Zodiac's toy by John Jones (best free ereader .TXT) 📖

message and opened it.

'Don't you dare come to the house, or my wedding!'.

His eyes widened, “Shit!” he muttered. “Lee, what did you say?”. The drum n bass started up again and he rang Caroline's number, but a pre-recorded voice simply said: 'This number has been blocked'.

A fire inside Ray ignited. Not a raging red mist, or relentless fury, but something he had experienced only a few times, and never once towards Lee, but anger burned in the mind and needed an outlet. Needed to confront the cause.

At the back of his mind, exerting caution, but having little effect was his common sense, trying to get him to stop and think. Maybe talk to him, see what he said. It might have all been a misunderstanding. Just take it easy.

Yet his anger was having none of that, and compelled him out into the corridor and into Lee's room where it was similar to before the police turned up. Victor and Shane were both stood in front of the sofa, smoking joints, eyes closed and very slowly 'dancing' to the drum n' bass. Lee was counting the money.

The common-sense part of Ray's brain tried one last ditch attempt to stop him, but failed dismally.

"Lee what have you done?" he shouted, thrusting the phone before his face with the text message.

Lee frowned, nodded upwards and mouthed 'Wha..?'

"Caroline wants nothing to do with me and I can't go the wedding. What did you say?" he shouted. Lee stared at him for a few moments and nodded towards Shane who was looking at them, smoke curling above him.

'Turn that off' he mouthed. Shane turned off the music. Victor opened his eyes, thrust back to reality.

"What did you say to Wayne? She knows it was me who warned him off. For fucks sake Lee!"

"Since when did you grow a pair of bollocks?" Lee said, slowly standing up. "I did what you asked me. I warned off that hippy, and that was that. Job done. I did exactly as you asked".

"..but you must have told him it was me that was warning him off".

"I did yes. You never told me not to. I said something about a message from Ray, which is what you fucking told me to do. Give him a warning". Lee put both his hands on Ray’s shoulders and pushed him back to a wall, "The warning wasn't from me was it? 'cos I don't give a fuck. That was a favour to you. I wasn't gonna do it, but I chose to. I did exactly as you told me. Warn him off for me, you said".

"But you should have known not to say it was me warning him". Ray could see in Lee's face he was getting more irate.

"That copper was fucking right, you are an absolute idiot." He tapped the side of Ray's head.

"D'you expect me to read your fucking mind? I delivered your message. That's it, and d'you know what..I was gonna just do that for free, but not now. In fact I'm gonna do you another favour. Fuck knows you don't deserve it, but I'll get you back in Carol's good books, and d'you how? I'm gonna make you do it, because you know that other bird, whatshername? Sandie. One of Caroline's mates. Get me her phone number, and don't you dare come back without it". He pushed him towards the door. His mobile phone clattered to the floor and Lee kicked it. It broke against the wall.

"Go on fuck-off," he said "Get that number".

"Oh come on Lee!" Ray shouted.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"I'm never gonna get her number, Lee..!"

"Out!" Ray slinked out, and Lee waited for him to leave the building before bursting into laughter. Victor and Shane laughed along also, but there was no humour behind their smiles.

"Did you see him? Shithisfuckingself. I know he's not gonna get Sandie's number. That's impossible. I'm just fucking with him. Let's see if he does come back tonight". He pointed to the hi-fi.

"Get those tunes back on". He went back to counting his money.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 11

 

Like a slowly deflating balloon, Ray's anger dissipated, and he walked through the town in a kind of daze, ending up sat on a bench in the park where the funfair had since moved on.

The sky was a Paynes Grey, and around the park was street-lighting that looked like it had been there since it was formed. He was bathed in orange as one street-light was only feet away.

What am I going to do now? he thought. No way am I getting Sandie's number, and Caroline isn't going to speak to me. He took his keys from his pocket and fingered the key to the house. His and Caroline's place, but it was basically hers. There were a few things of Rays there, but he accepted that, knowing he could return anytime he liked and sleep in the spare room or on the sofa.

Not tonight though. He felt homeless. Maybe Caroline would change the locks. If so there would be nothing I could do, he thought, having no money on him at all. Everything was back at the flat, including his coat. All he wore now was a thin jumper and jeans with well-worn trainers. Maybe find a hostel. Do you have to be registered homeless for that? he wondered, and would it be full? His mind had conjured up Lee practically shooting him if he set foot back in the flat without the number, and Caroline to stab him if he set foot in the house. He knew Caroline would never actually stab him, but as for being shot by Lee. There was a question mark over that.

He knew he would have to go back to one or the other tonight. Face the hostile bear, or the hostile tiger, or freeze in a shop doorway, but in the end, he could freeze sleeping out at night on a park bench and still at some point go back to both. He would have to face Caroline's music sooner or later.

He decided sooner and slowly got up, making his way along the outer pathway of the park and was soon passing by a pond. Orange light filtered out into the darkness, and he could just see on the edge a fisherman with a shelter umbrella, surrounded by paraphernalia. The man looked at Ray as he passed. He stood up and shouted across to him.

"I can't catch anything with this rod," he said, throwing it aside. Ray just stopped and stared. He could think of no reply at that moment, but the man, who he couldn't properly make out looked to probably be sixty-plus. Even from here, he 'looked' like a fisherman. He even wore a canvas hat.

"So I'm just gonna have to do it myself," he said, then leapt into the water. It was only three feet deep and he waded further out into the darkness where Ray couldn't see him, but seconds later he returned, arms above the water.

"I caught two fish," he said. "I caught two fish". Ray could only stare at him as he held forth the fish in each hand, then put them beneath water and released them.

He waded back to the edge and clambered out, back on his folding footstool and looked confused, even from this distance. He slumped forward clutching his head as if he had a headache.

Ray still did not know what to do, or say, so simply turned and continued along the path, exiting the park at the nearest entrance.

Pisces, he thought. Pisces...Pisces...Pisces. It's nothing to do with horoscopes, he thought. It was nothing but coincidence. A coincidence even about what?

He made his way into the town-centre, and was slowly but surely making his way towards Caroline's, rather like a school-boy who has been told to go to the head-master's office and has to make his way along the corridors until he reaches the door. Maybe he walks slowly. Maybe he takes the long way round. Does he stop to check on things he finds suddenly fascinating? yet the knowledge was there. Confrontation had to happen, but the stress of what had happened, and the stress of what was to come made him wander through the streets like a lost soul. Like somebody who had just lost a lot of money on a bet, or who was spending his first night homeless.

On a main road, he found an empty bus-stop and sat for a while. Pubs were open and people and traffic milled around as a normal night, no-one paying him any attention.

Except that was for twins. Over on the other side of the road, teenage boys wearing similar clothes and sporting similar hairstyles were looking over, pointing and muttering at each other. They waited for traffic to pass then came jogging over to the bus-stop. They can't have been more than fourteen.

"Aww, look at him," said one. "Not the brightest bulb in the pack”.

"What? who on earth are...?" said Ray, but he felt too lethargic to protest. His stress had sapped his energy.

"Only a mother could love him".

"Nah, if she'd known what he would become she would have aborted him. His parents are secretly ashamed".

"I've got no...money on me". They didn't seem to hear him.

"Even his sisters are embarrassed for him". One of them stepped forward and leaned down, his face inches from Ray's.

"You have no respect do you for your ruling planet?". He then slapped Ray hard across the face.

"No respect whatsoever," said the other twin, and slapped him hard across the other side of his face. Ray was shocked but the twins laughed and backed away.

"Mercury deserves respect," one said, then they both ran, leaving Ray wide-eyed and breathing heavily. He thought he had to get to Caroline's now, and fell to the floor as he tried to get up, but he staggered onwards, through the streets, and twenty minutes later, he was slowly walking up the pathway to the front door.

Chapter 12

 

The house was dark. Perhaps she's in bed, he thought, so he used his key to enter and tried to close it quietly behind him. Except it wasn't quiet, certainly when the door locked, sending a shot throughout the house.

Soon the landing light came on and a voice said: "Who's that?" She would probably have guessed it was Ray, but he wasn't the only one with a key. Their parents and a few neighbours had spares.

"Ray!" she said, storming down the stairs in her bath-robe, slapping on the hall light. "Get out. Didn't you get my text? You're not welcome..."

"Look I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it".

"Yes you did. Yes you did," fury on her face, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You sent your nut-job mate to threaten my Wayne".

"Well, I only asked him to have a quiet word, not to threaten him as such".

"You wanted him to tell Wayne to leave me, so I could find somebody better".

"Ye I just thought you could find someone else who wasn't a..." he hesitated.

"...and you know Wayne do you? You've met him once and that was enough to judge him was it? Get out Ray. It'll be a while before I even think about forgiving you, maybe after the wedding".

"I can't, Lee'll kill me".

"There you go, and you're friends with that psycho".

"He's not a...look he won't let me go back without Sandie's phone number".

"Sandie! he wants her number? There's no way on this planet I'm giving you, Lee, or your other thick-head mates her number. She's a good friend to me. I couldn't do that to her, and she's got a boyfriend who she's very happy with".

"...but Lee'll kill me if I don't go back with it".

"Tough, it's only what you deserve". Ray was trembling. He nodded, knowing he wasn't getting it.

"Enjoy your night sleeping in the gutter".

"Please..I'm sorry. I just thought you could do better than Wayne".

"There's only one way. One," she emphasised it with her index finger, "...way you might, just might get the couch tonight and that's