Rejects // l.h.

1

"Luke. I know it's hard. I know how you feel. This is hard for me too. She was a lovely woman. I'll miss her too," Sighs Mrs Mason, the next door neighbour. I know she's trying to help, but I want to be left alone. She doesn't know anything about my mum. She doesn't know anything about how I feel.

I didn't reply to her. I just stayed staring at the ground. I wished Dad was here. He'd gone for a walk alone. I think he felt the worst about her death. He thinks it was his fault. It wasn't. But he thinks it was.

She hadn't died from a disease. She'd been a perfectly healthy woman. She must have died in one of the worst ways possible. She was walking along the cliff on the beach. Dad and I were in the sea. The wind had suddenly picked up and she's lost her balance. We saw her fall. We saw her land with a huge thud on the sand, from about 300 meters drop.

"Luke? Are you listening?"

"Yeah,"

"So you're fine about my grandson coming round?"

"What?"

"My grandson, Daniel. He lives in Melbourne, but he's coming here for a visit. I think it would do you good to talk to someone your own age,"

"Uh," I didn't know how to say no without sounding rude. "My friend Josh is coming round later,"

"Oh well. That's too bad. Anyway, I'd best be going. Say hello to your father from me," She strolls out the house, care free. I pick up my phone and call Dad, as I have no idea where he is.

"Dad? Where are you?"

"Sorry. Didn't want to get in the way. I was just..."

"Dad. You'll make yourself more upset if you keep visiting the graveyard," I say quietly.

"I know, son. I'm coming home now,"

When he gets home, he sits down next to me.

"Luke... I need to talk to you,"

"About what?"

"I think. We think. You would be much happier somewhere else,"

"What?"

"You've been enrolled in Charlton Institution. It's a boarding school for..."

"Charlton Institution?" I yell. I know Charlton Institution. Parents dump their kids there when they've got sick of them, or if they have mental issues or something.

"You're getting rid of me?" I shout.

"It's for the best. Living here will make you more depressed. You'd be much happier there," he says calmly. I jump up and storm out the house, slamming the door behind me.

The rain is pattering from the sky, soon soaking me. I'm cold. I'm hungry. I'm angry. I hate my life.

***

We pull up outside a bleak, tall grey building with barbed wire fencing around it. It reminds me of something out of The Walking Dead. Abandoned.

There's a security guard standing outside. I'm not sure why. Do they really think anyone would try to break in?

I get out the car and slam the door shut, dragging my suitcase behind me. I can't remind the last time I was this nervous.

"Ok, son. You ready?"

"No,"

We walk inside, through the battered metal gate. There's people lying around outside. Boys limply kicking a ball to each other, arm wrestling, fighting, girls talking and swearing and applying eyeliner. They all look at me. I'm new. I'm different.