Read Secrets and Shadows for Free Online Page A

cardigan that Ma had slipped on over her nightdress. She wanted to scream, but in the way that often happened in nightmares she couldn’t make a sound.
Oh, no, please, God,
she thought, running to where her mother lay and falling to her knees beside her. She remembered how awful it had been when Da had died suddenly, and the idea of losing Ma as well was too much to bear. She felt her tears beginning to well up, then suddenly her mother blinked.
    ‘Ma!’ she cried.
    Her mother opened confused eyes. ‘Grace…’
    ‘Oh thank God!’ said Grace, throwing her arms around her.
    They stayed there for a moment, hugging each other tightly, then they rose and Grace held her mother’s hand as they made their way out onto the street. The roadway was full of injured people, and there was screaming and sobbing from adults and childrenalike. Ma looked aghast at the desolation. The street was covered from end to end with rubble from collapsed houses. Along the centre of the North Strand, the area’s main thoroughfare, Grace could see the tram tracks mangled out of shape and pointing grotesquely into the sky.
    Suddenly she heard the sound of bells and guessed that it must be fire brigade or civil defence vehicles approaching at speed. She saw Ma staring at the remains of their house and shaking her head disbelievingly. Grace suspected that they were both thinking the same horrible thought – that they might never again live in their happy home.
    Grace was about to turn away when something protruding from the collapsed brickwork of the cottage caught her eye. She looked again and saw that it was Fido, the toy wooden dog that her da had carved for her when she was small. It was the only link back to her father, and she wasn’t going to let the people who had destroyed her home take that from her too. Before Ma could object, she ran back to the remains of the house, clambering over the broken bricks to get to the toy dog.
    ‘Grace! What are you doing?’ cried Ma.
    ‘It’s Fido. I’m not losing him too!’ she called back, before extracting the toy, which was battered but still in one piece
    ‘The rest of the roof could fall down!’ cried Ma. ‘Come out this minute!’
    Just then there was a rumble, and Grace looked up in horror as the roof collapsed, burying her in rubble. Grace felt suffocated andscreamed in terror, then awoke with a start. She realised that she had only been dreaming, and she looked over at Ma in the other bed, still asleep. At least she hadn’t screamed out loud and woken everyone. She sat up in bed, her heart pounding, and wiped the perspiration from her forehead. She stayed there, unmoving, as her heartbeat gradually returned to normal, then eventually she lay down again and tried to sleep, praying that she wouldn’t have the dream again.
    Someone had told her that you never have the same dream twice in the one night. She hoped that this was true, as she lay with closed eyes, trying not to think any more about the most terrifying night of her life.

CHAPTER FIVE
    B arry sang along with the closing hymn, but today it was a struggle. Each Sunday morning he went to Mass with his grandmother, and normally he liked the atmosphere in the garrison church, with its stained glass windows and aroma of incense. It was an army chapel attached to Collins Barracks, but civilians were allowed to attend services, and his grandma and many of her neighbours got Mass there each week.
    Barry thought it was more interesting than a normal church, especially when he could glance up at the choir loft, where inmates from Arbour Hill Military Prison were brought under escort to attend Mass. This morning, though, Barry’s mind was elsewhere. After Communion the priest had suggested that people pray for their special intentions. Barry prayed as usual for Dad away at sea, for Mum’s safety in Liverpool and for Uncle George in the prison camp in Germany. And without warning he felt a piercing stab of homesickness for his scattered