text: Hi all. It's been a couple of years since I wrote anything new, and would really appreciate any thoughts or feedback about this. It's just the start of something, not entirely sure where it's going yet but I've recently started micro-dosing and this kind of just flowed out of me! Thanks! **A Morning in Hemel Hampstead.** “My water just broke”. Billy let out a soft gasp. He was stranded 20 miles away in Hemel Hampstead, about to walk into an important meeting with the legal counsel of a large pharmaceutical firm and hadn’t expected to hear about breaking waters when he answered his ex-girlfriend Laura's call. “But you’re only 7 months, aren’t you? Isn’t that a bit, you know, early?” There was a word for giving birth early. Billy couldn’t think of it. He had a decent enough vocabulary; he just often forgot the specific word for a particular situation. It was one of the things Laura disliked about him, his inability to accurately communicate his feelings without resorting to grunting or downplaying events by using the incorrect term and making them seem unimportant. It wasn’t necessarily his fault, but it was a source of constant irritation. “Yes Billy, it is a bit early, is this an inconvenient time for you?” Laura was passive-aggressive. It came from childhood, her mother could never discipline her in a conventional way, she would usually just apply a barbed comment or sarcastic aside even if her children didn’t have the capacity to understand what she was trying to say. It was this niggling, nagging behaviour that would eventually lead Billy to snap, and put in motion the demise of the relationship. “Where are you? I’m probably an hour away from wherever you are, I’ll get a cab back to the station now.” “Billy I’m scared.” &#x200B; **A Good Start.** Billy and Laura met at a folk music festival out west. Having shared acquaintances, they’d ended up in neighbouring tents and had quickly established a flirty harmony. The drugs flowed pretty freely in those days, long before the relentless grind of adulthood took hold and reduced them to squabbling over washing up and late nights in the office. The first 6 months were blissful, living separately in their own flats on opposite sides of London, they’d spend evenings watching bands in dingy, dirty pubs or collapsed on sofas in a fragrant cannabis fug. They rarely argued, made love every time they saw each other and never, ever discussed the future. At 24 years old, with a strong bone structure, who needed the future. Billy didn’t really have a career, more just a string of meaningless restaurant jobs that kept him in sandwiches and weed. Laura, on the other hand, was really starting to make waves in the marketing department of the software company that employed her. Social media had revolutionised how companies spoke to their customers and Laura had a good handle on it. She has a quirky online presence and a knack for getting a message across in 144 characters that was both witty and informative. Billy gave up his squalid Bethnal Green bedroom after a year or so, packed up his minimal belongings in a large backpack and moved into Laura’s feminine, clean 2 Bedroom apartment in Shepherds Bush. It was a natural progression, he spent most of his time there anyway because the walls in his place were starting to get damp. The less time he spent there, the less he’d have to clean. By that logic, if he didn’t live there at all he’d never have to clean again. Laura was a nurturer, and she nurtured Billy. She saw his potential, knew he was more intelligent than he gave himself credit for, and pushed him to find a more suitable job for a man of his age. Laura bought Billy a new suit to interview in. It was the nicest thing he’d ever owned, a well-tailored Dark Grey two-piece with purple lining. He felt like an executive, it gave him a sense of importance and clout they’d he’d never felt before. It was liberating, and he was incredibly grateful to Laura. It didn’t stop him failing at his first 3 interviews, his smart appearance not masking his thorough ineptitude when it came to him speaking about himself or talking up his strengths, of which he had a few. Laura remained patient with him throughout, supporting him both emotionally and financially, picking him up when he came home despondent at another rejection. Laura was patient, empathetic, and loved him so purely that it was the easiest thing in the world to lift his spirits. In the summer, after a number of false starts, Billy finally got full-time employment as a sales rep for a company that licensed new medications from the US and sold them at an exorbitant profit. Ethically, it didn’t really sit well with either of them or their liberal mindsets, but the money was decent, and it felt very much like a victory. They celebrated in the pub surrounded by friends. Laura spoke of her pride. Billy drank too much tequila and finished the night by vomiting into a bin on Fulham high street. Neither Billy nor Laura anticipated how quickly Billy would adapt to company life, or how completely it would alter their peaceful dynamic. &#x200B; **A Cab Journey.** The train was the fastest route back to Hammersmith hospital, but Billy was still stuck in no man’s land between a Hemel industrial park and the station. The local taxi firm had a terrible reputation, and Billy was exactly the type of person to let someone else’s opinion influence his experience. “Is this the quickest way to the station mate? This isn’t the way I got here?” Billy was in a state of anxiety, as you would expect from a man who has just heard his child has decided to make an expeditious entry into the world. “Roadworks on the St Albans road, we’ll be stuck there for ages if we go that way.” “Isn’t that the way I got here in the first place?” “I didn’t drive you pal, how am I supposed to know?” Billy wasn’t a violent person, but as he watched the little red numbers increase on the counter in front of him, and the time tick over, he felt his heart beating faster and started playing out a fierce argument in his head. “Just hurry up please.” Billy picked up his phone. Laura was still the top of his list of favourite numbers, despite the fact they had been separated for nearly 6 months and had barely been on speaking terms. “My train goes in fifteen minutes, I’m in a taxi now and if this driver stops being a clown, I should make it.” “Ok. Come straight to the pregnancy unit. Mum will be here by the time you get here.” Anne had never cared much for Billy. The feeling was mutual. He thought she was controlling, she thought he was lazy. They were both right. “Can you tell her to behave herself.” “You behave *yourself* Billy.” Billy had no intention of starting an argument but would rarely back down if one was forced upon him. The taxi trundled along, stopping at every red light as if the gods had pre-determined them to change from green as they approached, halting his progress and infuriating him further. “Are we nearly there?” The driver, having heard Billy’s earlier comment about him being a clown, decided against responding and continued to face forward. “Excuse me, I’m talking to you.” The driver pulled over to the side of the road. “Twenty quid and you can piss off out of my car.” “What? I don’t know where I am. Take me to the station.” The doors were locked. The driver was a broad man, with a substantial neck. In a combat situation, Billy was unlikely to prevail. The driver repeated his previous demand. Billy, all the while panicking about making the train in time, refused to be cowed. “I’ll pay you when you drop me off at my destination. Are you stupid?” The driver, having been university educated, didn’t take kindly to being called stupid, and reverted to the type his large frame signified. He unlocked the doors, climbed out of his seat and pulled Billy out of the back by the scruff of his neck. A brief grapple ensued, and Billy felt the sharp end of the driver's elbow in his eye socket. On his knees, with his left hand clutching his face, Billy looked up as the taxi sputtered back off down the road, taking with it any hope of him making the 11 o’clock from Hemel.