Going Country
2020, 16 minutes
A teenage girl pursues her missing friend into the dangerous world of 'county lines' drug trafficking and child exploitation in the isolated East Midlands fens.
Fifteen-year-old Aahna travels by train across the bleak Lincolnshire fens. Collected from a station in the middle of nowhere by Matthias (30s, Bulgarian), she's driven to abandoned farmland to deliver drugs hidden in her backpack. Jonah, a manipulative, charismatic trafficker, takes a shine to Aahna but she sees the dangers of this world clearly. An older bloke leaving a caravan doing up his flies confirms her suspicions of what else goes on here, and a new determination settles in Aahna's eyes. Aahna sneaks away to the caravan, revealing her true motivation - not just to deliver drugs, but to search for someone. Aahna finds an emaciated, drug-addled girl in the caravan. It's her best friend, Beth. Desperate, Aahna tries to wake Beth - only to be seized by Matthias. He drags her away, but as Aahna struggles, Jonah notices the commotion. Matthias protects Aahna, bundling her into the car. All Aahna can do is stare at Jonah with desperate hate. Aahna is inconsolable. There is nothing she can do - and now she is part of this world as well. At the station, Matthias speaks unexpectedly. She'll see her friend next time. It's enough to make Aahna realise she has to keep going. She has to come back. She will come back and for now, that hope has to be enough.
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