Barry Hutchison - The Crowmaster

In the bottom-right corner of the screen, a little woman was making a series of frantic hand gestures. I knew she was signing for the deaf, but I didn’t understand why whenever the men on screen laughed, she pretended to laugh too.

What was the point in that? Surely deaf people could see the men were laughing? They didn’t need her shaking her belly and contorting her face into a big Santa-Claus-style chortle, did they?

I flicked over to another channel. A skeleton-faced man with a long white beard was looking at an even longer mathematical equation on a whiteboard. I quickly hit a button on the remote and moved on.

The next programme I found was about Egypt. The pyramids were a dead giveaway. Someone was signing for the deaf on this channel too. This time the person doing the sign language was a man. He looked very excited about being on telly. His face moved as if it was made of living Plasticine, and his hand gestures were so wild and frantic he looked in danger of slapping himself unconscious. Every movement and gesture he made was ridiculously exaggerated. I wondered if that was how deaf people shouted at each other.

I watched the strange animated little man until I’d finished the rest of my milk. He was far more interesting than the actual programme and I could have kept watching him all night, but I was yawning now and it felt like sleep might be at least a vague possibility.

I hit the red button on the remote and the picture on screen turned into a thin line of colour, then disappeared completely. Pushing with my legs I bounced up off the couch and took a few steps towards the kitchen.

Something hidden by the gloom on the floor snagged my foot. I barely had time to realise it was one of Ameena’s boots before I stumbled, staggered, then started to fall.

I managed to catch the edge of the coffee table, but still came down hard on my knees. The jolt of my abrupt stop shuddered through me, and I felt the wet glass slip from my fingers.

Crash . The milky tumbler smashed against the wooden tabletop, showering it and the carpet in a hundred sharp crystalline slivers. The shattering sound shook me to the core, and not because I was worried about getting into trouble. It was because the sound had reminded me of something – something I’d been trying hard to forget.

The last time I’d heard glass break had been here in this very room. That time it hadn’t been a drinking glass smashing, though. It had been the window, as my childhood imaginary friend, Mr Mumbles, came crashing through.

Kneeling there on the floor I could remember it all so clearly. The panic as the window came in. The shock as Mr Mumbles fixed me with his beady glare. The sight of him. The smell of him. The feeling of his rough hands around my neck.

My throat tightened as I pushed myself up on trembling legs. I could hear the faint murmurings of movement upstairs now. Someone had heard the glass breaking. A feeling of relief washed over me, easing the knot in my stomach. The memory of my all-too-real imaginary friend had disturbed me, and right at that moment I really didn’t feel like being alone.

And then I realised.

I wasn’t alone.

He was standing there in front of the curtains, just as he had been last time. His wide-brimmed hat curved down, hiding his face in a mask of shadow. His heavy overcoat swished softly back and forth on a breeze I couldn’t feel or hear. His stench hit my nostrils; the familiar stink of filth and decay and of things long dead. It caught way back in my throat and made me gag.

He tilted his head and the light from outside pulled the dark veil from his face. There was the cracked, papery skin. There were the narrowed eyes; the hooked nose, through which his foul breath came whistling in and out.

And there, stretched into a humourless smile, were the lips – thick and bloated, and criss-crossed by a series of short grubby stitches that sealed his mouth tight shut.

My head shook all by itself, trying to deny what my eyes were seeing. But there was no avoiding it. There was no other way of explaining away what I was looking at. I didn’t know he’d done it, but he had. Somehow he’d come back.

Mr Mumbles was back.

Again.

‘Kyle?’ I heard Mum’s voice at the same time the living-room light came on.

‘Mum, move, get out!’ I cried, spinning quickly to face her. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, dressing gown wrapped around her, a finger still on the light switch.

‘What?’ she frowned. ‘Why? What’s wrong?’

‘It’s him,’ I spluttered, turning back to the window. ‘It’s… Wait . Where did he go?’

‘Where did who go?’

‘Mr Mumbles,’ I yelped. ‘He was there. By the window!’

‘What? Are… are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure,’ I told her as I began to search the room. ‘He was right there when you switched the light on.’

‘I didn’t see anyone. It was dark, are you sure—?’

‘He was there , OK?’

Mum stood in silence, watching me check behind the curtains, the couch – anywhere Mr Mumbles might be hiding.

‘What’s all the ruckus?’ asked Ameena, who had now appeared behind Mum. She was wearing the pyjamas Mum had bought for her, and an old dressing gown of Nan’s. This was the fourth night Ameena had slept here, but I still hadn’t got used to seeing her. The sight of her knocked my train of thought, and Mum replied before I could.

‘He thinks he saw Mr Mumbles,’ she explained.

‘I don’t think I saw him, I did see him!’ I dropped to my knees and looked under the coffee table. It was a long shot, but I checked just in case.

‘Well unless he’s eight centimetres tall I doubt he’s under there,’ Ameena said.

‘What, you think this is funny?’ I demanded. ‘Have you forgotten what he did to me? To all of us?’

‘No, I haven’t forgotten,’ she said defensively, ‘but—’

‘But what? But what ?’

‘Look, chill out,’ she told me. ‘If he was here then he’s not here now.’

‘Ameena’s right,’ said Mum before I could reply. ‘Let’s just all go back to bed and we can talk about it in the morning.’

I looked at them both in turn, barely able to believe what I was hearing.

‘Are you nuts ?’ I cried. ‘I’m telling you I just saw Mr Mumbles and you think it can wait till morning?’

‘I know that’s what you think you saw,’ Mum continued, ‘but I was standing right here and I couldn’t see anyone.’

‘He was here!’ I insisted. ‘He was right here! What, was I imagining him or something, is that what you’re saying?’

Mum didn’t speak, but her face said it all.

‘I dunno,’ Ameena shrugged. ‘I saw what happened to him up on the roof, and I don’t think that’s something you come back from. Even if you are an imaginary evil monster guy.’

I glanced between them, still amazed at what I was hearing, but fully aware I wasn’t going to win this argument. Not against both of them.

‘Fine,’ I scowled, ‘let’s all go back to bed. But if you both get murdered in your sleep, don’t come crying to me in the morning.’

* * *

I’m not sure how long I lay there on my bed, propped up against my pillows. An hour? Two? The world outside was still wrapped in darkness and morning felt like a long way away.

I hadn’t been able to relax since returning to my room. I was certain I’d seen Mr Mumbles, but the more time passed the more unbelievable that seemed. Mr Mumbles was dead. Very dead. You couldn’t get much deader. But I’d seen him.

Hadn’t I?

What if he hadn’t been there? Could it have been that I’d been dreaming somehow? Or hallucinating? The lack of sleep and the flashback of the breaking glass could have sent my imagination into overdrive. It was possible, I supposed. And Mum must’ve been there for at least a few seconds before she switched the light on, yet she hadn’t seen anyone in the room besides me.