hands clutched a round, polished metal shield. It glinted in the glow of the bare bulb, and I could havesworn when the light reflected off the thing it actually went
ting
.
I stared at it, barely even noticing Mr Mumbles, who was also gazing at the sculpted sheet of metal that had saved me from his attack. Neither of us, it seemed, knew quite how to react.
He made his mind up before I did. With a screech, he drew back the axe and brought it down hard on the shield. The impact made my whole skeleton vibrate. I slipped my arm into the leather straps on the inside of the shield, just as he slammed down hard with another violent strike. A sharp pain shot along the length of my arm. Even with the shield protecting me, the axe was doing damage. If this didn’t stop soon, it could break my arm in two.
‘L-leave him alone.’
Both my imaginary friend and I turned at the same time to see Ameena getting shakily to her feet. A thick splodge of treacle-like blood clung to her hair just above her left ear, and her eyes were almost rolling backwards into her head. Despite all that, she was still trying to save me. Me. No onehad ever even stuck up for me in school before, so this total stranger was going well beyond the call of duty.
For a second I felt a strange kind of happiness, but the now familiar feeling of utter, absolute terror soon came rushing back. Mr Mumbles had turned his back on me, and was advancing on Ameena. She staggered and slipped back down to the floor, her legs not yet strong enough to support her. I saw him raise the axe. I saw her close her eyes.
Something began to tingle at the base of my neck.
‘GET…AWAY…FROM…HER!’ I roared, my legs launching me forwards like springs. Mr Mumbles turned, the axe still raised above his head. I swung at him with the shield before he could bring the blade down. As the metal connected with his jaw, something like an electric shock coursed across the surface of my skull. For a split second, a bright flash filled my vision. When it cleared, Mr Mumbles was hurtling backwards, a barely recognisable blur of speed.
The metal door bent with a boom and a creak, as the monster crashed through it, tearing it free of the wall. Thewarped aluminium skidded and skittered along the wet driveway, before coming to rest on the road, ten or fifteen metres away. Somewhere inside the wreckage, my imaginary friend lay deathly still.
‘Wow, whoever that dude is, he
really
doesn’t like you,’ said Ameena. I felt her hand slip into mine and braced my arm against her weight as she hauled herself up. She looked out of the garage, seeing the buckled remains of the door for the first time. ‘Whoa,’ she gasped. ‘How did you do that?’
I stared into the empty street. Flashing lights of red and green spilled their Christmassy glow across the tarmac. Behind us, the bare light bulb went out with a fizzle and a pop. ‘I don’t know,’ I managed, eventually. ‘It just sort of…happened.’
‘But it was…I mean, you…it’s not…’ Ameena’s eyes seemed to be focusing properly now, and were open wide with shock. I knew she had a question in there somewhere that was trying to get out, but I didn’t have any way to explain what I’d just done.
‘It must’ve been a lucky punch or something,’ I said.‘Come on, now that he’s down we can go get the police. They can take care of him.’ I chewed my lip. Could the police take care of him? Even if there was an officer on duty, would he be equipped to deal with homicidal imaginary men? I doubted it was something the local constabulary had ever had to worry about before.
‘The police, are you crazy?’ Ameena scoffed. All drowsiness seemed to have left her now, and – aside from the splodge of blood in her hair – she was back to her swaggering self. ‘You just knocked the guy clean through a metal door. With one punch!’
I shrugged, trying my best to play it cool, despite the fact I was trembling from head to toe.
ting
.
I stared at it, barely even noticing Mr Mumbles, who was also gazing at the sculpted sheet of metal that had saved me from his attack. Neither of us, it seemed, knew quite how to react.
He made his mind up before I did. With a screech, he drew back the axe and brought it down hard on the shield. The impact made my whole skeleton vibrate. I slipped my arm into the leather straps on the inside of the shield, just as he slammed down hard with another violent strike. A sharp pain shot along the length of my arm. Even with the shield protecting me, the axe was doing damage. If this didn’t stop soon, it could break my arm in two.
‘L-leave him alone.’
Both my imaginary friend and I turned at the same time to see Ameena getting shakily to her feet. A thick splodge of treacle-like blood clung to her hair just above her left ear, and her eyes were almost rolling backwards into her head. Despite all that, she was still trying to save me. Me. No onehad ever even stuck up for me in school before, so this total stranger was going well beyond the call of duty.
For a second I felt a strange kind of happiness, but the now familiar feeling of utter, absolute terror soon came rushing back. Mr Mumbles had turned his back on me, and was advancing on Ameena. She staggered and slipped back down to the floor, her legs not yet strong enough to support her. I saw him raise the axe. I saw her close her eyes.
Something began to tingle at the base of my neck.
‘GET…AWAY…FROM…HER!’ I roared, my legs launching me forwards like springs. Mr Mumbles turned, the axe still raised above his head. I swung at him with the shield before he could bring the blade down. As the metal connected with his jaw, something like an electric shock coursed across the surface of my skull. For a split second, a bright flash filled my vision. When it cleared, Mr Mumbles was hurtling backwards, a barely recognisable blur of speed.
The metal door bent with a boom and a creak, as the monster crashed through it, tearing it free of the wall. Thewarped aluminium skidded and skittered along the wet driveway, before coming to rest on the road, ten or fifteen metres away. Somewhere inside the wreckage, my imaginary friend lay deathly still.
‘Wow, whoever that dude is, he
really
doesn’t like you,’ said Ameena. I felt her hand slip into mine and braced my arm against her weight as she hauled herself up. She looked out of the garage, seeing the buckled remains of the door for the first time. ‘Whoa,’ she gasped. ‘How did you do that?’
I stared into the empty street. Flashing lights of red and green spilled their Christmassy glow across the tarmac. Behind us, the bare light bulb went out with a fizzle and a pop. ‘I don’t know,’ I managed, eventually. ‘It just sort of…happened.’
‘But it was…I mean, you…it’s not…’ Ameena’s eyes seemed to be focusing properly now, and were open wide with shock. I knew she had a question in there somewhere that was trying to get out, but I didn’t have any way to explain what I’d just done.
‘It must’ve been a lucky punch or something,’ I said.‘Come on, now that he’s down we can go get the police. They can take care of him.’ I chewed my lip. Could the police take care of him? Even if there was an officer on duty, would he be equipped to deal with homicidal imaginary men? I doubted it was something the local constabulary had ever had to worry about before.
‘The police, are you crazy?’ Ameena scoffed. All drowsiness seemed to have left her now, and – aside from the splodge of blood in her hair – she was back to her swaggering self. ‘You just knocked the guy clean through a metal door. With one punch!’
I shrugged, trying my best to play it cool, despite the fact I was trembling from head to toe.
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