Clash Of Worlds

by Philip Mcclennan

  “Do you think they’re gone?” he asked.

  Chad put his ear to the door and tried to listen for any movement outside. “Seems so.”

  Everyone came out from their hiding places. The looks on the boys’ faces were a mixture of relief and fear. They knew they dare not get caught, for to get caught would mean dire consequences. Chad felt the tension within the group and tried to raise spirits.

  “They’re gone, nothing to worry about!” Chad opened the dining room door to show them they had nothing to fear.

  The look on James’ face changed from relief to that of utter horror in an instant Chad behind you!

  Behind the door stood an old man, Jack, the orphanage night man. He quickly grabbed Chad. “Come here you!” the night man barked as Chad tried to fight his way free. The rest of the boys screamed and frantically ran for cover. A few more of the night staff ran in and rounded on the boys.

  Mrs Garner, the old woman who was the head at Bel Grave Orphanage now entered the dining room. “Get them, get them all, we’ll teach them a lesson!”

  Peter struggled to break free from one of the male members of staff. He managed to get himself loose for a moment before one of the other staff members slapped him hard in the face knocking him to the ground. James stopped running when he saw Peter fall and stood there frozen. Mrs Garner quickly seized on him grabbing him from behind. To be fair, though, James didn’t put up much of a fight. He had the stuffing knocked out of him by seeing Peter brutally knocked to the floor.

  Chad and Jack the night man’s scuffle had worked its way into the corridor outside the dining room. Chad, who at ten years old was several inches smaller than the old man, was surprisingly holding his own. During the pairs grappling, they both fell to the floor and Chad tried to crawl away. Jack grabbed his legs but struggled to keep a firm grip. Jack became enraged by his inability to stop Chad.

  “Come here you little bastard!”

  Chad threw a punch, which landed on Jack’s chin, which rocked the old man slightly. Jack dove on Chad and stuck his hands around his throat. Jack began to squeeze down as Chad struggled for breath. In a fit of rage, Chad pushed Jack off him, launching the old man several feet into the air. Jack crashed into the corridor wall with a massive thud. The man stayed down clutching his back. Even Chad seemed surprised by his feat of strength. He picked himself up off the floor and ran.

  Several hours had passed and Chad was nowhere to be found around the orphanage. The staff had searched high and low, in every room, the basement, the loft, but they found nothing. Chad had not left the premises, though. The orphanage was in a state of lockdown. Every exit was electronically locked and there was no way out. All of the boys were lined up in the assembly hall. Mrs Garner stood in front of the boys like a school headmaster would stand in front of her pupils. The boys stood frozen, like rabbit’s stuck in headlights, nervous and afraid. Mrs Garner began to walk up and down, eyeballing the boys as she did so. Several of the staff stood all around the boys, including Jack, who held his right hand to his back, clearly still in pain from his earlier confrontation with Chad.

  Mrs Garner began to address the boys, walking with purpose wall to wall as she did so. “As you are all well aware there was a little incident earlier on tonight,” she said with a sinister tone in her voice. “You are all ungrateful little brats. Naughty boys that need to all be taught a lesson!” Mrs Garner focused most of her attention on James throughout the lecture. “I will, however, give you one chance to save yourselves,” she carried on. “The ring leader of this night of mischief is still hiding somewhere. I know one of you know where he hides.” She again focused on James. “If any of you have any knowledge of that meddlesome boys whereabouts this evening, any knowledge at all then I invite you to step forward.” She peered right into James’ eyes. “If no-one fails to do so, you leave me no choice but to punish every single one of you.” Mrs Garner gave a slight grin.

  The boys began to get really scared, some of them began to breathe heavily and others began to sweat relentlessly. James remained calm, but he felt several of the other boys eyes lock onto him, for they knew that James knew where Chad chose to hide. James did not speak, though, so Mrs Garner acted accordingly. She knew how to make James talk. She also realised that James wasn’t afraid of her. She knew however that James was very protective of the other boys, so she decided to call the youngest of the group Roger out to the front of the assembly hall. Mrs Garner reached into a cabinet that stood against the wall behind her and took out an old wooden cane. Roger started to cry.

  James looked torn about what he should do. I can’t give up Chad, but Roger… James reluctantly said nothing.

  The rest of the orphanage staff came to the front of the assembly room close to where Mrs Garner was stood. The old lady grabbed Roger with her left hand and gripped the cane tightly with her right. She held out the boy’s hand and looked at James once more. “I know you know where he is, last chance.”

  James looked as if he wanted to talk for a moment but stopped just as the words were about to leave his mouth.

  Anger began to fill Mrs Garner’s face. “Very well have it your way!” She raised the cane high, about to deliver a fierce strike to Roger’s hand. The small boy closed his eyes in fear and several of the other boys couldn’t bear to look either.

  “Wait!” a voice shouted out from the back of the assembly hall.

  There stood Chad, who had quietly entered the assembly hall via the back door. “Let him go,” he said, walking to the front of the hall. “I’m the one you want, if you’re going to hit anyone with that, then hit me.” Chad walked to where Mrs Garner was stood. The woman smiled and let Roger join the rest of the boys. Two male staff members walked behind Chad and attempted to grab his arms, but he easily shrugged them off.

  “Now now it’s ok, leave the boy alone,” the old lady said. “You know what you have to do, don’t you Chad. You need to be punished for leading the rest of these poor boys astray.”

  Chad stared back at Mrs Garner showing no sign of remorse for his actions.

  “Come here you brat.” The old woman grabbed Chad’s arm and dragged him towards her. She held his left hand out and raised the wooden cane. Some of the boys looked away in fear, they had seen this all before. Many of the boys in the orphanage had felt the wrath of Mrs Garner’s cane and the outcome was always the same. A boy would cry out in agony when stuck by it and Mrs Garner certainly didn’t hold back. In fact, truth be told she actually enjoyed dishing out punishment. She really could be a cruel old lady at times.

  The majority of the boys couldn’t bear to watch and looked away. James didn’t look away, though. He looked unusually calm about the whole situation. Chad also looked surprisingly composed, considering the fact he was about to be struck with a wooden stick. Mrs Garner didn’t hold back this time either and gave Chad’s hand an almighty smack with the cane. The sound of the wood hitting flesh echoed out around the room. Even some of the orphanage staff gasped at the impact. Chad didn’t flinch, not one inch. Mrs Garner looked a little surprised and then confused. She had not held back at all and usually the boy on the receiving end of her strikes would be crying out in pain right about now. Some of the boys who had looked away began to open their eyes and looked back towards Mrs Garner and Chad, wondering what had just happened. James remained cool, almost as if he knew something everyone else didn’t.

  Chad looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world standing there with his hand still held out, almost as if the cane strike hadn’t even happened. Mrs Garner was determined not to be undone and hit Chad again on the hand with the wooden stick, this time even harder. All the boys gasped as the sound of wood hitting flesh again echoed around the assembly hall. Yet again Chad didn’t budge. Mrs Garner looked him up and down, the look of confusion edged on her wrinkled old face. Chad began to find the whole thing amusing and struggled to keep a straight face. James also began to laugh under his breath. All the other boys and staff for that matter look
ed as confused as Mrs Garner.

  The old lady picked up on Chad trying to hold back laughter and become enraged. “Do you find this funny boy?”

  Chad couldn’t contain his laughter any longer and began to laugh aloud. His laughter echoed all around the hall.

  “I won’t be made a fool of, do you hear me?”

  Mrs Garner raised the cane high over her head and launched it downwards towards Chad’s head. Chad’s laughter quickly faded when he realised where the wooden stick was heading and tried to raise his free arm to cover his face. He wasn’t fast enough and the cane struck him right on the forehead. The wooden stick hit him with such ferocity that it snapped clean in two. Everyone in the room froze, looking on in silence. If a pin were to drop at that very moment it would have no doubt echoed around the room several times over. Even Mrs Garner seemed a little surprised that she had struck Chad so hard.

  Chad, who had crouched down a little to try and avoid the impact was fine, however. He stood up straight, looking a little shocked that he WAS actually ok. How did that not hurt? The cane is broken in half! Chad thought in confusion.

  Mrs Garner looked at the part of the broken cane she still held in her hand, and then at the broken piece on the floor. “Impossible,” she muttered in disbelief. She slowly looked Chad up and down. “What the hell are you?”

  The boy was visibly shaken about what had just transpired. He stood as still as a statue, completely motionless.

  Mrs Garner began to loose her cool. “You’re a freak, a freak I tell you!” The old lady gestured to the staff. “Take him, take him and put him in isolation.”

  Several of the orphanage staff grabbed Chad and led him out of the room. The boy did not try to fight them at all, he was too confused by the fact that a wooden cane had just smashed over his forehead and he only felt a tiny headache.

  Ms Garner continued on with her rant. “Lock him up, lock that freak up! We need to keep him away from the rest of the brats.” All of the boys looked on as Chad was escorted from the room. All of them were talking to each other, asking how could it be possible that Chad was ok.

  James didn’t speak to anyone, nor did he look overly surprised by what had just happened. So, Chad is the same as me…

  The next few days Chad slept alone, cut off from the rest of the boys. He was kept like a prisoner in a private section of the orphanage. He remained in a small room, which had nothing other than a bed in it. A metal door was the only way in or out of the room, but that was constantly locked. The only connection Chad had with the outside world was a small window near the top-left hand corner of the room. One time he climbed up and gazed through the glass out into the world beyond the orphanage. I wonder what it’s like out there? That day he had stared aimlessly out of the window until it went dark. On this day, Chad sat on the end of the bed, like he had done for the majority of the last three days. He swung his legs back and forth in boredom. There was literally nothing for him to do inside the small cell. Chad began to hear footsteps from the corridor outside. Through a darkened window at the top of the metal door, he could see the outline of someone’s shoulders and head. Someone was peering into the room, but he couldn’t make out who. Chad stood up from the bed and looked at the person who was standing on the other side of the door.

  “Let me out, please let me out,” he pleaded. He’d had enough of his prison. The boy had been stuck inside it for three days, with no company and no one to talk to. Chad had come to hate the deadly silence he had been subjected to whilst on his own and wanted more than anything to be reunited with James and the rest of the boys.

  A letterbox hole at the bottom of the door slid open. Through the hole slid a plate of food, soup to be exact. Chad loathed soup and besides he wasn’t hungry, he just wanted to get out of the room. Chad picked up the plate of soup and looked back at the figure who was still looking at him through the darkened window. Chad snarled at the figure and hurled the plate at the window. The plate smashed and the soup splattered against the glass.

  “Let me out!” Chad screamed as loud as he could.

  “You’re not going anywhere freak,” said a familiar old voice. It was Mrs Garner at the other side of the door. She laughed for a few moments and walked away, leaving Chad all alone once again.

  The boy simply sat back down at the edge of the bed and began to cry.

  Late that night, Chad lay on the bed, still locked away in isolation. Although his eyes were closed he was, in fact, wide-awake. He couldn’t sleep a wink that night. As far as he knew, he was never going to get out of this room. Chad hated being all alone, away from the boys. He especially missed James. The two had grown to become best friends and this was the longest the two had ever spent apart for as long as he could remember. He lay in complete silence in the pitch black, although Chad could see quite well in the darkness, almost as well as he could see in the daytime which he hadn’t thought strange until now.

  “Pssst.”

  A Voice? Chad sat up looking to the door. The sound had come from there. Then he heard it again.

  “Pssst Chad.”

  Chad got out of the bed and slowly walked to the door. “Who is it?” he cautiously asked, wary of it being Mrs Garner or Jack the night man or any of the other orphanage staff he’d come to loathe so much.

  “It’s me you idiot, James!” said the boy from the other side of the door.

  “What took you so long?” Chad replied, trying to sound as cool as possible, but the truth was he’d never been so happy to hear his friend’s voice.

  “I’m getting you out of here,” James whispered back.

  “How are you going to manage that? It’s a metal door!”

  The door suddenly opened up, much to Chad’s amazement. On the other side stood a cocky looking James.

  “Because I’ve got this haven’t I?” James waved a metal key in Chad’s face.

  Chad smiled. The smile was a mixture of him being impressed and also happiness at seeing his friend again. (Although Chad would never have admitted it)

  “Not bad,” he acknowledged before stepping out of the room. “How did you find that?”

  “Never mind that we’ve got to get out of here.”

  “Yeah I know, where can we hide?”

  “No I mean we need to get out of this whole place!” James said with a very serious tone in his voice, so serious that Chad knew he wasn’t joking. Nevertheless, Chad still asked him whether or not he was joking.

  James shook his head. “If we stay here, they’ll throw both of us back in this room, or even worse. I’ve had enough of it here.”

  Chad nodded his head in agreement. “Ok let’s do it, I can’t take it here anymore either. Let’s bust out!” Chad began to walk down the corridor and gestured for James to follow him. “We need to find a way out.”

  The pair walked to the front door, which was firmly locked with several bolts and metal padlocks. They both expected that but thought to at least give it a try. When they turned around a man in the hallway confronted them. It was the night man Jack, who quickly grabbed hold of Chad.

  “Where do you think you’re going boy?” Said the old man as he wrapped his arms around Chad.

  “Let him go!” James shouted as he delivered a punch to the nightman’s ribs which actually sent him hurdling back half way down the corridor. James looked at his hand, which was still scrunched up in a fist, in amazement. He couldn’t understand how he’d managed to hit a grown man halfway down the corridor. My strength is growing.

  A light from the top of the stars turned on. “What’s going on down there?” said the voice of Mrs Garner.

  “Run!” Chad shouted and the pair fled down the corridor. They ran down a left turn, and then a right. Chad spotted a half open door and came to a halt. “Quick in here.”

  James quickly followed him inside before closing the door behind him.

  Mrs Garner gave chase followed by several orphanage staff who rushed down the stairs. She noticed the night man down on the floor. �
�Jack what happened?”

  “It’s them two bastard boys, one’s let the other one out of the confinement room.”

  Mrs Garner became enraged. “Get them, get them both!”

  All ran down the corridor in pursuit of the boys.

  Inside what was a small common room, James and Chad hid. In the room were a few leather seats, several old-looking paintings on the wall and a large piano. Mrs Garner had a great talent for music in her younger years. Her mother taught the old woman during her youth and she liked to play the piano from time to time to let the boys know she was around. She loved playing an old tune similar to Haydn Piano Sonata 59 in E Flat movement 2 before she would dish out punishment to the boys in the orphanage. Every child had learnt to dread that music.

  James leant against the door with his ear and listened out for Mrs Garner and the others. He heard the old lady say faintly “check every room, they’re around here somewhere!” James took his ear off the door. “They’re coming,” he said with a hint of anxiety in his voice. The boys looked around frantically and Chad came up with an idea. “Quick, let’s move the piano against the door so they can’t get in.” The two boys pushed the piano over to the door and pressed it against the entrance.

  The doorknob began to turn. A male voice from the other side of the door shouted. “They’re in here!”

  The orphanage staff began to bang loudly on the door. Mrs Garner was shouting at the top of her voice, so loud that all the other boys in the orphanage who were upstairs in their beds had woken up.