The Role Model: A shocking psychological thriller with several twists by Daniel Hurst (read aloud TXT) 📕

‘Okay,’ Chloe replies as she leaves, and I listen to her footsteps plodding down the stairs.

‘Bye!’ she calls out a moment later, and I go to her bedroom window and watch her walking away down the street in the direction of the college. She already has her phone out in her hand, texting Zara about the coffee meet-up, no doubt, and I just hope that her day goes smoothly.

I also hope I can say the same for me.

14

CHLOE

I’m glad to get out of the house. Mum’s worrying is only going to make me feel worse. I wanted to tell her that I have my way of dealing with what happened, and she has hers, leaving it at that. But I know she wouldn’t have accepted such a sweeping statement, and I can also understand why. It’s not just me she is trying to protect; it’s herself too, so I can forgive her for being a little needy when she came into my bedroom.

It’s still annoying, though.

I check the time on my phone and quicken my pace when I see that I am running late to meet Zara. Between having to look for my English textbook and Mum’s interruption, I lost a good five minutes, and now Zara will be wondering where I am.

Again.

I know she will want to know a few more details about what happened after the party. There is no way my text message will have been enough to satisfy her cravings for gossip. I know her too well for that. She was being respectful when she texted me back, not wanting to make a big deal about me telling her that I had been sick in case I was feeling embarrassed about it. She was even polite enough to leave me alone yesterday when I told her that my hangover was too bad to endure a phone call. But she won’t be so polite today. She’ll want to know all the gory details.

If only she knew the half of it.

I reach the end of the street and turn the corner, wondering if Mum has been stood at the window watching me until I disappear from view. Probably. She’ll be stressing out about whether or not I’ll be able to keep my cool at college today when people notice that Rupert isn’t there. But I’m a big girl, and I’m confident that I will be able to handle it. If not, I will follow her advice and avoid the common room if it gets too much. But I think it will be okay. There will probably be a few people who don’t turn up at college today. It is Monday, after all. Rupert probably won’t be missed, apart from by his close friends, although judging by how drunk they were at the party, maybe they are still in bed too.

I feel like everything is going to be okay, at least today, anyway.

Only time will tell if it stays that way.

But I do feel bad about lying to Mum just now. I was initially honest with her and told her that I was okay, but it was almost as if she didn’t believe me. In the end, it was just easier to lie and say that I’d been up all night like she had. Maybe I should feel guilty about the fact that I was able to drift off for a few hours after what I had just been through, and maybe I do, but the fact is I was able to close my eyes and fall asleep. I had fully expected to see visions of Rupert’s dead body either in my bedroom as I looked at the dark walls or in my nightmares as I slept, but that didn’t happen either. I don’t recall dreaming about anything at all now that I think of it.

Perhaps it was all the fatigue from the late night on Saturday that allowed me to achieve sleep so easily. Maybe the deep sleep it put me into is the reason I feel quite refreshed this morning too. Whatever the reason, I don’t feel as exhausted, stressed and fearful as I had led Mum to believe this morning. But that’s only because I didn’t want to make her feel like I had no heart or conscience about what we did with poor Rupert. Of course, I feel terrible that his family will be trying to find out where he is now, and it makes me sick to think of his body being crawled over by all the bugs that live in those woods that make up his final resting place. But there’s obviously nothing I can do about that now that wouldn’t involve Mum and me going to prison for a very long time. I can’t tell his parents what happened, and I can’t show the police where he is. All I can do is try and get on with my life, as cold-hearted as that seems, and it’s what Mum has told me to do.

And don’t mums always know what’s best for their children?

Looking down the street, I spot Zara standing outside the coffee shop with two cups in her hand. That explains why she hasn’t tried calling me to see why I’m late. She’s too busy holding her drink and the one she bought for me. She’s a good friend, and I’ll miss her when we go to university because it will be a struggle to see each other more than once a month or so then. That’s because we’ll be at opposite ends of the country. I’m going up to Newcastle while she is going down to Bristol. Of course, we will catch up with each other during the holidays when we’re both back in our hometown, but university terms are ten weeks long, and I have the feeling that once we start making new friends and exploring a new city, we