10.2
They should have been embarrassed as they took to the streets again, mottled iridescently, but they were too ecstatic to care. Somehow they were unconcerned about the thoughts of others as they skipped along the pavement; perhaps Ben believed himself unrecognisable now, perhaps Satya had grown too much into the character she had adopted for the day. As they headed back to Ben’s house, those broad grins remained, their white teeth shining brightly. As they hurried along, their laughter was unmistakable and unstoppable; there was no disguising their joy. Today marked a change of fortunes, they told one another on their way; yes, today had changed everything.
When they arrived at Ben’s front gate they rejoiced, for there was plenty of time left to rectify their appearance. Satya would take a quick shower, she told her companion, change back into her uniform and head back to school in time to get a lift home with her brother. It was the perfect plan, he agreed as he unlocked the door; soon it would be as if nothing had happened, their joviality alone whispering of a secret between them. No one would ever know about their peculiar adventure in the woods and the memory of it would be an unbreakable bond between them.
On the other side of the door, Ben watched as Satya hurried up the stairs, admiring her graceful ascent from the hallway. Removing his jacket there, he would give her a few minutes’ privacy to recompose herself, to morph back into that smart student uninterrupted. He would not spoil their contentment by treading on her toes, by seeing her as she did not wish to be seen. He would just wait patiently for his turn, ascending the stairs only as she descended, her uniform restored.
‘Ben!’ he heard her shriek instead, ‘There’s no hot water.’
His feet clattering up the stairs, he put his ear to the bathroom door and listened to the percussion in the base of the bath. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she cried, ‘the water’s cold. It won’t warm up. Is there a switch you need to press? I’m not going under that.’
Stumbling backwards, Ben tried the light switch on the landing; it was as he feared. ‘Bugger,’ he moaned, ‘there’s no money left on the metre.’
‘What did you say?’ she yelped.
‘The electric metre needs topping up,’ he told her, ‘I forgot all about it.’
‘Well what are we going to do?’ she hollered, ‘How am I going to get washed?’
‘I could put the kettle on and make you a hot bath.’
‘But there’s no electricity, is there? But maybe you could boil a pan.’
‘But the cooker’s electric too,’ he muttered.
‘Then you’ll just have to go and top up the token,’ she snivelled.
‘But I have no money,’ he replied.
‘And neither do I today. So we’re stuffed then, aren’t we?.’ In despair, Satya held her hand under the spray again to see if anything had changed, but it only seemed to have run colder. ‘Oh well,’ she cried through the door, ‘I guess I’ll just have to brave it. Hypothermia here I come.’
Mortified by her whines and whimpers as she surrendered to the icy flow, Ben sulked into his bedroom. His Indian suit replaced by a tracksuit, he tried to rub his face clean with a bath towel, shedding his clown-like mask until only the residue of the dust remained on his skin. His flesh was still many-hued, but at least it was less vivid now; it might even have passed as the dreaded lurgy. The mirror set aside, he folded the garments in on themselves and slid them back into one of the carrier bags. Wandering into his mother’s room, he did the same with Satya’s powdered ensemble, pulling the two bags together.
‘Ben! Ben!’
‘What is it?’ he called back as he arrived by the door again.
‘It’s a disaster. It’s not coming off. It’s turning to paint on my skin. It’s getting worse and worse. What am I going to do?’
‘Are you using soap?’
‘Of course I am, but it doesn’t help. I’m in a worse mess than I was when I went in. Oh Ben, this is a disaster. I’m such an idiot.’
‘Just calm down.’
‘Calm down? It’s all gone wrong. I’m going to be late. I won’t get back to school in time now. It’s a disaster. I’m coming out.’
When Satya finally emerged, wrapped in a colour stained bath robe, Ben gazed at her thoughtfully. ‘It’s not that bad,’ he fibbed, ‘it’s quite subtle. If you just dry your face with a towel, you’ll be okay. I don’t think anyone will notice.’
‘Only if they’re blind,’ she replied confoundedly, disappearing into the second bedroom, leaving lurid footprints behind her on the carpet.
Hurriedly she hid her streaked legs beneath her tights, pulling her skirt back up to her waist. Just as quickly, she fastened her white shirt, its sleeves disguising her orange and green stippled arms momentarily, only to imbibe the colour itself. Averting her eyes from the unfolding pickle, she knotted her tie and pulled on her black jacket, smartening herself.
When she returned to the paint-splattered bathroom, Ben had harvested three rolls of toilet tissue and a roll of kitchen towel, presenting them to her like a gift.
‘Give it another try,’ he told her, dabbing her cheeks with wet and dry tissue in turn. ‘It’s working,’ he added, stripping the last of the tissue from the cardboard tube.
Bang! Bang, bang, bang!
‘What the hell is that?’ cried Satya, alarmed.
Listening to the violent hammering on his front door, Ben’s face turned in horror. ‘Shit,’ he yelped, ‘I hope that’s not my dad. Let’s hope it’s just the landlord come to turf me out.’
‘Don’t say that.’
‘If it is, at least I’ll escape with my life.’ He released a faint snigger, but his fright was plain to see. ‘Just ignore it,’ he muttered, ‘If we don’t answer, he’ll think no one’s in and will go away.’
BANG! Bang!
‘Shit, Satya, hide.’
When Ben shoved her into the wardrobe, flinging two of the bags in with her, a sense of déjà vu came over him. He turned the key in the lock and then threw the key into the back of a drawer, locking that shut as well.
A feeling of dread tunnelling through his veins, Ben scuttled down the stairs. As his feet hit the bottom step, he saw four brown fingers push through the letterbox, followed by a voice he recognised. It was not his father, he realised, but another foe.
‘I know you’re in there,’ Sukhbir cried, hammering on the door ever more violently, ‘Open up or I’ll smash it open myself.’
Sheepishly, breathing deeply, Ben unfastened the latch and prepared to pull the door backwards, but found himself flying backwards instead. Hitting the ground with a crack, he watched helplessly as Sukhbir forced his way inside.
‘Who do you think you are?’ he yelled at them as he picked himself up.
‘Shut your face,’ sneered Satya’s brother, staring at his strange makeup. ‘Tell me where she is. I know she’s here.’
Without waiting for an answer, Sukhbir raced from room to room in search of his sister. When he could not find her downstairs, he charged up the stairs to repeat the process all over again.
‘Come on Satya,’ Ben heard him cry, ‘I know you’re here somewhere. Come out before I drag you out.’
Ben felt sick and was just about to follow after them when something caught his eye. He turned his face back to the door and saw that it was not his imagination: Siddique really was standing there by the gate, looking guilty. When their eyes met, he bowed his head in shame as if he knew an apology was overdue, but Ben would not wait for it, slamming the door shut on him determinedly. Watching a shape approaching through the obscured glass, Ben thought he would empty the contents of his stomach all over the floor.
‘You showed Sukhbir where I live?’ he yelled, hurling the door open again.
‘Mate, I didn’t want to,’ began his old friend, moving about awkwardly, ‘They forced me. He threatened to break my back.’ He glanced at his friend warmly. ‘I’m sorry, mate,’ he said.
‘Sorry that you led that fool right to my front door!’
Ben would have slammed the door on him again had he not jammed his foot against the frame. Upstairs, he heard Sukhbir turning over the furniture. He wanted to scream at Siddique for bringing them here.
‘Mate… Ben… Believe me. I never meant for this to happen.’
‘You never do!’
‘I was scared. I regretted it as soon as I got in his car. But this guy’s not like us. He’s serious. You know me. If they fought me, I’d be finished in five seconds flat.’
‘And what about me?’ roared Ben, ‘What do you think’s going to happen to me now?’
‘It was a mistake.’
Ben tried to slam the door again, but it bounced back on his old friend’s foot.
‘Mate, I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. I don’t just mean this. I mean everything. The things I said to you at the beginning of term. Everything that happened after that. I never asked them to do that to you. I told them not to, but they didn’t listen to me. Gang honour and all. I deserved what you did. I don’t hold a grudge. You were right. I would’ve done the same thing if someone laid a hand on my sister. You’re a better man than the rest of us.’
Ben did not reply and left the door, heading back along the hall, but Siddique followed him. ‘Mate,’ he pleaded, ‘forgive me.’ He stretched out his arm and patted his old friend on his shoulder. ‘You know, you were even right about Beth,’ he told him, ‘We’ve split up.’
‘What a surprise. Thought your sudden remorse was weird.’
‘I’m not saying it because of that. I mean it. Forgive me.’
Just then, Sukhbir thundered down the stairs. As he careered past them, Sukhbir flashed a piece of jewellery at the portly boy. ‘I’ll deal with you later,’ he barked, charging back out of the door.
His heart throbbing, Ben stared back at his mate. ‘I can’t,’ he muttered and pushed him out of the house, slamming the door behind him once more. He should have returned to his mother’s room to free his companion immediately after that, but he could not move. His legs had locked, his chest pulled tight. Gasping for air, he could hardly breathe; he felt faint and dizzy at the same time, his forehead pierced from the inside, his brain set on fire. When he finally unlocked the wardrobe door, he found Satya having a panic attack too, complaining of similar symptoms.
‘How did he know I was here?’ she asked, trembling excessively. ‘He was crazy. I thought he was going to find me. He shook this cupboard so hard, I thought it was going to break. I’ve never been so scared in all my life.’
Shaking his head, Ben shuffled close to the window and peeped past the curtain. Siddique had left them, but Sukhbir was still there, resting by his car. ‘He knows you’re here,’ he told her sombrely. ‘He’s waiting for you outside.’
If only he could have given her some good news. Instead he looked on as Satya broke down in tears, quivering with fear. He had not seen tears like this before; they were a flood, nearly washing her cheeks clean. For a moment, he tried to comfort her, but was soon distracted by thoughts. ‘Maybe there’s a way out,’ he whispered, leading her into his bedroom and towards his own window. Pointing through the glass, he smirked at her. ‘If you can climb the fence,’ he told her, ‘you can try the alley. It’s overgrown. Nobody uses it much these days, but you could try your luck. It comes out around the corner.’
Satya thought about it for a moment, noticing the tangle of weeds that separated the back gardens all the way along, but her mind was made up when she peeped out of the front window seconds later. ‘Yes,’ she wept, ‘I’ll try the alley. I know my brother. He’ll wait all night if he has to. Show me the way.’
Hurrying down the stairs, her schoolbag strapped to her shoulder, Satya let herself out of the back door and scurried across the yard. With Ben’s help, she cleared the fence on her first attempt, landing amidst the woody blackberry fronds that tore her skin. ‘Which way?’ she asked regardless, ‘Left or right?’
‘Left will probably be quicker,’ he replied.
‘Okay,’ she said, ‘You better wish me luck.’
As she stumbled and tripped and became entangled in the wiry brambles, it did not occur to her that she had forgotten to say goodbye and thank him. She was in too much of a hurry to pause for thought. Stumbling and tripping through the rampant foliage, scoring her shins with painful scratches, she fought her way through to the intersecting street. Emerging onto the paved pathway five minutes later, she ran as fast as she could away from Ben’s road and around the next corner. ‘Please,’ she prayed, ‘let there be a bus for me.’
