A Visible Heaven

By Kirsten Blyton

Laura Dalton is no stranger to life in the spotlight. She's used to living in the flash of paparazzi cameras, but there's one part of her life that she's always kept private. It's never been a problem - until she meets Eve.

Eve's no movie star, but her mesmerising eyes hold mysteries too. All the same, she refuses to be kept a secret. Her passion and desire to live authentically runs counter to Laura's wish to keep her love life out of the tabloids, and the conflict between them threatens to tear them apart. But Laura loves how down-to-earth she feels with Eve, how right and normal everything is.

Eve, for her part, has been hanging on to normalcy by her fingernails ever since a tragic accident. Trouble seems to follow her, no matter what she does. Is her attraction to Laura a life preserver in the midst of chaos, or is it just her tumbling headfirst into another series of bad decisions?

When a predatory actor takes a keen interest in Laura as more than just a costar, their connection is tested even further. Through heartbreak and upheaval, Laura and Eve drift apart only to come back together, closer than ever. But the more Eve insists on living authentically, the more her own secrets loom large in the shadows behind them.

Can Eve and Laura beat the odds to their own version of happily-ever-after?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tablo Publishing
• Release date: Dec 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781922355959

Book preview

Chapter 1: Not a haunted house

Take me to that abandoned house on Stride Street, the one with the boarded-up windows and grass you could use as rope. Tell me how it isn’t haunted, how every other house on the block is, but not this house. Tell me how no doors have ever been slammed, no windows ever broken. Tell me how the house is disguised to be something it’s not. So, people like me and you don’t go knocking on its door, go inside. So, its drawers aren’t rummaged through, its walls defaced.

Rewrite the stories they spread around town. A serial killer lived behind the walls; no, a young girl who never left; no, a monster chained to the basement floor. Show me the dust left behind in circles, like shadows for the turntable outline that sat on the busted three-legged table by the door. Point out the dents in the floorboards, as though ball bearings had rained from the ceiling. Brush your fingers along the dents and tell me they were made by a woman dancing in high heels. The waltz, you guessed.

Hand me that teddy bear from the third room, furthest from the front door. You know the one, the one that has been stitched more times than our curious eyes could count. Take me to the centre of the house. Close my eyes. You know I’ll let you. Make me feel the energy in the air, the love that resides in the walls instead of claws. Grab the Bohemian patterned rug off the floor and show me the candle marks on its underside, where it was used as a curtain for shadow theatre.

This isn’t a haunted house, I hear you whisper through the rooms. Walking with more than ease in your quiet steps. Tell me how this could have been ours, this house that isn’t a part of a ghost story. Show me how small hands would count the sunrise in inches on the creaking wooden floors.

Show me the paintings behind the wallpaper, where a child no higher than your knee was allowed to paint kingdoms and dragons. Tell me, she only answered to a nickname her father gave her when she was three. But they aren’t here anymore. These echoes of a shadow. These silhouettes of another time. Walk me through the house again, watching your step as you go and tell me this isn’t a haunted h—’

‘Excuse me.’

Eve looked up from the cover of her book.

Laura regarded her. This woman, sitting, her elbow resting outwards. She had something different about her, like only important things occupied her time. If you asked for her name she might make one up, seeing how far you’d go to get to know her. Laura thought she looked like she went to bands she didn’t know the songs of, just to hear something new. A woman who made strangers fall in love with her on the bus. Without meaning to or knowing why, Laura found herself walking into the shop after seeing her in the window. Towards this woman. Her head low over the book she was reading, pinching her bottom lip between her fingers in concentration.

‘Hey Al. How’s it going?’

Laura made a beeline away from the woman and upstairs. The man who had walked up to her was dressed in an orange-and-black delivery uniform. She glanced from upstairs, watching their exchange.

‘Oh, ya know, dogs are still trying to bite me in the ass and no one’s ever home to collect their damn deliveries.’

‘So, pretty much the same?‘

‘Yeah. Hey, when are ya gonna let me set you up with my cousin?’ Al handed over a package for Eve to sign.

‘Nice try, Al, but I’ve got all the guys I want. Mercury, Bowie, Prince, Jackson – I think I’ve got that covered.’

‘When you’re ready for reality, let me know.’

Al tipped his bright orange hat at Eve and smiled. She watched him pull on the shop door and Frisbee his clipboard into his open van window. Eve lifted the large box and, balancing it on her hip, she walked the long flight of stairs to the upper level of the record store. A distant nineties pop hit vibrated with cheap acoustics from the corner radio. Eve stacked the single vinyls on the only empty shelf. Out of the corner of her eye, Eve saw a shape coming towards her.

‘Excuse me.’

Eve stood. ‘How can I help?’

‘I was just looking for … oh …’ The woman trailed off.

Eve followed her vacant look to the section where she was stacking records. ‘Vinyl singles?’

‘I’ve never been very good at looking for things.’

Eve smiled. ‘Well, that’s what sales assistants are for.’ Eve grabbed the last few records by the woman’s feet and stacked them onto the shelf.

‘So, how long are you going to wait?’

Eve looked up at the woman in confusion. ‘Wait? For?’

‘To ask for an autograph?’ The woman grabbed a ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ single.

Eve was taken aback by her arrogance. ‘I, uh, have no idea who you are. Sorry.’

The woman ran a hand through her blonde hair. ‘Well, now I just feel like a dick.’

‘I seem to offer many celebrities anonymity.’

The woman stuttered, embarrassment flushed her cheeks. ‘So you, uh, know for next time. I’m Laura. Dalton.’ She shook her hand lightly.

‘Eve.’

Laura’s eyes creased at the corners as a sly smile caught her face. ‘Eaten any forbidden fruit lately?’

Eve chuckled. ‘Really? Maybe I should have just asked for an autograph.’

Eve lifted the empty cardboard box as a gesture that she needed to get back to work. She caught herself on the landing, gazing at Laura’s turned back.

Laura smiled, being caught off guard by the girl she couldn’t help but notice. She had been down the same street hundreds of times, en route to her favourite quaint café for lunch, and for a moment she had peered inside and found herself staring at Eve. A girl resting on the counter, her black hair shading a worn paperback, her small shoulders had lifted and sunk with every line her eyes raced down, like her body was bracing against the book itself. With these small movements, Laura had seen the beginning of a half-covered tattoo on her upper arm. She didn’t even feel the pull of the handle to the record store, she just saw herself walking towards the girl. Laura grabbed a random record off the shelf. She didn’t notice the title was facing downwards. She took the stairs two at a time, trying to read the cover of the book Eve left dog-eared and tattered on the counter, and missed the last step. Laura flew forwards, catching her body in the Blue’s Section shelves. She blushed a bright red and nearly broke the record, slotting it into a nearby shelf before hurrying for the door. Eve watched her leave the store, making sure she was out on the pavement before she started laughing.

Chapter 2: Coffee

Laura strolled down the street with her head down. She found herself feeling grateful in someone not knowing who she was. It was a reprieve. The whole encounter made her feel grounded in a way that was years past for her – like a normal person, despite the humiliation of the whole meeting. Laura quickened her step. Lunch was becoming dinner by the time she finally reached the café. Laura found her friend, Deb, at their usual booth at the back of the café. Deb flicked down her magazine. She never mentioned if Laura was late; for Deb, whenever she arrived was on time for Laura.It was one of the many virtues she loved about her. Deb gave her a peck on the cheek.

‘Doing some light shopping?’ Deb motioned to the small paper bag Laura had forgotten she was holding.

‘It’s just a card.’ Laura leaned in close. ‘Did you know, there’s this lovely record store at the end of the street?’

‘You know me,’ Deb lifted her glossy magazine. ‘This is the heaviest amount of culture I do.’

Laura wanted to tell Deb about Eve and the fool she had made of herself. She took a pause, then realised Deb knew exactly what that pause meant.

‘Come on, out with it,’ Deb grinned. ‘I know that look.’

Laura bit her bottom lip. ‘What do you think of tattoos?’

Deb raised her half-empty wine glass to Laura with a wink.

After the rush of the morning, Eve finally got to take her belated lunch break. She tapped on her sister’s contact, forgetting about the time difference in Australia.

Anna picked up on the fifth ring, her voice groggy and annoyed. ‘What the hell, Eve?’

‘Sorry, I keep forgetting.’ Eve took a pause. ‘You’ll never guess who was just in here. Well, I mean, I think she’s famous, but you know me—’

Anna cut her off. ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re hopeless with celebrities. For your sake, I hope it was Beyoncé or something, because I’m willing to travel across continents to slap you for waking me up this early.’

Eve’s excitement plummeted considerably from her sister’s mood.

‘Well, are you going to tell me or keep me guessing?’

‘Laura Dalton.’

‘Shit, really?’

‘So she’s a big deal, then?’

‘She’s been in every kind of movie. Jesus, kid, how do you notknow movie stars?’

‘I work in a record shop, remember? I don’t have time for TV.’

‘Such the intellect.’

Eve could feel her grinning through the phone. ‘Wait, how do youeven have time for TV? I mean, being a doctor basically means you have no life.’ Eve quipped.

‘Actually, she’s in a show I watch. It’s called Faith Matthews. She’s plays a detective who solves cases with the help of her dead child.’

‘That’s some twisted shit.’

‘Yeah … but she’s really great. Hey, next time ask for an autograph, kid.’

‘I’ll let her know you’re the one who bought those clippings of her hair. You’ll be on Datelinebefore we know it.’

‘Yeah, yeah. Well, I gotta go. Check the hours next time. Jesus.’

Eve ended the call and placed the phone facing down on the lunch table. She dragged a cheap plastic chair, which she had found abandoned on a sidewalk, over to the sole window in the room. She watched a couple walking hand-in-hand down the street. A gust of wind blew a cluster of leaves against a yellow cab, a few stuck to the hood as it disappeared around a corner, a huge ladybug with misshapen spots. A young girl, no taller than a picket fence, was being swung up in the air by her parents. She kicked out with her small feet, trying to reach for the sun. Eve shook the image from her mind like a faded polaroid. She returned to her desk and ate her lunch in a bitter silence. The rest of the day passed in a blur of credit cards, cash and forgettable faces. A sensation kept nagging at Eve, a pulling from her stomach. A mist of confusion had covered Eve’s usually snappy one-liners towards the customers, which placed her in a bad mood for the rest of the day. No matter what she did, she couldn’t shake the woman from the morning.

Eve’s Nike gym bag hit against her thigh; her music blared louder than she needed. She scanned her membership card through the steel turnstile. The pole arm clicked.

Eve rolled her shoulders. Her feet were light as she sized up the punching bag. Eve got into position, blocking out everyone else in the gym, refusing the attention of her own reflection in the mirror than ran the length of the back wall. She landed punch after solid punch until her face became soaked with sweat and her arms ached. Only when she dealt a high striking kick, which hit the bag with blunt force, did the pull in her stomach loosen and curl away. She gave into the fire that ran the length of her body, down to her fingertips, as her movements became faster and more fluid.

Chapter 3: The plan

Laura sank deeper into the pillows that lined the small lip she had installed in front of the windows for a reading place. She looked down at the bikes and pedestrians who weaved through the traffic. The fast pace of it all, blaring car horns, shouts, even the wind seemed to be irritated with time. Laura peeled her eyes away from the window and stretched for her glass of wine. Her mind began to drift back to lunch.

‘So, what are you going to do about this girl?’ Deb asked her, as she downed another margarita.

‘Nothing.’ Laura shrugged. ‘All I said was that she was interesting.’

‘I’ve never known you to show an interest in strangers.’

‘She just … I don’t know—’

‘First, you get all tongue tied. Next, you’ll be acting like a love-struck teenager.’

Laura tried to brush her off. ‘You read too much into things.’

‘Yeah and you don’t? At least try to find out if she’s interested.’ Deb raised her glass to Laura and winked.

Laura downed another glass of wine as the memory slipped away. She closed her eyes and saw the overbearing clearness of Eve’s green eyes. She nearly cracked the wine glass in her hand as an idea began to form.

Chapter 4: Meetings

Eve yawned into the store’s door as she fished for the keys in her deep pockets. After the second attempt, she managed to get the door unlocked. She threw her bag on the counter from the door’s threshold and leaned against the doorframe. Her arms crossed as she breathed in the New York street. On the opposite side of the street, children giggled to themselves as they made a point to their parents that they could out-step the cracks in the pavement. Eve watched as the tallest one jumped through the air, a small red bow perched on her head, moving with ease as the pavement caught her once again. Eve watched as a perfect second went by, then two, without the blaring of a car horn or the screamed accusations of a betrayed lover from the apartment blocks. For two whole seconds, the street returned to the once-dignified, reserved beauty it had held. Then a drunk came stumbling down the street and threw up on a parked car and the spell was broken.

Eve shook her head, irritated by a painting that could change so quickly. Eve shut the door on the scene behind her. She switched on the power to the store and yawned into the desktop screen as it blinked awake. Eve checked the status of their online ordering system and stared at the long list of orders she would have to get out by tomorrow.

‘It’s going to be a long day,’ she whispered to herself, as customers started shuffling through the door.

Laura reached for her phone as she tied her damp hair with a towel. She dialled Deb’s number.

Deb picked up on the second ring. ‘I wasn’t expecting a call from you this early.’

‘I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday at lunch.’

‘I said lot of things yesterday, which one are we talking about?’ Deb asked.

‘Well, I think you’re right, about her. I guess I want to know.’

‘If she’s interested?’

Laura nodded, her stomach knotting. ‘Yep, if she’s interested.’

Eve shimmed her way along the tower she had made out of cardboard boxes in the room upstairs. She wanted to see if she could make a life-sized Jenga tower before lunch. She stacked another parcel on the top of the tower, making sure it didn’t topple. Eve hummed along to a string of forgotten lyrics, when the yell of a customer wanting service peaked through the tinny soundwave.

Eve took the stairs two at a time. She smiled at the customer. ‘Yes, Sir, how can I help?’

‘Well, being served would be a great start,’ he answered.

Eve bit her tongue and took the four records from his outstretched arms. He handed her his credit card without a word. Eve could tell by his fidgeting that he wanted to say something to her.

‘If you keep customers waiting like that, you won’t have any customers to wait on.’

Eve nodded. ‘I do apologise.’ She wanted to say more but knew it would just make things worse. She hoped he left quickly.

‘Well, that was impressive.’ Al smiled from the doorway, his profile lit by the early sun.

‘That took too much of me to not throw a paperback at that guy’s head.’

Al set a heavy delivery box on the counter.

‘Are they always this angry this early in the morning?’ Al asked, as Eve signed for the package.

‘I think I just bring out the best in people.’ She handed him back the pen. ‘You still good for the deliveries this afternoon?’

‘I’ll be back. With more attitude, if you can handle it.’

‘You’re a life saver.’ Eve called as he got into his van.

Laura strolled down the New York street, towards Central Park a strange anticipation of seeing her again overwhelmed her senses. She didn’t know what had got into her. All she knew was that no one, especially a stranger, had ever had this type of effect on her so quickly. Laura had always been the type to take a long time to warm up to people. Even when she was a child, her mother constantly worried that she would never make any childhood friends as she was so mistrusting of other people. Her right boot rested on the lip of the entrance, her eyes blurring as her vision tried to acclimatise to the darkened setting. Laura tried to hide her smile when she saw her leaning up against the counter, reading something on the computer monitor. Her black hair fanned out from her pale skin. A blue chequered shirt hung loosely on her small frame, the long sleeves rolled up slender arms. For the first time, Laura noticed a deep scar on her temple, close to the hairline. She watched with curiosity as Eve clicked away at the computer, her slender fingers enveloping the mouse with a mix of white skin and black nail polish.

Laura tried to steady herself, annoyed that a stranger could make her feel so nervous. She waited patiently at the counter for Eve to look up at her. After a few moments, Eve finally noticed.

‘How can I … hey, it’s you.’ Eve smiled. ‘Oh and don’t worry, I cleaned the steps after yesterday.’

Laura caught a coy expression tug at her lips. ‘Oh yeah, thanks. Could you maybe help me with some suggestions?’

‘Of course.’ Eve eagerly moved out from the counter and headed for the upper level.

Laura followed, trying once more to get a peek at the tattoo on Eve’s arm under the loose material of her shirt.

‘Here,’ Eve said, ‘are the good classical records.’ She motioned to a small selection. ‘Wait, that’s what you were talking about, right? Because yesterday you wanted to know …’ Eve trailed off, talking with her hands.

Laura nodded quickly, not wanting to embarrass herself again. ‘You’ve listened to these then?’

‘Most of them.’ Eve pursed her lips, she ran a finger along the shelf and nodded, not knowing what to do with herself.

Laura nearly smiled. She seemed off balance, too.

Back at the counter, Eve puzzled over the woman from yesterday. She wondered what had changed to make the vague and somewhat agitated version who had appeared this afternoon. Eve wracked her memory for a reason why she was acting so strange towards her. Was she still embarrassed from yesterday?Eve hit at the keys on the computer. Had I been rude?

Eve tapped her hands on the desk, then noticed the empty cardboard box on the counter. She came up behind Laura, who was flicking through a book on Tuscany. ‘Do you wanna see something really cool? I have to show someone.’

Laura nodded, sliding a collection of Beethoven’s symphony’s back into the shelf. ‘Then I guess I don’t have much of a choice,’ she joked.

Eve placed a finger over her lips and motioned for Laura to follow her, even though there were no customers on the floor. Laura laughed at the childish gesture.

Laura stepped into the quaint room after Eve. She took a step towards the tower in the centre of the cramped room.

‘Behold, my Jenga creation.’

‘You made this?’ Laura gazed at boxes layered together like the children’s game.

‘Those are all customers orders.’

‘I’m guessing you have a lot of time on your hands.’

‘A healthy amount.’

‘Eve!’ Al called out from the front of the store.

‘Shit, well, now we have to knock it over.’ Eve fished her phone out of her pocket and motioned for Laura to stand beside the tower. ‘I need something for scale.’

Laura smiled, looking at the lens. ‘How are you going to knock it down?’ she asked.

‘Like this.’ Eve pushed at the left side. The parcels began to topple and smack against the floor. ‘Get the other side.’ Laura shoved at the right side, parcels spilling at their feet. Laura looked at the pile the tower had become.

‘Something takes me nearly all day to make, takes seconds to crumble. Figures.’ Eve laughed as she picked up parcels and shoved them under her arms. Laura followed her to the door, her own bundle under her arms. Eve handed them over to the delivery guy. ‘Make yourself useful, Jeeves. The rest are upstairs.’

Al grumbled, annoyed he had to walk the flight of stairs.

By the time they had finished loading and stacking the parcels in the back of the van, they were covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Al even made a point of exhaling with exaggeration in front of Eve. He staggered through the doorway. The outline of his plump stomach rose and fell, making Eve hide a smile behind her hand.

‘You need to hit the stairs more often, old man,’ she called.

‘Bite me.’

Eve waved him off as he pulled away from the curb. She wiped sweat from her forehead and nodded when a customer asked if they were going to be served. Laura made her way back to the upper level where she waited for the customers to die down.

At closing time, Laura thought she had read most of the titles in the classics section. She hadn’t even wanted to buy, she just wanted a chance to talk to Eve again.

Eve sighed and, visibly relaxed, shut the door after the last customer. ‘I just wanted to say thank you for helping me today.’ She leaned against the staircase banister.

Laura put back the book she was pretty sure she had nearly finished and forgot every word once it closed. ‘You’re very welcome.’

Eve looked to the side and clenched her jaw, lost in a thought. ‘I just remembered.’ She paused. ‘Could I trouble you for one small favour?’

‘What is it?’ Laura took amusement in her nervousness.

‘My sister … is apparently a fan of yours, and she asked if—’

Laura cut her off. ‘Does she know who I am?’

Eve laughed. ‘Apparently.’

‘Do you have a pen?’

Eve handed her a pen and an old invoice had in her back pocket. ‘Write whatever you want.’ Eve watched Laura scrawl a message in neat, cursive letters with a practised hand.

Laura folded the page in half and handed it back to Eve. ‘For her eyes only.’ She followed Eve down the staircases, wondering how she had spent most of her day in one place. Her days were never like this, calm and ordinary. She took solace in the idea.

Eve opened the latch. ‘Come back tomorrow. If you have time.’

‘Sure, if I have time.’ Laura gave her an easy smile that caught Eve off guard. She couldn’t look away.

Outside, the day had grown into afternoon, a flurry of spilt canvas streaked across the sky. Gusts of wind pushed the clouds further away. Colours mixed into one another with the yellow orb dipping lower and lower, far off in the horizon. The streets grew busy with the promise of a good night out. Barmen cleaned shot glasses in expectation. Cab drivers hiked up their meters, while waiting for the appearance of short dresses and the nervousness of finding a one-night stand.

Chapter 5: Anticipation

Laura’s note scratched against Eve’s back pocket. Her phone rang, a less-than flattering picture of Anna flashing up at her. ‘Hey loser.’ She leaned against her apartment door, shoving it open. The hinges creaked and scratched along the wooden floor in protest.

‘So, did she come back in today?’ Anna asked with excitement.

‘Yeah, hello to you, too. Jesus.’ Eve threw herself down on her double bed. Her feet automatically kicked off her shoes next to the pile of dirty laundry.

‘Did you ask her?’

Eve groaned. ‘Yes, yes, I have it in my back pocket as we speak.’

‘So … what does it say?’

‘I’m not allowed to know. She told me For your eyes only. So, now that I’ve passed on the information, may I go, Sir?’

‘Fine, fine. I’ll call again tomorrow. Get some rest, kid.’

Eve crawled off the bed. She shrugged into her gym clothes and took off down the street, her thoughts already being washed away by the pounding music in her ears. The night air clawed at her skin as she wrapped her arms tightly around her for warmth.

‘You are such a wimp!’ Deb teased.

Laura shifted the phone in her hand. ‘I am not a wimp. I’m just … testing the waters. She asked if I could come back tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, because you basically worked for free today. Why wouldn’t she want you back?’

‘Well, I’m still not sure about this.’

‘Because you won’t just ask her like a normal person, we have to resort to teenage antics?’

‘Let’s just hope this works,’ Laura admitted, biting her lower lip with scepticism.

Eve combed her hair back from her sweaty scalp. She hit the punching bag repeatedly in the same miscoloured spot until her arms no longer felt like arms. Eve touched her glove to the small tear on the side of the bag she had ripped in a particular frenzied session. The rip stared back at her like an angry scar. She cut the session short. The fire in her stomach had grown, exercising had done nothing to subside it. The memories followed her wherever she went. The sound of tyres screeching, a child’s laughter transformed into screams.

She unlocked her apartment door before the night swallowed her. Eve threw off her clothes, not caring where they landed. Fumbling for the bathroom light, she accidently caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She ran her fingers over the raised silvery scar on her temple. If she stared at her reflection long enough, how long it would take before a different face appeared? A different person? She turned her back on her reflection.

The hot water calmed her skin as she scrubbed at the sweat that stuck like glue to every inch. After minutes not counted, Eve turned the water off. Dried and dressed, she lay down on her bed. The stillness of her apartment made her uneasy. She grabbed for her phone to release from the shadows that started to move. Eve began to flick through her contacts when she remembered the photo of Laura. Laura smiled at the camera, her arms positioned like a magician’s assistant. Eve noticed a look in her eye she hadn’t seen when she took the photo. It was an expression she couldn’t quite pin down. Eve pressed her lips together and switched her phone off. She staggered to the kitchen. Searching the cupboards for something to drink, her hands slipped on a half-bottle of cheap bourbon. She poured herself three fingers. After the second cup, she did away with the glass and downed the bottle.

Eve tried to shove her mother away from her in the back of the car. Her father continued to shout from behind the wheel of the car. Eve’s anger spiked as the car came to a sudden halt, her father’s foot on the brake. There was something about the way he turned back, the distant pinpricks of light in his pupils, the rumbling of tyres against the road. She tried to yell at her father to move the car, but her mouth clamped shut. Eve lurched forward from the back seat just as the truck hit them side on, a look of terror on her mother’s face. Time slowed. Her scream caught in the fabric of memory. Her father’s head crashed through the window, his loose seatbelt growing taunt around his neck. She lifted her arm forwards, but her movements were too slow. From all directions, glass struck at her. The car rammed against a pole. A piece dislodged and cut through her father. He slumped, motionless. She looked down at her left leg. It twisted at the wrong angle. She gritted her teeth and tried to straighten the bloodied mess. Her mother’s glassy eyes caught her attention. She tried to scream, to call, to say her name. Nothing came out. Blood ran from her mother’s lips as she parted them for the last time. ‘You did this.’

Eve woke, blinded by the memory of her mother’s face. She stumbled to the bathroom, barely making it to the sink before she threw up the cheap bourbon. She wiped her mouth with a shaky hand and stared back into the mirror. Her eyes unsettled by something deep down within her. She lifted up the hem of her old T-shirt and touched the scars that tore across her body. Eve made her way back to her bed and collapsed, a heap of limbs and mumblings as sleep overtook her. A warm black sleep. Without mothers, without fathers, without sound.

Chapter 6: Execution

Eve dressed quickly. She grabbed for clean clothes as rays of morning sunlight cast strange shadows across her unmade bed. She stretched her hand into the light and tried to hold it. As her fingers warmed, she spread them wide and apart. A buzzing from her phone pulled her away from the window.

‘Hey kid. How are you?’

‘Same as always. Just heading to work now.’

‘What’s wrong? You don’t … you sound—’

Eve silently cursed her sister for knowing her too well. She was the only person who, since childhood, could see beyond her pallid exterior. It drove Eve crazy. Eve remembered when she had come home from school one day, upset and moody. Without needing to ask, Anna had taken her into her arms and told her that unkind children grew into unkind adults.

But it was different now, Eve thought, as Anna asked her again what was wrong.

‘Nothing. You’re just paranoid.’

‘Eve, I can hear everything in your voice.’

‘Well, this time, your powers of intuition have failed.’

‘I am not hanging up until you tell me,’ Anna persisted.

‘Then I’ll just hang up.’

‘You know I’ll just ring back. You may be stubborn, but I taught you how to be stubborn.’

‘I dreamed about them again,’ Eve blurted. She paused on the pavement.

‘Still?’ Anna asked.

‘That night … the night, it just …’ Eve shook her head. ‘Replayed.’

‘Maybe you should go back to talking to someone?’

Eve swallowed. ‘I can’t go through that again. I won’t.’

‘I just … I don’t want you to feel alone.’

‘I’m living in the city that never sleeps and I have you … I’m never alone,’ Eve lied, as she tried to lighten the mood. ‘I’ve gotta go. We’ll talk later.’

Eve left out what her what her mother had said to her, the weight of her words still ringing in her ears. She steadied herself against the cool brick of a store-front. ‘Pathetic,’ she muttered, as she swallowed back tears.

A flock of birds flew overhead. Eve closed her eyes and imagined the flight – the wind so high up, the taste of the clouds. Her breathing slowed to a calmness. Eve pushed the dream away with every step she took. With each push from a stranger into her side, she slid the memory away, causing it to sink lower than her footsteps.

‘And so it begins,’ Eve whispered to the empty store, as she breathed in the dust and scent of old vinyls.

Laura threaded her shoes. The knot stuck out at an odd angle. She bent to retie it, somehow thinking her encounter with Eve would be easier if she could control the aesthetic of her footwear.

‘I can’t believe you are seriously doing this for some girl,’ Deb said, an air of annoyance in her words.

Laura shrugged and straightened her blouse, smoothing out creases that weren’t there.

‘I’ve never seen you like this. Seriously, what has got into you?’

Laura shook her head, not quite knowing herself. ‘I don’t know why, just thinking about her is doing this to me.’

‘Two words, my dear. Mid-life crisis.’

Laura walked across her kitchen to the windows. She leaned her forehead against the glass. The solidity of it, the cool that spread down her forehead, fused a focused energy in her. She pictured Eve through closed eyes, the way her shirt had hung loose on her body the last time they talked, her eyes, her laugh. She didn’t know why, but she needed to be close to her, to see the same world she saw. Deb’s hand clasped her back, snapping her out of the daydream.

‘I think we had better go now.’

‘Yes,’ Laura agreed. ‘Let’s go.’

‘This is, by far, one of the strangest things I’ve ever done.’ Deb slung her handbag over her arm.

‘This was your idea.’

‘I know, but I didn’t think you would actually agree to it.’

Laura could feel the elevator sliding past each floor. She counted the clicks in her bones. The way the metal slotted downwards at the press of a button.

‘What if she recognises me? From the show?’ Deb asked.

‘She didn’t even know who I was. I doubt she’ll know who you are.’ Laura pretended not see Deb’s wounded stare as the elevator doors opened onto the foyer.

Eve slumped against her stool. The beginnings of a headache had begun to throb behind her eyes, somewhere between the fourth rude customer who had graced her presence today and the late shipment of records they now wouldn’t be getting until next week. Her eyes lingered on the doughnuts Al had attacked earlier in the morning, and her thoughts drifted to Laura, wondering if she would come in again today.

Eve found her mind replaying old memories, like the day she applied for the job in the store. She had escaped into the store as a cover for a sudden rain. Drenched and cold, her body warmed at the sight of the vinyls, the old tattered counter that no doubt had more history than her life combined. It felt like walking towards an old friend you hadn’t seen in a long time, comforting and warm, knowing you were sure to get a good conversation. Marco, her now boss, had stood at the counter, with greased thick black hair and a stern expression to match. Eve walked towards him in wet shoes. Like the storm, the words slipped out without warning. Eve suggested he hire someone with a more approachable demeanour to work the counter. She didn’t have time to brace for his answer. Marco came out from behind the counter and stared her down. Eve tensed, frozen, realising too late what her mouth had got her into this time.

Instead of telling her to get out, he grabbed her shoulders with a clasp so restrictive Eve doubted she could have run if she wanted to. He laughed, making her jerk. A long throaty laugh. ‘Okay, little girl. I’ll hire you. Only because you insult me and make me smile.’

Their first meeting turned into a one-of-a-kind friendship. They worked side by side for hours at a time. She learned the ropes and soon even bested Marco at the complicated cash register he insisted on keeping for atmosphere. Every Friday, their nights ended with ribs from a corner restaurant Marco had sworn on his family’s lives to be the best he’d ever eaten. One night, her mouth full and smeared with rib sauce, Marco had told her how his parents met. His soon-to-be father had just finished a long shift when he heard sirens in the distance. A woman came hurtling towards him and pulled on his car door, screaming for him to drive.

‘My mother said that my father accidentally put the car in reverse and almost went through a brick wall.’ Marco slapped his thigh and bellowed loud enough for the street below to hear. ‘My mother, the criminal, and my father, the love-struck idiot.’

Eve had grown quiet. She tried to remember her parents telling her their story, her mind turning over and over, replaying fragments without the most important pieces. She didn’t have their first story, but she had their last. It wasn’t something to share over a relaxing dinner. After a month of late nights and constant sarcastic bickering, Marco told her he needed a vacation. He had been gone without a word since.

Eve straightened on her stool, making her feel off balance. She saw Laura coming down the street, trailed by another woman. She smiled easily when her silhouette filled the doorway.

Eve leaned against the counter. ‘We really have to stop meeting like this.’

Laura’s companion looked her up and down with an odd focus in her expression, like she was counting toothpicks.

Eve closed the distance between them, feeling like a specimen. ‘Hi there.’ She made contact. ‘I’m Eve.’

‘Deb.’ She