Things We Say in the Dark by Kirsty Logan

Author:Kirsty Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

The place is walking distance, but it’s late and the street is badly lit and the whole time in her head Sarah’s self-defence teacher is shouting: Don’t walk alone at night! Keys between your fingers! Go for the eyes and the throat! Sarah pulls her scarf up over her jaw and tries to walk silently.

In the bleaching street light she sees Juno, all in black with her fists wrapped in white, disappear into a building she’s never noticed before. It looks like a garage or a workshop. It’s something harmless. It must be. Secret mechanic training? Extreme metalworking? Stuntwoman training. Roller derby.

Sarah leans against the wall outside, taking deep breaths, getting ready. Though the door is ajar, she can’t hear anything from inside the building. She keeps her keys in her clenched fists.

She goes inside. The building is lit with red emergency lighting. She follows the narrow corridor. She strains her ears but there’s nothing; only a pressure, a held breath. The definite sense of people waiting just around the corner. She emerges into a larger space and the backs of two dozen women looking down at something.

A bell rings. Two staggered thumps, like dropped sandbags. Then a wet thud, a fast exhalation. Sarah smells blood. She sidles through the massed women without looking at any of their faces, not daring to see if any of them is Juno. She comes up short on the lip of a circular pit about eight feet deep. Dirt floor. Bare brick walls.

In the pit two women circle one another, fists raised, knees bent, swaying low. One is holding her left hand oddly, as if the fingers are broken. The other has a lipstick-red smear of blood from her nostrils to her chin.

One feints, the bird-fast dart of a head, but the other doesn’t fall for it. A fist below the ribs and she folds, broken hand scuffing the dirt. A kick to the belly, to the shins. She lifts her knees to protect her body. Sarah closes her eyes. The smack of flesh. The sharp smell of blood.

She pushes her way outside and vomits against the wall.

She runs away before Juno can see her. In the shadows, on the way home, she does what she needs to do.

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.