Mournful Sunset

 

Darius stirred in his sleep, the bed was a little too short and he hadn’t been able to stretch his legs, he was going to wake up with cramp he knew it. Veronica jabbed him in the ribs, he grunted. She whispered in his ear. He did his best to ignore her.

‘Dee, Dee’ she said loudly, her voice echoing eerily around the chamber.

‘What?’ he snapped.

‘Are you awake?’

‘I am now, what’s up?’

‘What time is it?’

‘I don’t know, what does your watch say’ Darius said.

‘I don’t know, I’ve left it in the house. The strap was irritating my wrist so I took it off.’ It’s not the only thing that’s irritating, Darius thought. ‘Do you think we should open the lid and see?’

‘No, its too early, it wont be safe.’ Darius said.

They lay still for a while longer. Darius was about to drop off again.

‘When you were little, did you ever dream about living forever?’ Veronica asked as they lay in the darkness.

‘No.’

‘What did you dream about then?’ she asked, not willing to give up.

‘I thought I was going to be a superhero. But you grow out of those dreams as you get older don’t you.’ Darius replied, trying to remember his childhood.

‘I don’t think I’ve grown out of my dreams.’ Veronica said. ‘I wanted to be a ballerina.’

‘And you still want to be a ballerina?’

‘Well, if I had the call, yeah. I wouldn’t say no. I can dance.’

Darius sighed. ‘Well, there is a slight possibility that if all the prima donnas in the world died in a train crash, the Royal Ballet might come knocking, but I’m never going to have super powers, am I?’

‘I suppose not. What’s the time?’ she asked.

‘I still don’t know.’

‘Why don’t you have a watch anyway?’ Veronica asked.

‘They don’t really work on me, something about magnetic forces. I read it somewhere. When I wear a watch, it just stops.’

‘So, you can stop time?’ Veronica sounded excited. ‘See, you do have a super power.’

‘No, the watch stops, time carries on.’

‘You could be The Stopwatch Kid. You’ve already got a cape.’

‘Why do I have to be a kid? I’m a grown man. Anyway, it’s more of an opera cape, it wouldn’t stop bullets.’

‘I don’t think superheroes capes stop bullets.’ Veronica said. ‘I think its more of a flying thing.’

‘Well, either way my opera cape doesn’t make me a super hero.’

Veronica went quiet again, Darius hoped she would drift off to sleep, but he should have known better.

‘Dee, I have a question.’ She asked. ‘Would you rather…’

‘Oh God, not again.’ Veronica’s “would you rather” questions never went well, and regardless of what he said she always ended up just agreeing with him.

‘No, this is a good one.’ She said. Darius was doubtful.

‘Would you rather fight a thousand beetle sized lions, or one lion sized beetle?’

She had surpassed herself this time. Darius thought for a minute.

‘What sort of beetle?’ he asked.

‘Umm, I don’t know.’

‘Well, does it have venom? Is it poisonous?’

‘No, lets say its not poisonous.’ She decided.

‘Then, probably, I’d go for the lion sized beetle.’ Darius said.

‘Would you really? Yuk, I hate beetles. A big one would scare me. I think I’d go for the tiny lions. You could stamp on them. Stamp, stamp, stamp.’

‘But there’s a thousand of them. What if they swarmed up your leg like ants, biting you as they go?’ Darius asked.

Veronica retched. ‘I think I’m gonna be sick.’

‘Not in here!’ he shouted. He stroked her hair gently and she seemed to settle down. Last thing he needed was to be shut in a confined space covered in Veronica vomit.

‘Here’s one for you, take your mind off it. Would you rather be a penguin that can’t swim or an eagle that can’t fly?’ he asked.

‘Oh, that’s a good one.’ She beamed. ‘I don’t know. Which one would you choose?’

Darius rolled his eyes. The eagle obviously. If you’re a penguin that can’t swim you can’t catch fish, so you’d starve. But an eagle who can’t fly could still probably catch small rodents or eat some berries or something.’

‘Do eagles eat berries?’

‘I don’t know, probably if they were hungry. Last Christmas those pigeons ate the berries on our holly bush. Remember?’

Veronica chuckled at the memory of the pigeons covered in red berry juice. ‘What time is it?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Well, what time does it feel like?’

‘It feels like five minutes since you asked me before.’ Darius was growing impatient.

‘It might be safe now. It might have gone. Shall we risk a sneak peek?’ Veronica asked.

Darius was torn between staying safe and a desperate urge to get away from the incessant questions. ‘OK, we’ll push the lid off together. We should be able to manage it if we push at the same time.’

‘I read somewhere that I’m stronger than ten men. Do you think that’s true?’ Veronica asked.

‘I think it’s a bit of a generalisation. Why?’

‘I just wondered who those men were. I thought maybe I’d met them.’

‘It just means we are ten times stronger than the average man, I think.’ Darius concluded.

Veronica looked a little disappointed. She was looking forward to meeting those men sometime.

‘OK after three we’ll push the lid off.’ Darius said.

‘Wait, is that after three or on three? Are you going to count to three then we push or do we push when you say three?’

Darius sighed again. ‘I’ll count one, two, three, then I’ll say push. OK?’

They both laid their hands against the cool stone lid above them and braced themselves.

‘One, Two, Three, Push!’

The stone lid slid off the tomb and the two vampires sat up. Darius looked around and then his heart sank. The last few rays of the suns light were still above the horizon, they were too early. On the other hand, the sunset was beautiful, it had been so long since he had seen one. The whole world seemed to be bathed in a warm orange glow, it looked almost peaceful. The last thing Darius heard before the solar rays took him to meet his ancestors was Veronica’s voice.

‘Can you smell burning?’