mouse | eastenders

→ aftermath

A few days later, and the shock still hadn't gone away, and this was evident in the nightmares Lucy was having. She had been discharged after a day in, with bruised ribs and a head injury that had been stitched up, but other than that, she was physically fine.

Mentally fine was whole different matter.

Lucy woke up panting heavily and covered in sweat from the nightmare she had. Flashes of the bus crash floated around her mind.

It turning into the square.

Falling down as it crashed.

And Mason pushing her further under.

Lucy gripped her bedsheets tightly, sat up in bed waiting for the feelings of nausea and fear to dissipate. Normally, they would leave within ten minutes or so, and she could return to trying to avoid the nightmarish scenes. This time, the feelings were overpowering her, and they felt more intense then ever.

The girl stumbled out of bed, seeing it had hit 4am. She debated going into the kitchen as she tiptoed out of her room, but what she really needed right now was to be in some open space.

As she stumbled around the house, Lucy didn't even notice Johnny sat in the kitchen, hands clutched around a nice hot cup of tea. She was more focused on getting out, hands loosely holding onto the banister as she went down the stairs breathing heavily.

She tried sitting down in the pub seats, hoping that normal warm atmosphere would calm her down. But all she could think of was how cold it felt, and how lonely she felt in that moment. Not too dissimilar from when she thought she'd be left on the bus forever. It was suffocating.

She had to leave.

Lucy ran out of the pub doors, again, failing to notice what was going on around her. She missed the footsteps rushing downstairs after her.

The cold air hit her, immediately improving the way she felt but she needed somewhere peaceful to regain composure and gather her thoughts. She ran towards the allotments at the other side of the square, a girl with a mission.

She was in such a headspace and determined to get to her destination that the feeling of broken glass cutting her feet felt like nothing.

•••

Meanwhile, Johnny was panicking because he had no idea where his sister had just ran off to. He heard the doors close and quickly rushes from behind the bar to peak out himself and have a look. But he didn't check in time, she had vanished from thin air.

He knew he couldn't find her on his own, so he ran back upstairs to wake Lee and Nancy, arriving at his brother's door first. He wanted to give their parents a break, they had been so involved in helping get the market back on its feet whilst still running a popular boozer.

"Lee!! Lee!!" Johnny shook him

"Ughhhh... What do you want at this time Johnny?" Lee murmured as the glow of his digital alarm clock blinded his vision.

"Lee, it's Lucy! She's gone walkabout, and I couldn't see where she went so now we need to find her!" Johnny rushed out, worried for his sister's safety.

And with that Lee was already up getting some clothes on to go outside.

"I'll go get nance whilst you get ready" Johnny said and turned around to see his sister there.

"What's going on" Nancy said tiredly.

"Lucy. Outside. Walkabout." Johnny explained with wide eyes.

And then Nancy pulled a similar face.
"Right lemme get my coat on then let's find her" she rushed away.