The alarm beeps and buzzes. Thomas rolls over and groans. Lauren continues to lay with her eyes closed. A baby girl lies in a cot at the other end of the room. It is their child. They are still children themselves. Downstairs Thomas's Mum is cooking eggs. It is her house. She had questioned if this was her fault. If this was something bad. Her son had only just turned nineteen years old and Lauren would turn nineteen in two weeks. Thomas gets up and opens a window. A bird flies by the window. It is a Robin. He thought about what his Mum would say when they saw a Robin together: 'your dad is still with us, watching over us'. Thomas goes over to the cot and picks up the baby. The baby is almost one now and is starting to form something like words. Lauren sits up and rubs her eyes.
'Breakfast is ready guys!' Calls Thomas's Mum from downstairs.
Thomas carries the baby downstairs and Lauren follows soon after. Thomas puts the baby into a highchair. They sit at a table in the dining room together. There is some small talk, eating, the baby is tended to and used cutlery is brought to the sink.
'Thanks for that Kath.' Says Lauren as she bundles a phone and a charger into her tote bag.
Lauren goes upstairs to the bathroom to finish getting ready. When she is finished she makes her way over to the baby and gives her a kiss on the forehead before leaving.
'Let me know how she is with the new formula, I better get going.' Says Lauren.
'Bye Lauren, hope you have a good day.' Replies Kath.
The door clicks and clangs as Lauren closes it. Outside the air is cold. It is early October and the leaves on the trees lining the street are beginning to turn bare. There are curled browned leaves on the ground and the sky above is grey and cloudy. Back in the house, Thomas and his Mum, Kath, are sitting in the dining room. The baby had finished her milk and had been moved to the living room by Kath where she was sleeping.
'So what is the plan today Tom? Are you going to get down to the job agency?' Asks Kath.
'I'm not going to no agency Mum, I told you, me and some of the boys have got studio time and Emmanuel says the label liked the demo tapes we sent them.' Replies Thomas.
'Don't you think that you need something more secure? Something you can rely on?' Asks Kath as she stands up and walks over to the sink.
Thomas doesn't reply. He gets up and goes next door to sit with his daughter. It had been a strange couple of years for everyone. The low of Thomas's Dad's death and then finding out about Lauren's pregnancy a couple of months later. Peaks and troughs. Life and death, the only things you could count on, common threads tying us together in this human experience. None of them had really processed everything that had happened. Lauren had just started working at a supermarket when she found out she was pregnant and had only just come off maternity leave. Thomas was getting money through some questionable relationships he had. Picking up a package from here, driving it to there. Kath was just about going crazy, blaming herself for everything, trying to do what she could to help. She was happy at the best of times, the light in the baby's eyes, her smile. It made it all worth it. Above all she had hope that things were going to get better, even if it was naïve optimism. Thomas would finally get a real job, the council would come through with a place for him, Lauren and the baby. It was all possible.
The day slips by as it normally does. Kath and Thomas take turns watching the baby as the other gets ready. The washing machine hums and shakes as the laundry basket empties. Thomas taps on his phone screen, a phone call comes and he leaves into the back garden to take it.
'Yo bro, is it all sorted?' Asks Thomas.
The reply confirms that it is and Thomas responds. 'Yeah, can do, give me ten minutes.'
Thomas puts down the phone and rushes up the stairs to his room. He reaches under his bed and picks up a backpack which he unzips to check if the package is still there. It is, along with the knife he had put there. He zips it back up and throws it over his shoulder. He comes downstairs and stands in the doorway of the living room for a moment. The baby is glued to the TV screen as Kath braids tiny plaits in her hair.
'I'm going to meet Emmanuel, should be back in an hour.' Says Thomas.
Kath tries to make eye contact with her son and lets out a sigh as he looks away. She can feel something is wrong.
'Say bye to Daddy, Aria.' Says Kath.
The baby giggles as her Dad comes over and kisses her cheek and squeezes her shoulder. Thomas picks up his car keys from under the mirror in the hallway as he leaves. The weather had started to get warmer and the sky had cleared a little. Sun rays reach through the breaks in the cloud. Thomas unlocks the car, jumps in, puts the backpack in the passenger seat and pulls away. He arrives at a car park in a nearby playing fields. Emmanuel is already there and is conversing with another boy that Thomas doesn't recognise. Thomas gets out of his car, takes the knife out of his backpack, slides it down the side of his jean's waist, throws the backpack over his shoulder and makes his way over to the boys.
'Listen, I'm not playing with you, if this weighs up wrong or isn't what you say it is, there is going to be problems.' The boy who is speaking stops and turns towards Thomas. 'Wait, I swear you are Joe's little brother?' Continues the boy.
Thomas nods his head in acknowledgement and squints his eyes a little.
'Yeah, I know Joe pretty well, ask him how I smacked him up in youth offenders.' Continues the boy, smiling.
Thomas squints his eyes a little more. He thinks about the knife he has but notices how many people are walking in the playing fields and remains silent.
'Enough of that, listen get the money, let's make this quick.' Says Emmanuel.
The boys opens the boot of his car and pulls out a small bag filled with money wrapped in plastic.
'Nah, listen it's just funny seeing you, them times it was like some problems, like area stuff, I have seen him since, you know how it was back then.' Says the boy.
Thomas looks bemused and glances at Emmanuel then back at the boy.
'Ah, yeah, OK, here, take it.' Says Thomas as he hands over the backpack to the boy.
The boy hands over the money which Thomas gives to Emmanuel and then a moment, Thomas explodes. Emmanuel tries to react.
'No-'
Emmanuel doesn't finish his sentence and there is a knife in the boy's neck, then in his side. The boy's eyes are wide and wild for a moment and the backpack he was holding drops to the floor. Emmanuel is dumbfounded and frozen in place. Thomas is now standing over the boy who is on his hands and knees. Thomas picks up the backpack that the boy has dropped.
'Let's go man, fuck this guy.' Says Thomas as he turns towards Emmanuel.
The boy is laying on the floor making strange noises as his blood spreads on the concrete beneath him. Emmanuel is still standing startled and shocked. There is a little girl on a scooter at the top of the path who has just seen them. Her Mum and Nan are not too far behind.
