The Eternal Community

by J Meverington

  ‘No, but then I didn’t see much of him. He’d teamed up with Will. I was with Dennis. Perhaps he’s annoyed that he didn’t shoot it. It can be quite a stressful time out there.’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ Matilda agreed, knowing Ethan strove to be like the other men.

  Scott leaned in close and whispered in her ear. ‘Between you and me, he’s not a very good shot.’

  Just then, a bad vibe spread through her, causing her to look up. Ethan strode in their direction, the air in front of him thick with tension, his dark eyes drilling into hers, his mouth set in a tight line. Fear shuddered through her. She’d done nothing wrong, yet she knew she was in trouble.

  He walked up to her, grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her away.

  ‘Ouch, you’re hurting me,’ she cried.

  He gripped her tighter and led her away from the camp and into the forest, out of earshot of the others.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing, flirting with him,’ he spat at her.

  ‘What are you talking about? I wasn’t flirting.’

  ‘Well it looked like it to me,’ he said, gripping her wrists tighter.

  ‘I wasn’t. Scott’s just a friend.’

  His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

  ‘Ethan, are you all right?’

  He released his grip and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he appeared to be his normal self again.

  ‘Yeah, sure. Sorry Matty, not sure what came over me,’ he said, before drawing her into a hug.

  Chapter 8

  Zac turned one and Matilda found herself pregnant for the second time and strangely enough, Leonora was also pregnant.

  Things had been going well for Matilda and Ethan. His bad moods had stopped, and he’d been the perfect partner. When Matilda told him she was pregnant, he whooped for joy.

  ‘That’s great Matty, it will be great for Zac to have a little brother or sister.’

  ‘So what’s the sex of this one going to be, oh psychic one?’ she asked him.

  He put his hand on her stomach. ‘A girl.’

  ‘That would be perfect, a mini version of you and a mini version of me!’

  He felt her stomach again, just to be sure. ‘Yep, definitely a girl, so you’re in luck.’

  ‘You’re crazy, but I hope you’re right.’

  ‘Me too, two boys would be too much to handle.’

  Over the next few weeks, Leonora and Matilda became vomit buddies and the shared experience brought them closer together. Damion helped out, taking care of Zac as well as Molly when the girls weren’t feeling well, thankful for the opportunity to get away. He did not cope well with sickness.

  Six months into the pregnancy, Ethan became distant again. He’d gone off on a hunting trip to try and hone his skills, and came back in another of his moods. He seemed to have two personalities; kind and wonderful one minute, jealous and possessive the next. Surely being a bad shot wouldn’t make him like that?

  At bedtime one evening, Ethan pulled Matilda aside.

  ‘I saw you flirting with Damion tonight. What do you think you’re playing at?’

  ‘What are you talking about? He’s twenty years older than me. I’m not interested in him.’

  ‘You lying wench. I saw you laughing and touching him.’

  Sure, they’d been laughing at dinner time and she might have touched his arm when he said something funny, but she meant nothing by it. Surely Ethan knew that.

  ‘You’re crazy.’ Matilda got undressed and hopped into bed. He grabbed her by the arm and started twisting the skin on it backwards and forwards.

  ‘Owwww, that hurts, stop it.’

  He twisted harder, the burn searing into her skin.

  ‘Make sure you don’t speak to him again, and if I find out you’ve told anyone about this, you had better watch out,’ he said, with finality, and rolled over and went to sleep.

  She burst into tears, wondering what had happened to her wonderful husband. The menacing look in his eyes scared her, and she wondered how far he would go with his threats. She decided she didn’t want to find out.

  The next morning when she woke, she cradled her arm, wondering what had caused him to become so violent. Some bruising had begun to appear, and she wondered how she could explain it if anyone asked. Surely Ethan wasn’t serious about her talking to Damion, how was she supposed to avoid him in the close confines of the Community?

  She spent the day at the creche, trying to avoid of bumping into Damion. In the evening, when Ethan came back from helping in the fields, he was much happier, so she approached him about it.

  ‘Ethan, I know you don’t want me talking to Damion, but how can I avoid him? Zac and Molly are good friends.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I overreacted last night. I’m not sure what came over me. I know you don’t fancy Damion but for some reason I got jealous. Can you forgive me?’

  ‘Of course I will.’ She melted into his arms, thankful things were okay between them.

  A couple of days later though, things flared up again at the dinner service. She helped herself to seconds, having been extra hungry with the pregnancy. Ethan shot her a dirty look and she wondered why. Later that night in bed she found out.

  ‘I saw you helping yourself to seconds tonight.’

  ‘I was hungry. Eating for two remember.’ She patted her belly.

  ‘You need to watch what you eat, you’re getting fat.’

  ‘I’m six months pregnant, I’m supposed to be fat!’

  ‘That’s your opinion. At least I don’t have to worry about Damion liking you while you look like that.’ He rolled away from her, leaving her stunned.

  Chapter 9

  Matilda had had enough. She stormed out and slept with Zac in his compartment. Ethan had become unbearable and she didn’t want to be near him anymore. The next morning after breakfast she dropped Zac off at the creche, then paid Camilla a visit. She would normally have talked to Keith about such issues, but since Camilla had moved to the Community, she was more of a go-to person for the women.

  Camilla sat in the sun, reading a book.

  ‘Hello Matilda, how are things?’

  ‘Terrible, Ethan has been driving me crazy with his moods. One minute he’s nice, the next he’s mean to me, calling me fat and acting jealous if I talk to other men.’

  ‘Hmmm, I wonder what’s causing that. He’s always come across as a pleasant young man.’

  ‘Please don’t tell him I told you, he’s likely to take it out on me.’

  ‘Has he hurt you?’

  ‘No, no, of course not,’ Matilda said, lying through her teeth. ‘But he’s always grumpy, and not much help with Zac at the moment. It’s hard enough having one child, and I’m worried he won’t be around for the second one.’

  ‘Sorry to hear things aren’t good between you two at the moment. I don’t know what might be causing his moods without talking to him, but I’ll keep an eye on him for you.’

  ‘Thanks Camilla,’ she said, then left.

  Shortly afterwards, Ethan calmed down and became his old self, helping out with Zac and being a kind loving husband. They never talked about the day he forbade her to talk to Damion, nor did they mention the arm burn he had given her. Life went on, and her belly grew bigger.

  A few weeks later, they went down to the beach on their day off. Matilda lay back on the sand, letting the sun’s rays seep into her body, while Ethan and Zac built a sandcastle. As she drifted off to sleep, the baby kicked her in the belly.

  ‘Ethan, come quick.’

  He raced over. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘The baby, it’s awake.’

  He put his hand on her tummy and the baby kicked again.

  ‘Ooh, I felt it, so neat. Zac, come feel the baby.’

  Zac came over, not sure what was happening. He put his hand on his mother’s stomach as the baby kicked again, and a smile spread across his face. ‘Bubba.’

  Chapter 10

  A couple
of months passed by and Matilda gave birth to a perfect baby girl and they named her Sally. A few weeks later, Leonora gave birth to Ben. Matilda and Ethan became friends with Damion and Leonora through the shared interest of their children. Ethan was still a little stand-offish with Damion, but fortunately he never accused her of liking him again.

  Sally was an easier baby than Zac had been, and she didn’t cry nearly as much. As a result, Ethan’s moods were better, and he never complained about her needs. They were a perfect family unit, and for once, Matilda felt complete. But that all changed when Sally turned one.

  Ethan had organised to go on another hunting trip. He hadn’t been on one in a while, wanting to spend time with his family. Matilda begged him not to go, knowing what had happened on the last few trips.

  ‘Matty, I have to go, I need to prove myself. I’ve never shot anything in my life and it’s embarrassing.’

  ‘You don’t need to prove anything. You’re a great father and a loving husband. Please stay home with us.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Matty, this is something I have to do. I’ll see you in a couple of days. It will be fine, I promise you.’

  But it wasn’t fine. Ethan came back in his worst mood yet, constantly angry and controlling. During one of their feisty arguments, he almost hit her.

  In the past, he had calmed down eventually, but this time he appeared to be in a constant state of nerves. The kids annoyed him, she annoyed him, and Damion annoyed him.

  For some reason, he hated Damion, calling him a phony and complaining how he didn’t belong there. Matilda didn’t know what a phony was, and she didn’t want to ask. She knew Damion came from a different place, the same place where Terri and Josh now lived, but they never talked about the ‘other’ world. They weren’t allowed to even imagine it, let alone talk about it.

  Something strange was going on, and Matilda wondered if she’d ever discover the reason for it.

  Chapter 11

  Present Time

  Damion, Terri, and Josh landed at Farnborough Airport and drove into London. They pulled up outside Josh and Terri’s place around mid-afternoon.

  Josh put the kettle on and turned to Damion. ‘Cup of tea?’

  ‘Got a beer?’

  ‘Maaate, course I do.’ He switched off the kettle, grabbed three craft beers from the fridge, expertly flicked off the lids, and they all headed into the garden. They clinked their bottles together.

  ‘Cheers,’ they all said, in unison.

  Damion took a large swig and responded with an exaggerated, ‘Aaaaaah, I needed that.’

  ‘How’s your illicit bar going?’ Josh asked.

  ‘It’s not. Camilla found out about it and made me shut it down.’

  ‘That’s a shame.’

  ‘Yeah, but I had nobody to drink with after you left. I can’t believe Camilla followed me and found out about it. You should have seen her, she was livid.’

  Josh and Terri laughed, both knowing Camilla well.

  ‘Speaking of angry, what do you make of Ethan? He looked furious when Matty ran up and hugged you. I thought he was going to kill you.’

  ‘Heh, I’m not scared of that weed. Not sure what Matty sees in him to be honest,’ Josh replied.

  Terri joined in the conversation. ‘And what about the look he gave me when I was eating? Creeped me right out. What did Camilla say when you asked her about him?’

  Damion slapped his forehead. ‘Dammit, I forgot to ask. Sorry Terri, I got so tied up with my goodbyes. I’ll ask her when she calls. You’re right though, he’s a nutcase. At the entertainment last night, he had his arm tightly around Matty, acting like he owned her.’

  ‘For Josh’s benefit, no doubt.’

  Josh looked concerned. ‘I do hope Matty’s okay. She avoided me afterwards. I thought it might be my imagination, but maybe he’d said something to her.’

  ‘I’m sure of it,’ Damion replied, ‘I’ve seen the way he treats her.’

  ‘I do miss the place, but I wouldn’t want to live there again. There’s not enough space to get away from the people you don’t like.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Terri, ‘and too many rules.’

  Damion laughed. ‘Yeah, like London has no rules!’

  ‘So what’re your plans now?’ Josh asked.

  ‘Start searching for my daughter. Camilla has given me the names of her adoptive parents, so I’m hoping Mr Google will help me find them.’

  ‘Do you have any idea where they live?’ Terri asked.

  ‘They lived in California when they adopted her, but that’s all I know. They could be anywhere by now.’

  ‘Sounds like you have quite a task ahead of you. Do you think you’ll have to go to America?’

  ‘Not sure yet, I’ll see what I can find out. I’ll try to get in touch with her parents first, see what they think. I don’t want to go upsetting her for no reason.’

  ‘What if she doesn’t want to meet you?’

  ‘I’ll worry about it when and if I need to.’

  Excitement crept into the pit of his belly at the prospect of an upcoming adventure. The next day, after a dreamless sleep, he woke up with a mixture of hope and apprehension. Josh and Terri had gone to work, so he got up and made himself a cup of tea, then sat down at Camilla’s old desktop PC in the study. He fired it up.

  He opened a web browser, but it hung. He checked the computer’s connection to the internet and it all looked normal. He opened the running applications to analyse what might be causing the problem. An application called ACLAS sat at the top of the list, chewing up all the resources.

  He double clicked on the app and it automatically logged him in with Camilla’s login and password. He snooped around, knowing he probably shouldn’t, but something caught his eye. A large file had stalled in the middle of downloading. On closer inspection he noticed it was over twenty terabytes in size. That’s huge! There wasn’t enough space on the computer for it, so he took note of the file name, planning to ask Camilla about it later. He killed the application and Google finally sprang into life.

  He typed in the name Camilla had given him, Peter Willows. A few search results came back, but none fitting the description he’d been given. He tried Googling his wife, Felicity. Still nothing. Had Camilla given him the wrong names? He hoped not, but it seemed unusual in this day and age for people not to show up on the internet. Peter was apparently a movie executive; surely someone like that would show in the search results.

  He spent the morning searching through Google, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media sites he could think of, with no luck.

  He gave up in disgust and headed into Soho to check on the two bars he owned. As he had planned to meet Terri and Josh at the Community Bar later on, he decided to start at The Crypt first. The sign out the front read: ‘Come on down the stairs, it’s time to face your fears.’

  Damion opened the front door, never tiring of its familiar screech and whine, as if acting its part in an old horror movie. He navigated his way down the winding staircase lined with cobwebs, skulls, and bones, each step creaking and groaning, indicating they might give way at any moment. They wouldn’t of course. Damion took health and safety seriously. It was all for show.

  He stepped into the dimly lit room, still proud of his creation after all these years. People lounged around on bean bags shrouded in a haze from their shisha pipes. Damion gave them a friendly nod as he made his way to the bar. Frederick, his manager, greeted him with an air of indifference. All the staff were like this, with their own part to play, adding to the mood of The Crypt.

  He followed Frederick to one of the caves he’d reserved for them to talk business and to catch up on things since his last visit. The bartender brought them both a blood red drink, one of Damion’s famous cocktails. He took a sip and sighed as the liquid filled him with a warmth from head to toe.

  He gazed into his glass. ‘Aaah, Blood, I’ve missed you.’

  The right side of Frederick’s mouth rose, offering a h
int of a smile, but came across more as bemused. Despite his arrogance, he was an excellent manager and Damion considered him his right hand man, trusting him implicitly.

  ‘So where have you been hiding, boss? We’ve all got bets on where you disappear to. Angie’s convinced you’ve got a secret family hidden away somewhere.’

  Damion felt his face flush, but he laughed it off. His staff knew of him as a playboy, the idea of him having a family would be ludicrous to them. Hah! If only they knew.

  Frederick continued, ‘Jake thinks you’re living in a naturist resort somewhere warm, because you always come back tanned and relaxed.’

  ‘So what do you think, Frederick?’

  ‘I think you’ve joined some cult commune and are living off the land, sacrificing sheep and praying to the God King, Rameses.’

  Damion laughed out loud at the preposterousness of Frederick’s idea, and how close to the truth everyone had been. I mean, they did sacrifice sheep, but only for eating!

  They spent the afternoon talking about the bar, current affairs and politics until it was time for Damion to go and meet Terri and Josh.

  Damion walked the two blocks to the Community Bar, enjoying the buzz of the busy streets as he ambled along, not in any rush. The patrons from the bars and restaurants spilled onto the sidewalk, drinking, smoking and chatting. Damion’s senses frolicked with the sights and sounds foreign to the Community.

  He’d lived in London for many years and he still missed it. Sometimes he wished he could move back, but Leonora would never come with him, and he would never leave her or his children.

  He always wanted what he couldn’t have. If he moved back to London, he would miss the Community, and vice-versa. So he stayed with his wife and children, and continued to visit London twice a year.

  As Damion entered the Community Bar, everyone yelled out, ‘Welcome Back!’

  The greeting was the complete opposite from The Crypt, where everyone had been indifferent and self-absorbed.