speak to her friend, and when she came back the kitchen was full of a foul-smelling yellow smoke, and the pan was crackling on the stove top. I was in the study reading a book, oblivious to it.
My dinner was put in front of me at the dining table shortly afterwards, a pan full of cabbage half-stuck to the burned bottom, and a fork with which to prise it loose. When I refused she left me sitting there for an hour, staring miserably at it. After that hour, she scraped a lump of the cabbage from the pan with her claw-like fingernails and pushed it into my mouth, while I struggled and cried and fought for breath.
‘You hate me,’ I whispered to the ghost of my mother in her wing-backed chair, ‘don’t you?’
Her eyes glinted back at me.
I left shortly afterwards, calling in at the Matron’s office on the way out to make sure she was fully aware of my presence and therefore not likely to phone me again for a few weeks.
It has crossed my mind more than once that my poor dear mother is in need of a merciful release. I can imagine, imprisoned in a body that’s now beyond her control, that she would quite possibly rather be dead, especially if, as they seem to suggest, her mind is still sharp. I have no doubt at all from the vile look in her eyes today that she’s entirely lucid. And, whilst it is within my powers to assist her with ending her miserable existence – should that be the path she chooses, of course – I find that I’m relishing the thought that I can hold even this back from her. Now the balance of power has shifted to me, and I choose to leave her as she is – humiliated, suffering, trapped.
It gives me immense personal satisfaction.
Back to work tomorrow. I wonder how Vaughn’s doing. I think I shall need a pint and some inane conversation by lunchtime.
Briarstone Chronicle
October
Another Lonely Death – A Community in Shock
Once again this week Briarstone police officers made a grim discovery when they were called to a house in Blackthorn Row, Swepham following reports of a foul smell in the area. The body of a man, believed to be Edward Langton, 28, was discovered in the bedroom of the property. Mr Langton had not been seen for many months and a source said that the body was found in a badly decomposed state.
At the time of writing, no relatives of the deceased had come forward. The sad death of Mr Langton is just the latest in a shocking number of decomposed bodies found in Briarstone homes in the last few months.
It is not known if the death of Mr Langton has been linked by the police to Dana Viliscevina and Eileen Forbes, who were both found in their homes last week. Investigations are continuing.
Love Your Neighbour Campaign – latest events in your area, pages 34–35.
Eloise
I knew I was in the wrong body when I was much younger, probably before I knew anything else that was a solid fact. I played with girls all the time, my two sisters and all their friends, and until the age of about eight or nine I didn’t even really think of myself as different from them, as separate in any way. If it hadn’t been for my dad, we might have carried on as we were and my life would have been very different. But my dad was a man’s man, a former miner, who wanted me to play rugby and if I couldn’t manage that then he would settle for football; he wanted me to stand shoulder to shoulder with him as I grew up. He wanted someone he could take to the pub on a Sunday morning while my mam cooked us both a roast lunch and my sisters chirped and cooed over their babies.
I loved my father and hated him equally; he was never violent towards me when I was growing up, but his displeasure was bad enough. So I learned how to play the game, I learned how to change my voice to suit his conversation and how to sit on my hands and hold my head down.
When I passed my A-levels I was offered a place at art school in London. My father wanted me to study engineering if I was going to ‘waste time’ instead of going out to get a proper job. We had arguments about it and