Page 14 of In This Iron Ground
Despite his apprehension and exhaustion, the first time in a week that he felt the knot in his chest loosen was sitting on the floor by the low, brightly coloured table in the twins’ room. Lallo sat on a small, plastic chair at one short end of the rectangular table. He was close enough that his legs were stretched out with his feet pressing into Damien’s knee as Damien sat cross-legged. Lallo was engrossed fully in playing with kinetic sand, kept tidy in a large, plastic tub.
Dee, on the other hand, was drawing beside him, leaning towards him in a complete disregard for personal space despite sitting in her own seat. A prism of coloured pencils, markers, and crayons were spread across the table and floor amidst a flurry of paper. Dee was currently drawing an interesting rendition of “Super Damien” with thick markers.
“Is that a stretchy neck or do I just have a very long neck?” Damien asked, indicating the parallel lines that connected his head to his shoulders, spanning almost the length of the page.
“It’s a supersize neck,” she responded, changing colours so she could draw the mop of hair on top of his head. Grey, apparently.
“Cool. What’s my superpower then?”
“You spit acid like a llama!” she shouted, drawing said acid in enthusiastic lines with a bright green pen. Damien laughed.
“Awesome,” he said, grabbing one of the pencils and sketching a llama with freckles and his grey eyes, spitting balls of acid-green. “Llamalastic!” he wrote in dripping letters over the drawing. Dee’s hand suddenly slapped beside his page and he looked over to see her staring at the picture with wide eyes.
“Llam…lastic,” she whispered, turning her big eyes on him. “Can I have it?” she asked. Damien laughed.
“Course. It’s for you,” he said, and Dee beamed.
“Can you, can you draw me another one?” she asked.
“Who should we draw next?” he asked. Dee hummed, brows furrowing in deep contemplation.
“Yo! What are you little cretins up to?” Koko said, flopping down beside them before Dee could answer.
“Hakan!” Dee decided.
The three of them degenerated into drawing a picture of a half wolf, half T-rex Hakan. He became a furry monster with a comically large head and small teeth and arms. Koko ended up drawing a bloody corpse at his feet with tiny bite-chunks taken out of it. Lallo abandoned his sand, crawling onto Damien’s lap as they all giggled over the drawing.
“And what’s going on here?” Mia’s voice suddenly joined their laughter. They turned towards her as she peered over them with an amused look on her face.
“Blooooood!” Dee shouted.
“Koko, I’m guessing the dead body is your doing?” Mia said ruefully, although she was still smiling. Koko blinked up at her mom innocently.
“No idea what you’re talking about, Mom,” she said, turning the drawing over. “Think you’re having a psychotic break,” she grinned. Mia rolled her eyes.
“Another one! Just had one the other day when all the Snickers went missing and you smelt like chocolate.”
“Dunno what you’re talking about; I’m allergic to chocolate.”
“Well, I’m very sorry I wasn’t informed of your death then, seeing as it’s forty percent of your diet,” Mia replied. “Now, come on, all of you. Dinnertime. Don’t forget to wash your hands!”
Dinnertime was always perfect because Damien never felt like a guest with them. He went downstairs and put the bars of bread to toast for a few minutes in the oven before helping to set the table. There was a particular spoon that they all liked, being slightly deeper, and Hakan yanked it out of his hands as Damien tried to put it on his own placemat.
“Hey!” Damien protested.
“Too slow!” Hakan laughed, poking Damien in the ribs. Damien gasped suddenly, doubling over where Hakan’s fingers had dug into him. Hakan’s smile dropped immediately, his eyes widening.
“Crap, Damien, are you—”
“Too slow!” Damien crowed as he slipped the spoon out of Hakan’s slack fingers. “Can’t believe you fell for that! Sucka!” he laughed.
Hakan scowled, grabbing at Damien before he could escape. Damien squawked as Hakan put him in a headlock.
“Who’s the sucker now?” Hakan smirked.
“I’ve got a perfect aim at something you don’t want me aiming for, Hakan!” Damien shouted. Hakan froze and then let him go, jumping away in alarm. Damien grinned. Koko laughed.
“And the winner is…!” she said, grabbing Damien’s wrist and pulling his arm over his head like a wrestling champion. They both made crowd-roaring sounds. Hakan rolled his eyes.
