Returned by Keeley Smith Read Free Book Online

walked over to the window. Squinting against the light that seemed to peel a layer off her eyes, she attempted to look at her mother’s face. Her mother strategically moved so she couldn't see her.
    “Mum, are you all right?”
    The effort to talk was exhausting .
    “Oh, yes,” she murmured.
    Cora didn’t believe her. Her mother continued to move around the room.
    “Where have you been?”  She swallowed the very little spit her mouth could make. She needed a cold drink to wash away the sand pit that had taken up residence in her mouth.
    Her mother was stood bolt upright. From where she was sat Cora knew her mother’s eyebrows were drawn together deep in thought, the straightness of her shoulders gave that away, her lips would be forced into a thin line, the crossed arms signalled that. This was her mother's signature look. However, she'd been crying. She hurriedly made a mental list of people they knew in case someone was hurt. There wasn't anyone. It was just the two of them.
                  Maybe it was the boy, Jack, but he’d just been lying on the floor. She didn’t know how injured he was but something had upset her mother. She would have to face the consequences, whatever they were. Looking back on the whole thing at this moment made it seem entirely ridiculous. How was she meant to explain that to the judge?
                  With a sigh, her mother turned and looked at her. The smile on her face was forced, never quite reaching her eyes. Her lips quivered before she could control it. Cora watched in stunned silence as her mother left the room. The last twenty four hours had been the worst of her small life, of what she could remember. She’d nearly died, no, she wasn't being melodramatic, and her mother had gone AWOL and then turned up without any sort of explanation. Where were her answers?
    *
    Half an hour later, looking and feeling more like her usual self after a long, hot shower, she was sat at the table. She was pissed, really pissed. Her mother wasn’t home which meant she had to do something, anything , to get to the bottom of things and find out what the hell was going on because no one was rushing forward with the information.
                  Snatching her coat from the back of the chair, she made her way to the front door. She didn't know where she was going to start but it wasn't like this place was as big as London. Giving the door a good slam behind her, she set herself a fast pace hoping the fresh air would blow free the translucent sticky strands that had encased her head mere hours before. 
                  He wasn't dead. She felt the first stirrings of panic grab hold of her. What if she'd killed someone? She closed her eyes, there had to be a reasonable explanation. She would not go to prison for something she had no control over.  She wasn't usually this mad, this violent. Something was wrong with her body. She just needed to see a doctor. The feel of her feet pounding against the concrete helped her focus on not hyperventilating. Inhaling her second fulfilling deep breath, she heard it. His laugh.                            
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
            NOT KNOWING WHEN TO QUIT
     
    Her body jerked at the sound of his laugh. The cold sharp smack of shock ripped the breath right out of her.  He stood ahead of her , blocking her path , and as usual he had his cronies flanking either side of him. A plethora of feelings fought for pole position.  Anger, the winner. Fear came in at a close second.
    He was alive.
    A small flutter of happiness flew through her only to be extinguished a second later. She found it overwhelming that one moment she was happy to see him alive and then the next she wanted to smack him.
    She sighed in frustration. They were here, again .
                  The combination of thinking and walking had been dangerous. She would