Numbers Book 2: The Chaos by Rachel Ward

Author:Rachel Ward [Rachel Ward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, David_James Mobilism.org
ISBN: 9780545242691
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2011-03-01T15:54:41+00:00

Chapter 38: Sarah

I came here with just my school bag. Now I have no idea how I’m going to pack for the two of us. I suppose all I really need is clothes, nappies and wipes. We’ll manage for everything else.

I don’t know where we’re going to go, just that we need to get away from here. I don’t have enough cash for a train ticket, maybe a coach. Perhaps Vinny would give me some. But I couldn’t ask – he’s done so much for us. Been a real friend.

Mia’s asleep as I gather up her things. I stop to look at her, with her mouth open, her arms flung up around her head. A flutter of panic starts to build in me. Will I cope on my own with her? What if I can’t find anywhere to stay? It’s stormy outside again, the glass is rattling in the window frames. I can’t just set out in that lot with nowhere to go and no-one to go to. Not with a baby.

I sink down onto the bed, not defeated yet, but suddenly realising the truth of my situation. I need to think ahead, I need to plan.

The storm’s so loud, I don’t hear the knock at the door for a while. At some point, I realise that there’s another sound on top of the rattling and creaking and groaning and I make my way downstairs. It’s not coming from the back – someone’s at the front door. No one ever comes to the front. I slide back the bolts, but there’s no key for the lock. The door won’t open.

I lean down and flip up the letter box.

‘Who is it?’

I can see a shiny patent belt wrapped tightly around the middle of someone’s coat. There’s a pause and then the someone bends down and there’s a chin level with the box.

‘My name’s Marie Southwell. I’m from Children’s Services.’

Shit!

‘What do you want?’

‘I want to talk to Sally Harrison. Is that you?’

For a split second I feel a flood of relief. Sally Harrison? It’s a mistake, wrong address. Then I remember that’s me, the me that checked in at the hospital.

‘You’ll have to come round the back, down the alleyway and into the yard. I’ll meet you.’

‘Okay.’

I let the letter box spring shut and race into the kitchen, snatching up some of the dirty plates and mugs, shoving them into a cupboard and slamming the door shut. The woman who appears in the back alley is windswept, but still smart, with black patent boots to match her shiny belt. She shows me her ID and I lead her into the house, all at once painfully aware of how it must look to an outsider. Grease and dirt on the ceiling, mouse droppings on the floor, the baseball bat leaning up against the wall.

‘Cup of tea?’ I ask, hoping to distract her, but her eyes are everywhere, taking it all in.

She smiles. ‘Yes please. Milk, no sugar.’

I’m all fingers and thumbs as I try to make the tea.

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