For the Love of Justice

Chapter Seventeen | Always Numb

"Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it." - Albus Dumbledore

"You're smiling." 

The words shouldn't have made me stop in the doorway like they did, because it was normal for people to smile. The hesitation of my footsteps was my downfall when I realised it was suddenly too late to escape possibly the most stubborn, persistant person I'd ever met. 

"People smile all the time, Harls." I muttered, making my face neutral so she couldn't try and guess what I'd been trying to think about. I glanced up, meeting grey eyes just like mine as Harlow walked towards me with a bowl of popcorn in her hands and a narrowed glare on her face, trying to figure me out. 

"No offence, Marley, but you don't. What's got you so happy?" I could see the wheel spinning in her head; she was putting together her own story in her head and I should have probably been worried about what was running through it. 

I shrugged, hoping that my silence meant I didn't want to discuss it with her. There was many things I shared with my sister, but talking about a girl was certainly not something I was prepared for. 

"Marley, I'm not letting you in the door until you let me know what it is."

"One; this is my home too. Second, I'm just smiling because I had a good day, okay?" I sighed, gently pushing past her to walk in to our open plan living. Flynn was propped up in the middle of the couch, a blanket half strewn over his legs and his arm slung over the back of the couch, a paused movie on the television screen. He glanced up and smiled when he saw me. 

"Hey, Marley. How was football?" 

Harlow half bounced back over to the couch, sitting right down in the crook of his outstretched arm. Flynn grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it in his mouth before returning his attention back to me. 

"It was...ah, good." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand. In all honesty, it was better than good. I had trialled well, and everyone knew it. I knew it, coach knew it, hell, even Samson knew it. That's why he was worried. "Coach said I had a great trial." 

"So...when do you find out about the team?" Harlow asked with excitement lighting up her eyes. "I bet you're on it, coach would be crazy to say no to you-"

"Harls, whoa, slow down." I half laughed, walking into the kitchen. "I'm still rusty, back playing after a year is a little harder than I thought." My left shoulder tweaked in resentment as I said it, reminding me that while I may have kept fit, the body never got used to the tackles after one day back. 

"Well, I think if he doesn't take you he's stupid."

Flynn frowned. "I thought you loved coach?" 

"Oh, I do. He's just stupid if he doesn't take Marley." 

"Hey, am I free to go upstairs now?" I looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, seeing the time was 7:30pm. "Where's dad?" 

Harlow's face dropped slightly, and she ate a few pieces of popcorn before she replied. 

"He's gone to meet up with mum. To sort out some things." 

I instant mention of our mother made my body tense in automatic response. The woman had left us without so much as a goodbye, cleaned dad out of his money, and come back three years later with a husband, who is now freshly divorced, expecting to walk back into our lives without so much of a hiccup.

No one wanted anything to do with her. Dad, Harlow, me. We had finally moved on from the blow of having a mum around every day to nothing within the space of 24 hours, and now she was back trying to weasel her way in to our lives again when quite frankly, she didn't deserve to be in them.