This chapter was inspired by The Heavy's version of the 1966 song 'And When I Die', originally by Peter, Paul and Mary.
11 – AND WHEN I DIE
It had been approximately two years since Alex had been sent to prison, and they often wrote to one another. It had been hard at first but Lucy had eventually come to terms with the fact that Alex was gone and he wouldn't be coming back for a very long time. He asked her not to visit him; he didn't want her to be in a place like that and she complied. She kept him informed of Basil's health and he instructed her on how to look after the python she'd begun to grow quite fond of. Things were different; a lot had changed in her life. She was in Upper 6th Form now, her final year of high school before she started her tertiary studies, and was about to celebrate her 17th birthday. She had been dating someone else for two months now, named Michael. He was good to her but he wasn't Alex, the person she longed to see more than anyone else in the world. Pete was engaged too, which she still found very perplexing, especially since it was Georgina that was his fiancée. Georgina had become like a sister to Lucy though, and they often talked about everything together.
Riley had gone to college after 5th Form and was studying to become a hairdresser. While Em and Pee had rented out Alex's room to a lodger, something that slightly irritated Lucy, but it wasn't her place to say anything. Alex had often mentioned in his letters that he planned on getting out soon, but Lucy couldn't help but doubt that he would. However, Alex was highly intelligent, so anything could happen. Lying on her bed Lucy listened to her beloved Maestro, she was imagining various scenes in her mind. She listened to Classical music when she wanted to brainstorm ideas for her writing, a career she wanted in the future. Although for a long time now Lucy could only imagine horrible things, violent and depressing things. It made her weary so she carefully lifted the Styli off the record, abruptly ending the song. She got up from the bed and walked out to the kitchen. Her parents weren't home, and Pete had moved out sometime ago, renting a flat with Georgina. She spotted an envelope addressed to her on the kitchen bench and sat down to open it.
Lucy-Lu,
Your Alex got into a drat, and now they're sending me away for some zammechat veshch called a Ludovico Treatment. I leave the Staja tomorrow and it might take a while but if this veshch works then I'm free.
Alex.
She didn't really know what to do; it was like an extremely cruel joke. She couldn't believe there was a chance he may actually be back soon; it had been so long since she'd seen him. Her hands shook as she went over to her father's desk in the lounge room, trying to find some paper and a pen to write back to him. She had many questions; mostly about the Ludovico Treatment he had mentioned. She wanted to know how it worked, what it did and most importantly, how long it would take. She was somewhat baffled; unsure of what she would do when he got back. She didn't know what to tell him about Michael, so she thought it was best to leave that out of the letter. Would he expect everything to be the same, unchanged after two years? Or had he grown up, as she had? She thought over many things, unsure of how she felt about Alex returning.