His stomach grumbles with hunger though he has no appetite. He rubs his arms and feels a sharp pain around his wrist where the iron clamp binds it. His skin has started to blister. The band and the chain are the only things that are keeping him here. If he were to free himself maybe he could find a way of breaking out of here. He starts to tug at it, pushing and pulling to try and release his hand, but it just won’t budge.

He can’t stay here. He has to get out.

He starts to shout, ‘Help! Help! Somebody help me!’ His voice is dry and broken.

And then he hears a noise and freezes, his heart in his mouth. He looks across at the thing and is relieved to see it hasn’t moved. The noise is coming from above, behind the green door.

Footsteps.

Jordan feels his body swimming with cold terror.

He hears a bolt slide across the door and then it creaks slowly open.

The dark silhouette of a man is framed in the opening.

Jordan feels the small hairs on his neck rising.

‘Where’s my mum?’ he croaks.

Chapter 26

26

ACCORDING TO HER LATEST INSTAGRAM post to her 1.2k followers, Lumberyard Café barista and proud Vietnamese ‘fugee’ Chau Ho is recovering from the previous night’s party celebrations marking the end of tenure for her and her ‘roomies’ as live-in-guardians at the Steel’s Lane Health Centre, an abandoned East End maternity hospital in Shadwell.

He has no clue what a live-in-guardian is so he uses Google to learn more. Apparently, for a below average rent anyone can apply to live in deserted, derelict buildings such as schools, offices and hospitals, and help look after them while also keeping squatters at bay. A charming concept that resonates with his aesthetic.

As for Chau, forsaken by the country of her birth and living in a forsaken building, she was made for this collection.

Returning to her Instagram, he watches last night’s video stories.

Chau is filming herself: ‘So the motherfucking length of my rental period has been short but beautiful and now we must leave. Join me and the rest of the Steel’s Lane Maternity crew down at the Hungerford Arms so that we can drink our sorrows and toast a harsh death for the landlord who will take our home, repurpose and gentrify it and sell it to wealthy motherfucking Russian and Chinese investors. Let’s drink and get high, motherfuckers!’

Her leaving party was also filmed as a series of live Instagram stories: Chau laughing and filling her face with cake; Chau popping sneaky pills; Chau and her roomies necking beers and shots in the Hungerford Arms; Chau drunk and singing with ‘her bitches’.

It’s the day after and her roomies have packed up and moved out. Chau has one more night to herself and has posted several sad memes about being hung over and leaving home.