Lost | Elektra and Liam | The Dumping Ground

Thirteen

Closing her eyes was an impossible task. Every time she tried to go to sleep she failed, and soon Elektra found herself counting cobwebs off her ceiling.

For the first time in a long time, she'd found her anchor. She'd started to keep a diary again; lyrics flowing from her fingertips with such ease, that sometimes she'd stay locked up in her room for ages... pouring her heart out onto paper.

Yet... they hadn't heard back.

Since the moment that Liam had sent out the finished song to the labels, not one single label had replied back. And with every passing day, Elektra could hear the sensible voice in her head, dictating that maybe she should find a more reasonable career.

But a single, measly A-Level in Psychology wasn't going to get her anywhere good.

Before

She couldn't help feeling on top of the world. Despite the long hours at the supermarket, despite the emptiness of the fridge in the flat, Elektra could feel her luck turning around. Her determination to get her qualifications kept her busy throughout the day and soon she would be free from her personal hell.

At least, she hoped. She'd been so preoccupied with surviving that she'd kept her assault hidden in the deepest corners of her brain.

An average Sunday newspaper with a mug of tea. She'd been idly flicking through it when she saw it. A small mention, rather humble. Except... there was a picture of him.

She spilled her tea over the pages; his smiling, perfect image started to blur. It was ugly. It was horrible. And yet, she could see that this minuscule mention of her sister's husband having given a great deal of money to charity had affected her more than she would care to admit.

She could never move on. Not while that monster was still out there.

"Elektra? Hun, what's wrong?" Callie asked, reapplying her lip gloss. She noted the tea stain on the newspaper, "Oh don't worry! I wasn't planning on reading it anyway..."

She left.

Elektra was left in shock. She'd just discovered that the man whom she'd escaped from had returned and Callie had no clue in the slightest. What had happened to her best friend who could see right through her?

What had happened to them?

Callie often left the flat without so much as a goodbye these days and Elektra had a feeling that she was hiding something from her. Maybe it was something to do with Cobra... maybe it wasn't.

But she was sick of being treated like a naïve baby.

Something had happened.

He could sense it, the moment she'd sat down by their usual table by the window, that Elektra was not the same. He'd been testing her on a particular module and despite her perfect answers, there was a dullness in her tone, a heaviness in her limbs that weighed her down.

"What's wrong?" he eventually asked.

"Oh... nothing. Just work," she replied vaguely, but she forgot his brother was a copper and he too could sniff out lies.

"Tell me," he insisted, taking hold of her hands. It was an intimate gesture that had become a habit, yet he felt her stiffen.

"I... got reminded of something sad today. It'll wear off, I promise, but..." she trailed off hesitantly.

"Is it something to do with your current situation..?" Liam asked as Elektra looked away. He knew it wasn't his business, but he couldn't understand how she'd gone from living with her sister's family to struggling to get an education.