Hater

again and continues to watch the smoke rising from the building burning on Colville way.

FRIDAY
27

    Not sure what time I finally went to sleep. I lay on the bed for hours trying (and failing) to make sense of everything that's happening. I must have looked at the alarm clock a hundred times or more in the night. I watched every hour tick by…
    'Dad.'
    I'm still half-asleep but Ed wakes me up. I sit up quickly. What's wrong? What's happened? I rub my eyes and try to focus on my son's face. The room's dark but I think he's okay. I look down and see that Lizzie's still sleeping next to me in bed. She seems okay too.
    'Dad,' he says again, annoyed that I haven't answered.
    'What's the matter?' I mumble. 'Are the others all right?'
    He nods. What he wants to tell me has obviously got nothing to do with Ellis or Josh.
    'The telly's bust,' he grunts.
    I slump back on my pillow, relieved. Is that all? Thank God for that.
    'What's the matter with it?' I ask, struggling to sound interested.
    'Can't get a picture.'
    'Is it plugged in?'
    'Yes,' he groans, 'I'm not stupid.'
    I'm too tired to pick him up for being rude.
    'Have you checked the cables at the back?'
    'I haven't touched them. It was working yesterday, wasn't it?'
    'What about the telly in your bedroom?'
    'Can't get the channel I want on my telly. Come on Dad, get up.'
    'I'll come and have a look in a couple of minutes,' I yawn. 'Let me stay here for a bit longer…'
    'But my programme's on now,' he protests. 'Please, Dad.'
    I close my eyes for a few seconds longer but it's obvious that I'm not going to get any peace until Ed's got the TV fixed. Cursing under my breath I get up and stumble across the cold bedroom floor and down the hallway, side-stepping Harry as I meet him by the kitchen door. Ed follows then pushes past me as we reach the living room. He picks up the remote control and switches on the TV.
    'See…' he says, flicking through the channels.
    I sit and stare at the screen.
    'What's the matter?' Harry asks, as he wearily drags himself into the room after us.
    'Telly's broke,' Ed tells him.
    'It's not broken,' I say as I flick through the channels.
    'Have you checked the aerial?' Harry suggests.
    'There's nothing wrong with it,' I tell them both, 'look.'
    Harry moves around so that he can see the screen. And now he can see why I've been staring. It's the same thing on every channel. A black screen with stark white text.

    REMAIN CALM
    DO NOT PANIC
    TAKE SHELTER
    WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS
    THE SITUATION IS UNDER CONTROL

28

    It's eleven o'clock and Lizzie, Harry and the kids are sitting in the living room. There's something happening outside. The others haven't noticed yet. I don't want the children and Liz getting upset again so I haven't said anything to anyone. It started about half an hour ago. I've heard heavy vehicles moving in the distance and the occasional scream or shout. I've also heard gunfire.
    I've tried looking through every window in the flat but I can't see what's going on out there. I have to know. I make sure the others are all distracted then creep out of the apartment. I stop halfway across the lobby. Everything looks just as it did when I was out here yesterday but today the building feels different because of what's upstairs. I stop at the bottom of the staircase and, just for a second, I think about turning round and going back into the flat again. I'll get a better view from the flats on the other floors but I'm worried about going upstairs. I don't think there's anyone else up there - the car belonging to the people on the top floor is still missing and I can't hear anything. But what about the body? I know the man on the landing is dead but have I got the balls to pass his corpse? My head is suddenly filled with stupid nightmare images of his lifeless hands reaching out to grab me. The sound of another gun shot in the distance spurs me into action. I take a deep breath and run up the stairs, not stopping until I've reached the flat on the top floor. I peer in through the half-open door to make sure it's still empty then step inside.
    There are only two floors between our flat and this one but the view from up here is completely different. Those extra few feet of height make all the difference and from here I can see for miles around. I can see almost all of our estate and I can see the city centre in the distance. This morning the world looks like the TV footage that gets sent home by war correspondents. The skyline is