My Promised Lie

Chapter fourteen

Chapter fourteen

After school mum was meant to pick me up but I didn’t want her too. I wanted to walk. So I did. I walked home alone, my phone ringing every few minutes. It was Jake, I didn’t feel like answering, I didn’t need it right now. My phone rang once more, Samantha. I picked up.

“Yes?” I said impatiently.

“Alice? I need a favour.” She was actually asking that, I mean after we had fought and she threatened to tell Jake.

“What do you want?”

“I need you to take Jake to prom…” her voice fell into the distance of the line.

“Well not like it’s your business but we weren’t planning on going”

“Well you better re-think that plan”

“Actually no, I won’t. It’s not your choice anymore”

“If it wasn’t for me, what would you be? Nothing, I made you something. I made you his thing, so when I ask for one simple thing you will not be so disobedient” When did every one suddenly decide that I was disobedient, maybe I just had my own options?

Guess not.

“Fine, I’ll take to Jake about it but I don’t think he will want to go”

“You will make him go, or you will kiss you’re perfect life goodbye” She hung up. Did she honestly think my life was perfect? My life was crumbling under my feet. My father was sitting in hospital, barley alive, my mother hated me and thought I was a whore, and the boy I actually love I am lying to and being paid to date.

I stepped gently off the footpath and onto the grass, I took a short cut. It took about two hours to get from school to the hospital not including the stop at the general store to get a drink. It would have been an hour by car. As the elevator rose to the third floor I stared at the ground, trying not to attract any attention to myself. I walked straight to dad’s room, without looking up. I got to the door and I reached for the handle but before I touched it, it turned and opened. A pair of black heels, mum. My eyes wondered up to her face.

“Where have you been, I’ve been calling you for the past two hours?” She shouted while closing the door.

“I walked” I said pulling my eyes back to the ground

“I told you, I was picking you up?”

“I felt like walking” I said pushing my way through and reaching for the door handle. She grabbed my wrist as I did.

“You cannot walk in here and expect everyone to bow at your feet. I waited outside the school for an hour, while I waited, for nothing I should add. Your father’s kidney had failed so his heart stopped functioning correctly and there was no one to inform, I couldn’t be with him. Because of you.” I saw tears in the corners of her eyes, waiting to fall down her face, but she was strong. She turned her back to me, looked down, took a big breath in and sighed as she opened the door.

I sat in the waiting room for hours, dad had been moved to ICU, intensive care unit. Only one person at a time since how bad he was. Mum didn’t want to leave his side; I didn’t want her to either, so I waited. My phone began to ring. Jake.

“Alice?”

“Yes?” I said holding back tears.

“How’s he doing?”

“Not too great” I had the voice, you know the one where you’re holding back tear and your voice softens and you breathe louder.

“Is there….” I budded in, I knew what was next. ‘Anything I could do to make it better’, I knew his words, you hear them in movies, every time.

“No”

“Well can I at least take you to dinner tonight? Try to get your mind off it, even for an hour?”

“I guess” It happened, the tears streamed down my face. Guess I wasn’t as strong as mum.

“Pick you up at seven, I love you” He hung up. ‘He said it, he said the three words that could possibly ruin my life’ was all I could think.

Authors note: Sorry this chapter is shorter and sorry for it taking forever to be published. xx