27
‘Alice? Alice, can you hear me?’
The first thing I feel is a splitting headache. I instinctively reach up to check, recognising that I’m lying on the cold concrete slabs and trying to work out whether I hit my head. There’s a thick blanket over me, a coarse material like the sort of thing you’d put in the back of an estate car for a muddy dog to sit on.
‘It’s alright, you didn’t bump it,’ another voice says. I recognise them as the man and woman from the house opposite mine.
As my eyes come back into focus, I see a pair of feet entering my field of vision, walking towards me. I look up, following the line of the legs, and just about make out the face of a blonde woman who I don’t recognise, but who looks at me and walks past without affecting her stride.
My first response is anger.
