THE END OF PART 1 IS UP! Chapter 7 is the last chapter of Part 1. Listen to it here.
CHAPTER 7: REAL AFTER ALL
Chapter 7: Real After All
…in which Mercy shares a secret…
Ricky closed up the trapdoor after himself and trudged upstairs to his own room, filling his lungs with fungal moistness. The wrought-iron bedframe of his childhood bed was a fraction too short even for him, and, after stripping off at the door, rubbing his flat, muscular belly as something rippled inside, he assumed his usual foetal position on the stained mattress. Lying in the dark with his head pillowed in the crook of his own arm, a thin brown blanket only half his length pulled over his naked skin, he listened.
C. M. Rosens, The Crows, p. 138
His own breathing filled the room.
There was a suck of skin as his other lips parted, mucus-slick, the scratching quest of his air-roots as they coiled up from inside him, squeezing their way along his spine and twanging his oesophagus on their way out. The mattress behind his head felt spongey, tasted sour under the tongue-like lengths as they spread out behind him, seeking protein.
And that’s all for Part 1 of The Crows… but we’ll be back for Part 2 next week, at the usual time. In the paperback, you get a lovely illustration for each section drawn by Tom Brown. There are 3 in the ebook and 5 in the paperback. Check out the Gallery page for examples!
Do you want to chat about the story so far? You can head on over to the Goodreads group, Pagham-on-Sea Tourist Board, and chat there! You can also @ me on Twitter or Instagram and use #TheCrows for related discussions.
