Page 132 of The Man Upstairs

I thought about hammering her door down, or calling on repeat until she either answered or blocked me, but I knew what she was like. She’d cry and scream and it would push her further back into her shell, and give Trisha more ammunition for herthere, there, Rosie’s been turned into an evil, naïve bitchfront, or whatever other bullshit people were spewing, so I steered clear.

Mum needed to make the move. I wasn’t Scottie. Some garage flowers and expressions of adoration weren’t going to cut it. I was her little girl and would need to let go of Julian. But I couldn’t do that. I’d never be able to. I loved Julian just too damn much.

I was used to kids giving me jeers on the way back from college. It was the same rubbish every day, whether from laughs of girls sniggering, or the guys from block seven giving me their usual crap from the garage bench, or the scathing looks I got from the dog walkers on their usual routes. One person I hadn’t seen in weeks was Jayden, presuming he was just keeping his distance because he hated my guts so much, so I jumped back in shock when I turned the corner for our block to find him there one afternoon, leaning against the wall, waiting for me with hate in his eyes. He was smoking a cigarette, but he tossed it to the floor as I gathered myself together and approached him.

“Hey,” I tried.

“Don’t fuckingheyme,” he said, “I went to see Dad. The prick you’re with is a true psycho. He was gonna stab my dad. Kill him. For fucking real. And he’ll kill you, as well.”

“What?”

“He’s dangerous, Rosie. Once he’s tired of fucking you, he’ll stab you as well and move on to his next little girl victim.”

“Are you for real? Julian’s not dangerous. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“He threatened to kill my dad. And you’ll be next. He’ll soon get tired of you, and you’ll be next. Dad says we might as well do it ourselves to save wasting time. If we got rid of the pair of you, Dad would be able to come home again.”

What the–

“Did you just say your dad thinks you should kill me? For real? Seriously?”

“Why fucking not?” Jay said, like he’d lost his mind. “The sicko’s going to do it anyway. Dad says…”

I’d had enough. I shook my head as I walked on by, not wanting another stupid battle, especially such a nasty, overblown one as this one. Scottie could fuck off. Jayden could fuck off too, and I told him so, giving him the middle finger as I passed him. But he didn’t let me go. He grabbed my arm, tugging me back to him and holding me in a grip, his teeth gritted in anger.Just like his father.

“My dad’s gone away because of you, you think that’s fucking funny?”

“No!” I snapped. “I think it’s fuckingdeserved, because your dad is a piece of shit, who should be in prison, and nowhere else.”

“Yeah, so what about your fucked up boyfriend? He’s the one who wants to be a fucking killer.”

“Whatever, Jay,” I said and tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn’t let me go. He kept his grip on me. “Fuck off and leave me alone!” I said, but he didn’t. He was too angry. Too wound up. Toofucked up.

“This is your fucking fault!” he said. “And you think it’s alright, parading around like a slut who got the prize! I’ve heard you’ve been bragging to people. Skipping down the street with that psycho cunt’s hand in yours like a stupid little puppy bitch.”

“FUCK OFF!” I yelled. “Your dad’s the fucking psycho! Not Julian! And it’s definitely, DEFINITELY not my fault!”

“IT IS YOUR FUCKING FAULT!”

I was prepared to launch into another attack of my own, but a voice cut in from across the street, footsteps dashing. I recognised the heels and my heart cried out in relief to hear Mum’s scream, right there beside me.

“Jayden! You’d better leave Rosie the fuck alone, do you hear me? If you don’t, there’s going to be trouble for everyone, not least your fucking dad!”

Jayden let me go, just like that. His eyes locked on Mum’s and he saw her rage, and it seemed to jolt him back to himself. He stumbled back with his hands in his hair. Mum spun around, looking at the onlookers gathering on the outskirts.

“And you lot can fuck off, too!”

People pretended they weren’t watching, going about their business like they hadn’t just observed Jayden practically wrestling me into the road.

“Sorry,” Jay mumbled. “It’s just a fucking mess!”

He was poor little lost Jayden again as he turned and sloped away.

“Jay!” I called, but he didn’t listen. “Jay, wait! Let’s talk about it! Let’s at least try, right?”

He’d been my friend, and the person going through the same shit as me for so long, that it felt painful to watch him leave, but not nearly so painful as when I turned to thank Mum and found she was already walking away.

“Mum, wait! Hang on a minute!”