A Second Skin

Contents ONETWOTHREEFOURFIVESIXSEVENEIGHTNINETENELEVENTWELVETHIRTEENFOURTEENFIFTEENSIXTEENSEVENTEENEIGHTEENNINETEENTWENTYTWENTY-ONETWENTY-TWOTWENTY-THREETWENTY-FOURTWENTY-FIVETWENTY-SIXTWENTY-SEVENTWENTY-EIGHTTWENTY-NINETHIRTYTHIRTY-ONETHIRTY-TWOTHIRTY-THREETHIRTY-FOURTHIRTY-FIVETHIRTY-SIXTHIRTY-SEVENTHIRTY-EIGHT STEVEN BLACKMOREA SECOND SKIN This is a work of fiction.Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.Copyright © 2023 Steven BlackmoreAll rights reserved. Also from Steven BlackmoreThe Hole in the WallThe Disappearing City (coming autumn 2023) ( ) To enclose an afterthought or additional information ONE1:19 pmDarkness. A void. So absolute it is without sound, hope, even time. A pit buried so deep it would have remained hidden if not for the calling.The awakening. Distant, stirring lightly, so for now, the spark of cruelty is lit within Della, and it goes unnoticed. A horror buried so deep, so unspeakable, it passes unseen like a smear of dirt on the underside of a speeding car. Or the germination of an idea, so infant in forming, it is yet to fire the receptors. So for now, like a virus, it masks its true self as the mundane, happy to hide, to wait.(For Penny, she knows the exact moment it happened – the birth of hatred – when she first thought of herself as a lower form of life. And now, it TWO2:15 pmEnjoying a cup of coffee, Della stands at the window with the sun on her face. Stretching across the entire length of the apartment, the space is afforded a blanket of yellows, oranges, and burnt embers. While her apartment, towering over the city, offers isolation and sanctuary, the grand windows allow the best parts of the city to venture inside, filling the space with colour. Where winter brings comfort and romance, the summer sun, as it is today, graces the apartment with life and connectivity to the world below.(Day and night, Penny keeps the blinds firmly closed through all seasons.)You see, Life to Della is a celebration, a gift, something to embrace, cherish, to be thankful for. (Penny sees life as a punishment, a long-slow-torture, a carousel or tree sap, a prison holding