AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Somewhere in between then.
But first, I had to change my hair.
Without it, I was just an ordinary woman, anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-five, height and build on the slight side, dressed in nondescript clothing and with nothing unusual about her. With it, I was instantly recognizable. CCTV would pick me out in a moment, and there was a limit to where I could plausibly wear a hat or a hood.
I thought, briefly, of finding another public toilet—but the bleach would take a while to work. No, a cheap hotel would be better. Or, even better still, a backpackers’ hostel. There I would melt in among the other young people with their rucksacks and transient stays.
Pulling Hel’s burner phone out of my pocket, I opened it up and typed in backpacking hostel, London. There was one around the corner, and it took cash. Hoisting my bag over my shoulder, I began walking.
* * *
“HOUSE RULES ARE NO MUSIC in the dorms after ten p.m.,” said the bored girl on reception. She had a strong Australian accent. “Headphones are fine. No food or alcohol in the bedrooms—use the dining room for that. No smoking in the building—cigarettes or weed. It will set the fire alarms off and you will be chucked out, so just don’t do it, kay?”
“Okay,” I said. “I don’t smoke.”
“Sure,” the girl said with a wave of her hand. “Of course you don’t. Top or bottom?”
“Sorry?”
“Top or bottom bunk?”
“Oh… I guess… top?”
The girl nodded and plonked a plastic card and a small locker key down on the counter.
“Key for the hostel,” she said, pointing to the card. “Also the key for your room. You’re in bed five.”
“And this?” I held up the locker key.
“Key to the luggage cage.” She glanced at my rucksack. “Maybe you won’t be needing that. One night, you said?”
“Yeah.”
“Twenty-four pounds.”
I rummaged in my pocket and pulled out two of the notes Hel had given me. The girl shook her head and pushed a card reader over the counter, tapping it with her fingernail.
“Sorry, we don’t take cash.”
“What? But you have to. It said you did on your website.”
The girl shrugged.
“Website must be out of date. Card or contactless.”
“I can’t do card,” I said evenly. I was trying to keep my voice level and pleasant, but I felt like crying. It seemed like a hundred years since I’d slept, a hundred more since I’d been happy, or able to relax. I was in the middle of a waking nightmare, and this stupid chick wouldn’t take cash? “My bank is overdrawn. I have cash.”
“Card or contactless,” the girl repeated. I stared at her. I didn’t know what to do. “Sorry,” she added, but she didn’t sound it. “There’s a place in Maida Vale that might take cash.”
She held out her hand for the keys.
I stared down at them, thinking of the long walk to Maida Vale, the taxi I couldn’t afford, the police who might even now be following Hel home from the shopping center. What the fuck was I going to do?
“Here,” said a deep American voice from behind me, and someone leaned over my shoulder and tapped their phone on the card reader. It beeped chirpily. Payment accepted read the screen.
I turned and looked up, unable to believe my eyes. A tall Black guy with neatly styled locs stood behind me, hands in pockets. As our eyes met, he gave a little deprecating shrug and a grin.
“I—oh my God, I mean—thank you!” I was stammering, but I hardly knew what to say. “Honestly, you’ve saved my life. Thank you. Oh, and here.” I held out the notes, but he shook his head.
