Change by Keeley Smith Read Free Book Online

not seen
him since her mother’s... goodbye. She wanted to know how he was,
if he needed her like she needed him. She just didn’t know how to
find the right words.
    Eli
practically skipped over to Tabitha and pinched some of her sausage
from her plate. He grinned whilst chewing the stolen piece in his
mouth. He walked around the breakfast bar and hugged both of them
from the back, giving her a big sloppy kiss on her cheek which made
her smile. He’d told her three weeks ago that it would be his
mission to make her smile every day, and so far he’d done
okay.
    “ So, what is
everyone doing today then? You fancy playing some games,
Jack?”
    “ Errmmm, I
don’t know.”
    Jack glanced
at her as she slowly chewed on a fried mushroom. It felt like she
was chewing cardboard, which made her wonder if her appetite would
ever get back to normal. “Jack, you can play on it, I’m not
bothered,” she said with a shrug. She didn’t want to hold him
back.
    “ Yeah, I
might.” Jack shrugged.
    “ Tabitha, have
you got any plans today?” Eli asked.
    “ Not really,
no.”
    “ Cora, what
would you like to do?”
    Eli did this
every morning. Her answer usually consisted of two things. Watch TV
or read, or pretend to read. Occasionally, she'd watch Jack and Eli
fight on one of the games. Sometimes the fighting became too much,
so she would leave the room. She wouldn’t tell Jack that it was
still too raw. She didn’t want to take away his relaxation thing
from him. He deserved to have some time to relax, to stop worrying
about her like she knew he did, often.
    Jack looked at
her waiting for an answer. Tabitha was concentrating a little too
much on her cup of hot chocolate. She swallowed the mushroom that
was suddenly stuck in her throat. “Well, I want to work in the
shop.”
    Every set of
eyes widened in shock. She cringed and tried not to look at anyone
other than Tabitha. “Tab, shall we open the shop?” she asked,
trying to keep her voice level and the tears from her
eyes.
    “ Of course, if
that is what you want?”
    “ Yeah, it is.
Mum would be pissed if I sat around moping any longer.”
    This was true.
Her mother would be pissed, and she didn’t want to sit around
thinking anymore. Doing things, that was her next course of action.
Just doing anything was better than nothing. She had to start
living.
    Jack jumped up
and rushed to her. His arms flew around her waist as he held her in
a tight embrace. Eli was leaning against the breakfast bar grinning
at her. Tabitha was standing by the door with a strange expression
on her face.
    “ You can
change for the day, I will go down to the shop and open up.”
Tabitha walked out of the room with the quizzical expression still
on her face.
    “ Tabitha is
just concerned about you,” Eli explained, answering her own
confused expression. “She wants you to take things steady, not to
rush things before you’re ready.”
    “ Yeah, I can
understand that, but I wouldn’t say it unless I wanted to. You know
me.”
    “ Yeah,
beautiful, we do know you.” Jack kissed her cheek, still hugging
her. “You're doing great. You’re so strong, and brave, and
beautiful...” he said as his lips brushed against hers.
    She pushed
Jack to sit with Eli. Heading to the bedroom, she pulled on white
jeans and a deep aubergine jumper. She found that she dressed
quickly now, so she wouldn’t look at the scarred skin that was
another reminder of the night when everything changed. She'd doubt
she'd ever wear a skirt or shorts again.
    The scar
covered the bottom half of her leg and came to a jagged end. Waves
of dead flesh rolled up to her knees; it looked like she had dead
slugs moving up her legs. Her arm still hurt. The bone ached when
it was too cold, but at least it wasn’t broken anymore.
    As Cora walked
by the living room, she could see that Jack and Eli were already
engrossed in their game. She left them to it. Walking down to the
shop, she felt unexpectedly nervous. Could she cope