Helping 11

17

Nora

This is bad, this is really bad. Ciarain has a knife. Holy shit. I need to take a deep breath and think. He's no longer standing at my door so he must have gone downstairs. Hopefully he doesn't hurt Meabh.

I need to get me and Tadgh out of here. Tadgh is still fast asleep next to me. Carefully as not to wake him up, I slip out of bed. Padding over to my wardrobe I grab a bag and stuff some clothes in it. I also grab my notebook and the keychain my dad gave me.

"What are you doing." I startle, Tadghs voice scaring me. He's sitting up in bed, putting his hoodie back on. He looks a little less drunk and more like he knows what's going on

I look around hoping Ciarain didn't hear him. "We have to go."

"What why." He checks his phone. "Jesus Os it 3 in the morning, what are we doing."

I throw the bag at him. "Hold this. We just have to go." I rush over to the bed and pull him up toward the door.

"Where are we going." If we are being honest I have no idea but we could go to the park? Or his house? That would work.

"We're going to walk to your house." I open my bedroom door, checking for anyone. Once I get tadgh out of here, i'm coming back for Meabh. Seeing that it's safe we creep down the stairs.

Grabbing our coats, I hand tadghs his and put mine on. Sliding our shoes on, I'm about to open the door but remember there is one more thing I need. The last photo of my dad.

I turn to tadgh. "Stay here." He shakes his head. "No, Im coming with you."

I sigh. He's so stubborn. I tell him to be quiet and we walk in a line to the kitchen table. How different it is to tadghs. His is filled with laughter and love. Mine is fill with people yelling and tears. Rummaging around the draws I find the picture . It's of him laughing, right before he left and never came back. It was shoved in to the draws after my ma tried to get rid of everything that had my dad in it, trying to get rid of him.

"What are you two doing." Shit. I turn finding my mum holding Meabh. Tears are filling Meabhs eyes. My mums eyes shift to what I'm holding in my hands. "And what are you doing with that photo.

"I just need it for something." I can't tell her that I'm leaving. She'll try to stop me and I need to get tadgh out of here safely.

"No you don't, give it here." She reaches for it but I pull it away. She reaches again and gets it. I pull it back but the picture rips in half. Right down the middle. I broke dad again.

"What is wrong with you." I want to yell at her everything, that everything is wrong and I don't know how to fix myself.

Ciarain voice is yelling at us. He must be outside but it's still loud. He yelling at them to hurry up and get in the car. Mum puts meabh down and tells her to go to him. She runs off.

"Where are you two going." Her voice breaks a little.

Tadgh answers for me. "My house."

A tear falls down her face. "Good. You stay safe there okay?" She kisses my forehead and then pulls me into a hug. She holding on tight and I cling to her, feeling that something was really wrong.

She pulls back just far enough to whisper something to me. "I love you." The first time shes said those words in a year.

"I love you too." I hold her tighter, not wanting to let go of my mum. She pulls back, wiping the tears from my cheeck. "Okay you two need to leave now." I shake my head, not wanting to let her go.

"It will be fine, you're strong. I'll see you again." She turns to tadgh, whispering something I can't hear.

When I look at tadgh, there are tears in his eyes. He grabs my hand, pulling my towards the backdoor. I turn around looking at her.

"Goodbye Nora." And then my mum shuts the door in our faces, letting us go.

Tadgh

Don't try to help. It will be too late. Keep her safe. Don't let this break her.

Her mums words replay in my mind. Something is really wrong. Everyone in that house is acting weird and her mum, her mum was ready to die. I didn't know how or when it was going to happen but as soon as we get home, i'm calling the poilce.

I'm holding Nora's hand, trying to keep her together. She's quietly crying and it breaks my heart. As we walk away I can hear the sound of an engine driving away.

...

"Ah shit Os I don't have my keys on me." She finally looks over at me. The whole walk here she was like a zombie.

"Is there any other way to get in." Her voice is quiet, small.

"We could try go through joeys door but we would have to be really quiet."

She shrugs. "Sure we can try."

I lead her towards the door and we creep through. It's dark and quiet inside which is a good sign. Walking into the kitchen there's a figure sitting in a chair.

"What are you two doing." Joeys voice sounds through the dark. He flicks a side light on and it fills my eyes. He looks from me to Nora and see the tears in her eyes.

"What wrong." After living in that house, he can tell when something's wrong.

"Not now. I'm going to take her up to bed." He nods his head but gives me a look telling me he'll talk to me later.

Leading Nora up the stairs and into my room, I give her some clothes to change into and take her bag from her. She goes into the bathroom to change. Once she's done I lead her to my bed and we get in.

She shuffles closer, fitting perfectly under my arms. Holding her tight, I whisper into her hair. "It's going to be alright."

Note:
Sorry that it took so long guys xxx
Word count: 1076