Chapter 7
SADIE
Twenty Years Ago…
I cling to Taylor’s hand as she leads me up some metal stairs.
She’s so big and strong and she always makes everything okay.
Even when Daddy is angry. But Daddy’s not here to be angry now.
He’s been gone for so many sleeps and my tummy is angry.
It growls real loud and Taylor turns to smile down at me.
‘Nearly there, okay?’
I nod, my mouth watering for the fish and chips she’s promised. But I don’t understand why we’ve come this way. The lady handing out food is at the front of the red-brick building and we’re sneaking up the steps round back…
She raps on the peeling blue door at the top and it swings open. A boy about Taylor’s age appears. Glasses shoved into his messy hair, a big smile, and eyes as green as the dino teddy clutched in my hand. I find myself smiling with him.
‘Theo, this is my little sister, Mercedes. Sadie, this is my friend, Theo.’
‘Hey,’ he says to me, his smile softening. ‘You hungry?’
I nod so much, I feel like my head’s gonna fall off, and he laughs.
‘Come on then.’
We head inside. The hallway is dark and gloomy, but as we pass through to the living room, everything brightens. I don’t know if it’s the light coming through one big window, or the food teasing at my nose, but things feel better already.
‘Mum gave us a selection,’ Theo says, walking up to the coffee table and grabbing a paper-wrapped package off the top of a stack. He peels it open. The hot, yummy scent building as he hands it to me. ‘These are the best fish and chips in all of Hackney.’
My eyes bug out over the food mountain and Dino falls to the floor forgotten.
‘Thanks, Theo,’ Taylor says for me as I start tucking in as fast as I can, eyes bouncing between the food and Theo. ‘She doesn’t speak much.’
‘Neither do I, to be fair.’
He gives me a wink and I feel my tummy flip over.
I like Theo. I like him a lot.