Page 91 of The Player
I turned to look back at the house, and spotted Zye sitting in the window watching us. Feeling a gut-wrenching pain in my stomach, I dropped my bag on the path and ran back in, ignoring Paul and Mum’s shouts from behind me.
“I’ll only be a second,” I called out over my shoulder, and I ran through the front door and straight into the games room.
Zye didn’t turn around, he kept his head forward, but I ran right over to him.
“My mum came back for us,” I said, trying not to sound too happy. I was, but I didn’t want it to make him feel bad. I’d miss him. I knew he’d miss us too. “Shall I ask her if you can come and live with us too?” I asked, but Zye shook his head.
“That’s your mum, not mine. They wouldn’t let me leave with her or you. But thanks for offering.”
His shoulders dropped, and he kept his head down, which made me feel sad. I hated leaving him, but I wanted to go. I was glad to get away and be back with Mum and Frankie like a real family again.
“One day, your family will find you and come for you,” I said, hoping it would come true.
“No, they won’t,” he replied. “I’m going to die here.”
His words cut me like a knife, but I tried to keep smiling.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out one of my wrestling figures and put it in his lap, taking care not to touch him. Zye didn’t like to be touched.
“Take my wrestler,” I said. “And remember, he’s a fighter, just like you are.” Zye picked up the wrestler and ran his thumb over the figure’s muscly arm.
“I can’t take this. It’s yours.” He went to hand it back to me, but I put my hand up to stop him and stepped back.
“Yes, you can. And one day, I’ll come back to help Obi, and we’ll save you. You can hold onto him until then.”
He held the figure in his hand and stared at it like it was treasure.
“That’s my promise,” I told him, and for the first time ever, Zye turned and looked me right in the eyes.
“You promise?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll help you. We’ll do what your brain told you. We’ll make them pay and then we’ll go to the seaside.”
In that moment, Paul burst in, telling me, “Time to go, buddy. The taxi is on the clock, you’re costing your mum money the longer you keep her waiting.
“I’ll see you around,” Zye said, staring straight ahead out of his window.
“See you soon, Zye,” I replied, running out of the room and down to where my mum was waiting.
As I got into the taxi, I looked back at the window, and Zye was staring at the wrestler in his hand, and I saw something else that day that I’d never seen before.
I saw Zye smile.
ChapterThirty-Nine
WILL
Present Day
Before I hung up the call to my mum, she told me how traumatised Frankie and I had been after being away from her for so long. She said she’d told us to wipe our minds clean of that place. To forget it ever happened. We were starting fresh, and she wanted us to move forward, not back, and we did.
It’s funny how a childish mind can embrace new memories and blank out the old ones. Throwing them out like unwanted trash. I guess I thought someone else would eventually help Zye, maybe Obi, perhaps. But not me. My place was with my mum and Frankie. I had to put them first.
I never did go back to Clivesdon House. And years later, there were so many other people to help and fights to fight. The past faded into nothing. Zye became a myth, a shattered memory, like Clivesdon House. A moment in time that never really was. But actually, it was, and now, it’d come back to haunt me.
I heard someone stalk into the room and turned to see Adam charging towards me.
“I need to go back to the chapel,” I said, shoving my phone back into my pocket. “I know why he’s here. I know why he did everything. I owed him a debt and he’s here to cash in.”
