The Ocean by Faye Young (speld decodable readers .TXT) 📖

death, shoot him - murder the poor blond boy. If he stayed, he would have to do it. Or he would be stabbed a couple of times himself, could Jack do that to him?

‘You look worried,’ The voice startled Shane, he jumped up pulling the bag hard onto his back, standing up sharply and taking a step backwards. A girl stood their, her hair hanging down her back, long and blond. Big blue eyes peered at him, she blinked. Her eyes were huge. ‘are you going to answer. What’s wrong?’ She shifted her position, and pushed her long hair back, it shimmered in the moonlight. Shane, took another step back.

‘Nothing.’ He replied leaning back on the fence an turning away from the girl. She sighed,

‘I’m worried.’ She stated, following Shane and leaning next to him so their faces were close.

‘Weren’t you ever told its dangerous to talk to strangers.’ Shane spoke unenthusiastically looking her strait in the eyes. They engulfed him, wide and intelligent, the blue was like no other blue he had seen, like an ocean full of secrets and no fear. She laughed a little, whispering,

‘I don’t think you’re a stranger,’ He looked at her, his eyes focused on hers, ‘I’ve seen you around here.’ She said a little louder, leaning back away from him. She had a subtlety about her, she was slender and her voice kept the tone of secrecy her eyes would never move away from his.

‘Nahh, your thinking of someone else. This is he first time I’ve bin here.’ He lied running his hands through his hair and pushing down on his temples again - he should cover his tracks now, just in case he does kill the blond boy. Shane jumped. The blond boy, with big blue eyes. Surely not, surely it couldn’t be.

‘No, its definitely you.’ She nodded encouraging her theory, ‘I saw you hear yesterday.’ Shane nodded vaguely, they looked alike. ‘You looked deep in thought yesterday, I didn’t want to disturb you but I was intrigued. I must admit though, you look more worried today.’ What was she, Shane thought, a stalker. She was distracting, he needed to think things through, could the young blond boy be her brother - did things work out that way, was the world really that small? They stood in silence together for some time, although Shane’s worries wanted him to move on, go somewhere else away from the strange girl, he felt her presence comforting.

’My brothers missing.’ She confirmed. Shane’s world began to spin, so it was her brother. ‘He’s only eleven, my mothers worried even though its only been a couple of hours. London’s a big place you know.’

‘Not big enough,’ Shane cringed, eleven. Eleven years old, how could Jack think he was a threat, beat him up, scare him, anything. But why kill him. He looked up at the girl tears welling in his eyes, her eyes were glimmering too. He brushed them back, and the sight of one of hers spilling over the edge gave him the oddest urge to brush that back too, she got there before him.

‘Your right, its not big enough.’ She repeated making Shane wonder what she was on about.

‘You have nothing to complain about.’ Shane aimed nastily at her, ‘You don’t know what it’s like out there.’ He pointed furiously to the streets behind him, ‘You live behind these walls, locked in your perfect life, with your perfect family.’

She nodded in agreement, ‘Locked, is the perfect word,’ she laughed, her smile showing beautiful white teeth, her lips making the perfect heart shape. He couldn’t resist, he smiled. She made him happy, she made him forget. Yet every time he looked into those wide blue eyes an echo of the small boy flooded back to his memory. He had to get away from her. The smile stopped and immediately hers followed, ‘your leaving?’ She questioned glancing towards her mansion. Shane nodded slowly pulling his bag onto his back once again,

‘I have to.’ He said simply.

‘I don’t believe that for one second. You don’t look like the type of boy with rules.’ She didn’t know what she was on about, rules, she couldn’t contemplate the rules his brother had set straight to him. ‘My names Lacey.’

That night Shane lay in his damp bed thinking about her, about how her eyes drew him in, her lips making that perfect heart shape, about how it was her brother he was going to kill - how that one drop of water that escaped those ocean like eyes, would turn into a thousand drops. It broke his heart to think of that, to think of how many tears he would cause, how many hearts he would break. There would be no sleeping tonight.

The morning came, and his brother still hadn’t returned home. Shane hoped this was a good thing, that he was still waiting for his brother to meet him that night; Central Hyde Park. The young boy would be alive and well for at least one more day. Although it was morning, Shane didn’t move from the position he lied in all night, he thought and thought about what he was to do that day. How he could possibly stop the boys death, yet prevent his own as well. After several hours laying there, silent and not moving he made his way to the shower. The water felt heavy, like a weight pushing down on him - not the relief he had hopped for. He walked the few steps to his nana’s flat, knocking lightly on the door as usual, kissing her on the cheek and offering her any assistance. She denied him and he was on his way once more. This time without the small bag containing smaller bags on his back. He knew where he was heading.

The black gate appeared to soon, he panicked, rubbing his temples and gathering his thoughts together. How would he word this? The house was quiet, the curtains weren’t moving and no sign of movement appeared behind the windows. That seemed the most plausible reason to why Shane appeared on the porch step lifting the knocker and letting it go with a loud bang. No-one answered, so a second knock fell, Shane felt hollow, alone and even more frightened. Even though he was eighteen, almost an adult, he felt six, small in comparison to the gigantic intimidating house in front of him. He sighed not knowing what else to do, in fact even if he did tell Lacey what his brother wanted him to do, he still didn’t know what the plan was after that. He felt his feet move beneath him, he turned slowly beginning to step when the door slowly opened and a familiar pretty face appeared. He spun back around stepping a little to close to the girl with big blue eyes, there faces were inches apart yet she wasn’t startled. She took his face in her hands,

‘What do you know Shane?’ She whispered, her warm breath hovering between the inches of air between them.

They walked through the streets of London together, Shane explaining that Hyde Park was the place he was expected to begin his initiation. At this Lacey laughed, stopping their walk and facing him, ‘Initiation,’ She chuckled again humourlessly, ‘what does your brother think he is, the mafia?’ She talked seriously this time, Shane guessed worrying for her brother.

‘You could say that.’ He paused biting his lip slightly, ‘He’s a big drug dealer, he knows people, and there normally scared of him.’ Shane couldn’t explain how dangerous his brother could be…

‘I guess he expects you to follow in his footsteps.’ She stated. Her brother was close to death yet she worried about Shane, a thug, she worried how he would turn out. Shane shrugged it off,

‘It doesn’t matter about me, we need to do something about your brother.’ Lacey’s comment back was inevitable.

‘We should tell the police.’

‘Tell the police! Id be killed, id be hunted by everyone I know.’ Shane’s anger took control, ‘My dad would hunt me down, do you realise what would happen to me?’ Lacey took his hand, placing both her’s over his.

‘Do you know what will happen to my mother?’ She replied, looking Shane in the eyes, ‘She’s already lost her husband, she couldn’t deal with the one thing that reminds her of him dying as well.’

Night fell on the streets of London, and the Saturday night traffic boomed. Taxi’s swayed this way and that, picking and dropping people off here and there. The double-decker busses came to a standstill in the midnight traffic that never ceased, and Shane stood in the unimportant doorway with Tee, smoking silently.

‘What’s up with you?’ Tee questioned. Shane didn’t hear him but took another toke of his spliff, watching the lights pass on the road beside him. Sirens sounded in the background and Shane flinched. ‘What’s up with you bruv, your flinching at everything.’ Shane passed the booda back to Tee without looking and began walking towards Hyde Park. ‘Oi,’ Tee shouted after him, ‘Oi, where you goin?’ Shane still didn’t reply, scared that what would come out of his lips would cause Tee to flip out, turn on his friend for the sake of reputation.

One in Hyde park the nerves kicked into Shane, the darkness was too much, the silence blinded him. One thought kept him walking inward towards the centre of the park, her.

‘Shane.’ Her voice was like a saviour, he spun around looking for her in the darkness, looking for the shimmer of blond under the moonlight.

‘What are you doing here? I told you not to come.’ He spoke blindly to the surrounding area. She appeared, to the left of where he was facing, her hair tied back in a loose bun, a pair of jeans with a cardigan, simple but she looked brilliant. He walked up to her, placing his hands on her chin, she’d been crying - her eyes didn’t shine like they did the night before, the ocean was slowly being drained.

‘I came to say thank you.’ She whispered in her secret voice, ‘Thank you for…’ But she couldn’t finish her sentence - Shane had pushed his lips to hers, not a centimetre of air lay between their lips, held firmly in place. One hand moved through her locks of blond and the other reached her hand. Why he kissed her, he didn’t know - it was spontaneous, yet the feeling whilst they stood their kissing in the middle of Hyde park was phenomenal, his heart pounded in his chest and his cheek’s flustered. This moment should never end.

‘Shane?’ A familiar voice sounded, Shane immediately spun round knocking Lacey to the floor in the rush, she yelped. ‘What are you playing at?’ It was then that the sirens got louder, the lights flashing across the field showing all their faces. Jacks was blood thirsty, angry shadows danced over his face, and the knife he held in his hand glistened. Being held next to him was the young boy, his face soaked with tears, blood stain on his cheek and clothes muddy and torn.

‘What have you bin doing with him Jack? He’s eleven! Eleven!’ Shane shouted, anger thundering from his mouth and every muscle in his body. Jack shook his head in disappointment,

‘Tell me you didn’t do this Shane? Bruv?’ Shane stood there, mouth clamped tightly, jaw bones showing. ’Shane?’ A tone of fury etched