THE BOY WHO WASN'T THERE_a supernatural short story by Emma Clapperton

Author:Emma Clapperton [Clapperton, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

(1992)

Tommy stood at the top of the hill, watching his mother as she was dragged kicking and screaming from the pub. Andy let go of her and she staggered, almost losing her balance. Why couldn’t his mother be like everybody else’s? Why did she have to be such an embarrassment to him and his sister? It was bad enough their dad was dead and the events leading up to his death had just made things worse. It was something he and Louisa should never have been exposed to.

His eyes burned with anger and hurt as he listened to her scream at passers-by in the street. No matter what she did, there was always someone else to blame. As Tommy was becoming older and had been more like a parent to Louisa than Rita. The situation he faced couldn’t have been clearer, Rita was a drunk and the only thing she cared about was where her next bottle was coming from. It was clear she had no real clue about where her children were and even if she realised that Tommy hadn’t been going to school, he was certain she wouldn’t really care.

His mind wandered off as he watched his mother disgrace herself in the street, as she always did when she was drunk or needed a drink. Louisa, his young sister, who didn’t comprehend the severity of their situation. He still had unconditional love for their mother. Louisa barely remembered their father, which Tommy regarded as a good thing. The relationship between his parents had been strained, to say the least.

‘Shouldn’t you be at school, young man?’ His thoughts were interrupted by a voice. Looking up, he saw his next door neighbour.

‘I’m not at school today. Sick.’ He answered quickly.

‘Really?’ The man asked.

‘No, not really.’ Tommy sighed, glaring down at his mother as she stumbled her way along the street being held up by Andy.

‘You should get to school before you get yourself into trouble. You’ll be missing out on important lessons, I should think.’ His tone was friendly. Tommy nodded.

The man moved away from Tommy and as he looked down the street at the pub, his mother was no longer in his sights.

I can’t let her do this to us anymore. I have to protect Louisa.

Tommy turned headed towards the pub and stood outside, waiting for his great uncle to appear. No one crossed the door for a long time. It was as if whoever went inside never came back out again. And he wondered what was so appealing to sit inside a dark and dingy room and nurse a pint of beer.

The door crashed against the wall behind it as Tommy’s great uncle Willie came stumbling out. He lit a cigarette and as he sucked the poison into his body, he eyed Tommy standing by the door.

‘What you doing here boy?’ He said as he exhaled, a cloud of smoke swirling into the air.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders.

‘Well, you aren’t hanging around here for the fun of it,

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