Shokrypt by Jon Harper

Chapter One
We always taked the long way home. Beat up dust paths yellow an old as Camp, as the first
people went to Camp. Old as Cormanditure. Runs in a frayed line more or less straight
through the acres. We come up to the hill late in the afternoon when the days got to drifting,
apex a the path. When our eyes surface aboe the crest well see lights. !heyll be waiting.
Been walking for hours. "eft Camp lights behind us at tail a morning and seen none since.
#Cept $almers acourse. %ere we go.
!here are sixteen bushes, all of #em on fire. &ixteen tangles lit up wi sun. &pindly
black limbs, thick at the 'oint, skin all blasted wi light. ( seen them sixteen near enough eery
day since ( got started. &een #em grow. Well, known they grown at least. )ou dont eer see
things grow. *us one day they bigger, same as you. !hats how it is. !hats how it was with
the sixteen. Only eer see the change when you not there, when you dont see it, if you get
me.
( remember when ( got sick, +oc ,adesky laid me up, must a been a month, #least.
-ot the shade see, lot a that going round at the time, they said it come from .ast. $rom them
!arkers up there .ast. /nyways, got to resting, lot of other kids did worse #n me, thought a lot
#bout that, how the shade got them other kids. )ou only eer hear, neer see an thats the
worst about it. &o ( laid up at the +ocs, done nothing much #sides sweating and thinking, ran
out of things to think about in the end, started thinking #bout sweating. 0eer could work out
how them was tied up.
/nyways, yeah, was pretty bad, but then come day afore &amstiss, ( wake up good as
new. Brow dry as the air, shade gone as 1uick as it came, moed on to some easier kid (
#spect. &o ( come back on the path, walking all morning growing back my legs 2 neer
realised how tough the ground was, they say ( lost a lot a weight ( neer got back. &hade
takes that from you see, you neer get away clean. 3ight stay with you, 'ust a bit, ( always
been a bit greyer since then, bit more like a statue, running not coming so easy. &ome people
een thought (s an islander 2 them -ambles on the south bank for instance, wouldnt beliee
me till ( showed #em the scar.
/nyways, that morning the shade left me ( come up to the apex 2 thats what he called
it 2 and there they were, the sixteen. /lmost didnt recognise #em. &eemed like the weight (
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lost, they stole. Was more #n happy to let #em though. ( was smiling. !hem sixteen they been
my friends see, neer had a bad word to say #bout me nor me them. We kept secrets me an
them sixteen. ( been a good friend to #em. +oc said they were a symbol. &aid its best not to
dwell on symbols, get fixed up on #em, you easily trip yourself, be found hanging in
mornings what +oc said. Only he meant dwell like when you think, see, not where you
think, or stop thinking if youre aching.
Only dwell ( eer knowns the bank and Camp. /nd +ocs for that month acourse.
&till (m not sure, symbol or not, the only good come out a the acres for me sprung right
there out a that hill. !he sixteen took me in when it rained so hard the grass got all drowned
an the mud and water turned into each other. ( spent three nights up there on that hill under
#em whilst most eeryone else was upping and leaing for .ast or sitting on rooftops. Whole
a the acres pretty much underwater and ( sat on the hill, eating pinkuns, drinking rain and
sleeping. When they found me (s fitter #n them. Running all sorts a tests and ( neer felt
more heathful. (e always been healthful, #cept when ( got the shade, een after the water
drained away and the insects came, flying and biting, ( neer got ill. -et toughened up when
you only know one type of dwell.
&hooting out starlight, thats what they doing. 3aking sure they dont swell up too much and
#splode 'ust like the old #un said. (m on my back and baking, the cars all heated up, roof hot
against my back, metal carries the heat, see. /nd suns fat today, haing to s1uee4e it out a
my eyes. .en if ( close #em its still too bright 2 no time to be on your back staring at the sky
unless you dont want to see no more. /nd some people dont, you know. 3iss Wil, she said
that to me. 0ot me exactly, but ( heard her, out the window, from between those pretty little
red flowers she got lined up on the box. Reddern her lips. !hats why (s there, truth be told,
3iss Wils lips. 0othing bad see, 'ust ( liked looking #em, all shiny wi that stuff she rubbed
on #em in the morning. Wonder if she rubs it on at night.
/nyways, ( heard her, saying how shes tired, how her eyes are tired. !ired a the
world, she said. /nd 3iss Wil she does sleep a lot, ( should know, so shes not lying. ( neer
heard 3iss Wil lie. #Bout the only person round the acres that dont. .en ( caught myself at
it couple a times 5 not to you, see, not to friends6 'ust when ( needed or ( werent thinking,
but still, 3iss Wil she neer needed, neer needed enough, least.
&he was talking but there was only her there. 0o one paying her isits, no one to talk
to. 0ot that thats how it always was, (m not the only brak noticed those shiny lips. 7robably
the only one noticed those flowers though, #cept 3iss Wil herself. &o shes talking to no one.
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( could hear from the garden, couldnt see through the window, didnt 1uite want to if (m
honest, which ( near enough always am. Wasnt scared, (d tell you if ( was, ( dont mind that.
Was something else. 0eer felt right creeping in that garden, eerything was so clean. &he
didnt een tend much to it, sae the flowers, but eerything grew in order, was like the world
was trying to win her back.
&he didnt tolerate no isitors, 3iss Wil. !here were well wishers and all sorts at first,
after, but only so long a wish stays well till it turns on someone else. Bringing her flowers,
used to bother me #fore ( knew why, but she had need for #em same as she had cause to lie.
/nd ( dont think she liked #em chopped, see. ( neer spoke to her but ( spose ( got to know
her pretty well lying in that garden. )ou get a feeling for someone when you arms and legs
are all muddied up in their dirt, and ( dwelled out there for a good few. 3y plan, much as (
eer had one, was to help out, to fix up the grass and weeds by way of payment. &hed neer
know, see, think some fairy or some such had seen their way to tidying for her. But there
neer was much need for that what with the world trying to win her back. &o ( neer felt 1uite
right, and ( stayed as far as ( could, as ( would let me.
But ( like seeing. ( neer really #stood what she meant about the world. ( mean ( know
there are bad things, like the shade an them other kids ( heard but neer seen. ( heard other
things too, ( been in other gardens. &o ( know theres bad in the world. But ( neer got
wanting to lose seeing. !imes ( wanted away, wanted to try .ast or 0orth, anything but
&outh, but its seeing that kept me healthful more #n anything.
&ome things ( seen worse #n things ( heard. But them things are gone now, drowned
like that grass when the water came, times motion +oc said. ( know &outh still there, theres
always &outh, but ( dont hae to turn that way, and ( dont hae to stop seeing. $irst (
thought it was all &outh that went bad, but the more gardens ( slept in, the more windows (
looked through ( got to thinking theres a bit a &outh in all sorts. 0ot eery gardens like 3is
Wils, see. !heres plenty ( neer felt least bit bad creeping in, or if ( did was for different
cause. 3ore like ( felt it creeping on me, grass all round my wrists and dirt dirtier and harder
to wash.
( neer washed so much as when ( dwelled in Rothschurch. !hat garden all tangled
up, stones poking up out the ground, showing where the dead #uns were. / few a them kids (
#spect, the ones ( neer seen. ( remembered the writing on one 2-amble showed me a bit a
reading and (s 1uick learner. %ae to be. Old -amble he says to me hed neer seen such a
1uick #un. !ook him by surprise, ( reckon, after hed seen the scar and heard how (d been
liing 2 neer told him #bout &outh, neer got to that 2 then (m reading straight back to him
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what hes only halfwards done teaching. %e was a good teacher, neer too prideful, always
laughing when he got caught. !heres a lot ( heard said #bout bank people, but far as ( eer
saw theres much less bad said by #em than #bout #em.
&o ( remembered some of that stone writing. On the smallest stone, only #bout up to
my belly and ( neer been a big un een #fore ( got sick. &mallest of the litter they said,
people always trying to get food in where it wont go. 3ightnt a made it to the acres fit
werent for that.
!hem nights at Rothschurch were the worst since ( got out. 8sed to stare at that little
stone all night wondering #bout them kids ( neer seen, #bout how comes the shade left me 2
most part anyway, skin was closer to the colour a those little dead stones than anyone else in
the acres. !hem kids ( neer seen, neer seen me neither, best as ( knew. &o ( got to reading
that stone, got to thinking so hard #bout them kids that it was true, true as stone. $ixed it in
my mind that there was one a them kids got taken by the shade laying right beneath me.
Could een hear him breathing at night sometimes, when it was real 1uiet. +oc was maybe
right, what he said about tripping yourself on symbols. ( heard people speaking scared #bout
those gardens where they plant stones, like the dead bear #em some kind a ill, but ( slept
sound knowing ( had a friend wi me, 'ust under the dirt.
/n reading that stone helped keep my thoughts straight, helped me forget what was
happening through them windows on the other side a the grass. ( woulda slept somewhere
else if ( could, but once you got a dwell somewhere, no matter how rough, you sorta get
attached, like +oc said, start to thinking theres nowhere else for you.
( seen the insects in that garden at Rothschurch, building burrows and mounds and
suchlike. One time ( had to sweep #em away where ( was making to sleep, not that ( wanted
to 2 ( like them little #uns, crawling round in the dirt, helping each other out, like little #uns
more #n ( like #most any like me. But they came back, whole new set of those little piles a
dirt in the morning. 7lenty other places they could a dwelled but they fixed on that one spot,
and ( spose so did (.
&o ( slept wi little #uns and my friend ( got fixed under me an it werent so bad as it
would a been.
But still, ( knew it was happening. ( tried to sweep it away like ( swept those little
#uns piles, but like the same it kept coming back, and the times ( got to sleeping it came back
there. $ound a dwell in my head ( spose. ,new ( couldnt stay 2 ( think thats the only way to
break the fix you got on your home, when something else comes an breaks it for you, makes
some part of it or you home for itself. But ( couldnt 'ust leae. &cared as ( was, ( couldnt
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'ust leae. &outh taught me a lot of things 2 stealing, hiding, 1uieting, most of all, ( thought,
how to run. But in Rothschurch ( found out what &outh really taught me. %ow to be scared.
!here they are, all lit up like them flies on the lake near old -ambles place. ( 'ust take a wash
a my hands in the dust #fore ( get to climbing the apex. +ont like to get home wi my hands
all slick and black. Can wash #em properly in town, &i44ens bound to let me use his
bathroom, maybe een keep the barn a few more nights #fore ( moe on. But for now dustll
do me 2 whats good for birds is good for me. &i44ens been good to me, too good. ( seen the
faces of them ladies an young men in the town, #course they always smile an neer wishing
me no real harm, but his place been a lot emptier since word got out #bout me. ( dont blame
#em, #spect (d be no different gien a few turns on the way, but ( dont like to see his
business suffer, his stitching getting old on them manne1uins in the window, not after the
kindness hes shown. %ed neer send me out, not in some peoples nature, and itll hurt him
when ( go, but its for the best. ( seen his face when the town ladies stopped dropping by, and
( seen his plates getting bigger wi less food to coer #em. $he had boys a his own ( #spect
hed be hard pushed to feed #em all.
&o (ll get the oil off from between my fingers #fore ( get back, make sure ( dont dirty
up the cloth. 7rettiest dresses ( eer saw, girls and ladies come from all oer, some een
outside acres. Once told me he got one from 0orth, from #cross the water, some rich sort,
perfect white skin, like snow he said, but ( neer seen snow. ( didnt ask him though, ( 'ust
listened. 0eer really had that before, always been my own oice, mostly, in my head, an
&i44en was a oice you could listen to all night een if you dint #stand a word of it.
!his lady from 0orth, she was looking for something that would tell where shed been
so she wouldnt hae to, something made by real acre people. Rich can be like that, ( seen as
much good in them as anyone, sometimes all mixed up, but good nonetheless. &he was
wearing some sweet siler cloth when she come in, so &i44en says, like nothing they got
0orth, so she must a been all oer #fore she got to us.
%ands are clean as theyre gonna get now. Better dust than oil. Camp says theres
nothing wrong with it but ( seen other kids with great red blisters an scars on their skin, kids
younger #n me. (ts part a why ( stopped staying there 2 after a while eerything starts to stick,
not 'ust the oil. .en when theres nothing between me and the night at least (m away, can
clean my hands off in the dust. Camp has a way of getting to you, telling you you hae to
stay, sticking you down on those hard little bunks. Remembered me a &outh see. ( knew
when ( got there (d hae to find somewhere else soon as ( could 2 gotten too used to haing
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my own place to think and not think 2 so 'us like before, ( made sure ( didnt make too many
friends, not that Camp made that easy if (d a wanted to.
Can see the lights now. Best place ( eer been since ( got started, sixteen showed me
the way. Was beat up, been running dont know how long, seem like foreer, seem like all (
knew was running. Only ( couldnt run no more, in my head ( was running but when ( looked
( was on the ground. /n my legs wouldnt moe, all coered oer wi the long grass and
water at my back. Could hear it running somewhere near 2 water keeps running like that,
neer runs out 2 but ( couldnt see, couldnt turn my head, and een if ( could it would a been
too dark. *us laid on my back and let it take me in. $irst time (d done that, listened to the
water running somewhere and let it take me. -rass was so thick it felt like one a them beds
you see wi colour all hanging down around it, and dark wood holding it up, like one a them
for rich ladies. #&pect that one from 0orth slept in a bed like that, all silk and soft, probably
softer een than anything &i44en stitched her.
&o (s listening to that water till ( got to forgetting ( was listening, and there were stars
all lit up aboe. ( seen them stars eery night since ( been running an #fore that een but (
neer had time to really pay #em much attention till then. /ll laid out on my back ( 'ust stared
at them stars. ( stared like that till they disappeared. 0eer noticed till the sun stuck its head
up oer the hill. &eeing things disappears same as seeing #em grow. When sun came up oer
that hill, was the first time ( seen where ( was, dint een see the old dirt track till then, dint
een know it was there. &o ( got up, must a been something in that water at my back or the
grass (s laying on, #cause ( felt like (d been rested up a week. ( neer could tell if (d fallen
#sleep or not, looking up at them stars, all twinkling an shooting out starlight 2 dont think (
coulda dreamed anything prettier.
/n thats when ( first saw #em. !here werent always sixteen, you know. 0o, when (
first saw #em there was one more, seenteen see. /n fit werent for them ( might a 'ust got
to walking, carried on the way (s going #fore ( fell. ( neer took much to paths, easiest way to
get yourself caught is on paths. But when ( saw them twisted little bushes all lined up like
that on the apex ( had to go that way. !ook it as a sign, see. Runnings like that, you get used
to listening for hooes or water so as after a while signs are all you look for, an them bushes
was the best (d got.
( remember once, (d been hiding out down by the trees south a bank. Been sticking
there under that canopy for week or more. 0o one eer came there, was safest place (d found
for a good while, only theres nothing much in the way a food. %adnt eaten for a few days,
when ( come across this thick brown tree, all on its own, no others like it anywhere, and (d
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walked all through them trees, seen pretty much all there was to be seen. &o ( got to looking
at that little tree, all on its own, and ( thought #bout myself, ( thought #bout how (s the only
one ( got to think about or be thinking about me, and that little tree all alone, ( felt like it was
closest thing (d had to a friend since ( could remember. &o ( stayed there for a bit see, an (
dont mind saying ( talked to that tree a good fair bit and sometimes it whispered back, in the
wind, its little brown leaes all shaking soft. !hen ( saw, coming out its skin, right deep
inside, where its arms came together, these near enough black shiny berries, colour a blood
they were, real blood ( mean. /nd (d not been eating a good while, an what with this tree
being a friend ( got to thinking thered be no harm in trying a few. Only ( tried more n a few.
!hats a thing ( found since ( got away, all the bad things in this world taste sweet at first 2
there are sweet things, ( know, sweet things that dont go bad 2 but thats how the bad things
get into you, by taking all the sweetness they got in #em for a whole lifetime, which aint a
lot, an 'ust putting it there together right at the start when you meet #em.
&o after ( ate them berries ( was pretty sick. 0ot like at +ocs sick, not like the shade,
but in its way worse, 'ust for less time. ( was crawling and noising 2 thats how bad it was, (
was used to hiding, (d go days without moing or making a sound f( needed to, but my
inside was all burning an ( couldnt een remember what it was (s doing right while (s
doing it.
/nyways, after them berries ( got to being careful #bout what signs ( seen, ( got to
trusting myself less #n my nose and so when ( saw them bushes up there on that old hill (
knew it was something, ( knew it was something what ( thought (d seen in that little brown
tree down south a the bank. 3y nose it was taking myself with it when ( walked up the apex
that first time an ( got to the sixteen, only it was seenteen then 2 ( knew see, #cause first
thing ( did while ( was walking was count #em, &outh made sure ( knew counting, that an no
more, dint want you learning no tricks more #n you needed.
/nd then straight ahead #a me ( seen all them lights. $ar off at the end of the path, past
where ( couldnt see it no more, but not too far off for someone whos been running since
&outh let him slip.
!hey was shining and all different colours, reminded me a being on my back
listening to water. !hey were shooting out starlight. &o really it was the sixteen brought me to
town, and what made me realise not all signs are bad #uns or berries that taste sweet but make
you sick. 0ot like +oc said. )ou 'ust gotta use your nose. !hen not eeryone got a nose
taught to sniff out hooes and water.