Innocent

Chapter 23

“For crying out loud, Tony. Ellie isn’t a little girl anymore. She is twenty.”

“I don’t care how old she is.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath before exhaling it. I really wish Dad wouldn’t be like this.

“Please, stop fighting okay?” I say. “Look, I’m sorry for running away. I’m sorry for never telling you where I went. But you need to understand me for once. You think you know what I’m going through and you think by locking me away in my own home will protect me.”

“It was protecting you, Ellie.”

“Tony, let her talk,” I hear Mom say.

“Maybe it did, Dad, but you can’t protect me forever. There are some things in life you can’t protect me from. You have to let me experience things for myself and to know that I can take care of myself. There might be some things I can’t protect myself from, like when Mr Waters forced himself onto me. I need all of you to listen to me. You don’t know what I went through and you don’t know how I’m feeling. You think you do, but you don’t. You need to hear me out.”

And surprisingly they did. No one interrupted as I spoke, telling them everything that happened on the day in James’ room to what happened last night. I told them the reason why I never told the police the truth about what happened. Maybe I could have done more to prevent James from being sent to jail. He could have hated me for not doing enough to prove he was innocent, but he doesn’t. He knew what I was going through. He knew that no matter what we both say, Mr Waters will find a way to make sure no one believes a word we say. But this time we have proof what really happened.

Later Daniel drives me to the hospital. I told him he could wait in the cat, but he said he wanted to come in. I didn’t argue with him at all. I feared he was going to do something to James, yell at him or something like he always does. He tells me to get him a coffee at the kiosk. He wanted to speak to James alone and I was surprise he wanted to do that. I just hope he wasn’t planning to do anything stupid. He didn’t appear angry or show any signs of wanting to kill James.

I get the coffee and when I wander into James’ room, I see Daniel sitting beside him. The boys were talking and laughing about something.

James glances over at me. “Ellie!”

I smile at him. “Hey. How did you sleep?” I walk over and hand Daniel his coffee.

“Not real good. This bed is so uncomfortable.”

Daniel stood up. “I’m just going to take a walk and leave you two alone.” He leaves.

James and I wait for a moment for Daniel to go before we were sure he was out of earshot.

“What were you guys talking about?” I ask him, sitting in the chair my brother was previously sitting in.

“He apologised to me for being such a dickhead.”

I laugh. “Really? He apologised to you?”

“Yeah. I was surprise. When he walked in, I thought it was going to tell me off, but he didn’t.”

“I was afraid he was going to yell at you like he always does.”

“Well, he didn’t so that’s a good thing. So, um, any word on my dad?”

I shake my head. “No. I haven’t heard anything with the police yet. I will probably hear from him later. They will maybe want to interview you.”

“Well, they did come into interview me last night, but I was too doped up after the surgery, so they told me they will come in to see me today. They haven’t come in yet.”