Free Where the Rain Gets In by Adrian White Page A

make out somebody waiting in the dark. She hesitated and as she did
so she knew she was in trouble. She slowed and considered turning back, but
when she looked behind her there was another person following her. It was a
classic mistake; one she’d heard talked about many a time in college whenever
she mentioned she lived in Hulme. She thought about what she had on her – very
little apart from some loose change in her purse. But then it occurred to her
that it might not be money they wanted.
    She stopped dead in the middle of the
bridge. Her would-be attackers walked slowly towards her. She looked over the
barrier down to the road below; it was way too high, but she would jump before
she let them near her. She felt in her pocket for her keys and they seemed a
very poor defensive weapon against two grown men. Then she fingered the razor
blade around her neck and snapped it off the chain. Somebody else stepped on to
the bridge from the college side and Katie laughed with relief when she saw it
was Bruno. He walked alongside the person following Katie and without warning
stamped his shoe into the side of their knee. Katie heard the crack above the
noise from the traffic below, and the person slumped to the floor in pain.
Bruno checked to make sure they stayed down, and walked on to Katie.
    “You okay?” he asked. He smiled when he saw
the blade in between her fingers. “Nice one,” he said, “shall we go?”
    They walked on along the bridge towards
Hulme. The other would-be attacker thought better of taking on Bruno, and ran
away.
    Katie was still shaking when they
reached her flat in Bonsall Street. She didn’t need Bruno to tell her she’d had
a lucky escape.
    “You have to be more careful,” was all
he said to her.
    “I know, I will – and thanks,” she said.
It was only after closing her door behind her that she thought it strange that
Bruno should have been there to help her.
    After what had happened on the bridge,
she adjusted her schedule to keep to more daylight hours; she had little choice
anyway if she wanted to use the library. But she needed this remove – a separate
place from home in which to study – and she needed the gym. It was hardly
socializing, but staying at home alone wasn’t enough for her any more.
    She was relieved not to see Bruno again
over the Christmas holiday period. She didn’t know where he would be, only that
he wouldn’t or couldn’t be going home to his parents. If he’d received the same
gym membership off Mike – and Katie presumed he had – he chose not to use it,
or at least not at the same time as Katie. She knew Bruno had problems, but she
didn’t know what those problems were. She guessed they weren’t so different to
each other. She’d watched as his use of drugs intensified throughout the first
term, but she didn’t know what demons drove him on. She had to look after
herself first and she was barely capable of that; the thought of trying to help
Bruno as well was hopeless and besides, he scared her.
     
    K atie knew how important it was to Mike
that she and Bruno at least get on well together. What she hadn’t reckoned on,
but what soon became obvious after that first Christmas vacation, was that
being close to Bruno might leave Mike feeling threatened. No matter how much
Katie protested, Mike believed she had a connection to Bruno that he didn’t
share.
    “Oh for God’s sake,” she said to Mike
one night.
    Katie realised again just how young Mike
was. He might have been notoriously secretive in everything he did, but when it
came to his feelings for Katie he was hopelessly transparent. There was little
she could do to help him – the very idea that Mike should be jealous of Bruno
was ridiculous, especially after trying so hard for them all to be friends. If
this was what it meant to be in a relationship, she wanted no part of it.
    Katie thought Mike seemed a little lost,
as though something he’d seen back in Belfast had shocked him. Katie