Chapter 4
Four
Morgan
‘Stupid slippers.’ I kick them into the corner of my stupid cupboard, into a pile of my stupid clothes and God-I-hate-my-life.
My stupid hair. This cupboard is really getting me down, and being away from Mai and my other friends is such a chore.
My mum doesn’t get it, and the arguments that Mum and Dad were having a few weeks ago were off the scale, and now we get here and we’re all like, hey, happy families, as we paint our big freaking smiles across our faces.
I am not happy. I miss my life and my school.
It’s Saturday and I’m dreading starting somewhere new on Monday.
I grab my washbag and charge into the bathroom.
This cramped room wouldn’t even feel like a luxury space in a leaky one-hundred-year-old caravan and it stinks of…
I don’t know what…maybe old, if that’s a thing.
I overhear Mum’s voice through the door, and Cora is crying again.
Mum’s upset about something but every time I get a hint of what that might be, she whispers.
Mum’s face dropped when she saw that cutesy little hamper by the door, but I thought it was sweet and I think I know who left it there.
If I’m honest, I’m hoping to nab the biscuits because there’s nothing nice to eat in the cupboard.
We seem to have nothing but food that needs cooking and yucky marmalade.
My cheeks burn slightly as I think of the last few minutes.
It was cold outside and I didn’t mean to walk away from the house, but the signal around here stinks.
That bit of path by the woods was the perfect place.
I got all of three bars but it was enough for me to talk to Mai, and I also saw the boy, the one who looks to be about my age.
As I walked around holding the phone in the air, I saw him clearing snow off a drive.
It was good talking to Mai. She filled me in on how everyone was doing and how much they all miss me. My eyes water up. Stop – I can’t cry.
I’m not sure I can survive here, in the wilderness, alone, which is why I need to go out there and find the boy. I brush my teeth and wash.
As I step out of the bathroom, Mum and Dad go quiet and stare at me. ‘Can you take Cora for a minute?’ Mum asks.
I hold my arms out and my sister walks towards me with her hands up. Snot falls from under her nose, hitting her top lip. I don’t want that anywhere near me, so I decline her gestures for a pick up.
‘Mog,’ Cora calls. It’s cute and melts my normally dark heart. She can’t say Morgan so I’m Mog, which I like. It’s her special name for me.
‘I was hoping to go out in a minute, just for a walk around the block. Can I use your phone, Mum?’
Mum frowns. ‘I need it at the moment. Maybe later. Actually, I could use some help. We still have things in boxes downstairs that need bringing up and unpacking.’
‘I’ll help this afternoon.’ I want to go out and see if the boy is still there. He’d only just started shovelling snow off a drive, so if I hurry, I can catch him. Maybe I can ask what school is like around here.
‘But—’
‘Honey, it might be nice for her to go out and get her bearings. We should do the same.’ My dad has saved the moment.
Mum frowns. She isn’t happy with what he said, but I am.
I take Cora into my cupboard, where I start to throw my clothes everywhere in an attempt to find my super-wide jeans and my black slashed jumper.
Cora is already wiping her nose with her hands, and she’s reaching for my pyjamas.
I snatch them from her, and she starts to yell the room down.
There they are. I see my favourite clothes under my pyjamas.
Soon, I’m dressed but my sister is sobbing her heart out. I hold her sticky hand.
‘Come on, Cora, let’s take you back to Mummy.’ I don’t like to see her cry but I really need to get out. This apartment is making me claustrophobic. There’s no room. The house around it feels like a big old void, like a bubble around the apartment that’s full of piles of clutter.
I open my door and lead Cora back to Mum. ‘See you in a bit.’ I snatch my long puffy coat from the back of the settee.
‘Don’t be long,’ Dad says.
‘Don’t go into the woods. Remember what I told you. They’re dangerous and if I find out you’ve been near them again, you’ll be grounded.’ Mum picks Cora up, and she starts wiping Cora’s nose.
I hurry to the door and make a dash for it like I’m racing Mo Farah.
It’s only now I realise that my heart was humming in there and now in the empty hallways and stairwell of the house, all I hear is creaking coming from the loft above and then almost silence.
I shiver as my hearing latches onto what sounds like a heavy stomp coming from the other side of the house followed by a weird clunk.
Mum and Dad are in the apartment. I’m alone here.
I wonder if it’s a rat. It would have to be a massive rat.
A flapping bird…that clunks? That doesn’t make sense.
A ghost? I freeze and wait to see if I hear it again, then there’s a scrape so I run as fast as I can out of this scary house where Great-Aunt Dorette died.