23

It was generally quiet during the day, but at night she was sure she could hear the animal whining and whimpering. Occasionally she thought it let out a long low howl. Never a sound sleeper, her nights were now disturbed not only by bad dreams, but the thought of what was in the cellar, only a few feet below where she was lying in bed. When she asked him what he would do if the beast clawed its way up through the floorboards, he laughed at her and slapped her cheeks playfully, forcing her head back against the pillow.

‘I told you, he’s tied up, you stupid bitch. Nothing and no one can break that chain. There’s no way it’s getting out of there.’ She tried to keep her head still as he gave her another slap. ‘You think I want that fucking animal running amok around here? Bloody hell, you saw what it did to me. Imagine what it would do to you. Look!’

Wincing, he pulled back his grubby sleeve and held up his arm to display an ugly wound. The blood had dried and formed a large scab around which the skin looked pink and puffy. When she reached out and touched it gently with the tip of one finger, he drew back with a curse.

‘Fuck off out of it, you stupid cow.’

‘Does it hurt that bad?’ she asked. ‘It shouldn’t still hurt, not after all this time. You need to get that seen to.’

‘What are you talking about, you stupid bitch? Of course it bloody hurts.’ He frowned, extending his neck to peer down at his arm. ‘If that brute comes near me again, I’ll kill it.’

‘If it doesn’t get you first,’ she muttered.

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing. I never said anything.’

She slid down under the covers in an attempt to hide her shaking, inhaling the bodily smells of sweat and flatulence, warm as hot sausages. Sometimes it excited him to see how much he frightened her, but at other times her fear provoked his anger, and she could never predict which way he was going to flip. It depended on how high he was, and why, and that was anybody’s guess because he wasn’t choosy. Anything that made him high would do. They had that in common at least, although there was very little else about him that she understood. Most of his actions baffled her, like why he was keeping that creature locked in the cellar.

‘Why would you do it?’

She hadn’t intended to ask the question out loud. Fortunately for her he was feeling lazy and just laughed at her. With a sigh he lay down beside her and began stroking her hair.

‘I’m not going to let that hound down there hurt you,’ he said kindly. ‘But I’ve got to keep it for a while. You just have to trust me. I’ll keep you safe.’

When he was nice to her it made her want to cry because she wanted him to be like this all the time.

‘You need to get that arm seen to,’ she repeated. ‘If it gets infected, you might get sick. Really sick. If your blood gets poisoned it can kill you.’

His good humour vanished in an instant. ‘How come you’re suddenly the expert?’ He grabbed her hair and yanked it until she yelped. ‘What makes you such a big mouth? Are you a doctor all of a sudden?’ He released her. ‘You don’t know jack shit.’

‘I know your own blood can kill you if it turns to poison. I know it’s true because it happened to a mate of mine.’

‘You got no mates.’

‘She had a bite, like that, only they thought hers was from a rat, and anyway she never went to no doctor and she ended up with septicaemia and it killed her stone dead. You want to get that seen to.’

‘Don’t talk shit. You said yourself that whore was bitten by a rat. What I got down in the cellar is more dangerous than a fucking rat.’

He laughed and slapped her face again, his good humour restored. She lay there in silence for a while but it wasn’t long before she thought she heard the beast whining again.

‘If you ask me, it’s scared of the dark,’ she said.

‘Who’s scared of the dark?’

‘That animal. That’s why it keeps howling at night.’

‘Don’t talk bollocks. You can’t hear it through that floor. It’s concrete. If it wasn’t for the air vent, it wouldn’t even be able to breathe down there.’

‘I hope it suffocates.’

‘For the last time, bitch, no one’s getting rid of that animal. I’m more likely to get rid of you if you don’t shut up.’

‘What you keeping it for?’

He grunted and didn’t bother to answer.

‘Where did you get it from anyway?’

‘What business is that of yours? What’s with all the questions? How come you’re so nosey all of a sudden, poking around in my business?’

‘I just wondered, no reason, only I never saw a dog like that before.’

He half sat up and grinned. ‘That’s because it’s a special. A one off. A rare breed. A rare crossbreed, I should say. Pit bull and Rottweiler.’ He punched the air. ‘There aren’t many people can control a beast like that.’

She didn’t point out that he hadn’t done a very good job of controlling it himself, before he had managed to lock it in the cellar. She might not know much, but she knew she wasn’t alone in being frightened of the giant dog.