Heartless by Casey Kelleher Page A

we have to go home. Ooh, dear. I feel a bit queasy.”
    Stanley helped Nessa walk to the end of the garden, thinking that a bit of fresh air might help, and failing that at least they could help to find Rascal: then he could put Nessa in a cab so that she could go home and sleep it off. That Italian stuff he poured them must have been stronger than he realised because even he felt quite tipsy and Bernie was already in bed.
    Stepping through a pile of leaves, Sophia leaned in towards a big spray of climbing roses that Stanley grew up against the back fence.
    She thought she could hear a whimper.
    Searching on the ground, she couldn’t find any rabbit hole but she was sure she could hear the dog, and then she heard the whimper again.
    “Rascal’s here, Tommy,” she called, as he came running over, hearing the panic in her voice. “I think he must be stuck somewhere. I can’t see him, but I can just about hear him.”
    Pushing through the bushes, Tommy didn’t care that his arms were bleeding from the scratches as the thorns tore at his skin.
    “Oh my God: Rascal,” Tommy cried, as he reached the wire fence that was hidden behind the dense rose bushes, and spotted Rascal’s little furry body tied to it. His feet were dangling above ground level, while he hung limply by his neck, his bowtie wrapped tightly around the metal like a noose.
    Sophia peered over Tommy’s shoulder and screamed as she caught a glimpse of Rascal’s body hanging there limply. Tommy pushed her out of the way to protect her from seeing any more than she already had.
    Rascal’s mouth had gone grey and his eyes were vacant, but as soon as Tommy touched him, he could feel that he was warm and that he had a faint heartbeat.
    “Don’t let your nan come back here, Sophia,” he commanded. He ripped at the bowtie fixing the dog to the fence, and released him from his suffering.
    “What’s going on?” Stanley and Nessa had found Sophia crying and shaking, and Tommy crouched over on the ground.
    “Don’t let my nan see,” Sophia implored. “Rascal has had an accident. Please, Stanley, don’t let her see.”
    “Dad, we’re going to have to call a vet,” Tommy called, as he cradled Rascal in his arms, relieved to see that the dog was breathing, his chest rising slowly up and down. Sophia was crying hysterically, the sight of Rascal just hanging there had been too much to bear.
    “Rascal must have jumped up to get his ball and got the bowtie caught up on the fence, Nan, he was just hanging there...” she whimpered.
    Nessa clasped her hand over her mouth in shock; the sight of Rascal’s body lying limply in Tommy’s arms was instantly sobering. “Oh Rascal, my poor boy; it’s all my fault. That stupid bloody bowtie could have killed him.”
    Tommy placed Rascal in Nessa’s arms. Lying there weakly, he wagged his tail and Nessa started to cry. Rascal was a child and a best friend rolled into one; she would be lost without him.
    Tommy and his dad exchanged glances. Tommy nodded over to where his brother was sitting on the bench with an expression on his face that looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the drama that was unfolding in front of him.
    Tommy whispered: “He didn’t get caught up, Dad; his collar-tie had been tied into a double knot.” Tommy felt sick; a few more minutes and Rascal would have been dead.
    Stanley couldn’t speak. Jonathan had tried to hang Nessa’s dog.

Chapter Nine
    “It’s not exactly the party of the century, is it? I thought you said that there was going to be booze,” Megan Farrow muttered to Sophia as she half-heartedly swayed her body in time with the awful music that was blasting out, hoping that she would at least look like she was having a good time even though she really wasn’t. Tugging down her mini-dress, Megan wished that she hadn’t gone to so much effort; she couldn’t help but notice the stares that she was getting from most of the boys in the room. The other girls were just wearing