A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

I'll be back later I promise', and with that she shot off out of the front door slamming it behind her as she went.

'Wha...who...what the heck is going on here?' said Daniel as he stood there in a state of shock at what had just gone on.

Bucksy appeared in the kitchen doorway and walked over to Daniel as if he was comforting him,

'I'm so confused Bucks..' He said as his dog nuzzled his nose into his owner's hand.

'Come on boy, I'm going up to bed to lie down, you coming??' Daniel said as he led his dog upstairs to his bedroom and shut the door behind him, still trying to figure out what his mum was talking about.

He lay down on the bed and Bucksy jumped up and curled up at the bottom as he usually did and the pair both drifted off to sleep.

Later on as the day was passing by, Daniel was still sleeping with Bucksy lying upside down again, snoring his head off, when all of a sudden he was awoken by someone speaking to him in his dream, the figure was hazy at best but it felt so real that he was there, It seemed they were telling him something but he couldn't make out what it was,

'It's time…..'.

Daniel sat bolt upright in bed, his mind working overtime trying to figure out what had just happened when his attention was taken away from that to Bucksy, who was still sleeping a little too close to the edge of the bed, stretched and slid straight off the bed and hit the floor with a ‘THUMP’.

He looked up at Daniel who was just staring at him and yawned, stretched then jumped back onto the bed again straight up to Daniel as if to say ‘What's the matter?’,

'That's new!!!...'Said Daniel as he tried to recall the conversation he was having,

'I swear it was the same guy I saw before, this is getting weird',

He looked at the clock and saw that it was close to tea and as he went to get up his door opened and as his eyes accustomed to the light he saw someone standing there,

'Mum??' Daniel asked,

'Not even close freak show…' It was Lillie standing there,

'So tell me why you are home early again for the hundredth time this week' She asked as Daniel just looked blankly at her,

'So what's this I hear about you skipping school then?? It's the talk of the English block as you were seen making a run for it followed by that half-witted friend of yours struggling to keep up, It's not like we didn't see you and that oddball friend of yours running out of the front door, It's not like you were quiet or anything, everyone heard Harvey squealing when the door hit his head,', laughed Lillie

'Oohh right' replied Daniel as he wasn't really paying attention to his sister,

'Plus we all saw you run off towards the gates and saw Twitcher near where you were, then we watched as he took those two other boy's back to the school, I was hoping it was you two but no such luck!' Lillie carried on as her brother just sat staring into space.

'So where’s mum?, Is she back yet?' asked Daniel inquisitively,

'No she's not and I don't really blame her for not being here after what you got up to today!!',

'What do you mean??' he replied to Lillie,

'Don't act all innocent with me, don't you realise what she is going through at the minute??, and with what you have been doing lately sure as hell isn't helping her, you're probably the last person she wants to speak to anyway!!' She angrily replied as her brother hung his head down,

'I want to say sorry to her, that's all!!' He muttered to Lillie as he got off the bed and got some clothes out of his cupboard,

'Well I'm sure she will love you're pointless apology, until the next time you mess up' Lillie shouted at her brother from the safety of the door so she could step back if he threw anything at her,

'Get lost Lillie, I can't be bothered to speak to you now!!, just let me know when mum's back' said Daniel as he walked towards his door, pushed his sister out and shut it behind him so he could get changed.

Daniel eventually came out of his room about an hour later after being too engrossed in his latest comic book, he wandered across the landing, Lillie was screeching away to a song in her room made by the latest boy band she was into, he covered his ears and made his way down the stairs half expecting his mum to be sitting at the table in the kitchen waiting for him but there was no sign of her,

'Mum??, mum are you here??' Daniel called out but didn't get a reply, he searched the rest of the downstairs rooms but still no sign of his mum,

'That's odd..' He remarked,

'It's almost six o’clock and she's still not home, Bit odd for her not to be here'.

All of a sudden he was greeted by his sister who had rushed down as she was now getting hungry seeing as it was tea time,

'Where’s mum?' Lillie asked,

'Don't know...haven't seen her since I got back earlier' Daniel replied still searching the room for any sign of their mum, like maybe she might jump out of a cupboard to surprise them.

'It's not like her not to be here..I bet this has something to do with you and your issues at school' Lillie’s response grew angrier the more she replied,

'What do you mean by that!!, You can't blame me for her not being here, maybe she's at a friend's or something' Daniel started to worry slightly at what his sister was saying to him,

'Well you're the one who has skipped most of the school year so far, it's always you getting in trouble and it's always mum having to deal with it, just look at that time you broke that massive window in the school hall with that baseball ball, who had to pay for it??..Mum did that's who, and did she tell you she had sorted it?' said an even angrier sounding Lillie as Daniel just stood there looking straight through his sister,

'Well...no…but it wasn't my fault as I told mum at the time!!' Daniel replied trying to plead his case,

'What do you mean not your fault!!, you were the only one there, you were the one holding the bat, who else is to blame if it wasn't you!!,' Lillie continued,

'Well I hope you're happy with what you are doing to mum, can't you see she's struggling lately and this isn't what she needs right now, no wonder she's not home, I can't really blame her can you!!'

Daniel looked sheepishly at his sister who was telling him off just like an adult would,

'I promise I'll sort this with mum when I see her, I'll do my best to do things differently',

'I really hope you do Daniel as mum needs us by the sounds of it, she doesn't need more stress put on her so sort yourself out rather quickly or else you will have me to deal with first!!' Lillie said pointing her finger in her brother's direction,

'Whatever…' Daniel replied as he walked off into the kitchen now on the hunt for food as his stomach was talking to him rather loudly,

'Shhhh you'll wake the dog up!!' Daniel jokingly said to his stomach as he searched the cupboards for something easy to make for tea, then he spotted something,

'Ah-ha!!...' He said as he reached into the back of the cupboard to pull out a tin of hot dogs, they were rather dusty but still in date.

'These will do, now where's the pans??' and with that he opened the small cupboard next to the sink and grabbed the pan out, Daniel did enjoy making food at home as his mum had taught him to cook certain easy foods so he never went hungry, it was kind of like survival training for him he thought, He left the hot dog sausages to cook and got the buns ready for himself and his sister,

'Right...buns, check, sauce...check, hotdogs...hot...check' Daniel went through his checklist of things to do, he went to the bottom of the stairs and shouted for his sister,

'LILLIE….I've done food for us, it's ready to eat…'

The bedroom door swung open and Lillie sprang down the stairs like a deer sneering at her brother as she reached the bottom,

'I've eaten already, don't want you to poison me with whatever it is you're burning, I'm off out to Sammy's house for a bit, I told mum this morning so she's cool with it, See you later short stuff!!'.

'Oh right!!! Cheers for telling me' Daniel looked annoyed with his sister as she floated past him and swung the door open,

'Bye...don't wait up!!' she laughed as the door shut behind her and off she skipped up the path.

'Oh more for me then!!' Daniel smiled as he realised he could tuck in to all the food, then all of a sudden Bucksy appeared as if he heard something just as Daniel was making his was towards the kitchen to start on his ‘feast’.

Bucksy started barking and wagging his tail in anticipation as the noise grew closer and closer,

'THUMP THUMP THUMP', went the noise at the door which sent the dog into a barking frenzy, Daniel turned round and went to answer the door, having to drag his dog out of the was first,

'Get out of the way dog!!, if you let me answer it I'll be able to see who it is, It's probably Lillie anyway!!'

He opened the door still trying to push Bucksy back,

'Forget something did w…..' Daniel said as he turned towards the open door,

'Hello mate….' Harvey mumbled,

Daniel was greeted by the chocolate covered face of his best friend who seemed to have been let out after the events of earlier,

'Oh it's you…' he muttered

'Thought it was Lillie coming back'

'Nope I've just seen her skip off down the road, she didn't even say ‘Hi’ when she went past, totally ignorant your sister!!' Harvey said as he barged his way past his friend only to be pounced on by Bucksy,

'Ahhhh get off me!!!...' He screamed as the dog leapt onto Harvey and started licking at his face hoping to taste the chocolate that had covered his face,

'Bucks...DOWN!!' Daniel ordered as his dog relented and sulked off back into the front room and into his bed,

'Thanks mate, not ready for ‘Death By Licking’ yet!!' Laughed Harvey as the boys made their way into the kitchen,

'OOOH what's cooking??, something smells gooood' sniffed Harvey as he felt his stomach talking to him again,

'Just doing a bit of food for tea as I'm starving, well it was for Lillie too but she's gone out' Daniel said as he turned off the stove and put the hot dogs in the buns ready to eat,

'I guess you want some?' Daniel said as Harvey, plate in hand already, was helping himself to three hot dogs and buns,

'No please help yourself' Laughed Daniel as he managed to pull the plate away from Harvey before they all disappeared,

'So where is your mum?? Isn't she normally here at this time?' Asked Harvey as he stuffed a hotdog bun into his gaping mouth,

'Don't know Harv….But Lillie thinks it's to do with today and stuff, saying it's my fault she isn't here as she's been upset lately,' Daniel replied as he looked at his basic tea portion and huffed,

'Oohh I see..' Harvey wasn't really paying any attention as he filled his mouth with another bun like he hadn't eaten for a week,

'So where is your mum?' Harvey asked again,

'Weren't you listening to me???...I just told you what happened!!, typical of you, always thinking with your stomach, stop shoving those hot dogs in you plank!!' Daniel growled as Harvey wasn't really paying attention to what he was telling him,

'Sorry mate I'm just peckish that's all, Not