When the Lonely Walk by Abi Payton

Author:Abi Payton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YA
Publisher: The Book Guild
Published: 2023-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

19

As I watch Maeve run away from me, my first instinct is to yell her name after her; but I stop myself at the last moment. I don’t need to draw attention to myself right now, and anyway, I feel bitterly sure that she isn’t going to stop and come back. For some reason – for whatever reason – she wants to take me to Birnbeck Pier, and she isn’t going to give up. This I know for certain.

I have no option but to follow her. I’m exhausted, and I’m frustrated, but I can’t just let her go. I’m not letting her go back to her parents and I can’t let her run around Weston-super-Mare alone. It’s not the safest of places and I can’t run the risk that some drunk guy will grab her. And she’s naïve too. She’s too trusting. If I leave her, now, and do what I planned, then she will probably get hurt. I can’t have that on my conscience. I can’t let that be my legacy.

And even more… there’s a part of me that can’t quite just abandon her yet. Maeve maybe trusts too easily, but the only other thing I’m sure of is that she trusts me. I can’t just leave her like Zoe left me.

I sigh deeply, gritting my teeth. It’s probably best that I don’t let her get too much of a head start. At least I know where she’s headed to – but it isn’t lost on me that she doesn’t have a clue how to get there. I don’t know which roads she’s going to take. What’s more, I don’t know if she’s ever going to get to Birnbeck Pier. It’s not guaranteed that she’ll find it when all she’s really doing is running through streets vaguely near it.

So, with only a minimal noise of frustration, I follow her. Truth be told, I’m furious that she’s able to control me like this. What does it matter to her if I hurt myself? She isn’t going to see me after tonight anyway. And I was going to see her to safety first. Things were going to be fine for her.

What did happen to her neck?

I shake that thought away, focusing instead on following her. As pretty a girl as Maeve is, she’s on the bigger side – I hate to think it, but surely she can’t run that fast. I’m slimmer, quite possibly slightly fitter – I must be able to catch her up without too much of a fight?

But half an hour later, I realise that I’ve been over-optimistic – which isn’t something that happens often for me (as Katy loves to remind me). As it turns out, it has been quite easy for Maeve to lose me completely. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do about this. I try for a few minutes more to work out which way she has gone, but it quickly becomes apparent that there’s not much I can do.

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