Chapter 19

Adien POV

We arrive at the hospital in record time. It's a short and anxious ride, I think Sophie nearly had a panic attack, she is so scared that her mum is going to be angry. Or in her phrase "kill her and fashion her into boots"

"You'll be fine,?I'm sure she won't be that mad" I try to reassure her, but fail. She's pretty worked up, it definitely shows that she isn't a rebellious child. I can tell her mum is very overbearing just from the way she talks about her.

"You don't know my mother, she is the most uptight controlling person you'll ever meet," She explained looking mortified at the prospect of facing her.

We stumble into the back entrance unfazed and unnoticed it's as if we never left. We think we're safe only a few metres from my room.

"Sophie Grace Davis! Where the hell have you been?" An angry voice bellowed across the halls. We turn slowly, our shoulders tense. I can feel Sophie's uneasy movement. "Come here, young lady,"

"Mum...I can explain," Sophie stuttered as we fully turn to face the beet-red face of a tall woman with the exact shade of ginger hair as Sophie. Her mum glared at me and Nick, with a somewhat mixture of disapproval and disgust. An excellent combination.

"You two should be ashamed of yourself, dragging my daughter into your havoc!" She spoke looking as if she wanted to rip us apart. We stay silent looking from her to the floor, not wanting to make eye contact. "Do you have any idea how vulnerable my daughter is right now? What if something triggered her and she got ill again?"

"Mum, no stop it. They-" Sophie tried to speak but was rudely interrupted by her mother.

"Don't say another word, Miss" She shouted, walking over to her daughter and grabbing her arm roughly. "You're coming with me,"

"No!" Sophie bellowed shaking off her mother's deadly grip. "They helped me. I ate...a bit of a burger and some fries. It's the most I've eaten in months. Sometimes I need to feel like a normal teenager"

Her mum turns around looking with disbelief, her angry face that began to soften slowly.

"You did? You ate?" She croaked about to cry. A smile appears before she hugs Sophie. Before mouthing 'Thank you" to me and Nick. We nod in unison, smiling to ourselves at our small victory.

"Well, that went well" I smile, almost accidentally taking Nick's hand. Thank God I stopped myself before the thought even processed in my mind.

"One angry mum down two to go," Nick laughed nervously. "I'm more worried about your mum than Sally...I mean My mum"

"My mum won't be mad she'll just be worried," I explain knowing for sure she'll only be concerned. Suddenly I'm riddled with guilt.

"Adien! Baby, where were you? Why didn't you tell me where you were going? I thought..." She sighs covering her face with her hands. I immediately realize what I did to her. She must have thought he got to me.

My stomach falls and lurches, I can't believe I've been so selfish. It suddenly dawns on me how worried she must have been. I've never been a parent, but the sheer velocity of concern on her face chills me.

"Mum, I'm so sorry, I needed to relax, to have fun. I...I just completely forgot to...sorry" I can feel the tears forming and hide behind it. Fuck.

"Oh sweetheart, come here" We embrace before realizing Nick was still in the corner of the room awkwardly shuffling from foot to foot. I don't think I've ever seen him look so awkward.

It must have been a weird scene, I'd only been out for a few hours and my Mum's reaction must have been foreign to him. But he doesn't know everything about us. He doesn't understand why my mum is the way she is.

I look closer and see a look of utter despair and longing as if he's remembering something, something terrible. He's missing something, something I probably don't know about.

"Nick, I didn't even realise you were in here, how are you feeling sweetheart?"

"Fine, thank you. Please don't be mad at Adien it was my fault..." Nick explained looking sorry and slightly embarrassed.

"Don't you worry about that dear. I haven't called your mum I didn't want to worry her," mum announced bringing something out of her red Ted Baker bag.

"Mum, can I talk to you please...in private. Sorry, Nick, It's really important" I plead not wanting to hurt Nicks feelings. I'm keeping so many secrets from him and we're supposed to be best friends. We're supposed to tell each other everything. In all honesty, I guess we're both hiding something from each other.

It's always been hard for me to make friends so I don't really know what to do. So I decided to search it up, which is weird but the concept of putting so much trust and love into someone that's not my mum is foreign to me.

Nick nods looking slightly hurt before swiftly walking out of the room. As soon as he goes I rush over to my mum and cradle her as she cries the way she used to do to me when I was a child.

"It'll be okay, everything will work out fine" I sooth her reassuringly, my gentle words gripping her anxiety and squeezing. I'm suddenly transported back to the times I'd hold her whenever he had his violent outbursts.

"Have you taken your anxiety medicine?"

"I don't need it anymore," she whispered stubbornly, I shake my head rummaging through her bag and bringing out the almost full tube of pink pills. I grab water from my desk giving both items to her. It's almost impossible not to cry, I swallow the pain in my chest and savour the feeling of freedom. But is a life riddled with fear really freedom?

"Have your medicine now!" I demand, being the parent. She takes the tablet reluctantly scrunching her face at the apparent ''disgusting' taste.

"You're such a drama queen" I laugh rolling my eyes before gently kissing her forehead and wiping her tears. She was the only family I had left, we lost contact with all my mums family because my so-called dickhead of a dad didn't let her see them. And my douchebag of a dad's family won't have anything to do with us because of him. So basically all of our problems are his fault. All our problems will go if...he goes...

"Honey, I'm so tired of being scared. Of fearing the worst, always jumping to assumptions and I keep leaving you on a tight leash, I should be giving you much more freedom than I do. But most of all I'm tired of being tired." She weeps silently throughout her speech, its like for once in her life she's being honest with herself and not always putting on a fake smile and pretending everything is going to be alright, even when I know it won't. "Here I am pestering you about nothing when you should be going out with friends and partying,"

"You could never pester me, mum, can we go to a movie or spend some time together. We haven't done anything nice together for a while" I ask genuinely wanting to spend a day with her.

"I would love that honey, I'm afraid I'm not as fun as your friends. Thank you" a huge smile appears on her face it's a smile I haven't seen in ages, it's like the weight is lifted from her shoulders

All our problems will go if...he goes...

I shake the terrifying thought out of my mentally unstable head. I sigh thinking about all the times mum saved me from the bad... the evil that was my dad. I remember how she always sacrificed everything she had and it was all for me not for her.

Even when she knew he would be mad and do something to her. I won't ever forget what she did for me and to help her I WILL kill him...I will kill my father.