few steps, Billy would jab one of his sausage-like fingers into my shoulder. Each time was harder than the one before. I had to get him talking and get his mind off pushing me around, before he did me some serious damage.
‘My mum’s babysitting your little sister today,’ I said.
‘I know. My mum’s paying her twenty quid to do it.’ Billy’s face stretched into a mocking grin. ‘She says she feels sorry for your mum because she’s too useless to get a proper job. It’s like charity, she says, since you’re so poor.’
I felt my teeth clamp together and my fingers curl into fists. I didn’t mind him pushing me around. I could take that. But not my mum. Nobody made fun of my mum.
I stopped dead. The other boys carried on a few paces before they realised what had happened. Billy stopped, then looked me up and down, pausing briefly at my clenched fists. ‘Oh yeah?’ he sneered.
All three of them stepped in close to me, looming above me. Billy was right in my face, his nose next to mine, his stinking breath swirling up my nostrils. I stared up into his narrowed eyes, not flinching.
The other two were right at my sides. There was no way I could swing a punch without them stopping it. They were both poised, ready to grab my arms. Ready to hold me while Billy pummelled.
I felt my nerve go. The anger that had burned through me was snuffed out by a wave of fear.
‘You want to say something to me?’ Billy snarled. ‘Eh?’
I wanted to say a lot of things to him, but I didn’t dare. He made a sharp move towards me and I flinched. All three boys laughed at that.
‘So?’ he hissed. ‘What was it you wanted to say?’
My mind raced. My mouth went dry. I had to think of something to say, and fast.
And then I remembered – well, not exactly remembered, because the experience was one I would never, ever be able to forget. Right then, though, was the first time I’d put two and two together properly.
While hiding from Mr Mumbles I’d somehow transported myself to somewhere called the Darkest Corners. It was a horrible, terrifying place, full of horrible, terrifying creatures. That was where I’d met the girl.
She couldn’t have been more than five years old, but something about her had chilled me to the bone. Her skin was as pale as death, but caked here and there with thick blobs of make-up. A smear of lipstick across her mouth. Rings of black shadow around her eyes. A little girl playing at dressing up.
She had mentioned Billy. Or a Billy, at least. I doubted she was talking about this one, but it was worth a shot.
‘I met another girl I think you might know,’ I said shakily.
‘Wouldn’t surprise me,’ Billy crowed. ‘I know a lot of girls. What did she look like?’
He stepped back a little, so I quickly continued.
‘She was young,’ I said. ‘Maybe five or something?’ I glanced up at him. ‘She had a doll.’
‘A doll?’ he snorted. ‘Don’t know who you’re talking about.’
‘Weird-looking thing. The doll, I mean. The girl too, actually. What was her name again…?’ I wracked my brains. ‘Caddie,’ I announced. ‘That was it.’
The colour drained from Billy’s face, leaving him an ashen shade of grey. He eyeballed me, his head shaking ever so slightly from side to side.
‘Who told you about that?’ he demanded.
‘No one,’ I answered. ‘I met her. She asked if I knew you, said that you used to play with her or something.’
‘Shut up,’ Billy hissed. ‘You can’t…You…Who’ve you been talking to?’
I smiled nervously. Billy looked like a bomb about to explode, and I was standing directly in his path. ‘No one,’ I insisted. ‘I wasn’t speaking to any—’
The punch crunched into the soft bit between my stomach and my chest, and I felt my lungs instantly cramp up. Before I realised what was happening, Billy had me by the front of my shirt. He was shouting something, but all my attention was focused on trying to draw a breath, and I missed most of what he said.
‘…ever talk about that again,’ was the only bit I caught, before he pushed me to the floor and stalked off, his two minions following close behind.
Fighting the urge to puke, I crouched on the floor, feeling my breath gradually return. A few of my classmates glanced pityingly at me as they rushed past, but none of them bothered to stop.
Then, just as I had begun to think about getting up, a hand reached down, palm upwards. I looked at it, then up into eyes I hadn’t seen in a fortnight.
‘OK,’ frowned Ameena. ‘And you let that jerk get away with that because…?’
Ilet Ameena help me up, then stood there brushing myself down, not quite sure what to say to her. I’d begun to think I would never see her again, and now I couldn’t decide whether to hug her or shout at her. I decided, for the moment, to do neither.
She looked just as she had done when we’d first met, only now her long dark brown hair wasn’t matted to her face with rain, and her deep brown eyes weren’t wide with panic. She still wore the same shabby black jacket and jumper; still had the same oversized walking boots on her feet; still looked like she needed a good meal.
Seeing her brought everything rushing back. Every feeling from Christmas Day – the pain, the fear – came washing over me, all hitting me at once, making my legs go shaky and my head go light.
‘You should’ve kicked that guy’s ass,’ she told me, glaring along the corridor in the direction Billy had gone. ‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Uh, well, because I can’t? You saw the size of him.’
She looked at me like I was crazy. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘No, I’m not kidding,’ I said. ‘He’d kill me.’
‘What?’ she spluttered. ‘But…Christmas. The stuff you did. The stuff you can do.’
I pulled my bag back up on to my shoulder and set off along the corridor. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I said.
‘Maybe not, but it happened,’ she replied. ‘I saw it.’ She quickened her pace and stopped in front of me. ‘What, you think that guy’s anywhere near as tough as Mr Mu—’
‘Please,’ I implored, ‘can we not do this right now?’ I stepped past her and carried on towards my next class. ‘I’ll talk about it later, but just…not right now.’
She hesitated for a few moments, not following me. ‘No
