Cruel World (The Tribe Book 1)

12. Ready

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"Is it a ghost?" Patsy echoes Cloe as we finish barricading the stairs?

"Rubbish Patsy, ghosts don't exist!" Amber scolds, mostly trying to reassure herself rather than the kids.

"Whatever it is, it exists alright," I mutter, looking out over the mall, which looks more
ominous at night when the only light is the fairy lights above the old fountain and the moonlight coming in from all the windows.

Trudy looks panicky from what I can see of her in her room, but Bray is quick to reassure her with a smirk on his face, glancing at me for some reason.

"It's alright Trudy, there's nothing to worry about, come back to bed," he smirks.

"It could be the wind!" we hear Ryan say downstairs, the sound travelling.

"Nah, whatever it is, is most likely alive," Martin responds.

"Well it won't be alive for long once we find it! Come on," Lex tells them all, leading them to the source of the noise, while us older girls, the three kids, Bray and the baby remain upstairs, Bray and Trudy sitting in the kids room with the baby giggling to themselves. It takes all my restraint to ignore them right now, too tired and without any patience to deal with them.

"Can't believe Bray! Chickening out, being a coward," Zandra mumbles as we finish.

"I'm sure he's not. He must have his reasons," Salene defends him, and we roll our eyes.

"For chickening out? Still, might have known you'd defend him," Zandra replies, rolling her eyes once again at the blatant puppy behaviour Salene's exhibiting.

"Meaning?" Salene gets defensive.

"Oh come on, Salene," Zandra scoffs, before moving away from her, over the conversation.

Amber and I give each other a look, and then walk in to see Trudy and Bray, as the pair haven't stopped giggling since the boys went on their search.

"What's going on Bray?" Amber says, once she realises I refuse to speak to my so-called 'best friend'.

"What do you mean?" he laughs, confused about the context.

"Why didn't you go with the others?" She clarifies.

"I'm looking after Trudy and the baby," he defends himself, causing me to snort.

"Oh yeah, because you actually give a damn now, instead of drooling over Salene," I mumble under my breath so no one can hear.

Amber gives him an incredulous look, "It's not just that. I mean you're not even worried, there's some sort of strange creature down there and you couldn't care less. I mean, you're actually laughing."

He just shrugs in response while laughing, making my scowl deepen at his complete disregard for our concerns.

"You know what it is, don't you? You know what that noise is," Amber snarks, realising why he isn't scared. Again, he just shrugs.

"Bray!" she scolds.

"Amber! Cloe's missing!" Salene runs in, completely ignoring me. Amber goes with her to check the upstairs for her, and I go to follow, but choose to turn back. I walk back into the room and Trudy looks up, hearing me before Bray, and while Bray is still facing her I quickly reach over and smack him upside the head, sick of his attitude and then walk straight back out, not saying anything. All I hear is an 'Ow' from Bray before I walk out of hearing distance.