The end of the line

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

   On Friday, mum and I were woken up by a phone call at seven forty five. My curious nature got the better of me then. I got out of bed, sneaked out of the room, stood by mum's study (there was a second phone in there as mum had to use the phone a lot for her work), and pressed my ear to the closed door.

   "Yeah. No. No, it's no trouble at all." Mum said, in a slightly hushed tone. There was silence as mum listened to the speaker on the other end of the phone. "Wh-? What? How?" There was more speaking on the other end. "Yeah, ummm, yeah. We can meet at mine this afternoon. Yeah, she won't be in the house. I'll make sure the others are out as well."

   Did I foget to say that I have three sisters and four brothers. And we're all from four different fathers. There's Addi, Heather and Luke, they're from one guy. Georgie and Olly are from another guy. Peter, Scott and Lucas are from the next guy. And I'm from the final and latest guy. All of my brothers and sisters are in their late teens and twenties while I'm seventeen and the youngest; the baby of the family.

   "Of course, come at about half two-ish. I'll be here and they'll be out of the house." mum continued. She was silent. "Yes, it'll just be me here." Silence again. "Okay, thank you. See you later. Bye." mum hung up. Mum then started to whimper and eventually cry.

   I walked in and pretended to be half asleep, rubbing my eyes and yawing. "Mum? What's up? Why're you crying?" I sat down beside her. She had sat down on the floor and held her knees to her chest. "Mum, tell me, what is it?" I persisted.

"Nothing. I just had an awful dream and I really don't wish to re-live or remember it. Honestly, honey, I'm fine, you go back to bed. Oh, and you and your brothers and sisters need to be out of the house this afternoon." mum said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Umm, I've got a client coming to talk to me at quarter past two. They won't be gone for a good few hours so you lot should just go out and have a good time."

"Okay, mum." I said, hugging her before standing up and going back into my room.

   As I sat on my sofa, I tried to think about what mum could be so upset by and why she wouldn't want any of us to be here when the person on the other end of the phone come here. Maybe she's having an affair - wait, an affair with who? She's single. She's going out with someone and doesn't want us to know. She's going to run away. She's being threatened by someone, blackmailed, bribed. It could be any of them. I sighed and sat thinking for an hour, or so. I then went and sat in a warm bath for an hour.

   I came back into the room at quarter past ten and found Wesley laying bed, propped up on one arm. "Where have you been, Kate?" He asked.

"Bath." I replied.

"Oooh, I missed you." I went over to the bed, a towel still wrapped around my naked body. Wesley stood up and enveloped me in his arms. As I hugged him, I inhaled his wonderfully comforting scent. We got dressed and then went downstairs and made breakfast. Mum was still upstairs and the others hadn't woken up yet. After breakfast, we walked over to Wesley's house and he showered and put a new set of clothes on. Then we sat at his until two o'clock, enjoying each others company.

   "I've gotta' go. Mum wants me home for quarter past." I said and headed home. Wesley nodded, came towards me and wrapped me in a warm hug before dropping a kiss on top of my head and walking me to the door.