Buried Alive!

Contents

Cover

About the Book

Title Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

About the Author

Also by Jacqueline Wilson

Copyright

TIM'S DIARY

I seem to be in the middle of a Dire and Dangerous Adventure.

Tim, Biscuits and Kelly are back! No more adventure holidays for these three, or at least that's what they think – until they meet the horrible bully Prickle-Head and his sidekick Pinch-Face. Can Super-Tim and Biscuits-Boy save the day?

A mega-adventurous sequel to Cliffhanger from best-selling Jacqueline Wilson, now including a brand-new introduction from the author!

To Nicholas

Ted and George

and David and Gary

I'D BEEN LOOKING
forward to my holiday for ages and ages. We were going to this seaside place in Wales called Llanpistyll. It is a funny name. It's spelled funny too. It's in Wales and lots of Welsh words are peculiar. Dad says it's a super place though. He went there when he was a boy.

‘We had such fun, me and my brothers,' said Dad. ‘We swam every day and we made a camp and we played French cricket on the beach and we went for long clifftop walks.'

‘I don't want to go on any clifftop walks,' said Mum. ‘I hate it when people go too near the edge.'

‘
I
won't go too near the edge, Mum,' I said.

I hate heights too. I went abseiling once. I
had
to. It was an adventure holiday. It was s-o-o-o-o scary.

‘Shame you haven't got any brothers, Tim,' said Dad. ‘It won't be such fun for you.'

‘We can have fun together,' said Mum. ‘What are the shops like at Llanpistyll?'

‘Shops?' said Dad. ‘I
think
there's one.'

‘
One?
' said Mum. ‘What sort of shop?'

‘I don't know. A general store, I suppose,' said Dad impatiently. ‘You don't go to Llanpistyll to go
shopping
.'

‘Obviously not,' said Mum. She sighed. ‘I like shopping.'

‘So do I,' I said.

Dad sighed too. Even more impatiently.

‘Boys don't like shopping,' he said. ‘I worry about you sometimes, Tim.'

I worry about my dad sometimes too. He doesn't half go on. And on and on.

‘We have a lovely time when we go shopping at the Flowerfields centre on Saturdays, don't we, Tim?' said Mum.

‘Tim should be having fun with his friends, not hanging round his mum,' said Dad. Then he stopped and snapped his fingers. ‘I've had a brilliant idea!'

I twitched. I don't always like my dad's ideas. Particularly when he thinks they're brilliant. But this time
I
thought it a Truly Dazzling idea.

‘Let's invite one of Tim's friends to come
to Llanpistyll too,' said Dad.

‘Oh
yes
!!!' I said.

‘Oh no!' said Mum. ‘I'm not at all sure about looking after someone else's child. And some of those boys in Tim's class at school are a pretty wild bunch.'

‘I don't want to invite anyone from school,' I said. ‘I want to invite Biscuits!'

‘That boy you met on the adventure holiday?' said Mum.

‘The boy who was always eating?' said Dad.

‘He seemed quite a nice well-behaved sort of boy,' said Mum. ‘Better than that Kelly!'

I met this girl Kelly on the adventure holiday too. She's my girlfriend now. I didn't really choose her. She chose me. She keeps writing to me. She puts all these kisses at the end. It's dead embarrassing. But she's OK really. Quite good fun actually. But nowhere
near
as much fun as Biscuits.

So Dad got in touch with Biscuits's dad. And Mum had along talk on the phone with Biscuits's mum. It was all fixed!

I was thrilled. Biscuits was thrilled.

Kelly was not at all thrilled when I wrote and told her.

She wrote back: ‘You mean rotten stinking pig. Why didn't you ask
me
to go to this
Llanpissy place with you??? Though I'm going to have a MUCH better holiday. My mum's got this new boyfriend with a caravan and we're all going to go camping and it'll be heaps more fun. And I
might
have asked you to come too but I'm not now. So there.'

I got a bit worried I might have upset Kelly.

‘But Kelly's just my
girl
friend. Biscuits is my best ever
friend
friend,' I said to Mum. ‘I'm so so so pleased he's coming on holiday. We'll have such fun together. We laughed and mucked around and played all these daft games together when we were on that adventure holiday. It was great.'

‘I thought you said you'd had a terrible time,' said Mum. ‘Oh dear. I think I'd better buy a good book for this holiday.'

She sounded a bit huffy. I got the feeling I'd somehow upset her too.

‘It's only natural that Tim wants to play games with his pal. Do you know how to play French cricket, Tim? It's a great game – but you'll need me to join in too, to make up the numbers.'

‘Biscuits and me don't like French or cricket, Dad. We play our own games. He's Biscuits-Boy and I'm Super-Tim,' I said.

‘Oh. Right. I see,' said Dad. He suddenly sounded huffy too.

I seemed to have upset everyone.

I felt upset myself the morning of the holiday. Truly seriously upset. I felt sick and shaky and my tummy kept squeezing so I couldn't eat my breakfast.

‘Oh dear, oh dear, I do hope you're not going down with anything nasty, Tim,' said Mum, feeling my forehead.

‘He's fine. He's just tired because it's so early,' said Dad, yawning.

It was
ever
so early, still practically night time. We had to make an early start because Llanpistyll is a very long way.

‘We've had to make an even earlier start than usual to pick up Biscuits on the way. You do realize, Tim, it's adding a good fifty miles to the journey,' said Dad.

‘Biscuits is such a silly name. I hope he's not a silly boy. I don't want you two messing around too much, Tim. I don't like it when you get over-excited,' said Mum. ‘Is that why you're feeling funny, dear? Because you're so looking forward to seeing him?'

I didn't know. I suddenly felt
shy
. I knew I liked Biscuits ever so much. But what if he didn't like me this time? Maybe he'd changed? Maybe he'd think me a bit weird now? And
what would he think of my mum and dad?

I'd packed Walter Bear in my suitcase but I had to rush to my bedroom and get him out and have a quick nuzzle into his warm furry head. Then I saw myself in the mirror.

I saw this boy and this bear having a cuddle. Maybe Biscuits would think me a great big
baby
?

‘Come
on
, Tim, I thought you'd done all your packing,' said Dad, peering round my door. ‘Put that silly bear down and get a move on.'

Dad certainly thought me a great big baby. I don't think he likes Walter Bear one bit.

‘Do you
really
have to take that old bear with you?' said Dad.

‘Yes, I really have to, Dad,' I said clinging to Walter.

‘Well, pack it away, then! You don't want Biscuits to laugh at you, do you?' said Dad, and he snatched Walter and shoved him on top of my folded holiday clothes and slammed the case shut.

‘Dad! Watch out! His legs are all twisted back – and his nose will get squashed! He wants me to make him a special nest in my T-shirts,' I wailed.

‘Oh give me strength!' said Dad. ‘You mind I don't pack
you
in the suitcase too. Now go
and get in the car this minute while I lock up the house and get the boot loaded.'

‘No, wait! Tim, have you done a last wee?' said Mum.

‘Yes!'

‘When? I should do another one just in case,' said Mum.

I wondered if Mum would keep asking if I needed to have a wee when Biscuits was around. Maybe Dad was right. Maybe he
would
laugh at me.

It was a very long drive up to where Biscuits lived. I sat. I looked out the window. I bit my nails.

‘Are you all right, Tim? You're ever so quiet,' said Mum. ‘You're not feeling sick, are you?'

‘A bit,' I said.

‘Oh, dear,' said Mum. ‘Here, have a barley sugar. Maybe we should have given you a travel pill. Wind the window down a bit, dear. If you really feel you're going to be sick, do try to tell Dad in time, won't you?'

‘He's not going to be sick,' said Dad. ‘Don't keep on about it. Try to take his mind off it.'

‘Well, I've got some little treats in my bag – but I was going to wait until Biscuits could share them too. Why don't you just cuddle up with Walter Bear, Tim?'

‘I
can't
. He's shut in the suitcase. With his legs bent back and his nose squashed sideways,' I said mournfully.

‘Do give it a rest – both of you!' said Dad.

Mum went into a huff.

I went in a huff too, though I'm not sure Dad noticed.

Then I fell asleep for a bit.

‘Wake up, Tim!' Dad called. ‘We're nearly at Biscuits's house. Now, according to this map they sent, Marlow Road should be . . . oh blow, we've just gone past it!'

It took another ten minutes of turning down one-way roads and doing U-turns before we eventually arrived outside Biscuits's house. And there was Biscuits on the doorstep.

‘There he is! Well, get out the car, Tim, and run and say hello,' said Dad.

‘We'll all get out, darling,' said Mum. ‘Come on. What's the matter? You're not shy, are you?'

I felt s-o-o-o-o shy I couldn't say a word.