George and Nicole Harper had never had an easy life. From one set of divorced parents to another, these half siblings have had it tough.
Ever since their mother, Naomi, split from George's father and forced them to move from England back to her hom...
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An unsettling silence had befallen the Harper household. George lay awake in his bed, unable to sleep in the thick blanket of tension that had come between him and Nick. But he wasn't going to let that stop him from helping his friend. In all of George's twelve years of living, he had never had many friends, and apparently he couldn't count his sister as a friend. Now though, he had four of them and was determined to keep that count at four (or higher but he was being realistic). So George lay awake in the darkness. His alarm clock ticked steadily by. He could hear Nick shuffling around and saw the occasional flash of light as turned a light in another room on and off again. It wasn't long before she too went to sleep.
His alarm clock read 11:30 when he finally heard the rattling of keys and a click of a lock, among drunken slurs, bumps then groans from Naomi as she finally staggered home. Once again, the hall light flashed on and off. He could just about see the soft glow of a light coming from his mum's room which was soon enough snuffed out. The house was still and finally shrouded in darkness.
George silently flung off the covers and hopped out of bed. He hadn't bothered changing into pyjamas, he'd just pulled the covers tightly around him so should Nick check on him, he'd look normal. George's bedroom was at the back of the house and looked out onto dense woodland. He tried to slide up the window as quietly as he could but this was an old house. The window scraped as he hauled it up. It stuck and it scraped and stuck some more. George heaved it up with all of his might but as his effort increased, so did the squeaking. He froze. There was a creaking coming from down the hall. Four several tense seconds George stood frozen to the spot. If someone were to come in now, there would be no explanation. Well, no reasonable explanation.
He waited. The sound of his heavy breathing rang in his ears, making it difficult to hear if the creaking had stopped and it was safe to move again. He waited some more but nothing happened. With one final push he managed to slide the window open and crawl out into the night.
*
Nick couldn't sleep. She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling. Had she been too hard on George? she thought, screwing up her eyes and mentally beating herself up. She was only looking out for him, like she had always done but the way he had looked at her after she'd put her foot down...
His eyes had widened in a horrified realisation then narrowed as he'd scowled at her. His eyes blazed with resentment, the same resentment she knew had always been aimed at Naomi. It was easy to blame there mother for their misfortune, after all it had been her fault. But Nick had never thought she would be on the receiving end of that stare. She had deluded herself if she thought that she could play the role of mother and still be best friends with George at the end of it. She just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
She knew how much this had to mean for George, this was one of his only friends. Will was missing damn it! And Nick had told George not to look for him, not to help him, and why? Out of fear. It was pathetic! She was pathetic! Well, if she wasn't going to let George risk his neck looking for Will, then it was the least she could do to risk her own neck!
In heated determination, Nick tossed off her covers. Her bedroom was opposite George's, at the back of the house and looked out onto dense woodland. It would be all too easy for her to sneak out and join the search party. Her mum wouldn't come looking for her, to check on her in bed. Neither would George, he'd be fast asleep at this time of night. She slipped on her boots and grabbed a denim jacket that appeared 3 sizes to big but that her mum assured her was fashionable. Nick had other ideas, namely Naomi had forgotten what sized clothes her own daughter needed.Taking one final deep breath of encouragement, Nick heaved open the window, shuffling the stiff frame up one inch at a time, and slipped out into the night.
It was bitterly cold. It would be, being November and all. Nick shivered as she dropped down, landing on the damp forest floor. Their house didn't have a garden, it just had a trodden path leading out into the woods. She pulled her jacket tighter around her and mentally thanked her mother for getting her a massive jacket. Nick glanced back at the house. Would it be cowardly to go back in and change into something warmer? She thought, then faltered and froze. George's window was open.
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