Jhemar got home from school at 5pm. His mum and dad were out. He threw his bag down in his room and started playing Gran Turismo Sport on his PlayStation in the living room. He kept thinking about how he and his older half-brother Michael were going to catch up on Sunday. He hadn’t seen him in months; he was counting down the days.
His mum arrived home from work at 8.30pm.
“Did Daddy tell you what happened to Michael?” she asked.
“Nah, what do you mean?” Jhemar replied, pausing the game.
She said that someone had stabbed Michael to death in Betts Park, in Penge, south-east London, round the corner from his home. He was just 17.
Jhemar dropped his controller. He changed into a tracksuit and told his mum he wanted to go to the park. She told him to wait for his godmother, so Jhemar sat down and waited in silence.
The three of them drove with Jerome, his younger brother, to the park. When they arrived it was dark, the wind blowing through the branches of the big, leafless trees. The police were stopping people going inside. There was tape across the entrance. Jhemar saw his dad,…
