The Parent Problem (20 page)

I feel all the irritation and anger of the past few weeks drain away from me and in its place is a dragging tired sensation.

‘Finn,’ I say. ‘I am sorry I was eavesdropping just then—’

‘Spying,’ he says.

‘Whatever,’ I say. ‘I
am
sorry. It’s just that I thought you were cool with everyone at school. I thought everyone loved you. In fact I have been jealous. Which probably means I have been a dork. No wonder Aubrey doesn’t want to hang out with me any more . . .’ I take a deep breath. ‘Now I know how you really feel, maybe I can help?’

‘Thanks, but I think I’ve had enough of people trying to help,’ Finn says, turning away.

‘Maybe we should try to work things out,’ I say. ‘It is pretty harsh, you coming round here all the time and us not talking.’

Finn’s shoulders drop when I say that, as though he too has given up the fight. ‘Guess,’ he says. He looks me in the eye then and says, ‘I do like coming round here a lot, you know. It’s nice feeling part of a normal family.’

‘NORMAL?’ I say. ‘You have got to be joking!’

We both start laughing and it feels great to be like this, relaxing, not bickering.

‘Hey, we should do something all together while Mum’s out,’ I say. ‘Watch a movie?’

Finn nods.

‘I’ll ask Harris what he wants to watch,’ I say. ‘Harris!’ I shout. ‘Want to watch a film?’ When he doesn’t answer I scoot past Finn and go out into the hall. ‘Harris?’ I say again.

Then I see something that knocks the breath from my lungs.

The front door is open.

Harris has gone.

‘Harris? HARRIS! . . . Finn! You’ve got to help me.’

Finn puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Don’t panic. I’ll look outside, you check inside in case he’s just playing a trick on us.’

‘Really?’

Finn gives me a small smile. I know he is only trying to make me feel better. ‘You mustn’t immediately assume the worst.’

But that is just what I
am
assuming. Harris was upset. I heard him talking to Finn. He was upset and now he has run away, and it is all my fault because I have been a rubbish sister.

My heart is scampering in time with my feet as I race around the house, shouting for my brother, looking in every room, even in wardrobes, the shower, under the bed . . .

My chest is tight. Where has he got to?

‘Where ARE you, Harris? If this
is
a trick, like Finn says, you are so going to regret this.’

WHERE IS MY LITTLE BROTHER?

‘Who is going to regret what?’ says a voice.

I look up and see the strangest vision. For a moment I think I must be hallucinating. A creature is standing in the open front doorway. It’s a girl. I think. She has dark curly hair pinned up on top of her head. She is wearing a kind of medieval wench’s outfit: a cream blouse under a laced bodice with a very full brown skirt. And her feet are bare. And enormous. And hairy!

‘Er, hi?’ I say.

‘Your mum called. Said it was important I come round right away. Unfortunately it was a Ring Night at our place. The house is crawling with elves and hobbits. I couldn’t get into my room to change. So, where’s your mum and why are you standing in the hall with the front door open, talking to yourself?’

‘Aubrey?’ I say.

‘The one and only,’ she says, bowing.

I am stunned. Aubrey is unbelievable. She has humiliated me in front of the whole school and now she turns up as though everything is OK between us? And that outfit! This really is taking things to a whole new level. Does she seriously think Finn is going to go for her dressed like that?

‘Just go away, Aubrey,’ I say. ‘We don’t need you. We’ve got a crisis on our hands.’

‘What?’ Aubrey frowns.

‘She’s right,’ says a voice from behind her.

Aubrey turns to see Finn. She shrieks, pulls her wig off and throws it towards me. It lands on Gollum, who has chosen that moment to come down the stairs. She hisses and scoots past Aubrey and Finn into the street, still wearing the wig.

Finn pulls a face. ‘Nice one, Hobbit,’ he says. ‘Don’t suppose you have Gandalf with you? We could do with some magic right about now.’

‘I know I look utterly mental. Blame Mum,’ Aubrey babbles. She shuffles along to the coat rack and tries to pull one of Mum’s coats over her hairy feet to hide them. ‘She insisted I dress up and join in. It’s not like I had anything else to do, anyway, what with my best friend abandoning me and everything,’ she says, shooting daggers at me.

‘Oh shut up and go back to The Shire,’ I shout. ‘Life isn’t all about you, Aubrey Stevens. I have lost my little brother, OK? He’s gone missing and I can’t waste time standing here talking to a hairy-footed freak show.’ A sob erupts from me.

Finn looks horrified. ‘Don’t cry,’ he says. Then he turns to Aubrey and seems to grow a couple of inches. He fixes her with a stern look and says, ‘I think you should leave. Skye and I have to think about how to find Harris.’

Aubrey’s expression turns to shock as she realizes this
is
a proper crisis situation after all. ‘I’ll help,’ she says. ‘Just tell me what to do.’

I turn to Finn. ‘I’m so worried about him,’ I whisper.

‘Shh, it’s OK,’ says Finn, patting my arm. ‘I’m sure we’ll find him. He can’t have got far. Like you said, we can’t waste any more time. We need to search the streets. And I need to tell you something . . .’ He looks guilty.

‘What?’ I say, swiping at a hot tear on my face. What does he know that I don’t?

‘I’ll tell you on the way,’ says Finn, jumping to his feet. ‘Come on.’ He sounds decisive, in control. I am grateful. I feel anything but.

Aubrey leans in to me. ‘So, are you two going out, then?’ she says under her breath. ‘Cos, you know, if you are, that’s OK. I know I’ve been a bit—’

‘No!’ I say through gritted teeth. ‘We are not! And actually could you just shut up? Cos right now I don’t want to talk to you. I just want to find Harris.’

Aubrey gasps.

I turn away from her. I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing any more tears. I swallow hard.

Finn is calling for Pongo. The dog charges out of the kitchen, panting with excitement at the thought of a walk.

‘It would be good to take Pongo. If anyone can find him, Pongo can,’ Finn explains. ‘And when we find Harris, it will cheer him up to see his dog,’ he adds, smiling.

It dawns on me that Finn knows Harris pretty well after all the time they have spent together. My stomach lurches with guilt as I think of how I have judged him and how moody I have been.

‘What were you going to tell me? Is it about Harris?’ I ask, as I shut the door behind us.

Finn crouches down and concentrates on getting Pongo’s lead on. ‘It’s not important now. I’ll tell you later,’ he says, keeping his voice low. He stands up, handing me the lead.

‘OK,’ he says, looking at me and Aubrey. ‘Where shall we go first? Split up or stay together?’

‘Stay together,’ says Aubrey.

I push away the thought that she
would
say that. I have to focus on finding Harris.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘Let’s start together, anyway. He can’t have got that far.’

I am not sure I believe myself. What if someone’s picked him up? He knows not to go with strangers, though. But what if . . . ?

I make myself concentrate on listening to Finn. He suddenly seems a lot more older and serious than I have ever seen him before.

We start by walking up and down our street, calling for Harris. Pongo strains to get ahead of us, keen to be let off and have a run around.

There is no sign of Harris in anyone’s garden, and I am pretty sure he wouldn’t be in anyone’s house. He has no friends in the street other than Finn.

‘What about the park?’ says Aubrey.

I go cold as I think of him all alone in the park. The evenings are lighter now, but still. He is only eight.

‘Good idea,’ says Finn. ‘Then maybe split up once we get there? Harris likes the swings . . .’

I know that he would never go to the swings on his own, though. He has never been anywhere on his own before.

‘OK,’ I croak.

Pongo starts pulling harder on the lead. He has just seen a cat and he’s desperate to chase it.

‘Pongo, heel!’ I shout. It is no good, he is stronger than me and I am being dragged towards the cat. I am already thinking that bringing Pongo with us was not such a great idea after all. I am thinking of telling Finn that I will take Pongo back. Then I see something that makes me gasp.

‘Finn!’

He spins round. ‘What? What’s the matter?’

I point to the fence at the end of our road.

My finger is trembling. ‘It’s Harris’s blanket,’ I whisper.

Finn picks it up and inspects it. ‘This is what he’s been using as a cape, right?’ he says. ‘For his dancing routines?’

I nod. ‘He’s been twirling it around his head, pretending to do the tango.’

‘How cute!’ Aubrey coos. ‘I didn’t know your brother was into dancing!’

I turn on her. ‘Yeah, well, you don’t know a lot about us these days, do you? Too busy being a suck-up with the Voldemort Twins and stalking The Hogs.’

‘Oh shut up,’ Aubrey sneers. ‘You haven’t exactly been the best friend in the world either.’

Finn’s mouth has twisted into a grim expression. ‘Will
both
you guys shut up for a second? We need to focus on Harris.’

‘Sorry.’ I am brought up short. He is right. I feel ashamed for letting my own silly little problems get in the way. I glance at Aubrey. She is shuffling her hobbity feet and looking pretty awkward too.

Finn isn’t concerned with us any more. He is looking up and the down the main road which leads from the end of our cul-de-sac to the park. ‘Let’s head for the park first,’ he says, and starts jogging.

He has long legs and it is tricky keeping up with him, even with Pongo pulling me along. Still, I am doing better than Aubrey: she hasn’t got a chance with those massive hobbit feet.

My breath starts to catch in my chest, both because I’m running and because panic is squeezing my heart and making my brain race with bad thoughts of what could have happened to Harris. What did Finn want to say earlier? I have to know.

I put on a spurt and catch up with him. ‘Tell me what you were going to say back there,’ I say, panting.

Finn slows down a notch. ‘I’m guessing you heard what Harris and I were talking about? When you were listening in?’

I bristle. ‘I was NOT listening—‘

Finn cuts me off. ‘Whatever. It doesn’t matter. The trouble is, I – I am not sure Harris would be happy me telling you, but I kind of think I have no choice now . . .’

‘Telling me what?’

Finn looks sideways at me. ‘I’m worried Harris has done something stupid.’

I grab his arm to slow him down. ‘Why? What’s the matter? What did Harris tell you?’ I gabble. ‘You said you were going to tell me something—’

‘OK, OK!’ Finn says. He slows to a walk again and shakes my hand off. ‘He’s being bullied,’ he mutters, looking at his feet.

‘WHAT?’ I shout. My stomach clenches. I
knew
he was unhappy. But I can’t think straight. Before I know it, I am taking my guilt out on Finn. ‘My little brother is being bullied and he told
you
and not me? And now he’s disappeared and you didn’t think to tell me this earlier?’

Aubrey has caught up at last. She is too out of breath to speak.

Finn shoots me a look of irritation. ‘I’m telling you now, aren’t I?’ he says. ‘He’s being bullied because of his dancing. He joined a class at school, even though he was the only boy. So now the other boys are calling him a freak and generally being idiots about it.’ He sighs. ‘I tried telling him he should ignore them – thing is, he says he didn’t care at first when they just called him names and stuff, but recently they’ve taken money from him and he says they’ve made his friends turn against him too.’

I feel sick. How can I not have known this about my own brother? I am a terrible, terrible sister.

‘S-so is this why he’s been talking to you so much?’ I ask.

Finn nods. ‘I’m sorry, Skye,’ he says. ‘He made me promise not to tell you.’ He looks at Aubrey. ‘You OK to carry on?’ he asks. ‘I think we should keep going to the park. I just have a hunch.’

‘OK,’ I say.

Aubrey nods, still clearly out of breath.

Pongo is keen to get going and helps me along by pulling ahead. I scan all around me for signs of Harris as I jog along. He can’t have run away. He can’t have!

Cars occasionally speed past us. The horrible thought that he might have been taken by someone – bundled into a car – flashes in front of my eyes. I can hear my blood pounding in my ears as I run faster. I should slow down, look more carefully, but I can’t stop running now. I look into people’s gardens and down the side alleys where people keep their wheelie bins. At one point, up ahead, I see what I think is a small hunched person on the side of the road. Is it my brother? Has he been hit by a car?

‘Harris!’ I scream as I career towards it. Pongo lets out a yelp. His ears are flat as we both speed ahead of the others.

Finn runs faster too and overtakes me again. When I reach him he is bent over double in front of the person, wheezing and panting.