Albatross Read Online Free PDF

both peered inside.
    The sight that greeted them came as no surprise really, but they both sighed audibly still.
    On the top shelf sat a lovely looking sweet, on a plate decorated with drizzles of sauce: a piece of strawberry cheesecake that had been one of the dessert specials that evening.
    Beneath it lay a piece of paper with a note scrawled across it.
     
    Clare xxx
     
    Jen always, every night and day that she worked, left a sweet in the fridge for her sister, and had done ever since she’d started at The Rusty Oak.
    She didn’t anymore, but there had once been a time when, instead of Jen having to go and meet her, Clare would come to find her sister before Jen finished work. She would sit and eat the sweet Jen always left for her, or even sometimes, if the weather permitted in the afternoons and evenings, Clare would come and sit out in the garden upon the decking.
    Nowadays though, Jen always finished before Clare arrived, and she never came in the afternoons or evenings anymore.
    Still though, always hopeful, Jen never failed to prepare a sweet for her sister, and Laura sighed again, this time somehow even more sadly.
    Her gaze dropped as she scraped Clare’s sweet into the bin, and washed up the empty plate, knowing that if she didn’t, it would only sit there.
    She wished it wasn’t the case, but sadly, Jen’s sister never visited her at The Rusty Oak anymore.
    That didn’t stop Jen from wanting however, clinging to the blind hope that one day Clare would return.
     

Skylight Nights on Sea View Side
     
     
                  The front door to Keepers Cottage swung open and flooded the street with yellow light for a moment. Soon enough though Dyra heard footsteps in the hallway and the door clicked shut again.
                  “You’re back early…” Dyra commented, drying her hands and glancing at her watch as she stepped round from the kitchen.
                  “Yeah.” Jen replied simply, slinging her bag from her shoulder and unzipping her hoody. Her cheeks were flushed and she was breathing quite heavily. “We got home quicker than usual…”
                  “I see…” Her mother replied, though her brow furrowed with concern. “Is everything ok?”
                  “Yeah, fine thanks.” Jen replied, heading immediately for the stairs. “Clare and I are going up for a bit…”
                  “Okay…” Dyra replied cautiously. “Let me know if you need anything…”
                  “We will…” Jen called back behind her, but she had already rounded the corner at the top of the landing and was out of sight.
                  “Mom really does worry when you shut off like that, you know…” Clare commented, her tone verging on reproachful as Jen climbed the second flight of stairs and opened the painted white door to her bedroom.
                  “I don’t mean to…” Jen replied, her tone low and guilt-ridden.
                  “She just wants to know you’re ok…” Clare pressed, pushing uncomfortable buttons that only she knew of.
                  “Yes…” Jen sighed, her tone exasperated. “I know…”
                  But Clare had made her point, and there was no need for her to make Jen feel worse. She just watched as her sister pulled off her clothes from work and rummaged around through her wooden chest of drawers for a clean set.
                  Jen found yet another hoody and a pair of jeans, and turned to pull them on, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she did so.
                  She was thin, scrawny even, for she had lost a lot of weight recently. It hadn’t been her intention; she’d just had no appetite of late. Her body looked weak and malnourished, and her arms and legs were stick thin.
                  Looking away, ignoring what she saw, Jen pulled her jeans