Silvertroll

The Phone

Alicia blocks the images from plaguing her thoughts. She recognises Nathan's power and his restraint; the measured violence of a trained martial artist, but the mania in his voice, and the horror in the victims face deeply unnerved her.

She always hated it when he would roughhouse with Julian. She knew, even as a baby, Julian would grow up into a gentle creature. She suspected her husband knew this as well, hence all the play fighting and toughening up games. Julian showed no interest. First he'd cry, enduring his father's indoctrination, but he would eventually learn to indulge his father. Julian found it more entertaining to go along with it, while mocking and provoking his father into more outrageous acts of foolhardiness.

Alicia had to put a stop to it, not because of Nathan's bullshit, no, she trusted him. The fighting, the wrestling, the weapon making, the explosives, the science experiments tailored for messy outcomes, these were not the problem. It was Julian's eagerness to have her freaking out each time Nathan did something egregious that pushed her over the edge and prompted her to ban all of it.

Every mother knows their child's good side and bad. Parents tend to bury the negative aspects of their offspring's personality. Alicia admits she's guilty doing the same.

What has Julian done?

As desperation casts a dark shadow over all her thoughts, on all her plans, she rushes back to the ward, determined to get to the bottom of this conundrum. Saltash is in the room with two of his suits, most likely lawyers. They stop midway through their conversation as soon as they see her. Heather's father turns to Alicia, grimaces, then leans over his daughter. "I want you to rest."

"Where's mum?" asks Heather.

"She's here somewhere," he answers.

"I don't want her to leave me here alone."

"She won't." Saltash signals to his suits to leave. They obey and head out.

Heather grows apprehensive, "Where are you going?"

Saltash appears distracted, nervous even. "I'm going to find your mother." Then he walks up to Alicia. "I can't have anybody in this room unsupervised. I'm sorry, but I need you to leave."

"I'm leaving," says Alicia. "Just sayin' goodbye."

Saltash gives her a look and steps towards the door. Alicia goes to the bed and fixes Heather's messy hair. "I'll be back later," she tells Heather.

Heather looks past her, at the door. She waits for her father to leave. Saltash waits, resisting, but is distracted by his entourage and steps out. Heather then slips the phone with the pink crystal cover into Alicia's hand and whispers, "It's not my phone."

This confuses Alicia. "I don't..."

"It's Libby's phone."

"Who is...?" The revelation hits her hard, the name spinning her mind.

The torn rejection letter.

She recalls the anguish behind each word.

"How do I find her?"

Saltash enters the room ready for trouble, "You need to leave."

Alicia hides the phone in her pocket and steps away. To Heather, she says, "I'll see you soon, okay." She steps past Saltash and hurries into the corridor, pulling the phone out, removing the pink case and looking for the sim card slot.