The Border Part Six Read Online Free Page A

shadow of the old oak tree that dominated the scene, Ben Freeman watched as the lights of the bar were switched off one by one. He’d been sitting in the dark for a while now, just breathing in the night air and enjoying the feel of the place. He’d finished his only beer a while ago, and he knew he should head back to his sister’s to get some sleep, but at the same time he felt as if he’d suffocate if he wasn’t outside.
    Hearing a noise nearby, he turned and saw a figure heading toward him.
    He held his breath.
    For a moment, his heart began to race as the figure got closer. Ever since he’d returned to Bowley a few days earlier, he’d been expecting this. The figure’s footsteps rang out now, and finally Ben reached into his pocket and took hold of the knife he’d been carrying, ready to defend himself. This was the moment when the Border would reach out and get its revenge, when he’d pay for what happened to Garland Packer. Still, there was no way he was going down without a fight. He was ready. He’d been ready since the moment he’d got back to town.
    Finally, the figure walked straight past and carried on into the night.
    Sighing, Ben leaned back against the bench and let go of the knife. Another false alarm. Still, he knew that one day they’d catch up to him, that they were just biding their time now they knew he was back in town. Old Crutchlow was most likely pulling the strings and making him sweat, but although he hated feeling like a sitting target, he had no idea how he was supposed to force things along. He’d tried drawing attention to himself, he’d tried getting drunk, but so far they weren’t making their move.
    “Come on,” he muttered under his breath, watching as another figure crossed the road nearby, only to head down one of the alleys that led away from the square.
    Raising his beer bottle to his lips, Ben tilted his head back and waited, hoping that at least a drop of two would be left to dribble into his mouth. He waited, but nothing came, and finally he tossed the bottle aside.
    “What are you waiting for?” he asked out loud, looking around but seeing that no-one was around. “I know you want me, so come and get me.”
    ***
    “End?” Beth replied, as she and Jane sat in the dark kitchen. “It’ll never end. Jack won’t give up, he won’t stop believing these things about Ben, and Ben… Well, Ben’ll never be…”
    “Normal?” Jane suggested, sipping from her beer.
    “He’s my brother and I love him,” Beth continued, “but… He definitely has a way of putting people on edge. Making them feel uneasy, you know? And he enjoys it. He likes messing with them.”
    “Especially with Jack,” Jane pointed out.
    “Especially with Jack.” Sighing, Beth looked down at her untouched beer for a moment. “I honestly don’t think there’ll ever be peace between them. Not ever, not as long as they both live. They’ll keep this up, and then eventually one of them will die first, and the other will be left with nothing except regrets. I want to cry when I think about it, I want to grab them and knock their heads together, but I truly don’t see any other way for things to work out.” She began to peel the label from her bottle. “If it was going to end any other way, it would have happened by now.”
    “I think things are going to get a lot worse tomorrow,” Jane replied.
    “You keep mentioning that. What’s going to happen tomorrow?”
    “I…” She paused. “I can’t say.”
    “Is Ben going to skip town again?”
    “No, it’s not that.”
    “I remember the last time he left,” Beth continued. “You spotted him at the bus stop, remember? You let me know and I went racing down there, and I caught him just in time.” She paused. “He wouldn’t tell me what was going on, but I could tell he was scared. There’s always been so much swirling around in Ben’s head, and he never lets any of it out. It was almost like he was running from