The First Story

Rehab, A Cheque and A Butler

As the sun fell into the ground, the sky bled pink and orange clouds.

Shadows of all forms which were highlighted by the dying light, splashed across the black tar roads and red rooftops.

It was their last goodbye before they would rise once more to face a new Sun.

The school bell had sung for the last time that day.

"Sooo, will you be joining me again for my piano lessons with Ms Lemoine? And maybe watch me fail miserably again?", joked Jade Morvan as she gave Aaron a friendly goodbye hug outside of the black school gates.

Aaron frowned and moved away from her,

"No. I don't think - I don't think that I can make it today. You know, gotta take care of papers and...Uh - Business stuff. "

Jade was taken aback by his response,

"Don't be silly, we both know that you leave that side of work for Dorian. What's really wrong? Is there something bothering you...?"

Aaron had almost never said, "no" to her before.

She had known Aaron for a long time and just from hearing his voice, she knew that something was definitely wrong.

Aaron shook his head in despondency,

"Why must you be so intuitive?

I couldn't have asked for a better friend. I hate you so much that I love you."

"Duh, it's my job.

You know that whatever it is, I'll help you punch it right in the face right?", Jade hilariously fought the air trying to cheer up Aaron.

"Ha... Yeah....", Aaron mustered a dull laugh.

He proceeded to look down at the buttons on his black blazer to avoid eye contact,

"It's just - just my parents. They're back at the care unit...again."

There was a brief moment of silence which seperated the two.

"Oh...", Jade's voice fell flat.

She spoke softly,

"Well how many months was it this time?"

"Alot better than before actually, it was a full 3 months. But I just don't know... I don't know what would possibly make them go back after such a long time.", Aaron shook his head at the ground.

Aaron often liked to show that he always had an answer and was never brought down by anything. So to see him like this was very rare, even for Jade.

He took in a deep breath to bury a bottle of tears which wanted to find the surface.

"I thought - I thought, that things were really changing. I was even about to ask them to move back...", Aaron spoke with a thousand knives stabbing into his heart.

"Shh - it's okay...", Jade moved closer to Aaron and hugged him.

A small red Peugeot hatchback drove past the Dinky Donut Bakery and parked on the side of the road, just next to where Jade and Aaron were standing.

Jade turned around to see that it was her dad who was here to pick her up from school.

She looked back at Aaron with sympathetic eyes, and touched his shoulder,

"They just need some time. It'll be okay. I'm here for you."

Her gaze never left Aaron.

"Yeah... I know. Thank you.", Aaron gave Jade a reassuring smile.

He had faked his smile, because he knew that she would be worried all night, if he had not given her a sign that he was alright.

Jade walked over to the red Peugeot and opened the passenger side door.

Her brown hair now shimmered with a golden-like aura under the setting Sun.

"And since I won't see you later, you better call me.", said Jade as she got into the passenger seat of the red Peugeot.

"Don't worry, I will.", Aaron called back, whilst waving goodbye to her and her dad.

Aaron watched as the car vanished into the distance.

As soon as it was gone, it was his turn to head home.

Normally his butler, Mr Dorian Blanchard would have picked him up.

But, today Aaron felt like enjoying a slow walk through the sunset.

It would allow some time for those quiet thoughts.

Those thoughts which you know are there but you choose to ignore.

And when ignored for too long, they grow to be tall pillars of doubt and burden.

On his way home, Aaron had passed a small cream colored house. It had a withering blue roof as well as drain pipes which were falling from the rooftop.

The small garden that was dug next to a wooden dog kennel, yielded nothing but dirt.

Rust and filth covered the small vehicle which was parked under a green shade cloth. It was like a make-shift garage.

As Aaron passed the small front gate he noticed that there was a mess of papers spilling out of the mailbox. Some were even on the ground. Aaron did not want to invade their privacy, but the ones on the ground were clearly legible. It appeared to be house mortgage documents and medical bills.

Aaron always found it curious how hospital bills are so unfair to the poor. Why should money dictate whether you can live or not? Should there even be a price on buying time that is not even mine or yours? But it is a conflicting argument, because at the end of the day everyone is trying to make money just to survive a few extra years or even days.

As Aaron continued to look around, he noticed that the house seemed to have an informal tuck shop. There was a wooden shack near the front gate with a sign board which said,

"Sweets, Treats and Sweet Treats SOLD HERE".

Despite all of this, there was something else even more peculiar which had caught Aaron's eye.

It was a little girl in a pink dress. She had to be at least four or five years old.

Aaron had passed this house many times before, but he had never seen anyone else in it.

Aaron paused next to a street light on the side of the road to observe the girl.

Even with the house seemingly falling apart, the little girl was still smiling and playing happily with a blue ball in the front yard.

She laughed and chased after the ball without a care in the world.

From the perspective of a person who was about to finish school in a few months, it was quite a sight to see a small child playing happily and so free.

The girl saw Aaron watching her. She stopped and looked at him. There was a silent period of understanding between the two of them.

The little girl proceeded to throw the ball over the decomposing picket fence.

The ball wasn't thrown with enough force, so it just barely made it over the fence. It started to roll towards Aaron.

He bent over and picked it off the sidewalk.

The girl watched intently, as if expecting Aaron to do something magical with her ball.

Aaron knew this, so he picked up two small stones from the sidewalk.

He stepped forward and got closer to the picket fence.

There, Aaron began to juggle the ball with the two stones.

"Ohh.", the girl gasped as if she was witnessing something special.

"EEEEeeekkkk!"

The old front door of the house squeaked open.

Aaron stopped juggling as he noticed a pale middle-aged woman walking out of the door and towards them. She was wearing a turquoise nightgown as well as fluffy warm shoes. The woman appeared to be sick. This was evident from her frequent coughing and sniffing.

"Mommy!", the girl cried out in excitement.

"I'm sorry, is Nancy over her giving you trouble?", the woman spoke with a gruff voice.

"Oh no, not at all mam. She just threw her ball over the fence so I was just helping her to get it back.", Aaron reached over the picket fence and gave the ball back to Nancy.

"Say thank you Nancy.", the woman coughed.

The girl grew a broad smile and said, "Djank euww mistir."

The woman was about to take Nancy back inside, but Aaron stopped them.

"Excuse me mam, are you the owner of this fine tuckshop?"

The woman was surprised by the question as hardly anyone had ever taken an interest in their tuckshop before. She replied, " Well...Yes I am."

"That's great. The real reason that I actually came here is because of my grandfather, he had asked me to give you something."

The woman coughed,

"Your grandfather? I'm sorry don't think I know your grandfather. I don't think I owe him any money."

Aaron smiled reaching into his blazer pocket and pulling out what appeared to be a piece of paper.

"Yes you do not know him, but he knows you. He actually owes you. He told me of a story when he once passed your tuckshop..."

The woman listened curiously as Aaron began to write something on the paper.

"You see he is a private investor and would like to invest in this business.", Aaron held the paper over the fence.

"Wh-what...", the woman was caught by surprise.

She walked past the fence and unlocked the small front gate.

Aaron walked closer to her and placed the paper in her cold hands.

She shook as she read it.

"This says that it's a ch-cheque...For two-hundred thousand euros..."

The woman shivered, "Is th-this a joke."

Aaron could see her eyes beginning to swell with tears.

"No mam, I assure you that this is all yours."

He took out a card from his pants pocket and handed it to the woman.

"Give a call to my grandfather's agents, if you have any questions."

The woman hugged Aaron with tears of joy falling from her eyes.

Then, without saying a word, she ran back into the house with excitement.

Aaron continued indifferently as he walked home.

It was not something new to him. He had often given people large amounts of money before.

He was just happy that he was able to help someone.

Aaron strolled down the road for a short while more, until he reached a downhill slope.

At the very bottom of it, stood Aaron's house.

However, the word "house" is injustice to the tower which was Aaron's mansion.

Even from the top of the hill, two distinct dead trees and a chimney top could be seen.

Just don't let Aaron hear me calling it "his" mansion, he doesn't like anyone calling it his or his parents.

From the mammoth of a black spiraling front gate to the paving of the driveway, and every brick of every wall etched into history, Aaron credits everything to his deceased grandfather.

Yes the same grandfather who he just lied had been an investor for that woman's tuck shop.

You see Aaron's grandfather, Mr Nilus Williams was quite a successful archeologist. Nilus became very wealthy from his many discoveries and invaluable research into the past, especially ancient Egypt.

Living a successful and prosperous life, he had passed on at the age of 87. This was just 3 years after his wife had been murdered.

Nilus then bequeathed all of his fortunes unto his only grandchild Aaron Williams.

Aaron was already living with his grandfather at the time, because his parents were d**g addicts and deemed unfit to care for a child. (Yes I know that you were confused about what Aaron was talking to Jade about... If you haven't guessed by now, it was about his parent's current relapse.)

They were both often in and out of rehab, or on the streets running from the police.

They put the addiction in front of affection for Aaron.

They were never there to feed him, play with him, hold his hand through broken bridges or to kiss him goodnight reassuring the boy that tomorrow would be good.

In his younger years, Aaron found himself having to move from house to house with many different relatives or friends having to take care of him. He felt like a burden and an outcast.

However through all of this chaos, at the age of 12, Aaron's grandfather took care of him and raised him for most of his teenage life.

You can imagine that a young mind would ask, "Why doesn't mum and dad love me? Or why aren't they here with me?"

It is just sad that time can heal, but time can never revive the wasted seconds which are now dead. 

With Mr Nilus Williams now deceased, Mr Dorian Blanchard (Mr Nilus's once butler) has been taking care of Aaron.

Aaron pressed a button on the intercom outside of the mammoth - like front gate.

The black wheels screeched as they started to turn and heave open the heavy spiraling gate.

It moved rather slowly, and stopped rather suddenly.

The gate ceased to move with a loud metal clang, as it was now fully open.

Aaron walked through the gap and entered into what seemed to be a maze of hedges. The green leaves rose and fell into many pathways around the mansion.

However, it was no maze at all, it was just a really large paved pathway leading to the mansion.

Even from below the hedges, you could still see the massive black roof's tiling as well as the windows of the highest floors.

The bricks of the mansion were actually no bricks at all. They were actually grey stones, like the ones which you would usually find on a castle.

Aaron made it past the hedges and onto the gravel-stone paved driveway.

A rather strange water feature stood in the middle of the driveway. It was a bronze statue of a person with a spear stabbing the body of a shark while water escaped out of the shark's gaping mouth.

Now if you look just ahead of the statue you will see Aaron standing in front of a bus sized wooden door. It's handles seemed to be tailored into the shapes of golden crows. Aaron placed his hand onto one of the crow - like handles and twisted it. A sound of cogs turning into each other could be heard quite easily.

He pushed the heavy door open and revealed a massive entryway.

The entryway had a large arched ceiling, probably tall enough to fit a giraffe in it.

Glass display cases of all sizes stood on either side of the room. Some were locked with an ordinary key and lock (one which you would see on your door) and others were sealed with a golden lock which for some reason had no key hole.

The display cases themselves contained various trinkets and artifacts, obviously coming from Mr Nilus's findings as an archeologist.

They appeared to be untouched.

Further down, the entryway had abruptly opened into a complete colosseum. A large glimmering chandelier with burning candles stood in the middle of the rounded ceiling as a library of shelves and displays of all kinds surrounded the walls. From stone-age tools and detached early neanderthal skulls to hieroglyphics and pieces of dated stones, almost every piece of history was recorded here.

Even pieces of ancient art and books, found their place between the stone walls of this colosseum.

There was so much knowledge concealed within this one room that Wikipedia might as well have started with Mr Nilus. Not to mention that this isn't even half of the mansion.

"Master Williams.", a tall and old man in a tuxedo greeted Aaron.

His voice echoed through the room as he came into Aaron's view.

It was Aaron's butler, Mr Dorian Blanchard or "guardian" as the school would call it.

"I see that you have started funding tuck-shops...", Dorian raised one of his silver eyebrows.

"How did you know?"

Dorian puffed his chest in a proud manner and said,

"Apparently I'm your deceased grandfather's investment agency."

Aaron started to take off his blazer,

"Well if you were me, you would have done it too... Because, I had to do it...You know she had a young child Dorian."

Aaron handed his blazer to Dorian who folded it neatly

Aaron was now walking up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Then luckily I'm not you, or we would both be bankrupt.", said a smug Dorian as he followed Aaron up the stairs.

The stairs went spiraling upwards to form a massive tornado of staircases. Both red and purple carpets covered the footpath of the steps.

"But you can't just keep giving money like this. I am not sure if your grandfather would be proud or distraught.", Dorian scolded Aaron.

Aaron shrugged off Dorian's remarks,

"I'm 18 now, you can't follow me forever you know. And I'm sure that my grandfather is smiling. Besides what good are lonely riches that sit behind a vault?"

"Hhhhuhhm...", Dorian let out a dreadful gasp.

"Now tell me...", Aaron paused at the top of the stairway with a serious look on his face.

The top of the stairway looked much like a hotel room hallway. There were many doors leading to different rooms on either side. And occasionally you would see small varnished drawers with flower pots on top of them.

Paintings as well as candle sticks in bronze holders were nailed to the grey coated walls. The floor was left bare with only varnished wooden planks making up the ground.

Dorian looked mournfully at Aaron,

"Ah, yes. I am sorry to inform you of such news Master Williams. But the rehab centre says that your parents have made almost... No progress at all. They say that they have never seen such a terrible relapse before."

"Dorian, I just don't understand....", Aaron shook his head in doubt.

Dorian placed his hand on Aaron's shoulder,

"Sometimes it is better not to understand. You see Master Williams, it is not always the ghost in a ghost story which is scary, it is sometimes the story in the ghost which is worse."

Aaron turned to a large portrait which was hanging from the wall behind him. The portrait was lined with gold and silver plating around the edges.

There were two men who stood side by side in the portrait.

They appeared to be in a dessert.

The man on the left stood with a stern posture and seemed unwavered amidst the heat of the land which surrounded them. He wore a very serious face, whilst the man on the right, smiled from ear to ear while posing with a shovel stuck in the dirt 

The man on the left was Aaron's grandfather.

Dorian studied the portrait with Aaron,

"Ah I remember that day."

"Your grandfather dragged me all the way to the Sahara dessert to try and find the lost city of Atlantis."

Aaron's face lit up,

"You'll what? You guys tried to find Atlantis? He never told me that story."

"Did you'll succeed? You know many think that it's a magical and mythical place, but ofcourse it's not magic. It's just science. Magic...is just the science that we can not understand.", Aaron explained with a passion in his voice.

"Oh Master Williams, you're so much like Master Nilus.", Mr Dorian chuckled.

"There is nothing wrong with believing in what you do not understand. Imagine dragons flying through the sky, you should really learn to adopt a child's mind more often."

Aaron looked at the ground feeling a bit more of an impact from Mr Dorian's words then he should have.

It wasn't everything that he had said, it was just his last words referring to a "child's mind". Aaron knew that it wasn't intentional, but he couldn't help but feel depressed at the fact that he was almost an adult now and he couldn't remember one moment in his childhood where he pretended to fight dragons or have superpowers.

"Say Master Williams, why don't you come and sit with me and I shall tell you all about our adventure in the Sahara desert. That will surely make you feel better." Dorian gave Aaron a warm smile.

"I think I would like that.”