Ventus

by Jonathan Dakin

Chapter Three

  The book was fascinating, although very confusing. It used words and phrases that I had absolutely no knowledge of, and it kept discussing ideas that seemed completely off the wall. It was very short and concise, and even though I’m a slow reader, it didn’t take me that long at all to work my way through it. There were several images, and to be honest, I kind of skipped a lot of the passages that were hard to read. It went on and on about how to harness energy and how to use your ‘skillset’ correctly depending on which type of ‘Ventus Elemental’ you were, and I got quite quickly confused.

  It started off okay: it was about a trio of people; Ignis-Ventus, Aqua-Ventus and Terra-Ventus, who all had different skills which would help them do certain things. Initially, I thought it might be a superhero story. But it wasn’t written like a story at all. It was more like an instruction manual, which I found very odd. Grandpa had said that it was a history book, but it didn’t seem like that either. That was when the thought occurred to me that Grandpa was thinking of changing religion. Maybe he had been indoctrinated into a cult. One that believed that there was a special energy within everyone, and that we had to do crazy rituals to let it out. And that we had to ‘harness the element within’, which was basically what the entire book was about. I didn’t understand most of it, but found a lot of it compelling. The different types of ‘Ventus’ was the best part to read about, as each of them had different skills and abilities that connected, and disconnected them from one another. It seemed important to the author that the trio worked together, since they all relied on each other to fuel the others’ powers. Apparently, the ‘Ignis-Ventus’ was the person who ‘ignited’ the ‘wind within’, and started off the whole sequence of events that would allow the three ‘Ventus’ to take charge of their inner ‘spirit’.

  The book was incredibly dated: it must have been written ages ago, in the 1970s or something, when people still believed in all the weird new age stuff. But Grandpa obviously enjoyed it, and strangely enough, so did I. I felt compelled to have a conversation with him about it, not that I knew exactly what he was going to say. If he was trying to convert me then the evening was going to be a long and difficult one, because I didn’t really want to be a part of strange cult that believed in releasing your inner powers.

  About half an hour after I finished reading it, Grandpa knocked at the door again, and I said that he could enter my bedroom. I was reading a footie magazine, discovering what the pundits thought about the new season, and which team had the best chance of winning the Premiership. All the ‘Ventus’ information had completely dropped out of my mind. Grandpa scurried back in, and sat eagerly on my bed, waiting for me to say something. I put my magazine down and stared blankly at him, not knowing exactly what he was anticipating.

  “So…?” Grandpa asked, his voice rising slightly in excitement, “what did you think?”

  I smiled politely, and grabbed the book from the rickety wooden bedside table that sat adjacent to my small bed. I looked back down at the silver cover, my eyes floating over the image that to me looked like a puff of air, and the title text. I sighed.

  “It was, um, interesting,” I stated, trying my best to seem really keen, “I liked how it had a motion sensor or something in it, so I had to blow on the cover to open it.”

  Grandpa’s face dropped, and his left eyebrow shot up, probingly. His light grey eyes whirled into me in disappointment.

  “You liked… the cover?” It sounded like a question, but really it wasn’t. I knew I wasn’t ‘academic’ or ‘book smart’, but never before had I felt so stupid. I know that grandparents have an unrealistic image of their grandchildren, thinking that they can do no wrong, but right then seemed like the first time my Grandpa had ever acknowledged my shortcomings. He was clearly dissatisfied with his only grandson. I felt overwhelmingly upset, not wanting to let my Grandpa down, but I tried not to show it.

  “What’s wrong, Grandpa? I read it all! It was okay! I liked it! I think I’m just too stupid to understand a lot of it.” I smiled at him, reassuringly, even though I felt like I was about to well up. I didn’t like upsetting Grandpa, it made me feel very sad. I forced my emotions back and continued to smile falsely at him.

  “I thought you were ready,” he replied, pulling his face away from mine and staring down at the musty carpet, “I thought that you would understand…”

  “About the Ventus and the trio and harnessing your energy to fully use your skillset?” I uttered any of the key words I could remember, even though they didn’t make much sense to me.

  Grandpa turned, a wide smile on his round face. He grinned at me proudly.

  “So you did get it!” He shouted, jumping up from the bed and clapping his frail hands together. “Finally, you and your sisters can meet the Ventus Cohors and then start your training! Then you can meet the other Elementals and…”

  “Wait!” I shouted, interrupting him mid-sentence, “what are you going on about? I don’t understand what is going on!”

  Grandpa’s face twisted into one of shock and confusion. He fell back onto the bed, and it rocked wildly, groaning under his weight.

  “Your father never told you, did he?”

  “Told me what?” I asked stupidly.

  “I suppose he wouldn’t… But then again, your sisters know. Maybe he thought it was too much for you to handle! But he shouldn’t have left it all to me! I’m not supposed to be the one…” Grandpa continued to ramble on, mumbling about why he shouldn’t have to be responsible, and how I might not be able to cope with what he had to tell me. As I continued to listen to his babbling, the anger deep inside of me began to awaken, and I felt an intense surge of rage spring up. I clenched my teeth and curled my hands into a ball, punching at my leg, desperately trying to control myself. I just wanted to know exactly what was going on, and I was really annoyed that Grandpa was not telling me. I also felt annoyed that everyone else apparently knew what was happening, and I was left out for some reason. I was always being left out. I was always the last to know. Everyone saw me as this dumb fool who was too immature to deal with anything the world could throw at me. It wasn’t my fault I hit puberty later than everyone else. It wasn’t my fault I wasn’t as clever as everyone else. The fury bubbled up into my throat, and I tried to swallow it down, but my teeth began to grind, a sure sign I was about to release my pent up rage. Grandpa continued to drone on and on, and finally I exploded.

  “SHUT UP!” I screamed, my voice enveloping the room like a sonic boom, my taut fists slamming down onto the hard mattress. Grandpa screamed out in shock, jolting upwards as a bright flash of white light exploded through the room, a streak of lightning bursting out of my hands, sending a shockwave through the entire house. The bedroom light hanging down from the ceiling blew apart, showering glass onto the aged carpet, and suddenly we were in complete darkness.

  “Power cut!” I heard my Grandma shout from the living room, and then listened as she opened the hallway cupboard, pawing through the clutter to find a torch. My teeth were still clenched, and I was panting heavily, but could no longer feel that ball of fury in my chest. I exhaled, un-tensing my body, my spine flopping backwards onto the creaking headboard. I blinked in the darkness, unable to see a single thing, except for the light from the streetlamp streaking through the bottom gap of the thick window curtains. I shook my head, and thought about what had just happened. Why did I suddenly get so angry? There was absolutely no reason for it! I had never before shouted at my Grandpa! Suddenly I was overwhelmed by a feeling of nausea. A pang of guilt developed in my stomach and quickly overtook my entire body. I couldn’t believe that I had been so rude, so nasty! What was wrong with me? And worse, where did that streak of lightning come from? It looked as if it had come out of my fists, but surely that wasn’t what had happened at all. Perhaps I had been electrocuted somehow, maybe static electricity had used me as a conductor, and it flowed through me. Or, maybe lightning had stuck the house, and somehow appeared in the room, blowi
ng apart the fuses in the electric board.

  Whatever was happening, I continued to feel sick, and my head stared to spin. Then I suddenly thought about my Grandpa. The house was awfully silent; the only thing I could hear was Grandma making her way towards the bedroom. Why wasn’t Grandpa speaking?

  “Grandpa?” I called out, moving my arms through the darkness trying to find him, “Are you alright?” My hands bumped into something, and I clamped them down, clutching Grandpa’s arm desperately. He didn’t respond.

  Panic stricken, I began to breathe heavily, worrying about whether or not Grandpa was okay. I began to tug at his limp arm, but there was still no response. Just as I sprang up, onto my knees, leaning over him, Grandma burst into the room, the torchlight shining into my eyes and temporarily blinding me. I swivelled my head away from the light as she walked into the centre of the room, and stopped.

  “Cyril?” she cried out, fear quaking in her voice, “Cyril!”

  I turned back to see Grandma rush towards the bed, shining the light across Grandpa’s face. His eyes were shut, and he wasn’t moving, or even breathing.

  “Call an ambulance!” she balked at me, tears streaming down her puffy cheeks. Instantly, and without hesitating, I pulled my mobile phone out of my back pocket and quickly dialled 999.