manathrir-blog

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Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077

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“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.”

— Richard Bach

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Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077

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Chapter Two

The park was practically empty, with only the occasional person walking past with their headphones in. Dan sat idly swinging, waiting for Jane. She was late. She’d also missed two classes earlier that day. She’d never acted like this before. “It’s fucking freezing,” he said aloud to himself, breathing out and watching his breath rise and disperse. He checked his phone. No new messages from Jane. He began typing a text to her when he looked up and saw her walking across the grass. “Hi there!” she said brightly. She seemed better, much more herself. “Where have you been?” Dan asked, frustrated. “You’re nearly half an hour late.” “Sorry,” she said, “got caught up helping my mum out. Anyways, it’s not like you had anywhere else to be.” She grinned and sat in the swing next to him. “I could be sat inside not freezing my balls off,” he said. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re really coarse,” she laughed. Dan felt relieved. She was teasing him, engaged in what he was saying. This was a far cry from the Jane he’d seen the last few days, nose buried in some sort of research. “So what’s up Jane? Do you really want to talk to me about the creepy church or can we steer into something more interesting?” His directness seemed to catch her off guard. She started to shift uncomfortably in the swing. “Well, I do. I’ve been looking into it a lot the last couple of days and it’s way more interesting than Mrs Morrisson let on. When the woman was burned the people were afraid to go back into the church. The priest said it was fine, but after about a week he went mad. Since then there’s stories of people going in to investigate the place or tourists having a wander but they all come out….,” she hesitated, “different somehow.” “Different how?” Dan said, narrowing his eyes. “Every person that I can find documentation of had a different problem, but it was always psychological at the root. Don’t you think that’s fascinating? And it’s in our own town!” “I’m not sure I’d say fascinating. And I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with this. What’s the point of doing all this research anyway?” Dan asked. “Because I’m going to go to the church,” she answered. Silence fell between them. Jane stared at Dan, waiting for him to speak, a pleading look on her face. When he did speak, it was in a quiet, low voice. “I can’t believe you. You’re sitting there, talking about all this stuff you’ve found out, all this madness, and your response is that you want to go in and see it? You don’t need to go to the church Jane, you’re already insane.” He stood up and looked her straight in the eye. “And I suppose you’re telling me this because you want me to go with you?” She nodded, her face fallen and her eyes shining with tears. “No,” he said. He turned and walked away. Jane put her head in her hands.

Half an hour later, Jane stepped through the front door into her house. Ahead of her she saw her mum dishing up food in the kitchen. “Good, you’re home,” she said. “I was just about to phone you. Get ready quickly, dinner’s ready.” She looked up at Jane and her expression changed. She noticed how puffy Jane’s eyes were, and how flushed her face was. She’d obviously been crying. “What’s happened Jane? Are you all right?” she asked, rushing over. “I’m fine,” Jane insisted, “Dan and I just had a fight, that’s all.” “Ok,” her mum said, somewhat placated. “We can talk about it after dinner. Go and take your coat off.” Jane did as she was told and sat down next to her brother and father at the kitchen table. Soon enough the air was filled with conversation. Not particularly interesting conversation, granted, but a welcome distraction from her thoughts nonetheless. The usual topics were covered, from how school was, to dad’s daily bargain purchase. It was all so familiar. All so comfortable. But ultimately, also quite dull. When the meal was over, Jane helped her mum clear the plates and load the dishwasher. “Mum, can I ask you something?” she ventured. “Of course you can. Is it about Dan?” she replied. “No. I don’t want to talk about him” Jane snapped. “I wanted to ask if I could go somewhere at the weekend.” “Oh I see – where are you wanting to go?” “It’s just this old church on the far side of town. We’ve been studying it in history at school and I’m just really interested in it.” Her mum paused, only for a second. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed, but Jane did. “Why do you want to give yourself more work honey? I think you should just leave it be and try and make up with Dan.” She smiled at Jane. But the air in the room had shifted. It was tense. Jane could tell this wasn’t a negotiation. “Do you know something about that place mum?” she asked. “I’ve got no idea what you mean. I just don’t know why a young teenage girl would want to hang around in a dangerous, dank old church.” “Why would you think it was dangerous?” Jane asked. This time her mum stopped cold. She knew she’d said too much. And she knew Jane knew it too. “You’re not going. And that’s the end of it.” “You can’t stop me.” “Yes I can. You’re grounded. You’re not leaving this house for any reason other than school until you get this stupid notion out of your head. Now go to your room.” She turned and kept filling the dishwasher. Jane was so taken aback she couldn’t argue. She’d never been grounded before. She’d never even really been scolded by her mother before. She turned and went upstairs to her room.

Upstairs, her mood darkened. Anger seeped into her body and she sat in silence. When her mum looked in on her later, Jane didn’t say a word. She was going to that church. Fuck them. Her mum and Dan. It was just a building. Mrs Morrisson was right, there was no curse on the place. She picked up her phone and checked out the church online. It was just over half an hours walk from her house, heading towards the edge of town. “I could go tonight when they go to sleep and none of them would even know.” She smiled to herself, feeling smug. She’d prove them wrong.

For the rest of the evening she lay in bed, listening out for her parents falling asleep. Eventually, at around eleven thirty, she heard the sound of snoring coming from her parents room. She waited another half an hour just to make sure before she got up. She’d already packed a small bag with a waterproof jacket and bottle of water. Slowly and quietly she put her shoes on, with every small noise she made sounding huge. She made her way down the stairs and quietly unlocked the front door. Once outside, she locked it again and quickly walked down the path and started down the street. She checked the map quickly, making sure she was headed the right way. Satisfied she looked up and smiled.

Twenty minutes into the walk she was grateful for her preparation as rain started to pour down. She quickly put it on and tried not to take it as a sign. “This isn’t creepy,” she thought, “this is perfectly normal.” She kept walking and after a short distance the wind began to pick up. Soon, it was an effort to push herself forward through it. She quickened her pace and put her trepidation to the back of her mind, ignoring her sudden urge to be home in a warm, comfortable bed. The streets were practically empty, with only the odd car passing her or an occasional drunk stumbling down the road. She ignored it all, fixing her gaze directly in front of her. Before long, she turned the corner and found herself exactly where she had aimed to be. Standing across from the church.

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x.

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A work in progress.....

Chapter One

It was a bright, cool morning when Jane opened up her front door, smiling from ear to ear. It was her first day back at school and where most teenagers dreaded it she couldn’t help but be excited. She was a good student, smart, who enjoyed her classes and seeing her friends. She was relatively tall for a sixteen year old girl, with red hair that fell to her neck in soft ringlets. Her school uniform, if that’s what a black jumper, white shirt and jeans could be called, largely hid the shape of her body, which was exactly how she liked it.

She strode down the path from her front door and started the short walk to her friends house, where she would meet him every day to walk to school. Dan was her complete opposite. He loathed school, with the exception of seeing his friends, and she could just imagine the slow, lethargic walk she was about to see from him. True to form, he was running late, and so she stood at his gate for several minutes before he appeared. “Hi there!” Jane said brightly, doing her best to head off his lack of enthusiasm before he’d even spoken. He looked up at her slowly. “Hi,” he drawled, his backpack slung half-heartedly on his back. He was walking, as Jane had predicted, at a pace reserved for wounded sloths. “Wow. I knew you would be slow this morning, but this is something else,” she joked. He glared at her. “How can it be time to go back to school,” he said. “I swear we just finished.” “Alas, you are mistaken, my friend. So let’s go!” she said. Dan looked at her again, as if he didn’t understand her in the slightest. “You are way too fucking cheerful.”

As they approached the school Janes’ smile broadened. Students were coming from every direction, heading towards the school. All the faces she recognised and the new ones she didn’t. She couldn’t wait to get in. Before she could get any further, she heard a voice call out from behind them. “I see you two decided to come back then? Shame, you should have done us all a favour and just killed yourselves.” They turned around and saw Sarah walking towards them. She was beautiful. She had long brown hair and was wearing a sleek fitted dress that clung in all the right places. To Jane’s pointed chagrin she was also actually very intelligent. If she wasn’t such an utter bitch she would have quite liked her. “Thanks for that Sarah,” she said. “Mind if we carry on with our day now?” “Not at all,” Sarah replied. “I’m sure you’ll present me with another opportunity to insult you soon enough.” She kept walking past them, gliding seamlessly into an excited conversation with her friends. Or, more accurately to Janes mind, into talking at a group of mindless followers.

They continued into the school and on to registration, where they were handed their new timetables. A quick look showed that Jane and Dan overlapped in several classes, including their first of the new year. “Fuck me sideways,” he said. “Our first class is History? With Morrisson? Why don’t you just shoot me in the face now.” “That seems ever so slightly melodramatic,” Jane said. “You can’t be telling me you like her classes? I know you bone school and everything but come on.” “Admittedly, she’s….highly strung” Jane replied. “Oh yes, highly strung,” Dan said sarcastically, “that’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Fifteen minutes later they found themselves sat in History. Mrs Morrison, a tall and thin woman with features that could be, at best, described as severe, stood over them glaring. “We’re here to learn about history. Our main topic this term will be local history. If you keep quiet and listen, we’ll have no problems. If not, I’ll fail you, and believe me when I say I’ll enjoy it.” The lesson began, and to say it was dry was hugely generous. Even Jane had to admit it was dull. After about half an hour though, something Mrs Morrisson said caught everyone’s attention. “And so, to this day, every person who has gone in has come out insane. Tourists, investigators, everybody.” “Wait, what was that Mrs Morrisson?” shouted a voice from the back of the classroom. Through gritted teeth she said, “I’ll repeat it once more, and that’s it. In the 17th century a young woman in this town was found guilty of being a witch. It was all nonsense of course, as all the convictions were, but she was burned at the stake. The priest at the time condemned her and as he read her last rights, she shouted out a curse, of which there’s a copy in your notes.” “I don’t understand it,” someone shouted, “what language is that?” “It’s Latin you idiot,” she said, “there’s a translation in your notes. But if I must, I’ll read it out:

Hecate triformis dea te invoco Referte ad me et ego sim eis poenis debitum Animos eorum et maledic Monstrare ac tenebras Producant ac tenebras.”

After she had finished reading, a shiver ran around the room. Everybody felt it. “What does it mean?” a girl asked nervously. “The long and the short of it is that they say she cursed the church so that anybody who entered would go insane. And so it has transpired. Whether you choose to believe that is the work of magic or psychology, well, that’s your decision to make.” “Where was the church?” asked Jane, rather too excitedly, “Is it still standing?” “Yes Jane it is. On the outskirts of town, as you head towards the retail park.” Jane sank back down in her chair and felt her mind rushing. This was exciting.

For the next few days Dan saw very little of Jane. In fact, nobody did. She spent most of that time in the library, looking up details of the church and the curse online, binging on any scraps of information she could find. She missed classes, skipped social events and stopped meeting Dan on the way to school. Eventually, on the Friday morning, he bumped into her in the hallway of the school. “Hey there!” he said, “remember me?” For a moment he thought that she genuinely didn’t, she seemed totally dazed and unfocused. She seemed to come back to herself and chuckled. “Hi,” she said, “Sorry but I’m in a rush, I need to get to…” “The library,” said Dan, finishing her sentence. “What’s going on Jane? You’re obsessed with this church, it’s fucking weird.” “No it isn’t,” she retorted angrily, “I’m just interested. Aren’t you? A place where everybody that’s been  in for the last 350 years has come out mad? That’s amazing.” “Amazing? What’s wrong with you?” he said. “Nothing’s wrong with me! Look, just meet in the park later tonight and I’ll fill you in. You’ll be excited too, I swear.” With that she hurried away, leaving Dan standing alone in the hall. He was worried. This didn’t seem right.