13 Minutes Read Online Free Page A

her years as Tasha’s best friend, this was maybe the first time she’d ever been alone with Gary Howland. It was Alison who’d fed them and picked them up from school and brought them juice and biscuits. Gary was just a dad .
    ‘She’ll be fine when Natasha wakes up,’ he said. The machine whirred as it filled a cup with watery coffee and powdered milk. The possibility that Natasha might not wake up was one her father was clearly not considering. ‘But I don’t think her crying by the bedside is helping Natasha.’ He looked at Becca and for the first time she realised he was actually a pretty handsome man. Not grungy enough for her and obviously way too old, but good-looking anyway. Not in his uniform suit and tie he looked younger, somehow.
    ‘Would you like me to go in and talk to her for a bit?’ The words were out before she could stop herself, sucked from her brain in response to a sudden wave of pity for her ex-best friend’s father. ‘I’ve got some time.’
    ‘Would you?’ The gratitude that radiated from him landed heavily on her shoulders and she cursed herself. She should have just texted her mum for a lift. She should have gone downstairs and waited for Aiden in the freezing cold. What the hell was she going to talk to Natasha about ?
    ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘I love Tasha, too.’ Her face prickled with the lie.

 
     
     
    Five
    It’s so cold, it’s so cold I can’t breathe and I panic hard in the water that’s like shards of glass, and for the first time I think I might be in serious trouble. That I might end here. My white joggers and sweatshirt are so heavy in the freezing river. My lungs are raw and ice-scalded as I try to take shallow breaths, desperately keeping my chin above the water, but nothing is working, not my lungs, my limbs or my brain. The cold is overwhelming. It burns through my veins like fire. If I can just reach the branches I might be able to pull myself to the bank, if I can just stop myself from going under – and what time is it, what time is it – and oh fuck I can’t feel my hands. The thin twigs are scalpels on my dying blue skin this is a terrible mistake and what the fuck time is it and . . .
    . . . I suck in a deep breath, tearing pain through my lungs again, but the air is warm and sweet and there’s no freezing water choking me.
    ‘Natasha?’
    ‘Oh my god, Natasha!’
    ‘Tasha?’
    ‘Get a doctor!’
    My mother’s face looms over me and my instinct is to swat her away. She’s too close. I’m too confused. I’m still trying to breathe. My heart is racing. I don’t know quite where I am. I blink and blink and blink. It’s hot and bright and dry. Hayley and Jenny are in the room. I can hear their shrieks as a nurse pulls them back so she can get close to me.
    I’m alive , I think, and then comes the flood of relief. I’m alive. This is the hospital.
    I move my mouth but no words come out. My throat is dry and hoarse. There is a drip in my arm. How long have I been here? What day is it? My head throbs.
    Too much activity around me. I try to turn my head sideways to look over to the door where more people are hurrying in. The bones and muscles in my neck scream at me. I see blonde hair spread over the pillow and it surprises my confused brain. My hair is dark. This is not my hair. No, my hair was dark. I dyed it to be like my friends. Blondes together. Interchangeable.
    Everyone is talking, or so it seems. A stream of loud noise. I realise there’s also familiar music playing, an iPod plugged into a speaker somewhere. Is it mine? Who brought it here? How long have I been here? Talking and noise. Talking and noise. It’s all too much. Hard to focus. Suddenly I think of Becca.
    ‘Was Becca here?’ I ask. The voice, all sandpaper-rough, doesn’t sound like mine. More like some possessed girl in a horror film. I guess it must shock everyone else, too, as silence answers my question. The room settles into some strange calm, blissfully