worst abuses, finally reached out to Thames for help. And Thames, unbeknownst to him, had abandoned him hardly twenty-four hours later.
Freedom was coated in cruelty.
The Hole
The weather had turned suddenly when the four boys arrived at their destination. Like clockwork, they dropped their bags and played a bit of tag. The vicious wind knocked Max down, and Jem cackled as he tagged him and took off, running through the knee-high grass.
Max would spend the next ten minutes out of breath and unable to tag a single one of them, and by then the boys lost interest. They dropped into the long grass, Max on his knees to gather himself, Dominic already munching on a chocolate bar he’d retrieved from his pocket, and Jem plucking out the thick weeds with a scowl. Conor was the only one standing, staring out at the darkening sky, aware as ever that a thunderstorm was imminent.
“I tried,” heaved Max, out of breath. “I really did.”
Jem cast him a dirty look. “If you can’t keep up, what’s the point playing, Max?”
“Leave him alone,” growled Conor, resting his hands on his hips as he looked down at their bored faces. “The weather’s turning.”
“We only just got here,” Dom cried.
“Yeah, I know.”
Jem shrugged. “It’s just a bit of rain, unless –” he cast Max another dirty look “ – one of us is scared of a little rain.”
Max frowned, aware of the slight. “I’m not scared of a bit of rain.”
“What about thunder?”
He looked away, not answering. Jem laughed, and Conor narrowed his eyes at his good friend, shaking his head at him. Stop picking on the kid, he wanted to say.
“I say we turn back and watch a movie at my place,” Dom suggested with a shrug.
“What movie?” Conor asked.
“Star Wars.”
“I hate Star Wars.”
“No one hates Star Wars.”
“Well, I do.”
Dom’s mouth dropped, and he looked seriously offended. “You don’t know what you don’t know about Star Wars. Give it a chance.”
“I did.”
“We can play a different game,” Jem intervened just then. “Hide and Seek.”
“We’ve done that already,” Dom replied, glancing briefly at Max. “Some of us aren’t the best hiders, Jem.”
“We came all the way out here, we may as well do something, that’s all. And if Max wants to hide behind that rusted out car, that’s on him for being a crappy player. What about you, or Conor, or me? We can wipe the boundaries clean.”
“What do you mean?” Conor asked, curiously.
Jem shrugged. “Like if you wanna hide in that haunted house for example, you can.”
They looked at the white abandoned house behind them. Dilapidated and barely standing, its dirt stained walls shuddered against the force of the wind.
The three boys smirked, but the fourth boy shuddered.
Jem grinned at Max. “What’s wrong, Max? Too scared?”
“It’s not that…” he started.
“Then what?”
“That house might collapse.”
Jem rolled his eyes. “It won’t collapse.”
“It’s a valid reason,” Dom said, shrugging. “It may.”
“Valid, huh?” Jem repeated. “Dom’s reading the dictionary again, guys.”
“Shut up, Jem.”
“Hey, Conor, you still have that pocketknife you stole from your old man?”
Conor gave Jem a look. “Why?”
Jem looked back at Max. “Just wondering if I can pop it open again. You wanna try opening it, Max? Or do knives scare you too?”
“Leave him alone,” Conor retorted, growing exhausted as he pulled his pocketknife out of his backpocket. “If I give this to you, promise you won’t wave it around Max.”
Jem let out a dramatic sigh. “Oh, come on, just throw it.”
“Jem.”
“I promise.”
He tossed it Jem’s way. Jem caught it and opened it, oohing and awing for a moment. It was a nice red handled fold-out knife. It’d been sitting in his old man’s cabinet for ages, untouched. When Conor took it, his old man hadn’t even noticed. Lately he’d been practicing opening it up with one hand, but it was hard to do without nicking his middle finger.
Jem suddenly made ghost sounds as he waved the tip of the blade close to Max’s head. Max shuffled away, face red.
“God’s sake, Jem,” Conor seethed. “Close it and give it back to me.”
Jem laughed at Max’s expression. “Yeah, yeah, always someone to Max’s rescue.”
He closed it and tossed it back at Conor. Conor caught it and slid it into his butt pocket.
“So, we going to play Hide and Seek then?” Jem pressed.
Max’s spine stiffened.
“We don’t have to play it,” Conor said just then, giving Max a reassuring look. “Honestly, we can turn back now.”
Max was visibly terrified, but one look in Jem’s taunting eyes, and he shook his head, desperate