Read Online Hostage by Karen Tayleur - Free Book Online Page A

Amanda’s. She’ll let me live with her.’
    ‘You can’t live with Amanda.’
    ‘Her mum will let me. She likes me. I could sleep on the floor in Amanda’s room.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Mum. The she tucked her hair back behind her ears and touched my cheek.
    ‘Amanda is my BFFL—’
    ‘You’ll make another friend. Hand me that box—’
    I grabbed the box and threw it at her head. She didn’t even bother to duck and it bounced off her. ‘I hate you,’ I said. ‘I don’t want another friend. Just because you don’t have any friends. No one likes you—’
    Car headlights swept the living room in a wide arc and we both froze. They hung for a moment spotlighting us. It reminded me of night adventures I’d had with Mum’s friend, Craig. We hadn’t seen him for a little while. Craig was into shooting things.
    The lights finally moved on down the road and Mum grabbed an empty box and scraped everything from the coffee table into it.
    ‘What about Bluey? What about George?’ I asked.
    But even as I asked I was packing my bag. My breath was coming in bursts as I ran to the bedroom, grabbed my shoes and stuffed them back into the case. I grabbed hair ties from the bathroom and socks from under my bed and my book that I’d only half-finished. I pushed my memory tin into the front pocket. Then I pulled up the zips so they met in the middle.
    It hurt to be leaving my best friend behind so I stuffed that feeling down, past the hair ties and my favourite pair of jeans and the odd socks and my dressing gown without the cord. I stuffed it down so far that I couldn’t feel it anymore.

    Dear Ms McCain

    I have made several attempts over the past few weeks to contact you on your business hours number, but to no avail. Perhaps we have an incorrect number listed on our file?

    As per our discussion re: Tully’s ‘non-verbal’ condition, I would like to report that there has been no improvement, either in the classroom or the playground. Tully pays attention in class and her work is of a high standard, however relations between her and her peers are strained. Ms Forbes, her teacher, has suggested that Tully see a school counsellor and I think this would be an excellent way forward at this juncture.

    I would like to set up a meeting with you, Ms Forbes, the school counsellor and myself at your earliest possible convenience. Please understand that your daughter’s welfare is at the heart of our concern.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Yours sincerely

    Rob Josef

    Assistant School Principal

22
    Tully’s Story
    There was a time before Amanda when I didn’t speak at all. That time after Mum’s friend, Craig, came visiting at Christmas. Anyway, the school I was at made Mum take me to a doctor. I’d stopped talking but it took them a while to work out I wasn’t looking for attention. In fact, I was trying to disappear into nothingness. The doctors called it something—selective mutism. I don’t know why they made it sound so fancy. I just didn’t want to talk, so I didn’t. They said it had nothing to do with what happened, but Mum blamed Craig anyway.
    We moved twice during that time, but I was always waiting for Craig to come to the front door and take me for a ride. I didn’t want to go for a ride with him again. Mum said I didn’t have to, but she didn’t stop him last time so I didn’t believe her.
    School was hard. The first school was okay but the next school was small and it was harder to blend into the wall. We had composite grades, little kids in with big kids. The little kids were okay and let me be, but the bigger kids tried everything they could to make me talk. They tried bribing me. When that didn’t work they tried hurting me. They pinched me whenever they passed my desk. They would stand on my feet when we lined up for assembly. Hid my ruler. Stole my lunch.
    In my head I would yell at them. I would scream so high that glass shattered. I would roar so loud that it swept