Song of the day – Home – Gabrielle Aplin
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Chapter 6
Lizzy was still unable to sleep after two nights of insomnia even though she was with her mother, in the safest place she could be, she couldn’t help but realise that maybe they weren’t as safe as she had hoped, Marla was weak and unable to hold her daughter in her arms due to the pain that shot through her body each time she even raised them, she managed and refused to let the illness know that it was winning, Lizzy knew the medication had stopped working and the woman she loved more than anything was deteriorating fast, Her weight was dropping off unhealthily and her healthy glow was eradicating.
“Hey mom” She whispered to her mother that hobbled into the small kitchen of the bottom floor apartment, Lizzy sat in her PJ shorts and striped jumper, her knees were curled up against her chest and her arms rested atop of them, holding her hundredth scolding cup of coffee to her chapped lips, her small feet just holding up the rest of her body on the sturdy wooden chair
“Couldn’t sleep, honey?” Marla stroked the messy bun on her daughters head
“No, I can’t keep him off my mind” Lizzy leant her head into her mother’s hand, staring out of the window to peer at the patting rain that bounced off of the road outside.
Marla sighed, grabbing a mug from the rack on the edge of the bench and sat down on the chair next to Lizzy
“It’ll be fine, if you’re meant to be together then you’ll be together” she placed her hand over the coffee pot next to Lizzy and filled her cup to the top, as much as she tried to hide her infatuation with Juice from her mother she never succeeded and now Lizzy had told all about Juice other than the secrets he’d told her, Marla knew that she had to accept the ‘thug’ in her terms for her daughters sake.
“I’m going to call him when I get back” Elizabeth looked into the bottom of her half empty mug before sighing deeply and standing up to retrieve the ringing phone on the cabinet behind her
“Hey, Sal” Lizzy spoke into the receiver, speaking to Marla’s best friend
‘Hey Lizzy, is everything okay over there?’ the woman replied back with a gravelly and what seemed to be a ‘sexy’ toned voice
“Yes, I’m with my mom just about to go home, Why? What’s up?” She replied with curiosity
‘Oh sweetie, the home invasions have hit again, I got hit especially so I was just checking up to see if you and Marla were okay’ Sal retorted, in the back of Lizzy’s mind she was worried sick, she wasn’t at home so what if everything was wrecked, what if they’d found her safe? But she was always that type of person that had an ‘it’ll never happen to me’ attitude.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry we’re fine yea, I’ll put my her on” Lizzy felt sorrow for Sally but at the same time it was all sympathetic emptiness, Sal had no family and nothing worth keeping, to others they would hate having such things stolen but to Sal it was all modern age technology that she didn’t know how to work, she didn’t care to much that she was robbed in all honesty.
Lizzy handed her mother the little silver device .
“I’m getting in the shower” Lizzy mouthed as she turned to look at her tired mother that appeared to be rubbing her forehead with her fingers, mumbling into the receiver
“Mom, are you okay?” She asked, leaning against the doorframe and peering at her mother through worried eyes infused with sleep.
“Yes, I just need some aspirin” Marla massaged her temples, coughing a little in discomfort before stifling a ‘yes, yes’ to Sal
“Mom” she sighed like a huffing teenager, worrying.
“Elizabeth Maria Martinez! Do not use that tone with me, I’m a grown woman...I think I can handle a headache” She snapped at her daughter, using the usage of her full name to express dominance.
Lizzy sighed, holding her small hands up in surrender and backing out of the room and into the hallway.
She leant against the wall and eavesdropped to the continuing the conversation, trying to find out what was up with her mother, maybe even find out why the real reason Sal was calling because as much as she sounded concerned, Sal didn’t worry about anybody.
“I don’t know, it’s costing too much so it may as well be used for something useful instead of what I’m spending it on...I don’t NEED it” Marla spoke down the receiver, a small and mechanical voice squealed down the speaker and echoed into the hallway, a slapping sound and a bark of elderly laughter hit the table
“That’s something I do need” Lizzy’s mother cackled, as soon as Lizzy realised there was nothing to listen to her mind wandered elsewhere, the one thing she hated was the fact that she was thinking like a desperate woman, maybe if she had sex with Juice then maybe he wouldn’t go elsewhere like Ima yet she wasn’t willing to do anything without a relationship, she thought of it all as she undressed and stepped into the tub, letting the running water surround her body.
These were the thoughts of a broken relationship not a beginning one.
**********
Lizzy sat at her mother’s dressing table and brushed the kinks out of her drying hair whilst thinking of her mother, Marla needed to go to work at the hospital as a volunteer so instead of waiting for her daughter to leave she just left the spare keys; Lizzy’s mother was a wonderful, inspiring woman and even in her dying days insisted on helping others that could be cured, giving talks on what to look out for and how to notice the symptoms for other people suffering from the disease.
It was ironic seeing as she hated speaking about it at home, maybe it was finalising it if she was to take it home with her and discuss it.
She applied concealer to her darkened bags and smiled into the mirror that peered back as her reflection, feigning happiness for a minute or so before sighing again and brushing her hair into a high ponytail, her side bangs and two equal chunks of hair lined her face and took some of the attention from her eyes away along with the mascara she painted her lashes with. She couldn’t help but think of her mom and the moaning and the pain and the suffering she was going through and when she managed to think of something else, she ended up thinking of the home invasions and the home she had that could have been ripped apart.
Pushing her things into her bag and putting on a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt with black, chunky linings and black sleeves she soon slipped on a pair of black leather boots and her black leather jacket, picking up the keys , her bag and whatnot and walking into the living room.
On the way towards the kitchen she caught sight of a photo on the wall, one that in ten years she had not noticed before of her Dad sitting on his with Lizzy pretending to ride it with a helmet too big for her slipping and leaning on one side of her head, long brown hair cascading out of its hold.
Her dad was an extremely tall man with straight, light brown hair that reached his shoulders, his teeth were bright and white yet the front two were crooked under thin pink lips.
He had a muscular build with a little chubbiness to it and wore a cut from another, separate motor cycle club of which he helped create, only this MC that was named
‘The reapers’ was purely a motorcycle enthusiast club and nothing more, they earned nothing from it other than enjoyment of the bikes and gathering together as a group and even though they were offered things like gun running and cartel business, they had always wanted to be straight up, maybe that was the reason the club was cut off before anyone else could get their hands on the club and exploit it.
Lizzy trailed her fingers over it, noticing Clay in the background hugging one of her father’s friends tightly and wondering why he never mentioned it
“Love you Dad, Love you to the stars and back” She whispered, her eyes flicking to the outside of her wrist where the words ‘Love you to the stars and back’ formed in curled writing, giving the appearance of a bracelet, remembering the words he whispered to her before he left the night he died, it was a mystery to everyone but Marla, she knew what was going on and what had went on but never spoke a word about it, as far as she was concerned Timothy Matthew-Martinez died on the road after being hit by a drink-driver or that was the statement given by the police.
After checking all of the windows and doors and ensuring they were locked, Lizzy punched in the home security alarm code and left the house, locking the door behind her and sliding her smooth, modern phone from her pocket.
Her fingers tapped the screen and confirmed the 4 number pin code, hoping to see texts from Juice or missed calls but instead received nothing, her heart sank as she started typing in the text
‘Hey x can we talk?’ she sent minutes after reading it over, walking over to her bike and sitting in the dry shelter on top of it, the cover up ahead was merely a plastic curtain that set itself up with two metal poles either side of the what looked like a motel building yet was nothing but a set of apartments.
she tipped her head back and stared at her phone, turning and putting her bag in the hatch and making little circles in the shiny helmet when suddenly her phone vibrated
‘yeah sure x im at TM till 4:30 but ill be right over with popcorn? ;)’ Juice texted back making Lizzy feel giddy but she knew it was serious, she wanted to maybe ask for a relationship, wanted to give him the only thing he hadn’t received tonight and with popcorn she couldn’t do that.
‘We won’t be watching movies’ was all she replied back with, putting her phone in her pocket and zipping it up before sliding on the helmet and moving her glasses on to shield the pelting rain from reaching her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lizzy drove into her street and stopped right outside her house, the only thing that didn’t stop her from going into her driveway was the blinds at her living room window, crooked and bent with something poking through, the drapes that were on the inside of the room had been wrapped around the bottom half of the window and showed through the dirtied glass.
the alley way she was passing showed trails of glass and a cracked plank of wood sticking from her fence showing that someone maybe fell into it from the inside.
The bike slid on the wet road a little almost causing a crash but it still managed to gain her attention for her to pull up, stopping the Harley and stalking to her door slowly, she pulled both sets of keys out of her pockets and rustled with them frantically, the keys had tangled and the panic had placed pressure on her body causing her to just repeatedly let them slip between her fingers.
“Goddamnit” She hissed, picking them off the floor
“Please, God” she whispered with her eyes closed, breathing out slowly and pulling the sets apart.
It took a minute or so at 09:15am to unlock the door, letting it swing open to reveal the wrecked room, her world crumbled as she peered in through the door at the room, the helmet was no longer on but had slipped off her fingers and onto the carpeted floor, crashing with a small thud and a tinkle that suggested it had rolled onto something that had smashed.
“No” she whispered, her eyes wide and her emotion bubbling, her mouth hung wide open in shock.
Everything went quiet apart from the numbing buzz in her ears that excluded everything, in the background her Bike hummed quietly as she stepped in, walking over broken glass and listening to it cracking beneath the thick soles of her biking boots, her legs shaking with each step.
The blank shelves and empty walls hurt her and for some reason, although she was never a materialistic person she did, like most, depend on her technology and when she saw that it was all gone, it shook her.
Tears began to slide down her cheeks silently, not even Lizzy herself knew she was crying, she just thought she was in shock and at that moment only three things mattered the most to her before she could start freaking out, her safe with the money she had earned over 6 months of saving that was due to go into her bank account the day after which totalled a little something around £5,000, her tattooing gear and the silver set with her name engraved into it that was worth a lot of money given to her as a sweet sixteenth birthday present from her parents, something her mother and father had bought and kept when she was born for that special day entirely.
“No! No! No! No!” She spoke in hushed tones as she entered each room
She walked around the entire house blindly, leaving the front door open and her bike running, some of the rooms such as the bathroom and her own room weren’t as bad as the others but they still needed things replaced, stopping in her bedroom to remove her jacket, socks and shoes like any normal day but the problem reminded her that it wasn’t a normal day.
Finally she reached the spare room, the room she’d been dreading on looking at and instead of going straight in head on she stopped and stared at the door, listening to the comforting patter of rain as she placed her palm down on the wooden door and laughed, just this morning she had thought
‘It’d never happen to me’ and yet it had happened.
She finally built the courage to wrap her hand around the doorknob and throw it open, stepping into the room and onto broken glass, she should have been walking on it like it was cracked eggshells but instead it was like walking on water...she treaded straight in and picked up the wooden door that leant against the tattooing table, picking it up and struggling with it.
She was only small so it took everything in her just to move it against the wall only to watch it scrape along eerily and bang behind the upturned sofa bed.
To her relief her well hidden tattoo equipment was sitting under the table in a small glass cabinet that apparently had not been seen whilst the people had trashed her life.
She was numb and had no idea what to do but turn and look at the wrecked wardrobe in hope that it was still there, that maybe the avalanche of clothes and shoes had hidden the small metal safe.
Almost like there was a silence that needed to be kept sacred Lizzy tiptoed around the broken glass, her emotions brimming to the top like a simmering pan ready to overflow as she stepped over her heel and looked into the wardrobe, the sound returned to her ears and her vision suddenly became clear
“No, no,no,no,no, Oh God no” She began to panic, her hands searching the clothes and throwing everything behind her frantically, she had been set back half a year, she’d lost over five thousand dollars and worst of all, the paper work she’d been given off of Hale to secure the parlour was in there as well as her will, her mothers and her personal things such as bank details, national insurance number and social security number.
Whoever had that could literally ruin her life instead of just trashing it.
She slid to her knees and crushed into the glass, a stinging sensation the only other thing she felt other than heartbreak, however minor it was anyone would be scared and angry and erratic at the same time, even those who weren’t exactly materialistic wanted and needed their things.
She slid everything from the bottom of the closet out onto the floor and stared at the empty, blank space that was once covered with clothes and random accessories to hide her safe for minutes and let it sink in before she began to cry hysterically, cursing in Spanish repeatedly as she scratched away at the bottom of the wardrobe to the point where her nails began to break and her fingers started to bleed.
Lizzy felt the glass of the photo frame dig into her knees and dance as she moved around on her legs, she didn’t care and didn’t know why but she was numb, all she knew was she needed that safe back.
Maybe if she sorted everything out then she’d have the ability to maybe even find the safe, what if it never had gone and it was just somewhere else, somewhere she’d forgotten that she put it.
“Why me?” She sobbed, mucus and tears mixing on her face, maybe she was over-reacting but nevertheless it was her own dream, her own right, her own life.
“WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME” She screamed, throwing her clothes and shoes around, punching her legs before slapping her hands down on the floor, a photo slipped in between her fingers as well as the sharp shards of glass that slid into her skin carefully, blood seeped over it and onto the floor in a pool either side of her, looking out of the window wistfully.
Lizzy always did love days like this, when it was dark and drizzly so she could sit on the sofa with her duvet and watch cartoon with a mug of hot chocolate but her perception of days like this would forever be ruined.
She stayed like that for what seemed to be forever, just watching the drops race each other down the window pane, squeezing her eyes tight before sobbing loudly, her body shaking violently with each sniff and cry
“Oh god” She cried into her bloodied hands, her head had tipped back against the sofa bed and her arms had rested themselves on her stinging knees, it took minutes of her sobbing and muffled tears before she swung her head forwards and into her hands palm up as blood trickled and smudged down her cheeks, mixing with her tears, she changed into yet another position, her left arm clutching her pained and straining stomach; Lizzy’s knee’s lifted to her chin before she rested her right elbow on them with a wince but she managed to ignore it furthermore and just cried into her hand.
She felt her mobile ring in her jean pocket but ignored the vibrations and instead looked at the photo in her hand through blurry eyes, managing to make out the face of her mother and father, hugging happily with a bump spitting out from Marla’s once flat stomach predominantly, happy glowing faces against Teller Morrow, Timothy holding a for sale sign in his spare hand.
That was him buying his first Harley, his first of many all of which he bought, refurbished and sold for a higher price.
She began to think of her father, what would he do? What would he say to his only daughter?
Maybe he would tell her that she could do nothing about it other than report it, clean up first, clean it up and clean herself up, tell the police and get on with life, maybe she might be set back with her dream and whatnot but nevertheless she was safe and had nothing to be huffy about because she wasn’t hurt.
She looked at herself up and down at the state she was in, her aching heart and stinging skin was nothing compared to the sinking feeling she felt at the time but all she could do was wipe her hair off her face with her wrists and pick out the small bits of glass from her hands and knees.
She was still crying but she realised it would stop any minute now, she’d let everything she could out and instead picked herself up, resting her hands on the cushions either side of her, placed conveniently and dusted off her clothes, stepping over the two broken frames and ripped canvases and closing the door behind her, she couldn’t go back into that room until she had maybe a night or two to calm down, then she’d return and clean it up.
Walking to the bathroom Lizzy padded onto the tiles and ran the tap, letting the sink fill and grabbing a towel from the rack behind her, sliding it onto the counter.
She dipped her hands into the hot, steamy water and enjoyed the pain and burning sensation she was greeted with, it wasn’t enough to make her blister but it was enough to make her realise that she needed a little cold in there.
Ducking she watched the shade of water turn into a pale and diluted pink as the blood separated from her skin before splashing the liquid onto her face, keeping her eyes closed whilst rubbing the drying soap into her skin with circular motions, ducking her whole head into the water with her fringe and other escaping pieces of hair being held up.
She stayed under the water for a minute or so, enjoying the burning feeling in her lungs before pulling her face out and throwing it into the towel, patting at her now clean skin.
Her mobile buzzed yet again in her pocket, a phone call bugging her with its ringtone, A favourite song of hers however still annoyed her when she heard it repeatedly.
“Hello?” She sniffed into the phone, coughing before repeating the word to sound normal
“Hey, are you okay?” Jake asked into the phone
“Can you come over, please? I need to clean my place and I really need a hand” She laughed, unsure if she was going to cry again or not.
Jake understood her distress
“Why? Is it that jackass, Juice? Idiot punched me yesterday” He whined
“No, No not at all it’s the home invasions, they have my safe” she sniffed again, before giggling and taking in the information Jake had given her
“Oh my god, I’m coming right over” Lizzy loved Jake, loved how one minute she could think he was a total creep and the next he was by her side, helping her because she knew he got her.
She ended the call and turned with her back to the sink, leaving the water in and just looking at the wall behind the closed doors, the thieves and taken whatever was worth taken, she just needed to make a list and see what she had insured.
Sighing, Lizzy opened the door and walked out into the hallway, picking up the photo’s that had been dropped and stepping around the glass before putting the photo’s down on the kitchen counter and getting a broom, she could hear the hum of a bike but wasn’t sure it was hers until she passed the open doorway, this time noticing it other than dismissing it.
Stepping out onto the soaked pavement outside of her door, stepping on each pavement stone and avoiding the grass on either side whilst she let the rain dampen her clothes, her broom still in one hand as she let the drizzle bounce off of her shoulder.
Lizzy stepped under the willow tree in her neighbour’s garden that ever so rudely interrupted her garden as it leaned lazily to the right into her space and lifted her bike up onto the pavement after stopping the engine, she began to feel the cold as she stepped out onto the road and wheeled her bike into her driveway, punching the small code into the door handle and lifting it, the bike leant against the fence before she wheeled it into the garage next to her car and walked back out, stopping and closing the door.
Elizabeth sighed after another sad moments and looked at the sky, blinking fervently with each drop of water hitting her eyes, she hated the squidging, wet and dingy feeling in her sodden socks as she stepped back onto the pavement and picked up her broom, she heard Jake approaching but couldn’t deal with his over-optimistic self, she just needed his help
“Don’t be happy, I need you to call up the back-ups” She whispered, turning to look at his lopsided and innocent grin, she couldn’t help but notice the bruises under his eyes that bled from his broken nose.
“Ignore it” he pointed with a chuckle,
“Could you get my room and the bathroom? Write down what you thinks missing and do the calls” she smiled, thankful as Jake nodded back and began heading to her room to find the back-up sheet wedged in-between her two mattresses, this had always been a deal since Lizzy and Jake had left school and stayed in touch whilst she went to College, they’d been best friends since she could remember and ever since had a plan and back-up for everything, they kept a list of everything serious they ever owned and everything they needed as well as discussing the more serious and recent things and trusted each other with their lives, Jake knew what he needed to do, call the bank with her information and close her account, call up about the copies for her numbers and insurance and finally call about the will, there’s nothing they could do about the missing money.
Lizzy grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, wiping away the broken jar of coffee granules onto the floor and putting it down on the counter entitling it
‘Things Missing’ in her beautiful, curling writing.
She wrote down what she couldn’t find in the kitchen which was barely anything, it was just trashed and brushed up the broken bits of wood and glass into a neat pile in the doorway, turning and thanking God silently in her head for making sure her mother was okay last night and for not breaking her dinner table, that would’ve been one awkward mess to tidy, instead she replaced the dishes and whatnot, cleaned the benches and wrote down
‘Microwave
Toaster’
She bent down and ignored the words coming from Jake’s mouth as she shovelled the dirt, glass, porcelain and coffee granules into the little shovel before spitting it back into a large garbage bag, sighing in happiness when she found the little red velvet box with her silver set bought for her 16th under the cabinet, but what was it doing there? She never put it there.
Once she had the room looking normal again, the small absences sticking out like a sore thumb to Lizzy she walked into the living room, leaving the backdoor open to allow the cold air to sweep through the house.
This was the biggest room and the room she needed to ignore so instead just walked through and went to the dining room to find the large pain of heavy and thick glass leaning against the wall, the base of the table kicked on its side however her glass figurines were gone, something more to add to the list.
She stood the base up with a large amount of difficulty, grabbing the broom and brushing up before vacuuming the room and cleaning it all up nicely, the porch doors had swung open to allow more air to evade the outside and instead push its way through Lizzy’s like a welcoming breeze.
Her small body sizing up the glass to fit the top of the table, she tried to lift it with a grunt but failed miserably
“Need a hand Miss?” Eli Roosevelt, the sheriff interrupted from the doorway making Lizzy jump in shock, the notepad in his dark skinned hand flipped shut as he entered the room and looked at the mess, Eli was small in height and not overly over weight in his unflattering brown uniform
“Yes please” Lizzy said, her voice lacking emotion
Eli waltzed over, stepping over the mess and grabbing the glass without the need of help and turning it awkwardly, putting it on top of the base haphazardly and allowing Lizzy to knock it back into the right place with her hip and careful hands.
“I was just passing and saw the mess through the door, Home invasions?” He asked
“Yes, I wasn’t going to call you guys because there’s never anything you can do” Lizzy spoke in harsh tones and was telling the truth no matter how bad it sounded.
“Let me tell you this, My wife and unborn child died because of these home invasion ns and I’m doing anything in my power AND everything to fix this” Eli’s small body towered over Lizzy’s even smaller one
“So where were you when my dad died” she hissed, looking into his eyes, At 13 she had went to the police chief and asked for a full scale investigation because she suspected it wasn’t just a normal accident, at 13 years of age people expected the kids to be unknowing and innocent when overall most were at their most specific and intelligent, they picked up things other wouldn’t or just chose to ignore the obvious, Tim had came home two days before his death with bullet wounds in his arm, obviously he had tried to get out of something and didn’t, watching the men laugh at her young self was enough to get out of there.
“I’m sorry” Eli stepped back and looked at his feet, he realised how inappropriate it was.
“So am I” She replied, this in her opinion wasn’t confrontation, normally she was terrified of anyone new but Juice had turned her into a new person and it was her natural hate for law enforcement.
“Look, I’ll clean this up and if I find anything I’ll give you a call, I’ll get Juice to drop off the list of everything missing” Elizabeth put her hand to her head and rubbed her temples, looking at the policeman and his look of knowledge
“So you’re Mr Ortiz’s new woman, I’ll do what I can” He nodded, holding his belt
“Thank you”
“No! Thank YOU” And with this, Eli stepped back, turned on his heel and walked out of the door.
She shook the feeling of panic off and After brushing up the dining room she stalked into the kitchen; retrieving a carton of orange juice and took a long swig, wiping her lips before smacking them together and grabbing a wet cloth and a bottle of bleach and walking into the living room
“Hey, I rang the insurance company and they said they’ll look into it, your account has been frozen so if you need anything you have to go down there to set everything up and that shit and I’m calling now about the personal things” Jake walked in, leaning against the wall with the phone in his hand and the list in his others, Lizzy turned and looked back at him, wiping at the glass of the coffee table and squirting the cleaner at it.
“Who was that” He gestured towards the empty doorway with the phone
“The Sherriff, he’s ‘doing what he can’” She used finger quotation marks to sarcastically show his use of words, Jake just laughed and walked into the dining room, sitting on one of the dining room chairs and dialling a number
“Hey, this room looks normal” He shouted through, noticing only the little figurines missing, the rest was there including the wavey and decorative mirror.
“Yeah, I know” She shouted back, brushing through the carpet and creating a pile in the archway in the kitchen before vacuuming around it, She pulled her sofa’s back into place or roughly thereabouts and went to work on her windows, cleaning and organising them, straightening the blinds and adjusting the drapes, opening the window as she did so.
Finally after she took note of everything she moved to putting the cushions on the sofa and cleaning the coffee table, arranging that nicely and picking her flowers up, throwing them on the sofa
She sat and cleaned the glass, hung the photo’s back up and cleaned the broken glass away
“Lizzy” Jake held the phone past the archway
“Yea?” She ducked her head and stood up, wiping her hands on her jeans with a wince
“Phone” He answered with one word, passing it to her as she held it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hello, this is SunForLife Insurance, I just want to know a few details” A snobby woman asked
“Okay” Lizzy answered gruffly, walking into her living room and leaning against the wall of the hallway that faced into the living room
“What is your name?” She asked
“Elizabeth Maria Martinez” She replied with a roll of her eyes
“And age”
“I’m 23, my birthday is on the 2nd of April 1990, my favourite colour is green and my secret word is Bella-Harley with dash between the Belle and Harley, this isn’t a-“ Lizzy spoke fast and agitated, not understanding why they needed to ask stupid questions, they’d heard her speak before, they should know it’s her with the information Jake had given them but what stopped her from talking was the sight of a little bit of paper lodged under the chunky leg of her sofa, She slid down the wall into a sitting position and bent forward; she approached it carefully like it would bite her and snapped her two fingers around it
“That’s enough information ma,am...you can understand what with a male calling for a female customer” The woman cackled into the phone mechanically and eerily terrifying.
“Yeah, he’s my brother” Lizzy lied with a distracted face, staring at the card with a terrible sense of foreboding.
“Do you want that on the system? For next time?” the woman asked
“No, it’s fine...just a onetime emergency” Lizzy exhaled, turning the card slowly within her fingers to reveal the one thing that shattered her heart
‘10% off any first time visit at CLEAR PASSAGES’ the words bouncing from the page like 3D, she held her hand to her face and let a few more tears slide
“For the love of” She whispered to herself, the echoing of a woman’s voice in her ear
“Miss? Miss?!” She shrieked in panic, like Lizzy had died on the end of the phone
“I’m, I need to ugh...I need to go” She sighed, still not sinking in that the person she liked the most, the person she could see herself for the rest of her life with had ruined her life.
Lizzy stood up and threw the phone at Jake without a second thought
“I need to go, c-c-clean up for m-me... I have someone I need to see” she stuttered, the anger bubbling, the pot that was simmering wasn’t going to overflow...it was going to explode.
She ran into her now tidy bedroom and grabbed her shoes , slipping them on and running out of the house, the card gripped tightly in her fingers as she wheeled the bike out of her garage and onto the pavement, Jake ran out into the rain with his hands in the air as if to say ‘What the hell’, the phone lodged in between his ear and shoulder as Lizzy ignored him and sped away without a helmet or jacket, enjoying the pain of the rain whipping at her skin, the harsh and cold winds screaming at her and the slippery road tricking the bike every turn.
She could hear everyone in her head screaming to turn around and go home or go slower, to stop dodging the traffic or to at least put a helmet on but she couldn’t.
She needed to know why.
Her drenched body flew into the parking lot of Teller-Morrow; She could see Juice working at the tire of a raised Honda. He put the tool and down and walked into the shelter of the garage with a grin on his face, happy to see her until he saw her face, no helmet, no jacket, drenched through with blood stained clothes.
“What the hell happened! are you okay?!” He shouted, running out into the rain to meet her whilst the other sons stood up and watched the couple from underneath the shelter, Chibs expected a great love scene and clapped, standing on the table and pretending to sing in opera
“No I’m not fucking OKAY!” she screamed, throwing her right fist into the jaw of Juice, snapping his head to the side with such a force he almost fell over
“Didn’t see that coming” Chibs muttered, sitting down on the table and looking at Jax with a worried expression.
“You f-f-f-fucking idiot, Juice!” She screamed and immediately he knew what she was talking about
“I can explain” Juice held his hands out in surrender
“N-no you can’t, f-f-first Ima then this?! Are you trying to m-m-make me hate you” She continued to rant, the rain pouring down her reddened cheeks.
“I’m so sorry El” he was almost sobbing himself, straight away he knew what the problem was, he’d been caught and the last thing he wanted was to lose he.
“N-n-n-n- FUCK!” she pushed his advancing body away, so angered she couldn’t talk properly and that only annoyed her more, her stutter making her sound adorable to Juice but to herself like a defenceless child again, getting picked on in the school yard
“You don’t get to call me that anymore” She cried, wiping her tears away with her hand
“Please” He whispered
“No! But maybe next time you ruin my life don’t l-l-leave the fucking evid-d-dence” She threw the card at him and watched it miss his hands and tumble to the floor.
“I tried to stop, i did...I couldn’t do that to you” Juice tried but nothing could help her anger and betrayed look that stuck onto her face, the rain causing her clothes to become see through and transparent.
“BUT YOU DID?!” She sobbed, sighing and smacking her lips together, exhaling to make it look like she was getting it together.
“I was going to...I was g-g-going to give you everything tonight because maybe then you’d want me?! Maybe you wouldn’t go to a girl like Ima but I was wrong, the id-idiot again” She sobbed, Juice saw the pain he had caused and taking note of the words escaping her lips as she gulped back her stutter
“Lizzy” He tried before she cut in, she needed to know how much he wanted her.
“Always second best” She wiped away the tears and rain water from her face fervently and furiously
“I want it back Juice, I want it all back and if I don’t I’m outing you, I don’t want to see you ever again” she sniffed, her eyes intense and burning bright.
“LIZZY” Jake shouted, getting out of his pick-up truck and running to her
“I want it by tomorrow” she cried, turning to meet Jake with a thump, engulfing into his arms
“Just take me home” She whispered into his arms, pulling from his embrace and getting into his truck, tucking her legs under her chin and crying into her arms, Juice watched as Jake smirked and grabbed her bike, wheeling it and picking up with great problems into the back of the truck, trying for five or so minutes to lift it before Juice walked over and grabbed it with one arm, lifting it with a grunt
“The least I can do for her” He nodded, wiping the blood away from his lip and watching the car speed away with the girl he liked in the front, in tears because of him.
“Juice!” Jax shouted as soon as she left
“Not now” He held his hand up, “No! Not now, what was that about?” He asked
“She thinks I slept with Ima, and she likes me” He lied through gritted teeth
“Woah...didn’t think she was that type” Jax chuckled suspiciously, patting him on the back
“She’s not...It’s my fault, I said something to her, made her feel betrayed” He continued, Jax huffed and nodded, pushing him away a little,
“Wait! Jax” He stopped for a second
“What?”
“She knows, the cards yesterday...she found one but she thinks it was just me...she wants everything by tomorrow” Juice sighed
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place? Do you need us to handle it?” Jaz offered
“No, I’ve got it but we need to give her everything” He sighed, Jax nodded with an annoyed look and walked away, letting Juice sigh,walking into the office of TM, slamming the door and sitting on the waiting chair against the window with his head in his hand
“Rough day?” Clay asked from in front of him, shocking Juice and making him jump.
“What’s up Juice?” He asked honestly, Since nobody liked Clay anymore his only friend was Juice and Juice felt an unreal amount of sympathy towards the man all alone.
“I’ve messed it up” He cried, the tears pooling in his eyes
“How?” Clay asked, flipping a document shut and fiddling with a pen.
“It doesn’t matter” Juice shook his head
“It does, come on Juicy... I’m out of the loop, maybe now I can do something to help?” Clay wheezed as he pulled the wheeled chair towards Juice
“It’s about the club, we did something to her and we didn’t know it was her and now she’s threatening the club, threatening to out us if I don’t do anything but I...I really like her Clay” He sniffed, standing up and wiping his eyes with his shirt.
Clay immediately found this as a way to get back in, he never did like Lizzy other than her appearance, he always thought she’d turn into her dad
A good for nothing idiotic impulsive traitor.
“It’ll be fine,son” Clay stood too, pulling Juice into his embrace
“It’ll be fine” his eyes burned into the window behind the boy in his arms, devising a plan that could get him the gavel.