He’s not safe …”I run out the front and through the yard, vault over the wall, and I’m gone. I don’t know where I’m running to, but I can’t stay in that place another minute. I run blindly through the alleys and paths, past back-garden fences and garages and bins. I want to run forever, but my tank is nearly empty before I even begin. I slow to a jog and then start walking. My throat’s dry and my legs are like lead.I’m around the back of the school, near a set of ramshackle buildings known as The Sheds, where the caretakers run their own little empire. It’s the middle of Saturday afternoon now. School’s empty. No staff. No kids. I duck through a gap in the chain-link fence and I’m in. The huts themselves are locked, but there’s a kind of porch outside one of them with two canvas chairs set up. I sit in one of them and try to get things straight in my head.I’m sorry I hit Mum. If it was just me and her, I could go back home and apologize. Maybe she’d hit me back, maybe she wouldn’t.
