Free What We Saw by Ryan Casey

enough. We’d just get ourselves involved if we went to them. There would be interviews and afternoons off school, and… no. It wasn’t worth it. We were safe for now.
    Unless Donald saw us, that was. I clenched my eyes together and tried to picture the scene at the exact moment Adam had pulled me away. Sometimes, I saw Donald’s bloodshot eyes meet mine for a moment. Other times they didn’t. I wasn’t sure what was true. I felt sick and shaky.
    The spider crawled into the corner of the ceiling, in its own little upside-down world.
    The main thing that scared me wasn’t her eyes. The eyes were scary, but the thing that scared me most was that someone Adam and I had put all our trust in, all our faith, was the very source of this mystery. It was typical. If it was anyone other than Donald, we’d ask Donald for help, and he’d help us. Work out the potential motives. Let us sit in his garden. But now Donald scared me. He scared Adam too. I could tell from the way he slumped when we spoke about him.
    There was something unusual in Donald’s eyes. Something… new. I’d seen it when Carla went missing. Red. Distant. As if his mind were somewhere else. Something had changed inside Donald, and we didn’t know what yet. I saw those red eyes again, staring at us as we ran. Had he seen us? Each time the scene played out in my mind, it turned out a different way.
    The rain pattered against the roof of the caravan as I drifted into a restless sleep.

Chapter Nine
    I woke up with a weight deep in my tummy. I wanted to get out of bed and throw up. The sickness gnawed at my stomach. Even the thought of Coco Pops made my stomach turn. I tried to divert my thoughts but different images shot into my head. The embrace between Granddad and Donald. Warm and tight, but strange.
    Granddad had already left again to search for Carla when we got up. He’d go deep into the woods, much further than my cousin and I would now dare. Granddad seemed immune to the horrors of what lurked inside that place. I wondered if Adam or I would be quite so confident one day. But then again, I wondered if Granddad had ever seen someone he trusted burying a body before.
    Emily visited early again, much to our disappointment. We were still shell-shocked from the events of yesterday.
    Adam rolled his eyes as she arrived at the door. I wanted to get outside. Being in the same place for too long made me cagey.
    ‘Do we have to deal with her?’ Adam asked.
    I put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Hey, she’s our friend, cuz. We need to remember that.’
    Adam pulled away and walked towards the door. ‘Well, you can be the one to tell her,’ he said, as he turned the handle and greeted her with a cold stare.
    We hung around outside. The sky looked even greyer today.
    ‘Good day yesterday?’ Emily asked, smiling and desperate for conversation.
    Adam grunted as he slouched his head into his hands.
    I intervened. ‘Yeah… yeah we’ve been alright, Emily. You?’
    Emily looked at me, then turned to Adam. ‘Is he alright?’ she mouthed, as he rolled his head in his palms.
    I nodded fast, dismissing Emily’s concern.
    ‘Well… I’ve been okay, thanks. Went into the village with my parents. Saw some old friends. They’ve got a really awesome trampoline. You should both come along some time. Would you be up for that, Adam?’
    Adam grunted again. ‘Whatever.’
    ‘I’m starting to think you’ve gone off me, Adam,’ she said, sucking her fringe like a lolly.
    Adam shrugged. His nose twitched at the sides.
    ‘We’ve been tired, Emily,’ I said. ‘Real tired.’
    Emily stood up and kicked the football towards the hand-built wall at the back of the garden, robbing the ball of what little air it had left in its lungs. She curled her mouth to the side and let out a sigh. ‘I’ve been tired, too, but I still find time to come see you. I mean, you’ve not been to the den for days. I’m starting to think you’re fed up with me.’
    The ball fell at