Innocent

Chapter 2

“Where have you been, Ellie?” Daniel repeated for the second time.

I rolled my eyes. “Nowhere, Daniel.”

I sat down on the bed and then lay backwards, staring up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and sighed with frustration before opening my eyes again. I wish Daniel could just leave me alone. This isn’t the first time he caught me sneaking out at night. This has been the third time now.

“Ellie, tell me where you went before I tell Mom and Dad,” my brother rosed his voice.

I sat up. “I went for a walk, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay.”

“Daniel, you aren’t my father.”

He walked over to me. “No, I’m not. But I’m your elder brother and I care about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you after what that son of a bitch did to you.”

Daniel’s words stabbed me in the heart. I hate how he talked about James like that. Tears swelled up in my eyes and felt a bit angry at what he was saying.

“Don’t you dare call him that, Daniel,” I warned him.

My brother chuckled and then came to sit down beside me. “You’re seriously still trying to defend him, Ellie?”

“He is innocent, Daniel.”

Daniel made me look at him. I blinked back my tears as I stared at him. He looked so worried and I knew how much he cared about me. But I didn’t appreciate him being so overprotective like my parents were. He was a year older than me. He was always looking out for me and making sure that no one touched his baby sister. But of course there were some things that he couldn’t protect me from. Daniel and I have always been closed when growing up, but we drifted a bit after what happened.

“I know you want him to be innocent, Ellie. But you need to realise that what he did was wrong.”

“What did he do wrong? All he wanted to do was protect me, but he wasn’t able to do it.”

“He didn’t protect you. He hurt you. Look, if you keep sneaking out, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad. You know you aren’t supposed to leave this house without someone.”

I turned away from my brother and glanced down at my nails, cleaning off a bit of dirt that I had underneath my index finger. “Yeah, I guess I won’t ever be able to leave this house until the day I die.”

“No, that’s not true. Look, you’re beautiful, Ellie, and someday you will be able to find someone. But right now Mom and Dad just want to protect you from the same incident happening again.”

I turned my back to my brother so he couldn’t see the smile on my face. The last person who said that I was beautiful was James. I remember we were in his room while his dad was out of the house. I was lying on my stomach on his bed, reading over the assignment Mr Harris wanted us to do. James and I decided to work on the project together. He was standing at the stereo, searching for some music for us to listen to.

He settled on a group called Rascal Flatts. I wasn’t so into Country music, but this band wasn’t so bad. James put the CD in and joined me on his bed, lying on his stomach.

“So what do you think we should do for the assignment?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was thinking that maybe do something with genres or something with cells.”

I liked his idea. “How about cell structures? Maybe cell structures in humans.”

“We could even make models of the cells.”