Thursday, 28 January
Madison lay on the bed half listening to the television that had been left on in Alice’s bedroom. She glanced at the digital alarm clock. It was way past one in the morning but she was sure she’d heard Alice talking on the phone.
Alice peered around the bedroom door. ‘You’ve woken up?’
Madison rubbed her throbbing head as she propped herself up. All the painkillers she’d taken at the hospital had long worn off. ‘Do you have any paracetamol? I know there’s none in my apartment. Why didn’t I think to get some from Nanna’s place when we popped by? She’s got boxes of them lurking around.’
‘You’ve had a lot on your mind. Besides, I do have some painkillers but they’re codeine based so they will make you sleepy.’ Alice placed a hand on Madison’s forehead and smiled.
Madison forced a mock laugh. ‘Durr, have you seen the time. Sleepy – who cares?’
‘I’ll go and grab a couple.’ A round of gunshot firing came from the television and several bodies blew up into the air on the black and white screen. ‘What on earth are you watching?’
‘I’m not.’ Madison switched to love songs set on a radio channel. ‘That’s better.’
Alice left the room and Madison could just about hear her rifling through the kitchen cupboards before she came back in. ‘Here, take these.’
She took the two white tablets from her friend and swallowed them down with a gulp of water. ‘I had the weirdest dream.’
‘I’m not at all surprised. When I came in you were twitching and muttering away.’
‘I dreamed I was at uni, sitting at the back of the lecture theatre and there was a line of men with no faces sitting in the front row. They all turned around at the same time and their faces were flat – as in no features. I don’t know who attacked me. I might never know, but he’s out there and I think my dream meant he could be anyone.’ She exhaled. ‘But I feel I know him, or I’ve seen him around but I never got a look at his face. I wish I could say I’d looked into his eyes but it happened so quickly. I didn’t see a thing.’
As Alice sat on the cheap mattress, Madison almost rolled into her and winced as she held her head. ‘Sorry.’
Lifting a hand, Madison brushed away her apology. ‘I did what I had to do. I ran and I’m still alive.’
‘You know, I spoke to Tyrone earlier and he agrees that you and Amber could be connected. I suppose you have similar features, you go to the same uni. We’ve visited Tyrone together at his place so there’s another match in the places that we’ve all been to. Ty said something that breaks the mould though and you’re not going to believe this. I wanted to wake you, to tell you.’
Madison could feel her eyelids getting heavier as the codeine-based painkillers began to work their way into her system. ‘What?’
‘The police visited Ty a few hours ago to follow up on the statements of everyone living in his block and they said someone else was missing, another woman. He said she was a policewoman. She’s the anomaly. I don’t think it’s uni or the block but… there’s something that we’re not figuring out, that’s what Ty said.’
A snort came from Madison as she fought to stay awake. Her hand reached over to Alice’s. ‘Don’t leave me alone. I’m so tired.’ She yawned and closed her eyes.
In her half dreamy state, Madison heard Alice’s phone buzz and she left the room.
‘I can be over in a few minutes. I’ll meet you there.’
‘Alice, where are you going? Did you just give me painkillers? I can’t…’ Her speech was slurring and her thoughts jumbled. Her body felt as though it was gently sinking into the warm mattress. So inviting and unwilling to let her go. The exhaustion had caught up with her.
Seconds later, the front door closed and Alice hadn’t responded. ‘Alice, where…’ Her friend had gone and she was drifting into a sleep that she couldn’t fight any longer.
Back to that scary dream. Those blank faces in the front row of the lecture room appeared again. This time, she walked down the steps while the whole audience stared at her, then she turned from the stage area to get a better look. Each figure now had a walking stick and a sickly grin with sharp animalistic teeth. She wanted to wake up, run away but her feet were stuck to the ground and the crowd had disappeared. All the lights went out plunging the room into darkness, then they clicked back on.
Only one faceless figure remained, the only person in the auditorium. ‘Madison, I’m back.’
55
Gina had been shivering for a while now. The snow had thankfully stopped falling but more was predicted. They had been staring at Vincent Jordan’s bungalow through that same crack in the trees for well over three hours now. Since earlier, when it looked like he was waiting for someone, not a thing had happened. His lights had all gone off about an hour ago.
‘Nothing. Not a thing and it’s bloody freezing.’ Wyre wrapped her arms around herself after having a quick swig of water. ‘I’d do almost anything for a hot chocolate.’
‘Light on behind us.’ As Gina turned, the car rocked. She could just about see through the icy back window. ‘The attic room. That’s Tyrone’s apartment.’
‘Are we watching him now?’
‘We’re watching everyone. I’m prepared to change strategies if anyone is deemed to be acting suspiciously.’ Gina paused. ‘Light’s off again.’
