Free The Suitcase Kid by Jacqueline Wilson Page B

And maybe some bird’s fallen down the hole too and died and your little Radish is lying on its
corpse
. Yeah, all the maggots are going
wiggle wiggle wiggle
all over her and she won’t even be able to cry for help because rabbits don’t talk. She’s just opening her little mouth and screaming silently, wondering why you don’t come.’
    â€˜I
am
coming,’ I said. I got out of bed and started pulling on my clothes.
    â€˜What are you doing, you dope?’ Katie whispered.
    â€˜What do you
think
I’m doing? I’m going to comfort Radish,’ I said, pulling on a jumper.
    â€˜But it’s after midnight. You can’t go
out
.’
    â€˜Just watch.’
    â€˜But your mum—’
    â€˜I don’t care. She won’t know. And if you tell her I’ll . . . I’ll tell you’re such a scared baby you won’t even lie down properly to go to sleep. And I know why and I’ll tell everyone – if you tell on me. Understand?’
    She understood all right. She still looked worried.
    â€˜Andy, you are just kidding, aren’t you? You can’t really go out in the middle of the night. Look, those things I said about Radish, I was just making them up to annoy you, they’re not true.’
    â€˜They could be,’ I said, and I put on my coat and wound a scarf round my neck.
    â€˜But it’s so dark outside,’ said Katie.
    She was wrong about that. When I’d crept down the stairs and out the front door I looked up and saw there was a big round moon andhundreds of stars shining in the sky. I saw the Pole star shining brighter than all the others. I threw back my head, staring at it until my eyes watered, and I whispered the wishing song.
    Starlight, star bright
    First little star I see tonight
    Wish that I may, wish that I might
    Have the first wish that I wish tonight
.
    â€˜I wish that I can find Radish and work out a way of reaching her so that I can have her back, please, please,
please
.’

THERE AREN’T ANY buses in the middle of the night. Larkspur Lane is a long bus ride away. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to walk. I’d never been out that late at night before. Certainly not by myself. The stars and the street lights stopped it being too dark, but it was still pretty scary. It was cold and strange and all the streets seemed so empty, and yet whenever a car went by or a manwalked past I shrank away from them.
    I tried to think of poor little Radish stuck down the tree – but I couldn’t stop thinking about poor little
me
too. I remembered all the things Mum and Dad had said about strangers and when a man slowed down when he saw me and said ‘What’s up, dear? Why are you out all on your own at this time?’ I shot past and went flying off down the street. He called after me and then started running too.
    I ran faster, heart thudding, feet pounding, dodging down an alley and round someone’s garden and down another passage and out into another road and then another, running and running and running – and when at last I stopped, spread-eagled against a wall with a great tearing stitch in my side the man was nowhere to be seen.
    He might have been a kind man trying to look after me. He might have been a monster ready to make off with me. There was no way of telling.
    I didn’t even know where I was any more. I stared round at the dark unfamiliar buildings in panic. I could try going back along the alley but the man might be waiting . . .
    I started shaking and shivering. My cheeksgot a bit wet. My hand seemed horribly empty – but then I tucked my thumb inside my fist and tried to kid myself it was Radish and it helped just a little bit. I ran on down the road and when I turned the corner I was at the shops. I knew how to get back to Mum’s place in less than five minutes. But I couldn’t go back. Katie would be still lying awake, and how