Inevitable (41 page)

They would fight back. I didn’t. I
don’t.
I am weak and pathetic.

“
Stay with me tonight?” Maddie asked as we strolled barefoot
back to my car.

“
Try and stop me,” I said, winking as I opened the door for
her.

“
Time for present number three,” I said when we got to
Maddie’s house. Pulling out the fair-sized box from my trunk with
both hands I handed it to her. She gave me a disapproving look and
was no doubt about to say I’d given her enough already when I
silenced her with a soft kiss, letting my teeth graze her bottom
lip before pulling it away. “You can open it inside.”

I
followed her into the house and ushered for her to sit on the
couch. The house was dark and silent. Her mom must have been in
bed. She lowered herself onto the brown couch and then I handed her
the box wrapped in the same gold wrap as her iPod. Smiling
excitedly she ripped the package open, shredding the paper into a
million pieces with that adorable kid-on-christmas look in her
eyes.

“
Ha!” she squealed. “I can’t believe you found them!” she
beamed, diving straight for the Maltesers. Then she kissed the red
packaging like she wanted to fuck it senseless there and then on
the musty carpet. Tearing the packet open she popped a full handful
in her mouth. “Oh sweet Jesus they’re better than I
remember.”

She
licked the gooey chocolate from her lips as she rummaged through
the rest of the box. It was the most seductive thing I’d ever
seen.

“
Ooo Lori raves about these,” she said, pulling out a
Cookies ‘N’ Crème Hershey Bar. She immediately ripped the wrapper
in half and took a sizable bite of the candy bar. “Fuck me, I think
I’ve just come.”

I
couldn’t help but laugh. It was like watching an addict who’d been
without her fix for months.

“
No wonder you’ve got fat fingers,” I teased. Smiling
wickedly, she shrugged. Then she devoured the Hershey Bar in three
bites and moved back to the Maltesers. I reached into the bag to
try one of those bad boys for myself and then she actually batted
my hand away!

“
Nuh-uh!” she said, waving her finger from side to side. “I
don’t share chocolate,” she muttered with complete seriousness.
Seconds later her face softened and she held out the bag. I
bypassed it and leaned in to taste the chocolate on her lips
instead. Licking it softly, I groaned.

“
Let me take you to bed,” I breathed in her ear. Grinning
devilishly she tugged at my hand and pulled me to her
bedroom.

I spent hours
kissing her, tasting her, touching her all over. I could tell she
was nervous about touching me, scared of hurting the raw skin on my
back. And she did a few times but I couldn’t have cared less. I
revelled in the feel of her against my skin, the smell of her
dancing up my nose – intoxicating me.

Then I curled
her up and my arms and rocked her gently until she fell asleep,
praying to whoever would listen that I would never lose this with
her. I still couldn’t shake the feeling that it was all coming to
end.

Something bad was coming. I just
knew
it.

Maddie

I
reached out to touch Blaine when I woke up but was met with
a cold, empty space. Sighing, I turned my pillow over to press the
cold side to my cheek. That was when I found his note.

I didn’t want to wake you. You look too cute when
you’re sleeping.
Make sure you have a decent breakfast – No candy! I’ll see you at
school. Remember I love you.

B. x

My heart fluttered wildly in my chest. God he was adorable.
And bossy! How could he expect me not to eat chocolate for
breakfast when I’ve got four family-sized
bags of Maltesers in my
reach?

I stretched my arms above my head, yawning loudly as I
uncurled my muscles which were aching from the night before. It was
the most delicious kind of ache – one that only Blaine could
inflict on me. Reluctantly I swung my legs out of bed and grabbed
my dressing gown
from the floor. Wrapping it around myself I made my way to
the shower.

My mum still
hadn’t surfaced by the time I was dressed and a bag of Maltesers
down. It wasn’t like her. She had always been an early bird so I
went to her bedroom to make sure she wasn’t coming down with
something before I left for school.

She wasn’t
there.

Oh shit.

Dragging my black pumps on by the front door I went outside
in search of her. Her jacket and handbag were still hooked over the
plastic garden chair in the living room so she couldn’t have gone
far. The second I stepped outside something crumpled under my feet.
I looked down to see a screwed up ten-pound note.
Shit
.
The only place a Sterling pound note could have come from round
here was the stash under my bed.

I quickly
headed back inside to check and sure enough the holdall full of
stolen cash was gone.

“
Oh for fuck’s sake!” I cried out loud. I ran straight back
outside and as I sprinted down the gravelled path I noticed more
notes strewn across the dirt. They seemed to form a trail and I
followed them until I reached the row of shops just off the main
road.

Then I spotted
my mum.

She was in her
pink cupcake pyjamas and gorilla slippers tossing the contents of
the holdall into the street. People gathered round, laughing and
cheering as they picked up the notes falling to the ground.

“
Back the fuck off!” I roared as I pushed past the dumb
fuckers mocking my mum. “Mum what the hell are you doing?” I
yelled. She looked at me but it was like she couldn’t see me. It
was happening again. I was losing her. “Mum!” I grabbed her
shoulders and shook her, trying to get her to
see
me.

“
Come on, peeps, there’s plenty to go round!” she sang, tossing
more money from the bag.

Not knowing
what else to do I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialled 911.
After explaining the situation I was told an ambulance was on its
way. It appeared around the corner just minutes later whilst people
continued to snigger and whisper about my mum.

“
Show’s over. Now fuck off back to whichever rock you
crawled out of!” I snapped, scanning the small crowd and glowering
at each of them in turn.

“
Want some? There’s plenty!” my mum said playfully to the
curly-haired paramedic as she approached her cautiously.

“
Is she armed?” the paramedic asked me.

“
No!” I snapped fiercely but then softened. She doesn’t know
my mum and she must deal with dangerous, psycho nutjobs every day
of the week. “She won’t hurt you. She’s under the care of the
psychiatric team at the hospital,” I explained. “She’d been doing
great. I don’t know what’s happened.”

“
Don’t worry. We’ll take care of her. What’s her name?” she
said before turning her attentions to my mum.

“
Annie.”

“
Annie?” she called softly, turning to my mum.

“
I prefer S
ugar,” mum said with a wicked grin. I rolled my eyes. I
knew she wasn’t well but that didn’t stop me feeling
mortified.

I scrambled around the dirty floor trying to pick up as
much cash as I could before it blew away, stuffing
it back into the
holdall as I went. The crowd made no attempts to move as the
paramedic tried to coax my mum into the ambulance. Instead choosing
to stay and watch the spectacle. They mustn’t have a single ounce
of shame or decency.

“
Come on, Maddie!” my mum called and I turned to see her
walking willingly into the back of the ambulance. “We’re going on
holiday!”

At least half
the contents of the holdall were still strewed across the street
but I had no choice but to leave it and follow my mum into the back
of the vehicle. The curly-haired paramedic fastened a seatbelt
around my mum after lowering her into a fold out chair and a
black-haired paramedic with a moustache drove us away.

My mum
started singing and rambling incoherent nonsense as we made our way
to the hospital and then I remembered Lori would probably be sat
waiting outside my house by now. I quickly pulled out my phone and
sent her a text.

I’m really
sorry but I’m not coming to school. On way to hospital with my mum
she’s flipped out again. Can u tell Blaine? Will call U when I can.
Xxx

She replied
immediately.

Don’t be
sorry! Hope she’s ok. Love u, girly. X

I smiled at her reply but didn’t type one back. They took
my mum to the ER and after a waiting around for several hours they
eventually transferred her to the psyche ward. I stepped outside
whilst she was being assessed by Doctor
Andrews and suddenly I felt
exhausted. I flopped down onto a wooden bench in the beautifully
manicured lawns outside and pulled out my phone to call
Blaine.

As soon as
checked the screen I had a text waiting form Lori.

Blaine’s not
in school. Tried to call but he’s not answering. Hope everything’s
okay. X

My heart
stopped and tears pricked the back of my eyes. I closed my eyes and
Mitch’s evil glare was etched onto my eyelids. Convincing myself I
was overreacting I dialled Blaine’s number.

Voicemail.

I left
him an answer message explaining what had happened and where I was
and asked him to call me ASAP. Then, with a heavy heart I made my
way back inside to talk to Doctor Andrews about my mum.

“
At a guess I would say she’s stopped taking her medication.
She’s refusing it at the minute and for now we will go down the
route of trying to talk her into taking it willingly. If after
three days she doesn’t however, we will inject her with
them.”

My insides
felt swollen, as if they were about to burst at any given moment. I
was so worried about her. Yet I was also seriously pissed off that
she was so bloody stubborn. I was so worried about Blaine. And
again I was pissed off because he must have known I would be yet he
hadn’t contacted me.

“
Okay,” was all I could say. He asked me if I had any questions
and I shook my head. My brain was crammed full of so much shit I
couldn’t think straight.

“
You might as well make your way home,” Doctor Andrews said.
“You mom became very agitated when we tried to get her to take her
meds so we have sedated her. She will probably sleep for a while.
You might as well go home and get some rest.”

Rest? If
only…

“
Okay,” I said again, too drained to say anything else. The
twinges of a headache were starting to form as I made my way to the
main reception desk to call a taxi. I guessed this was life from
now on. In and out of hospital. Waking up each day not knowing if I
would be greeted by my mum or Nutjob Annie.

When I got
home I called Trudy to tell her what had happened but mainly to ask
about Blaine.

“
Blaine’s not home, darling,” she said and panic coursed
through my veins like red-hot lava.

“
Well where the hell is he?” I snapped. I knew it wasn’t her
fault but I couldn’t help it.

“
He’s, um, in a spot of bother with his dad. He’s probably just
gone out to cool off.” I couldn’t have felt more winded if I had
been hit chest-on by a bin truck.

“
What’s he done to him?” I snapped again.

“
Blaine’s fine. I saw him just this morning. I’ll get him to
call you when he comes home.”

“
Okay,” I said, feeling as lost as I did at the hospital. “Bye,
Trudy.” I hung up before I heard her reply.

Trudy
didn’t sound like she was lying but if Blaine was ‘fine’ then why
the hell hadn’t he called me? He wouldn’t push me away again. He
promised. He wouldn’t. Would he?

I felt sick. I
didn’t know whether to be worried about him or steaming mad with
him. I wouldn’t give up though. I promised him I wouldn’t. I
couldn’t anyway even if I wanted to. Pulling out my phone, I tried
to call him again.

Voicemail.

I sent him a
text instead.

U need to call
me. I need u xxx

Maybe that was
selfish of me but if he meant a single word of what he said to me
last night then that should be enough to make him think twice about
ignoring me. Next I called Lori and filled her in. She said all the
right things – sorry, if there’s anything I can do… that kind of
shit. I knew she meant every word but I hurried her off the phone
saying I was exhausted. Which I was, but mostly I just wanted to
curl in a ball on my bed alone and cry.

Actually scrap
that, I wanted to curl up with Blaine.

But he wasn’t
here.

Again.

When I woke
up, curled into the foetal position on top of my duvet it was dark
outside. I must have fallen asleep although amazingly I still felt
completely knackered. I checked my phone immediately and my heart
sprang to life when I saw a text waiting for me. Then it sank again
when I saw it was from Lori.

Jason said Blaine’s at home. He
went round 2 c him and Blaine told
him to F off. U heard from him yet? X

I replied
straight away.

No. But I’m
gona try Trudy again now. Will let u no. x

Was he
seriously pushing me away again? He promised me!