“JAKUB?” an accent-twanged voice suddenly called shrilly through the letterbox. “JAKUB?”
“Fuck…” hissed Minnie, trying to press herself further to the ground, out of the light that streamed in through the bay windows in the living room.
Then, the sound of metal turning in a lock.
The front door was opening.
“Oh, fuck,” she moaned quietly, twisting her head as she hurried gingerly to her feet and scanned the modest living room, her vision blurring as panic overwhelmed her senses.
She scrambled for the nearest, most likely weapon- a broken lamp that had since been disconnected from the wall. Clutching the heavy base with one hand, she held Zach’s whimpering body in the nook of her opposite arm and forced herself out of the living room and into the short hallway.
“Jakub?” the voice called out again, quieter but nearer.
“Whose there?” Minnie called out, forcing herself to sound much braver than she felt. Blood drummed in her ears as she continued down the passage until a darkened silhouette in the front door stopped her in her steps.
“Minnie? It’s you?” the voice asked, a hint of excitement trickling into the unfamiliar female’s expression. The woman stepped forward, revealing a plump, short figure and a rounded, well-creased face. Like crystals set into her face, her eyes were bright blue and seemed to twinkle, even from metres away.
She looked kind. Safe. Weak. But Minnie knew better than to judge a book by its cover. “Who are you?” she asked again, her words softening as she met the unexpected visitor’s gaze. “I don’t recognise you,” she added, uncertainly.
Her guest smiled, then gasped as she noticed Zach. “My grandson!” she squealed, “oh, my precious baby boy!”
Minnie tugged Zach out of the light, dropping the lamp to hold him closer, shielding him with both arms. If the old woman was offended, she didn’t show it. Instead, she just cocked her head and clasped her hands together.
“I’m sorry, I did knock. You not hear? I am Jakub’s mother. I visit from Poland…” the woman paused briefly and glanced around the hallway, “I arrange with Jakub months ago, but he not answer calls. Is he okay?”
It was at that moment that it suddenly dawned on Minnie that this was the Polish landlord’s mother who’d grown concerned when her son had stopped answering phone calls. This was a welfare check. But why was she saying that Zach was her grandson? Did Jakub have a baby too?”
Her confusion must have shone through her face, because the woman quickly began talking again, “I’m Maria. So nice to be meeting you finally. I’m so pleased that Jakub has a girlfriend… Jakub has told me lots about you… sent me pictures…” she delved into her pocket and withdrew a purse. From inside it, she brandished a small, folded photograph enthusiastically in the air so that Minnie could see it.
Instantly, her heart plummeted, and her breath got stuck inside her throat, causing her to gasp involuntarily.
The photograph was of her and Zach lying nestled in bed together on one of the first mornings of living in Jakub’s flat. Her eyes were closed, her mouth ever-so-slightly open, indicating that she was asleep. Zach looked so tiny, buried in Minnie’s hold, even as she slept.
“Something wrong?” Maria frowned, lowering the photo.
“No,” blurted out Minnie, shaking her head a little too vigorously. “No, it’s just… that’s a bad photo of me,” she forced a convincing smile.
Maria laughed and glanced at the photo again, “it’s… how you say? Very real. Beautiful!”
Minnie cleared her throat and stood awkwardly as thoughts raced hard around her brain, far too quickly for her to concentrate or articulate a response.
So, Jakub had been taking photos of her whilst she slept, then telling his mother that she was his girlfriend and that Zach was his son.
Her instincts had been right.
He was just another sick fucker. Another liar.
She’d told herself that she had done the world a favour by finishing him off.
*
A few hours later, Ronnie was stepping wearily through the same front door that Maria had let herself through. His eyelids were heavy; his soul drained from another fruitless day of attempting to sort out the delicate, crumbling mess that his life had been reduced to. So rundown, he didn’t even notice the unfamiliar perfume that clung to the air in the hallway.
He’d led Minnie to believe it would be fairly simple for him to get some kind of under-the-table job. He didn’t want her to worry. Not when she was so heavily pregnant. Her going into stress-induced early labour would be the very last thing that they needed.
Ronnie sighed and shut the front door, dropping his rucksack by the front door and lumbering heavy-footed down the carpeted hallway. The reality was that the few contacts he had had from before were dangerous people. He would not risk being put through the kind of pain and humiliation that he had endured before. Even the people he had been put in touch with before, who he considered to be mostly harmless, wouldn’t go anywhere near Ronnie because of the rumours surrounding his altercation with Steve- the mysteriously murdered crime lord.
Not even eighteen, and it felt to Ronnie that his life was already over. It was nothing but a hopeless, broken shambles. If it wasn’t for Minnie and Zach, he’d hand himself in. At least he’d no longer be worrying about money or getting caught by somebody else.
Just as Ronnie approached the archway to the kitchen, Minnie suddenly ducked out of it and came quickly towards him, her face flushed as though she had been rushing around.
“Don’t freak out,” she said in a hushed tone.
“Famous last words,” smirked Ronnie, humourlessly, although a fist tightened on his guts like an iron vice. “What is it?”
Minnie groaned and rubbed her forehead, “Jakub’s mother came by.”
“Who the fuck is Jakub?”
“The Polish guy.”
“Ah, right.”
“Turns out,” said Minnie grimly, “he had been taking photos of Zach and me when I was asleep. Sending them back to Poland, making out as though I was his girlfriend and Zach
