“Amy? Dad?” I call and I hear movements from upstairs. It’s not long before Amy emerges at the top of the staircase again hiding under a large hoodie with her hands hid in her sleeves that just seem to hang by her sides. She does a smile but I can tell it’s forced, it’s not her natural big grin she normally gives me. She hasn’t ran down the stairs to meet us like she normally does and she hasn’t even spoken yet. The silence stretches out between us, even Paisley hasn’t said anything yet. She’s still stood beside me holding onto my hand looking up at her aunt looking down at us with a face sporting her injuries from yesterday that still haven’t heeled although her lip doesn’t look as painful. The hard, dried blood has been washed away. Her lip is now swollen and a darker pink then it normally is, it still looks sore. It’s hardly surprising. “Amy” I smile but looking at her and knowing she has a life growing inside of her immediately makes the familiar lump grow in my throat. I do what I always do and swallow it away.
“Mums in the garden” She tells me quietly bringing her hand up to scratch at her opposite elbow. “Dads somewhere around here”
“Are you alright?” I ask and she just nods. Of course she isn’t but shes putting on a brave face just like we all do in this family. She’s still not my Amy.
“Do you want to … come up?” Her voice is like that of a scared child, she’s displaying body language of one too. She sounds like Paisley does when she’s too scared to go to sleep on her own in fear that the non-existing monsters that supposedly live under the bed are going to come out once she’s away to dream land and get her.
“Come on then, Pai go and give your aunty Amy the biggest cuddle you can” She doesn’t need to be told twice. I watch her and follow slowly behind as she runs up the stairs as fast as she can. She’s using her hands too but i doubt its adding to her speed like she’s thinking it is. Once she reaches Amy, Amy crouches down and lets her tiny little arms wrap protectively around her neck. We may not have filled her in on the goings on in Amy’s life but she definitely knows something’s wrong. Amy’s eyes flutter closed. Her eye lashes spill onto her bare skin as she holds onto Paisley just as tight a she’s holding onto her. “Where do you want to go, in your room?” I ask and without a word she carries Paisley into her little room and I follow closely behind. I decide to close the door before sitting on one of the beds by the wall furthest from me. Its Sally’s and Amy sits on her own. Paisley soon crawls off her knee when she spots Amy’s old Barbie dolls in a box by the window.
“Look mummy!”
“Wow! Been having a clear out?”
“Something like that”
“So how was it last night… I know it’s a silly question but how was dad when you told him?”
“How do you think?”
“Well I don’t know do i, that why I’m asking you”
“He left, he only got back this morning and ever since he and mum have been at each other’s throats. They’ve just been bickering none stop, I can tell its leading up to one of their-“
“Big arguments?” I finish off her sentence and she nods. Paisleys helped herself into the barbies and she’s now taking them all out of the box one by one to sit in a messed up sort of line. I just smile watching her innocently play. It wasn’t that long ago I remember Amy sat in the living room cross legged on the floor doing the exact same thing. She’s always had beautiful hair that I’ve been jealous of. She used to let my mum braid it, she loved her two blonde pigtails that trailed down her back. When she used to sit on the floor, her hair almost touched the carpet. Which was red at the time, I’m actually surprised I can remember, it seems like a lifetime ago. “How’s your lip?”
Chapter 77
Start bij het begin
