Free Taken Away by Celine Kiernan

power that could have made me remain in the house. I had built myself up into such a frenzy in the kitchen that the relief of this – this nothingness – was almost a physical blow. My legs started to shake; my lips began to quiver. Absurdly, I thought, Oh great. Dom is never going to believe me now.
    I must have looked pretty pathetic, because Dom got a blanket from the bunk and wrapped it round me like a cloak. He still hadn’t said a word. He led me to the window, where he left me sitting while he went and grabbed his own blanket before joining me. We sat like two Apaches, our backs to the draughty windowpanes, silently regarding the empty, threatless room.
    He was no fool, my brother. I have no doubt that had he tried to get me to talk, I would have clammed up. But obviously Dom had a better handle on me than I would have ever given him credit for. That, or he was too afraid to ask. Whatever his reasons, he didn’t say a word – just sat gazing pensively out into the room, his eyes roaming from place to place, his face unusually solemn.
    Eventually I started talking, and I didn’t stop until I’d told him everything. I’m not sure what kind of a reaction I expected; certainly not the silence I received. He listened calmly to everything I had to say. When I was done, he waited a minute to be sure I was finished, then his eyes got far away and he rested his chin on his chest, his arms folded underneath his blanket. He chewed absently on the collar of his dressing-gown while he thought about what I’d said.
    The utter normality of the room mocked my every word, and at that moment I felt even my own belief slipping. All sorts of rationales began to wriggle and crawl across the face of my certainty. Perhaps it actually had been a dream? I mean, which would have been the saner option? And in the long run, which wouldI have preferred? I may have spent all my days writing stories about creatures from hell and creatures from space and demons from within – but when it came down to it, what was worse? To be proven right and have this awful truth revealed, or to find that I was just a hysterical baby who’d been frightened by a bad dream?
    I thought about that child’s face, and about that child’s arm and the way its teeth were black against its white lips, and I had no hesitation about which option I would take.
    I waited for Dom to voice his opinion, and for the gentle but insistent rationalisations to begin.
    Let him talk you out of this , I thought, let him rescue you.
    Dom shifted slightly. ‘I was scared of that man,’ he said.
    For a moment I thought he meant one of the men at the pub. But then I remembered his reaction to the other man, the soldier, who had drawn me up the hill, who had led us to the poor auld fella in the sea, and I knew that he was who Dom meant. I felt a little flare of anger cut through my fear. What the hell did he have to do with anything? I’d just told Dom that a monster had crawled out of his bed and he was talking about some bloody sightseeing soldier?
    â€˜We saw him on the top of that hill,’ continued Dom, ‘and all I could think was, That’s him; that’s the bad man. He’s found me. He’ll take me away. ’ He looked at me to see if I understood.
    I understood alright. The bad man . Those were the exact words the goblin-boy had just used. The bad man. Only Dom had thought them first – hours ago.
    â€˜It was a really loud thought, Pat. Do you know what I mean? It filled up my head.’ Dom made a gesture at his temples, a squeezing gesture, and squinted his eyes to indicate the kind of pressure he had experienced. ‘It seemed to push all my other thoughts out of the way. All I knew, all that mattered , was that this was the bad man , and he wanted to take me away . . . When we got to the hill, and he wasn’t there, Jesus, Pat.’ Dom closed his eyes. ‘It’s no lie, I thought