MASTERMIND | Jamie Tartt

TWELVE: YOU BRING ME HOME

When Billie left work anticipating a night at home watching Gossip Girl with Madison the last thing she expected was a message from Sam telling her that the whole team was needed in the treatment room in order to reverse a curse. She later found out that in order to reverse the curse everyone was bringing something very dear to them that they could offer to the 'spirits'.

She didn't necessarily believe in the idea of spirits and curses but she was willing to help the team in their hour of need, and the first thing that came to mind was in a place that she hadn't been since she moved to university when she was eighteen.

The place she called her childhood home.

Despite not having been back to the place in almost four years she still had her key on the same key ring as her own keys for the flat she shared with Alfie and Madison, the flat she made her home.

"Hello?" She called out as she entered the flat, the same flat that her parents had lived in since Roy was able to buy them a better one than where they first lived.

"Billie?" She heard the familiar sound of her father's voice, her father who she hadn't seen since her graduation in the summer.

With a heavy sigh Billie made her way into the living room where her dad was sitting on the sofa, wearing pyjamas and watching reruns of Only Fools and Horses, "You alright, Dad?"

"Yeah," He nodded, keeping his eyes on the TV screen, "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to get some of my old stuff for my flat," She explained, toying with the teddy bear keyring she had won on a trip to Brighton with Phoebe.

"I saw what they said about you in The Sun," Her Dad replied, not even giving her the courtesy of eye contact, "Your brother said it's not true."

"It's not, well most of it," Billie sighed, "The bit about breaking up with Brad, that's true."

"I never was keen on you dating a Chelsea player, should've stuck with West Ham," He muttered, which didn't surprise Billie, given that her father had always made his club allegiance known, "That Declan Rice is on good form."

"Dad, I'm not dating anyone at the moment," Billie sighed in defeat.

"What about Jamie Tartt?" Her father asked as though Roy hadn't told him the article was untrue.

"Where's Mum?" She diverted the question, even though her mother would be equally as unimpressed by her presence.

"Out."

"With her man friend?" Billie sighed as she leant against the doorframe, her father looking up at her for the first time, "I know you're seeing other people, you were doing it while I was a kid, and I thought that's what everyone's parents did."

"She's at work."

"And you?" Billie asked, "Have you been working?"

"I have as it goes," He mumbled, "At least one person in this room has a proper job."

"I do have a proper job, Dad, I texted you when I got it," Billie sighed.

"But you wouldn't have got it if it weren't for your brother," It was at that point she realised her father had been day drinking, not that he was violent, he'd never been violent, he just looked like a mess, "What have you got to show for yourself? Your brother's a Premier League footballer and your sister is a qualified doctor, and you're just taking photos of sweaty footballers."

"I'm not doing this," Billie huffed before making her way into her childhood bedroom, a room that remained untouched since the day she moved out.

All she ever wanted as a child was to be seen by her parents. They saw her siblings and their achievements, but she always felt forgotten. Deep down she knew that it wasn't her own fault, the fault lay with her parents for their failure to raise her with love.