Page 7 of In This Iron Ground
“Sorry. Guess I kind of ruined your full moon…thing,” Damien said when Mia returned. She smiled, shaking her head.
“You didn’t ruin a thing, Damien,” Mia said, sitting next to him. “Right, tell me about those comics you mentioned before. I bet Koko’s gonna grill me about them tomorrow. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Hakan sniffs around as well.” She winked at the wordsniff. “He’s more curious than we give him credit for.”
Damien had managed to speak in full sentences a few minutes later but was frozen into stillness as the sound of the doorbell cut through the house.
“Oh, I guess that’s them,” Mia said. She frowned slightly at Damien as he remained seated, staring at the direction of the front door. “Hey…you okay?” Mia asked softly. Damien nodded jerkily before getting up, shedding the blanket like old skin.
They walked together to the front of the house, now silent and devoid of anybody else. He tried to keep the quiet and the stillness of the forest inside him, but the moment the door opened fear lanced through him, his heart beating wildly.
What the fuck had he been thinking?
“Oh, gosh, I am so sorry,” Mrs. McKenzie started at once, reaching out a hand as if to grab him, but Damien didn’t move from where he stood slightly behind and to the side of Mia. Mrs. McKenzie frowned deeply, dropping the arm before turning to Mia again. “We just don’t know what to do with him anymore,” she said apologetically. She wasn’t wearing makeup and her hair was slightly mussed, as if she had attempted—but not quite succeeded in—taming it after sleep.
“It was no bother,” Mia assured, putting a hand on Damien’s shoulder. He flinched away from her. He didn’t want to be touched. Mia dropped her hand, looking at him. “He was just…distressed.”
“He’s a troubled child,” Mrs. McKenzie said, though it sounded more likehe’s trouble. Mia frowned. “My husband is in the car. We’ll get out of your hair. Come along, Damien, I think you’ve caused quite enough drama for one night.”
Damien clenched his fists for a moment before shuffling out into the night air. Dread was an open wound inside him. He looked back at Mia as Mrs. McKenzie grabbed his arm, pulling him along as she apologized again. Mia’s expression was as cold as stone.
He looked away, keeping his eyes down for the green mile up to the rumbling car. The headlights blinded him for a second as they crossed in front of it and Damien’s breath stuttered, overwhelmed.
He couldn’t, he just couldn’t—
He climbed into the back of the car. It was warm inside, stuffy, smelling of Mr. McKenzie who turned around with a piercing glower. As soon as Mrs. McKenzie shut the door she twisted, pointing a finger at him.
“What the hell were you thinking? Running away…making us get you in the middle of the night. As if we don’t have to deal with enough of your nonsense on a daily basis. You just wait until we get home,” she hissed. Damien shrunk away, saying nothing. There was a pressure at the base of his throat, behind his eyes, filling his head, but nothing was coming out.
As the car was put into gear and turned around, Damien looked back one more time. Mia’s silhouette stood on the porch, still and dark, the last thing he saw before driving away.
CHAPTER TWO
Nicola had been his social worker for two years. She was pretty nice, even if Damien knew all her tricks. She had a tendency to speak quickly and cheerfully and would sometimes get stuff out of Damien with a persistent smile. She wore round glasses that she intermittently pushed up to her head, getting them caught in her ponytailed hair. The strands would pull out of the rubber band slightly every time she pushed the glasses back down, causing them to wobble over her head in a peculiar halo. She was thin, athletic, and could go on forever about netball. It made Damien smile. He liked when people talked about the things they loved.
Nicola was currently driving him around in her car, supposedly to find somewhere good to eat, even though they always ended up at a diner they both loved. Damien knew it was one of her tricks. She liked talking to him in the car so he wouldn’t feel pressured by her stare. He didn’t mind. Nicola’s car was familiar now. It was old and spluttery and he liked the noises it made, as if it were trying with all its might to get them to their destination.
“So…” Nicola started. Damien tensed, knowing that Nicola had been told about him running away and that she would want to talk about it. “How you doing, Damien? Has there been anything going on?”
“Not really,” Damien said, looking out the window.
“You sure? How’s it going with Barbara and Rob?” She asked. Damien shrugged. “’Cause they’re first time carers, so if there’s something in particular they’re doing that’s not so good we can talk about it and sort it out.”
Damien thought about opening his mouth and letting everything spill out. Telling her about the ropes, about the sick, bottomless feeling they caused inside his stomach. About the nightmares, how he would miss his mom and dad so much that thinking about them ate him up inside. Thought about telling her about school, how the teachers would shout at him, how the kids didn’t like him. Thought about how he wanted to disappear, wanted to juststop.
“I’m okay. Everything’s okay,” Damien said. There was a pause.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. But…if there’s ever anything, Damien…I’m here to help, okay?”
“Okay,” he said quietly.
Some things were best left in the dark.
**********
Damien would see the Salgados around school. He recognized their dad, once, picking them up from school when Nadie had practice. He was a large, African American man with eyes that were soft and expressive. He’d smiled wide at Koko and Hakan, slinging his trunk arms around them as they tried to wriggle away.
