Silent Playgrounds

by Danuta Reah

‘You don’t want to get up now, Catherine, we’ll take you through for your tea in a moment.’

  A loud voice, and a hand in her chest pushing her back so that her hard fight to leave the depths of the chair was all lost and she wanted to cry out with frustration and fear. Where am I?

  The children. She looked again. It was all right, they were still in the garden, kneeling on the lawn that had looked like a car park just a moment ago, but she must have been having one of her dreams. She wanted to tell Carolyn. Carolyn would want to know. Simon’s happy.

  But the chair, she couldn’t get out of the chair, and Simon was in the garden with another child. Children teased and tormented him. She needed to be there, to mind them. She gripped the arms and began pulling herself up again. Now she could see that the TV and the door and the window were all in the right place. It had just been one of her dreams. And she was walking over to the window and the light was starting to fade. She could open the window and call them in, the two who were looking at her now, two little boys with dark hair and solemn faces. So alike, she couldn’t tell one from the other. You’ve found a friend, Simon! She pushed open the door and stepped out into the cool of the evening, only there were voices, and a clattering, and it seemed hard to move forward.

  ‘What are you up to now, Catherine?’

  ‘Simon … ?’ she said.

  About the Author

  Danuta Reah

  Danuta Reah lives in Sheffield with her artist husband. She currently works as an education consultant, runs writers’ workshops and is a university lecturer in English Language.

  She is a fan of comics and graphic novels, and is interested in the relationship between popular fiction, folklore and anthropology. She is a published cartoonist and writes textbooks on English Language and Linguistics.

  Silent Playgrounds is the stunning follow-up to Danuta Reah’s highly praised debut, Only Darkness.

  By the Same Author

  Only Darkness

  Copyright

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

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  This paperback edition 2001

  First published in Great Britain by

  HarperCollinsPublishers 2000

  Copyright © Danuta Reah 2000

  Danuta Reah asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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  EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN 9780007397945

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