Skeletal Read Online Free Page A

again, or just live in hope that she used the money for its intended purpose, unlike every other time her benefit was paid out.
    Shit!
    I couldn’t believe I’d gone to all this trouble for something that was already a no go. My selfish mother. Okay, so it was her bank card, but now she’d just take the money out and waste it on her favourite hobby. I’d started to get used to having the money available to buy groceries so we could both eat, and pre-pay electricity so I didn’t have to endure cold showers every morning.
    When I was getting close to the fence I scanned the wood to see if there was a knothole anywhere. I could always go back through the normal pathway, but I couldn’t imagine that I would be able to enact a re-entry with earning the third degree from Ms Simons in her sentry duty.
    And, okay, my current situation didn’t warrant a return visit, but that wasn’t to say I wouldn’t need it in future. I didn’t want a teacher patrolling the pathway and the bike sheds the next time I needed to get across to the mall.
    There was a gap in the fence further up from where I’d originally landed. I tiptoed through the bark and bush covered ground and put my eye up to it. I couldn’t see shit. Or, should I amend that to, I could see shit. Whatever. There was no one standing directly in front of the knothole, of that much at least I could be certain. And it was further down from where I’d gone over so maybe I’d have a few seconds lead time even if Michelle and her friends were still hanging about.
    I could hear the five minute bell go. Class was about to begin again anyway. No options left.
    I grabbed hold of the vertical strut and put by foot on the horizontal and boosted myself up. I could clasp the top of the fence before I was even fully standing, and then I just had to jump up and swing my legs over.
    It was as I passed the gravitational point of no return that I heard them running.
    I tried to swing my legs back mid-turn but all I succeeded doing was hitching my skirt on the top of the fence leaving my backside and legs fully exposed.
    There was a whoop of laughter as I struggled to free the fabric, and then I felt a hand grab at my underwear and yank it down.
    The cool air against my buttocks. A flash of light. And then more laughter, running away this time.
    I hung on one hand as I pulled my knickers back up. My skirt tore from the weight of me. It would be a hell of a repair job, but at least I was free now to drop to the ground.
    There was no one in sight.
    My skirt had torn in a vee shape down the side, but I adjusted my kilt pin to move the front further over, and that hid it well enough. The bell rang for class and I started to run towards the science wing. My mind worked through the series of events trying to make sense of them. A laugh, the pull on my pants, a flash.
    They’d taken a photo.
    The bitches had taken a fucking photo.
     
    ***
     
    When I walked up the drive I could see that the curtains in the lounge were pulled shut. I tried to be quiet as I slipped my key into the lock, but every sound seemed to reverberate until it was all I could hear. With the door closed again behind me I could only make out the outlines of furniture in the gloom. There was a heavy fug of cigarette smoke, old fast food grease, and alcohol fumes that made me want to gag and cry at the same time.
    If I had my way I’d stride through the house opening every curtain and window wide to let in the cleansing sunshine and clean, fresh air. I would vacuum up the ash and throw out the half-empty food containers, and pour every full and half-drained bottle down the sink. I’d throw my mother in the shower, and her clothes in the washer, and prepare something for the table that involved fruits and/or vegetables, and didn’t rely on grease and salt for flavour.
    If I tried that right then, I’d have a slap across the face before I was halfway round the room, and a punch in the stomach if I tried to go further. Not