Dudu had never had the chance to shadow someone for real; she had only seen it in detective movies. In the cop shows they usually wore sunglasses and a hat so as to look anonymous. She didn’t have anything like that. She did have a hoody though. She pulled it out of her backpack, removed her blazer, folded it neatly, and slipped the hoody on. She felt a bit like a superhero getting ready for a fight. Well, wasn’t she, in a way?
She thought of what Sive had said to her before. It wasn’t the first time he had accused her of being a drama queen.
“He didn’t see what I just saw. He didn’t see,” she told herself with confidence as she kept Jeremy in sight.
They were walking along a street lined with small shops. They passed a barber, a fruit seller, a stop street. Shadowing Jeremy was easy.
He walked at an even pace, and didn’t ever look round. He didn’t seem to take much interest in his surroundings. Not like in school, where he looked secretive. She thought of the way he had looked at her in class. The eyes of a lizard.
The sun dappled the pavements with wisps of yellow and gold. She turned her face upward, letting the rays touch her cheeks with warmth.
She brought her gaze back down to street level. But there was no Jeremy.
She panicked. Breathe. In and out. Think. You’ll find him, everything is fine. But it wasn’t. And the longer she left it, the less fine it became. She was losing precious seconds.
Jeremy was carrying something in that bag. Something alive. And once it got to his house, it would become dead. She knew that. She knew that its bones would end up as part of that gruesome object, the bone curtain.
She moved. She moved decisively into the café on her right. Moving cautiously along the two lonesome aisles, she scanned the place. No go. He wasn’t here.
Pretending she’d remembered something, she slipped out hurriedly.
Where next? She scanned the names of the stores. Evander D.I.Y. Shamilah’s Spices. PETS ’R US. She chose the chemist, Robinsons.
Before she had even pushed the swing door open, she could see through the glass that he was there. The little bell jingled as she went through the door. She looked at the floor, nervous in case he looked up.
Silently as a cat, she slipped into one of the aisles, the one with shampoos and conditioners. That put a barrier between her and her quarry for a minute, a minute she could use to think.
As she surveyed her surroundings, trying to think of a way to see what Jeremy was doing without being noticed, she noticed that there was a mirror behind and to the left of the cashier. It was one of those circular mirrors that bulges out and shows everything in the shop.
Her heart leapt. Could he see her? She racked her brains. Was the mirror concave or convex?
Never mind that. What is he buying? she thought. She screwed up her eyes as she tried to make out the objects now laid out in front of Jeremy at the till.
She could just make out a syringe, still in its wrapper, and a bottle. What was it? Surgical spirits. Then a pair of tweezers. And another surgical instrument she couldn’t identify.
Her skin started to prickle. It was a pair of pincers with extra-long, serrated blades.
She heard herself swallow. Felt her throat gulp, up and down. She became aware of her own body. And thought again of that metal – the dreadful appliances…
The bell jingled once more. He was leaving. Had left. Dudu cursed under her breath. She was getting slow. She sneaked out as silently as she had sneaked in.
* * *
Tell us what you think: What is Jeremy buying at the pharmacy? What do you think he might use it all for?