Page 47 of A Flash of Neon
When we arrive at the director’s house, Carrie comes out to the front step to meet us. She’s wearing a lime-green dressing gown and there’s an eye mask pushed up into her tousled red hair. “What’s all this I hear about Nessie making an appearance in the loch?” she asks, yawning.
“We’re not actually sure it was her.” Neon runs up the steps to give her a hug. “There was definitely something, but it was too dark to see what it was. You didn’t miss much.”
“Oh, I’m not worried about that. I met Nessie in 1998. I was eating a tuna mayo sandwich by the loch and she popped up.” Carrie turns to my parents. Seeing their baffled expressions, she laughs and gives Mum’s arm an encouraging rub. “You two must have some questions, eh? Come on in. I’ll make some tea.”
She leads us through the hallway – Joel gasps when he sees Tamara’s collection of awards – and into the kitchen. The moment they step inside, Mum screams and Mutti swears in German. Aurora is curled up on the floor, silk pillows beneath her, chomping on a carrot.
I slap a hand to my forehead. “Sorry. Should have warned you about her.” I kneel down and stroke her mane to say hello. “This is Aurora. She’s a unicorn.”
“I … can see that.” Mum sinks on to a stool by the breakfast island and grips the edge for balance. “OK. I think I’m ready to hear what’s going on now.”
As Carrie makes tea and toast, we finally tell my parents the whole story of how Neon came to be, and how he came to be here. Their eyes spark with questions, and probably a lot of doubts, but they listen in silence through our explanation of the Realm, finding Aurora, dodging the Blanks, until we reach the scene at the loch.
“Well.” Mutti lets out a high-pitched laugh. “I’m officially not the most successful writer in our family. People say I’m good at bringing characters to life, but this is another level, Laurie.”
“So what are you going to do now?” Mum asks Neon. “Are you still going to go back to this Realm place?”
“I don’t know if I can any more.” Neon swallows and shoots me a guilty look. “I actually tried while you were telling your stories, before the Blank disappeared. I was scared it would wipe me out, and it felt like my last chance to leave on my own terms. But, when I tried to do it, nothing happened.”
Hope flutters in my stomach. “Do you think that means you’re actually real now?”
“I think so?” Neon gives a small smile. “I guess it means I’m stuck here, either way.”
“What about the Blanks?” Tilly asks. “If you’re stuck here, does that mean they won’t come after you?”
“I think so. When you told those stories and made the Blank disappear, it changed something. It’s hard to explain, but I feel different than I did before. More … solid.” Neon puts his hands to his cheeks, patting the contours of his face like he’s checking for changes. “I can’t be totally sure, but something has changed. I think I’m properly, actuallyrealnow.”
With screams of delight, Tilly and I both leap at Neon. Carrie comes over and wraps her arms round the three of us, then decides this calls for a celebration and goes to find something fun to eat in the cupboards. She comes back a moment later with a bottle of pink lemonade and more carrots for Aurora.
“I’m happy for you, Neon,” Mum says with an uncertain smile. “But that means you’re a minor with no parent or guardian responsible for you.”
“Well, you know.” Carrie clears her throat and twists the bottle cap. Her cheeks have turned the same shade as the lemonade. “Neon’s very welcome to stay with me. My house isn’t as fancy as this place, but I’ve got a spare room. You could do it up however you liked, make it your own.”
Neon asks if she’s serious. When Carrie says of course, his whole face lights up with happiness and he leaps up to hug her again. My cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling. Neon’s very own home – and right next door to mine. This is more than I ever, ever could have hoped for.
Mum still isn’t totally convinced. She points out that Neon will need paperwork if he wants a normal life here. He’ll need a birth certificate to sign up for school, apply for a passport or learn to drive one day, and Carrie will have to register as a foster parent if he’s going to stay with her long-term. Carrie says she has a friend in MI5 who owes her a favour and will be able to sort Neon out with all the papers. It’s classified, of course, so she can’t tell us the details.
Joel leans towards me. “That’s a first,” he whispers, grinning.
As I bite back a laugh, an idea comes to me. “Come on – I want to show you something.”
While Carrie and my mums are discussing arrangements with Neon, and Tilly fusses over Aurora, I lead Joel back into the hallway. We admire Tamara Mackenzie’s table full of awards for a while, then I take him upstairs to show him the framed film posters lining the landing. Actors stare out from the images. Some famous, some not so famous, but all part of Tamara’s stories.
“I know it’s hard, but I think you should try being an actor,” I tell Joel. “I heard your monologue back at the loch there – you’re really good. You should give it a go, if it’s still what you want to do.”
Joel bites his lip, his eyes still on a poster of a period drama that won Tamara a BAFTA in 2012. “Funny you should say that because I made a decision yesterday. I’m not going back to uni.”
He lets out a sigh of relief, like saying it aloud has taken some of the weight off his shoulders. Joel and I aren’t the hugging sort of siblings, but I hold my hand up to give him a high five. He smiles and, for the first time in ages, my brother looks like his old self again.
“Good,” I say. “You don’t seem happy there.”
“Yeah, I’m really not. It’s not for me at all.” He looks at the next poster. “I don’t know if acting is the answer, though. Success stories like Tamara are really rare, especially for people who don’t have connections in the industry. But I’m going to join the theatre group in Inverness, get back into it. There you go. Now you’re acting, Greg!”
For a second, I have no clue what he’s talking about or who Greg is, but then I realise Joel’s quoting one of the films he used to watch on repeat a few years ago. I come up with another line, and Joel bats back a third from a different film. When Neon comes upstairs a few moments later, he finds us cracking up between lines fromSharknado.
“You two are weird.” He swats my ponytail and heads off to the eighties room. “I need to get my stuff. I’m staying at Carrie’s tonight.”
I help Neon pack his few belongings into his schoolbag and strip the bedsheets for Carrie to wash before Tamara comes home. It’s past one o’clock now, but we’re both too hyper and excited by everything that’s happened tonight to feel tired. For the first time since the Blanks arrived, my mind feels sharp and clear again. Neon puts on a record from Tamara’s collection while we tidy, and every line sparkles like a disco ball inside my head.
