Seven for a Secret Never to be Told

When Mia came downstairs in the morning her Nan was talking on the phone. She smiled at Mia and nodded towards the oven, shaking her finger in the direction of the grill. Mia immediately saw that her pain au chocolat was on the darker side of brown and quickly grabbed a tea towel and pulled out the grill tray. She flipped off the switch and managed to put her breakfast on a plate without burning her fingers.

Sitting at the table she listened to her Nan’s call. It was the care home.

‘I can’t…’ said her Nan. ‘There’s no one to have Mia and besides she’s got a friend coming over tonight.’ Mia’s Nan looked agitated as she listened to what the person on the other end of the phone was saying. ‘Even if I could I wouldn’t. It’s Friday…they’ve been at school all week, the last thing they’ll want to do after school is hang around an old people’s home for an hour while I fill in for Mrs Morgan.’ Mia’s ears pricked up.

‘Double time? Do you mean you’ll pay me double my normal hourly rate?’ There was a pause. Mia stood up and tried to get her Nan’s attention.

‘Nan…Nan…’

‘Hang on a minute, let me have a word with Mia…’ She put her hand over the receiver so that whoever she was speaking to couldn’t hear what she was saying.

‘This is a nightmare Mia, I’m so sorry.’ She sighed heavily. ‘Mrs Morgan, one of the other care workers at the home is going to be late for her shift this afternoon and with one of the residents poorly they need some extra cover. As we live so close they’ve asked me to go in for an hour. They’ll pay me double the money and don’t mind if I bring you and Safi…but, well I’ve told them I can’t drag you along to sit around for an hour while I…’

‘Nan, Nan…we don’t mind,’ Mia interrupted. ‘Please say you’ll do it. Saf and me will be fine.’

‘You’re sure?’ asked Mia’s Nan. Mia nodded.

As she sat down to eat her breakfast she couldn’t believe her luck. Everything seemed to be falling into place. They were going to speak to Bobby Bassett at last.

At school that morning Mia couldn’t wait to tell Safi about the lucky turn of events. Much to her surprise however Safi came into her class with several other children just before first break. His class were doing a project on advertising and Safi’s work group had come to give a presentation on a product they’d invented. More groups from his class would be presenting products they’d invented throughout the day and Mia’s class would vote on what product they thought was best. The product that Safi’s group were promoting were skateboards for dogs which raised a few smiles even though it was totally impractical.

When they had finished they filed out past Mia’s desk. Safi leant over and whispered – ‘I’ve got something really important to show you.’ Mia tried to think what it might be. The rest of the lesson dragged by. The hands on the clock hardly seemed to move, but at last the bell rang for break.

Mia didn’t have to look far for Safi, he was making his way back to her classroom to find her.

‘Let’s go somewhere quiet,’ he said and began walking back down the corridor. At the stairs he looked around to see if anyone was watching them then quickly ran up the steps. Mia followed him. At the top he turned left and opened the first door on the corridor into a store room. He checked no one was inside and went in. Mia slipped in behind him and closed the door.

‘What is it?’ she asked, but Safi didn’t reply. He walked across the room and sat down in the far corner. Mia followed and sat down next to him. She looked around. Wide shelves were fixed to all the walls and stacked to the ceiling with games and jigsaws, books and craft items. There wasn’t a spare surface. ‘Why are we here?’

‘Because of this.’ He reached into his pocket and took something out. He stretched out his hand to Mia and slowly uncurled his fingers. Laying in his palm was a magpie talisman. The roughly carved magpie was face up.

‘Did you take one of my tokens?’ Mia asked. She was confused, trying to make sense of why Safi would have one of her tokens.

‘No, of course not. I found it.’

‘What do you mean? Found it?’

‘In my pencil case.’ Mia thought for a moment.

‘Then this is another token. Not one of the ones that came to me.’

‘Yes Mia,’ Safi said. ‘This is another token. The sixth token. I was in class this morning and opened my pencil case and there it was.’ Mia looked at Safi.

‘Were you ok?’

‘I didn’t have an asthma attack if that’s what you mean.’ He gave a choked laugh. ‘I think hanging around with a nutter like you helps.’ Mia smiled. ‘Turn it over.’ Mia leaned forward and turned the token over. On the other side was the initial B.

‘B…Is that B for Bernard Jaggers or B for Bobby Bassett?’

‘Which ever one it is Mia, the appearance of this token means one of them is dead.’ Mia felt the blood drain from her face, she pulled her hands to her mouth in horror.

‘Nan was talking to the home this morning. She told me one of the residents was ill. What if it was Bobby? If it’s Bobby we’ll never find out what happened!’

‘…and do you remember Miss Jaggers’ email from her brother. He said something about having tests at the hospital didn’t he? So it could just as easily be Bernard.’

Mia struggled to make sense of her feelings. She didn’t want anyone to die. She knew Miss Jaggers would be heartbroken if anything happened to her brother but she also knew Bobby was their only hope of finding out what really happened to Tommy. She remembered what she’d been so excited to tell Safi before school but if Bobby was dead it wouldn’t matter anymore.

‘Nan has to go to work for an hour when we get home from school. I told her we didn’t mind hanging out at the care home. If Bobby’s dead, well I suppose that changes everything.’ She felt like she was carrying a heavy weight. She stared at the floor and swallowed hard. ‘We’ll never find out what happened.’

‘Hey look, I know this is a horrible situation. Someone’s dead and we both wish that wasn’t the case. But we’ve got to carry on. If Bobby has died well we might be able to find out something from your Nan, but actually right now we don’t know what has happened.’

‘It’s too big a coincidence that just when we want to talk to Bobby your Nan has been called into work and has to take us with her. We’ve got to hope for the best possible outcome Mia. I know it’s hard but we just have to wait it out. Agreed?’ Mia was silent, her thoughts were dark. ‘Mia!’

‘Yes, your right. We’ll have to wait till after school and then hope we can find out what’s happened.’

They got up and made their way to the door. Mia checked that the coast was clear and they quickly left the store room closing the door behind them.

At the top of the stairs there was a large window that looked out onto the playground and as they passed Mia glanced out, observing the children playing games and wandering around arm in arm. Boys were playing football on the field and a group of girls made up dances, but one child caught her attention. He was stood alone in the centre of the playground unmoved by the chaos of running children and the hubbub of shouts and laughter around him. It seemed as if he existed separately. She stared at him, his head was hanging down and he seemed to be a misty grey. He wore shorts and a sleeveless jumper over his shirt, his hair was neatly parted and his boots were made of well-worn leather. She looked more closely. She noticed the wet sheen of his hair, his saturated clothes and the trickle of water that ran down his hand and drip, drip, dripped from his frozen fingers making a small puddle on the playground.

Around him swirled colour and playfulness and childish fun but he stood silent and alone. Then slowly, very slowly he began to lift his head until his eyes met Mia’s eyes. It was Tommy Bassett.

‘Mia, come on,’ snapped Safi, worried they would be caught indoors at break time. Mia looked away for a moment and when she looked back he was gone.