One of Us Is Lying: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a brilliant twist by Shalini Boland

Author:Shalini Boland [Boland, Shalini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786819352
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-04-02T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Lying on the floor, she flicks idly through the magazine her friends brought round, but the pictures are a blur and the articles may as well be written in Chinese for all the sense they’re making. She hasn’t been out of the house for three days. She’s been holed up in her bedroom trying to forget about what happened. But it’s not working. The walls feel like they’re closing in and no matter how many times she brushes her teeth, she can still taste his sour mouth on hers. It makes her gag.

She closes the magazine and eases herself up onto her feet. Walks over to her dressing table and looks in the mirror at her thin face and limp hair. She needs to get out of here and breathe in some fresh air.

She tiptoes down the stairs, hoping to sidle out the front door without disturbing her mum. Because, since it happened, her mum has barely stopped crying. And it’s exhausting having to cope with that on top of everything else.

Too late.

‘Are you going out?’ Her mum comes out of the kitchen into the hall.

‘See you in a bit, Mum. Won’t be long.’

‘Shall I come with you?’

‘No, I’m just going for a walk.’

‘I think I should come with you. Hang on, let me get my bag.’

‘No!’ She says it a little too forcefully. ‘Sorry, I just want to be on my own for an hour or so.’

‘You’ve been on your own in your room for days. Why don’t you call one of your friends to go with you?’

‘I’ll be fine. I’ll be back soon.’ She makes her escape and jogs quickly away from the house before her mother has the chance to come after her.

Once she’s a couple of streets away, she slows to a walk and tries to catch her breath. Her body feels sluggish and weak. The jog has made her a little light-headed. She comes to the bus stop and sits on the empty bench for a moment, closing her eyes as the sun warms her face and the breeze ruffles her hair. She should get up and head down to the lake, but she doesn’t want to move. It feels nice to just sit here for a while.

‘Liar!’

Snapping open her eyes, her heart sinks as she sees a group of five or six teens walking down the street towards her. They’re chewing gum, their mouths working furiously. She recognises one of them as being a couple of years above her at school – Sally something or other. But she’s guessing that the one who called out is the girl with the dark hair who’s swaggering up to her now with an accusing scowl.

‘You know he’s been suspended, right?’ The dark-haired girl’s eyes bore into her own. ‘Because of you.’

‘I…’

‘It’s in the Gazette. Mr Lawson’s the best teacher in the whole school. I’ve got my exams next year and you’ve screwed my future up by being a lying bitch. You need to go to the police station and own up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.