by John Wallis
The Bloodsuckers Are Coming
“Come on get on board will you! I haven't got long,” screeched the ever miserable Raheam.
“It's eleven at night,” Rob said as he boarded the bus. “How come you seem to be the only bus driver round here?”
“You stood at a bus stop who do you expect to pick you up? The tooth fairy perhaps?”
“That would not shock me today,” Simon responded and I could tell he meant it.
Once we were all seated the engine kicked in and the bus took to the road. Once again none of us asked where we were going.
“I left you at the hotel because I knew you would be safe there, why did you leave?” Raheam asked sounding a little annoyed.
“The Seagulls came,” Madeline responded while searching through her bag of books.
“She set the Seagull Army on you all?” Raheam asked through his rear view mirror.
He smiled slightly and shook his head moving the bus into a higher gear.
“That Lilly is one mean woman.”
There was a silence. No one mentioned right away that he had called the Duchess by name. Instead we were all listening for more. What we got was the growling of the bus engine and the noise of tyres running against a pot hole filled road.
“Lilly refused to classify me to begin with,” Raheam said breaking his silence, “Her castle stands on a small island just off the coast. She summoned me there and locked me in the tower. Then one day she asked to see me.”
“Is that when she offered you the bus?” I asked.
Raheam shook his head.
“At first she didn't offer me anything. She just had that miserable look on her face.”
At the point about miserable faces in Raheam's story I was tempted to say something about a pot and a kettle but decided it best to keep my thoughts to myself.
“She was about to lock me back up again when I offered her something. She was shocked and let me out on the condition that I drove the bus.”
“What did you offer her Simon asked.”
Raheam straightened his tie and met our eager glares in the bus mirror.
“That is when I offered her my hand in marriage.”
I don't think the shocked silence was quite what Raheam was expecting.
“Well don't all speak at once. I don't see what's so odd about it. I was single and the Duchess was single.”
“You and the Duchess,” I said.
“That's disgusting,” Rob commented.
“Well thank you all for your opinion,” Raheam replied. I think he was a little offended.
“And you would make such a happy couple,” Simon responded, his sarcasm was lost on Raheam.
“I may have jumped the gun. Turns out she had classified me as the bus driver and that's what she had called on me for.”
“So what you are saying is if we need to bargain with her we shouldn't try offering to marry her,” Rob said sounding confused.
“I wasn't planning on doing that any day soon,” Simon said.
“To stay here you have to get classified,” Raheam told them.
“That's fine we would like to go home anyway,” Simon added. Madeline nodded her approval.
“Let me think,” Raheam offered.
“They will be searching for you at the exits. If she's using the Seagull Army it won't be long before the Bloodsucker's find you.”
“Yeah well I’m not worried about some worms,” Rob responded. His voice quivered a little betraying his words.
“I would be afraid of them,” Raheam replied “Very afraid.”
The Duchess can't use them right away. They are bred specially for a job like this. One Bloodsucker can lay a thousand eggs. They only respond to the Duchess calling them off. The problem is if she doesn't or if you don't get there in time they get into your skin and slither around inside your body.”
As Rob listened to Raheam his eyes were getting wider.
“Can they hurt us?”
“Oh yes,” Raheam confirmed nodding with a gleeful look in his eye.
“The problem with the Bloodsucker worms is that there are so many of them and they are silent. They can chew through anything, including your skin, and you wouldn't feel a thing until they were in your insides.”
“What do they do in there?” Rob asked.
“Eat mainly and lay eggs so there are more of the little suckers to come. They can come from anywhere. The pipes, out the ground, anywhere. They're very good hunters too.”
“I am getting the feeling there is a reason the elephant man went into hiding,” I said. I felt afraid of the bloodsucking worms and didn't care who saw it. I didn't want them anywhere near me. Rob on the other hand seemed to have regained his annoying courage.
“Well I'm not worried about some worms. You know what I do to worms back home? I stamp on them. That's right I squash them.”
Unfortunate for us this rant came with both stomping and hand raising gestures from a clearly frightened Rob. Finally feeling I suspect a little silly Rob sat back down.
After this we were left with the sound of the road and the view of lantern lit windows. Raheam occasionally glanced in his window to see how we were.
We've got to a point once more where I can't tell you how much time passed. I was enjoying the view from the windows and at a few points in the journey I almost fell asleep.
Looking around I think the others were as ready for sleep as I was. All of us but Rob had come from school though that seemed such a long time ago now. Simon buttoned his blazer. I suspect he did this not only to keep himself warm but to try to retain some kind of image. The trek underground through the water flooded cave's had almost destroyed the blazer. The prefect badge however remained perfectly intact.
I shifted my sleepy head to Madeline. Her uniform was looking worse for wear too. The jumper had become ripped and torn probably while we had been down those caves. Like Simon she had tried to keep some of her reputation intact. Her white headband remained untouched though the matching white tights were now ripped and laddered. Somehow remarkably the bag of books next to her had survived the ordeal.
I wondered if people naturally try to save the parts of them that are different. The bits that mark us as individuals. I also remember thinking about Duchess Lilly, and how difficult it was going to be for her to classify any of us as. We were a mixed bag to say the least.
Rob had pulled his whole body up onto two seats ignoring Raheam's stern look. He was dirty but largely untouched. His jogging trousers were more suited for exploring and he was wearing some old trainers. Odd as I focussed on his trainers, as my head dipped down for sleep. I saw something that I assumed had been a shoelace come undone. Then I knew it wasn't.
“Stop the bus!” I shouted, “The Bloodsuckers are here!”