CASINO SHUFFLE (49 page)

The scary, little man child was no more than four feet tall. For someone who lived in a castle full of dust and madness, he was crisply dressed.

He wore the trappings of the Academy Darke like skin.

The traditional black coat, tight at the waist and flared to the knees, was perfectly fit. The arms of the jacket came to an end just above his wrist in order to expose a hint of the very clean white cuff of his shirt.

His black vest with cloth black buttons was just snug enough to hold the school tie in place against his chest. The black trousers had sharp pressed pleats and seams. The hems hung down at just the right spot on the shoes where the laces first meet the leather.

Those shoes were so well polished that the reflection of the fire on the mirror finish made him look like he was standing on the very flames themselves.

The first thing Mouse learned about Oracle Darke was that he didn’t like anything upsetting the order of his world and his world was exacting a vicious toll on him.

Oracle was an angry little boy who never grew up, but he still suffered the ravages of guilt and sorrow and time. Here at the Academy Darke, time is a relative thing. Mouse didn’t know how long he had been there. For all he knew it could already be one or more lifetimes. And every single one of them was right there on the head monster’s face.

There was still the face of a child present, but it was cold and hard.

“Are you exceptional?” Oracle asked.

With his first utterance the sand in the hourglass began to flow down into its lower chamber.

“Are you a bright child?” he asked sharply. “Did someone once tell you that there was a spark inside you? Did someone once tell you that you were special?”

It was getting hotter in the room. Mouse could feel a drop of sweat rolling down his right temple. Mouse wanted out of this particular room and away from this peculiar person.

“Nothing to say?” he pressed in his man child voice. “It seems that everyone is innocent in the Darke.”

Oracle’s body began to fall forward. Mouse quickly stood up expecting to have to catch the child. Oracle tucked and rolled onto the floor and landed in front of Mouse in a sitting position. The shock on his face must have been very visible.

“Don’t ever believe everything you see, foolish boy,” the child said with a giggle as he stared up at Mouse. “Sit down!” the monster shouted next.

“Yes, sir,” Mouse found himself saying as he sat.

Oracle placed his hands flat on the wooden floor in front of him. He was looking at the floor and whispering to himself.

Mouse felt the Fetcher’s presence leave the room. He was too afraid to turn his attention away from Oracle to look, but he knew that the thing they all feared most left at the almost silent command of the child sitting on the floor in front of him.

The second thing Mouse learned about Oracle Darke was that he was powerful, dangerous and unstable. He also learned for the first time that a room could be more frightening without the Fetcher in it.

Oracle lifted his hands above the floor so that they cast a shadow on it. He passed his hands over and under each other and the shadow began to flicker.

“Tell me what you see,” he said.

“Nothing,” Mouse replied.

“Nothing? Are you sure?” he teased. “Look again boy.”

His hands were moving faster and faster and so was the shadow. Then Mouse began to see it. A small animal was forming in the moving shadow. It was a mouse and it was desperately running in place.

“Do you see it now?” he insisted.

“I see the shadow of your hand, sir,” Mouse answered quickly and wisely he thought.

“Liar!” he shouted back. “You see much more than that!”

The running shadow mouse began to form into the shape of a running boy. Oracle screamed and brought both his hands down on the shadow boy and crushed him. A wisp of black smoke seeped between his spread fingers. As he lifted his hands the smoke trailed out and around them. He rubbed his hands together until the mouse, the boy and the smoke were all gone.

Like all good tyrants, Oracle Darke kept for himself the thing he denied his people most. His imagination was not just in full force, it had become a deadly sharp tool. Mouse understood that the wicked child sitting at his feet, staring up at him, could manifest whatever his limitless mind desired.

The room was starting to feel smaller, much, much hotter and the sand in the hour glass was running out.

“Why are you afraid of the Darke?” he chided.

Mouse was trying to focus. He knew he was in danger. He knew he had to concentrate, but the pressure from the child, the heat of the fire and the pouring of the sand was wearing him down.

“Why are you always trying to escape? Always plotting. Always planning. All this trying to escape must be exhausting.”

Getting out of the room was all Mouse could think about. The chair he was sitting on felt like it was getting smaller, tighter. He tried to move but couldn’t. He tried to stand again but his body felt so heavy.

“Why don’t you sleep like the other students? You must be very tired. Aren’t you tired, boy?”

Mouse was feeling dizzy. Light headed. He was seeing the oddest thing. A colored leaf was falling from far above him. It landed gracefully in his lap. In his life Mouse had spent a great deal of time in the forest. Leaves were rare. Those that did exist were black.

The walls in the room began to fade away. Mouse blinked and he was standing in the forest.

Light was blazing everywhere. A tall figure was walking towards him. It was a man. The light was so bright Mouse could barely see him. Then he spoke.

“Son,” the man said, “it’s so good to see you well.”

“Daddy?” Mouse said with a tremble in his voice.

“Of course, boy,” he said as he knelt in front of him.

The two shared a long, deep felt hug. His father broke it first but he didn’t let go of the boy.

“Now, listen to me, son, it’s important,” his father began. “Your mother and I are so sorry for what we did to you.”

Mouse was listening to the man but something behind him was moving between the trees.

“It might have seemed wrong to you. Or worse, cruel,” his father continued. “Son, we had no other choice.”

Mouse could hear the sincerity in the man’s voice, but there was definitely a shadow moving through the trees around them.

“Daddy,” he said in a panicked whisper, “the Fetcher is coming!”

“No, son. It’s all over,” the man reassured the boy. “You must have fallen asleep in the forest during the great battle. Oracle and the Fetcher are gone. Better days are ahead.”

Father smiled and Mouse joined him. They laughed together and shared another long hug as they did. His father felt good in the boy’s arms. Mouse inhaled deeply in order to regain the familiar and comforting scent of the man.

The essence he was looking for was not there.

He hugged him tighter and the man’s body began to change. Mouse could feel subtle differences in his father’s frame. The boy pushed the stranger away and there in the forest, standing right in front of him was Oracle Darke.

“No room is empty if your mind is full,” his fake father said slyly.

Mouse opened his eyes. He was face to face with Oracle who was sitting in his lap in the mural room. The child had a wicked grin on his face.

This was the head monster’s version of Fears Corner. The Fetcher lets you travel there. Oracle Darke is what’s waiting for you when you arrive. A single tear rolled down Mouse’s cheek as the last grain of sand dropped into the lower chamber of the hourglass.

Oracle watched that tear slide down the boy’s face. He caught it on the tip of his little finger.

“That’s why having an imagination does you no good,” he said as he examined the tear. “It will only hurt you in the end.”

When the child wiped his wet finger on his already messy vest, Mouse decided enough was enough. He stood up quickly and caught Oracle by surprise. The mad child fell to the floor with a hard thump.

Mouse jumped on him and almost had his hands around his throat when the Fetcher appeared. He grabbed Mouse by the collar and slammed him back into the chair.

“I know what you did!” Oracle screamed from the floor. “Do it again and you, your little blonde girlfriend and anyone else who might care about you on the outside will regret it.”

He stood up, brushed himself off and walked towards Mouse until they were nose to nose.

“I’ve never killed before,” he whispered, “but my friend has.”

Oracle turned and ran to the table. He leapt up, spun around and landed sitting on its edge with his legs dangling. The Fetcher stood by his side, focused on Mouse.

“You have been a very bad boy and must be punished,” he said in a sing song voice.

Oracle was swinging his legs back and forth.
 
Like the little child he wished he could really be, Mouse thought.

 
“How do you punish a pet?” he asked rhetorically. “You love it. You want what’s right for it. But how do you punish it?”

The legs stopped moving. He grasped the edge of the table with his hands and leaned forward. It was clear that Mouse was the pet and Oracle was his master.

“Put a pet in a room all by itself,” the lesson began, “after a bit the sadness begins to set in. Wait longer than that and the heart breaks. Wait as long as you can and then just a little bit more and if it doesn’t die, its desire to disobey will perish.”

Oracle whispered quietly to himself and the Fetcher vanished. There was a knock at the door behind Mouse. He wanted to look. He wanted to run. But he just sat there frozen, staring at the thing in front of him.

“It’s for you, silly boy,” the thing said with a giggle.

Mouse slowly turned in his seat and looked towards the door. The Fetcher was holding it open for him. Mouse turned back to face Oracle. He didn’t want to look at him but he had too. He wanted to remember him.

He hoped he’d never see him again but he knew that he would.

“With your permission, sir?” he asked with false sincerity as he stood.

Oracle nodded his consent with a sneer and Mouse began the long walk to the door.

“Oh, Mouse,” he said with a hiss. “It’s unrealistic to think you’re special.”

Mouse tried to ignore him as he made his way to the door. He was tired. Drained.

“Everyone’s the same. No one is special,” he shouted as Mouse stepped through the doorway. “It’s unrealistic to believe that, boy. You’ll see that in the end.”

Mouse ignored the Fetcher as he passed him and made his way down the stairs.

“Reality wins,” was the last point Oracle Darke wanted to make. “Reality always wins!”

The Fetcher closed the door to the round mural room and on the cackling laughter of the macabre little beast inside it. The head monster’s assistant then followed Mouse down the stairwell. A small cold cell was waiting on its occupant.

There were fourteen students still enrolled in the Darke. Twelve of them were in their cells. They were asleep. They had been for quite some time. Defiant to the end. Connie was awake and waiting for her best friend to return to her. Mouse was on his way, he just had to be imprisoned once more.

The third thing that Mouse learned about Oracle Darke was that he was just a child. He could be challenged. Mouse had looked into the forged grey eyes of nightmare’s terrible twin and Mouse flinched. He wouldn’t do that the next time they met. That wasn’t going to happen the next time they faced each other.