Close Your Eyes by Darren O'Sullivan

Author:Darren O'Sullivan [O'Sullivan, Darren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008277864
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Rachael

The Garage

3rd January 2018, 2.18 p.m.

I must have dozed off again because, for a moment, I thought I was at home in my bed. Then I remembered the nightmare we were in and looked at Thomas. His body was barely visible under the mound of mouldy blankets, his cheeks red through cold. I rubbed my hands together to warm them and then placed them under the covers on his back. It was warm. The blankets may well be dirty, but they were doing their job. Sometimes, life had to be measured by the small victories. Yes, we were in danger, but right now Tom was asleep and warm. Sometimes the small things are all we have.

I, however, was cold, so cold my body ached. I looked to the door and thought I heard someone on the other side. I looked at Tom and was about to wake him and tell him to hide but the noise went. Getting up, I went to the furthest corner of the room to him, pulled down my pyjama bottoms and squatted, my elbows resting on my knees, my head in my hands. Once I finished weeing I looked up and Tom was looking at me, sleepy eyed and pale. I smiled and he smiled back.

‘Mummy, I need to go too.’

‘Come over here then, darling.’

‘But my toilet is full,’ he said, pointing at the bottle he had used a few times and completely filled.

‘It’s okay. Come and wee on the wall.’

‘But I only not wee in a toilet when I’m camping with Daddy.’

‘Tom, darling, the rules are different in the story. You can wee right here against the wall.’

Tom came and stood next to me and went to the toilet, he tried to write his name on the wall but didn’t quite finish the M.

‘Did Daddy teach you to do that?’

‘Yes.’

I laughed. ‘Remind me to have a word with him when we see him.’

‘Is he in trouble?’ He looked so concerned that he had told on his dad.

‘No of course not. I just want him to teach me.’

‘That’s silly, Mummy, you can’t learn it,’ he said laughing.

‘Oh, is it just for boys?’

‘Yes, Mummy.’

‘Is it because I don’t have a willy?’

Tom exploded into laughter, his voice bouncing off the walls, echoing back his joy. He laughed so hard he fell and landed in my arms. I held him tight and tickled under his chin until he wriggled himself free. Then we played the game again to get the blood flowing in his body. How many steps to the door? How many to the wall? He got them right every time. I was so proud.

Behind us the door squeaked again. Tom quickly jumped off my lap and crawled under the bed. I grabbed a blanket and pulled it down, stuffing it under the bed to shield him, and he moved the top so he could see the lamp and the door.

It opened quickly, startling me. I hoped of the three I now knew held us, it was The Bear, but I was expecting the tattooed man.

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