Cage by Lilja Sigurdardottir

Author:Lilja Sigurdardottir [Lilja Sigurðardóttir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781912374502
Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

55

Sonja stood in the storeroom doorway and stared at the cage. Alex had disinfected it before leaving, so now it was clean and ready for the next candidate in need of a little discipline or a spell of cold turkey. Sometimes she felt as if her whole life revolved around that cage. It had become symbolic of her whole existence, ever since she had walked into Thorgeir’s trap eight years ago and found herself coming to this house to collect a shipment to take to Iceland.

Sometimes when she looked at the cage it felt as if she herself was its occupant, her existence fenced in by immovable iron bars, but still able to look out through them and see the life she could have had. A life in which Tómas would have lived with her instead of spending much of each year at a boarding school. A life in which Agla would have woken up every morning beside her and cooked a meal every evening.

Sonja banged the storeroom door shut and locked it. These days it was rare for her thoughts to turn to Agla, which was a relief as she always felt sad when they did. There had been such a powerful attraction between them that it had been painful to end their relationship. She had suffered nightmares for weeks after she had abandoned Agla, and often thought she had caught a glimpse of her on London’s streets, in the shops and even in a car in the street outside as she sat by the window in the evening darkness.

She went upstairs and walked through the large rooms that surrounded the imposing hallway. The cleaners had gone and the place smelled of soap and vanilla-scented candles. She glanced at the clock; Alex would be about to land in Amsterdam to catch his connecting flight. Once Tómas was in the car with him, she would call and let him know of the change of itinerary. This time she was going to have them fly direct from Zürich to London, and then weave a puzzle with trains and cars on the way from the airport. Giving them an extra two- or three-hour flight would try her patience too much; she was bursting with anticipation at the prospect of seeing Tómas again.

She started as the doorbell chimed, and then remembered that this had to be the delivery she was expecting from the shop. On the intercom screen she could see a new delivery man standing on the steps with a box in his arms.

She pressed the intercom button.

‘Leave the box by the door,’ she said.

The delivery man looked around in surprise, and then he saw the camera over the door. For a moment it was as if they looked at each other through the lens, and for a second Sonja was taken by his surprised brown eyes. But as they so often did, her senses were deceiving her. It was all too easy to convince yourself that you could know someone from their eyes.

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