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.Mags stared at him, her chin trembling.Years and years of this shit, it had gotten old a long time ago.The only thing keeping her around was money and he hadn’t given her any of that in months, the greedy bastard.He punched the wall and howled with pain when the resounding crack of his knuckles reverberated throughout his body.“Fucking hell.” Tears burned his eyes.Fucking business.All those years of hard work for nothing.He couldn’t even get a decent dinner from the bitch.“You better not wake the kids with your noise.”That nagging woman again.“The kids, the kids! Always the fucking kids.They’re not my fucking kids! I don’t give two fucks if they wake up!”He pointed his finger right in her face.Her eyes crossed and she batted his hand away.He pushed her to the floor and stalked away, kicking the pregnant cat in the stomach.The cat yowled and fled out an open window, leaving a few drops of blood in her wake.“Leave my cat alone!”Mags gasped in horror at her daughter’s scream.No, baby, not now.Not when he’s in the height of it.Shane was already leering in the girl’s direction.Thirteen years old.Not his child.Fuck, why did she ever move in with such a monster.Mags saw his fist curl and ran back into the kitchen, picking up a knife, anything to threaten him with.She got to him just as he lifted his arm to hit her precious daughter.Darling, darling, darling, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry.The knife slid into his back – easier than she had expected.He gave a little grunt and turned around slowly, so very slowly.Ignoring the wide eyes of her daughter, Mags sank the knife deep into Shane’s chest – every punch, every kick, every bad word giving her the strength.She had already been sick of him, he had to go and push her too far.Well, fuck him.He should never have raised his hand to her child.Not ever.Shane’s mouth widened into an O shape as he sank to the ground and gazed up at her for a few seconds, unable to move.“That’ll teach you, you bastard.I win.Me.”Blood flowed, soaking her slippers ruby red.His last gasp was noisy, it almost made her laugh.Almost.She sat down on the floor, edging away from the pool of blood, and looked up at her daughter.The girl kicked Shane, hatred seeping from her pores, and nodded at her mother.“Thanks, Ma.”GiftJanice Malone unknotted her school tie and took a deep breath before she turned over the pregnancy tests.All three of them.Just in case.Blue cross.Smiley face.Double lines.Positive.All positive.No mistake.She knocked them to the ground in her urgency to throw up in the toilet.Nothing came up except a dry retching sound but it felt like her insides had spewed out of her mouth.Tears came.Self pity.How unfair was it all? Raped by a scumbag.Ditched by her best friend.And pregnant.Selina Davis was shagging a different fella every weekend but Janice – the one everyone called a frigid because she wouldn’t sleep around – was pregnant because some old, fat bloke raped her.Janice imagined his evil DNA growing inside her, a black, cancerous toxin spreading through her bloodstream, choking her organs, seeping from her skin, infecting her baby.His baby.Oh, Jesus.She dug her palms into her eye sockets and saw colours, pretty ones, but not enough to distract her from her life ending.It was all over.School, college, any hope of a job and getting out of the shithole she lived in.And her ma.Janice’s stomach turned.Her ma would kill her.Kick her out, probably.The one thing, the one thing she’d always said – don’t come home with a baby.But it wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t, not really.She still had the faintest shadow of a bruise from where he’d held her down.The bruises lasted longer than she expected and the consequences would last longest of all.How could she have a baby? His baby, worst of all.An ugly, horrible man who plied her with drink and has until she wasn’t capable of stringing a coherent sentence together.She said no, though.Of everything, she remembered that.Who would believe her though?The shame of it.The absolute horror.She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in the three months since it happened.She felt like she never would.What was the point in living? Everything had gone to hell.Solemn now, Janice made a decision and hurried around, looking for pills and alcohol.Quickly, before her mother came home from work.She laid out the pills on the floor of the bathroom.Who cared about germs? She took a sip of vodka and shuddered as it burned her throat.It brought back memories of the funeral, of the first time she’d drank vodka straight, of the night Graeme Moore had forced himself on her while she screamed in pain.The memory forced her to throw up, for real this time.That was no good.The pills wouldn’t have an effect if she puked them back up.She took deep breaths, steadied herself, forced the memories out of her brain [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]