“Alright, Miss Edwards, I’ll see you next week. I, once again, offer my condolences.” He said.
“Alright… Goodbye.” I hung up, feeling emptier than I should have felt about something like this. I looked up and found that both Harry and Anne’s eyes were on me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and stood up, feeling shaky.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I came down to get some water. But I think I’m going to go to sleep now.”
Anne looked upset. “I’m so, so sorry, dear.”
I shook my head. “I’m not.”
Anne frowned, looking at Harry. He shook his head slightly, and she nodded. Harry stood up and poured a glass of water for me. “I’m going to upstairs with her, yeah?” He asked his mum.
She nodded sadly. “You two can spend the night in the same room if you’d like. Oh, and Brenna?”
I looked at her. “Whatever it is, I’m sure your father did love you.”
I bit hard on my lip and nodded, turning around and hurrying up the stairs. I reached Harry’s room and sat down, staring at the wall. What should I have felt? Sad? Remorseful? I wasn’t feeling any of that. I just felt numb. The guy on the phone had told me my dad had left me something in his will, and I was to go have a meeting with him in exactly a week from now to see what he wanted. What had he left me? His bills to pay off?
The lamp by Harry’s bed flicked on and the soft, dim light snapped me out of my trance. I looked up to find Harry standing by his bed, a glass of water in one hand. He handed it to me and I took a sip, setting it by the drawer by his bed. I lay down and he stood in the same spot, unsure what I wanted.
“You can leave if you feel awkward,” I said, looking up at him.
He relaxed, shaking his head and climbing into the bed, lying beside me. It was a tight fit, but I wasn’t complaining. His arm went around me and he pulled me closer to him. We lay in silence for a while.
“Wanna talk about it?” He asked after a while.
“My dad’s dead.” I deadpanned.
“I heard. How do you feel about that?”
“Are you some sort of shrink?” I asked.
A barely there smile touched his lips. “I’ll be anything you want me to be.”
“I don’t know what I feel, Harry. It’s like, I should be sad… But I’m not.”
“That makes sense. You and your dad didn’t exactly have the best relationship.”
I nodded mutely, staring at his chest.
“How did you get sent to the care home?” He asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“I have time.”
“It’s going to freak you out. You’re going to leave.”
“You didn’t leave when you saw my fucked up life, so I highly doubt that.”
“Okay, then,” I breathed, before telling him the story that no one else knew.
He beat me often after that elbow to the eye. I don’t know if it relieved his stress, but it hurt. It wasn’t often… Maybe once every three days. He was smart. He made sure to never hurt me where it was visible. He made a mistake once, though.
My dad was a violent man. He had a dark past, and he was a part of a gang. He would often take me and Adrian with him. I saw things that no thirteen year old should have to see. I saw a lot of things that no one should have to see.
YOU ARE READING
Broken
Fanfiction"When something is broken, you can't fix it. But you can make it better. All it needs is love, care and attention." Broken. That's what Brenna was. With no family, and no money, it was a good thing she was smart. She had a scholarship for college a...
