The Couple Upstairs: An addictive psychological thriller with a gripping twist by Shalini Boland

Author:Shalini Boland [Boland, Shalini]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838881498
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2021-09-12T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

THEN

The bus lurches away from the pavement while I’m still swaying along the aisle to find a seat. There are plenty available, but most kids have blocked them with their bags, saving them for their friends who’ll get on at stops further along the route to school. No one has ever saved a seat for me. Of course, my brother disowns me the second he steps on the bus. But I don’t care any more because everything has flipped around.

Home life is miserable. Mum barely speaks to me and on the rare occasions my brother comes out of his room, he’s either moody or sarcastic. So I also find myself hiding away in my room. It’s the only place where I can relax. Where I can close my eyes and picture sunny days where the four of us used to be connected and happy. Where I felt secure and cherished. Instead of the reality of now – three people living alongside one another without sharing anything. Each locked in our own private misery. The one person who held us together, now gone.

I wonder what it would be like if Mum was warm towards me. If she was a hugger, a kisser, a talker. Rather than saying nothing, and then snapping. I know she’s lost her husband, but I can’t forgive her coldness. I see her cast loving glances towards my brother. When did she stop sending them to me?

In contrast, school has become the place I can’t wait to be. Each morning, even as I navigate the social minefield of the school bus, there’s a flutter of anticipation in my stomach. Even my family has noticed that I’m making more effort over my appearance. Not that they ever compliment me on it. No. Instead I get comments like: ‘Who are you making such an effort for?’ and ‘I don’t know why you’re bothering.’

The reason for this anticipation is Adam. We hang out every day now. At break and at lunch. Annoyingly he lives in Highcliffe, which is just a short walk away from school, whereas I have to get the bus all the way back to Friars Cliff. I would love it if we got to travel to and from school together, rather than having to endure the daily torture of the bus. I’d prefer to sit on my own, but I’m usually forced to sit next to the other social outcasts, who I don’t get along with either.

Today, the only seat available to me is next to Matthew Granger, who has terrible dandruff and stinks of BO. Of course I feel a bit sorry for him, but the smell is terrible. I worry that it will permeate my hair and clothes so I angle myself away and perch right on the edge of the seat, daydreaming about Adam.

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