Read Online Face by Benjamin Zephaniah - Free Book Online

the car, son.’
    â€˜You mean Apache, I don’t really know him.’
    â€˜Well, he was lucky. He got away with a few bruises, but he has been to court and I am informed that he is now in youth custody. And Peter Mosley?’
    â€˜Yeah, I know him,’ Martin replied.
    Dr Owens paused. ‘How well?’
    â€˜I don’t know him that well. He used to go the same school as me. He hangs around the Boleyn Estate.’
    Dr Owens lowered her voice. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Martin, but Peter Mosley died from his injuries after going through the front windscreen.’
    Martin went silent. There was only a small part of him that mourned Pete’s passing. He was a person he knew very little, a person who he had never had much respect for. What had stunned Martin into silence was the realisation of how close
he
had been to death. He looked at his parents and for the first time in his life, he really wanted to hold them and tell them how much he loved them. He looked at his surroundings. He looked at his hands. He was grateful for his existence, but he couldn’t find words to express how he felt.
    Turning back to his parents, he asked, ‘Pete’s mom and dad, do they know?’
    â€˜Do you know his mom and dad, son?’ his father asked.
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜No one does, son.’
    â€˜But Dad, he must have a mom and dad somewhere.’
    â€˜No one knows, son, don’t let it worry you.’
    Soon Martin’s parents and Dr Owens left, leaving Martin to take in the news he had just received. He spent the next two hours sitting silently listening to his breathing and his heartbeat. The pain mattered very little now. Now he saw himself as lucky, lucky to be alive. He had very little love for Pete Mosley but he could not get his face out of his mind now.
And what about Peter’s parents,
he thought.
He must have parents, someone must love him
. Again Martin began to think at a frantic pace.
I should never have gone to that club … we should have never went through that estate … I should never have got in that car … I should have known it was stolen. It’s all my fault, I persuaded Mark to get into that car.
Martin thought so much that he got a headache, and in his upright position he hung his head and began to fall asleep. Even as he was falling asleep, he was still asking questions.
Why didn’t I go with my instincts and not get in that car? … Why didn’t I go with Matthew? … Why didn’t I?
    â€˜Martin, are you awake?’
    The interruption seemed to echo around his head.It was Dr Owens with somebody else, a man wearing a black leather jacket and jeans.
    â€˜Martin, can we talk to you?’ the doctor continued.
    â€˜Yeah, OK.’ Martin didn’t mean it, he would have preferred to have been left alone, but he felt weak and he couldn’t say no.
    â€˜Martin, this is Detective Inspector Byrd. He needs to speak to you about the accident. He won’t be long. This is not an interrogation and I won’t be leaving the room. Can you manage that?’
    â€˜Yes, I can.’
    â€˜OK.’ Dr Owens went and stood by the door as if guarding the entrance and DI Byrd sat on the chair next to the bed.
    â€˜Now, Martin, I realise that you have been through a lot over the last few days. Soon I am going to have to take a statement from you but for now I just need a couple of answers – OK?’
    â€˜OK.’
    â€˜How well do you know Graham Fisher, or Apache as he was also known?’
    â€˜I don’t know him. The night of the crash was when I met him.’
    â€˜Did you get on with him?’
    â€˜I hardly spoke to him, he’s a nutter.’
    â€˜How do you know he was a nutter?’
    â€˜Just the way he was acting and driving – he wasn’t listening to anyone.’
    â€˜Did he try and sell you anything?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Did you see him throw anything