Read Online The Boy in the Cemetery by Sebastian Gregory - Free Book Online Page A

walked out on him when he was two, leaving his mother to bring the boy up. His mother had a never-ending stream of boyfriends who did not have a positive effect on Michael. They mainly showed him how to take a beating and the value of hatred. He and Sarah would spend a lot of time together, each one daring the other into more and more elaborate acts of random violence.. Their reputation began to precede them and people soon learnt to avoid the Miller cousins. Today they had both come into school. Sarah was by far the larger of the two and held sway over her thinner, weaker cousin Michael. Sarah was heavyset from eating junk but also would be called big-boned. Her hand-me-down uniform stretched to contain her. Both cousins had long, jet black, grease-filled hair. Under her right eye Sarah had a home-made tattoo, which was supposed be a star but resembled a blue ink blob. Michael’s nose was disjointed from a past break, courtesy of his cousin in retaliation for his tattooing skills. The pair had made their way into the girl’s bathroom, safe in the knowledge that everyone was in class and they could smoke a joint or two without being disturbed. That was until Carrie Anne came in, crying. She was distraught and didn’t notice the cousins until she was washing her face and looking at herself, bleary-eyed, in the mirror. The cousins stared in disbelief, wide-eyed and with newly rolled drugs drooping from their mouths. But their disbelief only lasted for so long and Sarah Miller moved with a speed unexpected of someone her size. Before Carrie Anne realised what was happening, her face was being pushed up against the mirror and her hands held against her back.
    “What the frick are you doing in here, bitch?” Sarah whispered in Carrie Anne’s ear.
    “Careful, Sar, she may not be alone,” Michael added and leant against the stalls.
    Carrie Anne could not reply; her mouth was pushed up against the mirror with such force that she felt blood swelling in her mouth. She was utterly helpless and could only make disoriented moans as pleas for help. However, it was then that both her teacher and headmaster followed Carrie Anne into the bathroom. Immediately Sarah let go and Carrie Anne slid down the mirror to the bathroom sink. Her legs gave way as she rested on the verge of fainting.
    “ Oh crap.” Said Sarah.
    Once the school nurse had checked Carrie Anne for trauma, she found herself once again sitting outside the headmaster’s office. Her legs twitched and she couldn’t seem to make them stop. Her face was sore but the nurse assured her that it was not bruised. Mr Henderson sat next to her offering words of comfort. Without thinking he put his hand on her leg and she instantly recoiled, knocking his hand away.
    “I’m sorry,” he spluttered, “I didn’t mean to make you jump.”
    Carrie Anne didn’t reply.
    “Some first day, eh?” he tried to lighten the situation. Carrie Anne did not look away from her twitching leg.
    “The Miller cousins have already been suspended, pending a thorough investigation. I understand that a first day in a new school is difficult, but please give us a second chance.”
    He smiled when Carrie Anne looked at him. It was a friendly smile that promised maybe something she hadn’t felt before. Hope. Maybe he sensed it too, because he asked, “Carrie Anne, is there something you wish to tell me?”
    Was there anything she wished to tell him? Would he believe her? Was there any point? She opened her lips to speak at the same time as the school bell rang a ding signalling lunch. The children poured into the school, free from the confines of learning. The sudden calamity of activity distracted the headmaster.
    “Let’s see if we have any had luck contacting your parents. You wait here; I’ll be right back.” Again he gave her a comforting smile before standing from his red chair and disappearing into his office.
    The corridor where the main school office was situated was mainly a series of