Fifty Fifty by S. L. Powell

path that led up to the front door before he properly noticed the body lying in the garden.
    She was face down, with her legs across the path. She didn’t move. The front door was open, but Gil would have to step over her to get to it. Oh God, was she dead? What was he supposed to
do? There was a groan from somewhere underneath the body, and one of the arms jerked a bit. It was too much for Gil. He raced back to the main road and dived into the safety of Tesco. It was a few
minutes before he could get it together enough to phone Jude.
    ‘Jude here.’
    ‘Jude, it’s – it’s me. Gil.’
    ‘Hey, Gil! Where have you got to?’
    ‘I found your house,’ Gil said, ‘but – but —’ He had to swallow hard after every word, as if they were marbles in the back of his throat. ‘There’s
– someone – lying – on your – path. A wo–woman. I – can’t – get to the – door.’
    ‘Oh, it’s Sally again, is it? Don’t worry, I’ll sort her out. You’re in Tesco, are you?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Come back, and I’ll meet you outside.’
    When Gil got there, Jude was kneeling on the path. The woman had her head in his lap. She was sobbing in a way that reminded Gil of Mum the day before, when she’d broken the plate in the
kitchen. It sounded as if she would never be able to stop. Jude reached across and took a can out of her hand, and then tipped the contents away at the side of the path. A small river of golden
liquid ran down towards Gil’s feet.
    ‘She’ll be all right in a minute,’ Jude said, looking up at Gil. ‘Can you get up, Sally?’ he said to the woman.
    She got herself to her knees and then Jude held her arm while she struggled to her feet. She stood, leaning on him, swaying a bit. Her hair was stuck to her wet face.
    ‘It’s in my head,’ she whispered. ‘They’ve put something in my head. Something – I don’t know what it is. It’s growing in there. It’s
telling me what to do. It hurts.’ She started to cry again.
    ‘Sally, there’s nothing in your head,’ said Jude. ‘I promise you. They don’t do that to human beings. Only to animals.’
    Sally suddenly turned to gaze at Gil with eyes that stared too widely, and he wanted to run away.
    ‘You’re a nice boy,’ she said wonderingly. ‘What are you doing here?’
    ‘He’s my friend,’ said Jude. ‘He’s come to see me.’
    ‘Don’t let them put anything in your head,’ said Sally. ‘They did experiments on me. They’re trying to turn me into a dog without my permission.’ Without any
warning at all she barked at Gil, so loudly and fiercely that he began to back away out of the gate, and then she started to laugh.
    ‘Stop it,’ said Jude firmly. ‘You’re scaring him. Have you taken your tablets?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ said Sally. ‘I’m sorry. Sorry,’ she said again to Gil.
    ‘Come on,’ said Jude. He ushered Sally through the front door. Gil hung back in the gateway, wondering whether it was safe to follow.
    ‘Come on,’ said Jude again. ‘You’re not going to get eaten. Sally’s a vegetarian dog, you know,’ and he and Sally both laughed much more than Gil thought
there was any need for, but he followed them into the darkness of the house.
    ‘Just go in my room,’ said Jude, pushing open a door. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’ He began to help Sally up the stairs.
    It was dark in Jude’s room too, but there was a narrow slice of daylight falling through the back window. The room was shabby but extremely tidy. In a funny way Gil felt it looked like a
faded version of Dad’s study – the desk, the bookshelves, the filing cabinets, the single armchair – but it was a room that Jude obviously lived in, because there was also a bed
and a wardrobe.
    Above the desk, in the same place that Dad had his fossil fish, there was a framed photo of someone holding a beagle puppy. Gil went closer to look at it. The dog was cute and cuddly, but the
photo wasn’t, because the person in the