A/N – Many, many thanks to Alessandra12, DEcon377, Judging. All Day Every Day and MsDrPotatoPond for your reviews!
Chapter Eight – Tick Tock, Tick Tock
Have you ever had to carry a decaying corpse into a building without attracting any attention to yourself whatsoever? Well, I'm seriously hoping the answer is no, so I'll tell you what it's like.
Fucking terrifying.
I honest to God thought our cover was going to be blown straight out of the water the second we set foot in the community centre. Even though the building was obviously totally empty, I was convinced someone was going to randomly walk in and catch us. I was so on edge that every time someone made an especially loud footstep, I practically jumped out of my skin. I was not cut out to be a murderer in any way, shape or form.
Kelly and I were carrying one of the corpses (despite my many, many pleas to not go anywhere near them,) me carrying the head and Kelly bringing up the legs. I had my mouth set in a firm line, desperately trying not to breathe too heavily. That fucking smell was gonna follow me, I just knew it. I was going to have to sit fully clothed in the shower for an hour as soon I got home otherwise there'd be no way of getting the stench of decomposing corpse off me.
Simon and Alisha had already dragged the first body into the storeroom, and I was halfway in when Nathan said to Kelly, "I like your cap."
"No!" Kelly shrieked as Nathan pulled her cap off…along with all of her hair. What. The. Fuck.
She attempted to cover her now-bald head with her hands (albeit unsuccessfully) and fled from the room, dropping her end of the corpse. The sudden uneven weight distribution almost sent me toppling over as Alisha, Simon and Curtis came out of the storeroom. Nathan was just standing there, her cap and what I now realised was a wig in his hand with his mouth open.
After Curtis and Simon quickly dragged away and stored that second corpse, the five of us reconvened back outside the storage room, none of us quite sure what in the fuck we'd just witnessed. How the fuck was Kelly bald?! Like, 'Murica bald eagle levels of bald?! As bald as a porn star's fanny, Nathan might say. Speaking of Nathan, he was still staring after where Kelly had fled, cap and wig still in his hands.
"Did you know she was bald?" asked Simon.
"'Course not! Twat," Nathan snapped. "Jesus…"
"She looked like an alien," Alisha giggled, not one to care about Kelly's feelings at all.
"Aw, don't be mean," Nathan reprimanded, before snorting with laughter. "She did, didn't she? Like a bald alien."
"Wow, you guys are lovely, aren't you?" I said with a roll of the eyes. "There's obviously something wrong with her. Your hair doesn't just fall out, especially not overnight."
"Pfft, don't be bloody dramatic Blake, it's probably nothin'. Reckon she did a Britney last night and shaved it off herself. But I should probably try and find her. Y'know -" Nathan held up the cap and wig before hurrying after Kelly.
To say the mood became uncomfortable after that would be the understatement of the century. I swear, the atmosphere between Alisha and Curtis was so awkward I could have cut out a chunk of it with a knife, old timey Scooby-Doo cartoon style.
"Sooo…" I said, whistling slightly. I looked down at my wrist, pretending to look at the watch I was not wearing, nor did I own. "Wow, is that the time? I am so tired, I'm gonna get going. Simon, come on."
"What?" Jesus H. Christ, was he really that slow to catch on?
"You're walking me home," I said firmly.
"Oh, okay," he said warily.
I waved cheerily at Alisha and Curtis. "See you guys tomorrow, then." I turned to Simon and gestured at him to follow me. "Let's go."
As we emerged from the community centre doors into the darkness outside, there was no sign of either Kelly or Nathan. I wondered if he had managed to catch up to her yet. I had a feeling when he did, she'd have a lot of stuff to say to him. And I also had a feeling none of it would be friendly. To be honest, I wouldn't be all that surprised if Nathan was the one sporting the bloody nose tomorrow morning.
Simon and I walked in silence, standing well over a foot apart, neither of us with any idea what to say. What could we say? Moving the bodies went well, here's to not getting arrested! I think the fuck not, somehow.
There was a sudden gust of wind that blew my hair around my face, and I could smell the dirty corpse stench on it. Urgh. I felt exhausted and I felt violently ill. I just wanted to go home, curl up in a warm bath and then collapse into bed. Today had been one massive, terrifying, emotionally draining, exhausting pile of wank. I abruptly felt like I was going to cry, tears starting to well up in my eyes. No, stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Despite desperately trying to smother it, a small choking noise escaped my throat. Son of a bitch.
"Are...are you okay?" Simon asked tentatively.
"Yeah. Right as rain. Why wouldn't I be?" My voice cracked slightly under the pressure of suppressed tears.
"Everything that's just happened," he replied. "You've been very quiet, and you were sick. Are you sure everything's okay?"
I sighed. "Honestly? No. I've just had to un-bury two dead bodies and hide them in a community centre storage room. I feel sick, I'm convinced that we're gonna get arrested in the next forty-eight hours and I stink of rotting corpse. I'm scared, Simon. I'm so scared." Unable to control my emotions any further, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him, beginning to cry properly.
Though hesitant, Simon's arms closed around my waist. It felt nice. I had no idea why I'd just spilled all this to him. I was so used to Nathan and I being wrapped up in our own little bubble – Sherlock and Watson take on the world and all that – that it was like I'd forgotten there were other people I could be friends with. But to be honest with you, at the moment I felt so vulnerable and weak that I just wanted someone to talk to, Nathan wasn't here, and Simon seemed like the only other person in our little ASBO group who wouldn't judge me, like the one person I could truly trust to be a friend.
"We're all scared," he said quietly.
"I can't do this anymore," I mumbled. "I can't. I don't want to."
"None of us do," he replied. I pulled away from him, my face damp with tears, and he looked at me seriously. "But we have to."
After spending a literal hour sobbing in the shower the second I stepped through my front door, I spent the first half of the night drifting in and out of a fitful, dream-fuelled sleep. Well, I say dream. They were more like nightmares. Zombie probation workers eating my brains were never going to be pleasant thoughts, were they?
By 3AM, I was so sick of tossing and turning that I got up and slumped over to the other side of the flat, collapsing on the sofa with the duvet wrapped tightly around me. Even then I couldn't catch a break as sleep continued to evade me, resulting in me paying far too much attention to SyFy's God awful after midnight 'horror movies.' You thought Anaconda was bad, try the direct-to-TV Anaconda 3: Offspring for size.
By the time the sun rose over the estate, I was so exhausted I had a feeling I visually resembled SpongeBob in that episode where he dries out in Sandy's treedome. I was a mess. I didn't even want to leave the pissing flat, but of course I had no choice. Today we were going to find a more permanent place to bury the bodies, because they'd obviously be found if we left them in the storeroom.
A second trip to the bathroom in less than eight hours confirmed my 'looks like a dried up sponge' theory as you could literally count the bags under my eyes and the rings around them were so dark I was honestly debating whether I even needed to bother wearing eyeliner today. No, again, I had to. Pretences needed to be kept up or Sally would know something was wrong. I usually turned up looking like a My Chemical Romance reject, so that's what I'd do today. Grey skinny jeans, My Chem band tee, scuffed up DMs. Sorted.
However, given that my anxiety levels were at an all-time high, I didn't bother eating breakfast. Instead, I just popped my usual morning medication and made myself an extra large, extra strong mug of coffee with about four spoonfuls of sugar. It's good for shock, okay?
Given that my car was still in the garage, I had to take the long route to the community centre again. It didn't bug me as much this morning as I was hoping that I'd be able to catch up with Simon. Sure enough, as I came to the end of the dirt path that lead to the fly-over, there he was. He was standing behind one of the pillars, half-concealed, watching the builders dig what I assumed were the foundations for the environmental monitoring station.
"Hey Simon," I said lightly as I came up behind him, making him jump.
"Oh, hi Blake," he said, smiling at me, a smile that I returned. "How are you feeling today?"
"As alright as I could possibly be at this moment in time. But I'm not dead, so things could be worse," I said, shrugging. "What are you doing, anyway?"
"I was just seeing if the builders had noticed where we dug last night," he answered.
"Oh, right." I peered over at the group of men myself, but I couldn't see anything that would suggest they were doing anything but going about their business as usual. "As much as I feel like a big ball of pessimism this fine morning, I think we might actually be okay on that front. Come on, we should probably get going, otherwise we'll be seriously late."
Simon nodded, and the two of us continued down the track together. It was weird – when we'd first started our community service, Simon and I had said barely two words to each other. Literally. I don't even think I directly spoke to him that first day. Oh no, wait, I think directed a snarky comment at him after the lightning struck. But now, things were different. Ha, different. I could laugh at what an understatement that was. Things were critical.
Though I was relatively close to all of the team – and was a surgery away from being Nathan's conjoined twin – Simon had grown on me the most over recent days. I liked Kelly, I liked Alisha, I...tolerated Curtis, but Simon was the first of all of them that I felt I could truly consider a new friend. He was neutral, level-headed, calm, everything I needed to keep my head on straight while we were all going through this. Together.
"I've had an idea," Simon said, jolting me out of my over-sentimental thoughts.
"About what?" I frowned.
"What to do with the bodies," he replied.
"Thank God. Nobody else is gonna be bright enough to think of anything," I said with a laugh. "I was going to suggest feeding them to pigs but hey, I'm open to negotiation. What's your plan?"
"Not here. I'll tell you with the others," he said quickly.
"Oh, so I'm just one of 'the others', am I?" I demanded, attempting a joke, but Simon seemed to panic at my tone.
"No, I didn't mean that," he said, looking worried.
"No no, I get it. It's fine," I said in an overly dramatic voice, placing the back of my hand against my forehead like I was faint. "I thought we were friends, but apparently not."
"We're friends?" Simon asked.
"Of course we're friends," I told him, surprised. "Why wouldn't we be?"
"I don't know. The others don't seem to regard me as one."
"You're...you're not really the kind of person they're used to dealing with," I said gently. "We all come from loud, social backgrounds, and while I have other hobbies like reading, watching rugby or footie and gaming that make me much more accepting of others, they don't. They don't understand weird little nerds like you, and even me to an extent."
"They seem to like you just fine," Simon said resentfully.
"Yeah, well, that's because I have literally no emotion. I don't care what people say to me and I give as good as I get."
"I can't do that, though. I'm not loud and obnoxious, and I don't like being looked at all the time."
"Hey! Who are you calling obnoxious?" I said indignantly. "I'll just pretend you didn't say that. Now, I'd like to say we should try and get you to be a bit louder and a bit more noticeable, but I think it'd be weird if we did. This caring, quiet, shy boy is who you are, and you should never have to change that."
The sentimentality of the morning was completely shattered by Kelly and Nathan. Simon and I were sitting in the locker rooms after getting changed into our jumpsuits when they burst into the room, Kelly practically spitting with fury.
"Yep, it was her ex-boyfriend and he's bald!" she growled. "It's Jodi! She's got this power or somethin'! Urgh! That bitch did this to me!" She slammed back against the lockers, folding her arms with a huff.
"So she has the power to turn people bald?" Nathan repeated incredulously. "That is rubbish! Bald, bald, bald…" he pointed at each me, Simon and Kelly, though he faltered at that last one.
"When I catch her, I'm gonna batter her! I'm gonna rip her tits off!" Kelly yelled viciously.
"May I suggest the titty twister for that one?" I offered. "Y'know, grab the nipple, twist and pull?"
"I thought your forte for revenge usually involved bowling balls," Nathan snorted.
I grinned at him. "Very true, but I feel that this particular brand of revenge requires more theatrics. The titty twister never fails. Remember that time I tried it on Scott because he dared me to?"
Nathan's snort became full-blown laughter. "Oh my God, that was fuckin' classic! I have never heard a bloke scream like that. Actually, come to think of it, I've never seen a bloke's nipples turn that purple either."
"What's more important is that through the art of Facebook, we can make sure the entire world knows just how purple a man's nips can be," I said reminiscently.
Kelly and Simon stared at us both, completely dumbfounded by the conversation they'd just heard. On the plus side, at least Kelly seemed to have calmed down now. "Yous two are fuckin' mental. Ya know that?"
"We've been told," Nathan smirked, flinging an arm around my shoulders.
"Right, come on!" Sally's bossy voice suddenly travelled through the locker room door. "All of you in the main hall, now!"
"D'you think we should wait for Curtis and Alisha?" I said, standing up and stretching.
"Nah, they're probably shaggin' or somethin'," Nathan said dismissively.
"Urgh, changed my mind," I gagged. "I ain't hanging around to see Curtis' post-cum face if it's as ugly as his 'Wanna smash?' face. Nope. I'm out."
"Your bitchiness never fails to astound me," Nathan said as the four of us followed Sally's command and reported for duty in the main hall. Nice to see the cow hadn't even stuck around to give us instructions on what the fuck we were doing. Instead, we found ourselves surrounded by sealed cardboard boxes full of the clothes we'd been sorting the last two days.
"Well this looks like it's gonna be some bullshit," I grumbled, sitting on one of the sealed boxes of clothes and nearly falling straight through when the cardboard collapsed. "Shit!" Simon caught hold of one of my hands and pulled me up before the box completely caved in. "Cheers Simon."
"You're welcome." He seemed to pause, watching Nathan flit around the room, dancing in and out of the box towers whilst singing Another One Bites The Dust. "How do you do it?"
I frowned. "Do what?"
"Stay so close with Nathan? You're both so different."
I actually laughed, following Nathan with my eyes and smiling at his hyperactivity. "No we're not. Not really. Just because I can pay an ounce of attention to people's feelings doesn't mean we're different. Nathan is like my un-twin. The cheese to my onion, the gin to my tonic, the jam to my doughnut. Then there's the fact he literally saved my life last year, although to be honest, if I hadn't sacked him off by that point then there's no way I'd bother to now."
Now it was Simon's turn to frown. "He saved your life?"
I waved a dismissive hand. "God, that is so not something I wanna talk about right now. It's a story for another time."
"Alright lads." Nathan's boisterous voice cut between the two of us like the swing of an axe. "What are we talkin' about here, then?" He popped up in front of us like a jack-in-the-box, clearly bored of performing his one man show.
"My period," I said sweetly, causing Nathan to clam up like a bit of seafood.
Just then, the doors opened and Curtis and Alisha walked in dressed in their jumpsuits, apparently having finally decided to show up. I let out a low whistle to capture everyone's attention and gestured with my hands for them to join us. Everyone not already here gathered around the box Simon and I were standing by.
"Okay, shitheads, listen up," I announced, clapping my hands at them. "Our good friend Simon here -" I threw an arm around his shoulders. "- has had an idea about what to do with our little problems upstairs. I'd like to tell you what it is, but since he hasn't actually told me yet, I'll just let him to the explaining." I gave him a meaningful look.
"We should bury the bodies underneath the foundations of the environmental monitoring station before they pour in the concrete," he said quietly.
"So your plan is – we dig up the bodies, and then we rebury them in exactly the same place? You're a genius!" Nathan hissed derisively.
"Right, seriously Nathan, what have I said about constantly being a prick?" I warned him. "Simon, I gotta tell you, that's actually a fucking brilliant idea."
"That works!" Curtis said through a smile.
"Yeah, that's dead smart," agreed Kelly. Simon looked adorably proud of himself, giving everyone a cute little smile that made him look like a cold-eyed puppy.
"...Pfft. It's okay," said Nathan superficially. As usual, I just rolled my eyes.
Charity Guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying one of the cardboard boxes. "Okay guys, if you wanna grab a box and follow me." None of us really moved except for Alisha, who turned her back slightly on him. His ridiculously cheery smile wavered slightly. "Guys? Do you wanna…grab a box?" We all sighed and each reluctantly grabbed a box, and this was how the rest of the day was spent- packing up boxes and stacking them- until we were finally set free at the end of the day.
"Right. Let's get this shit over and done with," I proclaimed in the locker room. There was a pause. "How exactly are we getting this shit over and done with?"
"I'll go ask Alisha if we can borrow her dad's car again," said Curtis. "We can use that to drive the bodies up to the fly-over. Unless yours is sorted?" Was it me, or did I detect a note of hope in that last sentence? He and Alisha hadn't said a single word to each other today so I was surprised he'd even offered to do this. Something was seriously up with the two of them.
I shook my head. "Nope, sorry bro. I'm not picking it up till tomorrow night at the earliest. Alisha's our only bet. You might wanna hurry, she buggered off as soon as she'd changed." I gestured with my hands at the door. Curtis nodded and left.
I was beyond praying that he would be able to persuade her to let us use the car again. There was no other way we could transport two decomposed bodies halfway across the estate without being seen. However, that praying was in vain because when Simon, Nathan, Kelly and I turned the corner that lead to the community centre courtyard, Alisha was disappearing with Charity Guy, leaving a very pissed off Curtis in her wake.
"Where's she goin'?!" Nathan demanded.
I pretended to sniff the air. "Ah yes, anyone else sensing the distinct aroma of 'hook up?'" I said, watching Alisha and the guy disappear around the corner.
"Urgh, d'you mean she's hookin' up with him?" Kelly exclaimed in disbelief.
"Oh, that is definitely on," Nathan agreed.
"How do we move the bodies without her dad's car?" asked Simon, ever the practical thinker.
"You need to get that tart on the phone, and tell her we need her dad's car to shift the stiffs!" Nathan directed at Curtis, who had already started walking away in the same direction Alisha and Charity Guy had gone.
"Er, where ya goin'? We need to move the bodies!" hissed Kelly.
"You deal with it!" he snapped.
"Cunt!" I shouted after him, earning me a three separate looks of surprise from the others. "Oh come on. You were all thinking it!" I said defensively.
"We can take Sally's car," suggested Simon.
"Yeah, good plan." I nodded, feeling somewhat faint at the idea of this going so tits up so quickly.
"Who's Sally?" Nathan stupidly questioned with a frown.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," I said, facepalming, while Kelly and Simon looked at him like he was mentally devoid of any brain cells. "The probation worker, you complete and utter moron!"
It took us another ten minutes to sort that out, though for all intents and purposes, we had managed to come up with a half-decent plan. Simon turned himself invisible to get the keys from Sally's bag, and we managed to get the bodies out of the storeroom, past the probation office and out to the car park without any hiccups and without getting noticed.
Kelly, Simon and I lifted the first body (Gary) into the boot of Sally's car with no trouble as the corpse was kinda small, but it was the probation worker corpse that started causing problems as it was too big for the three of us to handle.
I say three and not four because one of us – no prizes for guessing who – had not lifted a finger since we dragged both bodies out of the building. Nathan seemed to think he was above wrestling with dead people, as he sat in the driver's seat checking himself out in the wing mirror. Not once had he offered to give us even an inkling of assistance. Enough was enough, in my eyes.
"Oi! Twat! Get out of the frigging car and come give us a hand!" I spat at him, as me, Simon and Kelly desperately tried to force the body into the boot.
"I'm the designated driver!" he retorted.
"Designated dickhead, more like," I snapped back.
"Help us, you prick!" hissed Kelly.
He sighed and got out of the car. "Which one's this?" he grunted, pushing at the body.
"The probation worker," replied Simon.
"He's a fat bastard," panted Nathan as he pushed, and we eventually managed to get the body to fit. As Kelly slammed the boot shut, Sally emerged from the building, checking something on her phone.
"Fuck!" I all but shrieked.
"Shit!" exclaimed Nathan, grabbing my hand and pulling me down behind the car. Kelly and Simon both scrambled to hide as well.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck!" I muttered. "We need to move. Now!" As Sally rummaged in her bag for something – probably her missing car keys – the four of us managed to crawl over to a gathering of big metal barrels and dumpsters which were giving off an appalling smell and hid behind them. Just in time too, as Sally hurried around to the side of the car we had been squatting behind not one minute earlier.
"You're the one with the big ideas!" Nathan hissed at Simon. "What do we do?!" Even Simon faltered at this one.
As she opened the driver's door, I whispered to the others, "It'll be okay. She won't be able to start the car because we have the keys. She buggers off, we get in the car and skirt outta here."
"Er…" Nathan said guiltily.
"Nathan?" I said suspiciously, narrowing my eyes. "What have you done?" Before he could even open his mouth to reply, my question was answered as the car's engine started and Sally drove away, leaving us behind in a puff of dust.
"No! NO! NO!" I howled like a rabid dog, running out from behind the dumpster, closely followed by Nathan.
"Shit!" he yelled.
"You prick!" I screamed at him, slapping him on the arm repeatedly. "You absolute twat-headed cunt-face! You left the keys in the fucking ignition!"
"Ow! Ow! Stop hittin' me! I forgot, I'm sorry!" he cried, stepping away from me. "How was I supposed to know she was gonna come out here and just drive off?"
"Anyone with half a fucking brain would have some clue that it was a possibility!" I seethed at him as me, him, Simon and Kelly headed up to the roof of the community centre. "Then again, I guess that's why you didn't think of it, because you clearly have no brain! How could you have fucking done this to us?! We are D-O-N-E, fucked!"
"Are you PMSing?" he seriously asked me.
"NATHAN!" I punched his arm again as we emerged on to the roof. "Instead of being a useless dick, why don't you make yourself half-useful and call Curtis to explain this lovely situation you've gotten us in? Now!"
"Alright, alright, pushy," he muttered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and moved as far away from me as possible, which meant standing at the edge of the roof. I collapsed onto the end of the lounger next to Kelly and ran my hands through my hair. I'm amazed it wasn't falling out like Kelly's had, I was feeling so stressed.
My anxiety hadn't flared up like this in a long, long time. My stomach was churning away to the point where it actually hurt. I had a headache. I kept biting my lips so violently I had drawn blood. Worst of all, I felt completely and utterly isolated. I was watching Nathan make that phone call and all I felt like doing was shoving him off the side building onto those metal spikes below just for putting us into this situation in the first place. How sick was that?
I felt movement beside me and out of the corner of my eye I saw Simon move to beside me. "Are you okay?" His voice was so quiet and concerned, it just pissed me off more. I wasn't a goddamn charity case.
"Don't ask stupid questions, Simon. Of course I'm not," I said waspishly. His face fell and I automatically felt absolutely bloody terrible. "I'm sorry, Simon. I didn't mean to sound like a bitch. I'm not good at dealing with these sort of situations. Stress isn't...good for me."
He placed his hand on my shoulder. "This will all work out. Nothing bad will happen to you." I turned my head and gave him a small smile. Thank God for Simon and his calming aura. Maybe it was a good thing my engine had packed up; if I hadn't taken that walk to work yesterday, I didn't know if Simon would have been this comfortable with me or my mood swings.
"-worker is drivin' around with the stiffs in the boot of her car," Nathan was saying into his phone. "Just thought you'd wanna know. Anyway…call me." He hung up and looked up at us. "I left a message." He decided it would be a good idea to come and sit in between Kelly and me. "I guess that's it. We're goin' to prison."
"Yeah, my career's teacher said that's where I'd end up," Kelly said bitterly. "She'll be givin' it all this." She made a talking gesture with her hand.
"Yeah, well you'll do alright in prison. You've got the whole bald thing, you're well butch," Nathan said, earning himself a punch from Kelly. "Ow! You know, you hit me a lot!" he cried resentfully.
"Yeah because you're a dick!" Kelly snarled.
"Why you stressin'?!" Nathan was almost deliriously clueless sometimes "I'm the one with the problem! The freaks in them prisons probably haven't seen a beautiful face in fuck knows how long. Those places are full of perverts and rapists. My anal virginity will only last so long! As for Blake...she's like the police sketch of every serial killer victim ever. We'll find her chopped up in the chilli within a week."
Now it was my turn to slap Nathan upside the head. "Can you not?! I already feel like I'm about to spray chunks all over the concrete!"
"Maybe Sally won't look in the boot," Simon interjected.
"Oh, fingers crossed, eh?" Nathan said mockingly.
"I hate to say it, Si, but he's kinda got a point," I said gloomily. "We're just not that lucky." Simon sat down next to me and put his head in his hands in despair. Now it was my turn to do the comforting. I scooched a little bit closer to him and placed my hand in the crook of his elbow. He turned to me, and while I couldn't smile, I did raise the corner of my mouth in an attempt at one. It was a look that told him we'd be in this together, not matter what. It was a look that I meant.
I ended up sleeping at the community centre with Nathan that night. I couldn't the stomach the idea of another night alone. Well, I say sleeping. I'd managed to catch maybe twenty minutes of uninterrupted snooze. Nathan, as usual, had slept through the entire night as I sat in the pitch dark leaning against the wall, legs drawn up to my chest. I'd woken him up at the arse crack of dawn just for the company. Simon had turned up not too soon after.
I was scared shitless. I was dressed in yesterday's gross clothes. I was shaking like a leaf and I was so pale with fear I was practically translucent. Today was the day our fates would be decided. Time was not on our side.
"We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead. We're fucked. We're going to prison, we're so dead," I chanted, pacing round and round in a circle in the middle of the main hall. "We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead. We're fucked. We're going to prison, we're so dead. We're fuc-"
"Blakey. Please shut the fuck up. I love ya, but you're doin' my fuckin' nut in," Nathan begged me, giving me a small shake.
"I'm sorry. I'm trying, I really am, but I am fucking freaked!" I cried out. "We're fucked. We're going to prison. We're so dead…" I couldn't keep still. If I wasn't pacing, I was tapping my foot or clicking my fingers. I was driving myself crazy as well as Nathan, and I was probably annoying Simon too, even though he didn't say anything from his position by the front door.
There was a knock at the other door, and in the state I'd wound myself into I somehow managed to both scream and throw up in my mouth. I felt insanely stupid when I saw it was just Kelly, Alisha and Curtis standing at the glass.
"Calm down!" Nathan hissed at me, opening the door. As the three of them walked inside, he asked them, "Did any of you get any sleep last night?"
"No," Curtis replied seriously.
"We would have been arrested by now if she'd found the bodies," said Alisha as the six of us formed a circle in the middle of the room.
"Maybe they're waiting until we're all together," Simon said intensely.
"Now why would you say somethin' like that?" exclaimed Nathan, sounding slightly hysterical.
"What time does she usually get here?" asked Kelly.
"About eight o'clock," answered Nathan.
I pulled out my phone and looked at the time. "It's seven forty-three. We should get outside and wait for her to arrive. That way, we can make sure she doesn't go anywhere near that fucking boot. Agreed?"
Everyone nodded, and we practically sprinted out to the car park. I looked around for somewhere for us to all hide, and we had to settle for behind the dumpsters again. I was squatting in between Kelly and Nathan, my legs shaking underneath me. It seemed like that sour bin smell had intensified over night.
We waited there for fifteen minutes, and all the while my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to rip its way out of my chest. But eventually, Sally's car swung around the corner and slowed to a stop.
"Oh thank fuck!" I breathed. "She hasn't looked in the boot! We're safe!"
"We're gonna be okay! We're not going to prison!" Nathan whispered ecstatically. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a tight hug. I noticed that due to the varying heights we'd both squatted down at, Nathan's head was resting in between my boobs, but I was so frickin' relieved I honestly didn't care as I enclosed my arms around his neck and shoulders and returned the hug, even going as far as to kiss the top of his head.
That feeling of euphoria was abruptly destroyed as Curtis suddenly rounded on us and hissed urgently, "She's gonna get out of the car, she's gonna walk to the boot and she's gonna find the bodies!"
"How do you know?!" demanded Alisha.
"It's already happened once!"
"So now you rewind time!" said Nathan, looking at me with raised eyebrows. I just shrugged, though the rapidly-returning fear in my chest cause me to clutch onto him somewhat tighter. However, by this point in time, Sally had gotten out of the car and was walking towards the boot. I swear to God, if I was sick again...
"What are we gonna do?!" I hissed in dismay.
"Argh! Get the bodies!" Nathan ordered, shoving me off him before grabbing a large chunk of brick off the floor and rapidly emerging from our hiding space.
"What is he thinking?!" I whisper-shrieked. Without any form of hesitation whatsoever, Nathan flexed his arm and chucked the brick at the car windscreen. It smacked straight into the middle of the glass, causing it to splinter out right to the edges with a devastating shattering noise. My eyes widened in sheer disbelief. That didn't just happen. He did not just wreck that fucking car!
Sally whirled round in what I could only describe as sheer disbelief. "What the hell are you doing?!"
"It's just…pure, mindless vandalism!" he stuttered, trying to sound cocky.
"What is the matter with you?" she demanded furiously. "Are you mentally deficient!?"
Probably, I thought, causing Kelly, who must have been listening to my thoughts, to splutter with suppressed laughter.
"If I was mentally deficient, I woulda missed. Check that out." Nathan had now reached complete cockiness, pointing to the shattered windscreen with pride. "Bull's-eye!"
"My office, now!" Sally commanded him, sounding completely and utterly enraged. "NOW!"
Nathan started at the shout, but allowed himself to be herded into the community centre by Sally who was hot on his heels. We all jumped out from behind the dumpsters and piled into the car, me driving. Thank God Sally left the keys in the ignition. I did have to kick a small hole in the windscreen to be able to see, but that was beside the point.
We were able to quickly rebury the bodies while the builders were on a break, but we hung back and waited behind one of the pillars to watch them pour in the concrete. Never in my life had I been so grateful to watch vats of lumpy grey liquid be poured into a mud hole.
I felt so bad for Nathan though. I couldn't believe he'd sacrificed himself (sort of) to let us get away. This was one of those times where the serious part of his brain could kick into gear. I inwardly sighed. I owed him an apology for my behaviour over the last couple of days. None of this had really been his fault. If he could suck up his pride and apologise to me after his behaviour during the Ruth thing, then I could apologise for this.
Sherlock and Watson had some serious friendship therapy to get through. But first, he had to deal with Depression Cloud Sally and her lecture on why he probably shouldn't go around hurling bricks at probation workers' cars.
A/N – Wow, thank you so much for the feedback on my previous chapter! Y'all rock, seriously. Please keep this up, you have no idea how validated you're making me feel! I'd love to know what you think about Blake's growing relationship with Simon, and what you think might happen next. Big love to all! Xx Gee xX
Chapter Eight Playlist
Doomed – Bring Me The Horizon
Breaking Down – I Prevail