Fragments Read Online Free Page B

away from here. Her mum sounds like she has her own worries but I don’t think I can stay here. It was mad to think I could, even for a day or so. I just needed to get myself together but maybe I’m as together as I’m ever going to be.
    ‘Where are you going?’ Ariella’s tone is panicky and too loud. I shush her, trying to sound gentle in case she has a full-on tantrum and starts wailing.
    ‘I need to go.’
    ‘But you can’t!’
    I don’t hear anyone coming but a face is suddenly there, above the top of the door of the stall.

C HAPTER 4
    a very experienced babysitter
    I t’s a woman in, I don’t know, her thirties, maybe. She has dark hair that’s pulled into a ponytail. The roots are greasy. Her eyes are puffy and her face pale. She gasps and lifts a hand to her mouth before pushing the door open violently.
    That’s when I see the blob shape of a baby, strapped to her chest in one of those sling things. All I can see is a tuft of gingery hair poking out the top, two scrawny little legs with the feet covered and a hand with a tiny, wrinkled, bunched fist.
    ‘Who the bloody hell are you ?’ says the woman. Ariella scrambles to her feet.
    ‘Mummy, this is Kyla and she’s my friend!’
    ‘Mummy’ fixes me with a look that makes my scalp shrivel.
    ‘I repeat,’ she says icily, ‘who ARE you? And why are you in our stables?’

    I swallow. My mouth has gone completely dry. I wonder if I should push her out of the way and run but I can’t bring myself to do it when she’s carrying that baby.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ I mumble. ‘I’ve got nowhere to go.’ Words start tumbling out of my mouth. ‘I was in care in, um . . .’ – I frantically search in my brain for the name of the nearest town – ‘Arnley . . . and the place got closed down. They wanted to ship us to London and I didn’t want to go so I ran away. I’m really sorry. I’ll go . . .’ I don’t know where all that rubbish just came from. I wouldn’t believe me if I was her.
    ‘Yes, I think you’d better be off,’ she says sharply.
    ‘ Nooo!’ Ariella whines. ‘Mumm eee ! I want her to stay!’
    Her mother opens and closes her mouth, colour rising in her face. For a moment the resemblance between her and Ariella is strong. That’s when a thin, high cry comes from the woman’s chest and the baby’s legs do a sort of frog kick.
    ‘Oh hell!’ says the woman. ‘You’ve set Kit off now!’ She places her hand at the back of its head and starts jiggling, which just makes the baby’s wails take on a juddering, shaky sound.
    Ariella is properly crying now. ‘Please, Mummy!’ she says. ‘ Please don’t make her go!’
    I look uncertainly between them, still not sure whether I should bolt.
    ‘Look, you’d better come into the house for a while,’ says the woman with a sigh. ‘I can’t think straight when he’s crying like this.’
    I let out a slow breath. Maybe she can see I’m not dangerous.
    Ariella manages to give me a tear-stained smile while her mother’s eyes are focused downwards on the baby. She turns and gives a gesture for us to follow.
    We follow her out of the barn. The sky is a flat grey today but, even so, the light hurts my eyes after the dimness of the stable. A headache spasms across my forehead and for the first time since I woke up, my cheek throbs. I’m thirsty, dirty and sore and I need the toilet. I haven’t got the energy to run. Something Mum used to say comes into my mind: ‘What will be, will be.’
    There isn’t anyone else in the farmyard, which seems weird after all the activity here yesterday. Maybe it’s a Sunday or something. Do farmers work on Sundays? I can’t even remember a time when days of the week meant anything, anyway. Working for Zander wasn’t exactly a Monday-to-Saturday job.
    We pass several of the big warehouse barns and come to a huge gate over a cattle-grid. Ariella’s mother swings the gate open and waits for us to come through, avoiding my eye all the time.