Acid Rain by R.D Rhodes (ebook reader txt) 📕

“Okay.” Harry whispered.

He rose to his knees and climbed over the fence and ran to the washing line, tagging the jumpers and trousers and pants and socks we had picked out. He passed the bundle over the fence into my arms and we turned and made our way back through the forest. We got well out of reach from the house, until we came upon a clearance where the stumps of trees jutted up from the ground. The moon beamed a light down on us and we sorted our clothes and put them on. Harry had a football shirt, a new-looking blue jumper, a pair of jeans, and most importantly- a black scarf to hide his neck. He’d got lucky; the scarf wrapped snugly, covering every bit of mangled skin.

I kept my original jeans on, the ones I had picked were too small. But to cover the tear below my ass I put a pair of black jammy bottoms on underneath. Anyone we came across could probably see the jammies through the rips, but it would have to do. A dry grey hoody replaced my wet one. I pulled it down as far as I could, but it wasn’t great for a tall person and only came down to my hips. I pulled the hood up, at least it would cover my hair. The cat-pictured socks must have belonged to a kid and made me feel even more guilty. But the family wouldn’t miss a few items, I hoped not anyway.

We clawed out a hole in the ground and threw in our old clothes, then tossed the mud back over and carried on our way. The plan was to get to the first town we came to and catch a bus or a train as far north as we could. We didn’t have any money on us, but Harry kept saying he knew a way. He said Exeter wasn’t far, about twelve miles he supposed, and if we kept at a good pace we might reach there by morning.

Under the night's cover, we felt confident enough to follow the country road, and when the headlights flashed in the distance coming our way, we simply jumped aside and crouched behind a tree or hid in a ditch. Most of the time the cars were going too fast anyway, and as we looked out from our side position the driver’s eyes were all fixed on the road ahead, totally oblivious to us.

The night was long and we walked all night. Both of us were hungry and both of us were tired. The silence was only broken by our footsteps and by the occasional passing bird or tweet-ta-woo of an owl. It was peaceful, everything was so still, and although it wasn’t in the best of circumstances, I cherished that fresh cold country air and the solitude and freedom I had craved. How did people handle years in that hospital? I didn’t know.

Then ahead we spotted a sign for Exeter. 20 miles.

“Ah shit. I’m sorry, man. I thought it was a lot less than that.”

“It’s alright.” I said. “Walk till morning then see if we can get somewhere to sleep?”

“Yeah, alright. Shit, I can’t believe that. Sorry.”

We walked on past the sign for Exeter.  I blew out and watched my breath hang in the air.

“You got any brothers or sisters?” Harry asked.

“Nah, I’m an.. I was- an only child. You?”

“Two stepbrothers…I guess you didn’t have such a great family either.”

I didn’t know if it was a statement or a question. I didn’t say anything.

“You got many interests?” he followed up. “What kind of stuff do you like to do?”

“I like tennis.” I said. “And music, and reading, and, just being in nature.”

“Reading is my favourite thing in the world. It’s kept me alive up to now. What writers do you like?”

“Well, I haven’t read that many. I love Thoreau-

“Thoreau! Not many people know him! Oh God, that guy was a genius. Wow, I’m impressed.”

“I know, he’s great,” I said, “Who else do you like?”

“Lots. Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Pushkin, Lermontov. And Salinger. And Plath. And Bukowski and Hemingway. Reading Old Man and the Sea for the first time, wow, that blew my mind! Ah, but there’s too many.”

We chatted away for hours on various things as we trudged along that road. An owl hooted, and I spotted it perched above us on a branch.

“Harry?” I said.

“Hm-hm?”

“You seem so calm, and…” I couldn’t think of another word or expression in that moment but “..down to earth.” “How did you manage to end up in a place like that?”

“You know why. Because it’s crazy to want to kill yourself. Why, what did you expect anyway?” he smiled. “Mental illness is a diverse thing, just like every person is, and there’s a lot more people with issues out on the street than there are in there.”

“Yeah, I know.” I said, “I just can’t believe you spent a year in there.”

“Year and a half.”

I scratched an itch at the back of head. “You think, that if she did die jumping from there-and she might not have done, it was only two floors-but if she did, do you think that thing, that ghost I seen, had anything to do with her?”

“Well, you’re not the first person in there to have claimed to have seen something.”

I stopped walking. “But I did see it. I swear to God I did. There was no way scientifically possible for a ball of…light… to just float along like that. Gravity wouldn’t say so, physics wouldn’t say so. I promise you, I swear on my soul that I seen it. I didn’t hallucinate. And I’m sure it was a ghost, or a soul or whatever you want to call it.”

“Hey, hey, I didn’t say I didn’t believe you. Just that you aren’t the