I run back up toward The Heath, making it back to the same place I started from outside the main door.
I clean my shoes on the old scraper under the overhang. Mud comes off in great clumps. I undo the laces and take them off.
I’m panting, cheeks rosy, as I ring the bell. The receptionist buzzes the door open.
‘Bit nippy?’ she asks jovially as I pad into the foyer.
I give her a toothy grin that’s only half pretend. My run has lifted my spirits a lot.
‘Just a little,’ I say, still out of breath. ‘The horses were out. And I saw a robin.’
‘Lovely,’ she muses, and her eyes move to a spot behind me.
‘Oh dear,’ she murmurs.
I look behind me and see Sue and Philip emerging from the trees where I just came from. They’re both covered in mud and Philip is limping heavily.
‘Oh dear,’ I echo her faintly, trying very hard not to burst out laughing at the sight of them.
I turn away and start walking slowly toward my room. I hear the front door buzz open and the receptionist loudly asks them what happened.
I can hear them both panting hard.
‘Slipped in the bloody mud, didn’t I!’ I hear Philip snarl.
‘That little cow can move, I’ll give her that,’ Sue pants.
Smiling to myself, I take my shoes to my room and head into the bathroom for my allotted two-minute shower. I miss a lot from the outside, but, after Shade, Blake, and Mav, it’s definitely long showers and soaking in baths.
I get undressed and turn on the water, hoping it heats up quickly and doesn’t cut into my time too much, but it stays barely lukewarm, and I have to get in anyway, shivering under the spray.
God, I hate it here. If I ever find the asshole who took me from Sauvage’s club… Again, I wrack my brain, trying to remember who possibly could have taken me. I hear that voice in my head telling me I needed to go back to sleep on the airplane. So familiar…but I still don’t know who it might have been.
I wash my hair with the three-in-one shampoo, bodywash, and conditioner. I miss the lovely-smelling products Shade would buy me, too. This smells of nothing and my hair is acutely unhappy without proper conditioner. But I haven’t bothered asking for any. The request will be declined. I haven’t ‘earned it’, I suppose.
I get out when the water begins to go colder and dry off.
I get dressed in my gray Heath uniform and put on my slippers and sweatshirt because I’m freezing. The radiator in my room has broken again and hasn’t been fixed. As a result, my room is about ten degrees cooler than all the others even with the door always open.
Remembering all the shit Marcus had the KIP guys do to me at Richmond U, I wonder if it’s Stoke or Banderville testing me. Or, perhaps, Joseph does know I had something to do with his son’s death and this is all part of the torture.
Though if that is the case, he’s half-assing it. Things could be a lot worse for me here. I could be treated like William. Poor William.
I feel bad for the kid, but there’s nothing I can do for him that won’t land me in trouble.
Later that evening, he comes to sit beside me in the dining room. I glance at him but don’t speak. Philip, still limping, puts his food in front of him. He stares at it.
‘Eat, William,’ Crewes says from across the room.
I eat my meal staring straight ahead with my back straight, glad I got here in time to choose it myself. It’s a grilled chicken breast with carrots, peas, and potatoes. It’s all bland and dry, but at least it’s hot.
Could be worse.That’s my mantra for The Heath.
I watch William pick at his food, not touching the broccoli or beans they’ve given him. I don’t particularly enjoy those vegetables, and clearly he feels the same.
After I finish my plate, I notice that he’s practically inhaled his apple crumble. So, he likes sweets.
When the Blanks aren’t watching, I quickly switch his tray with mine, giving him the second dessert. He briefly looks at me, then digs in.
