4

Thump in the Night

Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now, in the dark. So sleep on it, kid. Maybe things won’t seem so bad in the morning.

I try the most comfortable-looking bed. But it’s like in Goldilocks – it’s way too big, and just reminds me how alone I am here.

I try one of the bunk beds in the other room, but I can’t seem to sleep there either. In the end I drag a duvet through to the sofa and curl up on that.

At least that way I can keep an eye on the front door. I know there’s no one outside, of course, but it’s so flipping dark out there. And when you break into a house, you just can’t seem to settle. You think some mad axeman owner’s going to turn up at any moment, seeking revenge.

It’s weird, actually. I don’t want anyone to come, because I know I’ll get the biggest telling-off in my life. For skipping school. For nicking a load of money off my dad. For not telling my folks where I’m going. And then – horror of horrors – staying out overnight.

For pinching a kayak, too. For risking my neck in the open sea – without a life jacket. For losing the stupid kayak. For breaking into someone’s house. For scoffing all their beans…

But if anyone does come, I want to make sure they find me. Because how else am I going to get out of this place?

Unless it’s Fug, of course. He’s the one person I do not want to find me.

I can’t seem to escape from him, though. I can’t get him out of my brain, even when I do finally sleep. There he is, the boy of my dreams, standing at the end of the bed with that sick-looking smirk on his face. Watching his gang lay into me.

Not Fug, though. He never lays a finger on anyone. He doesn’t have to.

‘Get them off me!’ I’m yelling, as I wake. My head’s throbbing. My back and arms are aching.

And then I remember whacking my skull on the side of the kayak. And the effort of paddling across an open sea.

I eventually fall asleep again, but this time it’s more like remembering than dreaming. Remembering my first day at school. There he was, Fug, demanding my dinner money. And what did I do? I gave it to him.

Day after day. Week after week. If I’d already given it to Miss and didn’t have any for him, he’d set the Thumps on me. At break. Behind the bike shed.

They said if I yelled, they’d hit me even harder. And if I told anyone … they’d kill me.

I took to raiding my mum’s purse before school. Sliding up to Fug on the bus and handing him enough to keep him happy. To keep the heavy squad off me.

And so it went on, month after month. Till the other day.

‘You want us to stop, kid? You want us to pick on someone else for a change?’

I knew I wasn’t the only one. I’m not stupid. But I nodded. There was nothing I wanted more.

‘OK,’ said Fug, looking me right between the eyes. ‘From now on you’re one of us – a Thump.’ And he raised his palm, to high-five me.

But I turned and walked away.