by M S C Barnes
The sun had decided to reappear for the day and as he squinted out of the window he noted a quick movement between some trees. It was only a fleeting glimpse but he grabbed Scarlet’s knee.
“Scarlet, did you see that?” He pointed and she stared out of the window.
“See what?”
He could smell crunchy nuts mixed with minty toothpaste on her breath.
“There’s no point looking now; you obviously missed it,” he stated, turning to look out of the rear window.
“Missed what?”
Seb lowered his voice and leaned towards her. “Scarlet, I saw— I can’t believe you didn’t see it.”
“Getting annoyed now!” She crossed her arms.
“I am sure I saw— well, a silver person!”
She turned slowly to search his eyes for any hint he was winding her up. Then she looked out of the back window. “Seriously? I mean, really, what on earth do you mean by ‘a silver person’?”
“It was a man – tall, thin and, well, shining! Standing by a tree. I only caught a really quick look, but he was sparkling. He saw me, looked at me. Honestly, Scarlet, it was a silver person.”
“What was he wearing?”
“What? I don’t know; I just noticed that he was shining.”
“Shining? Like a glow-in-the-dark? A block of silver? What do you mean?” She was getting frustrated.
“No. Sparkling, shimmering, really. The skin, the body— ” he tutted, unable to explain properly.
“Well what was he doing?”
“Nothing; just standing next to a tree and looking at me.”
Seb looked out of the rear windscreen. The trees had thinned out and he could see hedgerows and open fields. A slight mist hovered above the ground in the farthest fields. A magpie rose from the grass verge near the road and flapped over the bushes, coming to roost in a lone tree in the middle of a field. Seb saw the silver figure step round the trunk. Keeping his head turned towards the window he tapped Scarlet’s knee. “Look!”
She turned and frowned.
“By that tree in that field – the one all by itself.”
“I see a tree Seb, but there’s no one next to it. You’re winding me up.”
“Scarlet, I’m not. It is there, how can you not see it? Are you looking at the right tree?”
“Of course I’m looking at the right tree! There’s only one in the middle of the field. There’s nothing there!”
Seb turned to look at his sister’s confused and frustrated expression. “How can you not see it?”
She slumped back in her seat. “Well I can’t and I think you’re making it up.”
“Don’t get angry; I’m not making it up. Maybe I’m just tired— ”
She grunted then snorted a little laugh. “Or mad!”
Seb sat back in his seat, deciding to say nothing more. He glanced out of the window. The silver figure had vanished.
Miss West
Arriving at school, Seb heard a few sniggers as he walked through the entrance. Fortunately, Zach was waiting at Reception. As they headed down the main corridor and passed the door into which the hulking ogre figure had disappeared, Seb heard a wheezing cackle. He stopped.
“What ya doing?” Zach asked.
“Did you hear that?” Seb put his ear to the door.
“Hear what?”
“That laugh, didn’t you hear it?”
“I’ve heard lots of laughing today, old buddy …”
Seb frowned as they approached the exit. He managed to negotiate The Lake without incident and they headed to the Year Nine playground. Most of the students there ignored them, although a couple giggled or nudged each other.
Seb’s left hand was tingling. He could hear the leaves in the nearby oak trees rustling and looked into the woods. His heart skipped as he saw the silver figure standing about twenty feet away, beside a tree.
Grabbing Zach’s arm he dragged him towards the fence.
“Alright mortal, they’ll laugh no matter where we stand.”
Seb pointed into the trees. The sparkling figure stood staring at the boys.
“Do you see that, Zach? Tell me you see that!”
Zach followed Seb’s finger. “What was it? A squirrel? A deer? Seb, it’s a wood! I’m sure we’ll see them all the time.”
“No.” Seb looked at Zach. Noting the lack of surprise, the lack of interest, he knew already that Zach, like Scarlet, saw nothing. He chose to keep his mouth shut. “You didn’t see it then?”
“Nah.”
A piercing whistle made them jump and Seb turned to see a diminutive figure, dressed in dark purple, standing behind the railing on the ramp to the Year Nine block. The dumpy little female had a shock of outrageous, black, bushy hair and as the wind whipped around the playground strands of it were lifted and whirled all about her head. She had a snub nose and low forehead – not an attractive look – and her beady, dark eyes were fixed on Seb.
“Silence, now.” Her voice was surprisingly soft, with a melodious tone and the students were silent in an instant. Seb figured that was more out of curiosity at the appearance of this other West twin, than from obedience to her command.
Her crazy hair was still twirling around her head and her stumpy fingers strummed on the railing, which came up to shoulder height on her, as she kept her eyes fixed on him.
“Into your classrooms, please.”
The pupils walked up the ramp past her and peeled off to their relevant classrooms; some went left at the top of the ramp, some right. It was like watching a procession, with this curious wild-haired figure at the centre. A few students glanced at her as they walked past, even the smallest of them a good few inches taller than her. One boy paused and tried to speak to her; she lifted a hand and waved him away without ever breaking eye contact with Seb.
Then with a stunningly quick movement she leapt onto the railing with her right foot and launched through the air towards Seb. At precisely the same moment he felt a sharp pain as if tiny spikes were being driven into his shoulder. The blur of activity which followed was punctuated by a shout from Zach, a chant of Miss West! Miss West! from the pupils still remaining on the ramp, a flapping sound very close to Seb’s left ear and that persistent little stabbing and pricking pain.
Miss West, landing beside him, grabbed something from his shoulder. As she pulled it away Seb caught a glimpse of tiny little claws gripping onto and tearing the fibres of his green school jumper. She threw the little creature deep into the wood and a screeching sound came bouncing back from the bush into which it disappeared.
The teacher hitched up her trousers, straightened her purple tunic and ran her fingers through the matted locks of her hair. She wasn’t looking at Seb now; in fact, she had turned her back and was walking away across the playground towards the main building.
Seb looked at his shoulder. Oh great, there were tiny holes torn in the material and—
“Hey mate,” Zach boomed, “that was quite a show! And you seem to have something— oh yuck, you’ve got bird poo on your shoulder!”
The Year Nine audience, half still standing on the ramp, half looking out of the windows of the classrooms, erupted into laughter. Seb was becoming their daily entertainment.
Having spent break time in the toilet unsuccessfully trying to remove the poo from his jumper, Seb never got the chance to talk to Zach about his birthmark as he intended.
Most of their lessons that morning were spent filling in forms and copying course book lists with their form tutor, a delicate bird-like lady called Miss Crabtree. She seemed very sweet natured and gentle.
Zach spent the lessons asking look-what-I-know questions and the big characters in the class got noisier and noisier. As they approached lunchtime the noise level rose to a crescendo and there was pandemonium in the class. Seb was glad to get out to the more general noise in the playground. He was so grateful now for Zach’s continued loyalty and decided never again to resent the friendship.
They were second-sitting lunch and Seb enjoyed the freshness outside before their turn came to go to the cafeteria. He scanned the woodland around the playground for signs of the silver figure but saw nothing. He decided to chat to Zach about it all but wanted to find a quiet place where they wouldn’t be overheard. He had just managed to manoeuvre him to a group of three tree stumps near the wooden fencing and sat on one of them when Scarlet came striding up to them with her new best friend, Nat, and two other friends, Abi and Alex, in tow.
Seb was dreading what was coming, a request to have a private showing of the birthmark for her little girlfriend troupe. He was surprised when Scarlet leant in and whispered, “I haven’t told them.”
She pulled back and said in a loud voice, “So, where’s your pooey-jumper brother? We all saw you being rescued from a sparrow by Miss West; poor Seb. And then you got bird poo all over your jumper – yuck! Mum’s going to love cleaning that.”
Nat nudged her and said, “Scarlet, don’t be mean.”
Seb gazed up at Nat. Her big, pale blue eyes had a wide open expression. Her physique was willowy and she was at least an inch taller than him. Her light brown hair hung in gentle waves to her shoulders and Seb stared at the silky strands which seemed to glisten gold in the sunshine.
Scarlet winked at Seb. “You know I’m just kidding, right?”
Seb gave a shrug.
“Are you okay?” Nat asked, with seemingly genuine concern.
Her blue eyes looked upset and very beautiful. Seb thought she seemed kind and smiled. “I’m fine. It scratched my shoulder a bit, but Mum’s going to be really angry – my jumper’s ruined.”
“That’s not your