1. shimmer (a taylor swift au)

-chapter two-

Taylor's leg was wobbling up and down as she sat hunched over in the chair. Every single person that walked past her window left her wondering whether anyone was actually going to come and look at Ellie.
The little girl was still asleep, and Taylor checked her watch for what felt like the hundredth time - only to realise that three minutes had passed since she last checked.

That was another thing she hated about hospitals - time seemed to stand still.
She glanced up as she heard Ellie begin to move, and saw that Wendy had fallen onto the floor on the other side of the bed.
Taylor stood up quietly, tiptoeing across the floor.
"Taylor?" A little voice called her name.
"Yes? I'm right here."
"I had a bad dream."
"Monsters?" Taylor asked softly as she cuddled the elephant close to the girl's chest.
"Yeah," Ellie nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't want to be any trouble-"
"Everyone has bad dreams," Taylor told her. "I have lots of bad dreams."
"But you're so pretty," Eloise sounded confused, and her comment made Taylor grin.
"You're so kind," Taylor sighed. "Unfortunately that doesn't stop me from having bad dreams though."
"What are your bad dreams about?"
Lately, they had all been about leaving her relationship. She'd slipped past the stage of dreaming about monsters and scary things. For now, most of the time the scary things were realistic.
"Lots of things," Taylor admitted. "Sometimes I dream about the people I love leaving me or having to leave the people I love, or sometimes I dream that there are spiders crawling all over me." She smiled. "What was your dream about, Ellie?"
"My parents." She said bluntly with tears in her eyes. "They're the monsters in my dreams."
"That must be really scary," Taylor sighed. She was about to open her mouth and say more when a woman in a floral blouse entered the room.
"Hi, Eloise!" She beamed. "My name is Kate and I'm just here to get to know you a little better, okay? I'm going to ask you a few questions and it would be really helpful-"
"Are you going to make me go home?" Ellie exclaimed in no more than a whisper.
The woman sighed, shaking her head.

Taylor felt anxious. She knew that it was this woman's job to keep kids like Ellie safe, and she knew that Kate would most likely be really good at her job. However, she also felt like Kate was just a stranger. Ellie was eight, what if she didn't answer the questions properly?
Would Taylor just be expected to leave the hospital and the end of the night, knowing that Ellie was going home to the monsters in her house?
"I'm just going to ask you some questions so that I can see if home is a safe place for you," Kate said sweetly.
"It's not." Ellie scoffed, shaking her head. Taylor could see the little girl's breath racing in and out and could tell that there were so many things about Kate that she didn't trust.
"Will you answer my questions?"
Ellie nodded.
"What's your last name, Eloise?" Kate opened her notebook, took the lid off her pen and wrote ELOISE across the top of the page.
"Thompson." Ellie glanced over at Taylor, who held out her hand reassuringly. Ellie took it and felt relieved to be close to her again.
"Can you tell me what your Mummy and Daddy's names are?" Kate asked these questions with such a light, soft voice, considering these questions were so important.
"Mummy's name is Sarah and my Daddy's called Mike." Taylor could see that Ellie felt like she was giving away all of her secrets and that she didn't feel comfortable being so open about everything.
"How did you get that cut on your foot, Eloise?"
Even Taylor was taken aback by the sudden change of questions. Her heart began to race, and she braved herself for the reality of Ellie's situation. How had she been the one to stumble into this situation? She was glad it was her, glad that she could take care of Ellie in the child's time of need, but she still felt like it could have just as easily been anyone else sitting here.
Ellie stared over at Taylor as she spoke.
"Daddy got mad that he had to look after me when Mommy was out at a club and he smashed a bottle on it." Taylor's breath got stuck in her throat and suddenly she felt sick. How did an eight-year-old know what a club was? How did an eight-year-old know the wrath of an angry parent?
"Do you know what sort of bottle it was?"
"It was something from the fridge. It was brown, and it smelled yucky." Ellie's nose scrunched, the moment replaying in her mind.
"Beer?" Kate asked, and the little girl nodded.
"Does Daddy hit you a lot?"
Ellie looked down at Wendy, who was clasped tightly in one hand and didn't speak.
"It's okay, Eloise. I just need to have an answer to these questions, and then I'll tell you what's going to happen from here, okay?"
"He only hits me when he's drunk." Taylor didn't think an eight-year-old child should know the meaning of the word drunk. "Mommy's the really scary one because she doesn't need a drink to get mad."
Taylor had to actually remind herself to breathe. She was so tense, her hand was balled in a fist, but her left hand was softly stroking Ellie's back and forward.
"What sorts of things did Mommy get mad about?"
"She'd say that I touched her stuff."
"What stuff?"
"I don't know, it was a white powder thingy that she kept in a bag on her bedside table. I never touched it, I promise." Kate nodded when Ellie replied.
"Was it just Mummy that had the white powder?"
"No, Daddy had it too."
"Who gave you those bruises?"