Midnight Ch. 03

I'll admit it, the day dragged like a bastard. I couldn't wait for eight o'clock to roll round. So eager was I, that I actually found myself walking along Hall Road at half past seven. I'd finished work and then sat in a local pub with a pineapple juice until I just couldn't wait any more.

I arrived at his house and saw that his car was in the drive, so I tapped on the door. He opened it, smiled and said, "You're early. I'm just finishing off my dinner."

"Oh sorry," I replied, "I can come back later if you want."

"No, it's fine. Come in, come in."

We sat down at his dining table and I waited as he finished off the last of his Chinese takeaway. We chatted about this and that and he told me that he'd been to see a friend of his at York to discuss a dig they were both involved with down at Cheddar Gorge. Some sort of Neolithic settlement. The dig had been ongoing since the early 1980's and there was still a lot more to do.

I mentioned that I'd handed in my notice and was available to work immediately.

After he was finished eating, Nathan offered me a drink and then we sat down on the sofa. He went into more detail about what my job would entail. Taking notes and producing the minutes of weekly meetings that he held with his students and colleagues, creating Power Point presentations based on notes that he provided. Probably scribbled down on scraps of paper, that I would have to turn into easy-­to-­read typed scripts.

I'd also be responsible for controlling his diary and making sure that there wouldn't be conflicts between the various digs he visited all around the world. Travel, hotels, car hire, you name it, I'd have to organise it. Not only that, but I would also be the funnel for all his correspondence and as I gained experience, try to filter the wheat from the chaff so he didn't get bogged down.

I would be controlling his professional finances too, and would be required to report back to his accounting company, Farquharson, Daniels & Jones.

To be honest I was beginning to feel a little intimidated at what would be involved and was less than certain of my own abilities. But I was also determined to make the best of it and do my damnedest to make it a success. If only because it meant spending time with Nathan... Eh? Did I just think that?

As the evening wore on, we started to chat about other things. He went into a bit more technical detail about Cheddar Gorge, which sounded like 'Flurgle blurgle plomp whomp', but I just smiled and nodded. Nathan was actually very easy to talk to, we really did just seem to click. The only time I had any difficulty speaking was when he directed those fucking gorgeous eyes at me. More than once we found ourselves simply staring at each other in silence for long, embarrassing seconds.

Nathan looked at his watch and exclaimed, "Shit! It's nearly midnight, where did the time go?"

"Really?" I asked in surprise. I too had let the time slip past without noticing.

He jumped up from the sofa and grabbed a sheet of paper from his desk and handed it to me along with a pen, "I forgot. You need to fill this in so I can send it off to the accountants."

"What is it?"

"Just a basic form so they can bring you on to the company payroll."

I completed all the impertinent questions and handed it back to him. He read through and then looked at me, "Usiku Wa Manane Mwenye? That's a name and a half. I can see why everyone calls you Manni."

I laughed, "Saves time. We're all busy, busy executives on the go."

Nathan sat down at his desk and completed the employer section at the bottom of the form. As he worked he asked, "Your name... Does it mean anything?"

Here we go, I thought, am I going to get the usual jokes? I said, "Yes. It's Swahili and it means midnight."

He murmured, "Midnight... Mid... night... Mmmidnight," almost as though he was rolling it around in his mouth checking the flavour, he went on absently, "It suits you."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked more sharply that perhaps I intended.

Nathan spun round in his chair and gave me a long meaningful look. I began to shiver slightly and wondered once again just how he could affect me like he did. He said, "Not because of your skin, if that's what you think."

Suddenly embarrassed, I stuttered, "I d... didn't... I... I wasn't... I mean-­"

Without warning, he leapt up out of the chair and ran upstairs. I could hear him banging about until he returned carrying a pair of the biggest pair of binoculars I'd ever seen. He motioned me to follow him outside into the back garden. It looked more like an overgrown rubbish dump than a garden. Nathan was clearly not the green fingered type.

"Look up and tell me what you see," he said.

I shrugged, "The night sky. The moon. A few stars."

He searched the sky briefly and pointed at one of the tiny dots of light, "Tell me what that is."

"A star?"

"No. It's Jupiter. You can tell its not a star because it isn't twinkling. What you can see is the light from the Sun reflecting off it and reflected light doesn't twinkle."

I was puzzled, "Ooookaaay."

He looked through the binoculars at Jupiter and used the dial to focus, then he handed them to me and said, "Have a look at it through these."

They were a lot heavier than I expected, but I hefted them up and viewed the planet. It didn't look much different to me, but I could just make out four other very tiny pinpricks of light in line with it.

He said gently, "What you can see are four of Jupiter's moons."

Nathan took back the binoculars and pointed them at one of the constellations. He fiddled about again and then handed them back to me. He said, "See that collection of stars? That's Orion the Hunter."

I laughed, "Everyone knows that. I've seen Men in Black."

Nathan grinned and then went on, "See the leftmost star on Orion's belt? Look about one finger width down and left from it and tell me what you see."

Still not sure what point Nathan was making, I did as he asked. After a couple of seconds I saw it. My mouth fell open and I nearly dropped the binoculars. Luckily he managed to catch them. I took them back and looked again, "What the fuck is that?"

"That," he murmured, "Is the Horse-head Nebula. Pretty good huh?"

I handed the binoculars back.

He said, "Understand? Use your naked eyes and all you see is darkness with a few dots of light here and there. You see very little of what's actually in the midnight sky. Use these binoculars and you get to see the hidden depths."

I shook my head in confusion.

He continued, "When I first saw you I just saw a beautiful young cafe assistant. But now look, after just a few short hours I'm seeing that there's more to you than meets the eye."

He thinks I'm beautiful?

He pointed straight up and said, "Hidden depths," then he touched my forehead with his fingertip, his touch once again caused me to shiver slightly and he repeated the words, "Hidden depths. And I think there's more still to discover... That's what I meant when I said your name suited you."

He took one last look up into the sky and then turned to go back into the house, "Come on Midnight, finish your drink and then let's get you home."

What the fuck? That cheeky bastard just called me Midnight! Nobody calls me Midnight! I was fuming! I was really... not... angry... at all. In fact, when he called me Midnight... I liked it.

I finished my drink and then he loaded me into his car to drop me back at my flat. Nathan insisted on walking me to my front door, but as we approached the entrance to the block, a figure appeared out of the darkness behind us and an ugly voice slurred, "The nigger's back. Brought your customer home?"

We both spun round and saw the acne scarred skinhead who had attacked me. He was swaying slightly and his eyes were glassy. I could see that he was either very drunk, or more likely very high. I grabbed Nathan's arm to stop him squaring up to the thug and asked, "What do you want?"

He leered at me and replied in a slurred voice, "Maybe I want your cash, or maybe I want to see what it's like to fuck a monkey," he slipped a wicked looking knife from his back pocket and waved it around, "Or maybe I just want to open you up and see what's inside."

Nathan stepped quickly forward and pushed the skinhead sharply on the chest, making him fall heavily on to his backside, "Run!" he said.

I pulled the door open and we hustled inside. Nathan followed me up the steps to my flat. As we were halfway up I heard the skinhead shout up the stairs, "I'm coming Nigger, I'm gonna have to operaaaaate!"

We could hear his heavy boots on the concrete steps as he chased us, the sound spurred us on to greater speed. We reached my front door. I scrabbled for my keys and in my panic couldn't get the door open. We could hear the shouting getting nearer. I finally got my fingers to work and opened the door, we fell inside and Nathan slammed it shut behind us. He rushed around the place looking for something to use as a weapon and shouted, "Call the police!"

There was a loud thump as a boot kicked my front door, then another, and another. I heard the shout, "Gonna fuck you, Nigger!" and then the thudding again. By this time, Nathan had found my bread knife in the kitchen and stood just inside my lounge doorway watching the front door rattle in its frame.

I knew there was no point calling the police, not for trouble on Orchard Park. They wouldn't get here in time, even if they actually fucking bothered! I was panicking and called the only person I could think of.

The other end of the line seemed to ring for ages and I could hear the front door was beginning to crack under the onslaught, and still the thug was shouting his threats. Nathan was shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously, and I could see his knuckles were white as he held the bread knife tightly in his hand.

Eventually I heard a sleepy voice answer the phone, "Huh? Whazzat? Do you know what fucking time it is?"

I screamed down the line, "Alan! It's Manni! We're in trouble! He's trying to kick my door in! Alan you gotta help! He's got a knife!" I was sobbing now, "Please help!"

Alan was instantly awake, "Hold on Manni. I'm coming!"

The line stayed open as Alan had clearly just dropped his phone. All we could do was wait and watch fearfully as the front door started to give way at the hinges. Suddenly I heard a gravelly voice shout, "WHAT THE FUCK? YOU DARE PULL A FUCKING KNIFE ON ME?"

We could hear shouting now and sickly thuds that sounded like large fists hitting a soft body.

Then there was screaming. Suddenly the front door flew open the wrong way as the hinges snapped and the skinhead's unconscious body flew backwards through it to land in a bloody heap, one arm was held out oddly and was bent in a right angle halfway between the elbow and wrist. Alan followed it inside. He was dressed only in his boxer shorts, great coat and a pair of trainers. He launched himself forward and stamped heavily on the skinhead's blood covered head, "MOTHERFUCKER!"

Alan turned towards Nathan and shouted, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" as he stormed forward flailing his giant fists. I grabbed Nathan and pulled him back so that I was between them and cried, "Alan! He's with me! Alan! Alan! He's with me!"

That calmed him down, but he was still breathing heavily. He looked down at me, "Are you okay, Manni?"

I nodded as I too tried to calm my breathing. Then Alan turned towards Nathan, "What about you, Mate? You good?"

Nathan looked like he was in shock as he simply nodded and let the knife fall from his numb fingers. Alan grabbed the unconscious thug, dragged him out of the flat and kicked him down the stairs. Then he came back into the flat and asked, "You two sure you're okay?"

I looked at Nathan as he sat heavily on my sofa with his head in his hands. I was distraught. I couldn't believe it. I really thought my luck was changing, but first it was Steve and now this!

Nathan had offered me a fantastic opportunity and I had done nothing except put his life in grave danger. I knew that there was no chance now of Nathan wanting anything to do with me. Not after this!

I felt my eyes start to fill with tears, I whispered quietly, "It's not fair."

The tears started to flow and my voice quavered as it got louder, "It's not fair! It's not fucking fair!"

I couldn't help it, I started to sob and fell back on to the sofa next to Nathan, I covered my face with my hands and started screaming, "I can't do this any more! I FUCKING HATE THIS PLACE! IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!"

My body was shaking uncontrollably as I struggled to breathe. My eyes were streaming and I could feel my nose and throat blocking up with mucus, but still I needed to scream, "ONE CHANCE I HAD! ONE FUCKING... SHITTING... BASTARDING... CUNTING, FUCKING CHANCE! AND NOW IT'S GONE!"

I screamed.

A wordless, primal roar of despair and rage.

I felt a pair of arms enfold me, I had no idea whose. I buried my face into a shoulder and continued to howl. The arms just continued to hold me tight as the sobs racked my body.

I knew I was stuck in this shit hole... This nightmare... For the rest of my fucking worthless life. I couldn't help but whimper, "I'm not a bad person. What did I do to deserve all this? What did I fucking do?"

I felt the arms release me and I fell back on to the sofa. My hands covered my face as I cried. In the distance I could just make out a conversation.

"You pack her some clothes. She can't stay here any more."

"Have you got space for her?"

"It'll be a squeeze but I can manage."

"Tell you what, she can stay at mine. I've got plenty of room."

"If you're sure."

"Fucking right I'm sure. I'm not gonna let her stay on this estate any more."

"Okay. I'll nip back to mine and get some clothes on. Then we'll get her and her stuff to your car."

I heard noises, but they didn't really register, I felt a pair of huge arms gently lift me up and carry me like I was a baby. Dimly I heard voice say, "I'll be back for this fucker! I know who he is and I know where he fucking lives!"

I heard the dull thud of a foot striking a ribcage and Alan's gravelly tones, "Cunt!"

I was slid onto the back seat of a car and the door closed. A voice said, "You want me to come with you?"

"No, I think we'll be okay."

"You look after her. She's my best friend."

"I will."

An engine fired up and the I felt the car move. Some indeterminable time later, the sound of the engine stopped and I felt an arm tug me gently from the car. I was led upstairs and placed on a bed, someone threw a duvet over me and I felt a hand stroke the hair back from my face. The light went out and I drifted off to sleep.

I woke late the next morning and looked up at a ceiling I didn't recognise. It wasn't covered in cracks for one thing and for another, it had many cobwebs. Raising my head I saw that I was in a bedroom full of cardboard boxes and then it all came rushing back to me. I sat up and looked around, then I crawled out of bed and made my way downstairs. Nathan was in the kitchen making a pot of coffee, he looked at me, "You okay?"

I nodded briefly and then said, "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For all the trouble last night. For putting you in danger."

"Don't be silly. It wasn't your fault."

He offered me a mug of coffee and I spooned three sugars into it.

"Where are my clothes?" I asked.

He waved towards the lounge, I grabbed a couple of bin bags and just threw some stuff into them. They're on the sofa. We can go back to your flat today and get the rest."

I shook my head sorrowfully, "No point. With no front door, the flat will have been stripped clean by now."

"Oh."

I placed my drink on the dining table, grabbed the bin bags, took them back upstairs and tipped them on to the bed to see what I had left. Five blouses, three pairs of jeans, seven skirts, one of which didn't really fit properly and couple of pairs of shoes, neither of which were my nicest ones. The other bag had a pair of trainers and the contents of my sock drawer in it. I couldn't see any underwear.

Strangely, what upset me the most wasn't the loss of almost my entire wardrobe along with everything else I owned in the flat, it was the fact that I'd lost the fancy underwear that Erica had bought me. They were the only present I had received since my seventeenth birthday.

I made my way back downstairs and finished my coffee in silence as I sat on the sofa. I heard a knock on the front door. Nathan answered it and then led Alan and Erica in to see me. I looked at Erica and burst into tears, "I'm sorry. I've lost the lovely undies you bought me."

She rushed over and gathered me in her tiny arms. She said, "Never mind that. As long as you're okay."

Eventually I calmed back down and brought my tears under control. Nathan made sure everyone who wanted one had a drink and then we took stock. Alan said, "I checked the flat... Empty."

Erica asked me what clothes I had and when I detailed what I had upstairs, Nathan was flustered, "Sorry. I didn't think. I just grabbed a couple of armfuls. I didn't realise the flat would be gutted."

"It's okay," I replied.

"No it's not okay! It's my fault you haven't any clothes, so it's my responsibility to replace them."

I shook my head, "No, I couldn't ask you to do that."

Nathan grinned at me and fixed me in place with his eyes, "Good job you didn't ask then. So now I have to do it. And I won't accept no for an answer."

"Okay. Thank you... I'll pay you back, I promise."

He grinned. "Nope. Call it one­off clothing allowance."

"I couldn't."

"You can. You will. That's where this conversation stops."

I found myself grinning back at him, "I'm not gonna win this one, am I?"

"No, Midnight. You're not."

Alan, flopped down next to me on the sofa and we chatted about what had happened and what I was going to do. Nathan wandered back through to the kitchen and put a frying pan on the stove for bacon butties. Erica followed him and I could see them talking quietly in the kitchen as he fried the rashers of bacon.

Alan said, "So how come he's allowed to call you Midnight? Don't think I've ever known you allow that."

I smiled, "I just like the way he says it... The way he means it."

Alan looked like he was going to pursue it, but decided against it and merely shrugged. To be honest, I was pleased about that. The reason I liked it felt deeply personal to me. Very private, too private for even Alan to know. I couldn't explain it, but I wanted to keep it between me and Nathan. It was special. It was ours.

The chat moved on to other things until Nathan and Erica came back in. He carried a plate piled high with bacon butties and Erica had a tray with four more mugs of coffee. They set the breakfast on the dining table and Nathan said, "Come on, dig in."

As we ate, Erica said, "Manni, I'm taking you shopping when we're done here. You need a new wardrobe."

Alan grimaced, "I hope I don't have to come. I've better things to do than be dragged around the shops."

She laughed, "You don't have to. Me and Nathan have already sorted it out."

After breakfast was done, we all piled into Nathan's car. It had to be explained to Alan, that we needed Nathan's car because the boot was bigger. That surprised me and I wondered just how many things I was going to buy today.

When we got to the city centre, Nathan parked up in the multi­storey car park and then handed the keys to me, "You can load the car when you're done to save you carrying it all about."

We made our way out to the High Street.

END OF CHAPTER THREE