Rare Sight

Chapter Fourteen

“Joe? Joe?”

Déjà vu. He kept his eyes tightly shut. His chest felt squashed, as if all his ribs were broken or something.

“Whaaat?” he croaked.

“Oh, thank goodness… Joe lovie, it’s mum.

He opened one eye and took in his mum’s worried face.

“WherramI?”

“At the Khalils’, love – remember?”

He remembered with a jolt the fall with his gran. He opened both eyes. “Gran? She all right? Wherrisshe?”

“She’s lying across your chest, love. I can’t wake her. Are you up to helping me move her?”

“Urgh.” He shook his head. “Can’t move.”

“OK – I’ll get help.” She walked away and he closed his eyes again. His breathing seemed too loud. Unless… He craned his neck to squint at his gran. Yes, it was her breathing he could hear. He put his head back down with relief. He heard footsteps and lifted his head again; a familiar figure had come into view.

“Yous, is that you?”

Yousef grinned. “We really have got to stop meeting like this, y’know.”

“Ha-ha.”

“C’mon, mate, let’s get your gran into a more comfortable position.” He knelt down next to them. “Mrs Simmonds? We’re just going to move you into a better position, all right?”

Joe smiled weakly. “You’ve been watching too much Casualty.”

Yousef and Joe’s mum grunted as they lifted his gran off Joe and lay her carefully down on the floor.

“She needs a cushion,” his mum told Yousef. “And have you got anything to cover her with? Her hands feel freezing.” While they fussed over his gran, Joe lay quietly, amazed at how little of him hurt. He concentrated on twitching his toes, then moving his fingers and hands. He could taste blood in his mouth – he remembered his knee crashing into his mouth just before he fell. How far had they fallen? It had seemed to go on forever. Then he remembered Gideon – that thing that had nothing human about it. He groaned and shut his eyes.

“Joe? Are you all right?” His mum was back by his side, and the worry in her voice made him force his eyes open and smile at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Mum – sorry. Just remembering about Gideon.”

“What about him? You’re not still fretting over that deal I did with Tansley?”

He shook his head. “No – I’m thinking about the monster in the attic that turns out to be my dad.”

“What are you talking about?”

He groaned again. Sleep was a warm, dark place he longed to visit, but he forced himself to focus. With a supreme effort, he heaved himself into a sitting position.

“In the loft, right…” he said. “Gideon and Georgia…”

“…Wait a minute,” said his mum. “Gideon and Georgia were in the loft with you and your gran?”

He nodded. “Yeah… Except Gideon… well, he was this monster.”

His mum looked at him. “Gideon? He’s been many things in his time: a dangerous, reckless fool, a bully, a liar and a coward, but he’s no monster, Joe.”

“No – I mean really. He’s really a monster. This great big ghoul-thing, like a huge tower of shadow with shiny eyes like lights.”

“Then it wasn’t Gideon,” said his mum. She took a duvet from Yousef and carefully tucked it around her mother. “There, Mum. Better?”