Hello World Read Online Free PDF Page B

 
    ‘Your friend Alex, was his murderer ever
caught?’ Jay asks absently.
    ‘No’ I frown. ‘But it wasn’t hard to work
out who had done-’
    ‘But then you can’t know for certain.’ He
cuts me off, looking at me again. ‘Anything could have happened that night, a
mugging gone wrong or something, you can’t blame yourself. And you say that
Alex was trying to help you out? He was being a good friend, I’m sure he would
have done anything to keep you safe. What would he say if he could see you
now?’
    I snort. ‘He would say I was being
ridiculous, but-’
    ‘Well then.’ He smiles. Then jay pauses
before asking his next question. ‘Do you ever feel like… going back to the
bridge?’
    I know what he’s trying to ask; do I feel
suicidal again?
    I sigh. ‘It wasn’t a decision I made last
time, it just sort of happened,’ I point out. ‘I just guess it got to a point
where life just didn’t seem like an option anymore. I have nothing to stay here
for,’ I say bitterly.
    Jay nods in understanding before a smile
spreads across his lips and he jumps up.
    ‘You have everything to live for, don’t
ever doubt that,’ he tells me, holding out a hand for me to use to pull myself
up. ‘And I, Jay, will make it my life’s mission to show you, Red, that. I’m
going to show you how to live again,’ he says determinedly as I get up. I
regard him with amusement.
    ‘I feel as if I should burst into song, A
Whole New World or something,’ I utter sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.
    ‘Well if you are, don’t sing that. If you
take the magic carpet away its just sex,’ he points out. I look at him
incredulously for more of an explanation. ‘ Unbelievable
sights… Indescribable feelings… soaring, tumbling, freewheeling -’
    ‘Okay, okay. Childhood ruined,’ I laugh,
putting my hands up in surrender. I walk up to the edge of the hill and look
down at the view. A moment of comfortable silence passes us again as I think
over his words.
    ‘Neve, the reason we moved wasn’t for the
change of scenery. I-’ Jay admits suddenly, frowning at himself as if arguing
inside his head with his thoughts. Then he sighs and shakes his head. ‘My aunt
is ill, she doesn’t have long so Mum wanted to come down to see her, you know?
I probably should have said something earlier instead of using that excuse but
I…I…’ he struggles, trying to put his thoughts into words.
    ‘I understand,’ I say softly, because I do.
Sometimes, you just don’t want people to know you are hurting. ‘What’s wrong?’
    ‘Cancer,’ he says quietly. ‘Brain tumour,’
he adds, tapping his forehead.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ I say truthfully. He nods and
looks past me, over the town and somewhere far away from here.
    ‘Have you ever wondered about what will
happen after you die? I want to do something in my life that people will
remember, something that says I was here. I don’t want to just be another face,
you know?’ he says randomly.
    I shrug. ‘I’ve never really though about
it, I can’t think of anything good that I’ll be remembered for. But you’ve
already done something amazing; you’ve decided to be friends with me,’ I say
dryly. ‘So I would say you’re already part way there.’
    Jay smiles back at me and wraps an arm
around me.
    ‘So, Red, ready to be shown the world
again?’ he grins.
    ‘Can’t wait’ I chuckle.
    And the strange thing is, I really can’t.

 

CHAPTER 5

 
 
    Jay drives me home and I drag my bike
inside, leaning it against the wall in the hallway, smiling to myself. We live
in a small but cosy two bedroom house squashed beside two other two bedroom
houses in a long line of two bedroom houses. I like it though because the house
never feels empty and it isn’t a heap of a dump like most orphans or
troubled-kid clichés live in.
    Having said that, it isn’t Beverly Hills
either; especially when Charlie forgets to clean.
    I hear the TV going in the living room so I
swing around the