i needed a plan, i had to get out, i had to get revenge, this could be my only chance to see riley again and no one here was covering for me.
I hadnt exactly made a good start, with several attempts at running away and the week of hell i had caused Mikey, most of the kids here were keeping away from me, except Electra, she was making sure she did her absolute best to spite me.
But to be honest the fights between me and Electra were the least of their worries, i thought they would move me on when i smashed the kitchen window,
and even then they should have moved me on when i kicked the office door in, when i broke Electras nose they should have sent me packing, surely it made me a threat to the kids, but no they sided with me, they said Electra was provoking me, and she was, the things she had said about Riley, she deserved it, when she told me to "come at her", well i bet she wishes now that she had known what she knows now; i always take up a challenge.
i began to slip back into my own thoughts again as i slipped the box out from under my bed and took out the sickly little blackbird, he chirped weakly and i smiled sympathetically at him, he was like me, he was dieing whether it litterally or metaphorically and he was hiding it because that was all there was left to do.
if i let him go today he would die, if i let him go tomorrow he might survive, three days and he'd stop fighting, that how fine a line it really was.
a scream from three doors down startled the little blackbird as i placed him back into his makeshift nest and alerted me that another of my schemes had worked perfectly, all the things that Riley had taught me were coming together perfectly, but of course the most important skill was the one he had forgotten, escape.
it was the knock on the door a few seconds later that taught me that skill, or at least the knocker.
"go on then grace me with your presence" i said sarcastically, there were a few seconds of silence before the door opened slowly and the teenage boy who i couldnt for the life of me remember the name of stepped in.
"Look Hopey" i scowled at his use of the hideous nickname.
"im sorry who?" i asked rasing an eyebrow.
"as much as i love to here the sound of Electra screaming and the look of Mike covered in whatever was in that bucket on Monday, A) im the prankster round here and B) i quite like having a kitchen window" he said with a cheeky smirk.
"your point?" i asked, master prankster he said?
"i have a proposition to make" he stated grinning again.
"im listening" i nodded waiting to hear his clearly worthwhile proposition.
"it seems clear to me that these attacks of yours are clearly not random" he began pacing round the room.
"no shit sherlock"
"and clearly you have an aim, yes?"
"yeah" she said slowly.
"well i think that i can help you"
she laughed quietly, "and why would that be?"
"it seems to me that the people you have targeted have done something that you Hopey, did not like"
"again with the name!"
"you see i have a problem, i know why you hate Electra, thats easy, everyone hates Electra, but i cant see why you dont like Mr Milligan"
"wheres this going?"
"well we can swap answers, i will tell you where this is going, and when it is going to get there to the exact second and millimeter if you tell me exactly what Mike has done" he said still pacing and occasionally stopping to rock on his heels.
"what makes you think your plan means that much to me?" she said, becoming a little deffensive, I couldnt allow these kids to know anymore about the situation that bought me here or the situation I was currently in.
"got some secrets have we Hope?"
"havent we all?" i turned my head to look out the window i was sat in avoiding his questions.
he waited awhile, his voice becoming less cheeky and arrogant as he sat on the bed.
"your very dissmissive arent you?"
"probably"
"its very agrovating"
"i know" i said completely dissmissing his attempts at conversation.
he got up and sighed loudly smiling in disbelief at me.
we sat for hours in silence, i should have kicked him out, but i couldnt be bothered, it was only when someone called for dinner that we both got up and left.
Tea was pretty quiet, i'd expected louder, everywhere else i had lived kids used tea as a time to pick fights over pointless thingsz just to get one up on a younger kid.
I looked down at my food in discust, I didnt like food, it made me feel sick, i could just about stomach an apple or something on a good day but a plate full of chips and peas and fish made me feel like throwing up on the spot.
I considered flicking the peas at Electra that way id annoy her and get rid of some of the food, but that kind of mindlessly childish behaivior was below me I was far more talented and cunning when it came to revenge and that kind of pointless behaivior would simply down on myslef.
"we're a bit quiet today arent we?" said Mike looking suspectingly at Liam and Frank, "whats going on lads"
"we havent had ice cream in the house for a while" he said sending me a small smirk as he mocked my dissmissive tone from earlier.