Fractured Read Free Page A

start to fill with tears at Ben’s name, and I blink furiously. If she only knew how hard things really are; if she only knew the other half of it. I long to tell her, but how would she look at me if she knew I may have killed someone? Anyhow, she might not mind being woken up, but Dad would.
    ‘When is Dad getting back?’ I say, suddenly aware of his continued absence. He always travels for work: installing and maintaining government computers all over the country. But he is usually home a night or two a week at least.
    ‘Well, he may not be home so much for a while.’
    ‘Why?’ I say, careful to hide the relief I feel inside.
    She stands, rinses our mugs.
    ‘You look like you need some sleep, Kyla. Why don’t you take a nap before dinner?’
    Conversation over.
    Late that night I am lost in confused dreams: running, chasing and being chased all at once. Awake for what must be the tenth time, I punch the pillow and sigh. Then my ears perk up at a slight sound, a crunch, outside. Perhaps I wasn’t woken by dreams this time after all?
    Crossing the room to the window, I pull the curtains to one side. The wind has picked up, whipping leaves across the garden. The trees seem bare all at once. Yesterday’s storm has littered the world: orange and red spin in whorls through the air, and around a dark car out front.
    The car door opens, and a woman steps out; long curly hair falls over her face. I gasp. Could it be? She pushes it back with one hand as she shuts the door, enough for me to be sure: it is Mrs Nix. Ben’s mother.
    I grip the window ledge tight. Why is she here?
    Excitement rushes through my body: maybe she has news of Ben! But almost as soon as the thought forms, it is gone. Her face, caught in the moonlight, is pinched and white. If she has any sort of news, it is not happy. Footsteps crunch on the shingle below, and there is a light knock on the front door.
    Maybe she has come to demand to know what happened to Ben, what I did. Maybe she is going to tell Mum I was there before the Lorders took him away. It flashes painfully in my mind: Ben in agony; the rattle of the door when his mum came in. I’d told her I found him with his Levo cut off, and—
    The rattle of the door. She had to unlock the door to get in. I’d told her I found him like that, but she must know I lied. How else could it have been locked when she got there?
    The door opens downstairs; there is a faint murmur of voices.
    I have to know .
    I slip quietly across the room and out to the landing, then take one careful step at a time down the dark stairs. I listen.
    There is the faint whistle of the kettle, low voices; they are in the kitchen.
    A step closer; another. The kitchen door is part open.
    Something touches my leg, and I jump, almost cry out, until I realise it is Sebastian. He winds round my leg, purring.
    Please be quiet , I beg silently, bend to scratch behind his ears. But as I do my elbow bumps the hall table.
    I hold my breath. Footsteps approach! I duck into the dark office opposite.
    ‘It’s just the cat,’ I hear Mum say, then there is movement, a faint ‘meow’. Footsteps retreat back to the kitchen; there is a click as she shuts the door. I creep back into the hall to listen.
    ‘I’m so sorry about Ben,’ Mum says. I hear chairs move. ‘But you shouldn’t have come here.’
    ‘Please, you must help.’
    ‘I don’t understand. How?’
    ‘We’ve tried everything to find out what happened to him. Everything. They won’t tell us a thing. I thought, maybe, you could…’ And her voice trails away.
    Mum has connections. Political ones: her dad was Prime Minister before he was assassinated, on the Lorder side of the Coalition. Can she help? I listen eagerly.
    ‘I’m so sorry. I’ve already tried, for Kyla’s sake. But it is a blank wall. There is nothing.’
    ‘I don’t know where else to turn.’ And there are faint noises, snuffling and hiccupping. She’s crying; Ben’s mum is crying.
    ‘Listen to