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He was in the
new flat. He was in Skyfall City.
    As he came to consciousness he realised that
the singing was real and it was coming from outside of his window.
It was a surreal sound; high pitched and melodic, and it seemed to
be reverberating through the metallic framework of his building. He
fumbled for his watch and checked the time. 3:15am. He got up and
peeked through the curtains.
    Down in the square, sitting on the rim of the
rusty, dry fountain, was a woman, rocking herself from side to side
and singing a lullaby. She was dressed in a nightgown and she
looked in her fifties. Seckry sat on his windowsill and watched her
for a while, trying to think why she’d be out there so late, but
his head began to drop after half an hour and he slumped back onto
his bed, drifting into oblivion.
    As Seckry brushed his teeth that morning he
almost spat a mouthful of toothpaste at the mirror. Today was his
birthday! With all the stress and upheaval of moving, it had gone
right to the back of his mind. A flood of excitement shot through
him and he pelted into the living area.
    “ Happy birthday, my love,”
his mum said, smiling. She was in her yellow kitchen apron and was
wiping her hands in a cloth. “I’ve been up since six making
something special for you. You can’t have any until later, though.
You’ll be sick eating cake in the morning.”
    “ Thanks, mum,” Seckry said,
his mouth watering at the thought of one of his mum’s birthday
cakes.
    “ Have a bit of cereal while
your sister’s getting up. She’s got something for you. I don’t know
what it is this time, though.”
    Seckry hoped Leena wasn’t going to give him
another ‘grow your own organic carrot kit,’ as grateful as he made
himself out to be last year.
    “ Here’s a present from me,”
his mum said, and handed Seckry an envelope with his name and a
couple of squiggly balloon drawings on it. “I hear that this is the
big thing for teens in Skyfall. I thought I’d give you a little
starter.”
    Seckry ripped open the paper and a voucher
slipped out of the card that read:
     
    FRICTION
    50 CREDITS
    AVATAR GIFT CARD
     
    “ Wow, this is fifty notes
worth,” Seckry said, astonished.
    “ Well, I had a little bit of
money left from our government compensation so I wanted to treat
you this year.”
    “ Thanks so much, mum.” He
gave her a big hug.
    “ Have you heard about this
Friction thing?” she asked.
    Seckry laughed.
    “ Have I ever? It’s all
people talk about here. It sounds pretty fun. This guy I met who
lives just over in block seventeen, called Tenk, he’ll be really
jealous. He’s into it in a big way. He said he’s the best player in
this district.”
    “ Did he now? Well I’m sure
my boy will give him a run for his money.”
    Seckry smiled. “Maybe. I better learn the
rules first, though.”
    Seckry finished his breakfast and Leena
appeared, looking flustered.
    “ I’ve lost a contact lens.
Happy birthday, by the way.”
    “ Thanks, sis.”
    Leena threw him a present and began searching
the units.
    As Seckry unwrapped it he began to guess what
the present was.
    “ A travel water purifier,
how did you know?” Seckry said.
    Coralle rolled her eyes.
    Seckry looked at his watch. He still had ten
minutes before he was going to meet Tenk. He stifled a big
yawn.
    “ Get much sleep?” his mum
asked, noticing his contorting face.
    “ Not really. There was a
woman singing out in the square last night. It woke me
up.”
    “ Ah, that must have been Mrs
Plum,” his mum sighed. “It’s really sad what happened to her. They
say she’s out there singing all the time. Singing the same
song.”
    “ What happened to her?”
Seckry asked. “I thought she was a ghost at first, sitting there in
that nightgown.”
    “ There is no such thing as
ghosts,” Leena said sharply, now throwing cushions everywhere and
trembling with frustration.
    “ Well, I was told that her
five year old boy, Danney, was abducted from her home about