Nothing

I check my phone

though I haven’t switched off the sound,

would easily have heard a ping,

but still nothing from Kelly-Anne.

And nothing from Dad either.

I try lying down,

imagining tomorrow’s sun

and pleading with sleep to swallow me

before the night rushes in with full force

and switches on the fear –

not of rats or mice

that might, in the night,

nibble away at my burn

like it’s barbecued meat,

tender and theirs for the taking,

but of people

and how they could hurt

an already damaged girl

hunkering

alone

in the dark.

I reach for a rusty spanner,

feel its weight in my hand,

then

swing with all my might

at an invisible stranger,

at looming danger.

My face stings.

I drop the spanner and close my eyes.

My phone remains silent.