Sleepwalkers Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mayhew.
    ‘Toby …?’
    ‘I’m sorry, Miss. I just … I had an accident.’
    Their eyes went straight to the trousers.
    ‘Oh!’ he squeaked. ‘No, no, not like that! I just … it was a game. You know, they get you and push you against the sinks and then turn on the taps and splash you so it makes it look like you’ve, you know, wee’d yourself.’
    He described it like a game until the denouement. And then his voice was quieter, betraying the hurt. Both of them knew that this happened a lot.
    ‘Who did it, Toby?’
    ‘Come on, Miss. It was just messing about! Kids, eh?’
    He gave her a big smile. Please – the smile said – please don’t make a big thing of this.
    ‘Your shirt’s wet as well.’
    ‘Yeah, I’ve got a spare. Always bring a spare. I was just about to … when you came in, so I …’
    His eyes glanced down at her exposed shoulders and she clutched the blouse to her. Two stained tops. The connection was obvious to them both.
    ‘The bell’s going to go in a minute, Toby. If you change now you’ll just about make it.’
    ‘Yes, Miss, thanks, Miss. And I won’t use these loos again, it’s just that, sometimes, they come looking for me to make sure I don’t … you know. This way, I’ve fooled them. Ace, eh?’
    ‘Ace. Toby, do you need help here? Want me to talk to someone?’
    ‘No, no, I … thanks, but I don’t think that’d help.’
    ‘Really? I’m a black belt in origami.’
    It took him a moment before the weak joke registered. ‘Oh. Ha. Funny.’
    They held their wet clothes to themselves, no longer sure what to do. Toby was the first to burst the silence.
    ‘Right, well, I’d better get changed. That trigonometry won’t solve itself!’
    Maybe he also has a voice for school and a voice for himself, Anna thought. She nodded and he turned his back on her and pulled off his shirt. She hastily threw her blouse back on and was about to pull the cardigan tight to cover the stain whenshe saw his back in the mirror. And she had to turn to make sure she was seeing him right.
    Toby was in too much of a rush to notice that he was being watched. But when he pulled off his wet shirt he revealed a torso that was covered in scratches, bruises and scars. Anna couldn’t help but gawp. She saw dark, jagged lines scrape down from his shoulder blades to the base of his spine. A series of now-healed puncture wounds blistered at a diagonal angle and might have continued across his front, for all she could tell. She saw bruises now fading to green and yellow. They were the remnants of intense pain. It was shocking to see such brutality inflicted on such a frail boy’s body. He looked like some kind of Frankenstein’s monster. Then he whipped on a fresh white shirt and the spectacle was ended.
    He turned round and grinned at her as he looped a tie around his neck.
    ‘Alright, Miss, thanks, I’ll see you in English. Third period, isn’t it?’
    ‘Toby … ’
    ‘And don’t worry, I didn’t see anything really. Much.’
    His eyes slipped mechanically to her breasts and she didn’t know what to say.
    ‘Right. Ciao Miss, and thanks again.’
    ‘Toby! Hang on—’
    But he was gone. Anna leaned back against the basin, shocked by the violence and cruelty she’d just witnessed, so disconnected from the cheery face that bore it.
    *
    Anna did indeed teach Toby during third period, but there was no mention of their encounter. He sat at the back andwhen she glanced at him, he would often be staring out of the window. She didn’t pull him up on this, but when she was able to set the class a written exercise, she noticed that he was the last one to find a partner. The girl he joined tried to complain, but Anna ignored her moans and watched as he let her copy from her neighbours and totally disregard him. He was happier when no one at all was looking at him.
    Later, she watched him in the lunch break. She was on duty, shouting at the boys to stop jostling. Everyone was playing,