The Dead Land: Chapter 4

4
Of course, Agatha’s triumph was on every news channel in England. At ten years old, Robbie sat and watched Agatha in awe as she glided gracefully across her television screen. Although she was a pretty girl herself, with her dark hair and grey eyes, and a pale complexion similar to Agatha’s, she envied her long red hair and sparkly blue eyes, and the way she could pull any outfit off. The camera was fixated on her stunning black dress, which was professional, yet could at the same time have been worn by a model. She looked down at her own scruffy t-shirt and combat trousers, ripped at the knee where she had taken a tumble whilst playing football with the boys. Ah well, she thought to herself, There is no need to wear fancy things and makeup at my age. I bet Agatha made good use of her time as a kid and didn’t worry about all that crap, so why should I?

“Stop ogling at the TV, Robyn. Your brain will turn to mush. Besides, you have been watching this for a whole hour and they have said the same things at least ten times. Agatha Redknapp, new Prime Minister. End of. Now make yourself useful and make me a coffee, please,” Robbie’s father mumbled from behind his newspaper, which too displayed a large picture of Agatha Redknapp. Robbie sighed and trotted off to the kitchen. She lived with just her father in a small, ordinary house. Her dad was a very well respected surgeon, and didn’t have much time for her, and when he was at home, he tended to neglect her. She didn’t really care. She liked being independent.

She took her dad the coffee on a saucer, even bothering to put a biscuit beside the cup, but he ignored it completely, taking it without a word of gratitude. She sighed and rolled her eyes to herself. Sometimes she felt like she couldn’t win with her dad.

Robbie, in a sudden bad mood, climbed the stairs and locked herself in her bedroom. Her room was more like a cupboard it was no tiny, with just enough room for a bed and a walk in wardrobe, but she loved it more than any place in the world. Posters covered every inch of wall and ceiling, of her football team, Arsenal, her favourite band, Fallen Angels (which her father did not approve of!) and there were also some pictures of her with her friends. Most of her friends were boys, but her best friend was Beth Hilton, who lived just down the road to her. Beth was a beautiful girl, yet painfully shy. She had a tendency to hide behind her blonde hair and bite her pink lips when she was afraid or unsure of something. Robbie was the only person able to get her out of her shell, and the two of them were inseparable.

Robbie’s bed was unmade as usual, and her favourite teddy bear, Morris, sat on her pillow looking rather lifeless and bored. Morris was neglected more and more each day as Robbie grew up, but Robbie would always have a special place somewhere for Morris.

Her favourite thing about her room had to be her wardrobe. She didn’t have many clothes, just her underwear, and a couple of football shirts from previous seasons, a spare pair of jeans and school uniform and PE kit. She owned one pair of trainers and school pumps. This meant she could use the rest of her wardrobe as a den. She often hid in there with Morris on her lap and listened to Fallen Angels on her small CD player quietly. They were a band of four girls, Roxie, Mazie, Billie and Kitty. They all dressed the same, in short white dresses, black fishnet tights and big biker boots, their faces painted to perfection with black eyeliner and red lipstick. Each of the girls were very beautiful, with shocking green eyes and white blonde hair that fell like a waterfall to their waists, but their music was loud and rather like someone bashing a dustbin lid (which they did do in one of their songs.) However, they really did sing like angels, and they serenaded their audience over the noise with fiery passion, but there was no impressing Robbie’s father, so whilst he was around, she had to have her music on quietly. Although no one else knew it, she sang like an angel too, and liked to hum along to Fallen Angels. So that was what she did that day.

And while she was in her cupboard, she felt like nothing could go wrong. She could forget how lonely her dad made her feel, even though in some ways she liked it. She could just lose herself in music and see good in everything and everyone.