Anthem for Jackson Dawes Read Online Free PDF Page B

from top to bottom. They made it out of yellow wool. Hundreds of strands of it, each strand twice the length of a man, all made into a wig for the girl who was playing the lead role. Megan ran her hands through her own hair and wondered how long it would last and if she’d ever be able to let it down from the top of a tower.
    â€˜What’re you doing?’
    Megan snapped the curtains closed, feeling a fool, thinking about fairytales and cats twelve floors up. ‘Nothing.’
    Jackson was silhouetted in the light from the corridor. ‘You weren’t climbing out, were you? It’s easier to go through the door, catch the lift. That’s how I do it. I can tell you the door code.’
    Megan resented the tone, like a smirk, in his voice. Jackson who knew everything about anything. But he didn’t know a thing about her and never would. ‘I wasn’t climbing out.’
    â€˜Good. Can I come in?’ He was already in. ‘If I stand out there, they’ll catch me.’ They should catch him, lock him in his room, stop him bothering people. ‘Want the door closed?’
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Suit yourself. What
were
you doing?’
    â€˜Are you always so nosy?’ It was one of those questions which didn’t need answering. ‘I heard a cat. At least, I think it was a cat.’ It all sounded pretty daft now. She expected him to laugh.
    â€˜That’ll be Mr Henry. He’s the moggy round here.’
    â€˜Ha-ha.’
    â€˜Keeps the rats down.’ Jackson sat in the chair without waiting to be asked. There was a soft sigh as he sank into it. ‘You get them as big as dogs in this place.’
    â€˜Big as dogs? I don’t think so.’ Nevertheless, Megan shifted a glance at the window and climbed back on to her bed, toes tingling at the thought.
    â€˜We’re only metres away from a rat, you know, every single one of us in the whole wide world.’
    In the dark room, he was just a solid, featureless shape, though it was a shape which moved constantly. His feet slid about on the floor, his fingers tapped the arms of the chair, as if he was made entirely of tightly wound springs, or had swallowed a whole tub of E-numbers and additives.
    â€˜But
we’re
on the twelfth floor,’ Megan reminded him.
    â€˜Well, maybe not
here
, exactly.’ A small laugh. ‘But on the ground, they’re under us, gnawing away at the pipes and the walls. They eat anything. One day it’s all going to collapse like an old mine and they’ll be there clapping their tiny little hands, ready to chew on our bones. Not that they have hands. Not really. They have …’
    â€˜You’re a complete nutter, do you know that?’
    There was another laugh from Jackson, then silence, but for the thrum of his fingers on the wood of the chair. ‘Mr Henry’s been with this hospital since it was built.’
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜Since the
old
bit of the hospital was built … and you know what that means …’ His words were a whisper, slow, menacing.
    â€˜No, but you’re going to tell me, anyway.’ Megan tried to make out his face in the dark, but all she could see were his eyes, gleaming. She yawned dramatically, pushed herself into bed and pulled the covers right up to her neck.
    â€˜Well … all
those
buildings must be hundreds of years old …’
    â€˜Not listening,’ Megan said, sleepy now. ‘Can’t be bothered. If Mr Henry’s been around that long, then he can keep for another day. Tell Becky and Laura, they’ll like a spooky little cat story – you could call it
The Ghoooost of Mister Henry
.’
    Jackson shifted in the chair. ‘That’s the chemo,’ he said.
    â€˜What is?’
    â€˜Making you scabby to anyone who’s trying to be nice to you. Making you laugh at things you shouldn’t.’
    â€˜Like a ghost cat? Yeah, right.’
    Jackson