Past and Future
Irenya felt as though her body had been taken apart and put back together the wrong way. Nothing hurt; it felt strange and weighted down, not quite hers. Something scratched her scalp above her ear and then at the back of her head. She raised her hand to rub the itch and brushed warm flesh not her own. A face hovered above hers, too close for comfort, and someone was fumbling with the buttons of her shirt. She struggled against fatigue, pushing and twisting to move the weight.
‘Get off me!’
She marshalled her strength and shoved clear. They were sprawled across a pile of straw. Mikey giggled and scrambled off the heap.
She looked around her. I did it. I actually did it. I think.
They were in a market garden and surrounded by large beds of corn, beans, and some kind of
