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With the food bought, we made our way to the park. Logan liked to feed the ducks, but even they were scarce today.

“We should have brought the skateboard. I could ride it, and you could pull me.” Logan sucked on his fingers, ridding them of the sugar from the doughnut.

“Nope. Look what happened last time. I’m not spending another minute in that hospital. Now, come on. I’ll race you to the swings.”

For the next hour, we played. I loved Logan when he was like this. When he was a child wanting to have fun and enjoy himself. The one and only thing I commended Mum and Brian for was their refusal to get him a phone. Sometimes, kids were thrust into the social media world before they were ready, and that wasn’t good. Being a child was about playing outside, reading, hell, even playing the piano. Logan had that at least.

“Hey, Frankie. I’m hungry.” I’d moved to a bench and watched him as he climbed on the monkey bars, swinging from rung to rung.

“You only just had breakfast.”

“Don’t care. Still hungry. Can we go to Maccies? Mum takes me when we go out.”

I very much doubted that. Mum never took him anywhere, but I agreed anyway.

“Come on, then. Let’s go.” I helped him down from the bars and took his hand. I had about enough cash for a kid’s meal, and would make do with a coffee. I could always grab some food when we got home.

“Can I have an ice cream as well?”

“You don’t want much, do you?”

“I’m a growing boy. Mum said so.”

Had she ever said that to me? Had she ever been a mum to me? If she had, I didn’t remember. My memories were full of Gran reading me bedtime stories, feeding me when I got home from school.

I was a mistake. Mum had told me on more than one occasion, but Logan wasn’t. He was the golden child, the little prince, not the outcast.

The town was busier than when we first arrived. School would be back next week, and the shops were full of parents buying last-minute stationery and uniforms.

“Has Mum got your uniform yet? School starts next week.”

“Aw, don’t say that. That’s fucking ruined my day.”

“Logan!” I warned. “What have I told you about swearing?”

“You do it. Mum and Dad do it, so why can’t I?”

“Because…” I couldn’t really think of a suitable answer. He was right; we all did it in front of him, except for Gran. “Just don’t, okay? And especially not at school. The teachers won’t like it.”

“Hmph, I don’t care about the teachers. I don’t care about school either. I’m gonna bunk off when I’m old enough. I hate going.”

I felt the same way as he did, and look where that had got me, but before I could answer him, I saw a familiar figure across the road, coming out of a shop, his arm around a pretty young girl.

Who was Mac with? He hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend, but then we’d not really talked about anything that personal. Naïve as I was, I’d thought he’d shown an interest, but what did I know? He’d mentioned us being friends and given me his number. So, why did this rankle so much?

In my attempt to get away, I stepped into the road without looking, right into the path of an oncoming car. The squeal of brakes drew everyone’s attention, Mac’s included, but before he could say anything, I took hold of Logan’s hand and ran.

“Hey, what about my burger and ice cream?” He tugged on my hand, willing me to stop, but there was no way I was stopping now.

“Another day, Logan. I’ve got stuff to do,” I huffed. After a couple of minutes of running, we slowed to a walk. I glanced around us. Good, there was no one following, but my phone was ringing.

I didn’t need to look at the screen to know who it would be. Ignoring it, we continued home, Logan complaining the whole way that he’d been denied his Happy Meal.

“I’m gonna tell Mum you wouldn’t buy one for me,” he said as we walked through the door, but I knew she’d be at work, the same as Brian would be.

Except, who was upstairs? The sound of shuffling and muted talking reached us. Were we being burgled? Not that we had anything to steal.

I motioned for Logan to stay put and carefully crept up the stairs, trying not to make a sound. It wasn’t coming from my room, nor Logan’s. Maybe Mum and Brian hadn’t gone to work after all and were bumping uglies.