"You alright?"Mam asks without looking away from the screen.
"Yeah."
"You thinking about him?The man helping you?"
I don't answer.Don't need to.
Mam just nods."He good to you?"
"Yeah.He is."
"Good.You deserve that."
We sit in comfortable silence for a while, then Mam stands, announces she's heading to bed, and kisses the top of my head on her way past.
"Lock up properly," she says."And if you need me, you shout."
"I will."
She disappears down the hallway, and I'm alone with the flickering telly and my thoughts.
I think about Tank.About the way he held me yesterday.The fury in his voice when I told him about Declan.The promise he made.
And for the first time in three years, I let myself imagine what it might be like.To have someone solid in my corner.Someone who doesn't run when things get dark.
Someone who stays.
The thought makes my chest ache.Want and fear tangle so tight I can't separate them.
I stand, turn off the telly, and move through the flat doing my nightly routine.Lights off.Doors locked.Windows checked.
In the sitting room, I pass by the window and something outside catches my eye.
Movement.Or a shape.Hard to tell in the darkness.
I pull the curtain back just a fraction.
There, under the streetlamp across the road.A figure.Tall.Still.Just standing there.
My heart stops.
Is that him?Declan?
I blink, and the figure shifts, moving deeper into the shadows before disappearing entirely.
I can't tell if it was real or my imagination playing tricks, but the effect is the same.Cold fear flooding through me, making my hands shake, my breath come too fast.
I step back from the window.Lock it even though it's already locked.Pull the curtain tight.
Then I stand there in the dark, heart pounding, trying to breathe.
Declan's still out there.Watching.Waiting.
And I can't keep pretending I can face him alone.
I pull out my phone and stare at Tank's last message.I'm around if you need anything.
My fingers hover over the keyboard.I should tell him.I should let him know Declan might've been outside tonight.
