Afraid (27 page)

‘All right, keep your hair on.’ Chloe chuckled. ‘I heard you creeping round and wanted to know what you were up to.’

‘Nothing,’ Skye lied, palming the key and sliding it up her sleeve. ‘Just making sure Tom locked the door properly.’

‘Yeah, right, like he’d go out without triple checking it,’ Chloe scoffed. ‘He’s so paranoid that someone’s gonna break in and take you away from him, it’s like a prison in here.’

‘I know, but there’s no harm checking.’ Skye gave her a tight smile and walked over to the kettle. ‘I’m making a coffee. Do you want one?’

‘Mmmm,’ Chloe murmured, taking a seat at the table and watching her through narrowed eyes. ‘How come you’re so jumpy?’

‘I’ve got a headache,’ Skye told her. ‘It’s making me feel tense.’

‘You’ve always got a headache, you,’ Chloe mused. ‘You wanna watch that. My nan was always getting them and they said it was migraines, but it turned out to be a massive brain tumour.’

‘Don’t say that,’ Skye spluttered, taking a pack of paracetamol out of the drawer.

‘It’s true,’ Chloe insisted. ‘She lost three stone overnight when they told her; went from fat to thin, just like that.’

Skye jumped when the girl clicked her fingers loudly, and shuddered as she popped two tablets out of the strip. ‘No one loses weight that fast,’ she muttered, pouring herself a cup of water. ‘You’re making it up.’

‘Don’t call me a liar,’ Chloe said sharply. ‘I was there, I saw it.’

‘Okay, whatever.’ Back turned, Skye rolled her eyes and shoved the tablets into her mouth. ‘How come you’re up?’ she asked then. ‘You don’t usually come down so early.’

‘Couldn’t sleep,’ Chloe told her. ‘I had a bad dream and it woke me up.’

‘I used to have them all the time when I first moved in,’ Skye said sympathetically as she spooned coffee into two cups. ‘But they go away after a while. What was yours about?’

‘My dad,’ Chloe said quietly. ‘He found out I was here and came to get me, but I said I didn’t want to go with him so he started booting the door in. He was proper angry. I thought he was gonna kill me.’

‘I wouldn’t worry about it,’ Skye said reassuringly as she carried the coffees over to the table and sat down. ‘There’s no way he could find out you’re here – unless you told someone you were coming?’

‘How could I have done that when
I
didn’t even know till I got here?’ Chloe asked. She rested her elbows on the table now and cupped the hot mug between her hands. ‘What were you really doing at the door just now?’

‘I’ve already told you, I was checking it.’ Skye lowered her gaze and sipped her coffee.

‘What you lying for?’ Chloe asked. ‘And don’t say you’re not, ’cos I can tell. You’ve got one of them faces that can’t hide nothing.’

‘I’m not lying,’ Skye insisted, forcing herself to look the other girl in the eye.

Chloe gave a sly smile. ‘Bet you were trying to pick the lock, weren’t you? I wouldn’t blame you ’cos I was thinking about doing it myself, I’m that bored stuck in here all the time. Doesn’t it do your head in?’

‘Not really.’ Skye shrugged. ‘I keep myself busy.’

‘What, cleaning and cooking, and running round after Tom?’ Chloe said sarcastically.

‘It’s better than being in prison,’ Skye reminded her. ‘Anyway, that’s what wives are supposed to do,’ she added piously. ‘The man goes to work, and the woman looks after the house.’

‘Yeah, but for the
rest of your life
?’ Chloe placed heavy emphasis on these words, as if it was a death sentence – which, to her, was exactly how it seemed. ‘I think I’d rather go to prison. At least they let you out every day,
and
you get to watch telly.’

‘I used to feel like that,’ Skye told her. ‘But it’s not so bad once you get used to it, and I kind of like the quiet now.’

‘Well, I don’t,’ Chloe countered. ‘And Tom best hurry up and get me that telly he promised or I’m out of here.’

‘We can’t get a signal out here,’ said Skye, wondering why Tom would have promised to get a TV when he knew full well that it wouldn’t work.

‘That’s why I told him to get one with a built-in DVD player, so we can watch films,’ Chloe explained. ‘He keeps saying he’s looking, but if he doesn’t get one soon I’m going home. At least I can do what I want there.’

‘You can’t go back there,’ Skye blurted out, horrified that Chloe was even thinking about it. ‘Your dad
rapes
you,’ she added, as if she thought that the girl had forgotten. ‘At least you’re safe here.’

‘You reckon?’

Skye frowned when Chloe gave her a loaded look, and said, ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Nothing.’ Chloe shook her head and stared down into her cup. ‘It’s just that dream. It freaked me out, and I can’t help wondering what’d happen if my dad
did
find out I was here.’

‘He’s not going to, so stop worrying,’ Skye said reassuringly. ‘Me and Tom will look after you. Anyway, I’d miss you if you left. I don’t like it that you’re still doing drugs, and I wish you’d stop, but you’re like my little sister and I love looking after you.’

Chloe took another sip of coffee without answering. She had nothing against Skye, and actually thought she was quite nice now that she’d got to know her a bit better. But it did her head in that Skye acted like a big woman and treated her like a kid when, in truth, there were only a few months between them. And for someone who considered herself so mature, Skye was so naive where Tom was concerned that it was laughable. Chloe had only resisted telling her the truth about him because Tom had been keeping her sweet with smack and cigarettes. But this was the second time he’d gone to work without leaving any cigs for her, and she only had enough gear left for a couple of little hits. If he didn’t sort it out soon, he was going to be sorry.

Skye was peering at her thoughtfully across the table. ‘If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Tom?’

‘Yeah, course.’

‘Would you feel better about staying here if you could go outside?’

‘Dunno.’ Chloe shrugged. ‘Maybe. Why?’

Skye bit her lip. The front door had already been barricaded when she first got here, but then Tom had nailed all of the windows shut as well, and it could be unbearable in here when it got really hot outside. She understood why Chloe was going stir-crazy because she probably would, too, if she weren’t able to go out for those few minutes each day. Tom would go ballistic if he found out about the key, but if it changed Chloe’s mind about leaving it was a risk that Skye was willing to take.

Making her mind up, she shook her sleeve to make the key drop into her hand and then placed it on the table between them.

Chloe gazed down at it for a second, and then back up at Skye. ‘What’s that?’

‘The back-door key. But you absolutely can’t tell Tom, ’cos he’ll go mad if he finds out.’

‘How long have you had it?’

‘Not long,’ Skye lied. ‘I found it in the drawer the other day. I was going to tell you, but I was scared you might tell Tom.’

‘We’re supposed to be best mates,’ Chloe reminded her. ‘You should know I’d never do that to you.’

‘I know,’ Skye murmured guiltily. ‘I just …’ She trailed off and shrugged, unable to come up with a reasonable excuse for not having told her.

Offended, Chloe crossed her arms. ‘I’ve told you everything, and I really thought I could trust you. But I should have known you were just like all them other bitches. You all say one thing to my face, then take the piss out of me behind my back.’

‘I’m not like that,’ Skye insisted. ‘And I
was
going to tell you.’

‘So you’ve been going out this whole time, while I’ve been locked in here,
dying
.’

‘Only a couple of times. But I promise I haven’t been having fun behind your back. All I do is feed Bernie, then come straight back in.’

‘I knew you cared more about a dog than you do about me,’ Chloe said petulantly.

‘Of course I don’t,’ Skye lied. ‘But you’ve got food and a bed, so you’re okay. He’d have nothing if I didn’t go out and see to him.’ She paused now, and sighed before asking, ‘Have you fallen out with me now?’

‘I’ll have to think about it,’ Chloe muttered, snatching the key off the table and standing up.

‘You’re not going to tell Tom, are you?’ Skye asked worriedly, also rising.

‘I said I wouldn’t, so I won’t,’ Chloe told her as she slotted the key into the lock. ‘But I don’t see what the big deal is. He don’t own you, so he can’t stop you going out.’

‘You know why I can’t go out,’ Skye said lamely as she followed Chloe over the step. ‘And he wouldn’t stop me if it wasn’t so dangerous – he’s just protecting me.’

‘From what?’ Chloe spread her arms and turned in a circle. ‘I can’t see no one out here, can you?’

‘We can’t take any chances,’ Skye replied quietly. ‘And we can’t stay out too long,’ she added, glancing nervously around the corner. ‘If Tom comes home early we’ll be in trouble.’

‘You mean
you
will be,’ Chloe retorted unconcernedly. ‘He can’t say nothing to me ’cos I’ll just leave if he tries.’

‘Please don’t,’ Skye implored. ‘I only told you about the key so you’d stay.’

Chloe was no longer listening; she was too busy soaking up the rays of the sun on her face. ‘God, that’s ace,’ she murmured, as if it were the first time she had ever been outside – which was exactly how it felt after two weeks of being locked inside the stuffy house.

Bernie had sat up when he saw Skye come out of the house, and his tail was batting the soiled ground now as he waited for his treat. Leaving Chloe to luxuriate in the warmth, Skye took the scraps out of her pocket and tiptoed carefully around the mangled bikes and rusted washing machines.

‘Hey, don’t let it off the chain,’ Chloe called nervously when she saw where Skye was heading.

‘I couldn’t even if I wanted to,’ Skye called back. ‘But I wouldn’t come too close, if I was you,’ she added when Bernie gave a low growl at the sound of Chloe’s voice. ‘I don’t think he’s forgiven you yet.’

‘Don’t worry, I ain’t going nowhere near it.’ Chloe cast a hateful look in the dog’s direction. ‘Ugly, smelly bastard wants its teeth kicking out, if you ask me.’

‘Don’t be horrible,’ Skye said protectively, squatting down when she reached Bernie and giving him a cuddle.

‘It wants a cork up its arse, an’ all,’ Chloe went on, staring in disgust at the heaps of dog muck that were scattered around. ‘Why can’t it shit in the grass, like normal dogs? It proper stinks out here.’

‘It’s not his fault he can’t move far,’ Skye reminded her. Then, smiling when Bernie licked her face, she put the scraps on the floor in front of him, and stroked his head as he gobbled them up. ‘That nice, is it, boy? You like that?’

‘Anyone would think it was a baby, the way you talk to it,’ Chloe sneered, edging past them and making her way into the long grass.

‘Where are you going?’ Skye asked, glancing up as she passed. ‘There’s nothing down there, and I told you we can’t stay out too long.’

‘I’m having a mooch,’ Chloe called back over her shoulder. ‘What’s in that shed over there?’

‘Spiders,’ Skye told her, wiping her hands on her thighs and standing up. ‘Come on, Chloe, don’t go too far. Tom might come back any minute.’

‘So?’ Chloe had disappeared from view by now, and her voice had grown fainter.

‘Seriously, Chloe, we need to go back,’ Skye implored, beginning to regret having told the other girl about the key. When no answer came, she tutted and set off after her.

Chloe was standing on her tiptoes when Skye turned the corner of the old shed, her hands cupped over her eyes to shade them as she peered through the filthy window.

‘There’s a load of stuff in here,’ she said when Skye joined her. ‘Boxes, and all sorts. Wonder what’s in them?’

‘I don’t know and I don’t care,’ said Skye, crossing her arms and shivering when she noticed the tiny insects that were caught in the web next to Chloe’s cheek. ‘It’s Tom’s, not ours.’

‘I’m going in,’ Chloe declared, dropping onto her heels and reaching for the door handle. After rattling it a few times to no avail, she said, ‘Where did you say you found that key?’

‘In the drawer,’ Skye told her. ‘But there’s no more in there, if that’s what you’re thinking.’

Disappointed, Chloe gazed at the door again. ‘D’you reckon I could kick it in?’

‘No, I do not!’ Skye spluttered, horrified that Chloe was even contemplating it, because then Tom would definitely know they had been out of the house. ‘Look, whatever’s in there, it’s none of our business, so come on, we’re going back.
Now
, Chloe.’

Reluctantly, Chloe followed Skye back to the house, but there was no way she was leaving it at that. People only went to the trouble of locking stuff away like that when it was worth something, and if there was something in that shed that she could make money out of she was having it.

Skye’s headache got worse after they went back inside, and Chloe was glad when she announced that she was going to take a nap to try and clear it. Free to search for more keys, Chloe went through all the drawers and was about to start on the cupboards when somebody knocked loudly on the front door. Scared that it might be her dad, or the police looking for Skye, she crept out into the hall and, crouching low even though there was no chance of anybody seeing her through the mishmash of bars that Tom had nailed across the back of the front door, tiptoed up the stairs.

‘Skye!’ she hissed, dashing into the bedroom and shaking her friend’s shoulder roughly. ‘Skye! Wake up!
SKYE
!’

Roused by the violent shaking, Skye peeled her eyes open and gazed confusedly up at her. ‘Wha’s up?’

‘Someone’s at the door,’ Chloe whispered urgently.

‘
What
?’ Shocked out of her fug, Skye sat bolt upright. ‘Who is it?’

‘I don’t know!’ Chloe twisted her hands together nervously as another round of knocking echoed through the hallway below.

Skye kicked the quilt off her legs and stumbled over to the window.

‘Don’t!’ Chloe squawked when she started to ease the curtain back. ‘They might see you!’

‘I need to know if it’s the police,’ Skye told her. ‘If it is and they know I’m here, they’ll kick the door in.’