Read Online Born Different by Faye Aitken-Smith - Free Book Online Page A

his dad and their old life, which included Johnny.
    Johnny was
supposed to live with his mum but he had invariably been left at
his dad’s, who had had to move into a poky little flat after the
divorce. Johnny’s mum had never come to pick him up when she was
supposed to, she’d be hours late or cancel at the last minute or
just not turn up at all. And little Johnny would have been waiting
by the front door, all ready with his overnight bag packed, excited
about seeing his mummy, just to be told that she’d called and she
was actually in Paris for the week shopping down the Champs Elysee
or something like that. Stuck for another week in Dubai, in the
Swiss Alps; somewhere nicer than here. Somewhere having more fun,
having a better time.
    Johnny’s mum
was always out or away, staying in fancy hotels, holidaying on the
beach in California or other exotic locations, first class all the
way. This millionaire had come along and taken Johnny’s mum away
and she had gone without so much as a backwards glance at him. She
bought Johnny expensive stuff, or rather gave him stuff that her
new husband had got through his business; all state of the art
Apple laptops and iPhones. Johnny got a lot of his gear that was
for sale from this very source.
    Johnny had
realised early on that these things he was given had a good resale
price and as they had no sentimental attachment to him, as he
wasn’t going to need half a dozen of the same thing, it all made
sense. Because that’s what she did, she would give him the same
thing after another trip, another ‘shut up’ present. Not a ‘guilt
present’ as she felt no guilt, but it would be the same thing he
already had. It was like she had just gone to the store cupboard
full of the same item and just picked him out another one. It meant
nothing when chosen and given like that. A present given in this
way doesn’t delight even the most grateful of receivers.
    The realisation
that this so-called gift was something he might be able to get a
couple of hundred quid for, eased the pain a little. And Johnny
loved his mum, he would not hear a bad word said against her and he
missed her really badly but she was gone. Like a death without a
death, a loss without a proper reason to grieve and in some ways
worse because she had chosen a man and money and a lifestyle over
him. And it wasn’t something that you could label, she hadn’t
chosen drugs, she hadn’t beaten him, she had not died or
permanently run off. And, to the outside world, how can you
possibly be neglected if you got such expensive gifts?
    Whether he
admitted it to himself or not, Johnny wanted to be like the object
of his mum’s desire, someone with so much money that it turned
heads, believing that money was so powerful it would even turn the
head of a mother away from her child. But this was a warped concept
of course, as not every woman is like that, even though Johnny’s
mum definitely was. Maybe deep down, Johnny thought that one day he
might even have enough money to buy his mum back.
    Johnny’s real
dad had been kind, talented but now he was broke, depressed, alone
and people just treated him like shit, especially Johnny’s mother,
so Johnny had done the sums and got his answer.
    Gradually,
almost without them even noticing it, Johnny had started employing
the others here and there. Johnny justified everything so well,
that at first they didn’t even notice the blurring lines as they
dipped into criminal activity. But now Johnny was playing with fire
big time. Johnny was always so calm and confident about his
wheeling and dealing, but the others weren’t, however much they
tried to pretend that they were, as they were all only too well
aware of the potential consequences.
    Gabe knew all
three of them well and he understood why they did the things that
they did and he felt compassion towards them. Gabe knew that they
had protected him from the worst of the bullying and in that
respect he owed them a lot. But Gabe felt