Chapter 5

Yay....fifth chapter!

 

Chapter 5

 

The children regrouped in the main hall, all sporting various looks of excitement and awe. This place was too incredible for words; it was so mysterious and foreign that they hadn’t a chance of even beginning to comprehend the complexity just yet. Although perplexed and bewildered, they couldn’t help but revel in the romance of the situation, the almost fairy tale discovery that would most certainly change their lives forever. However, whether the fairy tale would end happily ever after was an entirely different matter. The teens were focussed on the here and now; not the repercussions of the future.

 

“So….” Jonah began, tentatively, “What exactly are we going to do?”

 

He was met by silence.

 

“Guys?” He tried again.

“Keep quiet,” Colin stated softly.

“Huh?” Four pairs of eyes turned in his direction, showing their confusion.

“We have to keep quiet about this. Dead quiet.” He reiterated.

“Why?”

“Do none of you realise what this place is? Can you really not piece together the parts?” Colin had a moment to look astonished before he schooled his expression into one of indifference.

“Sorry no, Col, our brains don’t work quite as fast as yours. Plus I can’t really be bothered to work it out as I’m sure you are about to tell us anyway,” Jonah replied with his usual nonchalant attitude. Colin shot his friend a quelling look and moved his intense gaze on the others.

“Don’t you see? This place, it’s an underground theatre. Performances went on in this place in the dead of night, well past curfew. There is a load of illegal merchandise in the back room. Stuff that was confiscated by the government yonks ago. The entrance is hidden and the door is armour plated as if whoever built this place didn’t want just anybody getting in. Don’t you recognise the symbol above the stage?” All eyes swivelled towards the wooden carving. Realisation dawned on Rory’s face first.

“It’s a jester…” He whispered. At which stage Jonah released an audible gasp.

“What’s a jester?” Netti asked, puzzled and annoyed about missing whatever point was being made.

“A medieval laugh-maker. But that’s not just any jester, that’s a Justice Jester.”

“Justice Jester? What a load of phooey.” Netti made an unimpressed sound. She was yet to study the history of the Rebellion so the name held little meaning.

“Phooey?” Rory had a moment to look suitably baffled before he shook his head. “Those guys were famous. How can you not know that?”

“Easy, I don’t.” Netti just about held the maturity enough not to stick her tongue out at the older boy.

“Okay, enough of the arguing.” Colin stepped in. “Netti and Kailyn wouldn’t know about the Rebellion because they haven’t read that damned book yet. In short, the Rebellion was lead by three people called the Justice Jesters. They set out to regain some of the things previously taken from us such as alcohol, cars, comedy etc. The leader was called Jeremy Tanner, I think. Anyway, they were pretty successful and gained a lot of supporters but unfortunately the government quashed them via execution. No one has led an uprising so successful since.”

“Sounds like he’s swallowed a text book,” Jonah muttered under his breath.

 

They stood in silence for awhile, each contemplating the weight of the teenager’s words. Colin especially went over his information over and over in his head. The truth was they had discovered one of the hidden Underground Clubs from the Justice Jesters. Obviously not all of them had been ratted out to the government. This even seemed to be one of the bigger ones even; Colin felt his heart stutter at the thought of it, one of the headquarters.

 

His eyes wandered idly around the hall again, taking in the lush furnishings and extravagant features. This was definitely an important place even now. The boy’s mind whirled at all the possibilities each even more wild and illegal than the previous, most of them sprouted from his encounter with Freddie the day before. But none of them could work if he didn’t have his friends on side, they had to agree. He needed to test their feelings.

 

“Okay, so really we should report this place…” Colin began.

“No! No way!” Jonah looked positively horrified at the idea.

“I’m not sure,” Kailyn said tentatively, “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“We won’t,” Jonah assured her, turning his ridiculously persuasive emerald eyes on the girl. There was no way he was going to miss a chance like this.

 

Rory was in agreement with both Colin and Jonah. He realised this was what he had been waiting for all this time. Something different, something exciting.

 

“Let’s take a vote,” Colin decided, “Those who want to report this?” Only Kailyn raised her hand. “And those who don’t?” Colin knew he didn’t need to ask but he just wanted to make sure. The rest of the arms were lifted.

“Okay, now that is sorted, can we go explorer properly?” Netti asked.

“What time is it?”

“Two.”

“We’ll head back at six. So four hours, guys.”

 

    ***

 

Netti found herself heading straight for the storeroom, Kailyn trailing nervously behind. There was so much stuff in there she wanted to fiddle with and understand. She’d always been a hands-on person, as a little child she’d always put something in her mouth to test what it was instead of just asking. These things ranged from a plastic building block or a worm. The girl remembered vividly the look of disgust on her mother’s face as she ordered her to ‘spit the revolting thing out’ whilst Jonah just looked on gleefully from sandpit.

 

As the two girls re-entered the enchanting room again Kailyn caught up with the smaller girl and tapped her timidly on the shoulder. She felt slightly silly for being so tentative; acting as if Netti would explode at any minute, but somehow her usual confidence had vanished after the dreadful vote. The Scot felt the shame welling up inside her and it hurt. Here she was having just made several great new friends and discovering an unbelievable underground complex and she was worried about the law. The law would never find out about them, they were just a few measly kids, as long as they didn’t do anything rash no harm would come to them. She hoped.

 

“What’s up, Kailyn?” Netti turned round and immediately registered the anxious feelings of her friend. You couldn’t be best friends for such a long time and not notice your counterpart is upset.

“Well, um…about earlier….the vote….I mean I feel really stupid and disloyal and….”

“Aw, don’t be dumb, Kailyn. I don’t care. The guys don’t care, I bet, and even if they do they’ll get distracted and get over it. I mean come on, they are boys, how long is their attention span? I don’t blame you for being apprehensive either but look at this place, how can you be around this stuff and not be intrigued?!” Netti grinned kindly, “I understand if you want to go though.’ The small spritely girl’s character kicked in, demonstrating her concern and caring nature.

“No, I wanted to say I changed my mind pretty much as soon as we’d taken the vote.”

“That’s okay then….now, what on earth do you suppose this is?” Netti was holding up a box painted with bright red and yellow stripes. “How can a box be in any way funny or offensive enough to confiscate?”
“Open it,” Kailyn encouraged, getting into the spirit of things. Her friend complied and the lid was lifted to allow a frightening looking clown to bulge out.

“Oh my god, what the hell is that?!” Netti shrieked, “How is that humorous?”

“I have no idea. Maybe it’s something we’re missing, you know, ‘cos we haven’t laughed all our lives. We really need someone to explain it.”

“But it’s not funny;” Netti insisted, “It’s downright scary.” She looked at the sinister smile and shivered, her spine prickling uneasily.

 

    ***

 

Rory ran his finger along the marble surface; a layer of dust came off leaving a long snail trail of darker colour behind. This place really needed a clean but that was a given considering it hadn’t been used in two hundred years. It was actually pretty well preserved, no doubt thanks to the protection underground from animals and the weather.

 

His roaming hands moved onto the cupboards and he rifled through them to find jars of all sorts of odd coloured liquids. Something called jam, another called Nutella…. Most were unopened but there were a few that had had the seal broken and were sprouting a repulsive looking brownish green mould. Delightful.

 

Despite this Rory couldn’t help feel amazed by the amount of food all in this place and all so foreign. He was sure he’d never seen so much in his life as he uncovered cereal packets, biscuit tubes and bags of crisps. They were undoubtedly extremely stale but still there, conserved for him to see now, two centuries later, like some odd museum exhibition. He wondered whether the people who had been here before knew that the stuff in their kitchen would be unheard of in the future, so rare Rory was reluctant to touch any of it for fear of breaking anything.

 

The refrigerator was one place he dared not visit during his exploration of the kitchen, if the opened cereal boxes were anything to go by no one would’ve thought of chucking anything away before they left and any fresh produce that had been there would now be rancid. It may even be a danger to open the door for he could let any number of diseased bacteria out. No, he would tackle that another day.

 

Another day. Rory realised he seemed to be planning on coming back to this underground club. Not surprising really considering its contents. He would have to consult the others but if they weren’t keen on coming back he certainly was – even alone. This place answered all his dreams, as if someone had just made a checklist of all his problems, rolled them all into one and come up with this solution which they were shoving in his face saying ‘here, go on, take it or leave it’. And he was certainly taking it.

 

“Thinking of cooking something?” Rory jumped at the sound of the playful voice and whipped around, his shoes squeaking on the shiny tiles. Jonah was standing there looking bemused.

“Er….no,” the red headed teen shook his head.

“Ah well, I was getting a bit peckish what with all this adventuring,” Jonah looked vaguely disappointed but that didn’t get him down for too long. “What have you discovered then? I’ve been combing the fancy dress room; there are some awesome costumes in there. Col’s gone off to examine the offices, just like him to be boring.” The boy’s jibe was teasing and not meant to be taken seriously but Rory couldn’t help detect a hint of annoyance in his tone.

“Well, I’ve….”

“Guys! Come and look at this!” Netti skidded into the room in sock clad feet to find herself careering across the slippery floor, arms wind-milling desperately to maintain balance.

 

To Jonah it all happened in slow motion and he couldn’t help getting a load of images in his head of his little sister falling a smashing her head open like an egg on the hard ground. His limbs seemed too slow and clumsy as he tried to make his way forward to grab her. As his hand closed on thin air he glimpsed a blur of colour whiz by him and there was a strangled squeak and a clunk before the teen had even registered what was going on.

 

He looked up and his eyes met with the shocked hazel pair belonging to Rory. The two turned in unison to see what had become of Netti. All this happened in a few milliseconds though to Jonah it felt like minutes.

 

Sprawled on the floor was not one person but two, tangled in a web of angular limbs against one of the side cupboards. Up against the cabinet was Colin, looking slightly dazed, his shoulder crushed in a painful looking way against the wood. His entire body length seemed to have cushioned the blow for Netti who was nestled in the curve of his frame looking astonished. The boy let out a small grunt of pain and attempted to extricate himself from her.

 

Netti, who had for a moment been feeling pleasantly comfortable in his arms, realised where she was and let out an indignant yelp, scrambling from his grip.

“What was that for?” She snapped. Colin had the grace to look incredulous.

“I just saved you from cracking your skull on the floor.”

“You elbowed me in the ribs!”

“Well, sorry, I won’t bother next time shall I?” The boy rose gingerly to his feet, his topaz eyes hardening with irritation.

“Yeah, don’t,” Netti scowled, crossing her arms like a petulant child. She knew she didn’t mean what she said, she was very grateful to Colin for saving her from great pain. But why did it have to be him?

“You okay?” Jonah addressed the both of them, not sure whether to attend to his friend or his sister first considering Colin had taken the brunt of the collision with the floor and the cabinet.

“Yeah,” Netti nodded angrily still glaring at Colin.

“Sure.” Came the boy’s mumbled reply.

“Well….uh, what did you want to show us, Netti?” Rory asked in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

 

The girl’s face lit up once more and she nodded enthusiastically. Then she gestured for them to follow her out of the kitchen and into the hallway. As Netti flounced out she shot a scathing look towards Colin just so he could be in no doubt what she thought of him.

 

Colin saw the expression and frowned to himself, his brow furrowing slightly. What was up with Netti? He had just saved her and yet she was treating him like he’d done something disgustingly terrible. It just didn’t make sense, even in his logical brain.

 

The group were led through the corridor and into the darkened storeroom where Kailyn was waiting for them having somehow worked out how to switch the television screen on and the DVD player. She was now reclining in a big, comfy looking chair with a proud smile on her lips. On the monitor there was just a shimmering title page on which read ‘The Basics of Comedy’.

 

Netti leapt onto the seat beside Kailyn and told them each to “Pull up a pew”. Jonah did as he was told, managing to practically fold his long frame in half and crumple into the bean bag. It did not look the most comfortable of positions but the tall boy didn’t complain.

 

The opening credits rolled and the five children watched with anticipation as a young man walked onto the screen.

 

“Hello, and welcome to the basics of comedy, I’m Greg Robinson and I’ll be bringing you underprivileged guys into the realms of laughter and funny stuff. It’ll be difficult, don’t doubt that, but with perseverance I reckon we can get you all laughing some time soon.”

“So, where to start? I think we should run a few clips for those out there that have never seen laughter in action.”

 

A series of video footage ran through a range of people both young and old giggling, chuckling, laughing and just generally enjoying themselves. Colin felt a pang of guilt when he saw an image of a small baby pop up on screen giggling. It reminded him of Freddie.

 

“Right, guys, so now we’ve seen what laughter can look like I’m going to lead you onto the basics. You see, laughing is natural to a human, so it’s not that hard once you get started. First you need a reason to laugh, let me explain to you why things are funny….”

 

The DVD continued whilst the children sat and watched, not sure whether to be afraid or intrigued. This film went against everything they had ever been taught yet it was human nature to break the rules so they couldn’t help but stare.

 

“There are several different types of comedy such as stand up comedy, improvisational comedy, slap stick comedy….” 

 

Eventually the movie finished and the group of teenagers sat in a sort of awed silence, not quite sure how to react. Netti was the first to make any move and that was to get up and moved towards the DVD player to remove the disc. No one else made a sound. Then she turned round and stared at them all.

 

“Guys, we need to go. It’s six,” the girl stated, tapping her watch.

 

The difference between these adolescents reaction to such a discovery and that of an adult was phenomenal. With the teenagers they were just in the process of forming mature opinions of the world and were open to a bit of law breaking. Had it been an adult however, there was no doubt, they would’ve taken one look and fled vowing never to think of the forbidden place again.

 

As the group left underground theatre they were all anticipating their return whenever that may be, excited at the prospect of discovering even more weird and wonderful secrets hidden in the depths of the Justice Jesters’ warehouse.

 

Kailyn stamped her dirty boots on porch step and then kicked them off before she stepped through her front door. In sock clad feet she padded slowly into the large, warm kitchen, slipping slightly on the red tiled floor. Standing by the cooker was her mother, leaning over a steaming pot for supper.

 

“Hey, Mum,” the girl greeted her mum, slumping into a wooden chair. She let her brown hair down from its pony tail and lent back in her seat, blowing air out of her cheeks.

“Kailyn, where have you been all this time?” Mrs McFadden turned on her daughter, cheeks pink from the heat of the stove.

“Um…out with my friends.”
“For this long?”

“Yes, Mum, sorry, I lost track of the time,” Kailyn said quickly, desperate to steer her mother away from her recent trip.

“So you should be I was worried you wouldn’t be back before curfew. You can’t just leave for that length of time and not tell me exactly where you are going! It’s stupid and dangerous.”
“Look, I said I’m sorry, what more do you want!” Kailyn threw her arms up in the air and scraped back her chair noisily before stomping from the room. She charged up the stairs and darted into her bedroom.

 

Once inside the adolescent flopped angrily onto her bed and curled herself around the pillow. She didn’t understand why so was so angry and flighty all of a sudden. She guessed it could be paranoia and fear translated to irritation from the discovery of the theatre. In fact, she could still feel her heart beat was faster than usual. Kailyn knew she’d never been good at lying and this was going to be difficult to keep from her mother. Still, she had to try, it was too dangerous otherwise.

 

With a thousand thoughts whizzing through her head she decided to do some of her homework that was due in for Monday. Then she would go to bed, she would try and stay out of her parents’ way for as long as possible until she could gather the scattered mess that was her brain.

 

Cracking on with her English essay on some dull, uninspired poem, Kailyn felt so isolated. She couldn’t talk to her mother, though she usually always confided in her, they were good friends. And definitely not her father, who would be furious and ban her from ever speaking of it again. She longed to see Netti again, so she could vent her feelings without worry then. Maybe she could ask the girl some questions about what they were going to do next.

Author's Note

So what do you think of my characters? Comments and critism welcome!