The Girls Beneath. Ross Armstrong

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      ‘You forgot to say over, over,’ I say.

      I remember to take my finger off the button this time as I walk along.

      ‘Not funny, over,’ he says.

      But it was a bit.

      Levine is clearly the pedant of the bunch. I keep walking, my feet crunching in the snow.

      Here we are. Broken glass on the tarmac. Red faced fella at the side of the road. A light blue Astra with one door open, diagonally up the kerb. Levine sees me and holds up a hand. His posture says, ‘I’ve got this thing locked down, you just stand way over there.’

      La-di-dah. The beat goes on.

      The ABC. The body. The beat. All firsts.

      I wonder if anyone has ever fallen asleep while directing traffic. Could be another first for me this week.

      I check my watch and see there’s an hour until my week ends. Nearly time to head back to the station locker room, change, clock off. Maybe a drink with the team if I’m unlucky.

      Levine signals me to allow traffic around the car from my side, while he holds vehicles at a stand at his end for a while.

      I signal. I smile courteously at the drivers as I do so. La-di-da.

      I see many faces I recognise.

      Amit from the paper shop down the road. Zoe Hughes from Maths drives past, averting her eyes to ignore my existence. She didn’t always.

      I glance to the cluster of shifty kids on the other side of the road to make sure they see traffic is being held and let through at intervals. I’m only looking out for them, but they take one covert glance at me, put up their hoods and scarper off, one holding something weighty in a black plastic bag that’s got them pretty excited.

      I probably should be curious about what it is, but that’s not really very me.

       ‘Dee. Dah dah dah dee dah, dah dah, dah dee…’

      I stop the flow. I can barely see the driver in front of me through his tinted windscreen. But I squint to get a look at him in there and see his outline change. He taps the wheel, jittery, maybe coked up, which would account for the nerves. But I’m not going to create any extra trouble for myself. He glares at me, stiller now, as I hold my ground, letting him know I know there’s something up.

      Then I wave him through. He shoots away hastily, as I snigger, enjoying my power to intimidate. Then I move to the side of the road, making sure I’m still visible to passing traffic.

      Blue car. Red car. White car. Mini. Bus… Bus…

      Oh!

      I feel tired. Not just tired, faint. I shake my head. Somewhere I hear the bus stop but I don’t see anything. It’s darker now, all around me. I feel sick. I’m fighting to keep my eyes open. I try to go to ground, layer by layer, as a tower block might be detonated or dismantled.

      I feel like I’m going to vomit but I don’t want to in front of all these people. It’s a shame-based reflex. I try to hold it in. I try to hold it together. There are shouts behind me.

      The sound of footsteps. Running. I just need to reach the floor and everything will be okay. But my ears are going crazy horse. A high-pitched squeamish noise. A fresh white blah blah blah. Like TV failure.

      Nearly at the ground now. It all flashes. I swallow ocean breaths. I wonder whether I’m causing scenes. My hands reach for the tarmac black. That high pitched squeal blazes on.

      The world looks like it’s under a slow strobe.

      Then my back is against the kerb. Clouds forming, crowd forming. I know something is wrong for sure.

      I pull out my phone and try and call the… or should I use my… what’s the number for the 999…

      I stare at the phone. Not fainting yet. Holding on.

      Its numbers are strange. Just lines. Like Greek, or Latin. Symbols I don’t understand. I comprehend nothing.

      My head is wet with something. But I don’t know what. I see Levine running up to me. I’m not sure whose blood this is.

      I shout to him to check everything is all right.

      ‘Take the hard road up.’

      I don’t know why that comes out. It’s not what I intended.

      I try again. As I crawl towards him, off the pavement and onto the road.

      ‘Perhaps the hard road’s impossible!’ I shout as I crawl and my hand drags past more wet.

      ‘Take the hard road up. Anything is possible!’ I shout.

      It doesn’t feel like my voice. He’s nearly with me. I see the bus has emptied and its passengers are looking at it. And me.

      It’s slow motion. It’s hard tarmac broken glass music video inner city incident news commercial heartache.

      That high-pitched squeal sings on and on.

      A song from a passing car radio strikes up.

       ‘We lived in this crooked old house

       some cops came over to check it out

       left on the step was a little baby boy

       In a soft red quilt, with a rattle and a toy.’

      My hands shake beneath me like an engine does before it stalls. A guy with a busted tooth shouts something.

      Before my head falls, I notice the bus has two broken windows. One on each side.

      They’re all on their phones. It’s a picture that blurs.

      My ears still work though. Listening to the radio song.

       ‘You’re my little one

       Say I didn’t love in vain

       Please quit crying honey

       Cos it sounds like a hurricane’

      I wonder how those windows got broken.

      That’s my last thought for now. Before I go.

      It’s just one of those things.

      Some days you meet the person you were always meant to be with.

      Some days you get shot in the head.

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