HAYLOFT jj maybank

twin sized mattresses

Chapter Two:
twin sized mattresses

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The Boneyard had been a mess. Wendy wasn't going to deny that, she loved them both, but they'd both seriously fucked up.

She pushed open the shitty gate that surrounded her house, knocking her fist against the door whilst praying her mother wasn't passed out on the couch as she didn't have her key— thankfully, her prayers were answered. Her mother opened the door, face screwed up in confusion at the sight of her daughter, hair falling from where she'd tied it at the nape of her neck, greying strands obscuring her droopy eyes. Patricia grinned at Wendy, arms tugging her daughter into the house, kicking the door shut as she embraced her, arms looping round her child's neck, pressing kisses to her forehead. Wendy shuddered at the sudden contact, internally cursing herself for the discomfort bubbling in her stomach, bile oozing up her throat as she choked out a sob, collapsing into her mother's grasp. Patricia slowly lowered them to the ground, pulling Wendy closer to her as she rocked them back and forth, soothing her daughter's loud sobs carefully.

"He picked a fight Mommy, he picked a fight with them," she whispered, eyes glossy with tears as her mother's thumbs swooped at the mascara stains on her cheeks lovingly. Patricia frowned, eyes dimming with disappointment as she huffed loudly, shoulders sagging as she mumbled curses under her breath.

"Those filthy heathens... I'm sorry baby, I'm so sorry they ruined your night. They're just jealous that you realised how much better you are, you know they hate to see you succeed, especially that blonde one, particularly nasty boy that one is.... I suppose he takes after his father in that sense," she hummed bitterly, missing the way Wendy openly flinched at the comparison of JJ to his father, her mother's heart blinded by pure hatred for her daughter's old friends. Wendy nodded miserably, head screaming as her mother continued to babble on about the Pogues, conveniently forgetting that they also lived in the Cut and that she was also a Pogue, forgetting that Wendy was the honorary Kook, not her.

She shuddered again, exhaustion and shock easing their way though her muscles, a yawn tearing at her mouth as she shrugged her mother's arms off of her, sending the woman a tired smile as she slipped away to her room, fingers twitching as she slid the lock into its mechanism, relief flooding her veins as it clicked into place.

Her room was small and stuffy with clothes that littered the floor haphazardly piled up on top of each other. Wendy made her way to her bed, the thin blue duvet and mass of colourful pillows her only source of comfort late at night. She frowned slightly, her twin size mattress used to fit everyone she loved on there, now she could barely fit on it herself. Discarding her sandy trainers in the far corner, she stripped her clothes off and clambered under the covers, fingers clinging to the scraggly body of her old rabbit teddy, holding it close to her chest. She could hear her mother's smokers cough and wheezes from the kitchen, followed by the pop of a beer bottle opening and winced— she was going to leave the house early tomorrow just in case.

The events of the evening played through her head like a broken record as she tried to sleep, images of JJ holding a gun were closely followed by him sobbing in her arms, then Topper drowning John B followed by said boy wiping her kisses off of his flushed cheeks with a nervous laugh— it didn't seem real.

Wendy sat up suddenly, eyes wide, chest heaving, moonlight spilling into her room through a crack in her curtains, and scrambled from her bed to find the upturned school rucksack in the corner of her room amongst a pile of dirty clothes (mostly hand-me-downs from Sarah). Fishing out a thick black marker and a half filled notepad, she scribbled an ominous message on the page, wrist flourishing as she signed her name before capping the marker and folding the paper into her bra as she grabbed herself some clothes, pulled on her trainers and crept out of her window, hopping over the broken fence and setting off down the road to the Chateau.