The Hush by Sara Foster

Author:Sara Foster [Foster, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

*

8.45 am

There’s a lot Lainey wants to tell Emma as they walk to school together for the assembly, but it’s a jumble of thoughts and emotions that she can’t organise into sentences, so the journey ends up a quiet one.

The morning so far has been surreal. She’d woken to find the circumstances of the prime minister’s death being analysed on TV, and Geraldine Fox sitting in her kitchen telling her about plane tickets and travel arrangements while her mother watched on in silence. If all went to plan, she’d be leaving home after lunch, and be in another country by the end of the day.

Emma had been keen for Lainey to come straight home with her after the assembly, but Geraldine had said they should feign normality for as long as possible. Lainey had agreed, although her reasons are more about seeing Sereena and pretending this isn’t happening.

Here and now, everything seems so ordinary. There are cars and buses and cyclists on the roads. Mums in yoga pants push prams and power-walk past ambling pensioners who stop to chat or let their dogs sniff at flowers. It’s only as she passes close to people that Lainey realises the same thing is happening over and over: a momentary eye contact full of wariness and confusion. A shared question, with no answer.

What happens now?

At school, the queue for health checks is almost out the gate, and inside the main hall is more crowded than Lainey has ever seen it. There are hundreds of chairs set out, and all are taken, leaving latecomers to lean against walls or sit on the floor. There’s a distinctive, brooding atmosphere, and everyone looks drawn and anxious. Parents have their arms around teenage children, who normally wouldn’t be seen dead being hugged. Teachers are positioned like sentries, spaced out around the hall.

Lainey and Emma find a spot under a portrait of a headmaster from the 1960s in mortarboard and gown, who stares stoically into the distance. Katie is up ahead, flanked by her parents, while Lexie hovers to one side with her dad and younger sister. Dylan is sitting near the front, and Mr Bailey leans against a wall close to his son, hands in his jeans pockets, watching the room.

Sereena rushes over to give Lainey a hug, with Meena close behind. ‘What happened last night?’ Sereena asks as they embrace. ‘Is there a plan?’

Lainey nods, and sees Meena and Emma exchange glances.

‘Good,’ Sereena says, squeezing Lainey’s hand.

Before they can talk further, Mrs Goodchild takes to the dais, wearing a black dress offset with a string of white pearls. ‘Thank you all for coming,’ she says to them, her voice tremulous. ‘I know we’re all in terrible shock after the tragic events of last night, and so I feel it’s important to assure you that while the country navigates these uncharted waters, your children are safe here.

‘We also have some new emergency measures during this period of transition. For the time being, all students are to sign

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