Sarah is at your side. She shakes her head, with sadness in her eyes.
‘That was my twopence,’ you mutter angrily.
Sarah links her arm in yours. ‘Bloody drink,’ she sighs, and there’s a bitterness to her voice you haven’t heard before. ‘It took more than just twopence from me. I’d be free right now if it weren’t for that evil stuff.’
‘Did you used to drink, Sarah?’ you ask, feeling a little scared of the demons of your friend’s past.
‘No, never,’ she says immediately. ‘It was Da …’
Then she trails off into silence.
Sensing she’s about to clam up, you put your arm around her shoulders. ‘It’s all right,’ you say. ‘You can tell me what happened. Go on…’
To continue with the story, go to scene 17.
‘All right,’ you say. Nell’s eyes light up greedily, and you feel a rumbling of unease, but you press on, passing the twopence up through the bars of the window and into Nell’s claw-like fingers. It glistens in the moonlight.
‘Send a message to my da. Tell him …’
You want to say, Tell him I love him, but you need to think of something more useful than that.
‘Tell him I’m awaiting sentencing, and hoping for transportation. Tell him I’ll keep watch for him every day from this window, just in case. And find out his sentence – promise me, Nell. I have to know what happened,’ you urge her.
Nell chuckles. ‘Leave it with Nelly, little birdie. Best deal you’ve made yet, now don’t forget.’
Then she melts away into the night. You wonder if you’ll ever see her again.
You feel a hand on your arm, and spin to see a round-faced girl not much older than you, with concerned brown eyes and a thick plait. You recognise her as the girl who explained what was happening when Da was taken past the window.
‘Did you just agree to give Nell money?’ she whispers.
You nod sheepishly.
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. ‘She’s always hanging around the streets here. I think she’s mad as a hatter. Mind you, some do say she has … well … powers. Witchcraft and the like,’ she adds, dropping her voice to an even lower whisper.
You shudder. A few months ago, when you had a home and a ma and you lived in the world of light, you might have scoffed at such a thing. Now nothing seems impossible.
Your new friend, Sarah, shares her sleeping spot on the floor with you. A week passes, without word from Nell. The meagre prison rations leave a gnawing hole of hunger in your stomach, and you start to curse yourself for being so foolish. Nell’s not coming back. The seemingly unending days at the window, the frigid nights spent huddled on the floor, and the constant human stink begin to wipe hope and memory from your mind …
Another week later, however, on the night of a full moon, after you have given up all hope of a response, Nell returns. In your sleep, you hear one of her rhymes floating into the cell, repeating again and again: Little birdie, fly to me, and we will have our liberty.
The words wind their way into your dreams until you wake. You creep over to the window and thrust your face up towards her weathered one peering through the bars. She’s close enough that you can smell her breath. It’s hot and vinegary.
‘You’re back!’ you whisper.
‘Bet you’re wondering what I know,’ she hisses. ‘For it’s been slow, unpicking the thread of whispers …Can you hear?’
‘Hear what?’ you ask.
‘A plan,’ she whispers. ‘Tick tock, tick tock, hit the gaoler with a rock. You want to be free, little birdie? Your da’s the key. But you have to trust Nell. Are you ready, little daughter?’
‘Da has a plan for me to escape?’ you gasp.
Nell nods feverishly. Her eyes are aglow.
‘But what’s his sentence?’ you ask. ‘Will he be transported?’
Nell closes her eyes, and shakes her head slowly. ‘Sentenced to hang, he’ll never be free. He’ll swing by his neck, unless you use the key!’
A sob escapes your throat. ‘No!’ you cry. You don’t want to believe her. ‘Is it really true?’
Nell makes a noise like a cat preparing to fight. It makes the hairs on your neck stand on end. She points a gnarled finger at you.
‘Trust makes power, and the power makes trust. Blood feeds water, and the water feeds dust,’ she hisses. Then she looks into your face and smiles cunningly. ‘Green Ireland beckons you home to the nest. But she’ll only take the best. What’ll it be? Give Nelly your biggest treasure and fly free? Or wait, wait, wait in Hell till the noose is tied with Da’s neck inside?’
Your heart pounds even harder. You look around the cell in despair. Fly free? How could Nell possibly get me out of here? And even if she could, is that really Da’s plan? What if she’s lying to me?
You imagine Da waiting in the dark belly of his prison hulk, plotting to escape and hoping to fly with you to freedom. You can’t bear the thought of letting him down – of not even trying to see him one last time. But then you imagine something else: what if Nell doesn’t know Da’s sentence at all, has never even talked to him, and is just spinning a web of lies and guesswork?
If you try to escape and you’re caught, there’ll be no mercy for you or Da this time – you’d both be certain to hang. It’s a big risk. But perhaps anything’s better than wasting away in gaol while time runs out for your da …
To trust Nell and attempt to escape, go to scene 15.
To decide you
