Never a Hero to Me Read Online Free

satchel onto my shoulders.
    I wandered down the stairs and waited for Debbie and the others at our usual meeting place, saying nothing about what had happened as we walked along. The morning passed uneventfully and school finished at lunchtime, as it always did on Fridays. I had a childlike happiness at the prospect of freedom. I saw Gary playing football with his friends as I walked home and wondered whether he might be the one to get into trouble – we usually had to go straight home after school, and I could only think he was taking advantage of Mum not being there while forgetting how horrible Dad had been since yesterday. As I trotted along with my friends, I started to feel a little brighter. Perhaps Mum would be back? Maybe the doctors had made her all better and I could forget last night and this morning, as if it were all a nightmare.
    When I got to the block of flats, I ran up the steps two at a time. Opening the front door, which was on the latch, I ran down the hallway. ‘Mum! Mum!’ I shouted, stopping in my tracks when I entered the lounge and saw only Dad sitting in his chair.
    ‘She’s not here,’ he said, as he saw my eyes flicker around the room. ‘They’re keeping her in hospital – where’s Gary?’ I told him my brother was still playing football with his friends, expecting an explosion of anger, but instead Dad just nodded as if this was a good thing. ‘That gives us time,’ he reflected.
    ‘Time for what?’ I asked cautiously.
    He paused at my question, as if wondering what to say next, then abruptly stood up and said, ‘Come on, follow me.’ He walked towards the bedroom he shared with Mum, then smiled at me. It wasn’t how he had been for the last day or so, and I was confused again at how quickly his mood and character seemed to change. ‘We’ll change the bed,’ he announced. ‘Your mum was sick on the sheets. Go on. Strip the bed.’
    I was bewildered – Dad was smiling but, yet again, he was asking me to do something I had never done before. He had offered me no help when I’d had to boil the kettle and make a cup of tea that morning, so why would he help me with this new challenge? The bed looked massive to me, and I didn’t really know where to start. A sense of relief flooded through me when Dad seemed to read my thoughts. ‘I’ll show you how to do it. Don’t worry. I’ll tell your mum that you did it on your own and she’ll be so proud of you that it will help her to feel better. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’
    Of course I would! I gave Dad my biggest smile and started work, following his instructions.
    ‘Pick up the quilt, Tracy,’ he began, ‘and undo the buttons at the bottom of it.’
    This took quite a while. I was still mastering buttons on my own clothes, but they were easier to open than do up, so I managed eventually. Dad was sitting on a chair at the side of the bed, watching me and telling me what to do. ‘Pull the cover off,’ he continued, then he told me to take the pillowcases and bottom sheet off too. I was so pleased with myself. I was being a good girl for Mum and Dad while I did all of this hard work. ‘Well done, Tracy,’ he said, ‘now here comes the fun part!’
    ‘What’s next, Dad?’ I asked, out of breath with my exertions.
    ‘Putting on the clean quilt cover – it’s a lot harder than taking it off, but I’ll help you.’ He stood, telling me to stand in front of him, and shook the cover out. He put his arms around me and told me to grasp the two corners he was holding. ‘I’ll put the quilt in and you grab it once the cover is in place. This is fun, isn’t it?’ he said. He was still smiling, but the smile seemed forced – and it didn’t feel like that much fun, because his arms were tight around my little body and I knew I had no choice about being there. He was pushing into me and it was something that didn’t feel nice at all. I wanted to break free of him, I wanted to get away, but I was still very much