Part 5
Dan was bewildered.
"Why would you do that when we try to give you the best of everything?"
"The Philip Larkin effect: 'They fuck you up, your Mum and Dad'. Try and push me in a certain direction, insulate me against the big, bad world, shield me from bad influences and I'll rebel. The more you protect me from something, the more curious ahl be aboot it. Simple reverse psychology."
Dan had his head in his hands; whether to block the voice or to aid what he was being told sinking in, he wasn't sure.
"Yer wonderin' whut ye can do aboot his, aren't ye?" Quentin chided. "Maybe it's everythin', maybe it's sweet F.A. It all depends on how willin' ye are to stand up to Miss Fuckin' Hitler there and let me find out things for myself, make mistakes, do the normal shit that any inquisitive young buck does. Dinnae let her try and smother my own instincts.Ye know whit happens when people are denied their own impulses? Priests end up fisting alter boys. And that's jist one example among many!"
"So if I try and encourage a bit of freedom and leniency you might not become, what...a murderer,a psycopath; a rapist?"
"Ahm no' promisin' anthin'! I still think ye's be too much of a fanny to stand up to the wench! Besides, who'll say ahl stop at rape and murder? If ah sneakily wrap the cord around my neck on the way out, I can be forgiven for all sorts of shit it later life. 'Starved of oxygen; not right in the head'.
The voice cackled and coughed again.
"Of course, I might jist devote all ma energy to making jist your lives a fuckin' misery!"
"So you want to keep the element of surprise then, you deranged little bastard?" snarled Dan.
"What would be the fun otherwise?" sniggered the Voice. Dan had entirely decided against Quentin for a name at this point. That name evoked images of a pipe-smoking academic in tweed, strolling beside the River Cam, not some nicotine-addles, sociopthic tramp.
"Ah could be a complete angel," the Voice went on; "Mummy's wee saint. I could be polite to my elders, dae well at schools, never say boo tae a ghost. That is until youse pair o' cunts wake up tied tae the bed wi' me holding a can o' fuckin' petrol and a box o' matches!"
The Voice laughed, coughed again, and was silent as Karen stirred in her sleep. frowning slightly, as if sensing the antagonsism in the air. The Voice was silent, ascertaining that she was not going to wake. When it was sure it spoke again, quietly yet vociferously.
"Dae ye want to keep yer fuckin' voice doon, ye'll wake her up! Ah've got one last warnign for ye. Dinnae even think of having any more after me, got it? I won't stand fer any usurpers. Think on next time ye go near herr....oh hang on, she's waking up!"
At this, the Voice was gone.
Dan thought he could hear the words "Remember what I said" entering his brain, yet negating the usual passage of his ears.
Karen yawned, stretched, and heaved herself upright; peering drowsily at the visibly shaken Dan.
"You okay? I thought I heard raised voices."
"Just nightmares." Dan mumbled.
"They'll be fucking drink demons the amount you piled away tonight," she chided, without rancour. "Anyway, I need the loo. Feels like my waters are about to bust."
She switched on the bedside light and got out of bed. Dan waited until she's left the room and tiptoed after her, his silence abetted by the thick carpet. As she reached the top of the stairs, he came up swiftly behind her.

And pushed.

The END
( Boss Keloid Got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm, Sun 6 Jul 2008, 20:39, Reply)