Casey Watson
The Boy No One Loved
Copyright
This book is a work of non-fiction based on the author’s experiences. In order to protect privacy, names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed or reconstructed.
HarperElement
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
and HarperElement are trademarks of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
First published by HarperElement 2011
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THE BOY NO ONE LOVED. © Casey Watson 2011. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Casey Watson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Source ISBN: 9780007436569
Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 9780007436576 Version 2016-10-18
Dedication
To my wonderful and supportive family
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Funny the little details that tend to stick in your…
Chapter 2
I followed Kieron up the stairs, Riley close behind me,…
Chapter 3
I’m mad about Christmas – always have been and always will…
Chapter 4
I woke on Christmas morning in my usual good spirits,…
Chapter 5
One of the main things Mike and I had to…
Chapter 6
‘I just can’t help it,’ Justin said. ‘I know I…
Chapter 7
We’d been sitting there together for an hour by now.
Chapter 8
It was the following Saturday morning and I was on…
Chapter 9
It was a freezing cold day at the end of…
Chapter 10
The end of the week saw another email arrive from…
Chapter 11
April had arrived and with it some slightly warmer weather…
Chapter 12
Sunshine, I thought happily, as I yanked open the bedroom…
Chapter 13
‘Aw, Mum. Pleeeeaaase!!!’
Chapter 14
‘Mrs Watson? It’s Richard Firth, Head of Year Seven at…
Chapter 15
After the whole issue of the exclusion and Justin’s further…
Chapter 16
I woke up the next morning with a really thick…
Chapter 17
It was late August and, now that Justin was making…
Chapter 18
‘Spaghetti bolognaise!’ Justin announced with an excited flourish. ‘I’m gonna…
Chapter 19
Though we didn’t know for sure (and, as it turned…
Chapter 20
It was now late September and I was beginning to…
Chapter 21
‘Aw, it’s not fair. I soooo want to come!’ Riley…
Chapter 22
It was a Friday morning, just a week after Justin’s…
Chapter 23
‘What shall it be then, Casey, do you think? Shall…
Chapter 24
Deep breath, I said to myself slowly. Deep breath. It…
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Prologue
His little brothers, the boy saw, were both covered in shit. They’d removed their full nappies and smeared each other in it, while their mother’s dog – a spiteful brown terrier – was busy licking what remained from the bars of their shared cot.
He shooed the dog away and, gagging now, lifted both boys out, and then went to fetch a quilt from his mother’s bedroom. Where had she gone this time? Why was she never there?
He took the boys downstairs, used the quilt to wrap them up warmly on the couch, and tuned the TV to a channel that was showing cartoons. ‘We’re hungry,’ the older one kept repeating plaintively. ‘We’re hungry, Justin. Please Justin. Find us some food.’
There was nothing. There never was. Though he looked for some anyway. In all the cupboards. In the drawers. In the big dirty fridge. He felt tears spring in his eyes. And he also felt anger. He looked at his little brothers, at their hopeful, expectant faces. What was he supposed to feed them with? What was he supposed to do?
Then, suddenly, in that instant of despair, there came clarity. He didn’t have to think. He knew exactly what to do. As if on autopilot now, he took his brothers out into the front garden, sat them down on the grass – still wrapped in the grubby quilt – and told them to stay where they were.
He then returned to the house and looked around the living room for the lighter. Picking it up, he calmly flicked it at the couch. He continued to do this till the couch began burning and then he went and set fire to the curtains.
The dog came downstairs then, its face all smeared with the contents of the brothers’ nappies. The boy ran to the kitchen, to the cupboard under the sink, where there was a container of fluid which he knew was for the lighter. Grabbing this, he returned to the living room again, and squirted the fuel all over the animal’s filthy face.
Taking one last look