The Perfect Family: A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist by Lorna Dounaeva

Author:Lorna Dounaeva [Dounaeva, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkubator Books
Published: 2022-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

Anna buried her face under the pillow until Victoria marched in and switched on the light.

“Time to get up,” she barked. “You’ve got twenty minutes to get dressed and eat your breakfast.”

Anna sat up wearily.

“Mum, I don’t feel too good . . .”

She made herself look as feeble as possible. Winning a day off wasn’t easy with Victoria. She’d sent her in with tonsillitis last year, only for the school to send her straight home.

Victoria regarded her coolly. “I expect you’ve got a bad head, have you?”

“And my stomach . . .”

Victoria nodded, as though she’d expected this. “I think we both drank a bit too much wine last night,” she said.

Come to think of it, her mother did look a little pale.

“I don’t want to be sick at school.”

“No, I don’t suppose you do.”

Victoria trotted off without another word. Anna heard her helping Joey into his uniform. Joey ought to be more than capable of getting himself dressed for school but Victoria often gave him a helping hand. She seemed to think this was totally normal, but Anna found it weird. She didn’t know why Joey didn’t just get on with it. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than still being dressed by her mother.

Anna slept until she was woken again by the sound of vacuuming. How the hell could her mother vacuum when she was hung-over? What was wrong with the woman? She checked her phone and found an irate message from Maddie, panicking because she needed to copy her homework. She didn’t know why Maddie had to make such a drama of everything. She wished fervently that they could switch places. Her problems were nothing compared to the mess Anna was dealing with.

Her mum had finally finished vacuuming. She grabbed her phone and headed downstairs. Victoria insisted she charge it on the telephone table, no doubt so she could read her texts. She plugged it in and made her way to the kitchen to raid the fridge.

Victoria was arranging a vase of flowers on the kitchen table.

“Feeling a little better?”

“A little,” Anna conceded, piling her plate high with bread, ham and cheese.

“Well, I’ve got a student coming in half an hour, so stay upstairs please.”

So that explained the vacuuming. Her mother rarely vacuumed upstairs because no one ever went up there. But if they were having a guest of any sort, the downstairs had to look like a show home. They even had an old grandfather clock in the hallway – Victoria liked to tell an elaborate story about how it had been her great grandfather’s but Anna knew for a fact that none of their family had two pennies to rub together, much less a priceless antique. She lied constantly, her mum, telling people whatever she thought they wanted to hear. No wonder Joey was so messed up.

Joey. All at once, she remembered his startled eyes.

“Mum, did you know Joey had a nightmare last night?”

“Did he?”

“Yes, it was about a deer. I think he must still be upset about the accident.

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