Breaking Britain (Completed)

Chapter 49

49
Sunday 6th January 2030
01:30

            Samantha McQueen rolled over in bed, she looked at the alarm clock on her bedside table. One thirty. This was the third time in a couple of hours that Tillia had stirred. She had fed her and changed her nappy. "What more could the baby want?" She dreaded coming out from the warm covers, but knew all too well, how thin the walls were in the building. The other night she heard her neighbor, Ethan Bail having sex with some girl he'd picked up that night. He was always picking up different girls. Samantha didn't like Ethan, it took him three weeks after moving in, to realize Samantha was living next door to him, after that he spent the next few weeks asking her out and trying to chat her up. Samantha wasn't so sure what she didn't like about him, he was good looking and possessed a gym physique, although Samantha figured he had some help from the use of steroids. It was his confidence...his arrogance that really put her off, there were other things too, the noise he would make late at night, the being sick outside her door, the constant pounding of his bed against the wall. After Samantha knocked him back a few times, he left her alone. In fact, he went the complete opposite way, by totally ignoring her when they passed each other. It suited her, however, now she was worried he may hear the baby and start to wonder what was going on.

               She picked Tillia up and hugged her, her crying turned to whimpering. It was at that moment she heard some tapping on her window. Fear washed through her, she hoped it wasn't someone coming to investigate the sound. She held Tilla close to her, hushing her. She waited hoping whoever it was would leave. The tap came again. It occurred to her, as being unusual, that whomever it was had chosen to tap the window instead of the door. She rubbed her hand over the sheet in the Moses basket, locating the baby's soother, she placed the dummy into the baby's mouth. Tillia sucked on it. She gently placed her back into the basket, just as the third tap came to the window. The baby rolled to her side.

             Samantha stepped into her corridor, glanced at the door, there were no shadows there. She avoided her impulse to switch the light on and stepped over to the kitchen. It was a tiny kitchen and she had always thought the window was a waste of precious cupboard space, she could have utilized. The window had net curtains hanging and without the light on, it was easier to see outside.

             She stepped in and immediately jumped back when a face pushed itself to the window, trying to see in. It took a moment for her to realize who it was. She rushed back into the corridor, unlocked her front door and opened it.

             'Abha, over here', she whispered loudly.

             Abha and Keshi rushed to the door, Samantha ushered them in, looking down the walkway, to see if they'd been spotted. She saw no one. She shut the door behind her, bolting the lock and putting the chain across the door.

             She turned looking at Gulab's sisters. Keshi, the youngest of the two, sunk to the floor in tears, she was dressed in a night gown over some pajamas. She was only eight years old. Her sister, just turned twelve, stood firm and strong, as though she was ready to defend herself and her sister, if need be.

               'What are you doing.......', Samantha was cut short by the crying of Tillia in the other room. She rushed past Abha, who only just managed to avoid being knocked into.

               'Please hush Tillia', she whispered, holding the baby with one arm and attempting to entice her with the dummy, with the other hand.

               She turned around, to see Abha had followed her.

               'Give her to me', she said confidently.