Inventions

It was a lovely sunny day in the village of Burnham, in the county of Buckinghamshire. William Grange was on his way to school, walking along the path next to the main road. He was an ordinary boy, with no particularly amazing talents, except he was quite good at chemistry and that made him a nerd in the eyes of the school bullies. Today was an ordinary day for William, or so he thought. In fact, today was going to change his life forever.

School was ordinary, especially the teasing he got from members of his class. It was what happened when he got home, that would impact him. As he walked through his door, William's dad greeted him, by setting one of his latest inventions off in William's face.

"Whoah," William cried out in shock.

"Watch it champ," dad said, clearly not expecting William to come through the door at that moment. "You just activated my anti-theft device. Well at least I know it works, I just need to alter the sensitivity levels."

William's dad was the village inventor, a clever man whose inventions didn't always produce the results that he expected and his reputation amongst the villagers wasn't the best. He often started some amazing projects, but soon they were by the wayside and replaced by something equally likely to be a failure.

"Did you have a good day at school dear?" William's mum asked, coming through to the living room from the kitchen.

"It was the same as every other day," came the reply.

"Those boys still after you?" Dad asked.

"Yeah."

"You should stand up to yourself. Take those karate classes I saw," dad said.

William had no interest in sport and didn't particularly want to fight anyone, no matter how much they bullied him. He was quiet and shy and liked his life like that. If only people could just leave him alone and let him live his life the way, he wanted to.

"Hey, why don't you come through and see my latest invention," dad said.

Reluctantly, William followed his dad through the house, to the workshop in the garden. This was where the most dangerous items were kept. They both ducked through the door and entered the most cluttered room William had ever been in. However, his dad did work in here, William did not know.

"Look here, this is my new cat helmet," dad held up a shiny black helmet, with a visor and what looked like three cat's whiskers son either side of the visor.

"What does it do?" William asked.

"The antennae on the helmet allows the wearer to listen in to radio frequencies and they also contain omnidirectional microphones, that allow the wearer to hear people up to 100 meters away. I call it the cat helmet, because of the antennae looking like a cat's whiskers."

William picked the helmet up and his dad nodded at him to try it on. He pulled it down over his head and there was a sharp pain in his ears as the inbuilt speaker activated. Sure enough, William could currently hear a police radio, barking orders to various officers on the beat. He lifted the helmet back off and put it down.

"It actually works," he commented.

"You sound surprised," his dad had some mock hurt in his voice.

"I am slightly, especially after how you welcomed me when I got home."

"Here, look at this."

Dad passed William a neatly folded pile of material. Letting it unfold, William was soon holding a black cat suit.

"And what is this for?"

"Well this material is something I have been working on for a long time. I didn't think it had worked, but after some tests this morning, I believe I have cracked the world's first stab proof, bullet proof, rip proof, indestructible skin suit. I have been developing this as a tool for the armed forces. A lightweight piece of body armour, that protects the body from the neck down. It is incredible. I have also developed these circular bracelets that go around the wrists, that help to attach the gloves, but also contain some scanning technology and other gizmos. The boots are heavy duty and protect the wearer like the suit. They are repurposed walking boots. Then, there is this rope, especially developed to be 100x stronger than steel. It can wrap around the body and form a belt, before being deployed. Finally, there is the backpack, made from a beige version of the suit material and worn over the shoulders and attached in place by a circular buckle on the torso."

"You have been really busy dad," William said. "Do the army know you are developing this?"

"They do, yes. A member of the army is supposed to be coming around tonight, to have a look at these prototypes."

William's dad took back the suit and folded it neatly, putting it back in the box he had retrieved it from earlier. He then reached up to a shelf, holding a series of chemicals and pulled one of the bottles down.

"This is a special discovery of mine. I have analysed the lives of cats and their amazing acrobatic abilities. Using the chemical composition, I believe I have created a serum that will allow, temporarily, a human to replicate those abilities. It is going to revolutionise what we as humans can do."

"Won't this be dangerous though in the wrong hands?" William asked.

"Exactly," his dad said as he placed the bottle back on the shelf, "which is why the bottle is labelled as something else and I am not giving this to the army. The world is not yet ready for this."

"Dear, you have a visitor," William's mother called from the kitchen door.

"They're here early," dad said. Right, I better go and see them. You wait here, I might need you to demonstrate some of the kit."

William nodded and watched his dad go back to the house. While he waited, he had another look around at some of his father's inventions. As he did so, he heard a loud bang come from the house, followed by another. What was that?

Before he had time to think, there was a blinding light and another bang, this time right outside the workshop. William stumbled and reached out to steady himself. As he did so, his hand brushed against a series of items hanging down from the ceiling. They fell from their hooks and came crashing down around him. One of them fell onto the shelf of chemicals and brought the whole lot down, crashing to the floor and dousing a now unconscious William, who was sprawled on the concrete. Everything was black to William who was unaware of what was happening now.

---

A short time later there was the sound of shouting as William began to come to. Around him his father's workshop had been destroyed. Inventions lay trashed and strewn all over the place. William was still soaked in the liquids that had fallen on him and a large red lump had formed on his head, where something had hit him as he fell. The glass had been blown out of the windows and lay everywhere.

The shouting voices were getting closer and William tried to haul himself up. He went crashing down as he couldn't hold his own weight. The doors began to rattle as the voices arrived right outside. They were yanked open and William saw his cousin Kathleen run into the space. She saw her cousin lying there and jumped over to him.

"William, thank goodness you are ok. Oh, William," she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. She brought her cousin up and hugged him tightly.

"What's happened?" he asked, his voice raspy.

"Can you stand?" Kathleen asked, not answering his question.

"I don't know, I feel really strange."

With a little bit of difficulty, they managed to get William back to his feet. He wobbled a lot, before getting his balance back. He looked over and saw the only things left intact in the whole workshop. The box containing the new helmet and suit his dad had made for the army. He hobbled over to it and opened it up. Inside surprised him. It was not the suit and helmet, there were just old bits and bobs. putting his hand inside, that was when he almost jumped back in surprise. His hand passed through the objects and they disappeared, revealing the suit below. Lifting his hand back out, the bits and bobs reappeared. A hologram possibly. Kathleen came over to look.

"What are you doing with a box full of junk?" she asked, as she put her hand in.

William wanted to stop her, but he didn't need to worry. Instead of her hand going through the objects, she lifted them up out of the box.

'Hard-light hologram,' William thought to himself.

"Just junk," Kathleen said. "We have to go. The police are here."

"I need to take that with me," William said. "I need to keep it."

"Suit yourself, but you need to come now."

William put the lid back on the box and hobbled after Kathleen carrying it with him.

They moved back towards the house, through the garden that looked like it had been through a World War. There were craters everywhere and mud had been slung all over the garden, flowers ripped from their beds.

"What has happened?" William asked, as he saw the police officer standing in the doorway.

Before Kathleen could answer, the officer spoke.

"William Grange?" he asked.

"Yes," William said, questions building in his voice.

"I am so sorry son. I am afraid your mum and dad have been involved in an incident, and so has your house."

"What happened?" William asked, trying to move forward and into the house.

"William, you don't want to go in there," Kathleen said.

He didn't listen and barged straight past the officer. The sight that met him, made him want to throw up and scream. He ran back out, dropped the box and begin to retch. Laying on the kitchen floor, was his parents, their brains both blown out and dead, blood all over the place.

William couldn't bring anything up and collapsed down onto the ground, sobbing his eyes out. Anger and despair filled his body, he yowled causing the local cats to join in.

---

After a while, William had calmed down, unable to cry anymore and he sat just rocking himself to and fro. The police had tried to talk to him, but he was unresponsive and they soon gave up. Kathleen had stood away from him, but now moved over and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Come on, we have to go and speak to the police, then we go to my place. Mum is dealing with the social workers and getting permission for you to stay with us as long as you want."

William nodded silently and got to his feet. Kathleen nodded at the waiting officer and they went over to talk.

After explaining the details, Kathleen's mum came and took them back home. The police were going to call in the morning with any information they could give them. It was all mind numbing.

Aunt Mabel had cleared the spare bedroom and made the bed for William. He now sat on the bed all alone, looking at the box he had rescued from the workshop, which was on the floor in front of him. He had no idea what he was going to do with the suit. It was his father's last great invention.

Laying back, William soon fell asleep, fully clothed. His energy had been sapped from the day's events. His parents were gone and the house and his dad's inventions destroyed. William tossed and turned, images playing in his dreams. It was a long night and he kept waking up every hour, terrified of the things he saw. Why had this happened to him and who could have possibly committed this horrific attack on his parents? He wanted to know these answers, but also wanted a nightmare free night. He soon dropped into a deep, deep sleep where the dreams were not there.

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