RuneScape Forum Archive | ~The Dwellers~

Dark Enmity

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When they got onto the island all Oliver could do was ask questions. He started staring at all the houses admiring the view. Thea had asked him how old he was. Frankly, they were both curious. He seemed very mature for his age. After an ordeal from almost drowning to death, they assumed Oliver would be close to breakdown mode. He acted calm and serene.

“Ten, but I will be eleven in a few months,” he replied and returned to looking around the streets in awe.

Celeste was less then welcoming. She was standing foyer hanging a picture when she saw her dear Aimeric walking in. She wanted to kiss his lips until she saw what Thea was holding. It was a child.

‘Another one?’ she had wanted to say but managed to choke down on the words. Celeste laughed inside. Maybe that was Thea’s baby when she got knocked up wrecking someone else’s home.

“What happened?” She asked in a fake worried voice.

“A small mishap at the local park. You don’t need to worry. We will only be taking care of Oliver for a bit. I think a month or two.” Celeste nearly dropped the picture she was holding. Before she could respond Thea and Aimeric were taking the boy to the kitchen for something to eat.

“Sure. Just add one more home wrecker to the family,” she whispered under her breath. She took the picture outside and smashed it against the house before throwing it in the garbage. Aimeric didn't notice.

“Oliver you don’t have to worry. We will take good care of you,” Aimeric said. “Has your father been mean to you before?”

Oliver pointed to his left shoe. “My father threw me down the stairs once. I hit a wall corner and my big toe started to bleed.” He then pulled up the sleeve of his right shoulder showing a large purple spot. “He also punched me once really, really hard when I told him I was late for school.”

‘What a sick, twisted animal his father was,’ Aimeric thought. “Oliver, where is your mother?”

25-Jun-2009 23:45:44 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:51:32 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“My dad says that she’s on vacation. The permanent kind, were you go forever and don’t come back.” Well that meant that his mother was out of the picture. If not cremated she might be buried at the cemetery. Aimeric thought about bringing Oliver there before the hearing.

Oliver continued. "I don’t remember much about my mother. She was really pretty, though. Like you.” He took a miniature hand and pointed it at Thea. She smiled.

“Oliver is there anything you want to do around here?”

“I have always wanted to read. I have read at school but my dad never let me read at home. I brought back a book once and he tore it up saying that books fill people’s minds with untrue stories and make them stupid.”

Aimeric was dazed. Oliver was like a computer program that somebody had installed wrong. It would take a total reboot to get Oliver to think right.

“That isn’t right, Oliver. Books make people smarter.”

“That's what I thought. I never told my dad that I thought he was wrong. That would’ve made him mad.” Maybe a TOTAL reboot wasn’t necessary. Just a little sweep with a broom to get rid of a few bad ideas.

“Just search around the house. Feel free to read any books you find.” He felt bad that they didn't have any juvenile books but he hoped he could enjoy himself with the illustrations and maybe select sentences.

Oliver said thank you and scampered up the stairs, in search of knowledge. It looked almost comical to see the ten year actually wanting to read. Before they would know it he might be asking for seconds on vegetable helpings.

“Nice kid,” Thea whispered softly.

“Yeah. Listen, I have to tell you something. The officers told me that there is a good chance that Oliver’s father will not go to jail. That means that what the court hearing is really about is whether or not he deserves custody of the child.”

Thea’s eyes were bulging with horror. “No! But they couldn’t—they wouldn’t!”

25-Jun-2009 23:49:29 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:51:18 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Worse people have gotten their children back,” Aimeric said grimly. “Did anyone actually see Oliver’s father push him in?”

Thea remained silent.

“Sure, he was drunk. But a lot of other people in that park could’ve been drunk as well. All we really have to go on is Oliver’s word.”

“You saw the bruises! You saw the cuts!”

Aimeric walked over to the foyer counter and picked up the local newspaper. On the front page was a boy that looked exactly like Oliver, being saved from a pond by a man who looked exactly like Aimeric. The title read: Local Man Hero, Boy Almost Drowns. Father Is Horrified.

“We can only pray that will be enough.”

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A phone call about the whole mess came an hour later. Apparently the boy’s father was Ned Oddy. He was being held at the only jail in the city until court day, which was exactly three weeks away. That didn't give Aimeric much time to prepare and he couldn’t live with himself knowing that Oliver could go back to this monster. He was, after all, the legal guardian.

He thanked the officer who was actually Jacob, and took a nap on the couch. When he woke up, however, he heard screaming.

“LISTEN TO ME!”

The voice had startled him. He almost had a freefall to the floor, but thankfully his hand grabbed the coffee table in time. It sounded so loud, so clear. But it couldn’t be...

“PUT DOWN THAT BOOK AND LOOK AT ME!”

This set him in motion. He sprinted up the stars and had the moment where you think there is one more stair but there isn’t, and you get that terrifying feeling of falling forever. It only lasted half a second, but it was enough to stall Aimeric.

Then he thought of the screaming. He ran down the hallway, passing the bathroom and their bedroom. Finally he reached the study, were Celeste glared at him with deadly eyes.

"What’s wrong?” Aimeric panted.

25-Jun-2009 23:49:34 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:51:50 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“He isn’t listening! All he’s doing is reading the stupid book! He won’t even look up! You fix this!” She prodded Aimeric with a bony finger.

“Where’s Thea?”

“That girl wanted to take a walk. Now fix that boy!”

Oliver was sitting in a large leather chair with his feet barely resting on the recliner. In his hands was the book, The Gardener, which he was hiding his face behind.

“Oliver?” Aimeric asked softly. “Oliver can you hear me?” He paid no attention.

Aimeric stepped forward and put a hand on the book. Very gently he pulled it out of Oliver’s arms, to see him full of wonder.

“Why does Green Thumb like to torture people?” Oliver asked quietly. His eyes were deep into Aimeric’s.

Aimeric had only read that book once. It was about some gardener who wanted to expand his plant research, so he started growing plants in people. Aimeric never really got it.

“Some people are bad, and they do bad things, even though they know it’s wrong.”

“Did my daddy know it was wrong to hurt me?” Oliver was boring into Aimeric’s eyes. ‘Blast you Oliver,’ he thought. ‘You’re going to make me cry.’

“I’m sorry Oliver. I can’t tell you if your daddy knew it was wrong.”

“I think he did. I think he liked to hurt me.”

Aimeric pressed a warm hand against Oliver’s soft cheek. He ran it up along his eyes and finally he stopped on Oliver’s ear.

“Oliver, are you deaf?”

He answered, but it sounded like he was answering to himself mostly. “I learned to lip-read after he did it. It was hard but I practiced.”

“How did it happen?”

“I told my dad one day that it was wrong to hurt little kids. He smiled at my and it was a smile that made me scared. I made me want to run but he grabbed my arm and brought me to the stove. Then he turned it on and made me watch it grow red hot. Then he pushed both of my ears to it for ten seconds each. I think what he did was wrong.”

25-Jun-2009 23:49:36 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:30:13 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Aimeric was now shedding tears. They rolled down his face and onto Oliver lap. He picked Oliver up from the chair and hugged him close.

God always loved to see people make empty promises. Sometimes he is nice, and let’s you keep them. But usually he wants to pull a fast one on you. He wants to see you make a promise and then break it.

So when Aimeric picked up Oliver and made a promise it broke his heart. It broke him because he didn't know it was true. All he wanted was to make the small boy feel better and making a promise was the only thing he could do.

“I think what your dad did was very wrong Oliver, and I promise he won’t get away with it.”

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“I need to see his father.”

“What?” Thea was bewildered. Ever since they had brought Oliver home he had wanted to know why someone could be so cruel to an innocent child. “Aimeric, you can’t. That would just be impossible. How would they even let you?”

Aimeric was putting on his jacket and ready to go. “The guy's not a mass murderer. Heck, some people probably think he’s innocent and that his kid fell in by accident. He won’t be that difficult to meet.”

She run up and patted him on the back. “Be careful, okay?”

“I love you,” was what Aimeric wanted to say. Instead though, he choked down on those words. Could you even tell a nineteen-year-old girl that you loved her when you were engaged? It was legal, of course, but that’s not the point.

“I will,” he said quietly to avoid being heard. Celeste acted rather strange when he and Thea were together. He had found some shards of glass around the house but guessed that was just one of Thea’s voice lapses.

25-Jun-2009 23:49:40 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:52:02 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

“Can I come? Puh-lease?” Oliver was trotting along on his tiny little legs and ran into Aimeric’s arms. “I promise I will be good. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. Please?” And for the cherry on top he glazed his eyes over and gave the most adorable puppy dog pout.

“Say no!" Thea mouthed clearly so Oliver couldn’t hear her. They knew he was deaf, but they had a faint idea he wasn’t completely. Just couldn’t detect high pitched sounds such as Celeste’s high whiny voice. Aimeric’s voice was appearing to sound loud a clear for him, even across the house.

“How can I say no to that?” Aimeric mouthed back in distress. Oliver was clamping on to his leg, begging and pleading.

‘He’s shown a lot of maturity so far, why don’t you trust him?’ Aimeric gave up. “Okay Oliver, let’s go see your dad.”

“Yay!” Oliver raised his arms in celebration while Thea stormed out of the room, defeated. She had a, you-better-know-what-your-getting-yourself-into look.

He replied with an, I’m-sure-it-will-go-perfectly-fine smile.

Boy, was he wrong.

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They were crossing the bridge into the citadel. Thick gray bricks lined the walls with intimidating two-story steel double doors at the entrance. Beside were the doors were two guards, both dressed completely in black. Their city was very serious about criminals.

Aimeric nodded to the guards who did nothing to return the favor. They enter the walls to be surrounded by cold, dark corridors. Oliver skipped down them merrily.

“You’re going to love my dad. He’s so much fun.” Talk about a kid with mood swings, Aimeric thought.

“You like your dad?”

“He’s the best.”

‘Whatever floats your boat, kid.’ His mind was full of crowed thoughts. Oliver drowning, him saving Oliver, Oliver being abused, them going to see his father, Thea, Thea’s voice problem, his increasing love for Thea—

25-Jun-2009 23:49:43 - Last edited on 09-Jul-2009 15:55:08 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

‘Whoa! Stop the bus. You love Celeste.’

“Do I?” he dispassionately answered back to his mind. Before he could figure out the question they were greeted by a man in a gray suit.

“Welcome to our facilities. I believe we have an arrangement for you to see Ned Oddy?”

“That is correct." Aimeric said professionally. The man in the gray suit gestured to a set of oak doors.

“Just through here, end cell on the right.” Aimeric nodded in appreciation.

“Oliver, do you mind sitting out here? I just want to have a chat with your dad first.”

“Sure.” And without further persuasion he plopped himself in one of the nearby chairs, staring at the walls.

Aimeric gathered himself and was about to go through, when the man in the gray suit stopped him.

“I should warn you that we have been experiencing complications with Oddy.”

“Complications?”

“Nothing you should trouble yourself with. It’s just that you two will be alone, and I would like you to be informed he might not be in his right state of mind.” The man swiped some dust of the shoulder of Aimeric’s jacket and gave a perfect retail smile, like when they were just about to make a sale.

Aimeric returned the favor with a flash of a smile, which only appeared for an instant, before he was solemn again.

‘Here goes nothing,’ he thought. ‘Just a bird whistle away from wanting to kill you, Ned Oddy. Don’t push me over the edge. Don’t even try.’

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Ned Oddy was sitting quietly in his ten feet by ten feet cell. In the corner was a bed, made of cheap linen and filled with straw. He didn't like the bed very much. It carried lumps and smelled thickly of the last prisoner who slept on it. The blood stains weren’t that appealing either. He preferred the wet floor.

25-Jun-2009 23:49:50 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:52:33 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

In the other corner was a patch of moss. He hadn’t been there very long, but it was growing like, well, moss. He was nurturing it, giving it small portions of his daily water glasses. 'Who knows? Moss could be a very helpful thing,’ Ned thought.

On the side opposite the bed and the moss were three inch thick iron bars that spanned from the floor to the ceiling. There were fifteen—he had counted them. He had also counted the fifty-eight freckles on both his arms, the three-hundred-and twenty-five stone bricks that lined his cell and one-thousand-two-hundred-and-fifteen pieces of straw out of the tens of thousands that he would be counting throughout his time there.

“Your guest will be arriving shortly,” the cell guard said flatly. His face looked empty and bare, with no expression behind those dark sunglasses. 'I feel sorry for the wife that has to see that face every day,’ Ned thought.

“Your guest will be arriving shortly,” Ned Oddy mimicked in a high pitched, woman’s voice. The guard sighed and left the room. Apparently the guest had requested full privacy.

“I better make myself look spiffy,” Ned said to himself aloud. He spat in the palm of his hand and rubbed it through his greasy, black hair. “There. Clean as mud.”

Ned was wondering himself who this mystery client was. 'I think I’ll choose door number one, Alex.’

‘Oh sorry, we were going for door number two, the snobbish rich boy that is intimidated by you.’

They had said that this man had saved his child. ‘Well, he probably is an arrogant guy that lives in a three-story mansion. I will be sure to fix that, though.’

Ned stood up and pressed his hands against the bars. He didn't have much sight but in the corner of his eye he could see the doors opening, and a tall man was walking in the door. Bring in mystery man number two.

“So you’re the young chap that saved my son. Would you like a medal, or an opportunity to kiss my ass?”

25-Jun-2009 23:49:51 - Last edited on 26-Jun-2009 21:53:41 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

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‘So, this is Ned Oddy,’ Aimeric thought with scoff. ‘Seems more like poorly groomed man with a few bad jokes than a child beater.'

"Ned Oddy, I am Aimeric,” he said calmly. Ned spat in his hand, and held it out.

“Well? It’s not polite to ignore a handshake when it’s staring you in the face,” Ned said with a grin.

‘Playing hardball, eh?’ Aimeric thought. His friend Clarence once visited the jail here once. He learned that if you don’t play hardball back, you’ll get torn apart.

Aimeric shook the salivated hand. He did not bother to wipe it on his jeans. He kept it on, paying no attention to it whatsoever.

“So, what do you want? I haven’t got all day...what was your name again? Avery?”

“Aimeric.”

“Righteo. Close enough. I believe I know the correct definition of the name Aimeric.”

“Really?” Aimeric asked, pretending to be interested. “And what would that be?”

“If I am correct it means pigs snout. Or ass. Doesn’t really matter, does it?’

Fool me once, shame on you.

“No Ned, I guess it doesn’t. Do you like your cell?”

“I hate it. Hey, where's that little teenage girl you had at the park? Did she get tired sleeping with you?”

Fool me twice, shame on me.

“Cut the crap Ned, I am here to make you a deal.” It was Ned’s turn to look angry.

“You make ME a deal? Let me tell you sonny, I am the one controlling the ropes. If anything, I will make YOU a deal, if and when I feel like it.”

Aimeric finally had to get a good chance to look at him. Ned Oddy was wearing a stained gray prison outfit. He had yellow as well as missing teeth and dark eyes that were just coal. An invisible shiver was sent through Aimeric.

“What makes you think you’re in any position to make a deal?”

25-Jun-2009 23:49:58 - Last edited on 10-Jul-2009 22:04:26 by Dark Enmity

Dark Enmity

Posts: 2,957 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile

Ned picked his nose disgustingly and rubbed the finger against Aimeric’s shirt. “Because, smart guy, I know that whatever you want, you want bad, and I can force anything out of you just so you get what you want. I know your type. You’re a little rich boy who gets everything. Well this time you’re going to have to work a bit for it.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Don’t give me any of that crap again. First, you tell me what you want.”

Aimeric took a breath. “I want custody of the child.”

Ned’s eyes bulged wide and he stumbled backwards. Aimeric thought Oddy was just surprised until he saw that Ned was bursting with laughter.

“You want Oliver! Oh God! Oh God that is too much! Please, let’s try to be civilized and stop with the jokes!”

“I am serious,” Aimeric replied, not moving a muscle.

Ned was now sitting on the bed trying to choke down his giggle fits. "That just made my day, mate. Is that all you want?”

“Yes.” No it was time for the hard part. “Now what is it that you want?”

Ned locked his eyes deep into Aimeric’s. The room felt that much colder and Aimeric felt his fear was shining through.

“You listen to me. I only want on thing and one thing only. Do not negotiate. Do not argue. If I hear an if, and or but the deal is off. I will not settle for less."

"Okay.”

Ned flashed his toothy grin. “I want you to be my lawyer.”

Thoughts were racing through Aimeric’s mind. ‘Is this man insane? What is he thinking? I can’t, I won’t—that’s out of the question!’

He remembered saying he would do all in his power to make Ned go to jail. How could he do that if they were on the same side? This man was a horrible person.

Then he thought about Oliver. How he wanted him so much. He would do anything for Oliver, right? Even if that meant doing the thing he hated. Maybe...

25-Jun-2009 23:50:16 - Last edited on 10-Jul-2009 22:06:38 by Dark Enmity

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