Burnington Gaol

T W E N T Y - N I N E | Adeline

"Georgie," Billy grinned. "Good to see you, man. Where you been lately?"

"Here, mostly. What about you? You haven't gone soft on me, have you?"

"Well, my sister just pulled the fire alarm to get me out of detention, so no."

"Your sister?" He asked.

Billy motioned over to me and I offered a small smile.

"Hi," I managed.

"Well, hello," Georgie grinned, taking a step towards me with his blackened hands on his hips. "Keep Sal away from that one, yeah?"

"Definitely," Billy grinned.

"So what can I do you for?"

"We're looking for Seth Barlow," I said. "Apparently he works here."

Georgie eyed me up and down, a dirty smile on his face.

"Works here?" He laughed. "He's practically running the place. Boss's son and all. He's just inside, getting a few things.

"Mind if I go find him?"

"Well, yes, actually. No offense, love, but I don't really know you. Can't have strangers rooting around the property. Your brother, though. He's a good buddy of mine. He can go see."

I looked to Billy, who offered a reassuring nod.

"I'll go. Won't be too long."

I nodded in reply and he walked across the thick green ground, under the clothesline, and through the open back door.

"So," Georgie said, grabbing my attention. "I didn't get your name."

"Addie," I said. "And you?"

"Georgie. Or George. Whichever you prefer."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his filthy hand.

We both fell quiet for a moment, my awkward nature kicking in.

"So how long have you been in town?" He offered.

"About a month. We moved here from Port Aveen."

"Oh," he said. "Nice place. My family used to go up there every summer for a holiday. What made you want to move?"

My stomach knotted and a sick feeling washed over me.

"My apologies, love," Georgie said, seeing the pain in my eyes. "Didn't mean to upset you."

"It's nothing," I lied.

As the stale conversation grew staler, I felt the urge to retract into myself, to go home to the dank tower and fall silently into one of my sketchbooks for several hours. After all, there was a reason why I didn't talk to people. I simply didn't belong.

And then it happened.

The ear-splitting explosion, ripping through the silence.

All my nerves tensed at once, my knees buckling under me. The shock nearly made me collapse as my heart stopped and a large, short burst of adrenaline blasted in my chest. Then, with ringing ears, I looked up at the enormous house. It'd been a gunshot, and it had come from inside.

Billy.

Without a second thought, I sprinted for the house, ignoring Georgie's protests behind me. I tore through the back door into the living room, where benches had been set up with all sorts of test tubes, vials, and yellow chemicals that bubbled and spat. I ignored the tattooed man who glared at me from behind the counter and shot upstairs, coming to a long hallway at the top of the staircase.

"Billy?!" I screamed.

I launched forward, opening every door until I found him. He was in a bedroom with yellow walls and single bed. On the floor, he had collapsed in a pool of his own blood, spilling outwards and staining the dirty carpet under him.

I sucked in a gasp, the horror filling my lungs as a touch of movement caught my attention. Seth Barlow, squatted on the window sill, looked over his shoulder at me with his blond hair in his eyes.

"What have you done?!" I cried.

He didn't say a word and instead jumped into the front garden. I looked down.

"Billy?" I asked, sinking to my knees.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

I turned him over.

"Oh, god."

The bullet had ripped through his shoulder, the deep red blood seeping through his shirt and into the carpet beneath us.

"I'm fine, Addie. Please."

"Billy," I wept, tears slipping down my cheeks.

"Don't cry," he said. "Don't look."

I reached out, my trembling hand hovering over the wound.

"What do I do? What do I do?"

Billy's lips parted, the words on his tongue, but then his eyes glazed over ever so gently, and his hand dropped to his side.

"Billy?" I asked, shaking him. "Billy!"

But there was no reply.

© A.G. Travers 2018