The Starling Vigilante [Watty's 2015 Award Winner]

Chapter 30

'Let's try it again, shall we?' Merlyn asked rhetorically, placing the terrible test in the middle of us yet again, it's scalding steam making me feel sleepy.

'I guess so,' I supposed. If it helped me feel pain less severely, like spilling coffee on my hands, then Merlyn was probably right. I just had to have a 'mind over matter' approach to the test so I didn't feel the pain as much.

Putting my hand over the bowl, I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable, telling myself that it was going to be fine. As I felt the hot water against my skin, it was considerably less painful than the day before, my lack of resentment helping.

'You are proving to be strong, Aria,' Merlyn observed, almost as though he was congratulating me. 'But not strong enough. We need to keep working at it.'

Rolling my eyes, I wiped my hand dry and went to get my black-and-white checked jacket from the table top I had lazily chucked it upon. I needed to meet Laurel, both of us automatically becoming friends from the word go. We seemed to really get on.

'Where are you going?' Merlyn inquired domineeringly, standing up at my attempted departure.

'To meet a friend,' I purposely said vaguely. Why did it matter who I met or what I did so much to Merlyn? His constant check ups were starting to get on my nerves.

'Just before you go,' Merlyn started. 'I would like you to say hello to my son before he starts suspecting things.'

'Okay,' I said. I still had an hour until I was meeting with Laurel anyway, and I kinda needed to meet Tommy to make my cover story seem more realistic.

Leaving the basement entrance and making our way up to the official front door of Merlyn's mansion, Merlyn and I entered the house, me carrying my belongings as though I had just arrived.

Strolling into the main corridor of the house, we passed many rooms and other corridors leading off the corridor, it's enormity astonishing me, making me wonder how much money Merlyn actually had.

'Welcome to the Merlyn residence,' Merlyn said sarcastically.

After a minute or so we heard footsteps approaching us, their owner sounding reluctantly hurried.

'Dad... I didn't know you were back...' a man in his early twenties said, his features looking very similar to Merlyn's. Of course, it was Tommy. His resentment in his voice and how he looked at Merlyn showcased Merlyn's description of their relationship.

Suddenly, Tommy's eyes interlocked with mine, their grey bleakness making me feel sorry for his loss of a childhood father figure.

'And who is this?' He smiled confusedly, trying to use his charm but figure out who I was.

'Aria Coleman,' Merlyn explained. 'She is the new Forensic Scientist for the SCPD and she needed somewhere to stay.'

'You're being generous all of a sudden?' Tommy asked impertinently.

'For a friend, yes,' Merlyn said simply.

'Well I'd hate to be your friend,' Tommy commented sarcastically, smiling at me almost in sympathy.

'Tommy, will you show Aria the way to the spare bedroom?' Merlyn asked, annoyed at his son's inability to say one nice thing to him.

'Sure, come this way,' Tommy led the way with a sharp turn up the oaken staircase, it's steps creaking each time I advanced upwards.

'Thankyou,' I said as we travelled through the corridor. He clearly didn't get along with his father, so why help his father's friend? 'Why did you do what your father said? It's clear you don't like him.'

'To save you from being in his company,' Tommy grinned. 'You didn't look like you enjoyed being with him either.'

'I guess we have something in common then,' I remarked. Tommy seemed a perfectly nice guy, despite his father being the man he was.

'Why are you here anyway if you don't like my father?' Tommy asked inquisitively. He was very good at picking up on things.

'He offered me accommodation,' I said, thinking fast. This seemed to keep happening. 'And it wasn't like I could say no. I would be homeless if I hadn't come here. Everywhere else I had looked at was taken. And, Merlyn helped me get a job at the SCPD.'

'So you'll have already met Oliver then,' Tommy said.

'I take it you're friends?' I asked.

'Yeah, I'm always at his house to escape my dad,' Tommy answered. So Oliver was the friend Merlyn had warned me about and wanted me to stop them doing stupid things together. It all made sense now, Oliver at the SCPD for one of his mistakes. 'I went over there on Monday, actually, to see how he was doing after... What he did, but I didn't see you there.'

'I went home early,' I said. 'Well, to see your father so he could offer me a place here. It was my first day, anyway.'

The irony of it all was that I had been living in the same house as Tommy for a week, and he hadn't even realised. He really believed my story too.

Arriving at the door of my new room, Tommy twisted the handle and I walked inside. It was huge, the walls elegantly wallpapered with gold and purple patterns, a chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling giving me a sense of Merlyn's wealth. The velvety carpets softly sunk as I walked further into the room, the wide open space taking me by surprise.

And this was what the Merlyns called a spare room.

'It's... Big,' I said, not knowing what to say.

'That's 'cause it... Used to be my parents room,' Tommy explained on a more serious note. 'When my dad lost my mom, I guess he just couldn't cope being in the same room she used to sleep in.'

I really felt sorry for the guy, losing his mother as a child and then having to cope with a frequently absent father who he detested. Everyone who I met seemed to be troubled or were trouble. I just couldn't understand why everything had to be so complicated.

'I'm sorry you had to lose your mum,' I said to Tommy.

'Hey, it's fine, I've had a long time to get used to it,' he said, although the sorrow in his eyes telling a different story.

Looking down at my watch, I realised I needed to set off if I wanted to meet Laurel in time.

'I'm sorry, I have to go,' I said quickly, worried about being late. That wouldn't exactly give a friend a good impression.

'Bye, then,' Tommy waved, smiling. He seemed so different to the troublesome, Playboy persona I had imagined of Tommy from the help of Merlyn, his image of his son different to the real version of Tommy.

And then I realised I somehow had to protect him. And I had no idea how I was going to do just that.