Getting over Gabe

C H A P T E R 3

C H A P T E R     3

I talked to Leah for the first time the next day. I was sitting on the front steps, the sun almost blinding me, but I couldn’t be bothered to move and I was enjoying the warmth anyway. The others were out: the triplets had insisted that Joe was in desperate need of a Builder Bear, and while Joe didn’t really want one, I think he enjoyed the attention, and anyway, it was Di’s pocket money, not his. That left Leah, Cam, Sue and I at home. Cam was up in his room yet again, listening to music. I hadn’t seen him yet, at least not properly, I’d only heard him shouting down to Sue through the wall. The same for Leah, except I’d never heard her talk at all before then. Sue was in the back yard trying to keep the plants alive in the heat, and I had thought Leah was up in her room doing whatever she normally did.  

I sat on the steps, tapping my feet, and imagining I was at my Gran’s house, and she was still alive. But I was interrupted by a shadow, that fell on half on me and half on the steps. I looked up, to see Leah, tears rolling down her face, her red hair wet and stuck to her face, and her eyes red and puffy.

I didn’t know what to say, and I wanted to ask why she was crying, but I didn’t want her to cry more. So instead, I shuffled slightly along the steps, making space for her to sit next to me. She sat, slowly, shakily, wiped her nose on her sleeve, and put her face in her hands. I wasn’t sure what to do. I just sat there awkwardly, before asking hesitantly, ‘Shall I get Sue?’

She looked up at me then, her eyes desperate.

‘No, don’t!’ And then, more to herself than me, she said, ‘She can’t know how bad I feel… I managed to pretend like I hadn’t remembered, and now she’ll never know I had.’

‘Okay…’

There was a pause, and the silence seemed deafening and we sat watching the sun go down, until she said, ‘Sorry…’

I shrugged, and the silence returned, until once again she spoke.

‘I’m thirteen tomorrow.’

I hadn’t expected that. She looked much older, sixteen or seventeen. Her stature was slight, but I just thought she was petite. It was something in her face, that made me think she seemed old because of the effects of bitter experience.

‘Oh.’ I said, simply.

‘Yeah…’

Another silence.

Then, ‘You know the date today?’

‘Uh, the twenty seventh of June, right?’

‘Yeah. And do you know what today is?’

‘Um… what do you mean?’

‘To me, you know, what I was crying about. Aren’t you curious?’

‘Yes, but…’

‘But what? Everyone else would have asked. What was stopping you?’

‘I’ve never talked to you before, and I didn’t want to upset you anymore.’

She gave a bitter laugh. ‘Right, I forgot, I look a bit of a state, right?’

I shrugged, smiling sheepishly. ‘Kind of…’

She laughed again, but this time it seemed more free sounding. But then she abruptly stopped like she remembered something.

‘Do you want to know why?’

I shrugged, slightly uncomfortable, but curious all the same.

‘My parents and twin were killed two years ago today. And the drunk driver that killed them got out of prison yesterday.’ She said it in a sort of detached way, but I could see her pain. ‘Worst three days of my life.’

I looked at her questioningly. ‘Three?’

‘Yesterday the man that killed them got out of prison, today is the anniversary of their death, and tomorrow, my birthday, was also Beth’s, my twin.’

‘Oh.’ I wasn’t sure what to say to that. There was nothing to say really. Instead I pulled her into a hug. This girl, so many years younger had to deal with so much, and looked so sad. I wanted to make it better.

‘The day after tomorrow, we are going to have the best day out ever.’

And at that she smiled slightly.

'What about you?' she asked.

'What?'

'Why are you here?'