STOP PRETENDING

Chapter six

"Johnny?" I stared at him, taking in another familiar face. It was him. It was really him. My own brother.
Since we haven't seen each other much, Johnny had grown several centimetres and was now a head taller than me, but the warmth in his hazel eyes were just the same.
He held out his arms and I stumbled into them, feeling the weight lifting from my back. In spite of e terrible situation poor Harry was in - and my own feelings of guilt - the pre was something about my brothers presence that had always made me feel better. I finally let go of him.
"What're you doing here" I said feeling astonished.
"Mum called me and told me everything that had happened." He began. "Why would Art do such a terrible thing? Anyway, I wanted to call you, but your phone was switched off." He hugged me again. "I'm so sorry, sis."
I smiled. "It's okay."
"What are you doing here though, sis? I went over to see mum...man, I couldn't believe mum'd let you come here alone."
"I'm not alone." I said, looking up at the ravine to where now dad was running towards us. "Dads watching over me." We let each other go again.
"Yeah, mum said." He hesitated. "Still, anything could've —"
"I'm fine!" I insisted. "This unidentified man said it had to be just me...alone." Johnny's eyes widened. But before he could say anything else, dad grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him away from me.
"Who are you?"
"Dad its me!" Both of them said it at the same time.
"Johnny?" He smiled and pulled Johnny into a hug. When they drew each other apart, I quickly explained what had happened at the bench, and the three of us walked over to the car to where dad parked it before we arrived at Sandcove Chine.
We didn't say much. Dad called mum as we got ourselves inside the car minutes after. Both me and Johnny could hear her on the other end of the phone totally freaking out: asking if both me and Johnny were safe. And of course, dad reassured her that we were.

Mum was waiting at the door, looking half anxious, half annoyed when we arrived home. It took us half an hour for mum to stop asking a bundle of questions to Johnny and telling me off for making her miss her stupid yoga training at two. I gritted my teeth, but dad insisted mum to stop hassling us and calm down. Finally mum stopped asking, long enough for the four of us to have a proper conversation. Unsurprisingly, mum did most of the talking or, rather, her doing most of everything. She leaned against dad as if he were all that was stopping her from falling to the floor and alternated between extreme anxiety over my son and showing a lot of anger over Art.

Afterwards, dad, Johnny and I examined the phone carefully, but unfortunately, it gave us no clues of anything.
The video message showing Harry had obviously been filmed in an empty room. All we could see behind Harry had obviously been Harry's head was a plain painted wall. And the senders number was, obviously withheld.
Mum gasped when I told her how much money was needed and when 'code X' needed it in.
"The whole five grand from my fathers life insurance?" She said. "But that was our future!"
"But why in God's name do these people want the money?" That was Johnny.
"I don't know." I said, feeling defeated. "But I'm hoping that if we give them our money, they'll let Harry go for sure. To come home safe."
"But it may not be that simple, Siobhan." Dad added.
"Then it's hopeless!" I wailed. I pushed the kitchen chair bac, ran to the top of the house and went into my room.