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Back The Double Save as PDF
Chapters (63)
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. Acknowledgements

‘You seemed to have entered into a trance. Can you tell me what you saw?’

His head, heavy as a stone, threatened to pull him into the depths. ‘Nothing. I saw nothing. But the heat… it was making me tired.’

‘The heat?’

He frowned at the snow outside. ‘Could we open the window? It’s very warm in here.’ When he looked at his hands, he did not recognise them. ‘What day is it today, Wednesday, Friday?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Yes,’ Vidor said, shaking off his torpor. ‘I need to know what day it is. The exact date and time. I can’t…’ His head spun, and he closed his eyes, hearing for a moment what sounded like billiard balls smacking together.

‘It’s Friday, 19 December.’

‘And the time?’ It was an effort to get the words out. ‘I need to know the exact time.’

Gessen showed him his watch. ‘In a few seconds it will be exactly 2.53 pm.’

Two fifty-three. That was the time? Two fifty-three. The laugh that burst from his throat came out like a bark. At last, he understood the absurdity of it. Man’s ridiculous attempt to corral the movement of the sun inside the cogs of a wristwatch. Laughter bubbled up through his chest. Two fifty-three. What did it even mean in the unfathomable eternity of time? The puny lives of men. Brutish and short, indeed.

He absently flicked his ear. Gessen’s eyes, keen as a ferret’s, were riveted on Vidor’s face. What was he looking at? Impossible to breathe with the air sucked out of the room, and he yanked at the collar of his shirt. His body quivered, and he gasped as he was swept – blessed relief – into the arms of darkness.

44

The only thing Vidor wanted was to be alone. But how to achieve a moment of solitude in this glorified hamster cage, where his every move was tracked and recorded? His own room should have been a refuge, but it was the first place someone might look. He would have to find a private nook to hide away in. Earlier, he’d taken breakfast in his room, desperate to avoid the clank of cutlery and furtive looks from the others. But he couldn’t stay shut up here all day.

He crossed the room to look out at the gloomy sky and the grounds blanketed in snow. No one was about, but the skin on the back of his neck prickled as if someone was standing behind him. He spun around, but the room was empty.