THE SIXTH GUEST: Chapter Four - Part Three

The wind in the trees was even stronger at the top of the steps and into the edge of the wood, strong enough to knock boughs together and rip leaves down that were still in place. It wasn’t a big wood, just filling the majority of the church grounds as they climbed the side of the hill, a dark blotch in the centre of town. It would have been perfect for what Selina had in mind if it hadn’t been for the troops: Travis’s word for all of his lackeys and contacts (in this context, the other attendees of Sucker’s Night). The do-gooders down by the van didn’t approve of open drinking on hallowed ground so after getting the free food, most of them retired uphill into the protection of the tree line to continue the party. It was a focal point of the week where so many of them came together; begging-money tended to get saved up for it (if the losers could manage that).

There were clusters of troops on the path and off it on both sides, sitting or squatting, laughing and chatting, knocking back cheap liquor of every variety; smoking fags or weed (or both – cannabis did improve the quality of the good old-fashioned roll-up). One or two, in the darker parts away from the path, were doing the stronger stuff, shooting-up or snorting. Selina kept going until she found Travis. He was standing by himself under an oak tree, counting money, turning the mottled and shrivelled notes he’d earned into the correct alignment before he slipped them into the back of his jeans. He flashed his teeth as she approached and said, “How did it go? Is she gonna be Dorset’s newest lady of the night?”

“Looking good, but we got interrupted. I’m going to hook up with her tomorrow lunchtime; see what happens then. If it looks like she’s up for it I’ll call you so you can set up her first suitor.”

“Great job babe.” He wrapped her shoulders in his powerful arms and pulled her in roughly for another kiss. “You got that booze you brought? I’ve finished doing my rounds.” Selina gave him the bottle from her carrier bag then guzzled some down herself when he’d had enough. She checked out the little clearing they were in for suitability for her plan while he had a second draught. It wasn’t private enough for what she had in mind; one of the other groups was just through the bushes down the slope, making loads of racket. She took Travis’s hand as he passed her back the booze and led him up the slope. “Where you taking me?”

“Somewhere quiet.” She necked the bottle and tossed it into the bushes, feeling nervous.

The first place she tried was no good; already taken. So was the second spot – which was a shame, it would have been perfect. The clearing she settled for was near the top of the churchyard wood, close to the back of the open air car park that sat on the edge of the plateau. They had to duck to pass under the low hanging branches. The trees were shaking top to bottom now, the wind rattling them bough to root.

“You seen this freaky weather?” said Travis.

“I know!” Lightning flickered in the clouds. “Shit, you see that?” It crackled in the clouds interior, not extending jagged fingers outward; what little of the sky could be seen through the branches looked chilling. “Fuck’s going on with it?”

“Who cares?” He took her cheeks in his hand tightly, almost the same way he’d grabbed Eddie by the throat and burrowed his tongue into her, forcing it between her teeth. Selina smiled through the kiss, pulling away to tease him then turning her head around it until their faces were at ninety degrees, pushing close.

“I wanted to ask you something,” she said when they broke off.

Travis nodded. “I know what you’re gonna say.”

“You do?” She imagined him throwing her down into the bushes and coming at her, maybe faster this time, trapping a scream in her mouth with his dirty hand as he bent her neck back and came into her from behind.

“Sure. I got some right here. Brought it specially.” He pulled out a small tin she recognised with a yellow flower on the front of it. “I figured you’d want another taste of the daffodil before long. It’s great stuff ain’t it?” He squeezed the lid off and tipped it so she could see the items inside: a box of Swan Vestas, a dessert spoon, two syringes and a little polythene pouch wound tightly to keep the white powder inside from getting out. “Don’t worry. This isn’t the shitty stuff I cut down for the troops. This is top grade junk; uncut; just for my pretty Barbie doll, I swear.”

“Uh... Oh. Okay. Right.” Selina chewed her lip. She smiled nervously and took a step back.

“Come on, let’s do it,” said Travis. He crossed his ankles and sat on the remains of a low wall, keeping hold of her wrist so that she had to go down with him. There wasn’t room on the wall for her so she sat on the bare earth.

“I don’t know... What if somebody comes?”

“They won’t.” Travis held the package up near his face and rocked it like he was tinkling a little bell. “What do you say?”

Selina looked at it, thinking about the first two times she’d tried it; how it had felt in her veins; the absolute release. “I don’t want to end up like your friend.”

“Eddie?” Travis chuckled. “No fear of that. If you manage it right and you stick to the good stuff then heroin isn’t addictive.”

That contradicted what she’d heard, but the two of them were in love. What reason could he have to bullshit her? “You serious?”

“Deadly.”

Once was just trying it out. Twice was having another go. What was three times? Or more? How many tries before she became a user?

“I’m not sure Travis,” said Selina, knowing that she was whining and conscious of how much Travis hated whiners. He hated them with a vengeance. Sometimes it scared her how angry he could get about it.

He knelt down in front of her and traced his fingers up her inner thigh. “Give it a go sweetheart. You’ll be glad you did. I promise you. And I’ll watch over you the whole time, don’t worry.”

“You aren’t having any?”

His cheeks tensed a little but he smiled. “One of us has to keep watch. Trust me.” He started unravelling the white pouch, the decision apparently made. She watched his quick professional movements then she let her upper body drop back against the weeds and released the tension in her chest as a long exhalation. Above Travis’s bent head the trees were floundering in the wind. The odd purple lightning was getting stronger, the flashes coming closer and closer together. An odd taste coated the roof of her mouth and her tongue. Static electricity was prickling her, making the feathery hairs in her arms and the back of her neck ripple. Sparks of fork lightning crackled from one cloud to another but nothing came down to the earth. Travis was oblivious to it, concentrating on what he was doing but Selina saw it all and it frightened her.

A man’s voice came from out of Selina’s field of vision. “Travis?”

He turned to look who it was and groaned. “What the fuck do you want?”

Selina sat up. Eddie was back, looking even less healthy in the dim unnatural light coming from the sky, loitering at the edge of their hidden clearing, his head lowered beneath the overhanging branches. He flashed a false and desperate smile. “I see you’ve got some stuff with you. I was wondering if maybe you could reconsider; give me a little on faith.”

Selina looked at his shaking hands; his gaunt grinning face and came round so she no longer had her back to him. There was something wrong about his posture; the intensity of his gaze; something off; something dangerous. She didn’t want to leave herself open to anything sudden and violent he might do, and to look at him; he was considering it.