The Writers' Circle

Chapter 2
Zeke

"Come on," said Rosa, nodding towards her bedroom. 
Matt followed her inside, slamming the door loudly behind him. Rosa watched him as he threw himself onto her bed, muttering darkly under his breath. Her head was spinning, her mind so full it seemed incredible that her head could contain it all. As she looked at her brother fear flooded her, she couldn't be separated from him; she just couldn't. They were best friends. Everything about them was identical, from their blonde, poker straight hair and navy blue eyes, to the way they walked and even the way they spoke. Her heart was racing madly, her breath coming fast and ragged; the idea of not seeing Matt every day was as strange and unbearable to her as the idea of not being allowed to breathe.
"What are we going to do?" Matt asked, sitting up and gazing at her.
"I have no idea," she replied, biting her lip nervously, "I don't think there's anything we can do." 
"Short of finding whoever came up with the stupid overcrowding rule and throttling them," he said, punching one of the pillows to relieve some of his anger.
Rosa looked at her brother and fear gripped her chest, "What if we are separated?"
"We're not going to be," he said firmly, "I'd run away first," he spun around his eyes bright, "That's it," he cried, "We'll run away, they can't separate us if they can't find us."
Rosa raised her eyebrows, "Please tell me you're joking?"
"Nope," he said, grinning broadly, "If we went tonight while everyone was asleep, we'd be long gone before anyone even noticed."
"Well, its official," said Rosa, "You've actually gone mad. We have nowhere to go."
"We could go anywhere we wanted," he said, "Freedom at last."
Rosa frowned; the part of her that was more like Matt was telling she should do it, while the altogether more sensible and down to earth part could just see an ocean of flaws in the plan.
"Come on," said Matt, grinning at her, "We can do this. We'll leave tonight, camp in a field somewhere and in the morning we'll catch the first bus and be gone."
Rosa was extremely temped by this, "But what about Tony and Mary? They've been too good to us to just leave in the dead of night without even saying goodbye. They deserve better than that."
Matt looked momentarily guilty, "It can't be helped. We're going to be leaving one way or another, but at least this way we have some control over where we end up."
Rosa looked at him earnestly, "I can't do it."
"Do you want to be split up?"
"Yes Matt, of course that is what I want," she said, her voice bitterly sarcastic, "Don't be an idiot."
Matt scowled.
"Could you honestly leave without an explanation after all the stuff Tony and Mary have done for us?" Rosa asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed.
Matt looked uncomfortable; Tony was the reason that they even had a home. When they had been three years old he had found them on the street outside Fly by House. He had taken them in and tried to find their parents, but to no avail. That had been nine years ago, when Tony and Mary first bought Fly by House.
It was on the outskirts of Whitby and had been a school in the 1800's. They had got it cheap because it had needed so much work doing to it. Tony had come up with the name Fly by House because he thought it sounded professional and as though they were fantastic at finding homes for kids. They had done their best to renovate the building, but some of the problems had not been so easy to fix. For example, the whole thing had been built on dodgy foundations and tilted slightly to the left. This made showering an interesting experience, as all the water tended to run downhill. The electricity was also on the blink, so it was not unusual for the whole house to be plunged into darkness at very random times. All of these problems were on Tony's 'to do list' but the longer they lived at Fly by House, the longer this list seemed to become.
In their nine years of running the care home Tony and Mary had housed a grand total of twenty children, ok, so thirteen of that twenty were still living at the home, but they were still rather proud of that number. Social Services however were not so pleased with it. They had been begging for the chance to close down Fly by House for years, because as far as they were concerned it was nothing more than a youth club that had overrun its boundaries. 
But whatever problems it had, it had been home to Matt and Rosa for as long as they could remember.
"We can't give an explanation," said Matt, "They would never let us go. We aren't even meant to know what's going on."
Rosa didn't look at him. She didn't want to hurt Tony and Mary and she knew that leaving without an explanation would be worse than being forced to leave.
"Think of it this way," he said, "If we leave, then the overcrowding goes away. Everybody wins. Tony and Mary get to keep the home and we don't get split up. It's the best thing for everyone."
"I don't know," she said, chewing on her lip, "A million things could go wrong."
"I'm not staying here just to be separated in three weeks," he said, "I'm not wasting my time."
Rosa sighed, but before she could reply the bedroom door flew open, making them both jump. Maxine Newton and Niamh Alexander came striding into the room. Maxine and Niamh shared a room with Rosa and both seemed to think it was their god-given right to make her life miserable. They took every available opportunity to pick on her and took great delight in doing so. 
They stood in the doorway, hands on their hips and glares on their faces.
"Can we help you?" asked Matt icily.
"We've just heard a rather interesting conversation between Tony and Mary," said Maxine, her eyes narrowed with dislike.
"W-what?" Rosa stammered, her heart beat increasing. Maxine and Niamh couldn't possibly have heard what they had just heard.
"Yeah," Niamh nodded, "Apparently unless you two get fostered we're all going to be split up."
"How do you know?" Matt demanded.
"I was looking for my mobile in the office," said Maxine, flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder in an infuriating manner, "and Tony and Mary came in," Rosa felt her heart sink, "they started arguing about how social services are going to shut us down if they can't get you two adopted by January."
"So thanks," said Niamh, her hazel eyes blazing, "You've now destroyed the only home most of us have ever had."
"Hang on a minute," said Matt angrily, "That is totally unfair. It's not our fault what social services decided. This is going to be just as bad for us as it is for you, probably worse seeing as though we're going to be separated."
"But why is it you that were chosen?" asked Maxine her face showing no hint of pity, "Because you've been here the longest and have never been adopted and why is that?" 
Matt looked suddenly rather hot around the collar, "Because he," she jabbed a finger at him, "Always had to make things so difficult."
This was true. Matt had made things hard. He seemed to instantly dislike every person he met and always made a point of letting them know it. But unlike most people, he didn't do this through speech; instead he did it through an array of unpleasant pranks, which inevitably sent the people running from the home as fast as they could. But even the ones who Matt did get on with never hung around for very long. They all decided after a week or so that they either didn't want a child as much as they had thought or else that the twins just weren't right for them.
"So we just wanted to thank you both," said Maxine nastily and she and Niamh turned on their heels and left the room, slamming the door behind them.
"Great," said Rosa, covering her face with her hands, "Just what we need, those two knowing," she sighed, "and you know what makes it worse?" Matt shook his head, "Is that they're right."
Matt looked horrified at the very idea, "Charming, so you think I'm to blame for this too?"
"You haven't exactly made things easy have you," she said, looking up, "Look at the Noble's."
"What about them?"
"You poked Mr Noble in the side of the face with a pair of fire tongs."
"I was checking to make sure he hadn't died," he said this as though it was the most reasonable thing in the world, "No one can sleep for that long in a chair that hard. It's not natural and he smelled like something dead anyway. How was I to know he hadn't popped his clogs?"
Rosa shook her head despairingly. She was fighting a losing battle, "It hardly made them eager to adopt us did it."
"Yeah, well they were too old anyway," he said, "They were more like grandparents than parents."
Rosa sighed; she knew what they had to do, though she still didn't like it.
"You were right earlier," she said, not looking at her brother, "About leaving. It's the only chance we stand. I don't much fancy having to be here when social services split everyone up."
Matt's look of indignation melted away to be replaced by a giant grin, "We'll go tonight as soon as everyone's gone to bed."
Rosa nodded, feeling incredibly sick.

*

For the past three quarters of an hour Matt had been staring absentmindedly at a spider's journey across his bedroom ceiling, while Rosa, in the room next door, tried unsuccessfully to read a book by the light of a flickering torch.
The clock next to Matt's bed read 10:45pm, but he knew that Tony and Mary didn't go to sleep until eleven at the earliest. He yawned as the spider disappeared into a hole and turned on his side. As he lay there he could hear the wind and hail whipping the ancient windows without mercy. He wasn't looking forward to going out into that freezing weather. Merlin Bevan, one of the boys Matt shared a room with, was snoring in the bed opposite and it struck him that this might be the last time he ever heard it. He shook himself, thinking about things like that was not going to help.
A loud bang from downstairs brought him abruptly and rather painfully, as he smacked his head against the wall, back to his senses. He looked around, bewildered, neither Merlin nor Charlie, the other boy Matt shared a room with, had as much as stirred in their sleep. He got out of bed and crept to the door. He peered out into the landing, but everything was pitch-black; the only light a faint glow coming from downstairs. He went over and peered through the hand rail and saw that it was coming from the crack at the bottom of the kitchen door. He stood up, but something had hold of his arm. He yelled, almost losing his footing as he tried to fling it off him. He spun around but could only make out the blurred outline of something dark stood next to him. He yelled again and so did the thing.
"Matt, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Matt heard to his great relief that it was only Rosa.
"Me," he gasped, "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to creep up on people in the dark?"
Rosa shook her head, "What was that bang?"
"I don't know, but I think it came from the kitchen."
"Weird," said Rosa, turning to creep back to her room.
"Oi! Where do you think you're going?" Matt asked, grabbing hold of the back of her pyjamas.
"What?" she asked, with an unconvincing look of bewilderment on her face.
"You're not backing out on me are you?"
"No," she said sheepishly, "I can't think of any way around it and trust me, I've been trying."
"Good. Go and get your stuff and meet me downstairs. Tony and Mary sound pretty busy, but we'll still have to be quick."
Matt crept back into his room. He went over to his bed and knelt on the floor, feeling under it for the duffle bag he'd packed earlier. He dragged it out and pulled on his coat
This is it; he thought to himself, we're actually doing this.
He cast one final look around his dark room and suddenly realised he wasn't going to miss it. After nine years he was glad to be leaving. He turned back onto the landing and crept down the stairs to where Rosa stood next to the door.
He smiled apprehensively at her and said; "Are you rea-" he whipped around.
There were raised voices coming from kitchen.
"What's that?" he asked, edging over to the door.
"I don't know," said Rosa, praying that he would stay away, "Just leave it, we've got to go."
"I just want to have a look," he said, pushing the door open a crack.
"Matt," Rosa hissed, cursing her brother's inability to keep his nose out of other people's business, "Get back here. I swear I'll go without you."
Matt ignored her and put his eye to the door. He saw Mary sat at the kitchen table; she was wearing a floral dressing gown and had a concerned look on her face. He moved slightly to the right and saw Tony stood by the back door; he was fully dressed and was trying to calm down a boy who looked around the same age as himself and Rosa; twelve or thirteen at the most. The boy looked absolutely beside himself with rage and was shouting something about not belonging and that they had to take him back. Matt wondered what he meant.
"What's going on?"
Matt's heart skipped a beat as Rosa appeared next to him, "Stop doing that," he said through gritted teeth.
"Sorry," she said, "So what's hap-" But before she could even get the words out, her foot caught on the edge of the carpet and she fell. Matt saw it, almost in slow motion, as she reached out and tried to grab his coat, but instead of steadying herself as she had intended, she pulled him down with her, through the door and into a sprawling heap on the kitchen tiles.
Silence filled the kitchen as Tony, Mary and the unknown boy turned to stare at the twins as they fought to untangle themselves from the mass of arms and legs.
When they had managed to straighten themselves out Tony stepped forward.
"So who's going to explain?"
The twins exchanged awkward looks.
"We heard raised voices," said Rosa, thinking fast as Matt nodded vigorously behind her, "and we wanted to know what was going on. So we came down to have a look and I fell and dragged Matt with me."
It was almost the truth. They had wondered what the noise was and she had fallen. She looked from Tony to Mary praying that they would believe her embroidered truth.
Tony frowned, "Why are you wearing your coats?"
Rosa looked down horror-struck at her duvet-like duffel coat, "Erm... I was... cold."
It was a pathetic excuse and she knew it.
Tony looked suspiciously from her to Matt, it was clear he didn't believe a word of their feeble tale, "You both just happened to be cold at the exact same moment that you heard noises down here?"
"What are the odds?" asked Matt, full of fake bravado.
"Very slim," said Tony, but before he could say any more, Mary stepped forward.
"We're sorry we woke you," she said with a smile, "Come and sit down. This is Zeke by the way, Zeke Marlo."
She gestured to the boy stood behind her. He had shoulder length, wavy hair that looked almost golden in the light of the florescent kitchen bulb and tanned skin. Rosa though he looked foreign, not like the typical Whitby lad. There was something eerie about him, she thought perhaps it was his eyes; they were extraordinarily pale brown and appeared almost colourless. A shiver ran down her spine as Zeke met her gaze. He didn't seem to need to blink as much as a normal person. She looked quickly away, but even after she had done so, she could still feel his eyes upon her.
Matt and Rosa took the seats next to Mary at the round kitchen table. Matt glanced over at Zeke and saw that he had still not taken his eyes off Rosa. He glowered at him, feeling about ready to tell him that normal people don't stare.
"Zeke will be staying with us for a while," said Mary cheerfully, getting up and switching on the kettle, "Tea anyone?"
The twins shook their heads and Tony said no. Zeke didn't utter a word. 
"Just me then," said Mary in a voice that was much too jolly for the amount of tension that was building in the room at that moment.
"Where did Zeke come from?" asked Rosa. She had momentarily considered asking Zeke himself, but she didn't feel brave enough, especially when she saw that his eyes still lingered upon her.
"Tony found him in a right state wandering around near a garage in town. He was terrified poor lad, but we don't know what happened to him," Mary's smile faltered for the first time as she got a stripy mug out of a cupboard.
"Because he won't tell us," said Tony quietly, though not quietly enough, for Zeke burst out.
"I told you I don't come from here, I come from Ma-"
"It's ok," said Tony quickly, patting him on the shoulder, "We think the garage fumes have addled his memory. We're hoping that once he's had a good sleep and maybe some fresh air he'll be right as rain and ready to tell us what really happened."
As he said this Rosa couldn't help but notice that Tony's eyes kept flickering nervously. He seemed almost frightened, though she couldn't think why.
Zeke glared at Tony and muttered something under his breath that was too quiet for Rosa to catch.
Mary sat back down at the table and delicately sipped at her mug of tea, "Matt," she said sweetly, "Would you mind if Zeke stayed in your room tonight? You could make him a bed on your floor."
Matt nodded reluctantly; he knew it wasn't really a question.
"Speaking of beds," said Tony, switching unexpectedly back to his normal self, "I think it's about time we headed to ours. We'll be fit for nothing in the morning at this rate," he yawned as he got to his feet, "Oh, and don't forget to take your coats off before you go," he added, casting the twins a knowing look.
Matt and Rosa nodded, avoiding his gaze, as they hurried from the kitchen, Zeke trailing along behind them. They grabbed their bags from beside the door and turned up the stairs.
Matt told Zeke to wait in his room while he got some blankets. As he sloped off Rosa collared Matt.
"Well done," she hissed, "If you weren't so flipping nosy we'd be gone by now."
"What do you mean if I wasn't so flipping nosy?" he asked in disbelief, "You're the one with two left feet, neither of which you can use properly I might add."
"Yeah, well if you hadn't been by the door in the first place I wouldn't have fallen," Rosa shot back, "I swear Tony knew what we were really up to."
"I was just having a quick look; you didn't have to come too."
"You're always 'just having a quick look'" she hissed, "You can't keep your nose where it belongs, on your face, not in others people's stuff."
Matt opened his mouth to retort, but Rosa cut across him.
"Look," she said, holding her hands up in defeat, "We could stand here blaming each other all night, but it won't change what happened. We'll just have to go tomorrow instead. One more day isn't going to make a difference is it?"
Matt nodded, "Fine."