Read Online The Hourglass by Casey Donaldson - Free Book Online Page B

the cells. She saw
Gretel’s outline emerge from the ensuite and climb the bunk. The bed squeaked
in protest. Sarah hoped that Gretel didn’t move around a lot in her sleep.
Indistinct voices rose up in the dark as the inmates all spoke to each other.
Despite the air holes in the transparent wall, their voices were still mostly
muffled.  Occasionally someone would press their mouth to the opening in an
attempt to have a clearer conversation with a neighbour, but for the most part
the words were difficult to decipher. She thought that she could just make out
Marland crying softly in the next cell. After a moment she slipped out of bed
and crept to the air hole closest to Marland’s.
    “Marland?” she
whispered. “Marland are you ok?” She thought she heard a pause in the crying
and then Marland’s voice, quiet and wavering, floated back to her.
    “I’m fine,
thanks.”
    Sarah lowered
her voice even further, hoping to keep the conversation as private as possible.
“What’s your cell mate like? Has she… has she done something?”
    “Nah, it’s not
that. It’s just this place, you know?”
    Sarah did know.
“Yeah. Well, goodnight.”
    “Night.”
    As Sarah pulled
away from the wall she heard a thud, like a body slamming against the wall from
the direction of April’s cell. She leaned forward again and squinted through
the hole. She couldn’t really make out anything clearly. It was dark in April’s
cell, being the furthest away from the lights on either side of it. There was
no yell or shriek however, not even raised voices. The voices of the other
inmates, which had paused at the noise, floated back unchanged. She was about
to yell April’s name and then paused. She wasn’t even sure that it came from
April’s cell, or what the noise actually was. If she made a ruckus and roped
April into it she might even make things worse. Slowly, and keeping an ear out
for any other strange noises, she returned to bed. For a long time she just lay
there, slowly tracing the shape of the burn on her wrist. It still hurt.   

Chapter
Nine
    The Queen
     
    Sarah woke up
early the next morning. There was a frustrating absence of windows to the
outside world for her to estimate the time from, but the sounds of heavy
breathing and soft snores escaping from the cells around her assured her that
it was still early. After failing to fall back asleep she got up, used the
toilet and brushed her teeth before returning to lie on her bunk and wait for
everybody else to wake up. She wished that someone had prepared her for all of
this. She supposed that the court-assigned councillor might have done so if he
had known that she would end up on the Anoscosa . But who would have
guessed that stealing a pie would have resulted in her ending up here? It was
ridiculous that she was even on this ship. The idea of her tanning to a soft
brown while she worked on a farm seemed extremely appealing as she lay there on
a metal ship devoid of sunlight. After what seemed like an age the lights
flickered on and a loud ringing noise was played throughout the ship’s speaker
system. There was a loud communal groan and a few half-hearted curses were
flung at the alarm, and then the sounds of forty-odd girls getting up in the
morning spread throughout the block. Gretel rolled off her top bunk and landed
on her feet almost silently. Without a word she headed straight to the
bathroom. She emerged a couple of minutes later and somehow, Sarah silently
marvelled, not a single hair was out of place. At almost the exact same time
that Gretel exited the bathroom the transparent door to their cell slid open
and Gretel exited the cell without breaking her stride or sparing Sarah a
single glance. Sarah got up and followed her out of the cell. All of the girls
were heading towards the door they had entered through yesterday. Some joined
others and exchanged bleary morning greetings and some girls kept to
themselves. Sarah felt someone move up quickly behind her