Mosi's War (5 page)

His parents didn’t go to the meeting. Even though Grant Gray came to the door for them, willing to escort them, offering his protection so they could walk in safety to the hall in the next tower block.

‘We do not need an escort,’ his father said, more than once.

‘But you really should be there,’ Grant Gray kept saying. ‘This meeting is to let people talk about what can be done to improve relations on this estate.’

‘You don’t live here,’ his father said softly. Grant Gray, Mosi had heard, lived in a very nice detached house in the west end of Glasgow.

Grant Gray laughed. ‘Yes, that’s true, but I want to help. That’s all I want.’

But he didn’t, Mosi thought, as he listened from his bedroom. Grant Gray wanted someone to blame. He wanted confrontation.

He heard another voice break in. ‘Why do you sit in fear in your home when the people need you? We must stand together on this.’

Mosi recognised the voice. It was Hakim’s father. He was a spokesman for many of the asylum seekers, never afraid to speak out. Like his son. ‘You’re a coward.’

For a moment, there was silence. Then Grant Gray started to mutter. ‘No, no, certainly not that. I know you fear your application for asylum will be turned down.’

Mosi heard the door closing on Grant Gray even as he spoke. ‘Think what you wish of me,’ his father was saying.

Mosi came out of his bedroom. ‘If only they knew,
aabo
,’ he said, ‘just how brave you really are.’

His father smiled. ‘Thank you, Mosi.’

Mosi was glad his parents had not gone to the meeting. There had indeed been trouble. Disruption by a group of residents who felt they were being unfairly blamed for the suicide. Blows had been struck, arrests made and, of course, the cameras caught it all.

And when Mosi went to school the next day, the atmosphere was even more tense.

Hakim almost leapt at him as he tried to get in the front entrance. His father, Mosi had heard, had been attacked at the meeting. He was angry about that. ‘Here comes the coward!’ he shouted. ‘Your father’s a coward. Your mother’s a coward, and so are you.’

He thought by insulting Mosi’s parents he would make him fight. But Mosi only tried to move past him. Hakim barred his way. He was much taller than Mosi. ‘Is there nothing that would make you stand up for yourself!’

Again Mosi said nothing. Hakim pushed him. ‘You should be ashamed.’

Mosi stepped away from him, still saying nothing. He knew that it was only making Hakim more angry. He punched Mosi in the chest.

It was Bliss who came between them. ‘See, you, Hakim, you’re always picking fights.’ She tugged at Mosi’s sleeve. ‘Come on, Mosi.’

‘Yes, go with your girlfriend. You’re safe now.’ Hakim spat on the ground. ‘But this isn’t finished, Mosi. I’ll see you later. That’s a promise.’

‘Don’t listen to him, Mosi,’ Bliss said softly. ‘I think it’s really cool the way you keep out of trouble. I don’t think you’re a coward.’ She left him at the classroom door with a reassuring smile, then she went over to her friends.

But there was to be no peace for Mosi.

‘Och, is that not nice? Bliss looked after you.’ It was Cody and his friends making their way towards him down the corridor. Mosi took a deep breath. Cody looked angry too, as if Mosi had done something to him.

‘Your lot caused a riot last night. Do you hear me? A riot! We’re fed up wi’ the whole lot of you.’

His mates gathered round Mosi. Cody sprang at him, grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall. ‘I want you to say it’s all your fault. Right. Say it!’

Mosi hesitated for a moment. ‘It’s all your fault,’ he said, his voice flat. Cody’s eyes flamed.

‘Ya wee . . .’

A voice came behind him.

‘Leave him be. He’s not one of us.’ It was Hakim, and his friends rallied round him too. He nodded at Mosi. ‘He could never be one of us. If you want a fight, Cody. Here we are.’

Cody threw Mosi aside. He was forgotten. He stepped towards Hakim, one boy as tall as the other. ‘Any time, Hakim.’

Chapter 13

With a wild howl, Hakim rushed towards Cody. Cody was ready for him, moving towards Hakim just as fast. They locked together like stags, and with equally wild howls the other boys jumped into the fight.

Patrick had just come into the corridor when it started. Glad he’d missed the beginning because he knew Cody would have expected him to back him up. Would he still expect him to jump in, join in the fight? Patrick stood still as a statue. Watching, because any second now teachers would come rushing down the corridor, alerted by the yells. They’d all be in deep trouble. For once, he wanted to keep well out of it. He saw Mosi turn his back and walk away. Everyone else was glued to the spot, could look at nothing else but the fight. But not Mosi. It was as if the fight wasn’t even taking place.

How could he do that?

There was a sudden crash of doors bursting open throughout the corridors. Teachers appeared, running, shouting. The caretaker too was bounding towards them. Another teacher came rushing in through the entrance, sending the door bouncing back on its hinges. They were all heading towards the fighting boys. Patrick shuddered when he saw a punch meant for Hakim land on the teacher. Cody leapt back, his eyes wide. That was a punch too far. All of the boys fell back. Mr Gillespie grabbed Hakim by the collar. The headmaster was a big man, powerful, he almost lifted Hakim from the ground.

But Mr Gillespie didn’t forget Cody either. With one quick movement he had Cody by the arm too.

‘It was him started it,’ Cody shouted.

Hakim began shouting in his own language. Hakim always fell back on his own language when things went wrong. Cody was shouting just as loudly.

‘Shut up, both of you!’ Mr Gillespie’s voice thundered. He was lifting them almost off their feet, pulling them along towards his office. Still they both shouted and yelled, blaming each other.

Patrick felt good. He was glad he wasn’t involved. It made such a pleasant change not to be included among the troublemakers. His eyes searched out Mosi. He stood as far away as possible from any trouble. Was he feeling the same way, he wondered. But Mosi was never in trouble. He made sure of it. Even though he was reviled by both sides, he didn’t seem to care.

Mosi was a strange one. No doubt about that. He’d love to know what was going on in his head.

Mosi was thinking that if he could have made himself invisible he would have. There were people in his native land who believed it possible. That magic could be summoned and a man could disappear. If only he had that power. But he had no such power. He had no magic to make him invisible. So all he could do, all he had ever done, was to step back, and keep his head down. Make himself as invisible as humanly possible. He knew all sides hated him. He did not care.

He saw Patrick watching him. He too had kept out of trouble this time. Had he thought no one had noticed? But Mosi had seen him stepping into the corridor, seeing Hakim and Cody locked together. Patrick could have dropped his bag and joined in, could have leapt into the fight. But Patrick didn’t. He had held back, and stepped away. Just as Mosi always did.

Bet he was glad he had, Mosi was thinking.

Chapter 14

Mr Gillespie wasted no time in gathering the whole school together, his voice thundering round the assembly hall.

‘I do not care what is going on outside the gates of this school, but in here, we will be a haven of peace, diplomacy and tolerance. There will be no fights. The parents of the boys involved in the fracas this morning will be informed of what has gone on here. But if there is one more . . .’ His voice became a roar. ‘One more bit of trouble, or bad feeling, fighting, or arguments, I will take this even further.’

‘Take no prisoners, Gillespie,’ Patrick whispered to anyone he thought would listen.

They were all blaming each other for the things that were going on here. The locals blamed the asylum seekers, and the asylum seekers thought the locals were the cause of it all. Things were only going to get worse and worse.

Patrick hadn’t had a single moment to tell anybody about what his granny had told him and he was itching to talk about it.

Finally, he got his chance. He held Cody back as they walked into class after the assembly. ‘Did your dad ever tell you about a Glasgow vampire?’

‘A . . . what?’

Patrick said softly, ‘A vampire . . . years ago, there was a vampire, right here in Glasgow. My granny told me.’

He decided not to tell him his granny didn’t believe it any more.

Bliss had heard every word. She came towards them, her arm linked in Ameira’s. ‘My dad told me about that. It happened in 1954, the Gorbals Vampire they called it,’ she said. And much to Patrick’s annoyance, she started to tell Cody the whole story. Not half as well as he would have done. A crowd was gathering around them now. Most of them had never heard the story.

‘Anyway,’ Cody said. ‘What has this got to do with anything?’

‘Don’t you see . . . the dead cat, the blood on the walls.’ Patrick’s eyes fell on Hakim listening intently at the back. ‘Maybe it’s the vampire. Back again. My granny says they all thought he would come back. For revenge.’

‘Oh, come on, you don’t really believe in all that stuff? My dad said it was just a rumour that got out of hand,’ Bliss said.

‘Yeah, but a lot of strange things have been happening here lately, Bliss,’ Cody reminded her. Patrick could see the idea was beginning to intrigue him.

He didn’t want to lose him now. ‘My granny says it all started back then when two boys were kidnapped . . .’ Naturally, Patrick didn’t tell anyone that there had been no proof of that. ‘And people have disappeared again. That man that died, Hassan, his brother went missing.’

‘He ran away because he was being sent back . . .’ Bliss insisted.

‘Did he? Does anybody know that for sure? One minute he was here, and then he was gone.’

There was a long silence.

‘That’s the stupidest story I have ever heard.’ Hakim pushed his way to the front.

Cody stood against him. ‘Don’t they have vampires in your country?’

‘Of course we do, better vampires than you have. In our country, the vampires eat children.’

Cody laughed. ‘You’d give them indigestion, Hakim.’

‘And you would poison them.’

‘But, that happened here as well,’ my granny said. Patrick was bursting at the seams with the story. ‘The two boys that were kidnapped,’ he looked around. Made sure he had their complete attention before he added, ‘They got eaten.’

Chapter 15

By mid-morning, the story of the vampire had zoomed round the school. Whispers in the corridors, chattering groups in classrooms. Going from one to another, the stories growing more bizarre and gruesome with each telling. Some of the older pupils had heard about the vampire from their grandparents, but had forgotten it long ago. Now it came back and took hold. The blood, the hanged cat in the underpass, the missing man; maybe this was the explanation – a supernatural explanation. Not a human one at all.

Mosi heard the whispers but hardly listened. The whispers weren’t shared with him anyway. He walked home, as he always did, alone. He could see a crowd of boys turning to watch him. He took another route, avoiding them. Mosi knew how to hide, ducking behind some buildings till it was safe to move on.

All the way home, Mosi kept close to the walls, an almost invisible figure. But not invisible enough. He had to come out into the open to cross the concourse to get into his own block.

And as he did, Hakim stepped from the shadows. ‘Ah, there you are. I told you I would see you later,’ he said. He had been waiting just for Mosi. Hakim moved in front of him. ‘You make me ashamed.’

Mosi had no words to say to that. He knew even an apology would only anger Hakim more.

‘You make us all ashamed.’

Out of the shadowy corners of the tower block, more of Hakim’s gang appeared. They were all taller than Mosi. They seemed to fill the granite sky with their shadows.

Mosi took a deep breath. ‘Please, let me pass.’

Hakim snorted a laugh. ‘Please, let me pass.’ He mimicked Mosi’s voice. ‘If you can get past us, you can go home, coward.’

He took a step closer to Mosi. Hakim had no intention of just letting him pass. Mosi had learned long ago that to run from trouble was a wiser option than to stay and fight. Especially when the odds were against you.

Mosi ran.

His sudden speed took them by surprise. He darted under one of the boy’s arms, leapt away from a hand ready to grab him, and he was off.

‘After him!’ Hakim yelled.

Mosi raced across the concourse, through the abandoned children’s park. He glanced behind him. They were all after him. He set the swings in motion as he passed, flinging one high, then another, their rusty squeak filling the silence, never once breaking his speed. He leapt the fence out of the playground and raced for the next tower block. He knew once he was round there, and out of their sight he could find a way back to his own block.