New Story - With new ideas and directions to hand. I'm writing this and posting it straight onto Steemit - You can not get more exclusive than that! 13

“Where have you been, you little shit?” Ash’s dad slurred and swiped at her but she dodged his hand.

He stumbled forward because he’d expected to connect and when he missed, he was already off-balance and he staggered forward a couple of steps.

“I’ve been out. I saw one of your friends,” she said.

“What friend? How do you know any of my friends?” he said. At least it had stopped his intention of assaulting her.

“That guy with the big car, always wears a leather jacket,” she said.

“Oh, Mike. How do you know him?”

A conversational tone for the first time since… well, since, ever.

“He knows a friend of mine… well, my friend’s relative. That’s where I was. I’m sorry I’m late home,”

“Yeah, ok. Your dinner’s in the kitchen.”

Things are looking up! Ash thought, but that was before she saw what constituted as ‘dinner’. A slab of meat from their cooked dinner; now cold with the fat starting to congeal. “Oh yummy, mystery meat sandwiches – again,” she whispered.

The bread was on its way out too but she picked off the green bits and worked around the slimy portion of the butter, where it had melted and re-set.

She took the sandwich and a drink off upstairs. Stacey wasn’t in bed yet, so she wasn’t that late, but she was tired all the same.

She didn’t hear her sister come to bed.

Ash woke the next morning after a night filled with nightmares of people waiting for her in the shadows. Her head ached and under her eyes black smudges stood out on her paler than usual skin.

Friday! Pay-day!

She shook herself, splashed water on her face, brushed her teeth and ran out of the house. Robin arrived just as she got to the steps and they went up together.

“Are you ok? You don’t look well,” he said.

“Just tired, I think,” Ash said. “I had a rough night.”

She decided not to tell him about the guy, Mike, who knew where she lived. No sense in worrying him yet.

She managed to get through the day, barely. Mrs Dunlop saw her and though she cast a few worried glances, she didn’t say anything because Ash smiled at her and actually looked cheerful despite looking like death warmed-up.

Even Justin treated her gently once he saw her pallor.

“Here, kid. Pay-day. Take it and bugger off home, you don’t look well at all and I don’t want whatever it is.”

He handed her a tenner and she looked at it and grinned.

“Thanks, Justin.”

“It’s not the first one you’ve had off me, why do you look at it like you’ve never seen one before?”

“This is the most money I’ve ever had. I’ve got fifty quid saved up again!”

“What did you spend it on last time?”

“I didn’t spend it on anything. My mum borrowed it,” ash said, her smile slipping from her face.

“Didn’t give it back, huh?”

“Nah, she never does, but when she asks now, I don’t have any. That’s why I’ve not told her I have a job.”

“That’s more information than I’ve ever got out of you, kid. You’re really not well, are you? Go on, bugger off home and hide that tenner well.”

Ash nodded and turned to go.

“Actually, kid,” Justin said.

Ash stopped and turned back to him, waiting.

“Actually, if you really wanted to keep it safe, you can bring it here to stash it. You know I won’t be borrowing it and Robin wouldn’t touch it either, would you?”

“Nah, I don’t need to steal your money, I can steal as much of his as I want,” Robin said and glanced at Justin.

“Cheeky little fucker!” Justin laughed. :Go on and fetch it if you want to do it now.”

“No need to fetch it, I don’t leave it at home. She’s already ‘borrowed’ two lots I had hidden,” Ash said, pulling a tightly-rolled bundle of notes from her pocket.

“I’ll show you where you can put it,” Robin said.

“Give him a key to the lock on my door,” Justin said as they went up the stairs.

“I was going to.”

The room smelled like it hadn’t been used in years, but Ash knew that wasn’t true. Justin had only been unable to manage the stairs for a year, at the most.

The bed was made and the dressing table was dust-free.

“Brenda doesn’t clean up here, does she?” Ash asked.

“No, she’s not allowed up here. Only me… and now, you.”

Ash nodded and stood in the doorway.

“Come in, he’s said you can have a key. He trusts you, you know?” Robin said.

“I know.”

Robin knelt by the bed and reached under it.

That’s not a very original place to hide stuff, Ash thought.

“Come and look, so you can find it if you need to.” Robin pulled back the carpet and moved a floorboard so Ash could see the hiding place.

“Oh, that’s better, I was thinking it wasn’t very original…”

Yeah and you have to reach right under to get your stash, too. That box is mine,” Robin said, moving out of the way so she could see.

“OK,” she said. “But I don’t have a box with a lock.”

“Well, we’ll have to get you one then.”

Ash nodded and placed the roll of fifty pounds down the hole, pushing it gently across and out of sight. Then she replaced the floorboard and put the carpet back.

“Seeya later, Justin,” she called as she left. Fifty quid lighter and more cheerful for it, she went home.

I got rid of the money just in time, she thought. Her mum was searching through cupboards, looking for coins she might have left there when she was a little more ‘flush’.

“Lend me a fiver, Ash,” she said when she saw her come in.

“Not got any money. Where do I get money from?” Ash said, shrugging her shoulders.

Pictures from Google