31 The Hunter

The Little Red Haired Girl

31 The Hunter

As the darkness in the Pumphouse prison was perpetual, except for the slices of moonlight through the window, Brain had started to be a little uncertain about the events that had led them to be stuck in here. Brain had been given time to really think, and facts about the house renovation were being pulled forward from the depths and that in hindsight seemed to be significant. Something was not making sense.

The practical events and misfortune with every single little bit of progress with the builder, problems with the materials required, lack of skill set, the whole house! Even though Brain had thought everything through from start to finish, every conceivable attempt had been made to renovate the house properly, on time and with the right materials and yet Brain was perplexed. Nothing had gone to plan. It had thought about the suppliers involved. It had thought about the plans and what could have possibly been made better or simpler. It thought about the finances, receipts and account books. It racked over and over and over.

Brain had prepared house renovations before, too many times Body would argue in exhaustion, and even raised a new house from the ground and yet everything had gone wrong with this small simple house. There were always unpredictable problems and that was to be taken as red, as was any budget set for its renovation. Brain had learned this in the past and contingencies had been made for the unpredicted.

Was it forgetting what it knew? Was it getting old ahead of time or dementia seeping in? It wasn’t able to trust itself anymore and yet it knew something else unseen was adding to the problem. But what?

In reflection, Brain remembered little bits of conversation that hadn’t made sense at the time with various people and it cursed its own memory, and now they were looming large in the front as definitely peculiar. It felt nonplussed and confused and certainly did not like it. Brain thought about and strained to remember these conversations in as much detail as possible to try and make them accurate, but in hindsight they were definitely peculiar and confusing.

It racked some more. It didn’t make sense that the house had been so difficult, that they were almost out of money and that nothing had been done or completed to satisfaction. Brain had handled far more complex builds and renovations before and it there were always unexpected problems, but not like the problems this house had produced. Nothing made sense.

“Its no good” Brain finally said out loud “I am going to have to ask you guys for help.”
“It would be quieter than all the noisy racking” complained Body.
“You speaking to us?” Spirit asked rather smugly on behalf of itself, Heart and Soul.

“Cut it out” Brain retorted “This is serious. But we can leave Body out of this for a moment, she’s overtired and as shown will only complain.”
“It must be serious if you say it is, after all you are the supposed master. How may we be of service to you oh masterful one” Spirit laughed.
“Go on” sighed Soul wearily. It was like being in the playground it surmised.

“I do not need to repeat what has gone on over the last year of this house renovation, you have all been there and witnessed all that has gone on on a daily basis. I have been going over events and none of it makes sense. The constant failures and lack of progress are confusing. I planned, budgeted for …”
“We know please get to the point” sighed Soul.
“I cannot understand why it is still unfinished, why little money is left or why work was done incorrectly and not according to the requests and verbal contract. Hell I even got Body to write it all out and translate it into Portuguese just for the builder to know exactly what was required of him. Any ideas cause I am at a loss?”

“Now there’s an admittance coming from you” called Spirit.
“Enough” sighed Soul “it was not destined to be our house.”

“Yeah that’s what I expected you to say, its a cop out and you just kept and keep on putting it down to bad luck or fate or whatever you want to call it.” Brain had knew it had been a mistake to even ask.
“No” sighed Soul “I meant we had someone close who did not want us to have it. They were bad souls and put blockages on any progress. They had a purpose in preventing us from having it.”

“Hang on” spluttered Brain “now you are going too far. Be realistic.”
“I am. Remember those snippets of conversation that don’t make sense now?” sighed Soul. It really was tiresome.

Brain was computing.

“Remember the reactions of certain people when something actually went well for once and you told them about it? Remember how they made it feel like a small achievement or just blind luck? ” Soul queried and continued “how some laughed at our recurrent problems saying we were just being negative and to lighten up? Or dismissive and looking bored trying to hide a gleam in their eye?”

“I do and it made me feel riled” called Spirit.
“It made the hairs stand on the back of my neck and my stomach queasy” said Body “apart from the constant exhaustion.”

Brain was quiet and thinking.

Who was involved that much? There were several people, so called professionals and friends involved whom they had taken advice from, all who knew each other or recommended each other. Brain was starting to see a thread of information.

“You don’t want to see it do you Brain and neither did I” cried Heart. “These were people I trusted, people I felt gave us good advice. People I felt had good intentions for us as a whole. I admit it. I was wrong.”

“To believe in the good in people? Never” sighed Soul “The path isn’t always obvious for us so we cannot gage other peoples path either, and for every good deed the Devil will produce a bad one. Who knows? Greed? Envy? Money? We can not be sure of their path but we must always believe in it being good or we would never trust anyone.”

“We have to fight” Spirit shouted “coz I am starting to feel like this whole thing was a set up. And I am starting to intuitively feel that there is more to this than just renovating this house, another purpose as yet unseen.”

“I feel that too” cried Heart “and I hate myself because of it.”

“This requires more thought” said Brain “and I will take what you have said into consideration.”

“That will be a first” called Spirit “you should listen when intuition is telling you that something ain’t right”
“Enough!” sighed Soul “let me try to see back along the path as well as ahead.”

“It is why I separated you” said the unfamiliar familiar voice “for your protection.”

“Nah” called Spirit “Noswad was the hunter that put us in here. As a supply for further hunting episodes.”

“If you say so. You have free will to believe what you wish. Did you recognise your own voice when you told Noswad to leave? NO. I told Soul to say it. I protected you and took you to isolation for your own good. You need to heal and talk to each other within these walls. You will find the answers you need. Oh and talk to me too, as long as its not too complaining and boring.” Big voice laughed and was gone.