No True Echo by Gareth P. Jones

Author:Gareth P. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471404177
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: 2014-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

The Love of Heights

With Ruby’s jazz and the confusion in my head, I didn’t know how long the phone had been ringing by the time I heard it. I pushed the living room door shut and picked up the receiver. From the screaming and shouting on the other end, I knew it was Angus before he spoke.

‘Shut up! I’m on the phone,’ I heard him yell.

‘Mum, Angus told me to shut up,’ responded one of the twins.

‘Angus, please don’t tell your brother to shut up,’ shouted his mother.

‘Sorry, Eddie. It’s all gone mad here,’ said Angus. ‘Where were you today?’

‘Off sick,’ I said.

‘Off sick, sick?’ he responded. ‘Or, you know, sick sick?’

‘What sort of sick is it if you’re actually visiting someone who tells you he might be your father?’

‘I’m not sure there’s a word for that.’

‘Angus,’ I said, ‘you know how we make everything into a joke?’

‘Yes, I like that about us.’

‘What if it’s not?’

‘Are you all right, Eddie?’

I wanted to tell him everything I had learned about Maguire and Melody and the accident but I didn’t know how. Most of the time, Angus and I said things to make each other laugh. We didn’t talk about real stuff. If this even was real stuff.

‘I’m fine,’ I said.

‘Was it you I saw outside at lunchtime?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know.’ It was true. I didn’t know. Had I stood outside the school at lunchtime or had I been at school all day? My voice wavered as I said, ‘I think I might have gone mad.’

‘Didn’t that happen years ago?’ asked Angus. ‘Now, are you still up for the project tomorrow?’

‘What project?’

‘The Ten Top Challenge. The trees.’

‘Oh that. What’s the point?’

Angus didn’t reply immediately but when he did, he said, ‘You want to know the point? Tomorrow morning I’ll most probably be woken up by one of the twins throwing the other onto my face. After that, my day will involve screaming, punching, puking, lots of shouting and unfair blaming, then door slamming and, finally, more screaming.’

I laughed.

‘But once we get up that first tree, Eddie, there’s none of that. It’s just you and me. You know when you’re right up high and you realise it’s windier up there than it is down below and the branch is swinging back and forward? Great big swings and you just have to cling on until it stops? And you feel dizzy and terrified and just brilliant? I love that.’

‘I hate that,’ I said.

‘I love it because you’ve got no control over what happens but, at the same time, it’s up to you not to let go. Isn’t that the point of doing anything, to feel like that?’

‘I don’t know the point of anything. Remember, I’ve gone mad.’

‘Well, I’m completing this project whether you’re with me or not. These trees need climbing and I’m going to climb them. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?’

‘It’s going to rain tomorrow,’ I said.

‘It’s not supposed to. Hold on, someone’s shouting for me. I’M ON THE PHONE! Listen, Eddie, I’ve got to go.

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