See If I Care Read Online Free

Lawrence (my teacher) said we have to tell our penfriends more about our lives, so here goes.
    My mum is a chef in a very famous restaurant. Every day hundreds of people eat the food she cooks. Some people eat there every single day of the week – they even have their own special tables. She’s especially famous for her gravy – it’s the talk of the town where I live.
    Our mid-term isn’t too far away either. I’m not sure what we are going to do. Jessica’s a bit young for mountain climbing, so we might just go to Disneyland or somewhere like that. I’m a bit fed up of Disneyland (after all, I’ve been there six times), but it will be nice for Jessica.
    Must go now and practise my violin.
     
    Bye for now,
    Elma

LUKE
    Helen was missing.
    The first Luke knew that something was wrong was on his way downstairs for breakfast. His mother was on the phone in the hall, her free hand pulling at her hair, and this is what Luke heard as he came down the stairs:
    ‘Look, she’s bloody sixteen years old, that’s a child in my … well, you should be. Look, for God’s sake, she’s been out all … I know , you already told me that, but there’s got to be something … well that’s just not good enough–’
    She looked at Luke as he walked past her, but kept on talking angrily into the phone.
    His grandmother and Anne were sitting at thekitchen table. Granny turned quickly as the door opened, then sagged a bit as Luke walked in.
    He closed the door behind him. ‘What’s going on?’
    ‘Helen never came home last night.’ Her face was twisted with worry. ‘She wasn’t home when I was going to bed, but I thought she’d be in any minute … and your mother just assumed she was there when she got in …’
    There was a piece of unbuttered toast on her plate. It looked as if it had been there for a while.
    ‘Her bed hasn’t been slept in,’ Anne told Luke, and then ate a spoonful of Weetabix.
    ‘Wow.’ Luke thought of his sister, out all night in the dark. He tried to think of something to say that might take the lines out of his grandmother’s forehead. ‘Maybe she went to a friend’s house, and just forgot to say.’
    ‘Maybe.’ His grandmother nodded slowly, still frowning. ‘She might have done that, I suppose.’
    ‘Who’s Mum on the phone to?’
    Before his grandmother had a chance to answer, Luke’s mother burst into the kitchen and crossed quickly to the worktop by the sink and leant up against it, folding her arms. ‘They’re useless, bloody useless.’ Her shoulders were hunched.
    ‘What did they say?’ Luke’s grandmother started tostand up, and then changed her mind and sat down again.
    ‘They can’t do anything until she’s been missing for twenty-four hours, can you believe it?’ His mum unfolded her arms and began to pace quickly around the kitchen, biting at one of her nails.
    Then she stopped suddenly and glared at Luke’s granny. ‘Why did you let her go out? She’s barely sixteen, Mam – what were you thinking of?’
    Granny bit her lip, shaking her head. ‘I’m sorry, Breda, I–’
    But Luke’s mother wasn’t listening. She turned to Luke. ‘Do you know any of her friends?’
    He shook his head. Helen had been a mystery to him for a long time now. Since their father had come home from hospital, Luke had felt Helen pulling herself away from the family, little by little. Coming home later from school, disappearing after tea on the nights Mam worked late, and at the weekends. Spending the rest of the time in her room.
    Luke had no idea what kind of life his older sister was leading. She barely spoke to him, to any of them. ‘She’s probably in a friend’s house,’ he said to his mother, but she wasn’t listening to him any more either. Her head was bent over the phone book.
    Luke wondered if he and Anne would have to go toschool, with his sister missing. But when Mr Farrell’s car horn sounded outside, a few minutes later, nobody said, ‘Of course you can’t