Chapter 5: Little Indians

Most afternoons Penn, Dee and Madeleine used their freedom to roam the village. They found a few houses that were empty, dark, with their doors unlocked. Although they probably shouldn't have, they would just enter them and explore. They looked lived-in, as if their owners had simply walked out one day and never returned. Madeleine wondered aloud about who might once have lived here, and made a game of trying to find a diary, or a journal, or a portrait, indeed, any indication of who had lived here.

Nothing of the sort could never be found, and the residents of each house remained a mystery.

In retrospect, Penn could never put his finger on the moment when he realised that something was amiss. The strangeness of village life could no longer be denied. It did not make him feel ill at ease. On the contrary, these were still the happiest times of his life.

He lost count of the number of times he would see something, or think of someone, or try to do something, only to be pulled up short as his memory of the world was contradicted by reality.

Penn had been used to visiting some of the farms around the village after school ... but he could no longer remember for what purpose. The farmer would often feed him, and she would give him fresh milk, and eggs.

Since the start of the school year, he had stopped making these visits, because the edge of the village had now become the edge of his world. Every time he intended to head out, as soon as he stepped past the last house in the village, he realised that he no longer had any destination in mind, and found himself turning around and walking back.

It was as if some invisible barrier came down in his mind whenever he tried to see beyond the limits imposed upon him. He couldn't even remember what any of the farms looked like now, and he couldn't seem to form a picture of anything else outside town. As with everything else, none of this seemed to touch him emotionally.

Whenever a contradiction was blatant, a momentary burst of panic would shoot up his spine. Dee and himself had once had neighbours, he knew that, all the houses in their street had once been occupied. But now, many of the houses were empty. Who were his neighbours? Where had they gone? Why didn't anyone speak of this? The panic never lasted. A feeling of calm would soon wash over him, and he decided that it didn't matter very much. Soon he had trouble remembering the inconsistency at all.

Penn and Dee had plenty of stores at home, so there was no concern yet of either of them going hungry, and they still had Madeleine and her magical family to visit.

As village life continued to get stranger, Penn and Dee continued to have their weekly dinner at Mrs Beale's house. These times were like islands of calm, a slice of village life from before the Lilith spawn had started their strange intrusion.

Tonight's conversation had rearranged itself to avoid the present day, as discussion of village life would inevitably flow towards something that had been lost, and the memory hole would become apparent to all. This usually resulted in an awkward silence.

Penn and Madeleine didn't talk very much at the table tonight. Madeleine had slipped off one of her sandals, and the way she rubbed her bare foot up his legs, and sometimes higher, was very naughty. Penn found it hard to concentrate, but Madeleine hid her subterranean activities very well, except for the odd sly smile which stole in his direction. After Poe winked at him, Penn pushed Madeleine's foot away, but Madeleine's toe was soon back again, creeping up his inner thigh, and he held her foot, and squeezed, hoping nobody else would notice their preoccupation.

Penn and Madeleine crept off to her room straight after dinner. Closing the door, they embraced, and kissed more deeply than ever before. Penn was out of his depth, and spent himself into his trousers almost immediately. Madeleine dropped her hand down, and smiled into the kiss as she felt his slimy moisture, and her fingers played in it. Penn felt chastened by his little accident for only a very short time, and was soon emboldened. He had always worried about embarrassing himself for his first time, but this way he felt a greater sense of control, and his passion was still as yet undiminished.