Broken (The Siren Series #1) (11 page)

Seeing the Head up close was a little bit
frightening, he was a big muscled man with very short hair, clean
shaven with crooked nose. His lips were thin and had a strong jaw.
Some people say he was in the army, I could totally see that.
Sitting in the big bad Headmaster’s office was not where I wanted
to be. He cleared his throat and started to speak.

“
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.

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 sofa
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.