Fragile Truths (2 page)

My brow twisted slightly when another loud shout pierced the quiet surroundings. “What’s going on?” Jude asked from behind me.

I shrugged and pulled another drag of weed into my system. “How the fuck would I know.”

He remained quiet as we listened to more shouting. The tones were becoming angrier but the words were blurred and I couldn’t get a hold on any of them.

The sky was shimmering in the pink of dusk and I rolled down the window further to both clear the smoke out of the car and to gaze at the fresh twinkle of stars peeking out of the beckoning darkness.

The arguing became louder as I wound the window further. I was starting to worry about Pop; yes, the arsehole fucked me off but he was still my father. He demanded my respect but I would never let him know he had it anyway. He ruled Jude and me with an iron fist and I knew without a shadow of a doubt it would be the same with my baby sis, Bella, when she grew up.

The shouting wasn’t shouting anymore, it was roaring and screaming and I swallowed the lump in my throat. Pop could take care of himself; I knew that much but there was something about this argument that wasn’t settling right in my gut. It wasn’t just heated; it was full of nastiness and evil.

“Tate?” Jude croaked hesitantly from behind me. The car rocked slightly as he moved further towards me, as though the anger in the house was feeding through the ground and rearing up into the car with us.

“It’s okay, mate. Just Pop being Pop.”

“No, Tate…. There’s something going….”

He quietened when the front door opened. Light from the inside flooded across the driveway and threw an orange glow across the gravel. I squinted as a small tiny shadow belted out of the lit doorway and careered over the shingle, the skinny frame falling onto delicate knees and skidding forward a few feet.

Fuck, that must have hurt.

“Hey!” I shouted through the window but the small girl didn’t hear me as she continued to escape the commotion and sped around the back of the house, limping and hobbling when her knees tried to give up their fight to keep her upright and moving.

“Was that Harry’s kid?” I jumped at the sound of Jude in the now quiet surroundings. In fact the whole area had gone eerily silent and I yanked open the car door as two figures appeared in the doorway to the house, the backlight making their shadows seem larger than graphically possible across the dark driveway.

“Stay here.”

“What? No...”

“Bloody hell Jude, for once in your life, do as I ask.”

He swallowed heavily then pushed himself back against the seat and nodded, his eyes blinking as they watched me warily. “It’ll be fine. If you need owt, go find Pop.”

He gave me a confused look, “Why? Where are you going?”

I shook my head at him and scowled before I made my way around the back of the house towards where the girl had gone.

“Francesca!” Harry shouted as my father echoed his call and they disappeared towards the road area.

It was getting dark as I walked around the side of the monstrous house. Christ, it was huge; protected by masses of fences and walls. Seven foot hedgerows also secured the perimeter and I frowned at the extent of defence this family needed.

Where the hell was she? There was nothing here only a few garages and what looked like a pool house. The gardens were on the other side of the house and I shrugged to myself as I scanned the area and peered through windows.

She couldn’t have just disappeared into thin air.

A small smile tilted my lips when I spotted a break in the fence, the wires curled backwards and outwards to create a small hole and as I slipped through and pushed through the hedge behind it I emerged into an open field.

My breath hitched slightly at the simple beauty it held. It was covered inch to inch by dandelions, most of them dead now and as the breeze shook them their seeds floated and hovered above the ground creating a vast landscape of airborne shimmering fairies. Moonlight broke the scene, its light illuminating a small patch on the field and I cocked my head as I studied the girl sat in the centre of the moonlight, her knees drawn up to her chest as she hugged them and rested her forehead against them.

She was trembling; her weeping shaking her body harshly. I swallowed back the emotion that watching her was doing to me.

Fuck that shit. I was Tate Nardini; I didn’t do emotion – only anger.

“Hey” I said quietly as I came to stand beside her. She didn’t answer and I frowned at her as she kept her face downwards, her long blonde hair falling around her face like a shield, “Can I sit here?”

She shrugged. At least I knew she could hear me so I plonked down beside her and copied her pose, drawing my knees up to my chest also.

We sat in silence for a while but as the moonlight started to shift I could feel her sorrow heighten. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged again but still didn’t turn to me. “You took one hell of a tumble, that must’ve hurt.” She nodded and hiccupped as her crying settled but her anguish was far from over. “What’s your name?”

“I can’t tell you that.” She whispered eventually and I smiled as her soft voice seemed to float around us and calm the storm. Huh?

“Why can’t you?”

“Because you’re a stranger.”

I nodded and smiled, “Well that’s good. But I know your name anyway, it’s Frannie.”

“No!” she hissed as her head shot around and her pretty face tightened. “That was what momma called me, no one else.”

“Okay,” I pulled in a breath and narrowed my eyes on her, “What does your poppa and your friends call you?”

“Francesca.” She divulged but her teeth nibbled her bottom lip severely at the mention of her father.

I nodded and pursed my lips, “Well then, I think I’ll call you….” I gazed at her, taking in her little jean shorts, her scuffed pumps and her plain Tee. She was far from the little nine year old girl she physically was, even though she screamed innocence and naivety. “Frankie.” I smiled at her as her small pale lips lifted at the name, “It makes you sound tough.”

She giggled a little. The sound whispered across the dandelions around us and appeared to calm their unease. It was like the whole of the field was attuned to this one little girl, its mood and ambiance feeding from her life force.

I leaned back and propped myself up on my hands as I peered up at the dark sky and let her grow more comfortable with me.

“It’s getting dark.” She whispered. I looked over at her when her voice trembled slightly.

“Don’t you like the dark?”

She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her as if protecting herself from the shadows now emerging around us. “No.”

“But without darkness, the stars can’t shine, Frankie.”

She frowned and looked at me as the moonlight shifted from behind some trees and lit her face slightly. Her long straw coloured hair rippled a little in the wind and whipped it behind her back exposing the soft length of her pale neck.

My brow lifted when I caught an arrangement of moles below her ear and I reached out to touch them. She jerked slightly but didn’t move away. “There were no stars where the darkness tormented me” she whispered cryptically.

The grief in her words made my teeth clench but I urged her on, sensing this little girl needed to get this out. “And where did the dark torment you, Frankie?”

Her whole face seemed to collapse as a shiver racked her body violently and a choked sob caught in her throat. “Hey, it’s okay. There’s no one here to hurt you.”

Her eyes widened and shimmered with unshed tears as I reached out and took her hand gently. Her eyes dropped to our joining and her teeth ravaged her already sore lips. I had a feeling she had been worrying that lip a lot lately.

“In the basement.”

I closed my eyes as her agonised murmur pulled at something inside me. “Why were you in the basement?” I asked softly as I pulled her backward until we were both laid on our backs, side by side, staring up at the night sky but she slipped her hand away from mine and let it rest beside her.

She shook her head and turned her face away as she refused to answer me. “Can you see that star there?” I asked.

She turned to look at me then followed the direction my finger was pointing to.

“The bright one?” she asked and I nodded.

“Yes. It’s called Capella and it’s the brightest star in the constellation, Auriga.” Her wide eyes focussed on it and I turned my head to watch her as I touched the group of moles on her neck again. “These moles you have are the exact replica of that constellation. How cool is that? I’m quite jealous.”

She smiled weakly and reached up to touch the side of her neck. As soon as her fingers touched mine I could feel her soul rip into me, its anguish and sorrow begging my own soul for help. It was as though it screamed in agony and pleaded with me to make everything better.

We both gasped and she dropped her hand back down as she gave me a curious look but I refused to acknowledge the connection and smiled widely. “I think…” I swallowed harshly hoping my next words didn’t scare the shit out of her. “I think Frankie, that maybe that star, the bright one that matches the largest mole on your neck is maybe your momma.”

She remained quiet but I studied her in the darkness as her eyes fixed back onto Capella and she took a deep breath. “It’s my fault my momma’s now a star.”

I reared back slightly and tipped my head in surprise, “I doubt that very much.”

She nodded and the single tear that bled from her eye claimed my attention. I watched as it trickled down her face and over her large mole, pooling against it as if trying to dampen the grief held in her.

“I let them in,” she divulged quietly.

I gulped and slowly pulled in a fortifying breath, “The men who killed her?”

She nodded again but didn’t weep any further. “Yes. I was supposed to be going to Kimberly’s birthday party and I didn’t want to go. I stamped and kicked off until momma gave in and let me stay home.” She turned to look at me and my jaw trembled at the expression of utter desolation in her eyes, “I don’t like Kimberly. She’s mean to me.”

I nodded to her in understanding. “Go on.” I urged as she shifted her gaze back to the sky.

“Momma was on the phone to someone in the kitchen. She was shouting and I knew she was worried about something so when the doorbell went, I went to answer it for her.”

Her voice was becoming more choked and strained and I shivered against the chill that was now enveloping us, the dandelion seeds wisping around us angrily as though responding to Frankie’s misery.

“Did they hurt you, Frankie?” I could feel the anger as well as the dandelions at the thought of someone hurting this little girl. I couldn’t describe how intense the connection was that I felt towards her, it was inexplicable even to me but I let it ride over me and accepted its command.

“No.” A sob tore through her and I clenched my fists at her pain, “Momma dragged me back and pushed me into the cellar as they chased us through the house.”

Holy Fuck!

“But she didn’t come with me!” Her voice now grew more distraught, “Why didn’t she come with me?”

“I don’t know the answer to that, Frankie. Maybe she thought leading them away from you protected you.”

She shrugged and sniffed back her sorrow but she turned to me and her whole face broke with her soul, “I heard them.”

I titled my head at her and frowned in slight confusion, “You heard them?”

She nodded, “I heard them… beat her. She screamed really loud and I couldn’t get to her. She had locked the door and I couldn’t get out.”

Fuck! I was fifteen damn it but the sound of Frankie’s pain fractured something inside me and I cried like a fucking ten year old with her, both of us choking on each of our sobs.

“I couldn’t get to her,” she repeated hoarsely. “And I fell down the stairs. It was so dark in there and I missed the step. I was trying to get to the bottom to find something to hit the men with but I fell… I fell and I couldn’t get to her.”

We were both silent as we watched the moon move in its journey across the sky. Each of us lost in our heads as the seeds scattered around us when the wind dropped back down.

I felt her hand shift across the gap between us and then her little finger slipped around mine, linking my soul with hers. The sensation of her touch shivered through my core but I bit it back and gave her the support she was looking for.

She sighed faintly and her eyes closed. I grimaced as her father’s shouts came across the field and she snapped upright.

“It’s okay, little Capella, he’s not angry with you. He’s just looking for you cos’ he’s worried.” I told her gently when I sensed her panic.

She shook her head but I wasn’t sure if it was denial at my nickname for her or my statement. Her chest stuttered, “No, he hates me.”

“Now I know that’s not true. How can he hate you?”

“Because I was the reason for momma dying.”

I sighed and sat up next to her, “Frankie. You know deep down that isn’t true. Those men were the ones who took your momma away from both you and your father, not you.”

“But I didn’t go to the party; if I had then they wouldn’t have come. They wouldn’t have hurt her. They wouldn’t have killed her.”

“And I suppose if you’d have gone to the party then your momma would have died alone and with no one in the house to comfort her last breaths.”

She turned to stare at me then her eyes eased and softened but I continued, “Life is shit, Frankie. Stuff happens and we are the ones left to take the backlash of it. Your momma,” I pointed up to the star and waited for her to follow my gaze. “Your Momma is watching you and you can bet she’s cross that you blame yourself. None of this was your fault and I’m quite positive your Pop doesn’t blame you at all. Talk with him.”

I looked up as her father stumbled across the field towards us and fell to his knees before Frankie, pulling her harshly into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her and sobbed into her hair.

I got to my feet and turned my back on them, leaving them to their own time and privacy but as I reached the edge of the field I turned back once more. They were still hugging tightly and I smiled softly.