Free Paper Chains by Nicola Moriarty

towards him on the way past.
    Totally gay.
    Intrigued about the envelope, James waited until the guy had vanished around the corner and then leapt up from his chair and walked briskly over to his table to snatch up the letter before it could be cleared away by a waitress.
    On the front of the envelope were the following three words:

Simon,

‘The Aella’
    Huh, maybe he’s not in the closet then. Guess I should have given it a go after all. Who’s Simon? An ex-lover maybe? And what the hell does ‘The Aella’ mean?
    James couldn’t help himself. He tore open the envelope to find out what was inside. At the top of the letter he saw the following words: ‘Dear Simon . . .’ He continued to read.
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    It was Thursday again, Hannah’s day off. She was woken early by the sound of the front door buzzer being pressed insistently, over and over. She sat up in bed feeling bleary and confused. What time was it? What day was it? And who was at the bloody door? She climbed out from under the covers and stumbled over to the intercom with the heels of her hands pressed hard against her eyes.
    ‘Hello?’ she said croakily when she pressed the button to respond.
    ‘Hannah!’ came back India’s unmistakably bright and bubbly voice. ‘Get dressed and come down, babe. I’ll wait out front.’
    Hannah glanced down at her watch then leaned heavily against the intercom. ‘India! It’s five in the morning!’
    ‘Yep. Hurry up.’
    Hannah pulled away from the speaker and stood still for a moment, staring stupidly at the wall. Last night she and India had been out drinking – again. Although now that she thought about it, India’s drinks had pretty much all been of the non-alcoholic variety. Hannah’s, on the other hand, had not. The top of her mouth had that furry carpet feel and her stomach was turning as she remembered that her drink of choice last night had been vodka. Ugh, evil, evil vodka.
    She took one longing look back at her bed and then dragged herself into the shower, reminding herself to make sure she took a couple of paracetamol on the way downstairs.
     
    India tried not to laugh when she saw Hannah finally emerge from the apartment block. Her face had just a slight tinge of green to it and she was hiding her eyes behind giant, dark sunglasses.
    ‘Did I wake you, sweetie?’ she asked in a mock cutesy voice.
    ‘Yes,’ Hannah replied bluntly.
    ‘Told you not to drink so much last night.’
    ‘You did not! You were the one doing the ordering.’
    ‘Hmm. Good point. Ah well, never mind. It’s your day off, let’s do something.’
    ‘What did you have in mind?’
    India shrugged. ‘I don’t know, let’s just get on a train and go somewhere.’ Because you’re so close Hannah, you’re just so close to opening up. She grabbed Hannah’s arm and pulled her down the last few steps to the footpath. ‘Come on. Fresh air will do you good.’
    ‘Coffee would do me better,’ India heard Hannah mumble in response, but India just started striding down the road in the direction of the tube station, forcing Hannah to follow her.
    They ended up travelling down to Brighton Beach for the day. It took over two hours and two trains to get there and Hannah complained most of the way. The sun’s too bright. The train’s rocking too much, I’m going to be sick. India spent the trip entertaining herself by making fun of Hannah. Nothing better than feeling fit and healthy when someone else is hung-over , she thought, as she waved her sausage roll in front of Hannah’s face, making her clap her hands to her mouth.
    Although by the time they arrived, India herself was actually starting to feel a little ill. Hmm, maybe she shouldn’t have grabbed that sausage roll from the food cart at Blackfriars station when they had changed trains. She didn’t admit this to Hannah though; it was too much fun being all superior about the fact that she had remained sober the previous evening.
    They spent the day