Tony Hill u Carol Jordan 08 - Cross and Burn

there?’ It was as if she couldn’t wait to get away.
    ‘Well, you’ll have to register the death. And deal with the estate,’ Elinor said.
    ‘Because the sooner we get Torin down to Bristol and settled in there, the better,’ she continued, as if Elinor hadn’t spoken.
    Her words galvanised Torin, who straightened out of his slump and shifted to the edge of his seat. ‘Bristol? I’m not going to Bristol.’
    ‘Of course you are, don’t be silly. We’re your family, we’re all you’ve got left now, with your dad off wherever he is. You’ll come to Bristol and live with me. Or your gran, whichever you prefer. We’ve both got room.’ She sounded matter of fact, as if it was open and shut.
    ‘Why would I want to go to Bristol? All me mates are here. I go to school here. I sing in a band here. Tell her, Elinor. I belong here, in Bradfield. It’s bad enough losing my mum without you making me lose everything else as well.’ Now he was on the verge of tears again. He rubbed his nose vigorously with his fist. ‘I’m stopping here.’
    ‘You can’t stop here. You’re only fifteen —’
    ‘Actually, he’s fourteen,’ Elinor said.
    Rachel looked momentarily cross, but she quickly reversed into sympathy. ‘Torin, you can’t live by yourself. You have to see sense. A clean break’s best all round. You can make a fresh start.’
    Now tears were spilling down his face. ‘I don’t want a fresh start. I want to be where I belong, where the places I go remind me of her and me and our life. I don’t want any kind of break. My dad said I could stop in Bradfield. If you make me go to Bristol, I’ll run away, I swear.’ He banged his mug down so hard that tea slopped over the table.
    ‘I understand why you’re so upset. I am too. I’m tearing up just sitting here. She was my sister, and my heart’s broken.’ Rachel delicately wiped a tear away with a tissue. ‘I want you with us because you’re part of her.’
    ‘What do you care? You don’t know me. You hardly see us from one year’s end to the next. You came for exactly one weekend last year, you and my gran. If Mum hadn’t dragged me down to bloody Bristol for half-term, that would have been it. So don’t pretend we’re close, because we’re not. You don’t know anything about me.’
    ‘We’ll learn,’ Rachel said softly. ‘We should have spent more time together, you’re right. But you always think there’ll be time, down the line. You never think it’ll be too late, just like that. You never think. I can’t make it up to Bev, but I can make it up to you.’
    ‘I don’t want you to,’ Torin said plaintively. ‘I need to be here. This is all I’ve got left.’
    ‘But you’re too young to be on your own, Torin.’
    Elinor knew it was coming before he turned to her. ‘You’d let me stay, wouldn’t you, Elinor? I could rent out our house and pay you the rent. It wouldn’t cost you owt.’
    ‘You know you’re welcome here, Torin. But your aunt has a point. Your family can give you support we can’t. When you need to talk about your mum, about her past, about what she was like when she was your age, we don’t know the answers to those questions.’ Being so generous was surprisingly hard. To her amazement, Elinor felt an ache inside at the thought of Torin leaving them. She wanted him to stay. It was unfathomable. She’d never wanted children. But this boy had touched her in a way she hadn’t imagined possible.
    ‘We can phone. I can go there for my holidays. But please, Elinor, let me stay. I want to be here.’ He buried his face in his hands and wept. Elinor waited for Rachel to make a move, but she didn’t. So Elinor got up and perched on the arm of his chair and hugged him close. She’d be damned if she was handing the boy over to a woman who didn’t have the instinct to comfort him in his distress. When he eventually got himself under control, he stood up and said, ‘I’m going up to my room.’
    ‘I’m sure this isn’t what Bev had in mind,’ Rachel said as he closed the door behind him.
    ‘I think it will be up to Torin and his father to decide what’s going to happen in the long run,’ Elinor said. ‘Either way, this isn’t the time or the place. You’re both in a very emotional state. I suggest Torin stays here for now. We’ve spoken to Tom and he’s sanctioned Torin living here with us for the time being. You’d be welcome too. There’s a sofa bed in the study.’
    ‘I don’t