SOMEONE DIFFERENT by Kate Hanney Read Free Book Online Page A

out of its socket.
    ‘I said, weck up; ya thievin’ little bastard.’
    He wasn’t shouting, my dad, but his voice made me shiver.
    ‘W ... what’s wrong?’ I said, sitting up. I’d been absolutely bang out, but I knew I had to wake up fast. I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus in the dim light that shone through from the landing.
    He dragged me closer and his nails dug deeper into my wrist. ‘ What’s wrong ? I’ll tell ya what’s wrong, you useless bag of shit. You nicked five quid outa my pocket, din’t ya?’
    God. Not that, not after all this time. I took in a quick gulp of air . His breath stank like sour milk, but I daren’t turn away. My right hand found the corner of my pillow and I squeezed it. Could I convince him he’d got it wrong? Could I still get out of it somehow? It had to be worth a try, right? I shook my head, and said proper quietly, ‘Dad, I never ... I –’
    The air hissed as he sucked it in through hi s teeth. His hand whipped up, and I tried to dodge backwards, but I was cornered; there was nowhere to go.
    His fist blasted into my cheekbone like a lead football. It smashed the side of my head against the wall, and the inside of my lip splattered as my teeth bit into it. The pain shook right through me. I lifted my hand up to cover my left eye, and I felt the hot liquid running down my face. A high pitched ringing in my ears nearly deafened me.
    ‘Don’t fuckin’ lie to me, lad. It were when I told ya to teck two quid, but you took it all, didn’t ya; everythin’ I’d got?’
    I tried to breathe slowly cos of the pain, but my heart was racing. ‘That was over a week ago.’
    ‘Yeah, well I’ve remembered about it tonight.’
    I held my breath as his arm rose up again, but at the last minute he had to grab hold of the windowsill to steady himself. He coughed, then swayed slowly towards my bedroom door, mumbling and grumbling as he went, ‘Well, ya can get lost, sling your hook. It’s my bleedin’ house, I don’t know why I put up with ya ...’
    I started to relax just a bit. But as he reached for the door handle he made a sort of choking noise, bent forward, and threw-up all over the place.
    It splashed against the wall and the door, and pattered down onto the carpet. The stench of stale beer and old doner filled the room, and despite the pain, my face screwed up until I covered my nose with the duvet.
    After what seemed like ages, he coughed a few more times, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and shuffled off into his own bedroom.
    I waited ’til he started to snore a few minutes later, then I stood up and put the light on. Everything was covered. The lumpy, orangey-red liquid had even gone on my bed. I shuddered, partly cos of the mess, and partly cos of the cold, then went and got a load of towels.
    If there’d have been anything inside me, I’d have been sick as well as I tried to clean it up; it was like it just spread out more, but never really got any less. Eventually though, I just had to leave it; the smell made me gip, my head spun like a cement-mixer and my eye had almost closed up completely.
    Really carefully, I got back into bed. I used one of the clean towels to dab the blood off my face, then I put my head back, closed my eyes, and listened to him snore. It’ll be OK, I told myself; as long as he keeps on snoring, it’ll all be OK.
     
    ***
     
    ‘Jesus Christ, Jay.’
    Billy stood on our doorstep at half-three the next day, and scowled at my purply-black, cut-up eye.
    When I turned away, he followed me into the living room.
    ‘I thought he’d given up with all that?’ Billy slammed himself down on to the settee.
    ‘Yeah, well ...’ I shrugged and looked out of the window.
    Billy sighed right loud and shook his head. ‘Why d’ya let him do it, Jay? I mean when Callum Taylor started on ya at Christmas, ya banged him clean out; one punch and he were on the floor, and he’s twice as big as your dad. I don’t get it, why don’t you just batter