Page 142 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

The world he’s missed, painted in inky shades of silent, silky beauty.

It’s so inherently feminine. Soothing, powerful, nourishing.

Riley’s heart swells, and his eyes fill with tears.

He turns slowly on the spot while Troy attaches his ankle manacles to a long safety chain anchored deep in the concrete. It gives Riley enough freedom to explore most of the roof, but not enough to reach the hatch again. A wall runs around the perimeter, three and a half feet high.

Beyond it, the city glitters in the distance.

It takes Riley a moment to realise how high up they are.

‘Death by falling’s a bad way to go.’

Riley rolls his eyes. Troy never met an imprisonment method he didn’t like.

‘Now, I’m trusting you a lot, Riley. I’ll give you an hour, and then—’

‘Can’t I stay all night?’

‘No.’

‘Please?’

‘Someone will notice.’

‘So tell them to stop… checking on me,’ he says. He still struggles to get his words out all at once sometimes, especially around Troy. ‘T-tell them I’m OK now.’

‘They’d never believe it and it’s better to encourage what they think. I can’t let you come up here without the chains.’

‘I won’t run. Please?’

‘Two hours.’ Troy heads down through the hatch. ‘Best I can do.’

Riley sighs but accepts it.

Once Troy is gone, he climbs onto the wall and sits with his legs dangling over the other side. The safety chain stretches taut behind him.

He couldn’t hit the ground if he tried.

Clean, fragrant night air.

The city in the distance.

The moon, the sky and all those little stars.

He’ll take it.

Happy for the first time in years, Riley lies back along the broad concrete wall, closes his eyes and waits for fresh dreams to find him.

✴

Riley is fifteen and life isn’t good, but it’s stable.

Too many bad things outweigh the good of being allowed up on the roof a few times a week, not every night because sometimes Troy is away.

Limited though they are, those precious few hours alone in the open air beneath the moonlight are, just as Troy said, slowly transforming Riley.

Changing him.