But that didn’t stop me from checking in with myself. I had made the wrong choice with my neighbour – it was human contact that was the most natural thing in the world. Instagram had become my new compulsion and with it I had discovered a world where the connections weren’t wholly organic, and forgotten about connecting to reality.
I needed to do what I hadn’t done with my neighbour and check-in with lucybest65. She was, I supposed, a virtual neighbour of sorts. I had been observing her and what she projected out through Instagram for many weeks, and her negative comments hadn’t sat right with me. I wasn’t sure what I would do when I found her house, but I knew more or less where she lived. I couldn’t just ignore it; I had to do something with that information.
I stepped off the train and for a few uncertain seconds, I stood absently in the middle of the platform as people hurried around me. I looked for the signs that would lead me out onto the street, suddenly unfamiliar with a place I had been coming to almost every day for weeks now, and slowly started to follow them.
I had taken a photo of the rooftop cinema advert on my phone and I looked at it now, where the address was underneath the picture. I put it into the maps app on my phone and began to follow the route, which said it was a ten-minute walk away. I couldn’t take in my surroundings as I was glued to the map, not wanting to a miss a turning that would take me to where I needed to be. Once I was there, I would need to suss out which building would have the full-on perfect view of the rooftop cinema screen. This would be where lucybest65 lived. I would worry about that when I got there. For now, I just needed to concentrate on walking straight without bumping into people; already I could hear the tuts and sense the frustration from my fellow pedestrians. The words of my neighbour rang in my ear and urged me on. She was right, I knew nothing about her life and why would I presume to? I knew nothing about lucybest65’s life either, but maybe she was reaching out, conveying her loneliness through her posts. Would it be so impertinent to simply knock on her door and ask if she was okay?
I pushed my way past people in the street until finally the maps app told me what I needed to hear. I had reached my destination. I put my phone into my rucksack and looked around me. There were tall buildings all around us in different styles, and I couldn’t work out which one held the rooftop cinema from this level. I began to turn in circles, trying to get some sort of bearing. I pulled out my phone again and looked at the photo of the rooftop from the picture I had taken of the newspaper. It did not offer any more clues.
‘Excuse me.’ I turned to a man in a suit who was making his way past me. ‘Do you know where the rooftop cinema is?’
He shook his head. ‘Sorry, love, no.’ He carried on walking.
‘Excuse me,’ I said to a young guy with huge headphones. He pulled the cans down as he saw my lips moving. ‘Do you know where the rooftop cinemas is, please?’
He shook his head and pulled the cans back on and carried on walking.
I asked another five or six people and no one knew. It really was an elite little enterprise. I was beginning to think I was going to have to start walking into all the buildings one by one and asking, when I spotted a small sign across the road. I checked the traffic and walked over the road. I had obviously seen it somewhere else subliminally because I instantly recognised the words Blue Moon that were printed above the doorway. I looked at the photo on my phone. I couldn’t see the logo there. I went into Instagram and looked for the image that lucybest65 had posted. Next to the large screen was a huge pull-up banner with the very same logo words printed on it. Blue Moon. This must be the company who hosted these rooftop events. I felt a tingle of anticipation as I realised that I was standing very close to where lucybest65 lived. Very soon I would be standing at her door. Somehow I imagined she would be in. From what I had gathered online, she seemed to be the kind of person who enjoyed staying in, looking at other people’s lives.
I began to look around as I tried to work out where Lucy would have had the best view from, but it was no use. I didn’t know which way the rooftop cinema was set up, so I couldn’t possibly know which street to start to with.
I took a deep breath and rang the buzzer next to the Blue Moon sign. There was a crackle and then a woman’s voice came through the speaker.
‘Hi, can I help you?’
‘Oh, yes, hi.’ I quickly thought on my feet. ‘I’m here about a potential group booking? I was told if I was in the area to just pop in?’
‘Oh, right, sure. Come on up. We’re on the second floor.’
The door buzzed. I pushed it open and took the stairs two at a time until I reached the second floor and saw the sign for Blue Moon.
I entered a small, beige room where a slight girl in a high red chair was applying a sticky-looking gloss to her lips. To her right was another desk, which was empty. These two desks appeared to be the sum of the entire business.
‘Hiya,’ I said breathlessly.
‘Hi, did you say you
