Five(60)

Liam picks up a book at his feet, a Dr. Seuss. “I hate you” is written over and over on each page, each word perfectly formed.

“He has beautiful handwriting,” Emma says. “Much better than most kids his age.”

“So is he a genius or is he disturbed, Emma, which one is it?” Liam says, putting the book carefully back in its place in the line.

“I’m not signing that contract. You tell Danny to drop all this nonsense and to go with me to that meeting and make the investment with me tomorrow. It’s big, he won’t regret it, and you get him to do it, or I take Gideon.”

“Take him? Take him where?” she says, disbelieving.

“I’ll make a call, they’ll take him away from this,” Liam says.

“I didn’t do this! This is Gideon, this is who he is, look what he’s done to me, this is what he’s like, this isn’t me,” Emma says, panicked, aghast.

“I don’t know what this is,” Liam says, pushing past her, leaving the room. “Or what you’re doing, but I won’t let it go on.”

“You think I can’t make a call too!” she calls out to Liam, as he descends the stairs. “I’ll call the Daily Mail right now, I’ll tell them what you did! Attempted murder of a gay man, you’re a bully! And a monster!”

Liam turns around. “And I’ll tell them about you,” he shouts at her from the bottom of the stairs. “?‘Single Psycho Mum Locks Child in House of Horrors.’ Who do you think they’ll believe? Just look at the state of you.” Disgusted, he scans her from head to toe. Then he slams the front door behind him, leaving Emma alone.

She shivers in her slip. She forgot that’s all she was wearing. She goes to the bathroom to wash her face, and a sudden soreness reminds her of her wounded eyebrow. She looks in the mirror over the sink. A red patch of blood is spreading through the bandage. Her hair is stringy, her teeth are red wine stained. Her collarbones jut out at hungry angles.

“Are you there?” she whispers to her reflection.

She considers her position. One brother uses her child as bait to get her to do his bidding. The other uses her child as a threat, to get her to do the same. But what these men have forgotten is that Gideon is hers. Hers. He frightens her, he hurts her, he is not well, he is not happy, but he is hers. She made him and she would do anything for him. It is hard to love him, but she is also hard to love. These men have forgotten who she is.

Emma sits on the edge of the bathtub and places a call. While it rings, her foot touches an old lipstick near the leg of the tub. She takes off the lid. It’s blunted and misshapen, another victim of Gideon.

“Hello?” a voice answers.

“Hello, I need to speak to…hello?” Emma says when the line suddenly goes quiet, the reception dipping in and out.

“Are you still there?” the voice comes back.

“Yes,” Emma says, as she runs the dark red around her lips. “I think so.”





Time





Destination





Expected




                       1st 7:06

                        London Victoria

                        7:08



                       South London Service formed of 8 coaches.



                       2nd 7:13

                        Bedford

                        7:16





07:08




And so here we are.

The child, the mother, the businessman, the old woman, and the gambler. One of them will die despite your attachment to them, regardless of your judgment of their behaviors or your empathy with their situation. There is probably one that you’re okay with getting rid of. Of course there is. You’ve chosen your favorite. You don’t have to admit to anyone who it is. But perhaps you should ask yourself why, what makes them worthy of surviving in the internal universe of your brain where you are God.

Let us review their positions, just this one last time.

Sonny is standing on the tracks as the train approaches.

Liam is on the platform, between the edge and the yellow line, on all fours, struggling to stand due to concussion.

Mrs. Worth remains in her position on the ground, breathing with difficulty, wheezing “Man on the tracks,” into the mobile phone next to her.

Emma is running from Mrs. Worth’s side to Medical Student at the platform edge to inform him that Sonny wants to die.

Gideon is looking at his tablet while he balance-walks on the concrete lip of the platform, occasionally raising his eyes, taking note of the adults’ positions.