The week of the blue lights

The security light was high above me.

I placed the ladders against the wall and found that dad wasn’t around at that point to hold the bottom for me. I glibly thought it would be fine and climbed the 9 metres to the roof so I could complete the connection.

I’d been working for around 2 minutes when the phone rang again. It was her – demanding that I left immediately and bring her wine. Needless to say, I was annoyed. Then, oddly, I saw the white breeze block interior wall rushing past my eyes. The sensation followed …

I was falling. Everything slowed to a crawl and time seemed to stop. I knew what was happening, of course and wondered ‘how much more? What else!?’

I was loudly interrupted by the crash as I hit the concrete floor. At first, I felt nothing but a warm sticky pool around my head. I’d fallen face first and, rolling over, I then suffered the searing pain. My left leg was caught between the rungs of the ladders, which were now bent at a right angle. My face had been burst open in a line from my left eye socket, down my nose and chin towards my throat. I couldn’t see but could feel the raised black mounds where my eyes should be. Worst of all, for me, was that my teeth were gone.

A person deeply engaged in reading Nick Allan's latest novel in a warm, inviting space.