What We See

Chapter One

Emily's feet trudge through the snow, and i can see that they are soaked.
"Do you wanna swap shoes? You can wear my boots if you like" i offer.
"No. I'm fine" she snaps.
I shrug and keep walking. God, i hate this. I'm so bad at making her feel better. I glance over at her again.
"Hey, Em. What happened to your knee?"
There is are blue and green sploges all over it, the size of a large apple. It looked as if she had fallen over again and again.
"I fell"
"Tell me"
"I. Fell"
"Tell me"
"I FELL"
I stop walking and put my hand on her shoulder.
"Emily! For fucks sake tell me what happened!"
She looks down, and i see a tear fall from her face and melt into the snow. Look what i've done now. We are home now anyway. The decaying block of flats stands out like a muddy foot print in the soft blankets of snow around us.
"Don't cry, we are home now, see? Let's go, we don't need to talk about your silly bruise. You fell over? Ok then. Make sure you tell that to mum when she comes home," i say gently, smoothing her thin hair out of her flushed face. I shouldn't really be talking to Emily like this. She is nearly 12. I know school is hard for her but she should be stronger. I definitely was at her age.

When Emily was born, i was only 3. Our brother, Jacob, must of been 9 or 10. Dad was long gone by then and mum...Well mum was doing ok, from what i know. She only really got into alcohol when i was 7, but she was smoking after Em was born. You could say she was relived to start again, but i know for certain that she had one or two cigarettes while she was pregnant.

We hurry through the maze of buildings. At night especially, there have been stories of gangs and muggers lurking around the parks. We arrive at our building, and decide to take the piss smelling lift. We are almost at our floor (17), when a woman smelling like weed gets on. She is evidently very high and/or drunk. The cocks her head at us and slurrs:
" Awwww. What pretty little sisters."
She reached out a shaking hand and strokes Emily's cheek. Em grabs my hand with her hot and clammy one.
"Thanks." i say.
"Oh hunnnny. You are welcome"
We arrive at our floor and are about to get off when the woman puts her hand out in front of us.
"Don't leave me."
I push through her and onto our floor. The lift moves on with her in it.
As i walk over to our front door, Emily whimpers.
"That was scary," she shudders
"Not really" i shrug. I reach for my key in my bag and open up the door to our flat.