“I’ve heard from Mr. Thomas that you were involved in a fight?” He deeply said.
I was too scared to speak, so I just nodded instead.
“Ellie are you okay?” My Dad spoke.
“Yeah Dad I’m okay just a few burses that’s all.” I tried to put him at ease.
“That’s all, that’s all?” His voice rose with anger. “Mr. Malloy, my daughter was involved in a serious accident, and this is her first day back and she is attacked?” Seeing my Dad getting angry was something I never got to see, I didn’t like one bit.
“Mr. Laveau we will..” before he could say anymore he interrupted.
“What are you going to the girl who attacked my daughter?” he now up on his feet.
“Well, the young girl, will be discipline and she will be expelled.” He answered.
“Is that all, how long will she be expelled for and is this the first time she has done something like this?” he spoke.
“Dad that’s enough.” I got up from the chair and met his eyes.
“Sorry.” He said.
“I think Ellie should have a few days off school to fully rest up and I will personally deal with that young lady.” The headmaster said.
My Dad nodded in agreement. He held his hand out in front of him and they both shook hands. “Lilly, Becky, thank you for caring for Ellie.” Dad said.
They both smiled at him. “Take care Ellie.” said Lilly.
“Yeah call us later okay if you need anything.” asked Becky.
“Will do and thanks girls.” I waved goodbye to both of them and left the office.
“Sorry.” I mumbled as soon as we were out of the office.
He gave me a confused look. “Why?”
“Well, the fight. I didn’t want to cause you anymore problems as it is.”
He stopped and faced me. ‘’You have nothing to be sorry about.” He said.
We exited the building and walked out through the main gates leaving the school behind us. I looked around for the car but could not see it.
“Dad where’s the car?” I asked.
“Do you think I’d pick you up in the car?” He said. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Thanks Dad.” I replied. I readjusted my bag on my back and walked home.
Walking home with just the two of us was nice. The sun was bright and the breeze was soft against my bruised skin. Hardly anyone was around, just my Dad and I.
Days like this remind me when I was young. Just the two of us used to go on long walks through the country, exploring the hills and fields. My favorite places were the woods. We used to pick chestnuts during Christmas time. Those prickly pods were a nightmare. I’d always get pricked or scratched, but Dad would show how to get them out without being hurt. In the summers, the three of us would have a picnic by the riverbank, sometimes we would see horses sniff around us due to the food. I remember a horse snuck up behind me and started to sniff at my hair. Bloody horse nearly gave me a heart attack. To this day I hate people sneaking up behind me. Now all those days were gone, never to return.
“It’s nice out isn’t it?” I failed at small talk.
“Did you really ask me about the weather?” He replied. “Yeah it is nice but is that all you can talk about?”
“You know I’m not good at small talk.” I answered.
“Yeah I gathered.” He said.
I had been dodging the question since it happened but I was going to ask him. “Dad, when is Kate’s funeral?” I immediately regretted the question.
Staring at him, I watched him find the right answer. “It’s in a few days Ellie.” he finally said.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up.” I said with a feeling of guilt in my stomach.
“Don’t feel sorry.” He said. We both continued walking down the street back home, back to where I felt safe.
Chapter Ten
We arrived at the house. It was nice to be home and with an extra few days off. Dad entered the house first and as soon as we were inside, I knew what he was going to say.
“Yes please.” I said.
“To what?” He sounded confused.
“To the tea you were going to be offering.” I smiled.
“Am I that easy to read?” He laughed. “Right I’ll put the kettle on then.” He said.
He disappeared off into the kitchen and I heard buttons being pressed and the noise of clinking cups. I decided to put on my lazy clothes for the night. I ran upstairs but had to stop midway. I was struggling to breathe all of a sudden. Bitch Beth’s fault. She had winded me and my other pains did not help much either. I thought back to the nurse’s instructions about breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. I stood in the middle of the stairs gasping for air. As I struggled to catch my breath my Dad came to the stairs.
“Tea’s ready.” He stood at the bottom of stairs and his face dropped as he saw me clutch my chest.
“What’s wrong?” He quickly asked as he ran up to me.
Seeing my Dad rush to my aid made me think how lucky I was to have him.
“The fight, she winded me,” I said between breaths. “I’ll be okay, just need a minute.”
I slowly climbed the rest of the stairs while my Dad stood behind me. I entered my room and closed the door behind me.
“I’ll be down stairs, oh and the tea’s ready.” He said again behind the door.
I hated that he had to see me like this, like I was some weak kitten that had to be watched twenty four seven. As I got undressed, I caught sight of myself in my mirror. On the side of my body I had a deep purple bruise, the size of a large fist. I gently poked at it and sharp pain shot through me, (idiot). Ignoring the purple mark, I tossed my clothes into the basket for washing and grabbed my lazy clothes. Before I left the room I rooted through my bag to get my phone, hoping to hear news off the girls. This time I slowly descended the stairs while holding onto the banister. I came through the living and into the kitchen where my Dad was pouring the steaming water into the cups.
I reached out and grabbed the hot mug and sat in the living room. The TV was already on in the living room and was showing day time talk shows. We sat on the sofa together while watching the TV. I tried to find a comfortable position while trying not to spill my boiling tea. Slowly I started to sip the steaming beverage.
“Ellie.” My Dad asked me.
I turned to him. “I’m a bit worried about you.”
What he said confused me, why was he worried about me? “What do you mean?” I replied.
“Well you don’t seem yourself that’s all.” He said. “You’re closed off from me. You shut down when you come home, and with this fight at school.”
I was about to have my say, but he put his hand up to stop me. “Plus, there were things happening before the accident.” He put down his cup and gave me his full attention. “Ellie do you still blame yourself?” His question took me aback. I wished he hadn’t asked that.
“Sometimes.” I shyly said while putting the cup down.
His shoulders slumped and he looked defeated. “Ellie you know that wasn’t your fault, never blame yourself, and even if there is a tiny bit of you that thinks anyone would blame you, you are wrong.”
Tears started to form in my eyes. I let them fall down my face. “Every time I come home, it feels like I don’t belong here anymore, because, deep down it feels like I killed Kate.” I said through sobs. “Life’s a bitch.”
My Dad took me into a tight hug and held me while I cried. “It’s not your fault Ellie. It’s not your fault.”
I’m so tired of crying all the time, why couldn’t I be strong for once. I just wanted everything to go back to normal, but I was being stupid. I pulled away from his hug and wiped my eyes with my oversized t-shirt.
“I know, how about I make some food, you must be hungry?” He said while he walked off into the kitchen.
I was a little hungry. I haven’t eaten since this morning and that was just some toast. I got up from the so
fa and joined my Dad in the kitchen. He started to collect pots and pans, all ready to prepare dinner.
“Spaghetti again is it?” I asked as I stood in the kitchen doorway.
“Yep your favorite and with my special sauce.”
“Dad it’s from a jar, how can you call it your special?”
“Ah, that’s because I add more ingredients to it.” He said.
“So what do you add then?”
“It’s a secret.” He replied.
“Is it garlic?” I asked. I absolutely love garlic. Too bad it gives you evil breath.
“Well yes, but there’s more to it than that.” He joked.
“Fine.” I said feeling defeated.
I turned to the sink and found that there were still dishes left in there. Normally they would have been done.
“Dad do you want me to clean these?” I asked pointing to the dirty dishes.
“Uh, yeah that would be great.” He said.
I emptied the sink and quickly gave it a wipe down before running the hot water. I then add-ed some dish washing liquid. As I squeezed in the bottle, a burst of fresh lemon scent escaped from the bottle, leaving a gorgeous fragrance behind. Looking at the dishes on the side there were cups, plates, and bowls. Mostly were mine.
“I had a lot of cups up there didn’t I?” I said to Dad.
The hot and cold water combined into a nice temperature, I grabbed the sponge and started with the cups from my bedroom. I plunged the cup into the soapy hot water and felt my hand start to sting with pain. Quickly, I pulled my hand from the water and examined it. Not noticing it before, I had a cut on my knuckles. I began to think how that had happened, when it dawned on me: bitch Beth. I continued with the dishes and ignored the stinging pain. Behind me, I could hear my Dad snapping up the hard spaghetti. He stood next to me to use the tap. Slowly he filled up the saucepan full of water.
“Make sure you don’t get any soap in the water, I don’t want to be blowing bubbles.” I said.
“I won’t, I won’t.” He said repeatedly. He turned off the tap and left me to my dirty dishes.
I had one or two more cups and bowls to wash and I would be done. Finally finished, I placed the last dish onto the draining board and emptied the sink. I wiped the suds off my hands with a tea towel my Dad handed to me.
“Do you want me to do anything else?” I asked.
He shook his head. That was me done till dinner. I came back into the living room and sat down into the chair and flicked through the boring channels. I turned to a film, it was one of those romantic comedies that always follow the same plot, and you knew what was going to happen. Horror and thriller are my favorites. To this day, Lilly won’t watch a scary film with me, but Becky and I always watched them, sometimes we’d have a weekend to watch our favorite horror films, we had some good laughs during them weekends.
I sniffed the air and could smell the food was cooking. By just smelling the aroma, my stomach started to rumble.
“How long?” I shouted to my Dad.
“Won’t be long, about twenty minutes,” He shouted back.
I decided to continue to watch the romantic comedy, (nothing else was on). I could then hear a beeping noise from the sofa. I picked up my phone that was squashed between the cushions. The screen told me I had one new message and that it was from Becky. With my finger I swiped at the screen and saw her message.
Hi Ellie how you doing. Headmaster made us stay behind for the whole story. Hope you are ok. Talk soon X
I replied with a thank you and sent it. I just hoped that she had her phone on silent. Deciding to look at the entertainment news, I brought up the internet on my phone. The same thing kept on reappearing, more useless scandals, celebrity feuds, and, who said what at an awards speech, and to top it all off, what celeb’ was wearing what this season. It just fried my brain. Hate that stuff. This time I went on over to the world news, more fights, more political scandals about government officials stealing money, just the same stuff.
There was nothing really interesting going on that I wanted to know more about, so I put the phone down. Inside the kitchen I could hear plates and cutlery being placed down. Food must be ready soon. More mouth watering smells drifted into the room.
“How long now?” I pestered.
“Little longer.” He replied.
I hate waiting for anything, I had no patience for it, and I’d rather have it now then later. I went back to my phone and decided to text Lilly.
Thanks for earlier talk to you soon X
I pressed the sent button and away it went. In the background the comedy was still on. (Hasn’t that thing ended yet?) I picked up the remote and flicked through more channels. Nothing good was on, nothing that really got my attention. Most of the time, I just use it for the background noise. It’s Dad who gets the most out of it then I do.
Dad called from the kitchen. “It’s ready.”
I took off from the sofa and sat down at the kitchen table. He dished it out and placed a huge portion down onto my plate. I didn’t care how much there was, I was hungry. Taking my fork I started to wrap the spaghetti around the fork and shoveled it straight into my mouth, not caring if I dropped any on my clothes.
“Nice?” My Dad asked.
“Mm,” I said with a mouth full of pasta.
He started to chuckle. “Don’t forget to chew or you’ll choke.”
I nodded while spaghetti was dangling from my mouth. I swallowed and took another mouthful.
“So who is this Beth anyway, has she been giving you trouble before?” He asked.
I quickly took another mouthful to avoid his question.
“That won’t work Ellie,” he said “c’mon tell me.”
I swallowed and took a sip of water provided on the table. “Fine, she has been bullying me a few times, she says horrible things to me and I’d just ignore them, but this time I..” I stopped myself from saying anymore.
“Ellie did you start the fight?” He questioned.
“Yes. But she said disgusting things about me and Kate,” I answered. “I just had enough of her and it just kinda’ happened.”
“Becky and Lilly, they covered for you didn’t they?” He asked.
I only nodded in disappointment.
“Well you know I don’t condone fighting, but I’m glad that you stood up for yourself.”
I gave a little smile to cover my shame and continued to eat. After a more few fork full’s I was done my stomach was ready to burst. I got up and started to clean my plate. Once Dad finally finished, I took his plate and washed it. I wiped down the counter tops that were thick with pasta sauce. (He does make a mess, sometimes you’d swear he was cooking for an army). Checking my phone for messages, I noticed that the day was dragging on badly. In the living room Dad started to watch some TV. I poked my head into the room to thank him for the food.
“I’m going to watch a film in bed and then maybe an early night.” I told my Dad.
“Okay Ellie,” he smiled. “Oh and thank you for cleaning up.”
I climbed the stairs one at a time, hoping I didn’t get winded again. I opened my bedroom and I just wanted to dive into bed and never come out. Boredom had settled in, I hated feeling bored so I walked over to DVD shelf and browsed through the many titles. Some titles were good and some were bad and then there was the awful (I don’t know why I bought them). All my DVD’s were in order; they were arranged by how I rated them good on top and bad on the bottom. Sometimes If I needed a good laugh, I watched the really bad films.
“What am I in the mood for?” I said out loud. “No, no, no, no” I said to each of the films I ran my finger across. “How many times have I watched this?” I asked a battered DVD case.
“I didn’t know you liked horror movies Ellie?” said a familiar voice.
Chapter Eleven
I slowly turned and there she was, standing in my bedroom. She called herself Rhea the last time we spoke.
I was about to scream for my Dad wh
en Rhea spoke first.
“Ellie you know by now I’m not here to hurt you, I would never do that.” Her voice was music to my ears.
“How did you get in?” I asked the woman.
“I can go anywhere I want, within reason.” She answered. “Right Ellie, we need to talk.” I felt my body hum with excitement while being near her.
I quickly shook off the attraction. “Leave me alone, you don’t know shit about me.”
“Language young lady.” she clearly didn’t like me swearing.
My eyes glanced towards the door and I slowly took a step forward. Wondering how I would make it to the door without her noticing.
“Ellie I’m going to tell you again, I’m not going to hurt you.” She insisted.
Rhea walked towards me and examined my face. “How are your wounds?” she asked.
“I’m dealing with it, but it’s the new wounds that hurt right now.” I replied.
“What?” Rhea’s eyes flashed a dark red which frightened me. I backed up away from Rhea and fell back onto the bed.
“What happened?” Rhea asked with anger in her eyes.
“A girl attacked me in school, she’s always had it in for me,” I said. I looked at Rhea and saw her face twist as if she sucked on a bitter lemon.
“What the girl’s name?” Rhea demanded.
“It’s Beth, why?” I curiously replied.
“Second name?” she asked.
“I don’t know her second name.” I replied.
“Pity, but maybe I should go visit this Beth.” Rhea pondered.
I stared at her confused. “What are you talking about? And about last time what did you mean you were friends with my mum? Please tell me.”
Rhea sat next to me on my bed, and I could see up close how beautiful she really was. She reached out with her manicured hands and took mine. Rhea shivered and closed her eyes. I tried to wrestle my hand away from her but her grip was tight.
While touching Rhea I could feel my body vibrating, shivers started to shoot down my spine and back up completing a circuit. My body felt electrically charge and it felt good.
Broken (The Siren Series #1) Page 8
