by Matthew Samm
Hellcat sniggered. “I knew you were faking, my lovely. I knew it. I can always tell, me. You were acting all dead, like a little mouse, weren’t you, dearie?”
She carried on tutting at Alix, who finally opened her eyes.
“There we go. Such pretty eyes you’ve got.”
Alix coughed, loosening grit from her lungs from when she had face-planted the ground. Lances of pain shocked her skull. “Where am I?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“You’re in my house, lovely. It’s a nice place, my house. You’ll never get to leave though, not with all the mischief you’ve been getting into.”
Alix lifted her eyes, with some effort to look up close at Hellcat for the first time. She had a pointy face and thin lips, with jet black, sallow hair pulled into a ponytail. Her eyes were highlighted black, probably from the ashes of a campfire, the ruins smeared above and around her eyes. Winged eyeliner flicked off the corners of her eyes and extended half the distance to her ears. She was still crouched in front of Alix and her head twisted over to one side, licking the edge of a steel claw.
“What happened?” Alix asked, her voice struggling to rise above a whisper.
Hellcat smiled, her claws curling into the palm of her hand. She began prowling over on all fours towards Alix. “You lost your nerve, didn’t you? You made a little bit too much noise and someone went to have a little look.”
Alix knew it was the truth. That’s exactly what happened.
“It was some good work by him as well, especially since he’s only just got here. You’d think he’d need a little lie-down, but he’s been a busy boy all day.”
It took longer to process than it should, but finally, the probable truth began to dawn on Alix. The person who’d hit her had been someone who’d only just arrived. It couldn’t be her brother, could it?
“Here he is, look. Good looking, isn’t he? So handsome.” Hellcat beckoned the figure from the rear of the room over to her and Alix saw whoever it was take a step towards her. It was a boy. His head was bowed. Hellcat had her hand outstretched towards him, seeking his hand, ready to drag him towards her.
A beam of sunlight trespassed through the window and caught one of her claws, ricocheting into Alix’s eyes.
“I reckon you already know him, don’t you, dearie?”
Just then, the figure came within Hellcat’s grasp and she pulled his hand, dragging his body into hers. Hellcat held him still, and moved behind him, running her claws up his chest and tracing the peak of his shoulder. She rested her arm across his shoulder and perched against him.
“Does he look familiar, love?” she said.
Alix tried to focus. The effort was excruciating, but eventually, the blurs came together, and the innocent face of her brother peered back at her. His eyes were sunken with shame and embarrassment.
“This is a turn up for the books, isn’t it? I don’t think you could write a story like this! Brother knocks out the sister who came to rescue him. That’s why you’re here, ain’t it, my lovely?”
Alix nodded. What was the point in hiding it? She was supposed to be here to save her brother and he is the one who’d condemned her. Alix had no idea what would happen next. Her Warden senses and training deserted her, and she felt her courage ebb and sink in the ocean of betrayal. Tears threatened to prick behind her eyes, but she beat them away. She’d imagined her father’s disappointment enough today and this failure would be the nail in her coffin. She would not compound that failure with tears.
“What are we to do now, then?” Hellcat taunted. “I know, before Jack gets here, why don’t we let you two have a little chat?” She clapped Isaac on the shoulders and moved away, leaving him facing his sister.
Hellcat moved over to an ornate chair, carved almost entirely from a single block of wood. It was a feline idol, the maw open and pointing at the sky. It’s two front paws jutted out for chair arms and a seat was carved attached to the belly. The rear legs were taut, as if ready to pounce. She sat down, resting her chin on the palm of her hand, while the elbow dug into the chair’s arms. She crossed her legs and waited impatiently for them to start talking to each other.
Alix and Isaac faced each other; their heads turned towards Hellcat. She had no intention of leaving the room. She wanted them to talk as if she and her men weren’t there, when they actually were, listening to every word that might be said.
Neither of them spoke. The whole situation seemed so fake, so staged. It was as if they were in a video show in front of a live studio audience and they’d just forgotten their lines and their motivations.
“Well, come on then, my lovelies. Don’t have much time, do we? Jack will be here soon.”
Silence.
“I’ll start you off. Isaac, you have helped kill two naughty boys, taken them to forest and knocked your sister unconscious with a stray spade. All on your first day. Discuss.” Her chin settled back on her palms, awaiting their conversation, an infuriatingly sweet smile playing across her cheeks.
Alix initially had no intention of satisfying her curiosity, but after what she’d just said, she had to bite down on her tongue to stop herself launching at her baby brother. She’d only just got a handle on her tongue when Isaac spoke.
“Sorry, Alix,” he said, unable to look at her.
From off to the side, coming from Hellcat’s throne, they heard eager clapping, as she’d just heard the opening credits for her favorite sitcom.
Alix desperately didn’t want him to start talking to her about what had happened. She’d only just managed to contain herself and now, his words threatened to open the flood gates. She was just so angry at him! She would have honestly preferred to have found him in a cage somewhere; maybe not in the state Kat Gilburn had been in, but out of this scene at least, protected from the savagery that existed on Strangeways. Now, he might have seen too much.
Alix lost her internal battle.
“You’re sorry?” she blazed. “That’s all you’ve got to say. You’re sorry?”
Isaac looked sheepish as if he was being chastised by his mother, although, since his mother’s death, Alix had been the closest person to a mother he’d had. She’s almost perfected the art of loving, guiding and disappointment. She’d learnt the last one from her father.
“You hit me on the head! Look at the damage you’ve done to my skull!” She pointed to the ridge of split flesh underneath her hair. Instinctively, Isaac looked. Off to the side, Hellcat chuckled giddily.
“I didn’t know it was you. I’d just got back from the forest and I saw that door swing open. No one goes in there and it wasn’t windy, so I thought that news person had got out.”
“That news person is Mrs Gilburn. She’s known you since you were tiny. Remember?”
Hellcat made a gasp of mock shock.
“I don’t remember her, do I? I was only a little kid!”
“Yeah, well, she knows you and now you’re happy to let her rot in there!”
“Look, Alix, it’s not my fault she’s in there, so don’t blame that on me!”
Alix realized she’d strayed off topic. Awful as it was, she didn’t really care that Mrs Gilburn rotted away in a forgotten cage. She would normally, but up until now, finding Isaac and getting him to safety was her only preoccupation. Now, that idea was shattered by Isaac himself. He was stood in Strangeways colors.
She returned to her original goal, anger making her ignore the agony now surging around her skull not stopping for her to register its presence. “I’ll get you out of here, Isaac. I promise you.”
Hellcat scoffed and then giggled. She obviously believed there was zero chance of Alix or Isaac leaving Strangeways voluntarily.
“I’m not leaving, Alix,” he said, his voice lowering to barely a whisper like he was slowly sliding a dagger into his sister’s chest and waiting for the inevitable to happen. He looked up through the roof of his eyes to see her reaction. He saw the look of despair in his sister. He saw the pain; pain far more crippling th
an the wound on her head.
Alix had been afraid of this answer and yet, she knew it was coming. Isaac just…fit here, in a way. He had a foot in both worlds, the rich kid from the powerful family, but the mind of a lower, more savage human. It made sense that he’d be drawn to a place like this.
Alix couldn’t help but question him as to his reasons, though. She felt that if she was going to lose her brother, she wanted the reason to be crystal clear in her mind, so she wouldn’t regret not doing everything in her power. Besides, she’d need to know the reasons for when she spoke to her father. She knew he’d be none too pleased about Isaac’s decision and her failure to bring him back.
For a second, she pondered her father’s reaction from a business standpoint. The son of ‘Mr Warden’ choosing a life with these scumbags would be a business nightmare! Her thought ended when a throb of agony rumbled across her skull. When it had ebbed away, she looked at her brother in the eyes, waiting until he held her gaze, and even to the point where he felt uncomfortable.
“You can’t stay, Isaac,” she said, her voice whispering sorrow.
“I can, Alix and I am.”
“Why? You’ve at least got to tell me why.”
“You’ve not seen the way he is, have you?”
“Who?”
“Our father. You don’t get sick of the way he treats us both, but especially me.”
“Oh, grow up, Isaac! How does he treat you that’s so bad?” Her thoughts flashed back to last night, the night he vanished. Some of those things her father had said around the table sickened her, but it was just the way he was. Their father had a tough life to prepare them for and it needed a firm hand.
“Why can’t you see, Alix?” Isaac lamented; his frustration evident. “He treats both of us like garbage. He’s always got another little quiz or test for you and when you make a mistake, he falls on you like a tonne of rocks! Why are you OK with that?”
“But Isaac, you know the impossible job dads got. He’s in charge of the Wardens. We’re in the spotlight 24/7 and we’ll probably always be. He has to make sure we can handle it, and that means he’s got to be a little strict at times.”
Isaac shook his head, unconvinced. “He doesn’t need to treat us the way he does. He just enjoys it and uses the business angle to make it feel right to him.”
Now it was Alix’s turn to shake her head. She knew she’d not be able to dislodge that belief. She could see in his eyes, he truly believed their father was a sadist, treating them the way he did because he enjoyed it. She tried one last time. “Is it about what he said you last night? If it is, I don’t blame you. It bothered me as well.”
“See! So why are you protecting him?”
“OK, Isaac, I agree. That was out of order. Come back with me and we’ll tell him together. I bet he’ll say sorry and then we can get on with our lives, as a family.”
“He won’t. He’s not that type of person. It’s not just me that he hates, it’s all people like me. Those who stand up to him and aren’t wowed by what he does and who he is. You should hear some of the things they say at school about him.”
“I used to be at that school as well you know. They were just people who were jealous of his success and all that he brought to the city. I contribute to that as well. You don’t! The best you’ve been able to do is to get yourself kicked out of school. Well done!” Alix clapped her hands in fake applause, all understanding of where she was vanishing.
Isaac looked hurt as if she’d slapped him in the face. He regrouped quickly. “They would never tell you, Alix. You’re the goody-goody who does what he wants and tries to pass his stupid tests. I’m the one they tell because I tell it like it is and you know what, I’ve started to see it as well.”
“What? What have you seen that’s so devastating?”
Isaac thought hard, his mind burrowing deep into his unconscious, trying to find the most devastating argument he could to get the best of his sister. Off to the right, Hellcat crowed and giggled, thoroughly enjoying herself now that the siblings were in full flow.
“Well,” he paused. “You know Benny, the guy who used to come around until dad found out that he’d brought weed into school. Suddenly, he never came around the house anymore.”
“You can’t blame dad for that! Benny brought drugs into the house and I don’t care how much you liked him; dad was right to do that! You shouldn’t have been hanging around with that guy. He was a bad influence on you and dad was trying to stop it. He was trying to look out for you. Load of good it did though, didn’t it?” She looked him up and down, her silence and her head movement making her clear.
She was looking at the way he was dressed, the gang outfit and the stance; pure rebellion and teenage angst. Alix wasn’t buying all the garbage her brother was spouting. She’d liked Benny as well, but sometimes, people go off the rails and when you are part of a family like theirs, you have to protect yourself.
“Did you know that his parents somehow disappeared afterwards?”
“No, I didn’t know, that, but it’s hardly surprising is it. Where do you think he got the drugs from? He’s not likely to have picked them up at the local store, is he?”
“His dad didn’t have anything to do with it. I met his dad, he was so nice to me, not like our dad.” Isaac gazed off at the floor, thinking through his own emotions, slowly taking stock of what he was saying, the way the conversation was panning out. “You don’t understand.” He shook his head sadly, eyes fixed on the floor.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Alix asked, thinking she had him on the ropes and he wasn’t sure how to get off.
“No. There’s more.” He scrabbled around for the best way to frame his thoughts. “What about the people on the island? You’ve probably seen them. They can’t all be criminals, can they? They can’t all have done things wrong that would get them sent here for life. There are women and kids on here. What have they done?”
Isaac had found a sensitive button to push. She’d been troubled by it as well. Maybe the adults, even the women, but not the children. What could Keira have done to deserve a life here? Alix slowly nodded. “I agree with you on that one.” She stopped herself speaking, not liking the taste of the words that wanted to escape. “It doesn’t sit right with me. Maybe Strangeways isn’t the best place for some people. The system isn’t perfect, alright? I admit it. I’ve said it, but Strangeways was never meant to be was it. It’s only for people who’ve chosen the chaos. You want to take the kids off the island? I do understand. It’s not right, but you can’t look out for them on here, can you? Your best bet is to leave the island with me and then we can work on it together. You want a purpose in your life, you’ve found it: reforming Strangeways. I bet dad would even let you run with it.”
Isaac paused again, allowing her words and the passion through which they were portrayed wash over him. Was she right? If he did want to help, should he leave with her? Did he even want to help that much, or was he just trying to win an argument with his sister?”
Over to the right, Hellcat yawned. Their conversation had become more civil and she was getting bored. “Come on you too, keep us entertained, will you? Getting bored over here with you talking about the poor little children. Let’s hear more about your dad and what a lovely man he is.” She smiled gleefully, wanting to steer the ship back to more turbulent waters.
It didn’t work, but Isaac latched onto something else. It was his final play, the one he didn’t really want to call, but now felt like he had no choice. “It’s not just any of this stuff, really.”
“What do you mean, Isaac?”
Isaac refused to engage with her; refused to even look at her.
“Isaac. Look at your sister and tell me what you mean.” Her motherly tone broke through. In the time since their mother’s dead, she’d honed quite an effective voice. She’d be suited to motherhood one day if she ever got the chance.
“I feel at home here,” Isaac said, the voice a whisper, blown between clenche
d teeth and jaws.
“What did you say, Isaac?”
“I feel like this is home to me,” he repeated, louder this time.
“How can this be home to you? It’s not home. You’ve only been here a few hours and already it’s more of a home to you than the city, than your actual home?” Alix felt enraged by this. She was his sister and she knew how much they’d all tried to help him.
A moment of sorrow came over her as she thought back to something her father had said to her many years ago. It had always stuck with her because it had been the first time when she’d felt that hope wasn’t guaranteed.
“You can’t save everyone, Alix.” Her father had said. “We can try, and we can do what we can, but ultimately some people choose to abandon all the good things they’ve got, condemn themselves to a lifetime of misery. No one knows why, but they’ve done it for thousands of years.”
Alix thought back to the wave of sadness that had washed over her as he’d said those words. Up until then, she’d been a child, doughy eyed and her world was rose-tinted. Not after that. She felt the walls come crashing in and the reality of life try to drown her. Some people wanted to sink and there wasn’t anything they could do to help them, except hope they figured it out.
Back in that room, the wood boards now started to numb Alix’s backside, she saw one of those miserable no-hopers, and she was staring at her own brother. “I can’t believe you’re saying this, Isaac.” She felt a wave of shame as tears started to prick far behind her eyes. As always, she shooed them away, not daring to let them near the surface. They never made it near to the surface.
Hellcat rose from her throne and began to stride over to them. She had a swagger about her movements, like a preening cat that had just murdered a bird and left its entrails on the living room carpet. She knew the battle was over.
Isaac spoke again, oblivious to Hellcats movements. “It’s not so much that I’m at home, it’s more that I feel like I’ve got a family for real.”
Alix felt the knife twist a little deeper.