Lullaby Girl Read Online Free PDF Page B

globe.’
    ‘What’s it for?’
    ‘Nothing. Just … Oh … Kathy, why don’t you go outside?’
    ‘I want you to come too.’
    ‘Go on. I’ll catch you up.’
    ‘Rho-na.’ I scowl. But I don’t want to make her cross, so I nod my head an’ go.
    The sea is super bright today, like silver. I stand on a rock by the back porch, lookin’ at it. Iss funny bein’ out here without Rhona. Somethin’ shiny catches the sun an’ winks back at me. I like that. Iss pretty. I walk slowly round the outhouses, an’ while I’m doin’ that some clouds come across. By the time I get back to my rock the sky is dark grey, but the silver light winks on an’ on. Iss comin’ from down the hill, jus’ behind the perimeter fence. Jus’ then, the porch door bangs open an’ Rhona runs out.
    ‘Get inside, Kathy!’ she shouts. Her face is super mad, so I do like she says. She locks me in an’ stomps downhill with her arms swingin’. I watch till her head drops out of sight.
    #
    Wednesday.
    I’m not allowed outside today, an’ I’m not allowed to sit in the conservat’ry. All the curtains are closed, an’ that makes it feel like night-time. I sit in the dinin’ room, pickin’ at a slice of toast, as angry voices echo down the corridor. The telephone rings a lot.
    I’m not hungry, so I creep to the hall an’ stand at the end of the blue corridor. From here I can hear better. I think iss Joyce who’s talkin’.
    ‘—can’t cottonwool the girl forever, Rhona. If you just do what they want, everything will be fine. They won’t print the picture. The money keeps coming in. Everyone’s happy!’
    ‘This is not about money !’
    ‘Ladies! Ladies! Please …’
    ‘That poor girl’s safety is in our hands, and all you can—’
    ‘We could never afford to keep her here without those handouts. You of all people should—’
    ‘I said no!’
    ‘You’ll be doing her a favour. Besides, she’s not the only patient to consider. It’s like Custer’s Last Stand in here!’
    ‘Animals!’
    ‘What if they print pictures of the others? What if the families sue?’
    ‘Exactly! They’re animals, so why are you so keen to let them in?’
    ‘Come on, Rhona, they’re not that bad.’
    Chingle-ingle-ing chingle-ingle-ing …
    ‘Don’t you dare pick that up!’
    Chingle-ingle-ing …
    ‘One interview, Rhona. One little interview.’
    Chingle-ingle-ing …
    ‘Over my dead body!’
    Chingle-ingle …
    ‘Oh, for God’s sake!’
    #
    Thursday.
    I wake up early with a stabbin’ pain behind my eyes, an’ limp to the bathroom to be sick. For a long time iss hard to think straight. I lie on the floor in the dark, hopin’ the pain will go away, but things jus’ get worse instead. The ceilin’ ripples when I move, an’ there’re patches missin’, like I’m lookin’ through a broken mirror. I close my eyes to the growin’ daylight an’ try not to think about goin’ blind.
    A face watches over me. Far off, hidden behind a bright light. I see my hands on that face. His face. A man. I feel my connection to him. Stubble scratchin’ my fingertips. The tickle of his breath as he laughs.
    Help me, I say. An’ this time he hears. A smile surges out from the whiteness, an’ as my heart flutters up to meet it an electric-blue eye stabs me to the ground. I jolt on the bathroom floor. Pinned underneath. A name punches into me with so much force that I start to cry. The air is painfully dry an’ bright. Groaning, I rush back to my bedroom. Through the door. Across the carpet. A pencil … Where’s my pencil? There . I grip it hard between my fingers, an’ score six shaky letters on my pillowcase. I wilt forwards. Then pain crushes my eyes, an’ I collapse into blackness.
    #
    Friday
    Rhona sits in the conservat’ry with me, drinkin’ hot chocolate. We sit far back, near the door to the dinin’ room. I ask to go outside, but that’s still not allowed. She gets cross when I ask, an’ rubs her forehead a lot. I look