Spindle Wood (COMPLETED)

Chapter 51

It rained for a week. It might only be early August but it felt like summer was well and truly over.

"Pat, where're you going?" Roman asked as Pat headed for his shoes. Pat stopped in his tracks and looked up.

"Out. I wanted a walk."

"You can't go for a walk in this weather." Roman commented, throwing another log into their tiny hearth. The weather had turned downright dismal and it was turning cold as well. "You'll catch your death of cold."

"I could take my coat." Pat suggested. Roman shook his head.

"Sorry, little man, but I think the walk's gonna have to wait until it brightens up."

"But-"

"But nothing, you'll get ill." Roman said. He rubbed his hands and stood up. "Sorry, I just don't think it's for the best."

"But dada-" Pat whined.

"You can go for a walk tomorrow if it clears up." Roman said. "Just not today, yeah? It's not the end of the world."

Pat sighed dramatically and stormed up to his room, shutting the door behind him. Roman blinked and shook his head.

"Human teenagers." He thought. "Strange beings."

Up in his room, Pat was frantically apologising to Logan in his head. Perhaps if he thought hard enough, his words would reach the prince.

"I'm sorry Lo, I'm sorry Lo, I'm sorry Lo," he kept thinking and thinking. There was nothing else to do, anyway.

He'd done all his sums and read through his histories and learnt his science all in preparation for meeting Logan. Get it all done and he'd have more time. It was all for nothing now.

Pat slumped down at the window and rested his chin on his arm. He tapped his fingers on the window sill and watched the rain trickle down the glass. If he was in a story, he probably would've seen someone leave suspiciously or arrive and decided to follow them. But he didn't. He just saw rain.

Pat had never really hated anything before. Now, he decided he hated rain. Hated it. It was keeping him from Logan.

And he'd been so excited, too. There had been so much he'd wanted to talk to Logan about.

The thing was, despite knowing that Logan felt the same way, he hadn't been able to get him off his mind. Every single thought was peppered with what Logan would do or say if he was here. Was this a normal thing?

Pat supposed he could ask Dada or Papa. But they might get suspicious and he didn't want them finding out that way. Maybe one day Logan could meet them. Maybe...

Pat could imagine it, though. Logan being so polite and maybe even nervous. Uncle Remus would love him. Unquestionably. Dada would too. Papa... maybe not right away. But once he knew and saw that Logan cared about Pat too, he would be perfectly fine with it.

Pat sighed again and stood up from the window. He flopped onto his bed and lay on his back, tracing patterns on the ceiling. It was like cloud spotting only the patterns never changed.

There were a couple spider webs in the corners of his room. Despite the fortnightly clean he always did, there were some parts of his room he could never quite reach. He'd never actually seen a spider, though.

Maybe it was to do with the conkers he lined up on his window sill every Autumn. Uncle Remus said spiders hated the smell. Pat wasn't so sure. Despite how many times he'd sniffed conkers to see what was so bad about them, he'd never found anything. Maybe spiders just had special noses.

It would be September soon. It would be Autumn soon. That would mean conker collecting and brightly coloured leaves and low sunshine filtering through the trees. It would mean walks with an added crunch and apples and hedgehogs nestling down for the winter. It would mean Bonfire Night and longer evenings and stargazing with Papa and Dada. It would mean foggy mornings and dark, silent nights.

It might also mean less Logan. Less trips, less excuses. Less of everything.

Why did summer have to be over so fast?

We are getting some very complentative (is that a word?) chapters. Hope you enjoy, I guess.
Bye,
Blaize