Ashley thanked her mum and took the plate of sandwiches. “Has he calmed down yet?”
“Don’t be unfair, Ash. He has a right to be angry. We’re both really disappointed in you.”
“But you didn’t lose your shit, did you, Mum? Why is he like this? He never used to be.”
Her mum tutted. She picked up Ashley’s phone from the bed, turned around, and sat beside her. “People have different ways of dealing with things, honey. Your dad has reached an age where he’s analysing things a little too much. He wanted better for us than this – he has a lot of dreams – but the world is tough and it’s hard sometimes. Give your dad a break, okay? Things will go back to normal soon. Anyway, I’m surprised you’re judging him so much, seeing as you two are so alike. You have a temper as well, Ashley.”
Ashley nodded. She was aware of her own temper and wished it wasn’t there, but it was just part of who she was. She took things personally, and it was obvious why. Like her mum had said, Ashley and her dad were the same. Italian temper: that’s what he always called it.
When Ashley didn’t reply, her mum patted her on the leg. “We’ll sort all of this out. I’m not sure what happened today, exactly, but I know you’re not a liar, Ash.”
“Really? You believe me?”
Her mum nodded. “Yeah, I suppose I do. We’ll sort it all out tomorrow, okay? Once your dad has calmed down, we can deal with things properly.”
There was a banging downstairs, followed by the sound of Ashley’s dad stomping around in the kitchen and shouting.
Ashley’s mum sighed and stood up from the bed. “He must’ve dropped a wine glass. I’d better go help him. Here’s your pho—” She had been about to hand Ashley back her phone when she noticed the cracked screen. “Oh, Ashley, you’ve only just got this. Your dad’s going to have a fit.”
Ashley reached a hand out, begging for the phone. “Don’t tell him then. It’s fine. It still works. I’ll just have to live with it.”
Her mum put the broken phone in her jeans pocket. “I’ll take it to the market tomorrow and see if the phone man can fix it. Perhaps your dad doesn’t have to find out. Now, eat your sandwiches.”
Ashley smiled. “Thanks, Mum.”
Her mum left her room and closed the door. Ashley remained on her bed and ate the sandwiches – turkey and mayo, her favourite. The fact that her mum believed her caused her temper to finally take a breather, and things felt a little easier knowing that not everyone was out to get her, although she was still utterly confused and pretty freaked out. There were still tears gathering behind her eyes but, as she concentrated on eating, they slowly went away.
Then she stopped eating.
She froze with a mouthful of turkey sandwich because it didn’t taste like turkey. In fact, it didn’t even feel like turkey. Something was off.
Wrong.
Her teeth had bitten into something hard and fibrous.
Grimacing, Ashley leant over her plate and spat out the sandwich. For a moment, she didn’t know what she was looking at, but then something in the half-chewed mush wriggled – half a worm. There was blood mixed with the white bread.
“Jesus Christ!” Ashley leapt up from her bed and threw the plate on the floor where it broke in two. She started spitting and wiping at her mouth. “What the fuck? What the actual fuck?”
Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Ashley clenched her fists and waited for her dad’s arrival. He burst into her bedroom, already angry. “What the hell is all the racket and shouting?” He noticed the broken plate on the floor.
Before he got a chance to yell again, Ashley cut him off. “There’s a fucking worm in my sandwich. What the hell, Dad?”
It took him off guard, and some of the anger slipped from his face. He looked down at the sandwich, frowned, and prodded it with his foot. “What are you talking about?”
“A worm. Look! It’s right…” Ashley stared at the sandwich but couldn’t locate the half-eaten worm. She dropped onto her knees and pulled the bread apart.
No worm.
“I… I…”
Her dad huffed. “Do we need to get you a doctor, Ashley? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?”
Ashley shook her head in disbelief and didn’t know what to say. She felt like she was dreaming.
More like a nightmare.
Equally as perplexed, her dad shook his head and let out a sigh. “Just… clean this up. I don’t want to hear from you for the rest of the night.”
“Fine.”
She waited for him to leave, then cleaned up the sandwich. Still no sign of any worm.
I’m losing my mind.
There was no worm.
Maybe there was no woman.
I can’t think about this anymore. I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.
If I haven’t already.
She reached down and pulled her laptop from beneath her bed, wanting to occupy herself. Netflix, YouTube, whatever; she just needed something to quieten the whispers in her head. She hopped onto her bed and lay back against the pillows with the laptop across her thighs. Opening the screen, she started browsing for something to watch. Eventually, she decided on a comedy. Right now, she needed to laugh.
She pressed play on some random romantic comedy that came up in her recommendations and settled down to watch it. After a few moments of watching a black screen, she tapped at the spacebar. With the way her night had gone so far, her laptop breaking would be the cherry on the cake. Fortunately, the film started playing a moment later, although it wasn’t what she expected.
Rather than some peppy music over a top-down view of some city, or a melodramatic coffee shop break-up, the film opened with two children playing chase in a field. They were wearing old-fashioned clothes. One of them, a boy, even wore a flat cap. The girl wore a frilly cream-coloured
