Dark Silence

27 days (3)

Darnell instantly regretted his decision, but he wouldn’t return to the building and accept that Miss Carrington was right even under the penalty of death. The heavy rain drumming on the road covered the man from all sides with its cold, sinking into his clothes. The t-shirt stuck to his body, the hair gathered into wet strands. Water was pouring down the forehead and into the eyes, and Darnell could hardly see the way to his car. He unlocked the car and shoved Madeleine inside it. The girl tossed on the back seat like an angry bug trying to free herself from the wet coat. The man slammed the door, ran around the car, and plopped down on his seat. The streams of water were running from the hair, and Darnell wiped it from the face. A real puddle appeared under his feet, and he thought that he’ll have to dry the interior for quite a long time. The man heard the snort from the back seat and turned around.

“You didn’t get wet, did you?” he asked Madeleine. She pushed the wet coat away, crinkled her nose at it, and waved her head. “Just as I said,” commented Darnell jauntily and started the car. “It’s time to get the hell out of here.”

Volvo slowly left the borders of the orphanage. The windscreen wipers couldn’t cope with the flows of water running down the glass, and Darnell could hardly see the road. The headlight didn’t help at all, and the man could distinguish the oncoming vehicles only due to the same lights turned on in despair. Darnell drove a few blocks away from the orphanage and parked the car. He sat back on his seat, hypnotizing the river running down his car.

“I’m not gonna drive in such weather,” he pronounced. “I might not make it anywhere in such a downpour. Let’s wait for a while till it brightens up a little. And for now, you may tell… write me what has happened in your room,” he turned to Madeleine and she turned away from him shyly. “You promised me,” he frowned, and the girl nodded, taking out her tablet.

Darnell decided to give her some time, so he sat back, feeling the unpleasant wet seat under him. He poked his hand into the pocket and found out with disappointment that his cigarettes were completely destroyed by water. He carefully took out the soaked pack, opened the door, and threw it on the road. Wet hair stuck to the face annoyingly, and the man brushed it back with his fingers in an irritated manner.

“Hope it won’t bother me at least for a while,” he grumbled looking at himself in the mirror. Madeleine offered him something from the back seat.

“What is it? Did you finish typing?” he asked turning around. The girl was holding a yellow hair tie that looked like a twisted cord of the old phone. “And what do I need it for?” Darnell got surprised. Madeleine waved her hand, insisting on her offer. “But it is yellow.”

The girl snorted irritably, stubbornly poking the man with the twistie.

“Oh dammit, fine, fine!” Darnell got angry and snatched away the thing from the girl’s hand. He pulled his hair down on the back of the head and turned to Madeleine. “Here, I’ve gathered hair with the child hair tie into a female ponytail. Happy?”

The girl nodded and waved her hand as if saying “You may go now.” She returned to typing the text on her tablet, and Darnell sighed, turning to the mirror. With his hair gathered he looked unusual to himself, but he never had the energy, time, and actually the will to visit a hair salon.

Darnell turned on the heater and closed his eyes, relaxing. The rain was pattering loudly on the roof, and the man felt himself pacifically listening to this sound. Somewhere at the distance, the church bell rang, notifying people either of the beginning or the ending of the service. Darnell smirked: no matter what people kept on persistently visiting this institution. Even knowing that demons walk among them, not falling under the beliefs of the Bible. And understanding that there is no Heaven and Hell waiting for them.

Darnell’s slow reflections were interrupted by two loud claps from the back seat. The man jerked, bracing himself up. Looked like he managed to fall into a quick sleep, getting drowsy because of the heater.

“You’re killing me,” Darnell rolled his eyes up, turning to the girl. “Am I a clap switch to you or what?”

Madeleine showed him the tabled with the text in it.

“Oh finally. I started to think that you’re writing a novel there or something,” Darnell pointed out ironically. The girl snorted quietly in response. “Let’s see what we’ve got here,” he sat comfortably and started reading aloud. “I wasn’t in the room when the mayhem started.” Darnell rose eyebrows. “So that’s why you’ve started panicking in front of Harridan,” he frightenedly stopped short in speaking, “I mean, Carrington.” He coughed embarrassedly and continued reading. “I went out a few minutes before everything happened. I was heading to the roof, and it is prohibited to be there. And it is prohibited to walk around the halls at night. I heard the rumble in my room and got scared of what might have been there. And I got scared that miss Carrington could catch me out in the hall. That’s why I returned to the room as soon as it became quiet in there. I stumbled over something and fell. And right after this the tutors came, saw the mess and me lying on the floor, they didn’t understand that I hadn’t been in the room when all this happened. I lied to them that didn’t see anything in the darkness and was sleepy, so didn’t understand what was happening. I wasn’t punished, they called at your work. Then various people came, and mister Ewing was asking me. I was telling everyone that I remembered nothing. Because miss Carrington was always standing near them. Or they would tell her. She will punish me if she finds out that I haven’t been in the room.”

 Darnell finished reading and put the tablet on his knees. The old harridan still could scary children so much that they would agree on anything but facing her anger. Darnell selected the text and deleted it.

“Thank you,” he said returning the device to the girl. “Let it be for them that the entity just didn’t manage to get you.”

Madeleine nodded him gratefully and smiled. Darnell felt with surprise that the smile touched his lips too. The girl reminded him of himself in childhood. Distrustful to the grown-ups, embittered at the world, unwilling to listen to the rules, enforced at her, and having her own opinion, sometimes different from the expected one simply despite.

“You can tell me the truth,” he said to Madeleine, “because I need to see the situation in the right shape. Now I understand that the entity wasn’t going to kill you the way it seemed at first because of the mayhem. It needed to take you away, it was looking for you, and the bed was smashed probably because of anger. The question is - what did it need you for?” He became lost in his thought, looking at the empty road ahead.

This might be connected with the Agency’s interest in the case of Madeleine and the cheating of the unknown demon. On the other hand, the case remained on the same spot for almost a year, and there was not a single lead in it. So why did the entity appear right now and tried to get to the girl so persistently? Darnell took out the phone and opened the calendar. He couldn’t remember any upcoming occasion that might evoke the demon’s activity. Darnell thought that he should probably call the astrologists of the Agency to let them trace if there were any connection between the events that happened three years ago and the day of the attack on Madeleine. Why did exactly that much time pass?

“By the way,” Darnell suddenly recollected himself, “do you have any phone number? Is there a card in the tablet?”

Madeleine nodded and reached out to the man’s phone.

“Here, enter your number, save mine to you,” he gave the phone, and the girl returned it in a few minutes. “Done?” asked Darnell. Madeleine nodded him.

The man looked at the street. The rain kept on pouring but didn’t look like the solid wall now.

‘Well,” said Darnell rubbing his hands, “the day turned to be more odious than I expected it to be. Should we go to the cafe I talked about this morning?” he smiled looking at Madeleine in the back mirror. She noticed this and quickly nodded to him. “Awesome,” Darnell started the car and drove at the road, “you will surely like it in there.”

 ***

Darnell parked not far from a cafe on its free parking. He opened the door and sighed: the rain was still pouring, and the umbrella didn’t happen to appear. He rummaged at the back seat to check his coat. It soaked all over, as well as his owner did, because of Madeleine messily crumpling it.

“Oh, great,” grumbled Darnell checking his clothes, “couldn’t you be more careful with it?” he flashed an angry glance at the girl, and she cast her eyes down. “Fine, screw it. This is just a rag.”

Darnell got out of the car. The rain became lighter, scaring away the rare pedestrians, hiding under big umbrellas from its sprinkling. A river was running down the pavement till the very cafe. Madeleine opened the back door but didn’t even look out: she surely didn’t want to go out.

“Show me your shoes,” said Darnell. Madeleine stuck her feet out: she was wearing light grey flats. “I see,” Darnell thoughtfully cluck his tongue, staring at his high laced up boots: they didn’t leak even if the owner got into water calf-deep. “Well, kid, we’ll have to look for the way out, I did promise cafe to you.”

He reached out for Madeleine and grabbed her under the arms, pulling out of the car. He carefully slammed the door and turned the alarm on, settling the girl on his hands. Madeleine drew back from her carrier and frowned. Darnell quickly went down the street to the cafe trying to cover the girl’s head from the water pouring from the sky.

“What, I’m wet?” he asked cheerfully. The girl nodded. “Well, sorry, but today the taxi is low-class, the limo will be available next time,” he laughed and ran under the sunshade dome with the elegant inscription “Tiramisu” above it.

The cafe was located on the street filled with various shops. From the left side, there was a small trade selling bouquets. Among the strews of fragrant flowers a young saleslady was sitting playing on the phone with boredom. She couldn’t expect lots of customers in such weather. On the right, there was a perfumery that decorated its part of the pavement with big flowerpots with evergreen plants.

Darnell pushed the glass door and let Madeleine in under the cheerful accompaniment of the wind chimes.