The next morning I woke to light streaming through the open window. My eyes hurt so badly I had to close them again. I felt awful.
It wasn’t difficult to discover why. I’d been sleeping on a hard lump of something. Where was I? This wasn’t my bed.
Blinking, I rolled over and gradually got my bearings. I had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the computer. The game controller was digging into my back.
Oh no. I had fallen asleep with Everworld switched on. This was seriously bad news. If you are logged on, other people can kill your characters. If you are logged on and fast asleep, you cannot fight back.
I did a quick inventory. Of my twenty-eight characters, twenty-three had been killed. I only had five left. All that work ruined.
This wasn’t the first time I had fallen asleep in front of a computer game. When I did, Dad usually found me and
tucked me into bed, before logging off the computer. Why hadn’t he done it this time?
I dragged my tired bones to his room. His bed was in its usual unmade state, so I had to look carefully to see if he was in it or not. He wasn’t in it. I guessed that he hadn’t come home last night.
I checked the telephone. No messages. He must have stayed at Melly’s house.
Still, I was sure he would be on his way back. After all, he’d promised to take me to school in the X31 today, and make them change my teacher.
I looked at my watch. It was 8.25 a.m. I’d missed the school bus already. If I was going to get to school on time he’d better hurry up.
I phoned Melly’s number.
Dad answered the phone with a groan. ‘Unh? Yeah?’
‘Dad. Dad. It’s me. You said you’d take me to school today. In the Breaker? You’re going to talk to the school office about changing me to another class. You have to come and take me to school because I’ve missed the school bus.’
He groaned again. ‘I’m in no state to do anything this morning, kid,’ he said. ‘Melly and I went out on the town. Can’t you—’
‘No.’
‘—get a taxi or something?’
‘Dad, I don’t have any money. You promised you’d come to school with me this morning.’
He gave one of his long, tired sighs. ‘Simon, you always want me to solve your problems for you. Sometimes you have to sort things out for yourself. I am really, really tired, and I really don’t want to deal with this just now. Get yourself to school and we’ll talk about it tonight.’
He put down the phone.
I said to the handset: ‘I wish you were dead, Dad, instead of Mum.’
I decided not to go to school that day. For a start I had no way of getting there. In fact, I made a big decision.
I wasn’t going to school ever again. Once I had made that decision, everything was fine. I felt much better.
Who cared if Eliza Marshmallow named me Void of the Year? I wasn’t going to be part of that community any more, so it wouldn’t make any difference.
If I refused to go to school, then they would eventually have to expel me. I could start again somewhere else. We’d have to move to a new district probably, but we’d done that often enough.
I might even use some of the things I learned from Ms Blit to help me make friends at the next school.
Thinking of Ms Blit reminded me of something. She said I had a Secret Sharer in Easterpark. Maybe at this school. If we moved, I might not find him or her.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about anything serious.
So I went to play in Dad’s car. I do that sometimes when he’s out. I sit in the X31 and pretend to drive. Of course, I don’t do it like a little kid—I don’t put my hands on the steering wheel and say brmmm-brmm, like a baby. I know how to drive . . . Well, I know a bit. I’ve got a Scala-Poynter X31 flying car simulator program on my computer, and have been driving that for years.
I went to the garage and spent an hour in the car, checking out the controls, and pretending I was skimming the top of the stratosphere.
This is something I have learnt over the years. If there’s stuff going on that makes you feel bad, don’t think about it. Distract yourself with fun things instead.
There was a sliding noise—the garage door opened.
I froze.
The door trundled noisily upwards and the room was bathed in light.
Dad was back! He would be furious. I wasn’t even allowed to open the garage when he was out, let alone play in the car.
‘Sorry, Dad,’ I blurted to the silhouette at the garage door. ‘I was just having a look. I haven’t switched anything on or changed anything. Honest.’
The shadow moved closer. I couldn’t see who it was, but I realised it wasn’t my father.