kicking a bale, then turning to assault another.
‘Guy,’ she started.
He picked up one of the bales and threw it across the barn. It hit the corrugated wall and broke apart, sending strands of hay to the floor. He sank to the floor, pulling his knees into his chest and began to sob.
She hadn’t expected anything like that and she wasn’t sure how to react. Boys didn’t cry. Not the sort of boys from her school. They didn’t show emotion at all if they could help it. Should she try and comfort him? Would he want that? It sounded as if his heart was breaking. She stepped slowly towards him, thinking if her attention wasn’t wanted he would let her know in time, before she made an idiot of herself.
She got all the way over to him, not knowing if he’d even noticed her move. He had his head buried in his knees and he was rocking backward and forward. She put her arms lightly on his shoulders, still trying to gauge his reaction. The instant he felt her touch him he clung to her. He pulled her into him and wept on her shoulder. He was shivering. Their clothes were saturated, their hair dripping and Guy’s hands were like ice on her back.
‘What is it, Guy? This isn’t just the trial, is it? This is something else,’ Emma said, brushing her hand down his hair and letting the water fall away with every stroke.
He shook his head, still continued to sob.
‘Please, Guy, you’re scaring me. I want to help. Let me help,’ Emma begged.
‘I cannot…’ he started, lifting his head and wiping at his eyes with his fingers.
‘You have to! If I’m special to you you’ll tell me,’ she urged.
He locked eyes with her and she didn’t just see the sadness, she felt it.
He took hold of the bottom of his T-shirt and slowly began to pull it away from his body, towards his head. Emma could see it was wet and clinging but that wasn’t why he was going slow. As he pulled it over his head she let out a gasp. His chest and abdomen were covered in a patchwork of bruises, scratches and marks. She cried out and reached for him. This time he shifted back.
‘What’s happened to you? Who did this?’ Emma questioned, biting her nails. She was shivering now, both from the cold of her clothes and from what she’d seen.
‘I have to… C'est pourquoi que je dois a quitter. C'est pourquoi que je dois améliorer pour moi et pour Luc,’ he told her.
‘This… is why… sortir… leave. This is why you have to leave, for you and for Luc,’ Emma translated. Once she finished the sentence the reality of what he was telling her hit her like a bullet.
‘Your mother… she did this?’
She couldn’t believe it. A woman. A mother. Guy’s mother had done… what? Beaten him? Why? What for? It was sickening. She started to shake.
‘No,’ she said, shaking her head. Guy gave no response, just pulled his T-shirt back down and wiped at his wet face with his hands.
‘She couldn’t… you’re her son…’
Guy nodded. ‘At the football… we had to see the doctor… test d’aptitude. He see this. I have to make a lie.’
‘They didn’t let you into the team because of what she did to you? Why didn’t you tell them the truth?’ Emma urged him. She reached for his hands and held them tightly in hers.
‘I cannot.’
‘This isn’t the first time she’s done this, is it?’ Emma asked. She could feel herself boiling with anger, just like she had when her mother passed away. She’d been so angry then, Mike had feared for her sanity as well as the breakables in the house. None of it had been just or fair. The same was happening here with Guy. What had he done to deserve this?
‘I have to stay… a little bit. When I have money, assez d’argent and the job, I will take Luc and we will go,’ he explained.
‘That’s why today was so important,’ Emma said, understanding.
‘C'est l'alcool et la façon dont mon père a quitté,’ Guy told her.
‘No. Don’t make excuses for her. What she’s done to you is not OK. It’s not,’ Emma insisted.
‘I have to look after Luc,’ Guy said. His eyes went to the pram.
‘Come here,’ Emma beckoned, opening her arms to him.
He shook his head, folded his arms across his chest. It was if he was ashamed of what had happened to him.
‘Guy, please.