Free Blog of the Dead (Book 3): Lost by Lisa Richardson Page B

agreed with him. I mean, to me, all this crap has been worth it.’ I turned my head so I could look into his eyes.
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘It’s been worth it because it led me to you.’
    January 2, 7am
    After a little timeout yesterday evening, I sheepishly rejoined the others in the staff room. I apologised to Mal for yelling at him but he was like, ‘Not a problem. We all need moments like that to get all the frustration out and find a perspective.’ He even found a bright side to my tantrum.
    Mal produced a bottle of brandy. He found six dusty mugs in a cupboard in the kitchenette and poured a shot of brandy into each. I helped by passing them round to the others. Mal motioned for me to sit on the sofa but I shook my head and sat beside Misfit who’d settled himself on the floor using the bundle of bedding Mal shoved out the way earlier as a cushion. Misfit leaned forwards and pulled the bundle along so that I could rest against it too.
    ‘Why a hair salon?’ I asked Mal.
    He shrugged. ‘It’s my own little castle in the sky.’
    ‘But it’s not very… homely,’ said Charlotte.
    ‘Well, that’s the thing,’ said Mal. ‘Looters pass by because they don’t think there’d be anything worth stealing up here. I mean, who’s that bothered about shampoo and hair dye these days. It’s taken me a while to stockpile all this lot,’ he nodded towards the bags and boxes in the kitchenette. ‘And in the spring I’ll get the roof garden going again – you’d be amazed at how much you can grow in such a small space – and the last thing I want is to attract trouble. Up here I’m out of sight, out of mind. But I have a good view of what’s going on down there.’
    ‘But still,’ I said. ‘A house has got to be more comfortable.’
    ‘I tried a house,’ said Mal. ‘It’s how I learned the out of sight, out of mind theory.’
    ‘Or out in the country somewhere,’ said Charlotte.
    ‘Yeah, you said it yourself, man,’ said Clay. ‘Tons of zombies in the town centre – fuck that.’
    ‘I can’t normally stand the country,’ said Kay. ‘It’s full of mud and shit. But I’d take that over hanging about in a town centre for too long these days.’
    ‘I tried the country house,’ said Mal, a tightness in his voice. ‘I wasn’t always alone, you know,’ he added, his mood darkening. The cloud shifted so fast that I wondered if it had been there at all and with a mask of a smile Mal said, ‘Anyone for a top up? I’ve got another few bottles of this fine liquid if anyone’s interested.’
    ‘Hell yeah, I’m interested,’ I said, raising my mug. For all his positivity, Mal had his story, just the same as the rest of us. And I got the feeling, based on the, “I wasn’t always alone” remark, his was pretty bleak. Sometimes those with the biggest smiles hide the greatest sorrow.
    Last night wasn’t the most comfortable night I’ve ever had. Mal offered up the sofa but none of us would take it. He’d helped us enough by saving our lives, so we couldn’t turn him out of his bed, too.
    Clay slept in the armchair. He did offer it to me, Kay and Charlotte first, but it wasn’t that comfortable and, besides, none of us could get to grips with sleeping sitting up. The rest of us found a space on the laminate floor and made do. Kay and Charlotte sprawled out on one side, and on my left, Misfit settled down. He lay on his side, his head resting on his elbow, his eyes on me. I rolled over so I lay on my side facing him. Neither of us spoke, we just gazed into each other’s eyes for a while. I smiled. Misfit smiled back, a half smile, spreading into a full grin.
    Misfit straightened out his arm, extending it towards me. I slid myself over, my head finding his shoulder and, as he wrapped his arm around me, I nestled into his side.
    I lay on a cold, hard floor with no pillow or blanket. It might not have been the most comfortable night I’d ever had, but it was the best I’d had in a while.
    10am
    As I