I guess!” She gave a warm, if slightly awkward smile, and George did his best to force one back at her. “Thanks. I think I like it here. I just wish the jetlag would end so I can do stuff.” He shrugged, regretting it instantly as the infantile packages crinkled deafeningly as his arms moved. Jane glanced down, and any hope George had of making It though this conversation without his new neighbour noticing them vaporised. She looked at them for a few seconds then glanced back up at George, the look on her face inscrutable. She didn’t say anything, and his heartbeat into overdrive as he waited for her to cast judgement. “I uh, I just got back from soccer practice.” She motioned to the dirty state of her clothes. “But we can hang out later if you want. Once I get changed, I mean.” A cold, sinking feeling overtook him as he assumed she was simply fishing for an excuse to get away from him. This was going great. He’d been here not even 72 hours and already he was gonna be the weird kid with the nappies to the girl next door. Why the hell did I agree to come here The two stood there in silence for a moment more, before a man’s voice broke them both out of it. “Jane, come and help me please!” “Coming dad!” Jane called back, then turned to face George again. “Sorry, I’d better go. I'll come see you later, yeah?” “Yeah, sounds good.” He said quietly. Jane smiled at him again, then turned and ran off to where her father stood by the red SUV sitting in their driveway. George sighed once she was out of earshot, then turned and walked morosely back towards Alice. “Why the long face buddy?” She frowned. Stood by the unlocked front door, she must have been waiting for him. “Nothing.” He sighed and stomped his way inside. Lazily wiping his feet on the mat before taking his shoes off and shoving them to the side of the entryway. Alice gave him a look that clearly said she didn’t believe that, and George felt a fresh pang of frustration and anger sweep over him as he set off upstairs at speed. The soft carpet on the steps still unfamiliar compared to the solid wooden ones back home, as he ascended under the shadows of expensive looking watercolour portraits and along the large landing towards the second door on the left. Whilst he was still unfamiliar with his new habitat, it was easy to remember which of the soft white doors led to the room was his. It was the only one with a stupid name sign on it. A rectangular block of sanded oak wood, suspended in place by a thin wire that hung from a tiny nail in the middle of the door frame, which came down to loop under two metal rings built into the top of the wooden block, forming a triangle. It reminded George of those “Sorry we’re closed/open” signs you saw in smaller shops, and he found himself wishing that he could turn this sign over as well and sulk for the rest of the day. He shoved the handle down and barged inside, sweeping the door closed again with his feet. The two bags off nappies dropped from underneath his arms and landed softly on the ground with a muffed thud. In anger, he swung his foot forward and punted them both underneath the large double bed in the middle of his room. There was a slightly louder thud as they hit the skirting board one after the other. Good. Maybe They'll be stuck all the way back there and I won’t have to wear the stupid things. George sighed audibly, the resigned himself to sitting on the edge of the bed. The soft blue duvet wasn’t the one he’d gone to bed with. That one had been red and race car themed. Whilst this one had pictures of spaceships and asteroids embraided all over it. He found his eyes wandering around as he sulked. Everything in the room seemed brand new. The digital alarm clock and phone charging station, the large wooden chest of drawers packed with assorted clothes, the sliding mirrored wardrobe that took up most of one of the shorter side walls. Even the rather empty bookshelves and whiteboard pinned to the wall beside it. Alice had gotten all of this made for him, and he knew, once again, that he should be more grateful. So why was he stuck in such foul moods lately? This place was miles bigger than back home, and everything was new. No second-hand stuff picked up at Primark. He knew the reason. Two of them in fact, and right now they were hidden away underneath the bed he was sitting on. A small part of him wanted to retrieve them and lob them out of the window as hard as he could. But they’d only end up landing in the large backyard his room faced. He felt a twinge from his bladder. In all his sulking moodiness, he’d not noticed it. But now his earlier prediction had come true, and he needed to pee. His first instinct was to head back downstairs and use the bathroom just off the front door, before he remembered the second door in his new bedroom. Sliding off the bed, he walked over and opened the door that led to the en-suite bathroom. Between this and the sterile newness of everything, it felt like he was living in a hotel. The bathroom itself was large, and he reckoned it was only a bit smaller than his actual bedroom was back in England. He undid his fly and, double checking that he’d shut the lock properly on the door, started peeing into the toilet bowl. The sound of his stream hitting the resting water echoing around the white chamber. Much like the bedroom, it was mostly empty of any of his personal affects. Just the toothbrush and tube of paste he’d brought with him, and a nearly new bar of soap sitting in a dish just to the side of the sink. The shelves and cupboards underneath the sink were all empty for now as was the large marble worktop that ran the entire length of the wall. There was a large bath and shower setup that took up the back third of the room, and he felt faded memories surfacing of a much younger George being washed by his mum after a long and dirty day of playing outside. He washed himself up, and for once remembered to wash his face as well. Then struggled for a second to pick out which towel to dry with. The chrome rack on the wall directly opposite the sink had a half dozen of them, plus bath towels and some in sizes in between. Alice must have ordered them in bulk or something. He took a second to look at the dour looking eleven-year-old staring back at him in the huge mirror that covered half of the wall above the sink and worktop. He raked his hand through the fringe of his hair to straighten it out and poked at an annoying spot that had reared its head in the last week. Satisfied, he turned and left the bathroom. His angst had dissipated slightly, and with nothing better to do in his room he made his way back down the stairs, as he heard voices floating up to him from the kitchen. Alice was leaning against the island in the middle, a cup of coffee nestled in her hands as she spoke to someone. As he got into her line of sight her eyes caught his movement and she smiled. “Ah, there he is. The bear emerges from his slumber at last.” She joked. “You didn’t tell me you’d already met Jane.” George felt like a deer in headlights as he saw the girl from earlier sitting at one of the kitchen bar stools, who now turned and smiled at him as well.

Well it won't be long now. Chapter 4 is written, now I just need to edit it.