Love never dies

Chapter 2 xx

“Come to the Tuck shop hun” Tyler says as he holds out his hand. I take hold of it and he pulls me off the ground. We walk across the atrium hand in hand. “Tyler babe, how are you?” Ashlyn asks as she strokes his cheek. I snicker at her. “Leave me alone Ashlyn, I have a girlfriend and no im not interested in your suck ups”. She looks at us, her mouth wide open. “Damn straight” I say as I click my fingers in her face. “You could do so much better” she added before striking off down the hall. I step in front of her. “Excuse me”. “He could do so much better than you”. I slap her across the face. “Yeah that’s right” I say before taking off the opposite way. “I’ll get you for this Vilder” she screams back at me. I laugh. Whatever, there’s no need to talk to me like that.

“Elle Vilder please report to the Principals office immediately” I hear over the loud speaker. “Oh my gosh are you serious?” I say as I push my chair in. Can she be anymore pathetic? “Good luck” Miss Mackarey tells me. She loved me. I swear I was her favourite student in the entire school. But then knowing me I would probably be wrong. I smile back. I needed that. Who knows what shit will go down here? I open the door to leave the classroom. Tyler is waiting for me. “What are you doing” I ask as he starts walking next to me. “Well im not just going to leave you to die in there am I, what boyfriend would do that to you?”. I sigh. I’m not a baby anymore. I mean seriously everyone treats me like one and it’s really aggravating. I mean I’m what 16 years old. I was a baby 16 years ago. I know that for a fact. “Look I know your just trying to help but seriously I don’t need you, this is my problem not yours” I explain. He doesn’t look convinced, although he never does. He tries to take hold of my hand but I pull away. I shake my head. “But babe…”. “No buts this is for me to sort out and not anyone else” I say getting to the point. He sighs. I kiss his cheek before opening the door to the principal’s office. Ashlyn is sitting there. Her eye….is black.

I didn’t know how much damage I really did until I walked in here. “Elle come and take a seat” Mr Locks exclaims. This is the second time I have been in this office during my time at Magaknows High and the first is something I won’t repeat. My hands are shaking as Mr Locks looks at me directly in the eyes.  A shiver runs down my spine. “So Elle I hear we had a bit of a fight shall I call it in the hallway this morning, am I right?” he questions as he searches his desk for a pen. “Ah yes sir that’s right” I reply unsure of what I really should have said. “So tell me Elle what actually happened?”. “Oh nothing really just a bit of a disagreement”. Ashlyn stares at me wide eyed. I shrug. “Well that’s certainly not what Ashlyn tells me” he says as he shakes his head. Crap, what did she tell him? Who would know? I mean this is Ashlyn we are talking about. “Ashlyn please explain what happened just how you told me earlier” Mr Locks asks. She nods. “Well I said hi to Tyler, Elle’s boyfriend and then she has a go at me for no reason then just out of nowhere she slaps me” she says as I throw my hands in the air. Mr Locks stares at me with a strange look in his face. “Is something wrong Elle?”. “Yes everything is wrong?” I shout before running out of his office tears streaming down my face.

I run and don’t stop until I get as far away from school as possible. My knees can’t hold me up any longer and I fall to the ground, my head smashing into the trunk of a tree. I lay down holding my head in my hands. The tears are still running down my face as I tuck my head between my legs. I feel like I have no strength in any part of my body. I struggle as I try to stretch out my legs to stroke my bruised thighs. My arms are in so much pain that when I hold them out in front of me they droop to the ground. The pain rushes through them and I let out a scream hoping no one will hear me followed by more tears spraying out of my eyes. It is until I see a familiar face that I look up and my life seems to become one hundred times better.           

It's not until I see her face that I realise where I have run too. I sit there staring at her. She's also staring down at me at the same time. I have so much to say but I don't know how to word it. "Aunt Renna I thought..." Was all I said before she finished my sentence. "You thought I was dead, everyone thinks I am but really as you can see I'm not" she explains as she takes a seat next to me. We didn't know for one hundred percent that she was dead like I mean we didn't have the body as the killer who would be her husband Andrew and my uncle took it apparently. But obviously she is not dead. I mean I didn't really know for certain weather she was and since I was so young it didn't really come to mind. I mean you would think that when you were older you would talk to someone about it but no I just left it sitting in the past. I stare at her face and trace her features in my mind to when I saw her last. That must have been what 4 years ago. I don't believe that I am sitting in front of Aunt Renna who we all thought was dead. She looks just the same as the last time i saw her. Her pale white face sparkled in the sun as she turned to face me. She still had that beautiful look in her sky blue eyes. That smile that used to brighten my day whenever I saw her. The way she would twirl her fingers around her long blonde hair like she was doing right now. When she died I didn't think that I would live without her but I got over it and thought there was no hope of her coming back. I got on with my life just like normal and acted like nothing had ever happened. I don't know why but in a way I feel a bit guilty. I mean I am sitting here with my aunt who I thought to be dead. Like I mean wouldn't you feel a bit guilty? A bit guilty that you weren't there and that you just forgot about her and got on with you life. That you acted like she never even existed. I felt bad well terrible to be honest but it had to be like that. I wouldn't be able to cope if I kept remembering that Aunt Renna is gone and now I have no one who will always be there for me. I would spend each night sleepless while i would cry there in the dark all alone. but it wasn't like that because i ignored that fact that she had died and i would never see her again. Well at least thats what I thought.

We both sat there staring into each others eyes. There is so much to say but I don't know where to start. I take a look around me to see Aunt Renna's house. It must have been about 3 years ago that we had come here and had a family picnic. It seems so strange to think that Aunt Renna had been here this whole time. "You been living here this whole time?" I question. "Yes all these years I have been living here" she replies. I can't believe that no one ever noticed her. Well I guess her house was practically right in the middle of the forest and no one else lived nearby. I remember the times when I would run to her house in tears after having a fight with Tyler or roughing with mum. She was always there to help me through my problems and she gave me lots of good advice. When she presumably died I felt like my world had turned upside down. I mean who would I run to with my problems. I couldn't run to mum because in most cases it was between us two so I didn't know what I would do. I couldn't run to Tyler because well he was a guy and no offence but most guys give shit advice. On the odd occasion they may give a piece of advice better than anyone else but let me tell you that is rare. So rare.

I am still shocked as Aunt Renna opens the door to her house. I mean she lived here all that time and I only find out now? Seriously there must be a catch here somewhere. I walk in and the old musty smell of her house drifts through my nostrils. I remember her house so well from when I came here more than 4 years ago. It still had that retro look to the furniture and there were all sorts of ornaments scattered round the room. "Wow I remember it so well" I tell her as I walk over to the large glass cabinet in the lounge. "I never really change I guess you could say" she replies as she places my cup of hot tea on the table. I smile.

My hands are shaking as I lift up the cup of hot tea. I take a sip. It stills tastes the exact same as it used to when I would come here most weekends. "So why would you keep it from us, you know that you were alive?" I ask as she offers me a biscuit. I nod and take one from the jar. "Thanks" I whisper. She stares at me as I wait for her to answer the question. "We'll I don't really know, I mean you all thought I was dead and if I you know just turned up out of the blue it would be a little strange" she says before taking a sip of her tea. "Yes I get what you mean, well sorta. Does anyone else know, we'll that you are alive?" I question. "You you and you, yes no one apart from you and it will stay that way right?". "Umm yes it will" I reply as I mutter under my breath. How will I keep this from everyone? "There is something I need to say..." She starts to say before she bursts into tears. I get up and walk over to her chair. I rest my hand on her shoulder. "You can tell me you know" I say. "Someone else does know" she speaks before I open my mouth to scream. I hold it in. I'm out of words. "Who..." I whisper as my voice is broken by tears.