BooksBarbecue
Back The Game
Chapters (68)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. NOW
  4. One
  5. BEFORE
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. NOW
  26. Twenty-One
  27. BEFORE
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. NOW
  46. Thirty-Nine
  47. BEFORE
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-One
  50. Forty-Two
  51. Forty-three
  52. Forty-Four
  53. Forty-Five
  54. Forty-Six
  55. Forty-Seven
  56. Forty-Eight
  57. Forty-Nine
  58. Fifty
  59. Fifty-One
  60. NOW
  61. Fifty-Two
  62. Fifty-Three
  63. Fifty-Four
  64. Fifty-Five
  65. AFTER
  66. Fifty-Six
  67. Acknowledgements
  68. About the Author

Holly lay in bed, waiting for the alarm on her phone to sound one more time before finally moving. She could hear her parents pottering about in the kitchen, directly beneath her bedroom. The sound of the kettle boiling, of plates and mugs being moved about. Every morning was the same. Her mum doing breakfast – cereal in a bowl, some toast on the table, a giant mug of tea – all waiting for her when she went down. They would have been up for an hour already – awake and ready to leave for work. Dad would probably be out the door before Holly made it down. Mum would wait to make sure her daughter had been fed and watered.

Every day the same thing.

Over and over.

Holly hadn’t been able to take it anymore. That’s why she’d taken to lying about her life online. It could have been any group of people. Why did she have to pick that one?

They had made her feel less alone.

She’d tried talking to her mum about the way she felt. About the difficulties she was going through. But she had only tried a few times. Seeing the pain etched across her mum’s face was too much. She didn’t want her mum blaming herself, as if she was the reason Holly’s life sucked so bad.

Her mother had done nothing wrong.

Next to her head, Holly’s phone trilled with an alarm once more. She reached across and slid a finger across its screen, silencing it. Heard her dad shout a muffled farewell and then the front door shut. She lifted the bed covers and got up, getting dressed in silence. She went to the bathroom, gave her face and hands a cursory wash. Ran a hairbrush through her hair.

She could hear her mum singing along to music in the kitchen again. Another old song. She recognised it this time at least.

‘Morning,’ her mum said, a big smile plastered across her face. Holly returned it, but didn’t feel it inside. More fakery.

‘Ran out of Coco Pops yesterday,’ her mum continued, tipping her the wink as she did so. ‘I’ll pick some up today. Sugar Puffs okay?’

Holly nodded and stifled a yawn, as her mum placed a bowl in front of her.

If her mum knew she’d pretended to be dying of cancer to a whole bunch of people, there would be none of this normality. It would forever be tainted.

‘What time are you in college today?’

‘Not sure,’ Holly replied, staring at the bowl in front of her. ‘Need to check my timetable. Might try and get some work done at home if there’s not much on.’

‘Well, make sure you have something to eat. There’s stuff in the cupboards. There’s lasagne in the freezer for tea. You sure you’re going to be okay later? We’ll be home by midnight, I think.’