Page 60 of Everything That Kills Me
She sucked in a shaky breath and nodded.
“Would you look in the backpack that’s in the locker and see if there’s a phone in it, please?”
She handed it to him. “This isn’t yours. I thought Dad still had it.”
“I got another.” Zeph hid it in the bed by his leg.
“I won’t tell him. What are we going to say we were talking about? Mum will ask.”
“Tell them it was something to do with Rufus.”
Alice blushed and Zeph dared to hope things would be better now. For her at least.
When everyone had gone, he checked the phone. Jack hadn’t seen the message he’d sent. A painful lump formed in his throat. He had to face this, just like he’d told Alice she had to. Jack was no longer in his life. He lay with his face pressed into his arm and cried.
Once he’d calmed down, he phoned his uncle.
“Zeph! How are you?”
“Not so good.”
“Why? What’s happened?”
“I’ve had a fall and I’m in hospital. I wanted to ask if you’d still let me come and live with you, please?”
“Yes, of course. But a fall? How badly are you injured?”
“I’ll tell you everything later.” Almost everything. “I think they’ll let me out in a couple of days. I’ll go home and phone you to come and get me when they’re out.” He didn’t want his father and uncle in a bust up.
“Do I need a van?”
“No.”
“I’ll come as soon as you call.”
“Thank you.”
Zeph wanted it all to go smoothly, so he knew he had to hide what he planned. His father couldn’t make him stay at home, not now he was sixteen, but he’d be beyond furious Zeph wanted to live with Martin. On his first day home from the hospital, Alice had announced at dinner that she’d made an appointment to see the doctor. Elisa and Georgia had showered praise on her. More praise for that than for anything Zeph had ever done. But he knew it was a big thing and he hoped Alice got the help she needed.
The following morning, after his stepsisters went to school and his father and Elisa had left for work, Zeph called his uncle. His father had given him back his phone but Zeph would never use it again. While Zeph waited, even though he was using crutches, he filled black bin liners with clothes. He was supposed to be resting, but he couldn’t keep still.
Martin arrived with Paulo and they pulled Zeph gently into their embrace.
“What the hell happened?” Martin asked.
“I’ll tell you when we’re in the car.”
“I’m not sure I can wait that long.” Paulo rubbed Zeph’s back.
“I’ll tell you everything, I promise. I want to leave here.”
He slowly made his way back upstairs, sat on his bed and directed what needed to be packed. He looked at the phone that had been returned to him, wondering if his father would call to see if he was okay. He doubted it.
There wasn’t much to take when it came down to it. He didn’t want the keyboard because there was a piano at his uncle’s house. But he took the box of his mother’s things, all his books, his notebook from under the mattress, his music, his stone collection and his Lego.
When they were downstairs and the car was loaded, Martin looked at him. “You need to leave a note for your father. We don’t want him calling the police.”
Zeph nodded. He’d have spoken to his dad if he hadn’t worried he’d find a way to keep him in the house, or that he’d hit Martin, or make up some lie to hurt him. So, he sat at the kitchen table and wrote:
