A Time For Monsters by Gareth Worthington

Author:Gareth Worthington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
Published: 2021-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

Plymouth, England, 1999

Rey’s tongue felt like a carpet. Images of the night before hammered into her brain like nails in a coffin—loud nails. She peeled herself from the living room floor of her friend’s apartment, still wearing what passed for a dress when partying on Union Street. There had been a few bars. The Cornerhouse to start. White wine there. Then on to Wetherspoon’s. Jug of Green Monster there. The names of the next two bars wouldn’t emerge from the fog, but she did remember going into Jester’s. A dive club, which would have smelled like sweat and regret were it not for the copious amounts of alcohol, plumes of cigarette smoke, and the powerful stench of Joop! on every matelot, army grunt, and marine thug who packed the establishment.

Plymouth was a military town. The services all hated each other, and collectively they hated civilians. While the servicemen beat the shit out of one another and the civvies over the one girl they all wanted to bed, women—particularly student women—bought drinks cheap and danced the night away in an alcoholic stupor.

As a student at Marjon’s, Rey got the cheap drinks, and her sarcastic treat-them-mean demeanor made her a sufficient challenge for the male punters. It was a love-hate situation for Rey. Her familiarity with Plymouth and its locals meant she could wangle more free drinks and more free club entries than the average student. At the same time, the agony of having to study in her hometown was sometimes too much to bear. Of course, she’d had the grades to go to a much more prestigious university like Newcastle, but leaving home—leaving her family with Joe—was not an option. While unable to physically do much against him, Rey’s watchful eye seemed to stay his fist if not his hateful words. Apparently, having an audience who could truly judge him made it more difficult to be a complete cunt.

Then, of course, there was Damien.

At six-foot-three and built like a brick shithouse—with a temper that had led him to beat the crap out of a car when his ex-girlfriend tried to run him over—he was a force with which to be reckoned. Since they were little, her brother had seemed to goad Joe into punishing him. Flipping the bird right to Joe’s face, openly taunting the man with chants reminiscent of football stadium vitriol; “Come on then if you think you’re hard enough.” Now sixteen-years-old, and angrier than any person Rey knew, Damien inspired a level of trepidation in Joe. The problem was, Damien’s allegiance was inconsistent. Some days he aligned with their mother. Some, for reasons Rey could not fathom, with Joe.

Rey sighed heavily and propped herself up against the chesterfield sofa, her wine-soaked brain idling on thoughts of her brother. In complete contrast to his rage, Damien was also the most sensitive soul she knew. To look at him, you wouldn’t think it. He’d hit first and ask questions second if he bothered to ask questions at all. It hadn’t always been like this.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.