Everything Looks Better In The Rain
Prequel
At age nine something unforeseen happened to the little boy. He’d been happily jumping around in the London park, his dark hair bobbing along with the rhythm on which he was jumping. His little hands up in the air, waving them about as he did so. Then, out of nothing, a man with dark hair and blue eyes had come around and offered him some candy. The boy knew he shouldn’t take sweets from strange people, but these were his all time favourites and he couldn’t resist. Just one wouldn’t hurt, would it?
Before the little boy knew it, he felt a bit drowsy and he had to sit down onto the green grass, eventually leading into lying down and closing his eyes. He had a nice dream; about a pretty girl with long, brown hair dancing and prancing around in a large green field. She was wearing a white summery dress. Then the dream turned into a not so very nice dream; the blue skies turned grey and black, rain poured out of the skies, thunder and lightning in the distance. The girl was still there, however, but now soaked to the bone. She fell down, her white summery dress no longer white, but red from the blood that seeped through the cotton material.
The little boy woke up in a strange room that seemed to be metal all over. He was lying on a cold metal bed, with no pillows or blankets to hide his naked body with. He heard whispering, he sat up, pulling his knees up to his chin, trying to cover himself up. As he looked around, he saw three solid metal walls, and one that had a window and a door next to it in it. He saw three men and one woman looking at him. A shiver from the cold went down his small spine.
The door soundlessly opened, and two men of the three who’d been looking at him, entered the room. They were wearing white coats, that reached their knees. One of them had a stethoscope around his neck, the other man held something in his hand that looked like a needle, bright green fluid was in the see-through plastic. The man squirted some of the fluid in the air to release the tiny bubbles of air, the man with the stethoscope grabbed the boy by his arms and pushed him down onto the metal bed. The little boy tried to scream, he failed; the man pushed two fingers to the boy’s lips, whispering that everything would turn out just fine. The little boy felt something jabbing in his thigh, he closed his eyes, a single tear trickling down his cheek.
The boy lie under the covers of his warm bed, shaking like a leaf. All he felt was pain in his thigh, and he had a headache, too. He tried to remember what happened, he tried so hard, but he couldn’t remember anything. Not a word that’d been said, not a sound that’d been made. All he knew was that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. He sat up and looked around the room; it was quite small, probably only three metres wide and about four metres deep. The walls were plain white, a single window that had bars in front of them, to avoid escaping. The room was dimly lit by a lamp that was stood on the bedside cabinet next to the head of Matthew’s bed. Suddenly, a head came down from, for what the boy thought was, the ceiling.
“Hey,” The head said. It was turned upside down, and it occurred to the boy that he was lying in a bunk bed, him having the lower bed. “What’s your name?” The head asked. The little boy raised his eyebrows, then went to lie on his back and hung over the edge of the bed to be hanging up side down, just like the head. He inspected the head; quite chubby, blonde hair, dark eyebrows that were amazingly large for the boy’s face and brown eyes.
“I- I- I dunno.” The little boy stammered. The head disappeared and someone jumped off the top bed. The little boy pulled himself up on the bed and sat up straight, facing the other boy who’d just jumped off the top bed. He was quite tall - taller than himself - and was wearing military green pyjamas with a small name tag on it. ‘C. Simpson’, it said. The little boy looked down onto himself; he was now dressed, and wearing the same pyjamas as the boy in front of him. “What does mine say?” The boy asked, pointing to his own name tag.
“M. Willis.” The other boy said. “I’m Charlie.” He smiled and reached out his hand. The boy shook it, then began to think. “You’re M. Willis. So you could be a Marc.” Charlie said, sitting down next to the nameless boy on the bed. “You don’t look like a Marc, though.” He said, obviously thinking.
“Charles Simpson! What did I tell you? No talking until the next morning. Matthew must be very tired. Chop, chop, back to bed.” A woman with dark hair, pinned up in a knot in her neck, hollered and clapped her hands. Charlie’s eyes widened and he grabbed hold of the small stairs that lead the to the top bed. He climbed up and without a word, he let himself fall down on his bed, the bed slightly lowering under his weight. “You’ve got training in the morning, so you must rest, Matthew.” The woman softly said, and put the little boy in his bed, pulling the covers over him. The woman left the small room, closing the door behind her as she did so.
“Night Matthew.” The voice from above the boy went.
“Night Charlie.” Matthew said and fell into a restless sleep.
They were running down a circuit, the rain softly falling down as mist onto the green grass as their bare feet ran over it, the water splashing up as they stamped into a puddle. Matthew felt his heart thumping harder than usual and his breathing was fast. He climbed over a wooden wall that hurt his feet as he pushed himself up with a little help from Charlie who was right behind him. He fell down on the other side and lay on his back.
“Come on Matthew! You have to run! What if there was a man coming after you with a big gun and trying to kill you? Run!” Charlie screamed as he tried to drag Matthew with him through the mud. Matthew caught up on his breath, or at least, tried to and stood up. His green uniform was covered in mud, and his feet hurt, but he had to run. He knew what was going to happen if he didn’t. He’d heard the stories; this man, known as The Butcher would come and get you to torture you in a dark room. They’d spent many an hour talking about it and scaring each other with made up stories at night when they were supposed to be sleeping.
Matthew ran after Charlie and ducked as he ran through a lowered tunnel, then crouching down into a concrete tunnel, his knees scouring along the concrete as he made his way through it.
They both fell down into the wet grass as they finished the circuit and sat heavily breathing looking at each other, both with a grin spread across their face; they’d made it, plus, broke their own personal record.
“Well done boys!” Their major said and saluted them. He tapped his beret and looked at his stopwatch. “And broke the record as well! I’m proud of you two.” He said as he pulled the boys up from the grass. He grinned towards Matthew. “And I’ve got a surprise for you, Matthew my boy. Since it’s your twelfth birthday, we’re gonna have a little party down in the lunchroom. How about that?” Matthew nodded his head vigorously and nudged Charlie in the ribs.
“Party!” He whispered and grinned back at Charlie, who was grinning like a mad man himself.
They entered the lunchroom at about twelve, the whole room was packed with people, music softly playing in the background.
“Here comes the birthday boy!” Someone in the crowd yelled and everyone cheered as Matthew got pulled up on a table. They sang happy birthday to him, like every year, but this time it was different. Matthew’s eye caught someone in the crowd. Someone that stood out. A girl with dark, long hair, blue eyes that pierced through Matthew’s and a beautiful smile. He got distracted by the birthday cake with eighteen candles on it.
“Blow ‘em out, Matt!” Charlie yelled as he pulled his mate down the table and sat him down on one of the chairs. Matthew took a deep breath in and blew them all out at once. “Make a wish, make a wish!” Charlie hollered and playfully slapped his friend on the back. Matthew smiled, closed his eyes and made a wish. A wish that no one was supposed to know, not even his best friend. “Eighteen, mate. That’s really something, ain’t it?” Charlie said as he sat down next to Matthew. Matthew nodded. It was something special; it meant that it was his last day at the base.
“You want something to drink? Beer?” Matthew asked, and stood up from his chair. Charlie nodded and began chomping on the piece of cake he’d got.
Matthew walked over to the bar, where – surprisingly – that beautiful girl was stood.
“Two beer, and-” He looked over to the girl who was playing with the straw her drink. “a Pimms, please.” As he stood waiting for the drinks, leaning with his back against the bar, he observed the girl. She really was pretty, so pretty that Matthew got enchanted by it and didn’t really notice that she was talking to him.
“Hey,” She whispered, her cheeks flushing a light shade of red. Matthew just stood in awe looking at her. He shook his head and smiled.
“Oh, hey. Didn’t hear you there.” He said and added a cheeky wink. He took the drinks, holding the two beers in one hand, giving the Pimms over to the girl and took a beer in each hand. “There you go…”
“Amy, my name’s Amy.” She smiled shyly and took the drink, putting her empty glass on the bar. Her voice sounded like the sweetest thing Matthew had ever heard.
“There you go, Amy.” He put one of the beers aside on the bar and reached out his hand. “Matthew.” He said and loosely shook the girl’s hand. Her eyes rolled away from his and to the ground. “So, Amy. What brings you to my birthday party?” He asked curiously.
“Erm, well. Someone took me with him, actually.” She whispered, Matthew’s heart dropped as he heard ‘him’.
“Oh, so your boyfriend took you? Who is it? Maybe I know him.” He asked, trying to sound as positive as possible, but the tremble in his voice giving the act away. She smiled at him.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” She blushed. “My grandfather took me with him.” Matthew leaped up and smiled broadly.
“Really?” She nodded. “So is it okay if I ask you on a date, then?” He froze; he wasn’t actually, really planning on saying that, but he had just done it. Very tactful.
“I guess,” The girl said, blushed once more, then shot her head into the crowd. “Erm, I’m really sorry but I have to go now. Was really nice meeting you, Matthew.” She said, pushed her glass into his hand and started to walk off.
“No, wait!” Matthew yelled and grabbed her by the wrist. “Can I have your number, please?” The girl looked through the pockets of her jeans and pulled a card out.
“Ask for Amy Bourne.” Matthew nodded, looked at the card, and when he looked up again, the girl was gone.
Matthew was stood in the office of the major, his legs spread and his hands behind his back.
“Sir, you wanted to talk to me, sir?” The major nodded and signalled Matthew for him to sit down.
“It’s your last day at the base, isn’t it? You being eighteen and all now.” Matthew smiled.
“Sir, yes, sir.” The major screwed up his face, making Matthew softly laugh.
“Quit the ‘sir, yes, sir’, Matthew. I’m not your major anymore.” Matthew raised both of his eyebrows. “You’re gonna leave the base next morning, and you’re going to be working for a company that has nothing to do with the base. You’ll have to work with the skills that you’ve learnt here, though. You’re gonna be working for a huge company as a hired assassin.” Matthew’s eyes widened. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.” The major explained. “See it as a secret agent thing.” This didn’t really help. “If it’s any comfort at all, you’re gonna be making a whole lot of money.” The major pulled out some papers out of the drawers. “Anyway, that wasn’t the particular reason that I wanted to speak to you.” He looked through some papers and leant back in his chair. “Matthew, what is your first memory?” Matthew thought deeply.
“Erm, that I was in a bunk bed, Charlie on the top bed.” The major nodded.
“Thought so. It’s normally the first memory of the boys that’ve been around here.” He shook his head. “This might come as a shock to you, but you’ve been drugged when you first came here. All your memories from before you ended up here, were erased. They might be coming flooding with back with the years, however. I’m surprised nothing’s come back at all yet.” Matthew fiddled around with his fingers.
“Well, there’s one thing…” His voice trailed off.
“Yes, Matthew?”
“I remember a big room with a metal bed, the walls metal, everything metal and one window.” He thought for a moment. “Nothing more.”
A pretty girl with long, brown hair dancing and prancing around in a large green field. She was wearing a white summery dress. Then the blue skies turned grey and black, rain poured out of the skies, thunder and lightning in the distance. The girl was still there, however, but now soaked to the bone. She fell down, her white summery dress no longer white, but red from the blood that seeped through the cotton material.
Matthew woke up heavily breathing and with the sweat on his back running down his spine. He felt a hand going up and down his back.
“Shh, it was only a dream, Matthew. Calm down. A dream, that’s all.” Her sweet, reassuring voice went whispering in his ear. He looked aside him; the girl with the long brown hair, and the sparkling blue eyes was looking back at him, a soft smile curling around the corners of her mouth. Her lips touched his, then she pulled back and pushed him down with his head in the pillows. “Go to sleep, baby.” She hummed and stroked his cheek. His hand found her cheekbone, he ran his finger past it, finding the back of her neck and pulling her in for a long, passionate kiss. She kissed him back, her delicate hands finding the waistband of his boxers. He groaned into the kiss as she began stroking his member. He pulled the t-shirt she’d been wearing over her head and explored her body as if he’d never done it before, flipping her over on her back and kissing every bit of bare skin that he ran over. He kicked his boxer shorts somewhere into the room and didn’t think but thrust himself into her, groaning into her neck as he did so. Her fingernails dug into his back and she held in her breath as he pushed his whole length inside of her. He turned up the speed and soon he came inside of her, falling next to her out of breath. She snuggled up to his chest, kissing his cheek.
“Love you,”
Matthew heard a scream coming from the bathroom. He exchanged looks with Charlie, who put down the controller of the Playstation and stood up worriedly. Matthew followed his example and stood up as well, only his legs carried him running to the bathroom, knocking on the door wildly as he heard moaning from inside the bathroom.
“Amy, you okay? What’s wrong? Can I come in?” He didn’t wait for a reply but stormed in the bathroom, only to find his girlfriend sitting on the toilet with her underwear down on her ankles, her elbows resting on her thighs.
“Where the hell are you!” She screamed. Matthew rushed over to his girlfriend, not really sure what to do or what was wrong.
“I’m here baby, what’s wrong?” He said reassuringly. Amy gave him a dirty look.
“Not you!” She yelped. Matthew raised an eyebrow. “My period!”
“Oh,” he softly brought out. “And that’s what you were screaming for?” He asked, a bit confused.
“Yes!” She continued in her wild woman mode. “I should’ve gotten my period a WEEK AGO!” She yelled and threw her hands up in the air, standing up, moving Matthew out of the way and pulling up her underwear. She stood with her hands on her hips looking at Matthew, who was basically just pushed aside and sat now on the floor. “I think we’ve got a problem.”
“And that would be?” Amy walked out of the bathroom, not really caring about who was in the living room and who could see her half naked. Charlie looked rather startled when his eyes fell on Amy, who was only wearing her underwear and a tight top. She stopped in her tracks, turned to Matthew, who’d picked himself up and stood looking confused at her.
“Are you really that stupid?” She asked, shaking her head. “You’re gonna be a dad, Matthew.”
“Have to go now.” He whispered into her ear and gave a delicate kiss on her cheek. “Bye, bye baby.” He said, kneeled down onto the floor and kissed his girlfriend’s belly through the white cotton material of her summer dress.
“Be careful.” She said and kissed him softly on the lips.
“With what? I can only get run over, Amy.” He winked, shoved his Magnum 4.7 between the waistband of his jeans and his stomach and reached out for the doorknob. “Promise me, you’ll stay at home, okay? I don’t want anything to happen to you. Or the baby.” Amy nodded. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” With that, he turned the knob, pulled the door open and walked in the dark night.
Someone was waiting under a lamppost. Matthew recognised the tall figure leaning against the post, the smoke of his cigarette curling up to the lamp and disappearing into the night’s air.
“See you’ve came.” The figure said in his deep, husky voice. This confirmed that it was who Matthew thought it was. Matthew nodded, and zipped up his black jacket, making it rustle as he did so. The wind blew about, and rain drops softly started falling down from the dark skies and onto the concrete tiles, leaving darker spots on the concrete. They got in the black Mercedes, slamming the door, and Charlie stepped on the gas pedal.
The headlights of the car lit the road on which they were driving, buildings shot by in seconds, as Matthew looked out of the window dreamingly.
“What’s up, mate?” Charlie asked, looking from out of the corner of his eye, Matthew sighed.
“I don’t want to do this anymore. Amy’s worried sick about me everytime I go away, and I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
The car stopped at a high building, the rain still pouring down from the skies. They sat in the car, adjusting the earpieces and microphones they had on to keep in touch.
Through the rain, they ran around the building, to the back and looked up to the skies. Matthew’s grip on the railing of the stairs at the back of the building tightened and he pulled himself up on the first three steps.