Free A Spell of Snow by Jill Rowan Page A

quickly?’
         She pushed back
her hair and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. ‘No, of course not,
but I can’t fix that. I can’t make it all go away – I can’t make it all right
again.’
         ‘I don’t want you
to!’ I found myself shouting. ‘I hardly know you, and I never wanted to come to
this horrible country in the first place! It’s all your fault.’
         Her face sort of
crumpled, and it was obvious I’d hurt her, but I couldn’t stand to be in that
house a minute longer; I had to get away. I ran out of the room, ignoring her
shouts to me to come back, grabbed my coat, and slammed out of the front door.
         My throat was
tight with emotion as I ran down the road. My coat flapped around me and the
drizzle misted my face and hair, adding to the wetness of tears on my cheeks. I
ran until I had no breath left, and then, just as I slowed, panting, to a
reluctant halt, a bus pulled up on the opposite side of the road. I didn’t care
where it was going, I just needed to escape. I didn’t even look at the
destination as I scrubbed quickly at my face to wipe away the tear stains, and
hopped on.
         ‘As far as you’re
going,’ I told the driver, still breathless.
         He gave me an odd
look and looked me over for a second, but then shrugged. ‘That’ll be
two-fifty.’
         I handed over the
money and took my ticket quickly as it ejected from the machine. The driver was
still regarding me with slight concern, so I adopted an air of confidence as I
took my seat, holding my head high.
         The bus was only
half full, and as it lumbered through the suburban streets I realized with a
touch of alarm that it wasn’t heading into town, but out of it. People drifted
off at every stop, and I passed the time trying to imagine the types of home
they were heading for. The stooped old man wrapped in a thick scarf was going to
visit his daughter, I decided, and I saw the scene in my mind as she opened the
door and gave him a welcoming hug. The young woman with a toddler in a
pushchair was returning to her small house – her husband was already home,
cooking dinner for the three of them. The happy couple who seemed interested
only in each other were on their way to meet her parents. A bitter weight
formed in my stomach as I imagined all these happy family scenes. I scrunched
my eyes tight to keep any more tears from forming. What use were all the tears
anyway? Nothing was going to bring my mum back; Auntie Cheryl was right about
that.
         Eventually there
were only two women on the bus besides me, and I peered through the window in
surprise as snow began to fall outside. By the time the bus pulled up in the
middle of nowhere it was falling in great clumps and the ground was white.
         The women both
stood up to get off, and I gazed out at the expanse of fields with a sprinkling
of houses with a slight sense of unease. The driver looked back at me and said,
‘This is it, love. Rillsend. You sure you really want to get off here? I’m
heading back into town now and the next bus isn’t for two hours. Don’t miss it;
it’s the last one.’
         There was no way I
could back down now and head home with my tail between my legs. No, I’d just
hang around here for a while, long enough to give Auntie Cheryl a bit of a
scare but not long enough for her to do anything too drastic. ‘I’m fine,
thanks,’ I replied as nonchalantly as I could manage, and skipped down the step
before he had a chance to say anything more.
         I started walking
briskly in the same direction as the two women, and after a moment the bus
growled off down the lane behind me. Before long, the women were swallowed into
the darkness and driving snow. I shivered when I realized I was alone, and
pulled my coat tighter as the snow fell more thickly and the wind bit through
my thin school uniform blouse. There were no street lights out here either,
which was slightly scary. I