Broken (The Siren Series #1) (8 page)

Lovely woman
I
thought.

At that moment Dad entered the room. He had a
sliver of a smile on his lips; I bet that he’d just met Bella.

“
She’s quite the character isn’t she?”
He said pointing.

“
Yeah, she is. I like her.” I said, as
my Dad sat down.

“
How you feeling?” he asked.

“
I’m okay, just tired and weak that’s
all. I just want my own bed and fluffy pillows.”

“
Soon, just need to wait a little
longer that’s all.” He kissed me gently onto my
forehead.

Just then the doctor came into the room
holding a file along with those deep blue sea eyes of his. He came
in with a cute smile on his lips. (Good news I hope)

“
Ellie.” He said with a voice with such
authority. “I’ve got good news, there’s no major damage done to the
brain.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “So when can I
go home.” I asked quickly.

“
Not long just need your Father here to
sign a few things and that’s it.” The doctor said.

“
Can he do it now then? I really want
to go home.” I pleaded.

“
If you just follow me we can get them
done quickly.” He told him. He got up and followed the doctor out
of the room.

While no one was around, I decided to get
dressed. I wanted to get out of the horrible hospital gown I was
wearing. It opened in the back showing my knickers. I opened one of
the bags that Dad brought me. Inside were clean set of clothes that
I could changed into. I quickly changed into a loose fitting top
and a pair of jeans that had a rip on one side of the leg (I didn’t
want to throw them away), I buttoned up my jeans with ease and
placed on my raggedy shoes.

“
Really need to buy new ones.” I said
to an empty room.

I looked up from my battered, so called shoes
and saw my Dad enter. “Looks like we can go home.” He said.

I gave a slight smile to hear good news. I
was about to sit myself down into the chair but I decided to walk
instead, give my poor injured muscles a little stretch. Dad was
first to leave. I took a few slow steps towards the door, but I
turned back to see my broken down room. That was no earthquake. Did
I do that?

I slowly shuffled down the hospital hall
clinging onto my Dad’s arm. Behind the nurse’s station, Dr. Moss
and Bella were talking amongst themselves. I gave a weak wave and
they both smiled and waved back. Hopefully this will be the last
time I come to a hospital.

Dad unlocked the car door with a soft clunk.
He ran around to me and gently lowered me into the passenger seat
with a bit of difficulty. The horrible crash flooded back onto my
memories, being in the car felt like I was reliving it again. I
just stared blindly in front of me and I snatched out to grab onto
my Dad’s hand before he walked away.

“
We’ll take it slow, okay.” He said. I
pulled the seatbelt over me and plugged it in.

I slowly said. “Maybe getting into the car is
wrong.” He quickly ran around and jumped into the driver’s seat. I
swallowed hard. He started the car and it gave a little roar which
startled me. I gripped the sides of the seat and dug my nails in
and waited for the horror to start again.

He pulled away from the curb and drove at
medium speed. I closed my eyes hoping that the drive would be over
all ready. I kept on replaying the same scene inside my head, the
moment when we were hit. I remembered my body being thrown around
like a rag doll. I squeezed my eyes tighter hoping to wash the
image from my mind. Over and over it played the horrible scene
until all was left was Kate’s battered car. Then my mind took me
back to the dream I had. Kate’s body lying in the middle of the
road, all alone. I didn’t want to see that anymore. I shook my head
to rid myself of the horrid image.

“
Ellie.” A voice whispered.

My eyes shot open to see my Dad looking
down.

“
Where’re home now.” He
said.

I looked around. We were parked outside the
house. I just wanted to run upstairs to my bed and stay there
forever. I threw the seatbelt off and walked towards the house
while Dad watched every move I made. He opened the door and waited
while I slowly crossed over into our home.

“
Shall I go make us a cup of tea?” He
asked. I wanted to agree but could not get the words out. He walked
off towards the kitchen and I just stood there in the hall,
alone.

Everything felt so awkward, even being at
home, it felt wrong for me to be here, like I don’t deserve to come
home. I walked into the living room and tried to sit, but I felt
anxious like something bad was about to happen. I just couldn’t
shake the feeling.

I got up and started pacing around the room.
I just couldn’t sit still. My body felt wrong, I didn’t know what
to do with myself. My stomach felt uneasy. I took off upstairs
covering my mouth. Leaning over the toilet, I threw up a yellowish
green liquid, coughing and spluttered into the toilet bowl. My
mouth tasted awful. I rinsed my mouth with some water to get rid of
the awful taste. My legs slowly eased onto the cold bathroom floor.
I reached out and pulled the toilet handle to flush.

“
Ellie?” Dad called from downstairs. I
didn’t have the energy to answer back. I heard footsteps and then a
gentle knock on the door. “Are you okay?” He asked.

Struggling to stand up, I wiped my face with
a towel and opened the door to see Dad’s worried face looking at
me.

“
I’m fine, really.” I lied.

“
There’s tea downstairs if you want
any?” He knew I was lying.

Finally coming out the toilet, Dad followed
behind me as I struggled down the stairs. I felt like a weak
kitten, my body ached with pain and I wanted it to stop. He held
out his hand for support but I didn’t need it. I had to do this on
my own, I didn’t deserve help. We both entered the kitchen and he
poured the tea from the boiling kettle. I took the hot mug with
both hands while the heat pricked my skin. We both sat down at the
kitchen table, slowly drinking. Again it felt awkward, even just
sitting here. We hardly said anything to each other we just sat in
silence and sipped.

It was getting late. I drank the dregs of my
cold tea and placed it in the sink.

“
I’m going to have an early night.” I
finally said.

He looked up from his stale tea and nodded. I
noticed that dark circles had formed around his eyes. “You could
use an early night too.”

He tried to give me a smile but I noticed he
was drained, he been through so much. I bent down and planted a
kiss on his forehead.

“
Goodnight Dad, get some sleep.” I told
him.

“
I’m the one who should be telling you
that.” He replied.

I left him in the kitchen and painfully
pulled myself up the stairs to my bedroom. I opened my bedroom door
to find that the bed had new sheets and my room was tidy. My grim
face formed into a little smile. “Thanks Dad.”

I changed into my lazy top and climbed into
bed. My bed sheets smelled so fresh not like the horrible hospital
ones. Itchy and like cardboard. A few minutes later there was a
knock on my door.

“Come in.” I said. I noticed my voice was
tired.

Dad came into the room and sat next to me on
the bed. He began to stroke my hair slowly. It reminded of when I
was a child. He would always stroke my hair to send me off to
sleep. I just felt so safe.

“
Do you want to go to school tomorrow?
I can phone them, if you..” I cut him off.

“
No I’d rather go. Plus I want to see
Becky and Lilly.” I said.

“
Well, do you want me to drive you to
school? I’m off for a few days but I have to pop into work
tomorrow.”

“
No, I’d rather walk.” I said. Just
talking about driving made me thinks of Kate.

“
Your friends have been asking about
you.” He said.

“
I’ll see them tomorrow anyway.” I said
with a yawn.

He kissed me on my forehead and turned off
the light as he left the room. I got comfortable and pulled the
soft sheets up to my neck. As soon as I closed my eyes I was
gone.

I woke up in pitch black with a gagging
thirst. My throat felt like it was on fire. I got up from the bed.
My head was fuzzy and I could not hold my balance. I fumbled for
the light switch but could not find it. My legs buckled and I fell
hard onto the floor. The air around me felt thick, I couldn’t
breathe. My heavy eyelids began to fall. Then my eyes shot open.
There was that smell again, that putrid horrible smell.

My nose and mouth burned with each breath I
took. The strong smell entered my lung with its poisonous odor. The
strong stench became unbearable. I covered my mouth with my hand
and tried to stand up. I grabbed hold onto then bed and tried to
pull myself up. I stumbled my way out of my room, pulling the door
open. My whole body became like jelly. I fell forward, losing my
balance, hoping to grab onto something. My whole body felt like it
was filled with lead. I craned my neck around to face my Dad’s
room. My voice tried to call out but it was useless. My voice had
left me. Deep down the hall, there was something in front of my
Dad’s bedroom door, tall and dark.

No it wasn’t something, it was someone. A
large silhouette was standing in front of his bed-room door. At
first I thought it was him, but he would have seen and helped me.
This was not my father.

“
Dad!” I tried to shout but it came out
only a whisper.

This was causing the horrible smell, being so
close to it made me gag and my eyes water. The dark silhouette came
closer, until it stood towering over me. I coughed as the stench
surrounded me, making it hard to breathe. The dark figure bent down
and struck me across the face. Tiny black and white stars filled my
blurry vision. Once I was dazed, the creature threw me onto his
shoulders with ease and carried me off down the stairs. I tried to
kick and scream but it was useless I was weak, my aching muscles
failed me. The figures clothes were rotted and foul, he smelled of
raw sewage. Being so close I wanted to throw up. I tried to grab on
to anything within reach, but its sharp claws pierced my back
filling my body with pain.

He violently kicked the door open and the
cold night air flew throughout the house sending chills up and down
my spine. He walked out of the house with me slumped over his
shoulder. I was helpless. I felt light and heavy at the same time.
I raised my lead filled head to see my house filled with black
silhouettes, they were standing on the roof and were inside looking
down at me from the windows. I screamed as hard as I could and I
woke myself up.

I found myself tangled up in the bed sheets.
My breathing was rapid and I was covered in damp cold sweat. The
clock next to me made it regular buzzing noise. I slapped the off
button. Sitting upright sat I pulled the soaking wet t-shirt off my
body. The sweat had made my hair tangle into a mess. I jumped into
my shower as soon as I could. The hot running water jetted out of
the shower head. As the warm water flowed I had time to think.

These dreams are getting
more and more real.
I thought.
They can’t be real can they
?
Maybe it’s because of everything that’s happened.
I thought as I let the warm water flow over me.

I stopped the shower and grabbed the towel
and quickly dried myself. I was drying my hair in the mirror when
all of a sudden I felt weak, like all the energy I had just left my
body at that moment.

“
Maybe its cos’ I haven’t had any
breakfast yet.” I said to my reflection.

I continued to dry my hair with my hair
dryer. I looked awful; I had many cuts on my face along with a
few
bruises, which were now turning a shade of
yellow.

I walked down the stairs careful not to fall.
My balance was still not hundred percent yet. I walked into the
kitchen expecting to see my Dad sitting there with his usual cup of
tea, but there was no sign of him. The house was empty without him,
and I hated it. I switched on the TV, but only for the background
noise. Two pieces of bread were put into the toaster and I waited
for them to go golden brown. I was in the kitchen, waiting, when I
heard my name coming from the living room. At first I thought it
was Dad, but it was the voice of a woman and it was coming from the
TV. Walking into the living room, I could see a woman presenting
the news. The presenter was sitting in from of a desk talking about
a recent car crash.

“
The car was hit by a truck and
immediately killing a young woman named Kate Laveau. There was also
another victim.” The woman said into the camera. I walked closer to
the TV and there it was; a picture of Kate with her big smile. I
fell to my knees in pain, tears fell down my cheeks. I just sat in
front of the TV, staring at Kate’s picture. The presenter still had
more to say.

“
Please don’t say my name, please don’t
say my name.” I said to the TV.

“
The young girl’s named Ellie Laveau,
was niece to Kate Laveau.” A picture of me came up. I was in my
school uniform. They must have used one of my school photos. I was
wearing a big smile. I hadn’t smiled like that in a long
time.

“
The young girl was taken to a nearby
hospital with minor injuries, where she made a full recovery.” The
woman went onto the next story.