The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess-Cooke Read Free Book Online Page B

while. Just so I can assess him.’
    Mum’s face tightened. ‘Assess him for what?’
    Anya glanced at me. ‘I wonder if we should discuss this in private …’
    ‘No,’ Mum said loudly. ‘It’s about him, so he should be here.’
    Anya sat down on the other side of the bed, then took off her black square glasses and used her shirt to clean them.
    ‘In light of recent circumstances, I think Alex may have a kind of illness that requires ongoing assessment and monitoring. It might be in his interests to have a stay at MacNeice House.’ I wondered what sort of illness she meant and if MacNiece House had TVs.
    ‘Isn’t that a place for nutjobs?’ Mum said.
    Anya’s smile turned real. ‘Not at all. It’s where we do some of our most important work for families in the region.’
    Mum scowled. ‘Last time some woman in a suit tried to take Alex away from me.’
    Mum and I stared at Anya. I noticed she was wearing a suit, too. She swallowed. ‘If we were to do this, I’d need your permission—’
    ‘Well, you don’t have it,’ Mum snapped, and her voice wobbled until I squeezed her hand and she looked at me and smiled. ‘I’ll get myself out of here soon, I promise,’ she said.
    ‘You sister Bev is here,’ Anya said softly. ‘She came up from Cork to take care of Alex. Part of the arrangement, if Alex was to stay at MacNeice House, was that Bev would look after him at weekends …’
    Mum widened her eyes. ‘Bev is here?’
    Anya nodded.
    Mum lifted a hand to her face and started to cry. ‘I really don’t want her seeing me like this,’ she said, and she started pressing her hair down with her fingers because it was sticking out all over the place like she’d been electrocuted.
    ‘She’ll only visit when you’re ready. Everyone’s very aware that you need time. I’ll drop Alex home this afternoon, but if you’re not happy with him coming to MacNeice House I need to get permission to visit with him every day for the next week for us to have a chat.’
    There was something about the way Anya said ‘have a chat’ that sounded like she meant something much more serious. Mum seemed to think so too. She stared at Anya very hard.
    ‘You mean, about me?’ Mum said.
    Anya glanced at me. ‘And other things, too.’
    Then she stood up and said she’d see if she could get one of the nurses to let me watch TV. She went out of the room and I didn’t look at Mum because just then Ruen appeared and I jumped about three feet in the air.
    ‘What’s wrong now, Alex?’ Mum said.
    But I ignored her. I was nervous, because I could see that Ruen was Monster. Only, he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at something in the doorway. I tried to see what he was looking at but there was no one there. Ruen was so angry that he was growling. Three seconds later he disappeared.
    When Anya came back she told me they would let me watch TV, then she saw Mum was upset and I was curled up on the floor.
    ‘What’s happened?’ she asked Mum, who just shook her head and whispered something.
    ‘Is there TV now?’ I said, and I saw that Ruen was gone so I stood up.
    Anya smiled and went to say something, but then she just said, ‘Follow me.’ So I went out and sat in a smelly room with the tiniest TV I’ve ever seen that had yellow lines running through all the channels. About five minutes later Anya came in smiling and told me I could come and see Mum again, but only for a little while because Mum was very tired.
    I sat beside Mum and a lady came with a tray of food that Mum didn’t want.
    ‘Do you want it, Alex?’ Mum said, and I nodded and tucked into the beans and potatoes.
    ‘Did you know Alex is in a play?’ I heard Mum say to Anya.
    ‘Yes. Hamlet . You must be very proud.’
    I felt Mum stare at me. ‘I could hardly read when I was his age. He’s top of the class in English. He hasn’t got any of that from me, I can tell you. He’s so clever.’ Then there was a long pause as I used the last piece