There’s a hammering on my door now Go away I yell Leave me alone The hammering is harder louder I put my hands over my ears to muffle it I see the door shifting I run and lean against it You’re not coming in I yell Go and take a running jump Go and take a running jump off a cliff I hear laughter then and a torrent of words I don’t want to hear them I press my fingers into my ears to block them out A heavy kick shud ders the door followed by another And then it goes silent So silent Pin-drop si lent Is it over I wait Not a sound I wait a few minutes longer then pull the chair away from the door I’m about to take hold of the handle when the door crashes open WALLOP onto my fist and a deafening BOO makes my heart boomer ang across my chest A grinning face shoves itself into mine and shouts GOTCHA before it ya hoos and giddy-ups all the way down the stairs Why don’t you grow up I bellow after it Why can’t you be normal I growl under my breath nursing my bruised fist 2
I hide my book under the bed There’s no point in trying to read now and I don’t want the pages scribbled on I make my way downstairs into the living room There are cushions all over the floor The coffee table is upside down Mom’s favorite photograph of me and my brother is in the fireplace The glass is broken into hundreds of pieces Mom is sitting on the sofa and I can see that she has been crying Wills is cuddled up next to her but I know she doesn’t want him there Not after what he’s done even if he can’t help it Mom’s mad at you Chris he says smugly Chris cross Chris cross I look at my mother who shakes her head dully No she’s not I say She is she is she is insists my brother Mad as mad can be Chris because you made all this mess and spilled popcorn all over the kitchen floor and it’s all sticky wicky I don’t bother to argue Shall I make you a cup of tea Mom I ask 3
That would be nice thank you she sighs It’s the least he can do isn’t it Mom says Wills My mother doesn’t reply Wills stares at her right in the eyes waiting for an answer then he pulls her arm around him and says I’m sorry Mom I didn’t mean to do it He begins to cry and so does she and I feel like joining in 4
Chapter Two My brother has ADD Mom says it stands for At tention Deficit Disorder I say it stands for Acts Dumb and Dumber which isn’t very clever but it tells it like it is and you try coming up with something better Wills is thirteen eighteen months older than me but sometimes he acts like he’s six years younger Sometimes he acts like he’s only two Less even Imagine throwing your food across the room when you’re thirteen You just wouldn’t would you Not unless you were so so so mad with someone that you threw it at them because you couldn’t help yourself but even then you probably wouldn’t because you’d be too worried that you’d get punished Wills 5
