by Adam Frost
Mrs Danger was so shocked, she went as stiff as a board and the remote slipped out of her hand. Danny dived forwards and tried to catch it before it hit the floor. Mia saw this and pushed her mother out of the way, determined to get to the remote before her brother. She clawed at the air like a cat, narrowly missing Danny’s ear.
But Danny already had the remote in his hand and jammed his thumb on Rewind, letting out a huge sigh as all traces of the last two minutes were slowly wiped out, the tea towel was back on the wall, his mother was back in the living room and his sister was standing in the kitchen. He pressed Pause and positioned himself back on the stairs, holding his remote firmly in his right hand, certain he wouldn’t drop it this time; that he wouldn’t ever drop it again.
When he felt ready, he pressed Play and headed out to Eric’s as he had planned, glancing at his mother and sister as they appeared in the hall. Danny couldn’t help thinking they looked puzzled and slightly confused, as if they had a half-memory of what had nearly just happened.
***
Two days after that, something even more troubling happened to Danny.
It was late in the evening and Danny had spent the last couple of hours at his desk, finishing his homework and then drawing a comic strip about an alien for Eric.
He yawned and decided it was time for bed. He noticed that he hadn’t drawn the curtains yet, so he got up from his chair and walked towards the window.
Then he stopped in his tracks.
Just outside his bedroom window he saw a pair of large yellow eyes, with thin black pupils. They stared into his room, not moving, not blinking.
Danny glanced down at the cosmic remote, sitting on the edge of his bed.
When he looked back up, the eyes had gone, and there was nothing outside his window, only darkness.
Danny rushed across to the window and closed the curtains. Then he grabbed the remote, leapt into his bed, pulled the covers over his head and tried to calm down.
It was probably just an owl or a cat, he said to himself.
But the eyes were too big for an animal like that.
Perhaps they were lights from a plane or helicopter.
But they had seemed so close to his window.
He knew he could press Rewind, press Pause, and take a closer look at who or what those eyes belonged to. But that idea lasted about two seconds; he never wanted to look into those eyes again.
Another minute or so passed and Danny began to think more calmly about what he had seen.The eyes had appeared and disappeared in a flash. He wondered if he could have imagined the whole thing.
He had certainly been very tired. Maybe he had nodded off briefly and dreamed the last five minutes. He had also been anxious about his remote and other people finding out about what it could do. Maybe he’d imagined a burglar trying to break in and steal it.
By the time he went to sleep, he was pretty sure that nothing had happened and his mind had played tricks on him.
Besides, as long as he had his cosmic remote, nothing and nobody could hurt him.
3
FAST FORWARD
Back in the present day, Danny wondered what to do about his mother.
She was going to put everything in his room in a skip and he couldn’t work out how to stop her.
The most obvious tactic was to let her cart everything off then press Pause and carry everything back into his room. But that would seem supernatural. He would draw attention to himself, his mother would be scared and suspicious, and before he knew it, she’d find his cosmic remote and smash it to pieces or, worse, work out how to use it and make his life more miserable than ever.
Danny looked out of his bedroom window; the skip had already arrived. It was standing in the street, empty except for a couple of paper cups that passers-by had idly tossed into it.
He looked down at the cosmic remote, willing it to come up with an answer.
He looked back out on to the street and saw his father opening one end of the skip to create a ramp. Mia appeared from the side gate pushing a wheelbarrow.
An idea popped into Danny’s head. He wasn’t sure if it would work or not. He held down the Pause button.
When everything froze, he skipped downstairs and out the front door. He couldn’t resist giving his sister a gentle kick as he passed her. He crossed the street and headed for Eric’s house. He climbed up the drainpipe, pressed Play and tapped on Eric’s window.
“Hey, wotcha,” said Eric, with a big smile. “Look at this.”
Danny clambered into the room.
Eric picked up the robot they had started putting together the night before.
“I finished it this morning,” said Eric. He flicked a switch on the robot’s back and its eyes, mouth, arms, chest and legs lit up.
“Speech recognition,” said Eric. “Walk forwards.”
The robot trundled forwards.
“Turn left,” said Eric.
The robot turned right.
“Turn left,” demanded Eric.
The robot kept turning right.
“Bloomin’ thing,” mumbled Eric, and gave it an angry nudge.
“I think we put its legs on back to front,” said Danny. “That’s why it’s confused.”
“Did we?” said Eric, picking the robot up. “So we did.”
He smiled at the robot. “Sorry, mate.We’ll soon fix that.”
Danny didn’t have any time to lose.
“Listen, Eric,” he said. “Can I ask you a favour?”
“Course,” said Eric, holding a screwdriver in one hand and the robot in the other.
“You know your games room downstairs, with your table football in it and that,” said Danny.
“Course,” said Eric, sticking his tongue out with concentration as he loosened a screw.
“Can I store some of my things in there?” asked Danny. “It’s just my mum’s threatening to throw them out.”
“Course,” said Eric, pulling the robot’s right leg off.
“And maybe keep it secret – you know, don’t tell your parents,” said Danny.
“Course not,” said Eric. He put the robot on the ground. “That should do the trick.”
He switched the robot on.
“Turn left,” he said.
The robot turned right.
“Blast!” shouted Eric.
“We’ll get used to it,” said Danny. “When we want it to go left, we’ll say go right.”
Eric thought about this, then smiled. “Cool, yeah,” he said. “Then nobody else will be able to work it.”
“Exactly,” said Danny. “So I’ll move my stuff over, OK? I’ll probably be pretty quick, you know, so my parents don’t notice.”
“No problem,” said Eric. “Be as fast as you like.”
Danny clambered out of Eric’s window, checked that nobody could see him and pressed Pause.
He ran back across the street and into his house.
His parents and his sister were frozen on the landing, smiling broadly. They were clearly on their way to Danny’s room. Danny pushed past them, giving his sister another gentle kick.
He spent the next two hours emptying his room. It required about fifty separate journeys. He carried as much as he could on each trip, piling it up in boxes and cases, heaving it down the stairs and across the street. He’d use his shoulder to push Eric’s back door open, then haul everything across the kitchen into the games room, weaving past Eric’s parents, who were standing rigidly in the hallway, holding gardening equipment.
By the time Danny had finished, he was utterly exhausted.
He stood in the middle of Eric’s games room, sweat pouring off his brow, struggling to get his breath back. In the corner of the room, he saw his comics, toys, clothes, books, DVDs, posters, his lamp, his alarm clock and his radio.
When he’d got his strength back, he ran out of Eric’s house and back across the street. He sprinted into his house and up the stairs. He pushed past his parents and sister (it was his fathe
r’s turn for a gentle kick) and dived into his room, closing the door firmly behind him.
He sat on his bed and folded his arms. The room was completely bare except for his bed, his wardrobe and his desk. Not a single one of Danny’s possessions remained.
Danny pulled out his remote, pressed Play and put it back into his pocket.
The door swung open and his parents and sister strode in.
“Hello,” said Danny.
“What the—” stammered Danny’s father.
“Crikey,” said Mia, trying not to look hugely impressed.
“What have you done? What have you done?” blurted out his mother.
“I’ve tidied up,” said Danny.
There were a few seconds of silence.
“The price of that skip’s coming out of your pocket money,” barked his father.
“How many times,” sighed Danny. “You don’t give me any pocket money.”
“I don’t know how you’ve done it,” Danny’s mother hissed, “but don’t think for one moment you’ve got away with this. The minute I see anything – a comic, a poster – in this room, it’s going in the bin.”
Danny shrugged. “OK,” he said.
The door was slammed shut.
His uncle’s face popped into his head. He wanted to write him a letter and tell him all about this, but where would he send it? He didn’t even know which country his uncle was in.
For the next few days, Danny managed to avoid his parents. He also managed to keep his room completely empty. He went everywhere with a small rucksack containing his school books, his favourite comics and a few bags of crisps. Whenever he left his room, he took his bag with him.When he was in his room, he kept his bag next to him in case his mother walked in.
After a week of this, Danny began to think hard about his life. How long would he have to keep his things at Eric’s? Maybe using his cosmic remote and hiding all his possessions had only made matters worse. His parents disliked him more than ever.
But then, overnight, everything changed. Danny’s parents quickly became the least of his worries, although they were, as always, the original cause of the problem.
Danny got into bed one night, pulled his duvet over his head and placed his remote under his pillow. Just as he was dropping off to sleep, he heard a quiet creaking noise. He opened his eyes and saw two dark shapes in his room. In terror, he yanked out his remote and pressed Pause.
He quickly calmed down when he realised that the two shapes were his parents. His mother was standing with one arm out, peering into his wardrobe. His father was frozen on all fours, peering under Danny’s bed.
Danny lay back down again. He wondered how much his parents knew. He wasn’t sure whether to slip out of the room, or stay and find out more. In the end, he held his remote tightly against his leg and pressed Play.
“Nothing under here,” whispered his father.
“There must be something,” his mother whispered back. “A secret compartment, or a trap door.”
Danny relaxed. He closed his eyes and let his parents finish their search. When they left, he slipped his remote back under his pillow.
The next morning, Danny came downstairs early to get his breakfast. To his surprise, Mia was already sitting in the kitchen, staring at a letter.The letter was covered in green stains and patches of food.
When Danny murmured “Hi,” she pushed it across the table to him.
“It’s for you,” she said.
Danny looked closer at the letter and saw his name, in Uncle Charlie’s handwriting, underneath a squashed baked bean.
“It came yesterday,” said Mia, “but Mum threw it in the bin. Said anything belonging to you was rubbish. I thought that was a bit – you know – a bit much. So I fished it out.” Danny held the letter in two hands and stared at it. “It’s from Uncle Charlie, isn’t it?” his sister said.
Danny nodded and murmured, “I think so.”
“You going to open it?” asked Mia.
“Mmm,” said Danny.
At that moment, Eric appeared at the back door. Mia turned round and sighed. “What does that geekazoid want?”
“Hey, that’s my friend you’re talking about!” spat back Danny.
Eric opened the door and walked in. “Why are you talking to her, Danny?” asked Eric.
“Don’t worry,” said Mia. “I’m not staying in a room with you two in it. I’ve got my image to consider. Enjoy your letter, Danny. If Eric feels like breakfast, you could scrape the bits of egg off the back.”
Danny had wanted to thank his sister for rescuing the letter, but now it was impossible. She was being her usual nasty self again.
As soon as Mia left the room, Danny tore open the letter. It read:
Eric watched Danny reading and then said: “Your letter’s a bit niffy, mate.”
“Yeah,” said Danny, absently. “Mum threw it in the bin.” He was thinking about the night before when his parents had sneaked into his room. He had used the remote – but only briefly. Nothing bad had seemed to happen. He had pressed Pause and Play and they had both worked. Whatever Uncle Charlie was worried about, it didn’t seem to have taken place.
Danny looked at Eric and wished he could tell him about the remote. But, although things were bad, it still didn’t feel like an emergency. In any case, Eric wanted to talk about something else.
“Listen, Danny,” he said. “I can’t go to the park with you today.”
“What?” said Danny. “How come?”
“I’ve got to go and see my Auntie Gladys,” said Eric. “It’s so annoying. She gives me these horrible sloppy kisses. And squeezes my cheeks so hard my whole face goes numb.”
“Blimey,” said Danny.
“So I’ve got five minutes, then I’ve got to go,” said Eric.
“Oh,” said Danny. “See you tomorrow, though?”
“Definitely,” replied Eric. “We’re back tonight.”
The two boys talked about Eric’s robot for a couple of minutes, then Eric left.
A few minutes after that, Danny went upstairs and got his rucksack from his room. He decided to go to the park on his own. He didn’t want to stay in the house, that was for sure.
It was about nine o’clock when he arrived at the gates. The park was a large square patch of grass with trees around the edge, a slide and some swings in one corner and a duck pond in the middle. Danny noticed a few children flying kites at the far end. There were also a couple of old ladies sitting on one of the benches by the gate.
Danny walked towards the swings. He took the path next to the duck pond and remembered being five or six and asking his mother if he could feed the ducks. She had said no because he would get crumbs everywhere and besides ducks were scruffy and uncouth.
He was about halfway round the duck pond when he began to feel very uncomfortable. He wondered if he needed to eat something or if he had eaten something that hadn’t agreed with him. He shivered and felt the colour drain out of his face. He kept walking, hoping that this would help him to shake off his strange mood.
But as he reached the edge of the duck pond, he realised that he was feeling worse not better. It was as if the air around him had grown colder. He also felt as if he was being watched or followed though he couldn’t see anyone on the path behind him or in the bushes around him.
Then something in the duck pond caught his eye. He turned round and saw a small black dot right in the centre of the water. As he stood there, trying to work out what it was, it grew larger. The ducks all seemed to be avoiding it; they began to paddle towards the bank. The shape was the size of a football now, rising slowly towards the surface of the pond. The water began to hiss slightly, and Danny could smell something tangy and metallic. The shape was rising more quickly now, growing larger and darker, until its outline grew more clear and something bright and black broke the surface of the pond.
Danny glanced around to see if any other people were nearby. He needed someone else to confirm that this was actu
ally happening. But nobody was walking or even looking this way – he was on his own.
He forced himself to look back at the pond. Floating on the surface was the biggest, blackest fish he had ever seen, at least as big as he was. It had large red eyes that stared balefully ahead and sharp yellow spikes that ran along its back. As Danny gazed in disbelief, he also noticed a row of metal rivets above its jaw and steel slats behind its eyes that acted like gills. It seemed to be half-fish and half-machine. This didn’t make Danny feel any less afraid – in fact, he now felt as if he was in genuine danger.
He was about to run away, then he nearly called for help, then he thought he should press Pause on his cosmic remote first and work out a plan—
The next moment, Danny no longer had any choice.
The fish’s eyes began to rotate, sending out shards of multicoloured light. Danny tried to look away, but the colours were so stunning. He was no longer able to move or speak: he just stood rooted to the ground, hypnotised.
A cloud of steam poured out of the fish’s gills and its jaws began to move apart, revealing a gigantic black mouth, half the length of its body. When the fish’s jaws were fully open, it was almost as if the creature was inside out, with two rows of metal ribs clearly visible at the back of its throat.
The next few moments were as vivid and as unreal as a dream. Danny sensed his hand moving towards his pocket. He felt very strongly that he should throw his cosmic remote into the fish’s mouth. He pulled the remote out of his pocket and lifted his arm up. He knew he needed to concentrate: he had to hit the centre of the fish’s mouth so that it could swallow the remote whole and swim away with it safely.
Danny took aim. He swung his arm back once, twice, three times.
He couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to let go of his cosmic remote.
The fish released another cloud of smoke from its iron gills.
Danny took aim for a second time and swung his arm back. He was about to release the remote and send it spiralling through the air when he felt his fist close tightly around the case and the crystal glow warmly in his palm.