She Heard Nothing novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Under the Socks

By lunch on Thursday, I knew exactly what Sabina would do next.

She had told me herself, on the wet grass that morning.

I'll remember that.

So I did what she would never expect.

I put the silver star back on.

Lottie had given it to me in the mess line, passing it hand to hand with her elbow tucked in, and I slid it under my collar where it lay warm and light.

"Are you sure?" she whispered.

"She can only plan around what she hears," I said. "So let's give her something to hear."

At two o'clock, when the afternoon break started, I went into the empty stall at the end of the girls' building and turned on the tap.

I talked to the tile in a flat, bored voice.

"Everybody's at the lecture tent until four. My bag's sitting on my bunk with nobody in the room. I don't even care if someone takes it."

Then I flushed, washed my hands, and walked out.

Lottie was waiting in the hall with her cap pulled down over her eyes.

"Done?"

"Done."

"Good," she said. "I've been lying on bunk fourteen, pretending to nap."

"Is the phone ready?"

She tilted her cap back an inch.

Her phone was balanced on the shelf above her cot, wedged between a box of tissues and a rolled-up sock, with its camera aimed at the aisle.

It was a cheap hiding place, and it was pointed straight at my bunk.

"Go to the lecture tent," Lottie said. "Be seen."

I sat in the front row of the tent and said hello to everyone near me.

At four o'clock I came back to a very quiet bunk room.

Lottie was still on her cot, with her eyes closed.

She opened one of them and gave me a thumbs-up under her blanket.

At the evening formation, Sabina was crying.

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