Frostbite

Chapter Five

Sorry that this chapter was so long coming, but you know with Christmas, then New Years...life tends to get hectic. Anyway, if you haven't already voted please vote for RULES WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN in the Watty Awards under Science fiction [Undiscovered Gems]. I would really appreciate it!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT.

On the other side of a street I knew
Stood a girl that looked like you
I guess that's déjà vu but
I thought this can't be true cause
- Train drive by

CHAPTER FIVE

I think I've been cursed.

I have the worst luck ever. Firstly, I don't have a car. Yes, you heard me, I'm seventeen - almost, and I still have to rely on my mother to drive me places. This means I don't usually go many places unless Carrie drags me somewhere. Since she was working, I was left to walk home, which wouldn't have been a problem except it was raining.

Actually, I don't know whether 'raining' is the best way to describe it. It was more like the sky had decided I shouldn't be allowed to be dry ever again. I would probably still be wringing water from my clothes in two weeks. Okay, exaggeration a little bit, but still. Thunder, lightning, rain, I had the full package.

To be honest, I don't know why I was even going home at all. My mother would probably just find a thousand ways to punish me for something that wasn't my fault at all - how was I supposed to know that if I went with Carrie to that party I would be involved in a car crash? Trust me, if I had known I wouldn't have stepped out the door.

So far I had already been loaded with a bunch of jobs she had wanted done for ages but hadn't had any excuse to make me do them. Apparently spending time cleaning would help me "think about my actions".

I had already walked the mile home in the rain with no umbrella, can you imagine my reaction when my mother apprehended me as I came through the door.

"Finally. I have been waiting for half an hour already, Heather. Where have you been?" she hissed, not bothering to notice that I was freezing my butt off standing in the door way, "and don't drip water on my carpet. Get changed now and be downstairs in two minutes."

I took my chance and escaped upstairs, cursing her under my breath. She would be able to hear if I had a shower to warm up and no doubt that would be added to my list of sins so I decided not to risk and just dress warmly instead, throwing on a thick jacket and some sweatpants. I didn't need to look presentable for her or Nathan.

I slowly made my way down the stairs but she wasn't waiting for me, ready to force me to do more work.

"Heather!" she barked from the kitchen and I slunk into the heat of her gaze.

"What?" I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest in an effort to appear defiant.

"Could you get some potatoes out of the cupboard for dinner, please?" she turned away from me, shoving some meat in the oven. Nathan was nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly. He always seemed to disappear whenever there was work to do, although he was happy enough to claim the position of 'man of the house' when dad left.

Not that our father had been so great anyway. He had a drinking problem and in the end it was just too stressful for mum and they split up. I was only five at the time and Nathan was barely two years old. The only real memories I had of my father were of us all at the beach and him helping me to make a sand castle. When we went in the water, he lifted me over the big waves. Sometimes, I wonder if he was really as horrible in the end as mum said he was. She did love him though, and that was almost redeeming enough for me to forgive her for how she acted. Almost, but not quite.