8:48p.m.

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Slumbering on Maria’s floor, Tomi snored slightly. Bill lay awake, his mind ticking overtime. This was the last night the brothers would be safe under a roof. Maria was being moved into another halfway house in the morning. Houses owned by the authorities for people like them, homeless and desperate. Still those houses couldn’t be any worse than the flats they were currently in at least the houses are kept in relatively good condition. If Bill wasn’t a runaway and if he was 18, he could also go into one of these places, or even the hostels! But no one that mattered knew he even existed. Gordon had seen to that.

He had slept rough before when he ran away the first time. That had been without Tomi, his twin wouldn’t last ten days on the streets with him. Tom needed stability, consistency. He needed regular food and drink, it was bad enough in the flat that Bill couldn’t always provide enough for the two of them, but at least Tomi was fed and that was what mattered. Tom was too soft, too sweet and innocent, Bill on the other hand was rough around the edges, he’d grown a thick skin. And was it any wonder why? Still, wondering wouldn’t solve his problems. He was still going to be made homeless in a matter of hours with no money whatsoever (what he’d earned and saved had been sent to the hospital and he’d insisted on giving Maria some money for her troubles) the older woman had tried to get permission for Bill and Tom to go with her, but without giving him away it had proved impossible. He tried to plan his first move in his head, but the world outside of his own little bubble was too unpredictable.

Bill watched the morning rise through the uncurtained window in Maria’s living space. She would be awake soon to move all of her possessions having taken the day off work to do so. That was something Bill would have to find – a proper job, but how when he had Tomi and nowhere to leave him. Who would look after him? His current ‘work’ now made just that little bit harder. How could he leave Tomi alone even if only for a few hours while he left to have sex with a complete stranger for money? He’d tried to find legitimate work before but it was impossible when he was only 13 with no national insurance number, no bank account no nothing! Nothing had changed in nearly three years; it would be just as hard to find some now. But everything would work out in the end. He just had to keep repeating the mantra in his head to keep from going mad. Still, his stomach clenched uncomfortably as the sun rose higher in the sky bringing with it the new day. A day which didn’t feel so new to the teenager who’s been awake the whole night, and the night before that and the night before that. Indeed he’d not slept all week since he’d returned from the hospital to find the locks on his flat had been changed and just to add insult to injury, Bill had found out that there was now someone else living in there. Those three rooms had been the best home the twins had ever known and a strange sadness filled him with the thought of someone else calling them home just as they had.

Maria stirred from her bedroom. That must mean the time had come already. A light flickered on filling Bill’s ears with an annoying buzz, like a fly trapped inside his head.

“Morning Bill.” She yawned and scratched her head. The younger sat up and just smiled weakly in response. “Yeah…I know how you feel…” she trailed off.

“Don’t worry about us…we’ll be fine I promise.” He should’ve learnt by now not to make promises he couldn’t keep.