Page 19 of The Cut
The camera darts from Ben to Annie, then to Chris’s backside mid-pee. He turns and splutters, ‘Wait, what? Who? Who exactly is going up?’
Finally, the camera lands on a flustered Lynette. ‘Don’t look at me, I can’t do it.’ The contents of her rucksack spill out on to the floor. ‘It’s my dad’s climbing gear. Not that he’s used it in about a decade, fat git.’
‘Who are you calling a faggot?’ Chris is back, wiping his hands on his jeans.
‘Everyone, just shut up and listen. We get to the first floor and figure it out from there. OK?’ Ben drags the ladder over to the rotting rafters, where a small section of new wood and sheets of chipboard have been nailed down to create a platform. With the ladder secured against the sturdiest-looking beam, Ben starts to climb.
As he reaches the top, he stands heroically, Maglite held aloft like a lightsaber. ‘My fellow Jedi! Who is next?’ He shines the beam down at the four nervous faces below. Selecting them one by one, Lynette, then Annie, then Chris climb the ladder. Leaving just Dave behind at the bottom.
‘Come on up, I’ll hold the ladder for you.’ Chris is now at the top with his hand out, gesturing for Dave to go next. Dave stares up in horror then steps tentatively on to the first rung.
‘I … I need to get going … my dad said I needed to be back before nine.’ Dave glances to the door, stomach churning with anxiety.
‘If you don’t get your bony arse up hererightnow, Patel, you are out of this gang.’ Ben’s voice is serious.
Annie rolls her eyes. ‘Come on, Ben, you know he doesn’t like heights.’ The ladder shifts and creaks as Annie glances back to see Dave already braving the climb.
‘See, my Jedi Initiate just needed a little persuasion.’ Ben flicks a glance to the others and winks.76
As Dave nears the top rung, he glances back over his shoulder to survey the twenty-foot drop beneath him, and the ladder suddenly detaches from the beam and swings out into mid-air.
‘Oh, God, help me, HELP!’
‘HEY! What are you doing? STOP!’ Ben dives forward to grab the ladder as the cackling twins swing it further out into the dark void. Dave, screaming and barely clinging on, tries to find the wooden rungs with his flailing feet.
‘He’s sweating curry! I can smell it!’ Chris Davis pinches his nose as Lynette falls about laughing. ‘Eugh … gross.’
Annie shoulder-barges Lynette out of the way and yanks the ladder back hard against the rafter.
Dave scrambles to the top. ‘Bloody idiots,’ he mutters under his breath, shaking his head as he lands on the wooden platform, visibly trembling.
‘Yeah, you idiot.’ Chris kicks Lynette as she stifles a laugh.
Dave checks to see if his camera is broken. He scoots back across the platform to the brick chimney stack and points it at Chris and Lynette. Lynette sulks, flipping the bird at him, and Chris moons into the camera, performing like an idiot.
‘You really are a pair of absolute morons, aren’t you? Your dad must be so proud of his little piglets.’ Dave keeps the camera rolling.
‘Turn it off.’ Lynette is on her feet now, angry.
‘Make me.’ Dave zooms in closer.
Chris’s shaved head looms into the lens. ‘Go on back to your corner shop.’
In a flurry of rage, Patel boots him in the shin.
‘Ow … shit, that hurt.’
‘Oi! That’s enough, all of you, PACK IT IN!’ Ben’s voice ricochets around the cavernous stone walls.77
Annie looks at them both in disgust. ‘Don’t say things like that! You’re awful people, just awful.’
‘Oh, come on, lighten up, it was only a joke.’ Chris Davis rolls up his jeans to inspect the cut and bruise forming on his shin.
‘It’s always “only a joke” with you lot, isn’t it? Until it isn’t. Come on, Dave, let’s go home. This isn’t fun anymore.’ Annie is kneeling in the corner, checking on Dave. She glares at Ben, who eyeballs both of them. ‘Ben? You coming?’
‘No way. I’m going to do what we came here for.’
Without waiting for her to answer, Ben moves swiftly to a broken section of the stone wall leading to the blackened firebox of the chimney stack. An upward draught seems to be sucking in the air, urging him to climb. ‘Lynette, help me with the light.’
