The Red Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

guy, his hair long and wild
and in need of a cut. He didn’t look as though he had had a shave
in well over a week, either.
    “You staying here tonight, too?”
Darwin asked me. “Or are you just going home late?”
    I smiled to myself. It was funny how
people like him became all talkative and polite when they were
missing their friends. Staying here,” I said. “My parents are out of
the country and won’t be getting back until tomorrow morning.
They’re going to pick me up when they land.”
    He grunted his response and dug into
his peaches once more.
    “You?” I asked.
    “Tomorrow morning. Train back to
Edinburgh.”
    “You couldn’t have gone
earlier?” I genuinely wanted to know.
    “They only go twice a day from
Hallmouth.”
    That being as much contact with the lower years as he
was apparently willing to subject himself to, and having now finished his
peaches, Darwin dropped his fork into the bowl, picked up his tray
and started away from the table. He paused by Mr Sutherland, maths
tutor and housemaster of Enfield House, sitting on an adjacent table.
    “How long will the school be shut,
sir?” Darwin asked the man.
    “Seven days, I believe the
headmaster said, Edward,” Mr Sutherland said. “I think it might
be a little longer than that, though. You’ll have to call up every
few days to check and see. I’d estimate maybe a couple of weeks,
myself.”
    “Because this could affect my
studies and my Oxbridge application.”
    “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about
that. They’re sure to take this into consideration.”
    Darwin nodded and trudged off
without another word, stashing his tray on the empty rack and exiting
the refectory.
    “Edward,” Mr Sutherland called
after him, “where are you going?”
    “To my room,” Darwin grunted
back.
    It was pretty obvious that he
wasn’t. Most likely, he was heading out for a post-dinner
cigarette. I found it funny how even the threat of a murderer on the
prowl wasn’t enough to persuade the school’s heavy smokers to
refrain from their habit for even one night. I half-expected Mr
Sutherland to go after him, letting Darwin know that he knew he was
going for a smoke, and to not leave the school building. He said
nothing, however. He was probably too scared.
    But two weeks? No school for two
weeks? It sounded great, but I knew it would ultimately mean pushing
the end of term back, and that I wouldn’t be getting out of here
until it was very nearly Christmas. They had done the very same
during the hurricane of 1987. Oh well, I would just enjoy the time
off and worry about everything else later.
    “Joe?”
    I looked over to see Mr Sutherland
seeking my attention. “Sir?” I asked.
    “When you’re finished, could you
please walk these boys back up to Butcher?”
    I glanced across the group, sure
that some of them weren’t from Butcher.
    “We’re all sleeping in Butcher
tonight, as it’s within the main building and easiest to secure,”
Mr Sutherland finished.
    I nodded, finished my food and made
ready to walk the boys to the west wing of the main building.

    ~ ~ ~

    That night, at around nine p.m., we sat
in Butcher’s common room and, led by Mr Somers, my housemaster, we
said prayers for the dead boy, his family, the other students, others
around the world who might be suffering a similar loss, and all those
people still fighting in the Gulf. St Christopher’s was a Catholic
school, meaning weekday prayers and Sunday Mass (as well as the
occasional weekday attendance) were a regular part of school life.
    I went back to my dormitory after
that. The place was empty, all the other boys having left. I was a
dormitory prefect this term, my second time as one. The dormitory I
was in charge of was actually the same as I had been in myself,
during my first year in Butcher. There had been some architectural
changes since then, and the dorm had been split in two. I was looking
after seven boys instead of fourteen, all first years. Some had come
through from