(Picture above is Bella's outfit)
(Video is the song Tyler sings)
Chapter 30 | Superhero
"Merry Christmas!" Ali sang excitedly over the phone. It's been two weeks since the sleepover extravaganza and winter break started a week ago. Daniel had been texting and calling me non-stop repeatedly apologizing and it's not that I didn't want to talk to him, it's just after my newfound feelings for Ty surfaced I couldn't face him.
Tyler on the other hand only texted and called twice and when I picked up, we got in a fight over him and Daniel resulting in us avoiding each other. Ali and Dy were inseparable which was making everyone annoyed. I mean seriously, those two spent so much time making out I forgot what the front of their faces looked like. Still, I'm happy for them.
Ty also never got to avenge his sister (why does that sound like something from marvel?) that night but after we had a pillow fight (started by Ethan) and everyone fell asleep, he and I snuck up to the roof and talked and he decided to let it go. He didn't tell me much about his sister or any of his family for that matter but I knew he'd tell me on his own time.
Now I'm currently sitting on my mattress awaiting my father. He hasn't returned from the bar yet but when he does he'll make a beeline straight into my room and well, I assume you know what's next. In all honesty, I couldn't blame him, I'm the reason she's gone, I'd hate myself as well if I was him. As if he could sense my thoughts, the door opened and I could hear it hitting the wall with a forceful thud.
"Merry Christmas Ali!" I yelled in a hushed tone, "I gotta go but I'll see you over at Dy's later yeah?" "Heck yeah! Bye!"
The moment I hung up the door barged open and thus began my service as being my father's punching bag.
-
I stared at the light brown house I was situated in front of. With a heavy sigh, I stepped out of my warm car and into the cold December air. The houses on the street were decorated, with one house particularly out-shining the other houses. I reckon they bought every decoration ever made and then some.
I ambled over to the door and rang the doorbell. "I'm gonna kill him, I swear I will." I force myself not to smile so I don't crack my already cut lip further. "Hello to you too, Aunt Slo."
She invited me in and situated me on the couch before fetching her first aid kit. Her house was decorated almost the same way as back in Michigan, the only difference being how the house was built. One picture on the fireplace caught my attention and like the wonderful niece I am, I ignored her commands to stay on the couch and walked over to it.
In the picture, my mother was sitting on the hospital bed holding me in her arms, Matthew was kneeling beside her on the bed while my father was smiling at me with loving eyes. I touched the woman sitting in the middle. People always said I looked like her but I never saw it.
"That was taken moments before they named you. Your father was so scared to hold you he vowed not to hold you until you turned two." I look at her in disbelief, "are you serious?" I almost cackled "yup, but he cracked and he held you after an hour of your mother and I incessantly teasing him. She pointed to another photo, "I took this the moment he held you." I stare at the man in the photo, the man whose eyes weren't bloodshot from alcohol, the man who was grinning at me, his daughter, with the most loving eyes. He's my father, not the one that beats me up every day, not the one that insults and belittles me, not the one that locks me in a closet for two days, not the one that doesn't care when other men touch me. My father is the one that had a teacher suspended after they said bad things about me, he's the one that came to all my recitals, he's the one that always carried me on his shoulders, he's the one that called me Belle because I loved Beauty and The Beast, the one that sang me to sleep and read me stories. The one that loved me.
I didn't realize I was crying until I was pulled into a hug. Realizing that Aunt Slo wasn't this muscular I looked up and saw Pat looking down at me. Before I could ask him questions, he said "I stayed over last night, dad didn't trust me alone with the presents." "Oh," was my reply, I didn't trust myself enough to say anything more. I melted into his arms. "Why did he have to leave me?" I whispered and he held me tighter when my shoulders started shaking with my silent cries.
Why couldn't she stay?
Why did she have to leave me?
Why did he leave me when I needed him the most?
Why did he run away?
I had so many questions but no answers. Why couldn't I be spending this Christmas with a father who wasn't wasted out of his mind? Why couldn't I spend it with someone who cared for me? I gripped the locket and found myself crying harder, so hard I fell to the ground. Pat didn't let me go, he didn't say anything. Instead, he held me until I had no tears left to cry, then he told me that no matter how alone I felt, he'd always be there, and that was the ultimate truth.
-
It was half-past six when I pulled up into Dylan's driveway. I was wearing a long-sleeved plaid flannel dress with black tights and thigh-high brown suede boots that I borrowed from Aunt Slo. My hair was let down, aunt Slo curled it to make it look less dishevelled. My makeup was done to look nice while covering the bruise I had on my cheek.
I painfully lugged the huge box along, in it contained Tyler's present for the secret Santa. My red cold fingers pressed the doorbell and I shivered. The door opened revealing a woman who looked like she was in her 30s. "Bella! How lovely to see you, even better when you're up and about than on a bed eh? Come in, come in!"
"Thank you!" I pushed the box inside then stepped inside, brushing the few snowflakes off my hair. "Is this for the secret Santa?" The woman asked. Although I was certain I had never met her, something about her voice sounded oddly familiar. "Yes ma'am."
She feigned hurt "ma'am? I am not old yet, okay? Contrary to what my birth certificate says, I am only 18." I let out a laugh "please call me Ellen." Where had I heard that na- "Ellen as in doctor Ellen? I'm sorry I had no idea, thank you so much for helping me." This time she laughed "it's my bad, I should've known, you weren't exactly conscious when we first met. Allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Ellen Kamara, I'm from Sierra Leone."
"I'm Bella Evans, I'm from Michigan." I smile and shake her hand. "Let me go put a name sticker on this for you and you can go hang out with your friends. How's that sound?" "Oh, I can do it!" I protest and she dismisses me off with a wave of her hand. "Nonsense, besides you should be resting." Just before she walked away she turned and said "oh, be careful of the mistletoe, the Mccarthy's like to get particularly sneaky with those."
I stood by the door trying to think of where the others could be. Finally mustering up enough courage to face these nameless strangers I was surrounded by, I walked past each of them and went to MC cubed. I knocked on the door and waited for a beat until a boy who looked to be around 19 or 20 greeted me with a charming smile. "Hello, are you Bella?" He had a London accent which was unexpected. "Uh..yeah?" "Ah, we've been expecting you, please come in!"
I walked down the stairs leading to the man cave (don't tell Ethan I called it that), "look who I have here." He grinned before sitting on the couch and taking the controller Ethan was handing him. "Izzy!" He yelled before rushing and hugging me. I held back a wince and instead let out a painful chuckle "like my ugly sweater?" "It's very nice." I smile at him before he sits back on the couch, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"Hey!" I say to Ali, Tess and Dy who all take turns in hugging me and wishing me a merry Christmas. I see Tyler on the couch and make eye contact with him. Things are tense between us so I opt for a wave before sitting on a chair at the corner of the room. "I need air." Tyler declares before stuffing his hands and his pockets and leaving the room. I sag my shoulders slightly but decide to keep a smile on my face. "So Dy, who's he?" I point at the Londoner "that's Luca, he's my cousin."
He walks to me and holds out his hand for a shake "allow me to formally introduce myself, I'm Luca McCallistair, and you are?" "Taken, she's taken so don't do that flirty charming London boy act that makes girls fall for you." Tyler's low and quipped voice speaks from the entryway. He lets out a low whistle and looks at Dylan and the others, "you lot weren't playing when you said he's protective."
I blush and thank the dark lighting. "Uh, my name is Bella, Isabella Evans." "Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Enchanté." My face gets furiously hot as he presses his lips on the back of my hand and kisses me gently. "Or would you prefer lips?" He gestured above and I saw mistletoe hanging there. "Okay, time to go." Tyler takes my hand and seats me on the couch, stay there, don't move, you-" he points to Luca "you're asking for it," and with that, he leaves again.
"Boys eh? Can't take a joke, they see a girl they like and get all protective." "Maybe I'll go for this pretty one eh?" He smirks at Tessa and Ethan wraps his arm around her, "move the eff on buddy." He says it so seriously for a moment I think it's someone else.
"Luca." Dylan warns "you promised." "Alright, alright, I'll be by myself."
Another knocks on the door and Rosalie pops her head in "dinner time."
We all get up and leave the room, I squint at the light that hits me, "where's Ty?" Rosalie asks, "I'll go look for him," I volunteer and leave before anyone can stop me. I walk up to his room and knock thrice on his door, after hearing no response I step in and go to the door that leads to the roof. I climb the stairs, burying the pain deep in me. I carefully walk onto the roof and follow the sound of guitar strumming and a voice, a beautiful voice singing one of my favourite songs.
All the hurt, all the lies
All the tears that they cry
When the moment is just right
You see fire in their eyes
'Cause he's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
When you've fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
When you've fighting for it all your life
You've been working every day and night
That's how a superhero learns to fly
When you've been fighting for it all your life
You've been struggling to make things right
That's how a superhero learns to fly
I stand awestruck as Tyler finishes the rest of the song up till the last strum. He let out a sigh that writhed my chest. That sigh, that one sigh, the sigh that I have become far too acquainted with for my liking, that sigh that says I need help, that sight that you give when the weight of the world is too much, that sigh, that damn sigh. My feet start moving to him before I can make them stop and I wrap my arms around him.
That sigh shows that he's been through things people should never have to go through. "Ella?" "It's okay," I whisper, I don't know if he understood but he dropped his guitar and hugged me back, not enough to hurt but enough to let me know he was there, and he was grateful.
"I'm sorry." He says once we've pulled away. "Daniel he just pissed me off so damn much I wanted to hurt him and I was angry about everything and-" I put my finger on his lips, "I forgave you last week. Let's go, dinner is ready." I take his hand and lead him to the door and just as I'm about to lean forward to take the first step back Ty pulls me back making my back collide with his chest. I turn around and his hand finds my waist. "Lookup" his voice is thick with emotion and when I look up, lo and behold, hanging right there is mistletoe.
I look back at Ty whose piercing sky blue eyes are looking at my lips. My breathing becomes shallow as he pulls me closer closing any gaps between us.
He leans down, his eyes never leaving mine, and all I can think is
Oh my goodness, this is it isn't it?
Author's Note
Konichiwa! Hehe, I'm learning Japanese, firstly I'd like to apologize for the wait, I had so many exams which I was studying for and y'know school comes first.
Secondly, thank you to all of you wonderful people reading, sharing and supporting this book, it means so much to me!
With that being said how did you feel about the cliffhanger? What do you think is gonna happen?
Teenager Post #022: The reason our knees get weak when we fall in love is because of the long walk it took to find that person.
That's it for now!
See you next time :)
P.S. If you haven't already please check out the other book on my profile called Book Of Brilliant & Random Ideas :)
- Thingimajiga