Chapter Twelve
985 Words
"Slight scratch in the top right corner, chipped in the middle and crumbled slightly in the bottom left," Sky described in detail.
"The back wall, two bricks along, four bricks up," Lizzie groaned, barely having to rack her brain.
"Yes! Well done!" Sky beamed with all the enthusiasm Lizzie wished she could have. "Thin, deep scratch along the centre, chipped in the bottom right."
"Tiny mark in the centre at the bottom or no?"
"Yeah, a tiny one."
"Wall opposite me, one brick in, three bricks up," Lizzie yawned, before opening her eyes once more. "Had enough of that game now?"
"Yeah, you win!" Sky smiled. She'd really come out of her shell in the past few weeks, but she was still relatively shy.
"How much longer do you think they will keep us in here Lizzie?"
"I don't know, kid. But I wouldn't hold your breath."
Sky sniffed, retreating back into her shell again like a started hermit crab.
"I miss my mum," she sobbed.
Lizzie dreaded these kinds of conversation. They were trapped in here far too long to spend the time reminiscing or mourning loved ones. It had the potential to drive them crazy, if they weren't already.
"Me too, Sky," she admitted, she really did.
"What was yours like?" Sky asked inquisitively.
"You know, usual mum type I guess."
"C'mon, you know that isn't true," Sky insisted, with a tone that sounded wiser than her meagre years.
Lizzie gave in to a half grin, she knew it wasn't true at all. Her mum was the best any child could ever wish for.
"She was amazing. The most amazing woman I ever met. She worked multiple jobs to make sure I always had what I needed, and everything I wanted, but somehow she still had time for me too. God knows how she did it all, but she did, for me. I never really appreciated that until she was gone."
"What would you say to her now, if you could?"
"Now?" Lizzie scoffed. "What the f**k has happened to the world mum? What do I do? She'd probably make a crappy joke about it being in a decent shape when she last left it."
"She sounds fun," Sky smiled.
"She was," Lizzie said with a warm glow washing over her entire body. "I'd tell her how much I've missed her. How difficult it's been without her, and how I'd do anything to have her back. Hell, I'd do anything to just have another five minutes with her, sat round the TV with some biscuits, watching whatever s**t was on."
"I'm sure she'd do anything to be back with you too."
"Most of the time, I'm kind of glad she's dead," Lizzie admitted coldly, the warmth all but gone.
"What do you mean?"
"She went peacefully. She was taken way too early, but at least she wasn't in any pain. Look at this shithole of a planet now, all it is is pain."
"I'm sure she wouldn't so much pain for you either. She loved you more than anything or anyone, there's nothing she wouldn't have done for you, even now," Sky promised in an eerie, yet knowledgeable tone.
Lizzie chuckled, "You seem to know a lot about my mum."
"Every mum is the same."
"I guess that's true."
"What about your dad?" Sky asked without lingering for a second.
"My dad? What dad?" Lizzie scoffed. "My dad had the good sense to die when I was very young, obviously saw all this s**t coming."
"Surely your mum had boyfriend's, or re-married? Some kind of father-figure?"
"Not really, no. I don't think she ever truly moved on from my dad, I guess he must have been pretty special. Probably where I get it from," Lizzie joked. "I guess my grandad was the nearest male role model I had growing up, but that's not the same, is it?"
"No, I suppose not," Sky conceded. "And there's never been anyone else?"
"No-one who actually cared about me," Lizzie mumbled bitterly through gritted teeth.
"What abo-"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
The rasping metallic thuds thundered around the four walls that Lizzie knew so well. The crashing noise startled the girls, as it did every day, but Lizzie composed herself swiftly, not wanting to show any weakness in front of her captors.
The viewing slit, slowly inched open to a painfully chirpy, "Guuuuess who?"
Joey's eyes fixed instantly on Lizzie, somehow conveying his sense of cockiness, power and ecstasy all through that thin slit.
The door was unlocked and opened soon after, revealing his full body, arms outstretched as if welcoming an old friend, or finishing a Broadway show with 'jazz hands'.
"It's that time of day, Lizzie dearest!" he cried. "But don't worry, I am but the bearer of good news on this fine morning! We're upping your time with Doctor Saunders here!"
The Doctor stood uncomfortably to the side of Joey, looking in every single direction but Lizzie's eyes. It was clear that he was just as much a prisoner here as she was.
"Well...help her then!" Joey urged. "I thought you medical folk cared about patient welfare!"
Doctor Saunders gingerly stepped forward and eased Lizzie to her feet with one arm under her nearest armpit, and the other across her back as support. The truth was, if he had helped her up before being instructed to do so, Joey would have castrated him for it.
He wanted the power, that was all. Ruling by fear.
"S...Sir..." a random guard stuttered from behind them.
"Excuse me for a second, friends," Joey said before sliding away, like a waiter leaving a table.
He proceeded to talk in harsh whispers to his henchman, which Doctor Saunders took full advantage of as he leant close to Lizzie's ear.
"Be ready, I'm going to get us out of here the first chance I get," he breathed, softer than a gentle breeze.
Lizzie opened her mouth to reply, but the Doctor hushed her before she could utter a word.
"Doctor-Patient confidentiality," he said, pressing a solitary finger to his lips.
Lizzie returned a faint nod, just as Joey returned.
"Okay then!" he grinned, clapping his hands together. "The doctor will see you now, Madam."
- Writer
