right where you left me

Chapter 14 - Honour

"So, I grew up in the country," I started to say to Leah, as we sat together on the couch in her apartment. "I have four siblings: three sisters and a brother."

"Yeah, I remember: Finn, Darcy, Bindi and... I can't remember the last."

"Eden."

"Yes, Eden," Leah repeated.

"Yeah, so I told you that Darcy and Bindi left home when they turned 18, and Eden went off to boarding school when she was in year 10..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, I never really told you why," I said.

"I'm getting scared," Leah soon added, turning her body towards me, and crossing her legs onto the couch.

"I- it's not a pretty story." I looked towards my feet as I started to tell her: tell her the story of abuse. "My dad... he wasn't a good person. He would drink and drink and drink, and people became punching bags."

"Holy shit." Leah grabbed my hand, but I didn't reciprocate. I knew I just needed to get it out, before anything else.

"Eden got it the worst. Finn and I were young; Mum would hide us in the closet. It was kind of an out of sight, out of mind kind of thing. If he couldn't see us, hopefully he wouldn't try to find us. But Eden, she wouldn't hide. She would stand up for herself. She would be a brick wall, trying to protect Mum, but she would just get the brunt of it. I remember her having black eyes and bruises up her arms constantly throughout my childhood. Soon, Mum had enough of it, and tried doing the right thing by sending her off to boarding school, but it kind of backfired."

"Because she never came back?" Leah questioned.

"Yeah, that, and also, Mum never really had contact with her again. They lost their relationship, and so too did Finn and I. I don't know where Eden is, and neither does Mum, or Finn, or anyone really."

"Jesus christ," Leah said, looking down at the ground, and turning her head away. "I don't really know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," I replied, inching closer towards her.

"When you moved to Sydney," Leah started to say, "your mum left him, right?"

"Yeah. We left in the middle of the night, and I have refused to see him since. Darcy and Bindi saw him, and I think Finn did too. Mum tried to go through a period of forgiving him, but he did the exact same thing apparently. But now, thankfully, nothing can ever happen again." Leah sighed, as if she was thankful for that, but then, I saw her face shift.

"Wait, why?" Leah then asked. "Why can't anything ever happen again?" I knew this question would come up.

"He died," I soon said. "In December."

"Holy shit," Leah replied. "Wow, okay..."

"Yeah, that's why I went home, and missed the Asian Cup."

"I thought it was because of..."

"Ellie? No no, definitely not Ellie. I wouldn't have missed a tournament because of a break up, even if it was painful." Leah nodded her head, agreeing with what I had just said.

"Was there like... a funeral?" Leah asked.

"There was; I didn't go through. Couldn't bring myself to honour a man's life who was never honourable to us."

"That's understandable."

"I'm just so pissed at the moment," I soon said, laying against the couch, my head resting on the material.

"Why?" Leah asked, leaning against it too, and looking me right in the eye.

"I saw Darcy, when I played the game against New Zealand. She came and saw me, and we were going to get coffee and everything."