Time and Tide in Sarajevo by Bronwyn Birdsall

Author:Bronwyn Birdsall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Affirm Press
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

16:05h | 4.05pm

Aida squatted down, reassuring Evelyn that she could tell her anything, that nothing would ever come between them. Evelyn knew that wasn’t true, that no matter what, we all had our limits.

The words tumbled out, imperfectly. Evelyn took out the memory stick and held it up, as if that might explain things. Vesna went and got her a glass of water.

‘I’m sorry, Ev, you’re not making sense,’ Aida said. Evelyn sipped the water, so cold that it made her teeth hurt.

‘I think I have a video of the stabbing,’ Evelyn replied, wrapping her fingers around the glass. ‘I didn’t know how to tell you.’

Vesna and Aida stared at her, taking it in. Evelyn had never seen Aida lost for words, nor Vesna, for that matter. Vesna gently took the USB out of Evelyn’s hands and suggested they get Sead’s opinion.

Inside, Evelyn tucked her legs under herself in the old armchair, feeling like it might absorb her into its well-loved overstuffed padding. Aida and Sead silently sank deeper into the matching soft cushioning of the long lounge beside her, while Vesna stared out the window.

Telling them about the video was only the first step, revealing the origin was still to come. Evelyn had assumed that Aida would swirl into action, but she seemed genuinely stunned.

Finally, Sead cleared his throat.

‘Well, let’s see it.’

They all got up. Every surface of Sead’s cluttered office was covered in papers, with bookshelves lining the walls all the way up to the high ceiling. The book he’d wanted to lend Evelyn was still out, beside the keyboard. When she saw it now, the hedgehog’s comfortable underground world seemed overshadowed by the looming trees above it.

Aida moved her camera out of the way, her files still uploading. Evelyn, Aida and Vesna gathered around Sead in his well-loved office chair, a tartan blanket placed over its tattered upholstery. Evelyn noticed his tremor as he pushed the stick into the spare port. Aida placed her hand on his to guide it, and then flipped the USB over so it would fit.

Yellow sticky notes with scrawled logins were stuck all around the large monitor, just like her parents’ computer back home. The video startled Evelyn by opening automatically, filling the screen. Each time she saw it was worse than the time before. The hours since she’d seen it at the school had only amplified the horror of each new detail that she noticed. This time, she saw that one of the boy’s feet was hooked over the edge of the kerb, like a toddler sleeping, all spread out, in their first bed.

Evelyn tried to gauge their reactions as Sead played it several times, the only clear feedback being the short, sharp breaths they were all taking.

‘And you got this from a student?’ Sead asked, pressing play yet again.

‘A politician I teach.’ Evelyn’s voice scratched as she spoke.

Aida didn’t react as Evelyn expected her to. No exclamations, no interrogation. With a low and firm voice, she rapidly spoke to her parents.

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