Broken (The Siren Series #1) (6 page)

“
So how’s work Dad?” I failed at small
talk.

He laughed softly. “It’s not bad but it’s a
bit tiring.”

When he said that, I then noticed the dark
circles forming under his eyes. Was I adding to his tiredness? I
know he worries about me but wish I could make him relax more about
things.

“
Dad, you don’t have to stress about me
you know.” I blurted out.

He looked surprised. “Where did that come
from?” he asked.

“
Well
we
have been talking, and the way Kate says it, it sounds like
you are worried about me. Is that true?” I had to ask him about
it.

It was a few seconds before he spoke. He
rubbed his face and leaned forward as if to tell me something
serious. (Uh oh)

“Ellie you are my daughter I will always
worry about you, it’s my job.” He took a deep breath. “When you
where a child, some people acted very weird to you.” he paused for
a moment. “I didn’t want to tell you this but, you were kidnapped
when you were a child. Someone who worked at the school you used to
go to.” My eyes shot open, I had no memory of this.

He shifted towards me and gently took my
hands. I wanted to run away from him, wanted to flinch away but I
stared into his eyes, waiting for the madness to start. Like Kate,
nothing happened. There was no madness in his eyes, no indication
to attack me. I didn’t pull my hands away. I continued to listen to
his every word while watching his eyes.

“
When you were taken from me, I thought
I lost you Ellie, with your Mum gone as well I think I would have
gone crazy, but it was with Kate’s help. It was a teacher at your
school who spotted you with the man, luckily he didn’t get far. He
was clearly crazy but after the police was called, I got you back
safely.” He gave a huge sigh. “That is why I worry Ellie. Sometimes
I think it’s going to happen again.”

“
What happened to the man who took me?”
I asked.

“
They took him away but I don’t know
what happened to him in the end, they didn’t tell me.” He
said.

“
What do you mean
they?
” I asked.

“
The police,” He replied. “I we were so
relieved to have you back.”

“
After that, we moved and people took a
liking to you very quickly, and I thought it would happen again so
we moved around a lot.” his grip on my hand tightened. “I just want
you safe Ellie, you are my world, and I would do anything to
protect you.”

I could feel my eyes watering up. “Dad,” I
firmly said. “I won’t let anything happen to me.” I gave a teary
smile.

I almost forgot to tell him about that woman,
but would telling him just add to more worry? I decided to tell
him.

“
Uh Dad,” I paused. “I saw that woman
again today.”

He pulled his hands away from mine and
I wished he hadn’t. He sat upright and was about to say something
but I blurted out. “She said she’s a
friend
of Mum’s.” Hoping it was the right thing
to say.

He had a stern look on his face that
frightened me a little. “What do you mean she a
friend
of your mother’s, is this some sort of
sick joke?” He was getting mad. I could see his fury building
up.

“
S-she said that her name was R-rhea.”
I stuttered.

“
See Ellie there are people out there
who want to harm you.” He said thrusting his finger to the
door.

“
Dad, please calm down.” I pleaded. He
started to pace back and forth, mumbling under his
breath.

He started to scare me, he hardly got mad and
now he was rambling. I should have never said anything at all.

“
Dad!” I shouted.

Quickly he turned to face me. His anger
faded. He could see how scared I was, and he dropped down and
hugged me tightly. I started to cry again while he clutched me.
Everything that I had tried to push down came rushing up to the
surface, the name calling, the bullying, the stalker and her sick
games and even the loneliness. I tried to bottle it back up but it
exploded and waves of tears fell down my face. I couldn’t catch my
breath.

“
I’m sorry Ellie.” He said.

I pulled away from him with my head down. I
didn’t want him to see me with my face all red and puffy. He lifted
up my head and wiped my tears away. I calmed myself down and tried
to get my breathing under control. Slowly I stood up and went into
the kitchen. I poured myself a cup of water and drank it down in
one gulp. The cold water was nice and refreshing, I placed the
empty glass to my flushed cheeks, feeling the sharp coldness of the
glass against my skin.

My Dad walked into the kitchen without saying
a word.

“
I bet I look like a right state?” I
tried to laugh.

He stayed silent.

Outside the kitchen window, the sun was
setting, turning the sky a dark orange. It was getting late and I
wanted to go to bed badly.

“
I think I want an early night.” I said
while still staring out the window.

He nodded. “Yeah it is getting a bit late.
Goodnight Ellie.” He gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead.

My tired legs climbed the stairs, and as soon
as I opened my door, Dad called from downstairs. “Kate’s taking you
to school again tomorrow.” he said.

I gave an eye roll and threw myself onto the
bed with a flop. I couldn’t be asked to stand up and take my
clothes off, so I awkwardly fought against my pajamas bottoms and
threw them across the room, missing the basket by an inch. I
clutched onto my pillow and brought my fluffy blanket around me. My
mind got me thinking, Dad touched me on my hands. He didn’t go
crazy, like Kate. What was going on? For the first time I was too
tired to continue that train of thought and for once sleep came
easily to me.

I awoke to a buzzing alarm clock. I lifted my
tired eyes. It seemed as if I just got into bed. I wanted to throw
that damn alarm clock across the room.

“
Better get up then.” I said out loud
hoping it would jolt me out of bed. I pushed back the covers and
slowly stretched my tired muscles. I threw off all my clothes and
groggily jumped into my shower and pushed the button for the hot
water. I stood back for the water to get warm, not wanting to get
hit by freezing cold water. The warm water hit my skin and I felt
my body slowly awakening. I reached out for my strawberry body
wash, when, I noticed it wasn’t there. Then I knew Dad had been in
my shower and stolen it. I settled for my vanilla one instead.
Quickly, I showered and dried and brushed my hair. Today I decided
to have my hair loose since it was natural curly. Downstairs I
could smell something cooking.

“
I hope its pancakes.” I said as I
pulled my skirt on.

I hurried down to be greeted by the mouth
drooling smell. In the kitchen, sitting on the table were the
pancakes covered with lots of syrup. Dad stood at the cooker,
trying to flip some very odd shaped pancakes, hoping they didn’t go
on the floor, (Like last time).

I sat down at the kitchen and took the knife
and fork beside me.

“
Moring Dad.” I said. “Oh yeah, have
you been using my strawberry scrub?” I raised a playful
eyebrow.

He took a while to answer. “It just smells so
good that’s all.” he laughed.

He placed more pancakes in front of me and
placed the syrup bottle onto the table. My eyes lit up as more
piled onto my plate. It didn’t take me long to finish, when I
noticed that Dad wasn’t eating.

“
Why mot meeting?” I said with my last
mouthful of pancake.

“
Say that again in English?” he
chuckled.

I swallowed a mouthful and repeated. “Why are
you not eating?”

“
I have to go into work early and I
wanted to see you off to school.” he said.

“
Fine.” I mumbled.

Dad was sipping his hot beverage while I was
demolishing my pancakes.

When I finished Dad took my plate and I said
my thanks. I grabbed my bag from the living room and heard the horn
from Kate’s car. Throwing my hand up, I gave my Dad a wave and left
the house. Not before I made sure my face was clean from breakfast.
Kate was parked outside blasting some music, and I swore that I
could see the car bounce up and down.

I ran to the passenger side of the car and
let myself in. Kate greeted me with the biggest smile.

“
You’re in a very good mood today.” I
said struggling over the music.

Kate turned down the booming music. “Sorry
Ellie. Yeah you could say I’m in a good mood.” she winked.

I smiled at her. I was happy when Kate was
happy. Sadly, not many good things happen to Kate, and seeing her
like this put me in a good mood. We pulled away from the house and
drove down the street.

“
So what’s got you in a good mood
then?” I waited for her answer.

“
Well, this guy phoned me up last night
and asked me if I wanted to go out.”

“
Really? That’s great, so what’s he
like then? Is he up to your standards?” I asked her.

“
He’s great, funny and kind. He works
with me down at the hospital.” Kate replied.

“
I’m happy for you Kate. Hope it works
out.” I smiled.

“
We are meeting up this Saturday for a
drin-”

Before Kate could say anymore, something
smashed into the side of the car, throwing us across the road with
deadly force. The windows exploded, sending shards of glass flying
across my face, slashing at my skin. The car skidded across the
road and I tried to hold on to anything thing that I could find.
The car lost its grip and flipped over. Pain rippled throughout my
body as the car rolled through the air, throwing my body from side
to side. My head slammed against the window making my vision blurry
and dark, until the car finally landed on its roof with a loud ear
shattering crash.

My eyes flickered open to see I was hanging
upside down, still bucked into the seatbelt. Both of my arms were
dangling in the air. Something wet slid down my face. I brushed it
away, and then I realized it was blood. The scarlet color substance
was thick on my fingers. My head was heavy, my vision started to
get worse. Before I could try and stay awake I blacked out.

Opening my eyes was painful. My head started
to pound away with my heartbeat. I could hear many random voices
talking loudly around me with sharp painful noises. I ignored them
while they shined their harsh bright light into my eyes. My entire
body screamed out in agony, I could not move, nor did I want to. I
was wheeled away from what looked like a crash and into what I
hoped was an ambulance. In my sight, was the accident that caused
my harmful injures. The car had flipped onto its roof with all the
windows smashed out, the car was completely battered and at the
side there was another car, most of the front was gone. Pieces of
the cars window littered the floor like tiny diamonds. Kate’s car
was completely destroyed.

“
Kate!” I tried to scream.

Before I could try again I heard a kind and
gentle voice calling to me. “What’s your name?”

“
E-ellie.” I stuttered. My face began
to throb with pain. I fought against it. “Is Kate ok?” I
winced.

“
Is that her name? She is being cared
for as we speak,” he answered. “You had a very nasty accident
Ellie.”

I felt really tired all of a sudden. I wanted
to close my heavy eyes but the man hovering over me told me not to.
Everything was harsh around me. All the noises were loud and
painful, the visuals were blurry and I could just make out the man
in front of me. I just wanted to sleep. With my failing vision, I
could see, what looked like a hand coming towards me.

Please don’t touch
me.
I thought

He placed a gentle hand to my face. I waited
for him to change; I prayed in my mind that he wouldn’t turn. Then
I noticed that he was wearing thick gloves. A huge relief washed
over me when he remained calm. I was about to say my thanks when
everything went dark.

I tried to open my eyes slowly. I winced from
the bright light around me. My head began to pound in sync with my
heartbeat. My skull felt like it was about to explode.

I brought up my hand to shield my eyes from
the light, when something was tugging from my hand. I looked down
and saw a clip clamped onto my finger along with an IV drip
inserted into the back of my hand. Just staring at it made me feel
weak, immediately I looked away and ignored it. My eyes were now in
focus to the rooms light. I was in what looked like a hospital. It
was a private room that was used only for special circumstances.
The room had white bright walls that reflected the harsh horrible
light, the floor was what looked like cheep hospital lino, and next
to my bed was an IV stand and on the other side was a heart rate
monitor. Looking over at the corner, slumped down in a chair was my
Dad snoring away. He looked like he’d been here a while, his face
had a stubble growing. Everything came flooding back to me. The
crash played over in my mind it was like I was reliving the horror
all over again.

“
Kate!?” I yelled.

I tried to pull the covers away from me; the
sheets felt as if someone had woven steel into thick wool. I had no
energy but I had to see Kate. I slipped off the finger clip with
ease, now I just needed to sum up the courage to rip the IV
out.