Blood Entwines by Caroline Healy Read Free Book Online

those sorts of conversations. They were both skirting around the topic of her personality readjustment. That’s what the doctor called it. Something to do with major trauma, shock to the body and all that. People experience a type of personality glitch for a while. For Kara it was more like a complete personality overhaul. All the pent up frustration, guilt, anger and grief seemed to come in one cataclysmic eruption.
    Just give it time
.
    Always the same advice from the doctors.
    Sighing, she lifted herself easily off the bed and went to the wardrobe.
    She fingered a pale pink polka-dot dress that hung at the front. Ashleigh had convinced her to buy it the week of the summer holidays. Her friend assured her she looked good in it. Hanging in her wardrobe, Kara realised that even Rosemary wouldn’t have worn the rag. What had she been thinking?
    Her new school uniform hung in the corner of her wardrobe. She looked at the stiff material of the school blazer. Her return was not going to be glorious by any stretch of the imagination.

Chapter Nine
    Standing in front of the mirror in her bedroom, Kara felt ridiculous.
    She jammed a black beanie on her head, trying to hide the worst of her hair. She looked like a homeless junkie.
    â€˜I’m doomed.’
    Her school skirt hung from her waist, the hem hovering mawkishly at her knees. Her white shirt was new and starchy stiff. It choked her when she did up the top button. The navy jumper was too big, hanging uninspired from her thin frame. She looked frightful and felt almost as bad. Taking the soft wool of the hat in her hand she pulled it off, flinging it at the mirror.
    The journey to school was awkward. Rosemary insisted on driving.
    â€˜Do you have lunch money?’ she asked for the third time.
    â€˜Yes,’ answered Kara, gazing out of the window, watching the houses sweep by as they drove towards St Aloysius’ School.
    The radio was on, a morning news report about a missing boy, twelve years old from Newmarket Street, not seen since last Tuesday. The third missing person since Christmas. Kara clicked the radio off, folding her hands across her chest, squeezing her biceps tight to her ribs.
    Rosemary asked a question, breaking the silence. ‘And you’re sure about not being picked up?’
    â€˜Yes,’ lied Kara. ‘Ashleigh said she would drop me home.’
    Kara didn’t want Rosemary collecting her after school – it was going to be a bad enough day as it was.
    Kara had timed the journey to avoid the maximum number of people. She would arrive while morning assembly was being held, nobody would see her get out of the car as they’d all be in the hall. Then when the bell rang Kara would just slip into the classroom as if nothing had happened. She touched her lopsided hair.
    The car rounded a corner and came to a stop outside the school. Kara reached for the door handle.
    â€˜Kara.’
    She turned towards Rosemary. They were silent for a moment, regarding each other. ‘Good luck.’
    Kara nodded, getting out of the car. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her jumper and took hold of the strap of her satchel, swinging it over her shoulder.
    One of the GCSE students did a double take as Kara walked past. She glared at him. Best get this over with, she thought.
    Her ears buzzed with the echoing ring of the bell and her senses prickled. She still found it difficult to concentrate. Sometimes the black dots would dance across her vision causing her to blink furiously. The doctors told her that it would ease with time. That her sight, hearing, smell – all her senses – would return to normal.
    And that’s what she wanted, to be normal, the same as everyone else.
    Morning assembly had just finished and crowds of students teemed through the corridors, jostling each other. Kara inhaled slowly and for the twentieth time wished she’d stayed at home. She straightened up and began to walk towards hell: her