The Bombs That Brought Us Together by Brian Conaghan

Author:Brian Conaghan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781408855751
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-03-30T04:00:00+00:00

MENTAL MEMO: NOW THE DARK SIDE HAS BEEN ENTERED IT’S VITAL TO FIND THE DOOR THAT LEADS STRAIGHT OUT OF IT. IF NOT, MUM WILL DESTROY ME.

20

Storm Warning

Six bullets make a round. I fired two of them at the target.

Five aims to the head: two hit.

Four aims to the heart: one hit.

Two aims to the lady garden: two hits.

One aim to the gut: miss.

Let’s just say if that target had been a real woman she’d have been lying on a slab by now. In all the books I’d read about men blowing someone’s brains out, all the movies I’d seen with characters banging away at each other in a final shootout and, all that time, when I think about it now, I never knew how thrilling it would be. I couldn’t tell how much fun they were having. I do now. It gave me a massive inside tingle. I didn’t tell The Big Man that firing the gun gave me goosebumps every time I pulled the trigger; I didn’t want him to know how much I liked it. And I did. I really did. But you never know what people might do with that information; he could’ve had me down as this young sharpshooter and before you can say READY-AIM-FIRE I’d be roaming the streets of Little Town in search of legitimate targets.

The drive back from the coal mine was blanket-free. Window open. Front seat. Thankfully my lungs were reintroduced to my body. On that journey I kept telling myself that Pav mustn’t know. He mustn’t have a clue about any of it. Even though the shed was his domain as well, I knew he’d go ballistic.

Before I dragged one of the chairs to the other side of the shed and pulled a board loose from the floor and placed the steel carefully underneath until I couldn’t see it, I held the thing up towards my eye and peered through the aim groove. I so wanted to pull that trigger again. Just one more time. The gun was well hidden now: we had both reached a dark side.

Sheds are great things; they’re so versatile. When Erin F comes to the shed there’ll be no faffing about. With my fifteenth birthday looming I’m going to have a whopper of a party. It’s going to be an animal. It’s going to be topper. Erin F and me in a cramped space celebrating my birthday.

Pav will be there too!

My tactic is to play it cool, show her the sharp side of Charlie Law. My sensitive side. Then, maybe …

Pav will be there too!

Hold hands first … then go for a cuddle … then, maybe …

PAV WILL BE THERE TOO!

I hate having the feeling of wishing Pav would get a bad flu in time for my party.

Maybe just a twenty-four-hour flu would do.

Maybe an obstacle put in place.

It’s amazing the things that go through your head in times of stress.

Maybe I could just shoot him?

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