Saturday, 8 December 2012

Chapter six

Daniela

“Excuse me, another round of canapés for this table please. It wouldn’t be right for this lady to go hungry now, would it?”

The waiter nodded at Daniela’s date and gave Daniela a small smile. Daniela smiled back, trying hard not to show the smitten feeling that was starting to purr at the bottom of her stomach. Nathan had turned up late, she was close to leaving as she was hungry which had made her even more irritable at the thought of being stood up. However, just as she was about to leave, up walked Katie with not only the Adam Gammon, but also this beautiful caramel skinned god-like man. He was well built with broad shoulders and muscly arms that had had Daniela fantasizing about being wrapped up in them since he sat down. So much so, that it had taken all of her will power to keep herself concentrated on the conversation going on at the table. 

Play it cool Daniela, she scolded herself and he stood up to take the canapés from the waiter and she found her eyes wondering south, Do not come across too eager, make him work for it.

“Another?” Nathan said, taking a tuna filled pastry and offering it to her. Did he want her to eat out of his hand? Should she do it? She decided against it and held out her hand to take the pastry from him, giving his fingers a little stroke as she did so, so as to give him something. He gave her a small grin, acknowledging her play. 

“So Daniela, tell me, what do you do exactly?” Nathan asked. 

Daniela’s heart sank, she hated this question. There was no way to answer it without coming across as intimidating. She decided to downplay it, there was plenty of time for him to find this out further down the line. 

“Me?” She said. “I work for a computer company, just entering data into a system all day, nothing interesting.”

Nathan raised one eyebrow at this, but said nothing. 

“How about you?” Daniela asked, quick to change the subject. “What do you do?”

“I’m in insurance, selling to high powered company owners and the like.”

“Oh?” Daniela asked, confusion setting in. “I thought Katie said you owned a company that dealt with investments?”

Nathan shot a look at Katie who cleared her throat.

“Did I?” Katie murmured. “Ah, I always get those things wrong, insurance and investments, they begin with the same letter, so close enough right?”

 “Pffh, not even close.” Adam muttered, “ain’t that right Nathan?” Adam threw Nathan an over-the-top wink.

“What was that for?” Daniela asked. 

“Nothing, the guy’s pissed that’s all.” Nathan turned to Adam, “Have another drink Ad, hey Katie, how about you and Dave keep Adam occupied for the next 20 minutes hmmm?”

Daniela felt herself blush at Nathan’s confidence, clearly eager to have her all to himself. Katie threw Nathan an apologetic look and started Adam in a conversation about his latest film. 

“So, where were we?” Nathan said as he turned his attention back to Daniela, his voice had changed to a deep silky tone, it did weird things to the deep recesses of Daniela’s belly, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. 

“We were talking about your job in the insurance/investment business.”

“Ah, so we were. Hardly the most interesting thing we could talk about now, is it.” Nathan said, his hand resting lightly on top of Daniela’s. 

Wow, Daniela thought, His skin is so warm. Her eyes travelled to where his hand rested on hers.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Nathan asked, although making no move to remove his hand. 

“No!” Daniela said, a little too eagerly. She took a deep breath and looked Nathan straight in the eye, giving him her most seductive smile, “just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

Nathan grinned and leaned in closer. “Not to me, I’ve been wanting to touch you from the moment I sat down.”

Woah, Daniela’s breath caught in her throat as she found herself unable to tear her eyes from his gaze. The longer she looked, the bigger his grin became. 

“Hey Nathan.” Katie’s voice broke through gaze, giving Daniela the strength to tear her eyes away. 

Daniela turned to find that Katie was throwing Nathan a cold look. “Let the girl eat, yeah?”

Nathan glared at Katie back but eventually withdrew his hand and sat back on his chair, giving her a nonchalant shrug. 

What the hell?! Daniela thought, throwing Katie her own evil glare. Katie ignored her look and turned her attention to the whole table. 

“Adam was just telling us all the gossip about Anita Parker. You have to hear this story Daniela, it’s hilarious, the woman is insane.”

Daniela glanced back at Nathan to see if she could catch his gaze once more but he was now staring at Adam, his attention completely on him. She sat back on her seat and scowled to herself, making a mental note to yell at Katie afterwards for that. 
Her foul mood was short lived however as, despite herself, she couldn’t help but become drawn into Adam’s story after he went into the second account of Anita’s throwing up on set at 11am in the morning.

Friday, 7 December 2012

Chapter five

Christiana

“Where are you now?”

Christiana read the text and glanced at the clock. It was coming up to 12pm and the room she was in was unbelievably hot and sticky. It didn’t help that the place was packed with 14 different consultants and head nurses.

“I still think that this case is valid.”

Someone was arguing, Christiana knew that she was currently looking after the patient that they were discussing so tried her hardest to push thoughts of the text and what they implied to the back of her mind. This was about as useful as running through mud however as Connor had been in the forefront of her mind all day and it only seemed to be getting worse the closer to the date it got.

“I’ve told you before, there are queries in this incident that haven’t been fully explained. If I’m perfectly honest, I think that the patient has every right to complain about what happened.”

Christiana relaxed a little more, they were talking about a previous admission for this patient on another ward, she wouldn’t need to chip in as much as she thought. Her mind quickly started to wonder again. Her phone vibrated once more.

“How much longer is the meeting going to be?”

Christiana smiled to herself, he seemed eager. It gave her a quick thrill. She tuned back in to the meeting for long enough to figure out who was being discussed now. They were about halfway through the list of incidents. It wouldn’t be finished for at least another half an hour. She hid her phone under her bag and discreetly wrote her reply.

“Sorry, another half an hour and I’m all yours. Xx”

No reply. Five minutes went by, followed by another ten and nothing. The meeting had appeared to get stuck on one particular patient, adding another twenty minutes to it’s likely duration. Christiana chewed her lip, worried that she may have upset Connor by making him wait.

“Hope you’re not mad, I wish I could get out earlier but I’m stuck! Xx”

No sooner had she sent it, someone knocked on the door to the conference room and Connor walked in.

“I’m really sorry to disrupt, but I have a very urgent problem that I need to discuss with Christiana straight away, I’m afraid I’m going to have to take her out of the meeting.”

Everyone looked between Christiana and Connor as she stared dumbly in response to his intrusion.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Professor Carrington, the Clinical Director for the hospital glared at Connor with his large eyes.

“My name is Connor Mayhew of the Royal British Army sir and I need to discuss a matter with your colleague of great importance.”

Christiana didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This was ridiculous. Connor had not only barged into this meeting but he was using his job to lie about it. Holy crap, she was going to have to come up with an amazing excuse for what this had been all about when she was asked about it later.

“Well go on Christiana, we can survive this once without you.”

“Thanks Professor.” Christiana stuttered out, collecting her bag and shoving her notepad inside. “Sorry.”

She hugged her bag to her and, giving Connor the most incredulous look, she walked out the room, Connor’s arm resting lightly on the small of her back as he led her out.

As soon as they were out of earshot and heading to the car park, Christiana smacked Connor hard on the chest.

“Ow!"

“What was that about?” Christiana asked. “People are going to think that I’m being arrested for something dodgy! How the hell am I meant to explain that away?”

Christiana expected Connor’s response to be light and jokey, but instead all she was met with was the same steel expression that he had held in the conference room.

“You were late.” He said.

“Just as I told you I would be.” Christiana replied, her mood dropping slightly to match his. “You couldn’t wait half an hour?”

Connor looked at her for a moment, and then pushed her into a quicker walk. “Come on, we’re already late.”

This was a side to Connor that Christiana rarely saw. It was his work side. The side of him that meant business. She stopped walking immediately and waited for him to stop and turn to face her.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Nothing,” Connor said, “I’ll just be happier when we are at the restaurant.”

“You’re lying to me.”

“Christie, please, we don’t have time for this, just get in the car and out of this heat. I’ll explain it all to you when we get to the place.”

Christiana really was sweating at this point, it was ridiculously hot out and she could feel the burn of the sun on her arms. The mere thought of the air conditioned car appealed to every one of her physical needs at the moment but she couldn’t will her feet to move.

“I’m not going anywhere until you start explaining to me what’s going on with you.”

Connor rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh, dropping his head. “Christie, you are going to hate what I’m about to do, but trust me, it is for your own good.”

“What are you...?”

Connor was over to her before she could finish her sentence and had swooped her over his shoulder in one move.

“Connor? Are you insane?” Christiana called out. “Put me down.”

Connor didn’t respond, he just carried her over to the car, put her in the passenger seat and buckled her in.

“Stay.” He said, his face inches from hers, that protective fire still burning in his eyes. Christiana wanted to stay angry, but all she could concentrate on was how amazing he looked in that moment. She liked this side of Connor. She made a mental note to piss him off more often if this was the reaction she would get.

Connor walked round to his side of the car and started the engine. He sped out of the car park in record speed, narrowly missing slower moving cars as he went by.

“Is it even worth me asking you to slow down?”

Connor checked the clock on the dashboard. It was 12:40.

“We have to be there for 1pm at the very latest. Which means, I have to make a 30 minute journey in 20 minutes. So no, it isn’t worth you asking me that at all.”

“It’s only a reservation Connor. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get there on time.”

Connor didn’t say anything but put his foot down even further and Christiana felt her whole body press back against the seat with the momentum. They travelled the rest of the journey in silence, except for the swearing from Connor and the screeches from Christiana whenever a car got too close to them.

The air conditioning didn’t seem to be doing a blind bit of difference to the heat in the car, even though it was on full blast. The sun was beaming through the windows with such ferocity that Christiana’s skin seemed to burn red in front of her eyes. She opened her mouth at one point to say something about it but then shut it quickly again when an old lady crossing the road got the brunt of another of Connor’s long swearing tirades.

With three minutes to spare, Connor pulled up in what looked like an abandoned car park and he was at Christiana’s side of the car, opening her door before she had even reached for the door handle. He pulled her out of the car.

“Okay,” Christiana said in a long quizzical tone. “What’s going on?”

Connor scanned the horizon before letting his eyes fall to Christiana’s once more.

“Please say you’re going to walk this time because you weigh a tone Christie.” His face was still sober but there was a small twinkle in his eyes that told Christiana that Connor was still there.

“I can walk,” Christiana said with a smile, “I could walk before- Ow!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Connor was suddenly alert and scanning around them once more.

“I’m burnt!” Christiana said, examining her arms. “Are they blisters?”

Connor took one look at her arms and started moving again, taking Christiana’s hand and pulling her into a run. Christiana didn’t argue this time, something felt wrong about this heat. She heard the scream of a woman and turned her head just in time to see a tree go up in flames falling onto the road.

Suddenly everything seemed to move in fast forward from then on, more trees exploded and even some buildings seemed to be on fire. People started collapsing and screaming all over, and suddenly it wasn’t only Connor and Christiana who were running. Everyone seemed to be desperately seeking shelter, somewhere away from the heat. She turned back to Connor and saw the back of his neck was completely covered in what looked like 3rd degree burns. Christiana pushed into her run even more so that she was running alongside him. She had no idea where she was going but she knew that Connor did, and that was enough for her.

They kept on running until they reached a run down old building. Connor had a panel open and was pressing Christiana’s fingers onto the pad, typing out four numbers. The entrance panel seemed to go on and on, asking her for different things from her; retina scans, fingerprints, all the while, her skin felt like it was on fire. Connor screamed a 4 digit number at her and she repeated it. Suddenly the door clicked open and she was thrown inside. She turned to check if Connor was okay but noticed that the door had shut behind her, locking him out.

“Connor?” She called out. Panic overcame her then, she started thumping her fists against the door, looking for some kind of handle or lever but finding nothing, just a smooth surface.

“Connor!” Christiana screamed it this time, throwing all her weight against the door in an effort to force it open. Suddenly the door opened again and Connor threw himself in, landing inadvertently on Christiana and sending her flying backwards and onto the floor. Her head smacked against the floor and suddenly everything started to blur. She tried to focus on Connor, checking to see if he was okay, but just as his face came into her line of sight, he started to blur away. She heard his voice call her name, and she wanted to respond, to say that she was okay, but she couldn’t find the words. She couldn’t find any words, or any sounds, or any images at all, she could only see darkness.

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Chapter four

Adam

“I’m drunk.” Adam announced.

“And?” Duncan countered.

“And, it’s 10am. I’m drunk at 10am in what has to be one of the weirdest undercover and covert places I’ve ever been to.”

Duncan laughed, “I told you, it’s an army thing.” He gestured his hands to the whole room as he leant back in his chair. “This is where we come to unwind, and you can be damn sure that if anyone from the public found out about it, the papers would go nuts.” He leaned in for a whisper. “It is a tad over the top.”

“Yeah, nice to know where our taxes are going.”

“They’re going right back in your stomach, ready for you to puke up later if I have anything to do with it.” Duncan pushed Adam’s full drink towards him. Adam just stared at it hopelessly.

“I may need to slow down if I want to stay awake for longer than 5 minutes.”

“You’re fine, don’t be such a woose.”

Adam sighed, “Fine, one more drink can’t hurt.”

“Duncan? Thank God!”

Adam looked up from his drink to see a tall, slim woman with short brown hair pull a chair next to Duncan.

“Hey Katie, thought I’d see you here.”

“I need help.”

“What’s up?”

“My egg’s trying to leave.”

Duncan’s face fell and Adam leant forward, “I’m sorry, your what?”

Katie turned to Adam for the first time and her face fell. “Adam Gammon.” The words fell out of her mouth in a way that Adam was all too used to, forming a shocked statement as the realisation hit her.

“Katie! Focus. What’s your issue?”

“I lured her here on the pretense of a double date-“

“A double date at this time of the morning?” Adam asked?

“What? She’s really hard to lure, her brain is massive and not easily lied to... except when it comes to men, then she’s all over it like a rash, regardless. I played to her strengths.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that there isn’t a guy. Which would have been fine, as I had planned to turn the fact that she had been stood up into this massive drinking session until she passed out, but I get here and they tell me that they need her sober, and now she’s just completely clear headed and pissed. She’s threatening to leave, I’ve got Dave keeping her company but I really need your help.”

“I dread to ask this next question, but how am I meant to be helping?”

“I need you to be Nathan.” Katie said.

“Nathan?”

“The man I made up to get her here.” Katie explained.

“I thought that guy stood her up.” Adam chipped in.

“He’s not actually real.” Katie said.

“It’s okay mate, just drink your drink.” Duncan said, pushing the second glass to him.

“I’ve told her that he’s running late, and now I need you to turn up and pretend to be him... oh and he’s rich as well, so remember that.”

“I don’t know Katie. Isn’t this girl meant to be a genius or something? That’s a little out of my comfort zone.”

“Oh come on Duncan! Please? She’s really pretty and it’s not like you’re actually dating her, you’re just pretending to.”

“I can’t really leave Adam.”

“Bring him along!” Katie seemed momentarily distracted by something behind Duncan. “Oh crap, she’s leaving, move!”

Duncan rolled his eyes at Katie but got up anyway and pulled Adam to his feet. Adam stumbled a bit before he found his balance.

“Woah, dude, I am well and truly pissed.”

“You’re fine, let’s go.”

“Wait, so what are we doing?” Adam asked.

“You don’t have to do anything, just smile when she realises who you are and get ready to sign an autograph.”

“Make that two autographs.” Katie chirped in. “Big fan by the way.”

“I think I can do that.”

“Awesome, oh and Ad? My name’s Nathan from now on.”

“Sure thing Duncan, I got you covered.”

Chapter three

Jason

“I need to get out!” Jason cried. “Someone please open the door.”

Michelle walked calmly to Jason and swiped her card to open the door leading out of the orientation room. It wasn’t the same door Jason had come in through but it was the closest one to him now and he needed to get out of that enclosed space.

As soon as the door clicked open, he pulled the door wide and sprinted through it’s exit, desperate to close out the crying and general despair coming from the people behind him. He slammed the door shut behind him just as Michelle slipped through and tried to focus on the silence that then brought. He leant against a wall, trying to organise his thoughts but it didn’t work, instead his head just continued to spin. Over and over in an endless circle until he couldn’t take it anymore. He bent over and threw up the entire contents of his breakfast. It didn’t end there however, once his stomach had started heaving, it didn’t want to stop. On and on it continued to heave and convulse, until there was nothing left to throw up but bile.

Michelle placed her hand on Jason’s back and rubbed it soothingly. Once the heaving finally stopped, she handed him a glass of water. Jason took it eagerly, his throat now feeling like sandpaper. He took a few sips and crashed to his knees, dropping the glass on the floor.

“Ssssh, easy now.” Michelle soothed into his ear as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “It’s okay, just let it all process.”

Jason tried. He tried to process what he had been told, but it was so ridiculous and horrific that he just couldn’t get his head around it. Suddenly his thoughts went to his family and friends.

“Mark,” he said, “And my mum and dad and sisters. My friends, my nan. All of them, I need to tell all of them.”

Michelle smiled sadly at him. “It wouldn’t help, there’s no way escaping it. This is going to happen.”

“But they could come here!!”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible, we are fully booked.”

Jason stared at her incredulously. “You’re fully booked? How? Have you seen how much space is here?”

“It’s about quality, not quantity I’m afraid. They were the rules put in place.”

Jason felt his panic rise. “I can’t do this.”

“You have to. People must feel safe here Jason, it is our responsibility to make them feel as comfortable as possible.”

“How the hell am I going to do that?” Jason shouted, “You want me to carry on as if nothing is going to happen while – I can’t, I have to get out of here, I have to tell my family. I have to tell them to get to safety.”

“There’s nowhere safe that they can go to, this is the only safe haven in the area.” Michelle said. “I can’t save your family, however, I might be able to do something about Mark."

“Mark?”

Michelle sighed heavily and threw Jason an uncomfortable look. “This is the part that I really didn’t want to have to do.” She said, “We need you here to manage your staff and keep your area safe and content. We realise that this is not something that is realistic to ask of you however,” she took a deep breath, “unless you had something to work for.”

“To work for?”

“We have Mark.” Michelle said. “He’s safe and in another facility just like this on the other side of London. If you do what we ask, do your job, keep the mood as peaceful as possible and try and prevent the mass panic that will inevitably threaten us today, we will make sure that Mark is transferred to this facility instead and kept safe with you.”

Jason felt the hope in her words, it was a horrible ultimatum but he would get to see Mark again, suddenly this was all he could think about.

“Providing you do your job and keep the staff and clientele calm, following the strict rules that we laid out in that room, Mark will be with you by this time tomorrow.”

“And if I don’t?”

“He stays where he is. You will spend your lifetime here and he will spend his there. You will never see each other again.” Michelle leaned forward so she was nose to nose to Jason, tears were swimming in her eyes. “I’d take it Jason, as horrible as this ultimatum might seem, there are some of us who weren’t even lucky enough to receive one.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Do you promise he will come to no harm?”

“I will make it my personal responsibility that his transfer is a painless and easy one.”

Jason took a massive deep breath. “Okay. Where’s the bar?”

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Chapter two

Connor

Connor sauntered into the room with 5 minutes to spare. Kelly wasn’t there yet and people looked relaxed, holding small conversations with each other to fill the time.

“Connor! Over here!”

Duncan was waving a coffee in his hand and signalling to the chair next to him. Connor walked over and took the coffee from Duncan.

“Thanks mate, didn’t have time for one this morning.”

“No worries, was at the coffee shop this morning anyway.” Duncan said. “What’s the deal with this meeting? Do you think we may finally know what we’ve been doing with our eggs?”

Connor shrugged. “Beats me. I’ve got no clue.”

“Oh come on.” Duncan said, eyeing Connor sceptically. “Laying aside the fact that our boss is your sister, let’s not try and pretend that you didn’t wake up in Christiana’s bed this morning.”

“I’m sleeping with Christie, not Kelly.” Connor gave him a look. “Thankfully.”

“She didn’t mention anything? Not even about what today’s about?”

“Nothing. Just that I shouldn’t be late.”

“If you are holding out on me..."

Connor held up his hands defensively, “Mate! I promise, I have no clue.”

“Fine, where’s Katie?”

Connor shrugged again. “She said something about meeting up with her egg early this morning. I think she’s already there.”

“Good morning.” Kelly said as she walked into the room and put her bag on her desk. “Eyes front people. I’m going to keep this brief, today is a very busy day and we need to get started. As you will all have been informed, today you have all been instructed to ensure that your egg is at the agreed location at the agreed time.


“I’m not going to pamper you on this, it is imperitive that you keep by your time and place today. There are no excuses, no changes to plan. Put simply, if you are not in the designated location on the exact second you are meant to be then it will be your egg’s life at stake. And when I say “at stake” I mean that they will be dead. Am I understood?”

Connor joined in the chorus of ‘Yes, Ma’ams’ although he was barely able to focus on anything else. Dead? What the hell? He had supposed that Christie's life was in some form of danger for the level of protection he had been assigned to give her, but this?

“That is all. To your posts.”

Chairs scraped back as people got up to leave. Duncan was questioning something about what Kelly had said but Connor wasn’t paying attention, instead he found himself moving forward and following Kelly into her office. They were both inside the room with the door slammed behind them before Connor’s brain had caught up. Kelly turned to him with a questioning look, Connor had so many questions but none of them were able to find their way to his mouth.

“What is it Connor? I’m incredibly busy.”

“You’re scared.”

Of everything Connor had wanted to say. These were not the words he had expected to come out, he didn’t even know where the observation had come from, but now that he had said it, he saw it on her face. She was calm and serene and completely business like but her left hand was twitching and there was an angry fire behind her eyes, Kelly’s go to reaction when she was scared, was always anger.

Kelly kept perfectly still and looked her brother in the eyes.

“I am,” she said, finally. “I have been for a very long time.”

“How much of a risk is Christie’s life today?”

“Without you, she will most certainly die today.”

Connor was silent once more. Kelly was giving him all she could, he knew that. He considered being angry at her for not letting him know sooner the danger she was facing, whatever it may be, but he knew deep down that Kelly had told him everything that she was allowed to. In this job, sometimes ignorance is the best gift you can give.

“Okay.” He said. “I’ll get her there, I promise.”

“Good,” a flash of emotion shadowed Kelly’s face. “I’m trusting you with her. Do not let me down.”

Connor nodded. “I won’t.”

And with that, he left the room.

Chapter One: Adam, Christiana, Jason and Daniela

Adam
“So I’m walking down the street with her. Holding hands, everything’s fine. Except she won’t stop talking, I mean all the time. I don’t even know what she was talking about, but I know that it was a load of crap. She just kept on going on about something or other to do with shoes or dresses or bitchy friends, to be honest I’d tuned out about half an hour back. She hadn’t once stopped for breath and it suddenly dawned on me. If this continued, I would have to listen to this woman talk for the rest of my life. That was when I knew, I couldn’t listen to another word, the idea scared the crap out of me.”

“Nice, you’re a real gentleman.”

“You try it man, it was seriously crazy. I knew I had to do something, I had to stop her talking right then and there. I mean the sex was good but not good enough to mean I could listen to another second of what she had to say.”

“Okay, so what did you do?”

“What else could I do? I told her.”

“You what?”

“I turned to her and said, ‘enough is enough, I really don’t care about anything you have to say.’ She didn’t take it well.”

“What did she do?”

“She stopped walking, right there in the middle of the high street, pulling me to a stop and just stared at me for what felt like a century. The silence was nice I got to tell you, I almost didn’t care that we were holding up everyone around us, I just soaked in it. Of course it didn’t last long. It was like the calm before the storm, suddenly she just erupted. She started shouting at me, calling me every name under the sun. Seriously man, she was spouting out words that even made me blush. By this point, people stopped trying to get past us, instead they just stood there and stared. She didn’t even notice, her voice just got louder and louder, spouting out insults and crap that I didn’t even know she would be capable of. And she didn’t stop, didn’t let me get a word in, she just continued to shout. It was just like the conversation five seconds ago except she could now be heard five miles away. She did this for like five minutes before I sunk to her level. I had no other choice, I shouted as loud as I could to overrule her screeching and told her shut the crap up.”

“Did she?”

“She did, but I knew it wasn’t going to last so I started talking before she could start up her shouting again. I told her she was the most annoying woman I knew, she was a good lay but there was nothing else there. I told her that she would seriously need to learn to shut her mouth if she thought any man would want to stick around long enough to stand being within five feet of her. I told her that I was done and I started to walk away. I’m telling you man, it was the most freeing thing I had ever felt, walking away from her and leaving her standing there, speechless for the first time since I had met her and probably for the first time in her life.

“But it didn’t end there, apparently that wasn’t good enough for her. Apparently, her previous screaming at me wasn’t even the worst that she could get. All of a sudden, out of nowhere she throws herself to the ground, grabs my leg and just starts screaming. I swear, no words came out of her mouth, just a random ear piercing scream that was louder than anything I had ever heard before. It was ridiculous. People weren’t even pretending not to be listening anymore, everyone was just staring at us.”

“What did you do?”

“What else could I do? I tried to shrug her off. I started shaking my leg in a desperate attempt to kick the crazy off me, but she held on like a parasite and instead just shook around with my leg like a rag doll. I couldn’t believe that I wasn’t able to shake her, I have trained to kill and battle all kinds of crap and I’m good at that, but her? She was beating me and I didn’t know what to do. All the time, she continued with this screaming, telling me I was a prick and that no one would love me like she did. She had gone crazy man, seriously insane. That was when the police turned up.

“I got to admit, from their point of view it must have looked bad. A woman on the floor looking as if she was being kicked and beaten and screaming at the top of her lungs. They intervened and pulled her off. They then did the stupidest thing of their lives and asked her what was going on. She started again, screaming about how I was a bastard and accusing me of rape and molestation and everything else under the sun. They soon realised that the problem wasn’t me, it was her, her eyes were insane. It was like all sense had left her, she started beating against one of the policeman’s chests, ordering him to kill me on sight. She took all their attention as they both tried to pull her off him. I saw my chance and I took it. I ran.”

“You ran?”

“Of course I did. They were so preoccupied with the crazy woman that they didn’t even notice I had gone at first. Even without my training I could have outrun them, I had enough of head start. By the time one of them started to chase after me, I was gone.”

“Aren’t you worried that she’ll tell them where to find you?”

“Are you kidding? Do you think I was stupid enough to give her any of my real details? She hadn’t even seen my place. And it’s not like they’d be able to find me if they searched. Of course my boss found out and was pissed, but she got over it soon enough. After I was ordered to work night and day for two weeks. I tell you man, I am knackered.”

“That has to be the craziest story for why I haven’t seen you for my whole stay in England.”

“Crazy but true Ad. Crazy but true.”

“Yeah well, I have to get back to LA tomorrow so I hope she was worth it.”

“It’s a well-known fact, crazy women are amazing in bed.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I even hang out with you.”

“Because I’m awesome and your life sucked before you met me.”

“Yeah okay, I’m a multi award winning A list actor making millions of pounds a year. My life is nothing without you around.”

“Money only gets you so far my friend. Knowing me is priceless. Talking of which, how was she?”

“Who?”

“Don’t act stupid with me Ad. You have just spent 10 months working on a movie with the Anita Parker. The most renowned and stunning actress this world has to offer with a crazy streak a mile long, you have to have stories. Come on, I’ve told you about my insane woman, it’s your turn.”

“Not going to happen mate.”

“Why not?”

“Because nothing happened, and even if it did, you’re just looking for a story to spout out to your army mates the moment you get back on tour. I’m not interested in having my private life leaked into all the major papers.”

“Oh come on, it’s not like you’re not used to it by now.”

“Once again, not going to happen.”

“Wait, so does that mean something happened?”

“Duncan, I am not having this conversation with you.”

“You know what? I’m hurt that you wouldn’t trust me with this.”

“No you’re not.”

“You’re right I’m not, but I am disappointed. The possibility of hearing your sordid stories is the only thing that has got me through these past two weeks.”

“And on that note, I have to go.”

“But you haven’t finished your coffee, you’ve been here for 5 seconds.”

“Not my fault you were late, and now I have to get to a press conference.”

“Fine, meet you later for drinks?”

“Why are we getting drunk at midday again?”

“Because we have time to make up for.”

“And you’re hoping that if I get drunk enough I might spill some Anita stories.”

“That too. Don’t be late.”

“Like you are?”

“I’m serious mate, make sure you’re on time or I will come and drag you out.”

“Alright, calm down. I’ll be there.”

“Good, see you later Adam.”

“Later Duncan.”


Christiana

“Michael, I am standing outside Battersea Dog Home where they have had no choice but to put down 50 dogs in the past week following a surge of attacks from the pets in each home they were distributed to.

“This is following on from over 3,000 different pets that have had to be handed in to animal shelters all across the country over the last month following vicious attacks as the animals have turned on their owners.

“We already know that across some states in America, they have banned all new ownership of pets until this epidemic has been fully identified and controlled. Our Government are meeting today to discuss our country’s stand on this new and bizarre behaviour.”

“This world is getting weird.” Christiana muttered as she dug into her coco pops.

“Getting weird?” Kelly snorted. “We’ve been officially weird for decades now.”

“Yeah, but never ‘cute little puppies maiming toddlers’ weird, I reckon we must be nearing the zombie apocalypse.”

“Christie, you thought the zombie apocalypse was starting last month when our local ran out of Fanta Fruit Twist.” Connor said, slumping down onto the sofa next to Christiana.

“You can’t deny that wasn’t weird,” Christiana said. “We’ve lived here for 6 years and they’ve never ran out of Fanta Fruit Twist. It quite clearly meant that someone was stocking up excessively so as to survive the zombie outbreak.”

“I think it quite clearly means that you need to stop watching Zombie movies.”

Christiana stared at Connor for a moment, considering her retort. Eventually she decided that he didn’t deserve a reply and turned to Kelly instead.

“Kelly, your brother’s freeloading in our house again.”

“Stop sleeping with him and maybe he’ll go away.”

“Well that’s hardly my fault, he keeps on getting me drunk.”

“Oooh yeah,” Connor said, gyrating his hips.

“You disgust me.” Christiana said.

“You love me.” Connor answered, kissing her lightly on the forehead as he stood up and cleared away Christiana’s now empty bowl.

“If I ever fall in love with that man, shoot me.” Christiana said to Kelly as he left the room.

Kelly rolled her eyes.

“Well I’m off,” Connor announced as he walked back in the room. “I’ve got a briefing in an hour and I need to go home and change, don’t want anyone at work thinking I did the walk of shame this morning. Also my boss will thrash me if I don’t get there on time, and we all know what a bitch she is.”

“Too right,” Kelly said, “Don’t be late. Big day today.”

“Yes sir.”

Kelly turned to Christiana, “what have you got planned?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Get into work, sit and talk to mental health patients all day whilst secretly realising that there is no different between them and myself.”

“Don’t forget you’re meeting me for lunch.” Connor said.

Christiana groaned, “I had completely forgotten about that.”

“Nice to know you like spending time with me.”

Christiana laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just I have this meeting at 11am. It’s meant to only be an hour but the thing can go on for ages. I don’t think I’ll be free this lunch, can we do tomorrow instead?”

“No!” Kelly and Connor said at the same time.

Christiana gave them both a perplexed look. “What was that about?”

“Flakiness is a big no-no in our family,” Kelly said.

“Besides, I’ve already made the reservations.” Connor chipped in. “They’re almost impossible to get.”

“Since when has McDonalds had a reservation list?”

“Can a guy not treat his girl once and a while?”

“Okay, A: I am not ‘your girl,’ and B: I only get half an hour lunch.”

“That’s fine,” Connor said, “We’ll eat fast. See you at 12pm.”

“Connor, wait-“ Christiana started but he was out the door before she could get anything else out. “What was that about?”

Kelly shrugged, “He’s been planning today for a long time.” Kelly said.

“Why would he be going all out for lunch?”

“Just trust me on this one, you don’t want to miss it.”

“I don’t get why he’s making all this effort, it’s not like we’re a couple or anything.”

“Christiana, you’ve spent every weekend with him for the past 3 months and he’s around here every other night, I think you guys have been dating for a while now.”
Christiana opened her mouth to argue but then the penny dropped. “Crap, how did that happen?”

“Just enjoy it,” Kelly laughed, grabbing her bag and putting on her shoes. “You could do a lot worse than Connor Mayhew.”

“But Kelly, you know I don’t date guys from the army. It’s too complicated.”

“Oh my days! If I have to hear this speech again, I swear I will shoot you. And you know I have a gun.” She threw Christiana her bag. “Anyway, he’s been back from tour for 18 months now and, take it from a girl on the inside, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. Come on, you’re going to be late.”

Christiana reluctantly took her bag and glanced at herself in the mirror.

“Am I dressed okay for whatever this is?”

“You look stunning as per usual, now get your cute butt out of the door.”

Christiana grabbed her keys and followed Kelly out of their flat. They walked in silence to the train station and Christiana thought through this new revelation. Connor did make her happy. Stupidly so. He was her best friend and she loved spending time with him. The more she walked, the more she realised, she had known for a while that they were a couple and, what’s more, she had been really happy about it. She smiled to herself, Kelly had said it herself ‘he’s not going anywhere soon.’ Maybe she could break her stupid rule with him at last. Maybe now was the time that they were both in the right place for this. With that realisation, she felt her stomach do somersaults and she realised more than anything that this was the best feeling she had felt in a while.

As they reached the station, Kelly turned to her. “Just promise me that you’ll meet Connor at 12 okay? It’s pretty important.”

Christiana beamed at her, riding on the high of her new revelation. “I’ll try my best.”

Kelly took her by both her shoulders and held her gaze. “I mean it Christiana, you have to be there, promise me.”

“Okay, okay! I promise!”

Kelly kept her gaze for a moment longer, searching for the truth in her promise. Once she was happy, she broke the gaze. “Okay, well I’ll see you later.”

“See you later, weirdo.” Christiana called back as they both headed to their respective platforms to wait for their trains.

Jason

The building didn’t look like anything special, in fact it looked pretty run down. He had been told that it was one of the most prestigious bars in the country and yet the place looked like it had been shut down for years. Jason checked his slip of paper once more, making sure that he had the right address. It was the right place. He looked around to see if there were any more impressive buildings nearby that he may have confused this one with. Nothing. Just this one shabby looking brick building. He took a step closer and noticed the door seemed a lot more impressive. It was stainless steel and had an admission panel that looked like it had come straight from the future. Perhaps this was the right place.

It wasn’t like it was hard to get this place wrong anyway. Years ago it had been the home of the world’s most famous games of all time. The Olympic stadium had once stood on this exact spot. Although you would never have thought it to look at it now. There were no impressive structures, no bustling of people running around the once Olympic village. It was just a shack with an impressive entrance. Somewhere in the recesses of his bag, he felt his phone vibrate. He fished it out and saw it was Mark. His face automatically softened as he pressed the call button.

“I’m not even inside yet and you’re already calling me.”

“What?” Mark’s voice came through the phone, automatically calming every nerve within Jason. “I’m just excited for you, you’ve only been talking about this job for a month! Are you there yet?”

“I’m standing outside, and I got to admit, it doesn’t look that fancy to me.”

“You and your high standards.” Mark responded, “For the money they are offering you to pull beer, there’s no way it can be any less amazing than we thought.”

“Unless this has all been a sham.” Jason’s stomach dropped as he let the words leave his mouth the moment they entered his mind.

“Don’t be stupid, of course it isn’t a sham.” Mark’s voice once again oozed calm into Jason’s nerves and he felt himself relax immediately. “You are the best barman I have ever known, every drink you make is like a little drop of heaven and don’t you forget it. You have been head hunted because you are the best of the best, this place is going to be amazing.”

Jason heard a whir of a camera and looked up to see the building’s security system hone in on him. “I think I’m being watched, I might have to go.”

“Call me as soon as you can, I’m so proud of you.”

Jason smiled, “Just try and stop me.”

“Good, oh and Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Jason ended the call and placed the phone back in his bag. He looked around for a doorbell or knocker but couldn’t find anything. He raised his hand to knock on the door when it swung open to reveal a tall, unbelievably thin woman standing in the frame, platinum blonde hair tied tightly in a bun and a huge smile pasted on her face.

“Jason Parker?”

“That’s me.” Jason said, trying to match his smile to hers.

“Welcome to ‘Utopia’ we’ve been expecting you.”

Instead of moving aside to let Jason in, the woman walked out of the door and shut it behind her.

“My name is Michelle and I’ll be doing your orientation today.” She reached out a hand for Jason to shake and he took it. “Now, first thing’s first.”

She turned Jason’s offered hand so it was facing palm up. With her other hand she brought out a rectangular black device and held it above Jason’s fingers.

“We just need to scan your fingerprints, it will allow you entrance into the building at any point.”

The device whirred slightly as she scanned it across his fingers, thumb and ended on his palm. She then turned the device over so it revealed a flat shiny screen, big enough for Jason to place his palm over. Almost as if to prove this, she pressed his palm against the screen until it let out a small bleep. She tapped a few keys on the pad beneath and turned her attention back to Jason.

“Right, that’s all done. If you would like to follow me.”

She led Jason to the panel he had been admiring a moment ago and opened up the case.

“You will need to remember two four digit numbers. One you will type which will be 4102.”

Jason reached for his notepad in his bag but Michelle stopped him.

“I’m sorry, you can’t write any of this down, we can’t risk it getting into the wrong hands. You’ll just have to rely on your memory I’m afraid.”

Jason felt his nerves start up again as he nodded dumbly at her. What was this place?

“If you would like to enter the number onto the admission pad please.”

Jason did as he was told and pressed the numbers into the pad. The panel whirred into action and a hand print showed on the screen.

“Please press your hand on the pad.”

Jason again followed the instructions.

“Now, if you wouldn’t mind stepping closer and resting your chin on the small shelf under the panel.” Jason did. “Lovely, now if you could look straight into the panel and try to keep your eyes open for as long as you can, it can be a little uncomfortable but unfortunately it is necessary.”

Jason looked into the panel and automatically a thin line of pin point lasers scanned over both his eyes.

“We already managed to get your retina scans, which is good as it speeds up this process a lot more.”

The laser lights caused Jason’s eyes to water and it took all he had to stop himself from blinking the tears away. When it was done, he felt Michelle’s lips reach his ears.

“Nice and clearly now,” She whispered, “Please can you recite the numbers 6930.”

Jason cleared his throat and rather weakly did as he was told. “6930.”

Automatically the door buzzed open and Michelle opened it wide for Jason to enter.

“Lovely, if you would like to wait inside, the door only permits one entry at a time so I will need to enter my own code.”

Jason stepped inside into a corridor that was immediately thrown into darkness as the door swung shut behind him. The darkness didn’t last for long however as a beam of sensor driven lights started to turn on, giving the corridor a warm homely feel. Jason cast a glance down the corridor. Beautiful portraits lined up the walls and tall deep green plants stood in pots underneath them. The place oozed warmth and attraction. Despite of the daunting and terrifying feeling his admittance had given him, Jason couldn’t help but relax a little at the sight. He didn’t have long to take it in however, as the door soon buzzed open again and Michelle joined him in the corridor.

“Well, now that that’s sorted, there are a few things that I need to check in with you before I take you to where you will be working.” Michelle beamed at Jason with the same warm smile that she had been wearing since she had opened the door to him. “I noticed that on making your way to the building you were on the phone.”

“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” Jason stumbled, not wanting to get into trouble before he had even started. “My boyfriend is very excited for me, he was just checking in. He has been given strict instructions not to ring again until I call him so it shouldn’t happen again.”

“Not to worry. I understand, this is a very exciting day for you, of course he would want to find out how it is going. However, we do have a strict no phones policy. We can’t risk any of our customers feeling that their attention is not your main priority whilst you are working. As such, we do insist that you hand your phone over upon entrance to the building to as to ensure that no such tricky situation presents itself.”

Michelle held out her perfectly manicured hand and waited patiently for Jason to hand over his phone. For the first time since hearing he had this job, Jason felt a little scared, this all seemed far too intense for something he didn’t really know much about. He knew that it was a reputable company who owned the bar but that was all and right now he felt like he was handing over his life to these people without really knowing what he was getting himself into. Don’t be ridiculous, He scolded himself as soon as the thought entered his mind, You are in a completely different league now, of course things are going to be more strict than you are used to. Before he could talk himself out of it, he took out his phone, turned it off and handed it over.

“Wonderful,” Michelle said, and placed the phone in her pocket. “I promise to take very good care of it, and of course you can have it back when you leave. If you would like to follow me.”

Jason followed Michelle down the long corridor, gazing at the beautiful paintings on the walls until they reached a door at the very end.

“I have to admit Jason, we have been following your career very closely and we are very impressed with your work. Your personal cocktails are the best in the country, some might say the world, and the way your customers rave about your service and how at ease you make them feel makes us confident that you will fit right in, in our establishment.”

She opened the door to a flight of stairs leading down.

“We take the name of our home very seriously. The golden rule in order to stay in this place is to ensure that you make every customer who walks through our doors completely at ease. They are to feel that this is the most perfect place they have ever been in, nothing should ever compare to the peace and serenity that encompasses every inch of this building. Needless to say, this means that no other emotion other than complete and utter contentment and service should ever show on your face at all times, even when you think that no one is watching.”

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Michelle stopped at another door to turn to face Jason.

“Think of us as Disney World on crack. Nothing short of perfect will do.” She took hold of both of Jason’s shoulders. “Now give me your most dashing smile.”

Jason once again did as he was told and mustered the biggest genuine smile he could.

“Oh wonderful,” Michelle beamed, “Even better than I could have hoped.”

She turned and opened the second door to reveal an enormous room, shiny and sparkling and glistening new. Everything seemed spotless from the marble blue floors to the huge sky blue drapes hanging from the ceiling which seemed so high, Jason wasn’t quite sure where it ended. In front of him was an array of sofas and chairs surrounding luxurious glass tables on violet shag rugs. Large platinum screens, bigger than most he had seen in cinemas, lined the walls in different areas which were segmented and partitioned off to give a comfortable privacy to each sitting area. There had to be 12 of these areas at least.

Jason could count 8 bars in his sight alone, all stocked with every form of alcohol he could think of and lit up with such stunning lighting that he could barely catch his breath.

“This is the room that you will be spending all of your time, most of our clientele will be very fond of the drinks and have a tendency to lead incredibly stressful lives, as such it is your sole job to provide them with drinks, smiles, conversation and keep a sense of control. We do not accept drunken disorderly people. We expect you to keep an eye on each drink you serve and the people in which you serve those drinks to. If you feel that they are leaning towards becoming a little out of control, it is your responsibility to notify security who will then ensure that they are taken away to serve their drunken night away from others. We do not throw people out of Utopia, it isn’t our style, but we do expect the constant calm that we emanate to continue even after all our customers are intoxicated. If you do not report a person and they disrupt the calm in any way then needless to say disciplinary actions will be taken. It is important that you know, we will always know who it is who has let this disruption take place, we have eyes and ears in every section of this establishment.

“Now, let me show you your station. You will be pleased to know that of all the staff we have employed here, we are most impressed with you, as such you will be paid a lot more and have access to a lot more important clientele. With that however, comes the expectation that you will never slip up, make a mistake or struggle with any of the tasks that we give you. Ah, here we are.”

Michelle drew aside a curtain to reveal the largest bar Jason had ever seen. It was so large that he could not see the end of either side, only where it curved around the wall.

“This will be your area. You will be assigned 20 members of staff and we expect you to manage each of them. Judging by your record however, you should find this no problem.”

Jason stroked the smooth glass surface of the bar and breathed a sigh of exclamation as he closed his eyes and smelt the new and refreshing smell that surrounded him. He couldn’t even find it within him to stress about the new levels of expectations that had been thrust on his shoulders. In this moment, looking at the new place he would be spending his waking days, he was completely and utterly content. Nothing could hurt him here, he would succeed and he would be damn good at it.

“Ma’am,” a man dressed in an immaculate suit walked up to them both and addressed Michelle.

“The expected suitcases have arrived, shall I take them to his room?”

Jason shot a look at the suitcases in the trolley next to this man, he grinned, he knew that design of suitcase, he had ones just like them at home.

“Of course,” Michelle answered and very quickly drew her attention back to Jason. “If you would like to follow me, we have an orientation DVD that you need to watch. Our customer base are a very particular kind and you will need to be made aware of what it is that you will be expecting.”

“Lead the way,” Jason said, all of a sudden feeling a lot more confident about his new workplace.



Daniela

“If one more person gets in my way, I swear I am going to punch them in the face.” Daniela threatened.

“Daniela, it is rush hour, there are going to be more people on the street than you.” Lisa said.

“Well there shouldn’t be, don’t they know that I am the most important person here?”

“No one knows that, only you.”

Daniela stopped in the middle of the street as another person weaved in front of her and shut her eyes. Shaking her head very slowly she took a deep breath and started to move again.

“How much further do we have to go? My feet are killing me.”

Lisa smiled. “You do realise that we have only been walking for about five minutes right?”

“Your point?”

“My point is that if any one of us should be complaining about the journey it should be me, after all, you did drag me out of my home at this ridiculous early hour and make me come halfway across London just so I could show you where to go once you left the train.”

Daniela threw Lisa a massive smile and batted her eyelashes. “Oh please. You love waiting on me hand and foot.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get there so that I can get home. This sun is burning into my skin.”

“Well that’s because you don’t have the dark beautiful skin that I do.”

“Yeah, yeah, so you keep telling me, and before you get all high and mighty, let’s not forget you’ve got white in you as well.”

“Barely.”

“I hope you burn as well.”

Daniela laughed. “You can hope all you want. You know it isn’t going to happen.”

“Remind me, why am I doing this for you again?”

Daniela linked arms with Lisa and pulled her along. “Because you love me.”

“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out how that happened.”

Daniela laughed again. “Be nice, I’m meeting the man of my dreams today.”

“You don’t even know him, you loser!”

“Katie says he’s perfect and ridiculously rich.”

“Are you sure she didn’t say he’s perfect because he’s ridiculously rich?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

Lisa threw Daniela a knowing stare. She opened her mouth to retort but decided to let it go instead. “Is she meeting you at the restaurant?”

“Yeah, it’s a double date/brunch thing, Katie and Dave, me and Nathan.”

“Well just remember to hook me up with one of his rich friends once you’re official.”

“Of course!”

Lisa stopped outside a run-down building and they both looked at it quizzically.

“Are we here?”

“Yeah, this is the place. I thought you said that it was classy?”

“That’s what Katie said.”

“Well maybe it’s one of those places that looks more fancy inside.”

“It had better be, otherwise I am coming back with you.”

Daniela tried the door to find it locked.

“Is this the right entrance?” Lisa asked, “I’ll go and check around the side to see if I can see another way in.”

Lisa walked around the building, leaving Daniela at the door. She did a full circuit of the building, seeing no other entrance, only a large glass dome shaded over with a mirror finish so that all she could see was her own reflection.

“There’s no other entrance that I can see.” She called out as she made her way back to the door. However, when she got there, Daniela had disappeared. She pulled out her phone and called her. It rang twice before Daniela answered.

“Where are you?”

“I’m inside, I’m telling you Lisa, this place is amazing, you should have seen what I had to do to get into the building.”

“Please don’t tell me it was sexual favours.”

Daniela laughed. “Ha! I wish! No it was –“ Another voice interrupted Daniela. “Hold on, someone’s talking to me.”

After about 30 seconds Daniela came back on the phone. “I have to go, apparently we’re not meant to use phones in here.”

“No worries. Tell me all about it later.”

“Will do. Lisa this place is amazing! See ya!”

Lisa laughed. “Bye, have fun you loser.”

Monday, 3 December 2012

Utopia - Prologue

Prologue
She watched without a word as people scrambled desperately over rocks and rabble, women clutching their children, shielding them from the scorching sun. And the sun really was scorching. Not in the exaggerated way that people usually use to refer to that term. No. Right now, she could see the skin literally being burnt off people’s bones, wooden structures bursting into flames.

It was the cries that were the worst, the pain and agony that emanated from every sound. She had never heard a sound like it. But then she had never witnessed so many people slowly dying in front of her before.

She took a moment to glance up at the sun causing the terrific pain. It was bright, there was no doubt about it. She could only bear to stare at it for a mere few seconds before blinking and returning her gaze to what was literally hell on Earth. She could definitely feel the sun. Beads of sweat fell freely down her head and all of her clothes clung to her, soaked through and through. Although her skin didn’t burn, it only glowed.

She sighed and took a walk around the outskirts of her bubble, taking in the scene from the whole 360 degrees. It was all more of the same really; death, destruction, crying abandoned children, rotting corpses from those who hadn’t survived yesterday’s atrocities. She reached out and let her fingers trace the glass that separated her from the chaos outside, continuing to walk as it stroked the smooth curved pane. She let out a small gasp at first, amazed that even in this heat, the glass remained relatively cool. She rested her head against it, momentarily closing her eyes before abruptly opening them again. No. She thought. I must watch this.

She was about to start to move again when someone caught her eye, a child, standing in front of her and looking straight at her. She stumbled back in surprise. The child was a boy, he couldn’t be older than 7 years old. She could see his yellow shirt was scorched black in so many places and his thin legs burned a bright red under his blue shorts. He continued to stare, not moving as she watched his skin burning and peeling away in front of her. It was as if he was staring straight at her, his face set, his eyes showing none of the pain that he was clearly experiencing. Impossible she thought, he can’t see me, none of them can. Her mind sounded convinced but her body simply shrugged her off and forced her forward again, her hand outstretched as if to attempt to reach for him through the glass.

It was then she noticed, the screams were fading. The sounds of running and scrabbling were falling away one by one. She spun her head around to see what was happening and realised that the boy hadn’t been staring at her at all, instead he had been frozen. People one after the other were following suit, stopping in mid action, some scrambling up, some in mid jump. It continued to happen until the whole world was paused around her. She started to move again, still tracing the outskirts of the massive glass structure she was in. Her eyes were desperately searching for some form of movement, for any form of sound, but nothing, they all stayed completely still. She let out a haggard sigh and fell backwards, tears that she thought had dried out a long time ago started falling freely again. None of them could move, but the sun didn’t stop beaming, it continued to scorch their skin, blisters formed and dark red marks burned away to reveal bone. Nothing showed on any of their faces but they were clearly still feeling the pain. Or maybe not she thought, maybe now that they’re frozen, their pain is frozen too. She nodded her head in agreement, willing the thought to be true.

No sooner had she nodded however, a piercing scream sounded to her left. She turned but no movement could be seen, then suddenly another could be heard, and another. Finally she saw it, the frozen bodies had access to move just one function, their mouths. Soon every single one of them were crying out in a sound that was so horrible she fell to her knees, finally giving in and clamped her hands over her ears, her head buried deep within her knees.