The Red Judge Read Online Free PDF

and cruel.
    â€˜But worse than that – worse by far – oh Cary,
I never should have made that bet!
Will you ever forgive me? None of this would have happened if I hadn’t challenged you! You never would have done any of it – shaved your head, or done that stupid light bulb thing, or the face piercings or anything, if I hadn’t talked you into it. I know it’s all because I goaded you. Oh Cary, please forgive me. Cary,
please live
!’
    Cary didn’t move. It was impossible to tell if she’d heard a word that I’d said. But someone else had. I heard a sound behind me, and turned to see my father standing halfway down the ward. For a moment we stared at each other. I didn’t know where my mother was, and neither did I know how long he’d been there.
Nor how much he’d heard
.
    â€˜I d … didn’t mean …’ I stuttered. ‘I just said … I was just trying … I mean …’
    My father held up his hand. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘What your sister needs is peace and quiet. We don’t want you upsetting her.
Let’s get you out of here
.’

5
Banishment
    We left the hospital together. My father gave no clues as to what he’d heard, but I was in trouble and I knew it. We walked in silence to his car, which he unlocked with a sharp stab of his keyring. We got in and I expected him to start on at me straightaway. But instead he turned the ignition key and put the car into gear.
    â€˜Are we going home?’ I said, with some surprise.
    My father didn’t answer, just drove out of the car park, paying the parking fee in the box at the barrier. Sleet was blowing across the road in front of us, and hospital visitors were struggling with their umbrellas. Our car forced its way between them, almost causing an accident. We reached the main road and shot off way over the speed limit – heading out of town.
    â€˜Where are we going?’ I asked as roads and houses disappeared from sight, to be replaced by fields and trees.
    Still my father didn’t answer, just looked ahead. His eyes were fixed on some distant point beyond thewindscreen wipers, and his hands formed two tight fists around the driving wheel. We reached the bypass that marked the outer boundary of Pengwern, and he shot across it without even slowing down. The lights of town fell behind us and the sleet started turning to snow, running down the windscreen and gathering at the bottom.
    I asked again where we were going, but still my father wouldn’t tell me. He fiddled with the radio channels until he found some music, which he turned up loud so that we wouldn’t have to talk. By this time, I was shaking and couldn’t stop. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like it at all. My father had always been a difficult man, easy to anger, but I’d never seen him quite like this. Over the years I’d landed myself in all sorts of trouble, but he’d never gone silent on me. In fact he’d always had plenty to say!
    Now, however, I was in new territory. I glanced at my father’s face, not knowing what to expect next. ‘Please,’ I said, because I had to say something, even if he didn’t want me to. ‘I know you’re mad at me, but can’t we talk?’
    My father didn’t answer. He didn’t say a thing or even look at me, just turned up the music. The weather was getting worse, but instead of slowing down, he drove faster. It was as if he hadn’t noticed the storm that was developing, or how treacherous the road was, with snowdrifts blowing across it and more snow on the way.
    Finally the music stopped, and some awful Christmas round-up programme came on instead. Normally my father would have turned it off, but he let it drone on. I don’t think he noticed it any morethan the treacherous weather conditions. He tore through villages and towns, over hills, past fields filled with snow, in and out