Friday, 20 April 2035 （cont.） #3
‘I’m already proud of you,’ I said. I wanted to hug the phone. ‘Can you put your dad back on for a sec?’
Rafael took the phone from him and sent him into the back for a soda.
‘Did you speak to Heather?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, it’s all in hand. We just want you here now with us.’
I beamed. ‘I don’t want to put you guys out though.’
Leo was back with his drink and standing next to his dad who had his arm around his waist. They both shook their heads. ‘We’ve had your room ready since we got here,’ said Rafael. ‘We’d love you to stay with us, if you wanted to.’
I started to cry – I couldn’t hold it back any longer. ‘I’d like that,’ I said. ‘I’d like that very much.’
There were tears in Rafael’s eyes too, but Leo was just smiling. Oh God, he had Rhiannon’s smile. That’s when I knew we were born from the same womb. He was seventy-five per cent Rafael but twenty-five per cent was all her. Same mannerisms; same attitude, same impatience, same smile.
‘Two days is ages away,’ Leo whined to his dad. ‘I want Ivy here now!’
‘All right, Veruca Salt,’ laughed Raf. ‘Ivy will get here when she gets here, we just gotta wait for her. She’s coming, buddy, she’s coming.’
We chit-chatted easily for a while about the restaurant and what kind of studying I might like to do there, and I asked Leo how he had got Gus Herrera off his back.
‘Oh, that’s all over,’ he said. ‘Dad told me to hit him as hard as I could and that will send a message. So I did.’
‘You did?’ And what happened?’
‘He was out cold. And when he came round, he cried like a little bitch. It was awesome!’
Rafael admonished him for his bad language immediately. ‘Leo, te dije que no usaras malas palabras, discúlpate con Ivy!’
‘Lo siento, Ivy,’ said Leo with his head bowed.
‘No worries,’ I said.
Our conversation was coming to an end when there were gasps and yells from my room. We were saying our goodbyes when there came a deafening yell.
‘JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!’
‘I’ve got to go, guys, I’ll see you soon, okay?’ I said, stabbing the off button and running back in to see what was happening.
I will forever wish I hadn’t.
River was on his feet and pacing the floor, hands behind his head.
The sedate conversation between Majors and Rhiannon was done, that was clear to see from the chaos unfolding on the screen.
Now there was a chaotic, wobbly camera view, like the cameraman was being chased, gasping, and there was all this yelling in the background. Screaming. Smoke.
‘What the hell’s happened? I was only gone for five minutes!’
‘Thh-they went to look around her cell,’ said River breathlessly.
They were walking through the prison. It was empty.
But she … she attacked Majors. Beat the shit out of him – knocked him out.
Then she knocked out two of the guards – stole their keys and then, shit, and then …
fuck … she ran and unlocked two of the cells.
They took down the other guards who ran in, blowing whistles.
Then they opened more doors and then … it’s a full-on riot! It’s a fucking riot!’
‘What’s she doing now? Where’s Rhiannon?’
‘They’ve lost her – she ran away. The others have taken over the wing.’
‘Oh my God. It’s bedlam! She must be there somewhere. Don’t tell me she’s escaped.’
But I didn’t need him to explain the rest of it because I saw it with my own eyes.
One of the prisoners had the camera now – God knows what happened to the cameraman – and was running towards where the screaming was coming from.
Guy Majors was on his back on the floor of the landing, pinned down by several women prisoners who were beating him senselessly as he screamed for his life, piss streaming down both his legs.
Then the camera ran in the opposite direction as voices yelled, ‘She’s in! She’s in! Get her, get her!’
‘What’s happening now?’ I said, chewing the cuff of my jumper.
‘I don’t know,’ said River. ‘Where have they gone?’
But the camera caught up to her, in one of the cells, and ran in, fighting its way through a throng of women as alarms sounded everywhere. There was shouting in the distance. Black-uniformed guards with face visors and guns.
‘Tactical response,’ said River. ‘Shit. The fuck’s going on?’
‘What’s Rhiannon doing?’ I cried.
The camera zoomed in to the top of Rhiannon’s head as she sat on the side of a large raggedy hole in a cell floor. The screaming grew louder. Then we saw where the screaming was coming from – directly below. Her legs were dangling down inside baby killer Roxanne Peach’s cell.
‘Noooooo! Nooo, pleeeease!’ Peach yelled as the sounds of ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ played at full blast. The sight of mousey Roxanne standing there in the middle of her cell, screaming her face off, and backing into the wall as Rhiannon descended into her tiny space, will stay with me forever.
‘Why are they still live?’ I cried. ‘Why don’t they cut the feed?’ I said, peeking over my hands. ‘Are we actually going to watch this?’
I recalled Rhiannon in the prison when we had seen Peach walking past outside the meeting room.
She’s next on the list then, is she?
Stay tuned.
‘She’s had this planned for ages. Months. Maybe years,’ I said, my voice no louder than a whisper, as I watched Rhiannon pin Roxanne to the floor of her cell writhing and struggling in her ferocious grasp.
Someone had given Rhiannon Lewis a blade.
‘Oh Jesus Christ,’ said River, hands behind his head. ‘She’s taking her fucking head off!’
There was a beep as they finally cut the feed and the screen went black.
But I’d seen what I could never unsee. I couldn’t believe the person I was watching doing that was the person who gave birth to me.
It was all very well reading about it in the books, hearing about it in documentaries, seeing TikToks about her and what she’d done.
It was a whole different experience seeing it first hand for myself.
A voice came on: We’re sorry for the interruption to our regular programming and we hope to be back very soon. Thank you for your patience.
The screen was silent. They didn’t even go to adverts. All I could hear was our breathing, mine and River’s, in perfect synchronicity as it filled the entire world.
‘Jesus,’ he kept saying. ‘Jesus, Rhiannon.’
I walked over to him and held him tight and he held me back and we just cried and cried together.