Foreword:
Okay, here's quite a lengthy one I hope you enjoy. I've been there before with the discovery of old photographs showing a family member in very compromising positions, but I thought I'd offer it up again; this time with Darren finding a box full of pictures in his mother's wardrobe.
Anyway, here it is. Feedback is always welcome. Please forgive any errors in the text.
Most of all, thank you for reading.
GA -- Calpe, Spain -- 3rd of January 2016.
Prologue
Darren just happens to be facing the right way when the door cracks open. He's in bed, awake at God knows what hour, thoughts running round in circles. At first he thinks it's imagination, the product of a troubled mind -- a
very
troubled mind -- when his tired, scratchy eyes see a lighter sliver of dark where the door jamb should be. Unsure if he's functioning fully or not, he decides to ignore it.
But the lighter shade grows wider, a shadow moving within, a sort of flicker which makes him blink and strain harder to see.
The transition is immediate. Fully alert yet still half convinced it's all an optical illusion, a stressed brain playing tricks, Darren lies still, unable to focus his sight on anything more tangible than shadows dancing in the dead of night. However, the unmistakable click of the door snicking shut brings him all the way upright.
"What is it?" asks Darren while turning his head this way and that. He peers into the almost nothing, trying to make sense of
something
solid at least, his heart rate rising like a fighter plane from an aircraft carrier. He warbles a tentative, "Mum, is that you?"
Her voice comes from close by: "Shush, not so loud, you'll wake everyone up."
"Wuh-what is it?" he whispers. "What do you want?"
As if he doesn't know? As if his stomach isn't sliding with worry and dread.
"To talk," she replies as the bed dips under her weight. "To ask you what you thought you were doing? And to explain a few things as well. I mean, you must be wondering..." Then, as though sensing what Darren intends, just as he extends an arm to flick the switch on the lamp, his mother adds, "Don't turn on the light. I don't want to see you." There's a pause before she finishes with, "And I don't want you to see me."
Darren brings his hand back in close, snatches it away from the switch as though he's been burned before scooting away from where his mother is perched on the edge of his bed. "Talk?" he says as the blanket of fear settles heavier.
Caught
Amelia was five minutes into the journey when she realised she'd forgotten the keys. Without them, she wouldn't be able to open the shop, which made the decision to turn around inevitable. She muttered a curse and turned the Mercedes into a side street, retracing her route home where she left the car at the kerb instead of pulling into the drive. There really wasn't time to wait for the gates to slide open, not for such a quick in-and-out. Amelia decided it would be quicker to use the small pedestrian gate. That way she could walk around the side of the house, go in through the back door, find the damned keys, and be out again in a few minutes.
"Left my keys," Amelia said to Emma as she breezed through the kitchen.
Her daughter questioned her with a look and raised eyebrows as she turned from washing a cup at the sink in the kitchen. "Oh, I wondered..." Emma replied as her mother breezed through, her voice trailing off as Amelia kept going.
Amelia knew the precise location of the wayward keys: the big handbag she'd used last time she was out, which was currently lying next to her bed. She climbed the stairs quickly, reaching the third landing by taking the steps two at a time.
She stopped just outside the open door to her bedroom.
He was obviously engrossed, too wrapped up in what he was looking at to register his mother's arrival.
And by the time Darren noticed Amelia's presence it was far too late.
Darren's bedroom
Darren isn't sure, but it sounds like his mother chuckled an instant before she replies.
"Oh, Darren. Come
on
," she says with a sigh. "Take a wild guess. What do you think I want to talk about?"
"I'm sorry," he moans into the dark. "I ... I don't know what I was thinking."
Go away, go away, go away ... Leave me alone!
). "I shouldn't have been there ... I shouldn't have done it; I'd give anything to take it all back."
Her voice is low and as dark as the night: "You're a filthy beast, a dirty little animal."
Darren is so ashamed, so dejected he wails, "I'm so sorry."
To which his mother hisses, "Will you be quiet," while getting to her feet.
Darren feels the bed heave and senses rather than sees his mother flit through the dark to the door. He's partly relieved and also oddly disappointed when he thinks she's leaving, but, rather than making an exit, his mother lingers before moving back to the bed.
"Right," she murmurs while retaking her seat. "Stop making so much noise or you'll have the whole house awake."
Darren thought to mention they were on the third floor. His sister's family are on the level below; low voices are hardly likely to wake anyone up. But, just in the moment, he doesn't have the capacity to ask any questions. Dazed and confused, he holds himself close to the wall, emotions in turmoil.
"All right, so," his mother begins, "what were you doing sneaking about in my personal business?"