your uncle sells drugs, your cousin is a cutter
your grandma is a fluffer, your granddad's in the gutter
Sapphy had just about had it with the whiny kid.

“What, you blankin’ me now?” She demanded of the darkness, her lips curling in an invisible snarl.

Blanking was disrespectful. Sapphy did not tolerate being disrespected. She wasn’t a doormat who let people walk all of her, even if they were only three, and she sure as hell wasn’t weak. She made a mental note to teach the kid a lesson when they got out of here.

Then it happened. The light shining through the crack under the door reflected off something and shimmered brilliantly, just for a second. It was so quick, and so bright in the surrounding darkness, that Sapphy couldn’t even see what it was. It left her groaning and blinking, rubbing her eyes. The fuck was that? Something that had rolled in front of the door maybe? If she found it, she might be able to use it to reflect light back into the room and they could find that crowbar. Carefully, Sapphy dropped to her knees and started patting the wooden floorboards.

The little kid had started muttering to himself. Sapphy rolled her eyes, ignoring him completely until she overheard one word which felt like an iron grip over her heart.

“Spiders?” She pushed her head up fast and accidentally hit it on a shelf. She grabbed her head, groaning. “Fuck! Spiders where? I’m stayin’ the fuck away from any spiders.”

The little boy didn’t seem to hear her. His tone of voice seemed to change. Sapphy rubbed her head furiously, angling one ear towards the sound so she could hear a bit better. Was that… squeaking? Better not be rats. There had been plenty of rats in the house where Sapphy grew up, so she was more used to their presence than a girl her age should be, but she also knew from grim experience how sharp their teeth and claws could be. Besides, waking up in the middle of the night to discover a rat on your chest was never a pleasant experience. Sapphy hadn’t seen a rat since she’d arrived on Shaman, but she was clever enough to know that where there were fairies, the rats were never far away.

“Fuck.” She repeated. “Oi, whassisname, you hear that? There’s fuckin’ rats in’ere. Listen, don’t fuckin’ grab anything that moves.”


helps to know where you come from
when days are hard and things go wrong