\u2018You didn\u2019t listen to me before, so listen again,\u2019 said Fay, resting against the creaky foot board of the bed. \u2018Get yourself out of this farmhouse.\u2019<\/p>\n
The tiredness, the inevitability of it all was wearing on Ariadne. What difference did it make if she did anything or not? Fay\u2019s voice receded leaving her with warm carpet that oozed between her fingers, inviting more touch. The walls drifted away.<\/p>\n
The \u2018phone rang and lanky Tin picked it up, Tin of all people who was always bad on the \u2018phone, spluttering his way through the call. She was in the kitchen, waiting for their rusty toaster to spit out rusty toast, and Tin was in the room waving his arms: \u2018Addie, they want you to be a regular in Khemist!\u2019 Douggie banged on the floor, demanding everyone to leave his firking hangover alone. \u2018Tin, flipping heck-\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Wake up.\u2019 Fay slapped her face and returned to the edge of the bed. \u2018Get yourself out of this farmhouse.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Why?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The Cloth looks for anyone who is making attempts to stay out of the system. They\u2019ll pick you up within a year, if they haven\u2019t already got the feelers out to this place. Get back into town, a city would be better. Once there, get yourself a land line, but don\u2019t use it.\u2019<\/p>\n
Ariadne let the chill breeze pouring onto her neck revitalise her. \u2018What\u2019s the point in that?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The same reason. A household without any kind of phone may be trying to avoid phone calls and that’s just as bad as tryin’ to live in a remote location. If you get the land line, it\u2019s one less red point you\u2019ll flag. Probably best to make a silent call or two just to put something on the bill, but I don\u2019t think the Cloth monitors look that deep yet. Oh and never answer the damn thing, you\u2019ll end up saying \u201cHello\u201d by mistake and the recorders will snatch that.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Is this for real? They\u2019ve got that level of… monitoring?\u2019<\/p>\n
Fay was disappointed. \u2018After everything you\u2019ve been through, do ya still not get it? I didn\u2019t come here to fakk spiders.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not easy to swallow it all in one go.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018One go?<\/em> This isn\u2019t the first time we\u2019ve been through this.\u2019<\/p>\n Ariadne pushed herself up, against the wall, feeling her fingers move onto the glass. She stumbled forwards and said: \u2018Fay, I just gave birth. Stop being such a bitch.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019d rather be a bitch than dead.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Just… piss off out of here and leave me alone. I\u2019ve got the folder, right? I\u2019ve had enough of you. Go. Get out of here.\u2019<\/p>\n Fay broke into an enormous, beaming smile. \u2018There\u2019s just one other thing\u2013\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I told you to go!\u2019 Ariadne shoved Fay on the shoulder, much to her own surprise. Fay fell backwards, onto the floor suddenly weak and pathetic.<\/p>\n \u2018There\u2019s just one other thing, I said,\u2019 Fay continued from the floor, lying flat out and gazing out through the bedroom door. \u2018Bobby got to stop selling dope. It\u2019s game over if the police start getting interested in him.\u2019<\/p>\n Feeling just a little empowered, Ariadne said: \u2018What are you talking about? Bobby doesn\u2019t sell drugs.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I love the way you say \u2018drugs\u2019 as if it disgusts you, doesn\u2019t belong in your world. Just tell him to stop.\u2019<\/p>\n Fay sat up and stretched out a hand. \u2018Help me up?\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018No.\u2019 Ariadne walked back to the window and studied the crumbling barn attached to the house.<\/p>\n Suddenly, her stomach was a storm of butterflies; the hairs on her neck stood on end and sweat prickled down her back. Ariadne could only put one word to this eruption of strange sensations: danger<\/em>.<\/p>\n She turned quickly to see Fay standing halfway out the door, draped in shadow, facing away. Not a sound, yet she was suddenly there<\/em>, still as a statue.<\/p>\n \u2018Fay?\u2019<\/p>\n There was no response. Fay remained motionless.<\/p>\n Ariadne waited, enduring the fearful silence. She heard a truck trundle over cattle grid on a distant road; some birds flirted in high-pitched song.<\/p>\n And Fay moved. With tiny, almost infantile steps she disappeared into the corridor, still in shadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018You didn\u2019t listen to me before, so listen again,\u2019 said Fay, resting against the creaky foot board of the bed. \u2018Get yourself out of this farmhouse.\u2019 The tiredness, the inevitability of it all was wearing on Ariadne. What difference did it make if she did anything or not? Fay\u2019s voice receded leaving her with warm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hammerport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}