Missing Presumed Missing by Paul Harris

Author:Paul Harris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
Published: 2022-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

‘Oh, Michael, you’re back! I thought you’d be out longer. Is everything all right with your friends?’

‘Yeah, we just went for a walk.’

I spy Uncle Steven reading the newspaper by the fire.

Mum fixes her eyes on my shoes.

‘Look at your muddy shoes! Where have you been? Leave them by the door. I’ve spent the whole morning cleaning the house, and look what you’ve done. For goodness’ sake, you wear those for school. Where have you been to get them so dirty?’

Uncle Steven throws me a quizzical glance, before returning to his newspaper.

I mumble something about being sorry, and turn around so she can’t get another good look at the black leather layered in mud.

She suddenly mellows. ‘Still, if you’ve been somewhere nice, I don’t suppose it really matters.’

I slip off my shoes and leave them on the mat by the door.

My corduroy coat is soaked, and I hang it behind the front door, flinging my jumper over the warm radiator.

Mum grabs my jumper and grubby jeans, and scurries upstairs with more dirty washing.

‘So, what has Sherlock discovered today?’ Uncle Steven says quietly.

‘Oh, nothing much,’ I say, unable to hide my disappointment. ‘But I think our history teacher knows about Jonty.’

‘Here, I did a bit of digging around.’ Uncle Steven opens his laptop and scrolls down to show me various links about missing children and Spinney Wood.

‘It appears there’s a connection between Spinney Wood, an ancient burial site and missing children,’ he says, tapping his nose.

‘I know,’ I reply, keeping my voice low. I glance upstairs and move closer to Uncle Steven.

‘But we found nothing.’

Suddenly Uncle Steven’s arm springs backwards and flies into my face.

‘Ouch!’ I say, grimacing.

‘Sorry, you okay? Afraid it’s happening more often lately,’ he says glumly.

‘Yeah, fine,’ I say, feeling my mouth. ‘You all right?’

‘Can’t complain,’ he says with a deadpan face, then grins.

‘No good complaining anyway.’ I carry the joke through.

I can hear Mum coming back down the stairs.

‘Keep us up to speed, maestro, eh?’ Uncle Steven winks.

‘Will do!’ I shoot past Mum and dash upstairs to the bathroom.

Time for a warm bath. I fish out a fresh pair of pants, a clean top, and jeans from the bedroom drawer.

A bath is safe.

The sound of running water drowns out any voices, and I’ve taken everything off that I wore in the woods. I can start again and things will be the same. Back to normal. Tea will be at five o’clock.

Dad will be home by then, and he’ll chat about the game. I expect City will win.

I relax in the warm soapy suds and shut my eyes, drifting off listening to my music. I can be anywhere in my head. I don’t have to worry about doing drama on Monday, or playing silly games like ‘Kerplunk’.

It’s nice and cosy. The bubbles block everything out. I can carry on like this. Nothing has changed. Mole will be fine.

Spaghetti bolognese for tea. I’m starving. Although at the weekends I’m usually hungrier, especially as the day seems to drag a bit.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.