The Sun Goddess of Cargills Castle

by Neisha Nilsen

  Crunch.

  What was that? I could hear crunching coming from my desk. I stopped breathing so I could hear properly.

  Crunch, crunch…

  What the? I sat up slowly and gently put my book down. I was definitely awake now. I tip toed over to my desk and stopped to listen…

  Crunch, crunch, crunch.

  I gently lifted the lid of my jewellery box and peered in. Just my trinkets and nut crumbs. Nut crumbs! What was going on? I turned on my light. We had a mouse in the house. We must have, what else would make that noise and steal my nuts. I must admit we do get mice sometimes in the winter when it’s cold outside, but I have never seen them or heard of them eating a whole cup of nuts in summer. I dropped the lid down again. I’m going to have to tell Dad, we might have an epidemic on our hands. A part of me didn’t want to tell Dad, mice were so cute, they didn’t deserve to die in a mouse trap, but they can’t be stealing my nuts also. I curled up back in bed, thinking of the poor mice my Dad was going to be exterminating in the days to come and contemplated not telling him. I started thinking about my situation. I had the light of a goddess in my body. It all felt unreal. According to Hayden it was all very real and it was very real that people wanted to exterminate me. Then a thought came to me… how did a mouse get inside my jewellery box with the lid shut!

  ◆◆◆

  Hayden sat down on my bed and knuckle rubbed my hair.

  “Hayden!” I moaned.

  “Wake up sleepyhead,” he whispered into my ear.

  “Hayden, you’re so annoying!” He laughed and I caved. “Alright, I’m awake now.” I sat up and pushed my pillow up against my bedhead and leaned against it. “What’s up?”

  “Not you” he joked.

  I shoved him “I am now thanks to someone.”

  He pushed my other pillow up against my bedhead and leaned against it beside me. “What do you want to do today?”

  I thought about it, I didn’t really want to do anything. “Nothing, let’s just relax. Spend the day at home.”

  He put his arms up behind his head and took a deep breath. “That sounds like a great plan. Perfect.”

  Tom poked his head in the door “Hey Hayden.”

  “Hey Tom” Hayden replied.

  Tom took off down the hallway to his bedroom. I heard his door slam shut.

  I smiled. Tom really liked Hayden. He was probably checking to see what we were up to and to see if he could steel Hayden away from me for a game on his PlayStation.

  Hayden turned to me. “I’ll play him later. This time I’ll beat him.”

  I smiled at him.

  “What? I will, I totally will do it this time.”

  “Whatever.” I said as I sunk deeper into bed and pulled the comforter up over us both. “Hayden, how old are you?”

  He looked at me “old?”

  “Yeah, how old? You’re my protector, apparently, so that must mean that you’ve either lived for a very long time, or you’re the same age as me and when you were born you became my protector, just like I’m part goddess. I’m just trying to figure this all out.”

  He sighed. “I’m a lot older than you.”

  “I knew it, how old?”

  “Very old.”

  I looked at him “Like thousands of years old?” He nodded his head. “So you’ve just been wandering this earth looking for me?”

  “Well kind of like that, but not wandering this earth, I have been wandering multiple worlds looking and searching for the light of Brigid. It’s been my sole purpose for many years, so many in fact I can’t remember a time in my existence that I thought about anything else.”

  I gave him a cheeky smile. “Hayden… are you obsessed with me?” I joked.

  “Something like that” he smirked.

  “There’s so much I want to ask you, but there’s so many it’s all jumbled up.”

  “Spit it out, the first one that comes to your mind.”

  “Are you lonely?”

  He looked shocked. “Lonely?”

  I’m guessing by his expression that he didn’t expect that to be my first question. “Yes lonely. You've been alive for thousands of years looking for the light of Brigid. What about you? What about your life? What about a family or a girlfriend?”

  He looked sad and pretended to pick his nails. I think I struck a nerve. “Yes I suppose it’s been a bit lonely, but you wouldn’t understand the importance of you. You need to be kept safe, kept here and live out your life.”

  “Well, what happens when I grow old and die, do you then go in search for the next one? Does my light just move to the next person? Do you grow old? People would wonder if you didn’t grow old with me.”

  He held his hands up “Whoa, slow down. Yes, I’ll always be searching for the light of Brigid, and I’ll grow old, kind of. I’ll glammer myself to look old and age appropriately with you.”

  “You can do that?”

  He nodded. Wow, that’s pretty cool.

  “Will you be sad?”

  “Sad?”

  “When I grow old and die?”

  He hugged me and I felt happier in his arms. “Of course I’ll be sad. The light drew me to you, but there’s something about you as a human that is unforgettable.”

  I smiled as he hugged me tighter. I wiped my tongue over my teeth. Yeow, I had morning fuzzies. I pulled away from him and walked to my ensuite bathroom to brush my teeth. “Where do you live?” I asked with a mouthful of toothpaste.

  “Duh, where do you think Brig…? Dunedin” he replied implying that I was stupid.

  “No, I don’t mean now, but where are you from? Where do you call home?”

  It was silent for a long time. I spat out my toothpaste and rinsed my toothbrush under the tap waiting for an answer. “It’s hard to say where I call home. I suppose it will be where I spent my time with Brigid in the Otherworld. But I have lived everywhere, in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Britain, China, New Zealand – everywhere, but the Otherworld is probably the one I’d call home.”

  The Otherworld, I’ll have to google that place later and learn more about it. “Is that where the gods live?”

  “Yeah I suppose, there’re different realms in the Otherworld, entirely different places than each other. It’s a huge place, but a lot of them call earth their home too.”

  “Hmm, sounds interesting. Is this where Brigid is? I mean the frozen Brigid.”

  I sat down at the end of the bed and wiped the rest of the water off my face. “Yes.” That’s all he said. I left it at that. I got the feeling I’d asked too many questions as it was. I’ll ask more another time, but for now I was hungry.

  “Morning Brig” Dad called as he poked his balding head through my bedroom door. He looked at my bed, “hey Hayden” he said suspiciously.

  “Hey Mr Ports” Hayden replied back with a nod of his head.

  Dad squared his eyes on me. “Hayden hasn’t been here all night has he?”

  “No!” I blurted out. I looked at Hayden tucked under the comforter in my bed and saw why he might think that. “No, not at all.”

  “Mrs Ports let me in before” Hayden blurted out as he looked at me and winked.

  My face was going red. How embarrassing, Dad thought Hayden and I were boyfriend and girlfriend. That couldn’t be further than the truth. He was my best friend, my buddy.

  “Good” Dad said simply as he started to disappear down the stairs.

  “Hey Dad!” I yelled out after him.

  “Yeah!” he replied back. His steps slowed to a stop.

  “I think we have mice again?”

  I heard him mumble swearwords to himself before he answered me. “Okay thanks, I’ll look into it.”

  “Cool thanks, in my bedroom I think that’s where they’re hanging out.” I thought back to the nut crumbs. I felt sorry for the poor mice, but it was either them or my food and I was a hungry girl.

  I stood up off the bed. “He is so embarrassing” I said to Hayden. “Sorry about that.”
>
  “Nah don’t be sorry, at least he cares.”

  “Yeah, true.” I replied. “Right lets go downstairs and get some breakfast. I. am. Starving.”

  “Right on Brig - I. am. Starving too”, Hayden mimicked. I laughed at him as we swerved our way down the stairs, play punching each other on our arms.

  CHAPTER 9

  We hadn’t done much all day, as we promised ourselves in my bed that morning. We went downstairs, had breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee to rinse it down with. Hayden played a couple of games of PlayStation with Tom, and yes Tom bet him... again. I still had my pyjamas on, I hadn’t changed all day. It was great having a lazy day. I think we rubbed off on everyone else in the house, because Mum decided to order pizza for tea. Then we all sat down and watched a movie. Hayden left about 10 o’clock. Tom was already in bed, and that’s where I was heading. I said goodnight to my parents and made my way up the stairs.

  I decided to jump into the shower before I climbed into bed, since the only thing I’ve cleaned all day was my teeth. I closed my eyes as the warm water tumbled against my skin. I turned the heat up a bit more and hung my head as the water massaged my neck. Oh that felt good. I closed my eyes and thought about the man in my dreams - Cichol. I was so annoyed with him. I know he was just from my dreams, but I’d actually met him and he wanted to kill me. It was crazy. I just didn’t believe it. He seemed so sincere and I had trusted him. For some reason I had completely trusted him. I just couldn’t imagine that he would have killed me if I’d stayed any longer with him. Hayden had said that he’d do and say anything to me. He wanted my trust. Who was I to second guess him? Hayden had lived for years, and been looking for me for years to protect me from people like him. I sighed, because for some reason I still loved him. Oh my god, did I just think that? No, not love him, I didn’t even know him. I meant liked him, trusted him. I trusted him, had trusted him and I’m finding it hard to believe he’s evil.

  I jumped out of the shower and grabbed the towel to dry myself. Once I’d wrapped the towel around my wet hair, I went to wipe the condensation off the mirror to look at my face and my heart stopped. On the mirror was a “stick figure” picture of a man with sharp pointy teeth. It was a crude picture at best, and his hands were held up like claws. I took a step back and looked again. What? I looked again. What is this? Was this meant to scare me? Who would have done this? Hayden? No, Hayden wouldn’t do this, he was supposed to keep me safe. Tom? It must’ve been Tom. He was the culprit I knew it. I put my pyjamas on and ran downstairs. Mum and Dad were still watching TV.

  “Mum, Dad!” I said loudly as I came belting down the stairs two at a time nearly tripping over Winkles our cat at the bottom.

  “Yes Brig” Dad replied as he looked up at me when I got into the lounge.

  “Come and have a look and see what Tom has done to my mirror.”

  “Oh Brig, what’s he done now?” Mum asked with a huff. She looked tired and ready for bed.

  “Just come and look.” I said frantically. I needed my parents to see this so Tom could be dealt with in the morning. He can’t just go around doing stuff like that in my bedroom. My bedroom was my sanctuary, not a place for my little brother’s pranks.

  Dad got off his chair and followed me. Mum reluctantly followed behind.

  “Look” I whined as I walked into the bathroom.

  “Look at what?” Mum asked as she wiped at her tired eyes.

  I looked at the mirror, it was gone. The whole mirror had been wiped. There was no condensation left on it. The picture was gone.

  “What? I swear that there was a picture of a man with sharp pointy teeth drawn on that mirror. Not drawn with felts but… look when I had a shower and the condensation got on the mirror the scary picture showed up.”

  “Right” Dad said.

  “You believe me right?”

  “Brig, we do, we do believe you. Let us know if it happens again okay.”

  I looked at the mirror again and sighed. “Okay.” They didn’t believe me, I could tell. Maybe it was my imagination. There was some crazy stuff going on in my life at the moment, who knows my eyes might have made the image up in my mind. I was starting to doubt myself. I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

  Mum gave me a hug before they both said goodnight and locked up the house for the night.

  ◆◆◆

  The picture on the mirror disturbed me. Why would Tom do this? The more I thought about it the more I thought it wasn’t him. He was a pain, but I don’t think he’d do that. I’d ask in the morning to confirm it. If I looked him in the eyes and asked him, no matter what his answer was I’d know if he was lying or not.

  I tucked myself up in bed and opened my book. I felt warm from my shower and warm with my duvet tucked tightly around me. I was still slightly freaked out though. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to relax myself then started reading my book. I got a couple of chapters in when…

  Crunch, crunch, crunch…

  It was that mouse again! I heard it again. I stopped my breathing to see if I could hear it again. Nothing, it had stopped. I’m going to find that mouse and toss it out of the house. I was now on a mission to find it and move it out of my bedroom. I sneakily swung my legs over my bed and sat up slowly, as not to give myself a way to the mouse. I tiptoed to my desk and kept still, listening - still nothing. I was sure I heard it before. I slowly opened up my jewellery box, nothing just my trinkets but the crumbs were gone. This mouse was becoming annoying. I’ll remind Dad in the morning about it. I lifted up the jewellery box and turned it in my hands. How was the mouse getting in there anyway? There’s no way a mouse could lift the lid and there were no visible holes that I could see that they could get through. I went slowly down to the kitchen and opened the pantry door in search of some flour. I put some in a cup and made my way back up the stairs to my room. I sprinkled some flour over my study desk and some on the shelves. I was going to find out what this mouse was getting up to and how it was getting into my jewellery box. I gently put the jewellery box back on the top shelf and slid quietly into bed and waited.

  ◆◆◆

  I woke up to the sun shining through the crack in my curtains. I’d dreamt of my dream man again last night. The dream man that wanted me dead. He was pleading with me to come back to save them. I really wanted to save him. Why did I feel this way about him, it agitated me? I knew there was nothing to save, Brigid the Goddess was frozen, yes, but everyone was happy according to Hayden. I sat up quickly and remembered about that blasted mouse - Argh, I must’ve fallen asleep. I was hoping to catch me a mouse. Then I remembered the flour. I threw the blankets off and jumped out of bed. Low and behold, it had worked. I started to get excited and clapped my hands as I jumped up and down – yes! There were little footprints all over the study desk. I looked closer. What? I looked again, that’s strange, I don’t think these are mouse foot prints, they looked like little shoe prints. I shook my head as I closed my eyes. Maybe I was seeing things. They definitely were little shoe marks. I looked up on the shelves, the same thing, lots of random shoe marks and little hand prints. I grabbed the jewellery box and opened it up. What was going on? There was flour everywhere, over all my trinkets and up the sides of the pink velvet cloth that lined the inside of the box. I looked closer and a pair of floured footprints moved. My heart stopped. I kept still and kept my eyes on the flour. No more movement happened. I shook it gently up and down, nothing. I was sure it had moved before. I threw the jewellery box back on the top shelf and ran down the stairs. My heart was thumping and I was too scared to go back up into my room. Whatever was up there, it certainly wasn’t a mouse.

  ◆◆◆

  “Hey Brig” Tom said as he wandered into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. His brown curly hair was everywhere. He needed a haircut. Tom was two years younger than me and just about as tall.

  I was drinking my second cup of coffee for the morning, I was freaking out. “Hey” I replied. Then I remembered about the bathroom mirror. �
�Were you in my room yesterday by any chance?”

  “Yeah, remember I grabbed your phone charger for you when you were watching movies with Hayden in your pyjamas, seriously Brig, did you even get changed yesterday?”

  “No actually I didn’t.” I smiled sneakily at him, yesterday was an excellent lazy day. “When you were up there, did you do anything else?”

  “No.”

  “Really?”

  “No, I did nothing else while I was up there. I grabbed your charger and brought it downstairs for you like you asked. Jeez, if this is the response I’m gonna get when I help you, don’t bother asking next time.” He had his cat bum face on. The Cat bum face was what I called his face when he screwed it up and his mouth turned into a cats bum - grumpy hormonal teenager.

  I held his eye contact the whole time he replied. He was telling the truth. His face started to go red when he was lying and his eyes would dart around the room, avoiding eye contact at all costs. The sharp toothed drawing of that man on my bathroom mirror wasn’t Tom, maybe it was Hayden after all… but why would he do that? “No reason.” I told him. I decided to leave it at that and not push the matter. “Thanks for getting my charger though.”