Miley opened her eyes to another stuffy bright day. ‘Jackie,’ she said as she turned. The woman was sitting in the middle of the room on the filthy wooden floor, wiping her hands through the dust. Her bruised face now framing her eyes. Miley shuddered as she thought of what the male boss said. He thought she could actually do that to Jackie and that stung more than any amount of pain she was going through. She could never harm her only friend.

She couldn’t remember coming into Jackie’s room but the calmness that washed over her meant she’d had some form of medicine. It didn’t feel like her usual stuff. Something didn’t feel right, the crawling was coming back as she rubbed her eyes. Her stomach went into a spasm, causing her to double over. ‘Help me,’ she called. Staggering across the room to the door, she tried the handle but her sweaty hands slipped.

Jackie’s murmuring filled the room.

‘Come on, Jackie, let me help you back onto the bed.’ She leaned down, tears of pain streaming down her face as she grabbed the woman’s hands and tried to haul her up. A sharp pain shot through her back, almost causing her to topple as she pulled Jackie up to a standing position. As Miley turned her, ready to sit on the bed, she almost gagged as she caught sight of the yellow, pus-filled flesh on the woman’s bare buttock. Dropping Jackie on the bed, she darted to the other side of the room, trembling and gasping for breath.

Jackie screamed, no words, just sounds, like those she’d heard in horror films. The woman clumsily lay back on the single bed, one leg hanging off. Miley ran over and hoisted her leg up as Jackie continued to yell. ‘Please, Jackie, I know it hurts. Please don’t cry.’

Tears streamed down Miley’s face as she stroked the woman’s hair. She grabbed the unravelled, grubby, knitted doll from the bedside table and placed it in Jackie’s arms. ‘She’ll look after you,’ she said as she kissed Jackie’s forehead and staggered across the room. Jackie gripped the doll and the cries simmered down to a murmur.

She needed to get out before she passed out – the room was getting hotter and little black spots teased her vision. The more she thought about the flesh, the more she could now tell that the sickly smell in the air was coming from it. She reached for the door handle and almost fell into the hallway as the door sprang open.

‘Hello,’ Miley called. ‘Simone?’ She had heard that name in the midst of her confusion, before the boss had drugged her. She hadn’t slept that deeply for a long time. Had he hurt her? Apart from the twinge in her back, she didn’t feel any other injuries that had come on since yesterday. Her heart began to pound as her mind flashed with possibilities of all he could have done to her when she’d been asleep. She reached down and exhaled. He hadn’t raped her.

She staggered in the other direction, towards the top of the stairs. She didn’t want to eat but she knew she needed to keep her strength up if she were to ever see her mother again. They wouldn’t forget to bring Jackie’s breakfast, surely. If there was only one portion of breakfast, they would share.

As the top of the stairs became visible, she could see that there was no food. ‘We’re hungry,’ she yelled as she slammed her body into the bannister. It was all for nothing, no one was coming. She reached the top of the stairs and took the first step. Her weak body slipped down several more before she grabbed the rail.

Shaking the bottom door, she sobbed as she realised it was locked. ‘Let me out. I want to go home.’

Heavy footsteps made their way across the floor. She began to shiver and needed to pee. The shaking became violent as the door unlocked. ‘Stupid junkie,’ the man said as he stepped over her and pulled her back up the stairs by her skinny, needle-marked arm. As he dragged her back up, she felt the skin on her bottom burning on the coarse carpet. He flung her across her bedroom and filled the doorway with his imposing frame.

‘Please, can we have some food?’ If she didn’t eat, she would die and she wanted to see her mum again. ‘Please, anything. I’ll do anything.’

The man slammed and locked the door. She listened to him pacing along the creaky landing. ‘Answer your phone,’ he yelled as he kicked the door. The old floorboards squeaked as he walked across the landing.

Jackie began to scream out again.

‘It’s okay, my love. It will all be okay, I promise,’ he said as he ran into her room. He let out a roar that almost shook the building. As he thundered out of Jackie’s room and along the landing, Miley felt her stomach drop as she shook uncontrollably. He was coming for her.

‘How dare you?’ he yelled as he ran in and kicked her hard in the buttocks. ‘Call yourself a carer?’

‘I didn’t hurt her. I love Jackie. I didn’t do anything.’ Her breath was that erratic, words were barely forming. Spittle landed on her face as he seethed and held a fist above her. She closed her eyes. ‘It was the other boss, not me. Please. I didn’t do it.’

He roared again as he hit the bedframe, left the room and thundered down the stairs.

The crawling started again, under her skin, inside her, in all of her. Even her eyes itched. She used all her strength to push her little finger from her tense fist.

A little beetle crawled around it, until it reached the skirting board and escaped through a gap, through the gap where all its friends lived. ‘Come back.’ Tears fell down her cheeks. She clamped her eyes closed and cried as sweat drenched her old T-shirt. ‘Don’t leave me alone to die.’