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Chapter 8

Squid lay in his cot with his covers tucked tightly around himself, he wasn't cold, it's just he felt that if he wrapped himself up he was hidden from view and then he wouldn't have to even look at the rest of D tent.

He buried his head into his pillow, his whole body ached from digging. He thought that perhaps he'd be used to it by now, but everyday his muscles and bones still throbbed. He peered into the darkness of the tent, straining his eyes slightly to see if he could see any movement, he wondered if he was the only one awake.

He could see Magnet's cot from where he was lying. Magnet was tossing and turning in a restless sleep. He was mumbling words Squid didn't understand, he sounded quite distressed.

"No vaya Lisa, el asidero en"

"No preocupe, yo le salvaré, será bien"

"No llore, estoy aquí, yo siempre estaré aquí"

"Por favor no salga Lisa, yo quiero ir con usted, yo soy su hermano grande, yo siempre le debo proteger"

(A/n: I am not very good at Spanish so I don't know if these are right)

Squid could make out the words but they made no sense, he guessed Magnet was talking in Spanish.

He tried to ignore Magnet by pulling his covers over his head, but Magnet was sounding more and more urgent and more and more distressed. Squid pulled his covers from off his head and looked back at Magnet who was thrashing around in his sleep.

"Magnet!" Squid whispered, "Magnet, buddy, wake up"

Magnet's urgent Spanish phrases died down and he gradually stopped moving in his sleep.

"Magnet, are you alright, I thought you were having a seizure or something," Squid wasn't even sure if Magnet was awake or not yet.

"No, just a bad dream," Squid could hear Magnet's muffled, Hispanic accent coming from underneath his covers, he sounded very upset and his voice was really small.

"What was it about?" Squid asked.

"Nothing," Magnet mumbled.

"Well, it had to be something, you were yelling out a load of things in Spanish so it has to be pretty bad," Squid said, sitting up slightly in his cot.

"I don't want to talk about it," Magnet whispered grumpily, rolling over in his cot so that he was lying on his back and staring up at the blank ceiling of the tent.

Squid understood, he often had nightmares too, but that didn't stop his curiosity. Magnet always seemed to be happy, Squid didn't know that he actually had things which troubled him in his sleep.

"That's ok Magnet, you don't have to, but can I just ask you one thing?" Squid said, trying to put his words very carefully so that Magnet didn't think he was interfering too much.

Magnet just grunted a reply, Squid took it as a 'yes.' "Whose Lisa? That's the only word I could make out," Squid said.

Squid heard Magnet gulp.

"She….was…my sister," Magnet said, in a quivering voice.

"Was?" Squid asked.

Magnet was reluctant to answer, "She…died"

Magnet felt a single tear roll down his cheek.

"Oh," Squid didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry Magnet"

"She was only nine," Magnet said, another tear rolled down his cheek, he didn't know why he was telling Squid this, he really didn't want to talk about it but that was exactly what he was doing.

"Do you mind me asking… how did she die?" Squid asked, he didn't think Magnet would want to answer this question.

"I don't want to talk about that," Magnet mumbled.

There was a silence between the two boys which went on for what felt like hours.

"Squid?" Magnet whispered.

"Yeah," Squid answered.

"She got murdered," Magnet found himself saying.

Squid was shocked, no wonder Magnet was having nightmares, and Magnet hid it so well, always happy and smiling, always laughing.

"Magnet, that is so… so horrible," Squid sat up in his cot once more, he got up and walked over to Magnet's cot and sat on the edge of it.

Magnet sat up too, his face shining with tears.

Squid looked at Magnet, his soft brown eyes full of pity.

"I know I said I didn't want to talk about it, but I've started now, so I guess I'll have to finish," Magnet said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

"You really don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Mag," Squid said.

"Yeah, well, I don't think I want to, but maybe I need to talk about it coz I haven't talked about it to anyone, not even my family, it's like it's all cooped up inside me, y'know," Magnet said, biting his nails slightly.

Squid nodded to show that he did know, that's what he felt like with things about his past, about his mum, about Yasmin, about his dad.
Magnet took a deep breath, "Well here goes nothing," he said, "I was babysitting Lisa when my mum and dad were out at a dinner party and she asked me if she was allowed out to play with her best friend across the road. I let her, but now I wish that I hadn't. Whilst she was out she got abducted, and they found her body three weeks later," Magnet couldn't suppress his sobs any longer. He buried his face into his pillow and began crying.

"And it's all my fault," he gulped, "If only I hadn't let her out, she'd still be alive today. I am her big brother, I was supposed to protect her"

Squid felt sick in the stomach, he didn't have any brothers or sisters, but he could just imagine Alex being abducted and murdered and that made a tear trickled down his cheek as well. Squid patted Magnet on the back, "It's not your fault Mag, how was you to know that some evil bastard was going to abduct her"

Magnet didn't answer, he just carried on sobbing into his pillow.

His sobs seemed to die down after a while because he then managed to say, "That's what I was dreaming, I could see Lisa again, she was in a crowded room and whenever I tried to get closer to her, the fainter she became until I was meters away from her. She just smiled at me and said, "It's ok Jose, you'll always be by big brother and I'll always love you, I'll be waiting for you," then she just walked away,"

Awwwww, poor Magnet, I actually feel quite sorry for him although I'm the one who wrote it.