Water // Matty Healy ♣ The 1975

22. teeth

Tears began streaming down my face as I walked out of the cubicle. 

I dumped my things down near the sink and began washing my hands. 

I washed the eyeliner off as best as I could, using soap on my cheeks to diminish the cat whiskers. 

"Bad night?" a girl asked me. I laughed, choking on my tears. 

"Yeah. Yeah, the worst." 

"Hey, you're that girl they're looking for, aren't you? Wait, no, they found you. Your picture was on the news almost all night." she said as she began washing her hands.

She was a bit younger than Matty. She was pretty, much prettier than me. She had dark brown, almost black hair that came almost flowed all the way down her back, dark, perfectly shaped eyebrows, bright green eyes and full pink lips. I wished I looked like her. 

I laughed. 

"Yep, that's me." I said glumly, still trying to get the eyeliner off my eyes." 

"There was a reason you left, wasn't there? Everyone thought you were just trying to rebel, become cool or whatever, but there was a reason, wasn't there?" she asked. I winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude, I just really like investigating things. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." she went bright red. I shook my head. 

"It's fine. Yes there was a reason, that reason was my step mother, but I don't really want to say anything more than that because I'm sure you can work it out by yourself." I said quietly. 

We both dried our hands.

"I hope you'll be safe soon." she said. 

"Thanks." I replied.

I grabbed my things and we walked out of the toilets. 

"Bye, Elizabeth." she said, I waved at her. 

"A friend?" the policeman who has spoken to me earlier asked. 

"A fan." I replied quietly. 

We walked back to the car, the policemen both gave me some of the food they had bought from the Burger King in the service station. They weren't so bad, they were just doing their job. 

When I got in the car, I checked my phone and found a new text from Matty. 

'Good luck. xoxoMatty.' with a winky face next to his name.

I smiled a little bit, brushing the tears aside. 

My tears had worked better than water when trying to remove the eyeliner. 

In a little bit under an hour, we pulled up outside my own personal hell. 

I got out of the car with all of my things in my arms. I was close to tears. 

"Be strong," I whispered to myself as the police men rung the doorbell. "For daddy." 

When my dad opened the door, it was like a wave of pain slapped me right in the face. I hadn't been aware of how much I had missed him. 

He looked so tired, but so, so happy. 

"Lizzy." he said, walking out of the door and pulling me up onto the doorstep with him. He wrapped his arms around me. 

"Dad." I said quietly. 

My dad pulled back, tears had filled his eyes. 

"I thought you were dead." he whispered. 

"I'm not dead. Don't worry, daddy." I said quietly. 

Tears began falling from my eyes and he hugged me again. 

----

"I can't thank you enough." My dad said for the fiftieth time to the police men over the table. 

"It was no hassle." they said in unison then laughed. 

This had been going on for about half an hour over two cups of coffee each.

I kept looking at the kitchen floor. I was sitting next to the exact spot that she had kicked me for the first time.

I looked up and saw the counter that I had been preparing dinner on about a year before when she had come up to me and grabbed the jug filled with apple juice and dropped it on top of my bare feet. 

The scissors I had used to cut most of my hair off when I was ten because I didn't want her to be able to pull it out anymore. 

I sighed quietly as I sipped my drink. 

After another ten minutes of dad thanking the police officers, they finally left. 

We said goodbye to them at the door, then, when dad had shut it he turned around and hugged me again. 

"It was a bit of a shock... the hair." he said, and I laughed. 

"I'm renowned for doing unexpected things to my hair." I said in a painfully happy voice, hoping that it would make it as difficult for him as it did for me. 

Pain flashed through his bright blue eyes, but he moved on pretty quickly. 

"I like the dress, is it new? It looks familiar." he said. I nodded my head. 

"Yeah, I bought it with a ... friend when I was in London." I said, he nodded his head. 

"It suits you." 

"Yes, the friend thought so too." I said. 

He smiled at me. 

"So, do you have any stories of your adventure to tell me?" he asked.

He seemed pretty happy now, but I figured that the classing 'I'm very disappointed in you' speech would come later.

So I told him about the train journey and meeting Matty. I told him about Slyvia and Bryony and Tom and Charlie, and Matty as well. I left out the worrying parts, I left our the fact that Matty was my boyfriend, because I figured he wouldn't be anymore anyway, so it didn't really matter. 

I told him about the Halloween party, minus the alcohol and drugs, and how the police rushed me away, to which he replied: 'Ah, I wondered why you didn't have many things.'

I didn't tell him about mum. 

I didn't tell him about my best moments, or my worst ones. I just told him about the normal ones. 

Then I asked him what he had been doing, and he said working,and worrying. 

He told me that she had been worrying, but I knew that wasn't true, because she knew exactly what had happened to me.

"You should try to get along with your step mother a bit more, Lizzy." 

"Okay." I replied. 

It was, of course, only a matter of time before she got back from the shops. 

"Michael dear, look what I bought for us for din-"

She dumped her bags down when she saw me in the kitchen. 

"Elizabeth?" to me, her voice sounded pained, like she knew she had lost the battle. She no longer had dad to herself anymore. 

To dad, she must have sounded overwhelmed with joy because he stood up and walked away from the kitchen table and towards her and embraced her. 

"I know! Isn't it wonderful, Magerate, our little girl finally back home?" 

"Yes," she said quietly. "Yes, it's lovely." 

She came over to me and pressed two kissed against each of my cheeks, I could almost hear her grinding her teeth together in her mouth. 

She smiled at me with unwelcoming eyes. 

"Welcome home, Elizabeth, dear."