Something About Alice Murphy: BOOK 2

P A R T - N I N E T E E N

Chapter Nineteen: Quiet Chaos.
Friday, 17th May
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1 Month Later

Rain clattered down across the Murphy household as yet another thunder storm clouded the skies above Summerland. Alice lay awake, staring at the digital clock on her nightstand until the red boxed numbers hit seven on the dot and began to ring loudly. She stopped it seconds later and got up, making her way towards the shower to start getting ready for her day.

It had been a month since her return from the tropics with Magnus, and since then she'd obeyed her household rules perfectly. No phone... no laptop... no friends after school... no allowance, and no boyfriend. Her life had been quiet, uneventful, repetitive... Grey and dreary. She got up, went to school, socialised as much as she could before she returned home, wrote up her assignments and hid away in her room to read on her own.... occasionally with the company of her sister or the family dog, Polly.

Alice stepped out of the shower and stared at herself in the mirror with a blank expression staring back at her... her eyes looked emotionless but something strange danced behind them quietly, and she could hear the quiet rumble of thunder from outside as a storm brewed inside her too. She stayed silent, and suddenly smiled... as if she was practicing for the up and coming day, only to drop it moments later, and continued to stare in silence for a few seconds before drying herself off and leaving the bathroom to change.

She'd asked Magnus to stay away from the house and let her handle this on her own... She was aware that she'd behaved badly, she's been disobedient and disrespectful, she was aware that if she continued to behave like that it would only work against her instead of in her favour... So she'd stopped, regrouped, and made an effort to be good in the eyes of her parents... but she felt numb doing it, like she'd put her colour wheel to one side and returned to painting in black and white.

And they didn't seem to care that she barely spoke, or smiled, or spent much time around them at all... as long as she was doing what they said, they left her alone. She'd gotten her phone back, but only for the evenings before she had to give it back before she went to bed. The small talk was almost painful at breakfasts and dinner, and she missed the excitement of waiting for Magnus to appear at her window at night to sleep over like before. But this is what she had to do now. Behave better. Be better. Be the daughter they used to have instead of the one they were growing to fear.

She knew that's what it was.... people fear what they can't control and Alice used to be fine with being controlled, being normal, being quiet and polite and doing what people asked of her. She did it reluctantly now, and had been experiencing a constant battle with herself every day for the past month... just sneak out... steal your phone back... they can't take your stuff like that, take it back... just break something... make living this house a nightmare...

There was a knock at her door close to eight o'clock causing Alice to jump as she pulled herself out of her head, only to realise she'd been staring at herself again with her mascara wand hovering in front of her eye, "Leaving in ten." She heard her father say through the door and she stared at the white wood for a few seconds in silence before carrying on applying her make up.

When it was time to leave Alice descended the stairs, whilst pulling on a white beanie and her coat, her bag tactfully wedged under her arm. "Alice, Jesus Christ. You are not leaving the house like that," Richard scolded,

"Excuse me?" She asked as she pulled her hair out from under her coat and it fall down her back. She felt her temper flare but took a subtle deep breath to calm it down.