New Reality 2: Justice (27 page)

The lawyer continued. "The judge would have given him more if he could, owing to the fact that he was a teacher and all. Which sparks the more important debate… should we allow estate rats into our society? Is this a warning for the more liberal minded citizens of Nirvana that we need to adopt a tougher stance?"

Hank lost focus on the lawyer as he pressed his finger into his ear. Someone was obviously talking to him. Once he was done, he patted Doug's lawyer on the shoulder. "We must have that debate another time." As Hank moved off, he dragged the camera with him. "This just in, folks, the man who was sentenced today was called Frankie Jackson, and his house has just been raided. The police found terrorist propaganda. It seems that this man was in deep."

The action of Gina sitting upright and looking around made her resemble a meerkat. "It doesn't look like it's been raided. What
lying
arseholes."
 

What could Marie say to that? It was hardly news that the regular bulletins were full of hate and deceit. That was how the media worked.

Gina then wrung her hands. "It's a stupid question, but what was it like in the courtroom today?"

Robbed of her words by another rush of exhausting sadness, Marie leaned forwards and dropped her head.
Where would she find the energy to keep on going?

Once the worst of her tiredness had passed, she sat up straight again and turned to her friend. "It was
hell.
The
worst
experience of my life." Although her face twisted, she fought back the tears. "He looked at me like he didn't even recognise me."

"Of course."

"What?"

Gina's back was as straight as a board as she sat on the sofa. "What else could he do? If he'd shown any sign of knowing you, that would have landed you
and
the baby in the shit big time. Why would he take you guys down with him?"

Of course, Gina was right, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "I feel like I'm unravelling, Gina. What's going to happen to me? I'll be homeless when they realise I can't pay the bills. I'll lose my job. There's no way Doug will employ me after this. The baby and I will
starve.
"

When Gina rubbed Marie's back, it released more hot tears. "A lot of things have to happen for you to get to that point. I'm here for you. I'm going to make sure everything will be okay for you and the baby."

Marie nodded and hunched forwards again, sobbing as Gina continued rubbing her back.
 

Gina spoke kind words to her. "There, there, darling; there, there."

Chapter Forty-One

It was only yesterday that Frankie had been sentenced, yet it felt like she'd been without him forever. What the hell was she going to do? As Marie sat at her desk and stared at the screen, her eyes burned like they'd been doused in chlorine. Repeated blinking did nothing to stop the dry itch surrounding them. If she could have pulled them from her skull at that moment, she would have.

The same projection had been playing on her screen all morning. The man in it had a small baby in his arms as he walked around a lavish house. He cooed and shushed at the groggy infant while rocking it gently.

The perfect little child was dressed in pink and its little eyelids were growing heavy in the comfort of her dad's strong embrace.

The woman in the background was difficult to see. Good job, really. It wouldn't take Doug long to recognise it as Marie when he next breathed down her neck with his snorting rasp. If he made the connection… well, it didn't bear thinking about.
 

Everything in front of her was perfect: the house, the peace surrounding the young family, the life of plenty. She could have been watching her own dreams on the screen. Surely, this was evidence that Frankie was her soul mate.

She'd worn her corset looser than any previous day and she even went as far as to rest her hand on her stomach.
Fuck it. Who cared if someone noticed?
The baby kicked back
. Was it a girl? How would she fare without the guidance of her wonderful dad?

The beginnings of tears set her eyeballs on fire.
Again! Always fucking crying!

The smell of Gina's flowery perfume hit Marie before Gina's delicate arm leaned over her shoulder and swiped the image of Frankie from her screen.

When it was replaced with a bloodbath, she flicked it along again. This time, it was a man having sex. Without a word, Gina returned to her seat.
 

The smell of fried food snapped Marie's body tight.
How had Gina known Doug was coming?
Marie turned to face him.

"Marie, you have the screen with the
rat
that fucked my kid over. Bring it up now, please."

When Doug leant into the back of Marie's chair, it shoved her forwards. If it weren’t for her bracing against her desk with one hand, her stomach would have been crushed.
 

She brought the image of Frankie and the little girl up on the screen. Thank god she was still absent from the footage.
 

Doug jabbed a sausage finger at the projection before pulling away and addressing the rest of the room. "You're all tied into the secrecy contract, so I'm going to tell you what's going to happen to this man."

In the silence, Marie's stomach turned backflips.

"I'm going to fuck him up. I'm going to ruin his fucking life and take him to hell and back for the next
fifteen
years. I'm going to make sure the developers force him to endure the
worst
kind of torture. Then I'm going to leave him alive so, in fifteen years' time, when he returns to a world he doesn't recognise, his mind will be so scrambled he won't even be able to tie his own shoelaces."

While Doug had been talking, Marie had picked up a pen. As she held it in a tight grip, she stared at his fat neck. One swift jab and jerk would tear the bloated bastard's gullet wide open. With a grip so hard her hand shook, she looked over at Gina who gave the gentlest shake of her head.
 

It was only when Doug moved away from her that Marie released the pen. Marie then turned back to her screen and listened to the automatic door open and close again before she sagged in her seat.
 

What was she going to do? How could she get Frankie out of this?

***

The base of Marie's back was in agony and no amount of rocking from side to side relieved the pain. Tendrils of numbness ran down each thigh. The clock on her console told her she should have gone to lunch hours ago, but she couldn't leave the screen unattended. It would have done her good to stand up and go for a walk, but what if Doug came into the control room and happened to check on Frankie when she was visible on screen? Her boobs and arse were bigger in Frankie's version, but it was still clearly her. There was nothing else she could do—she had to stay and guard the monitor.

With her stomach churning like it was consuming itself, Marie rubbed her bump.
We'll eat soon, baby, I promise.
It wasn't the first promise of food that afternoon.

On the screen, Frankie was sitting on the carpet and playing with the baby. Then he looked up, confusion creasing his face as he peered down the hallway.

Marie turned the volume up to hear a banging noise as someone hammered on the front door. With her heart rate quickening, she watched as Frankie stood up and walked down the hall in response to the sound.

He left the baby on the floor.
What was he doing? Why didn't he take her with him?

With the welfare of their child completely disregarded, Frankie picked up an umbrella. He must have known something was amiss.
Bang! Bang!

As he crept along, Frankie raised his makeshift weapon. "Who's there?
What do you want
?
Go aw—"

Before he could finish, splinters of wood exploded into the house as the door flew inwards. Six masked men piled in with it. The man at the front drove his fist into Frankie's nose. After a moist crunch, Frankie hit the floor hard and the umbrella slid away from him.

Marie shook in her seat.
It's not real. No matter what happens, it's not real.
But Frankie didn't know that. The man she loved believed every second of it was real.

Two other men rushed over to Frankie while he lay on the floor on his front. One of them removed a small ball from his pocket and wedged it into Frankie's mouth. He then grabbed Frankie's hair and pulled his head back while another man secured the ball by wrapping gaffer tape around his face.

With wide eyes and a red face, Frankie screamed; his cries were muffled and blood bubbled from his nose.

The men bound his wrists and ankles. The man who'd produced the ball kept a tight grip on Frankie's hair and then dragged him along the polished wooden floor. At least it wasn't carpet.

Frankie was writhing and screaming as he was taken to the front room. Once there, the man let go of Frankie and he fell limp.

Seconds later, Marie was dragged into the shot.
 

The man who had punched Frankie sat on his back while the other five men proceeded to strip Marie naked, tearing the clothes from her slim body. When she was left with just her socks on, one of the men restrained her while the other four loosened their belts and dropped their trousers.
 

With every orifice tightening, Marie's toes curled, and she watched the events unfold.

***

Once the men had finished, Marie's face was soaked with tears and she felt numb. Exhausted as if she'd lived every second of the brutal rape, she stared at the image of her naked form curled in the corner in a pool of bodily fluids. They'd even urinated on her afterwards.

Snot sprayed from Frankie's nose and he continued to try and buck the man from his back. As exhaustion clearly took a hold of him, his efforts diminished.
 

When the trouser-less men went over to the baby, Marie covered her mouth. She quickly checked around. No one else in the room had seen what was happening.
 

One of the men wore a dirty sneer on his face when he picked the baby up by its leg. He lifted it up high before releasing his grip.

Although Marie turned away, she didn't have time to remove her headphones. The baby screamed like she'd never heard a baby scream before and it hurt her heart. The shrill cry reverberated through her fraying mind.
 

Returning her focus to the desk, Marie fumbled with the volume control and faded the child's pain out.
It's not real
.
It's not real
.

***

At least ten minutes passed before Marie finally looked at the screen again. Frankie's mouth was stretched wide and his face was covered in blood.

The baby's corpse lay discarded on the floor. An angry gash ran across its little throat and a line of claret was drizzled between it and Frankie.
 

When there was a nudge in the back of her chair, Marie whipped her headphones off and spun around. Rage burned through her when she looked up at her boss. This was all his doing.

Doug scratched the stubble on his double chin. "So you saw it then?"

Although she opened her mouth, the words didn't come.
 

"You were the only one. When I told them what I wanted to happen, the programmers refused to watch it. I'm guessing it went well?"

How did she end up working for such a prick?
 

"I'm sorry you had to watch that, dear. Next time I'll give you a heads up."

It was a challenge to even look at the man. Marie turned back to the image of the broken Frankie. At least she was still far enough out of shot to not be recognised, and at least Doug hadn't watched it as it happened. There was no way she would have been able to hide the connection between her and Frankie then.

Before she could say anything, shooting pains tore through her stomach. She grabbed her desk and squeezed hard.

"Marie? Are
you okay?"

Marie stood up, her chair knocking into Doug. She then pushed him aside to get to the retina scanner, pressed her face into it, and ran to the bathroom.

***

She slammed the flimsy toilet cubicle shut and the entire stall shook.

Her hands were clumsy as she fumbled with the lock. After she'd finally slid it home, she pressed her back to the door. Driving her hand into her knickers, she pulled it back out again and stared at her trembling fingers, or, more specifically, the spots of blood that sat on them.

Chapter Forty-Two

The morning light was already trying to push through the curtains. It would have been nice to claim the bright five A.M. sun was the reason for Marie being awake, but sleep had eluded her for most of the night. As she lay listening to the birdsong outside her bedroom window, she held her stomach and her breath. It was important to keep as still as possible to give the baby every chance to show her she was okay. All she needed was the tiniest shift. A gentle push against her hand from a small foot, elbow, knee… anything. Instead, she got nothing.
 

It was only yesterday when she'd bled; maybe she just needed to give it a little more time.
 

There was no point in lying there any longer. If she had to endure much more of the stillness and silence, she was sure to lose her mind. Marie pulled the duvet back and winced, afraid to look down.
 

When she finally did, she saw the sheets were blood-free.
Thank god.
 

The double bed was huge without Frankie. It was another reminder of how empty her home was.

***

The second she walked into the kitchen, she was greeted by Jules. "Coffee?"

After a deep breath, Marie spoke through gritted teeth. "Not this morning, thank you."

"Then
when?
I'm useless here. You might as well throw me out of the window for all the good I do."

"You know what? Maybe that's not such a bad idea." When she gripped the machine on either side, it lit up and every single bulb and warning light blinked.
 

"I didn't
mean
that, I was only joking. It's fine, I
love
herbal tea. Please, I'll do any—"