Nicki&thePips

Chapter 25

Saturday morning Nicki was awakened by a scream. She bolted upright in bed. "What what what's going on? Jesy what hurts?" Nicki sleepily scanned her room for where the screaming which she assumed was Jesy was coming from.

Jesy was standing near the bed her head moving as she desperately searched the room for something. She screamed again loud and blood curling. "Where is my box?" she screamed. She sounded like she was panicking.

Nicki jumped out of bed and moved to the bathroom where she had left Jesy's box after she'd bathed her. She took up the box from next to the bathtub and rushed back to Jesy. "Here you go Jes . . . here's your box. Now stop screaming please." Nicki said tentatively handing Jesy the box.

Jesy snatched it, became silent and plopped down on the floor cradling the box in her arms. She crossed her legs and set the box in her lap then opened it up. She pulled out the scary looking knife that she'd used to cut herself last night.

Nicki watched holding her breath. What's Jesy going to do with the knife? Nicki wondered.

Jesy held the knife and watched it as if mesmerized. She didn't seem to be hurting herself and Nicki sighed in relief. Jesy started taking out other things from the box. Every last thing in there was sharp and dangerous. She seemed to be counting them. She counted each one and then put them back inside the box. She sighed and then stood.

"Morning Mum." Jesy said almost cheerfully.

Nicki was a bit taken aback. "Why do you like those sharp things so much?" she asked curiously.

"They're my friends." Jesy said moving towards the door.

Nicki was lost for words as she followed Jesy out of the room. The sun seemed to have just risen and the house was quiet. Nicki wondered if Jesy's screaming had woken any of the other kids. She remembered that Perrie, Jade and Roc Royal could sleep through anything and Prodigy would probably go back to sleep if Roc wasn't ready to wake up. Jesy pulled open the door to her and Leigh-Anne's room. Nicki had cleaned it up last night after she'd given Jesy a bath. Jesy pushed her box underneath her bed.

"What do you mean your friends?" Nicki asked watching as Jesy walked across the room to Leigh-Anne's bed and sat on it. "They're just a bunch of pointy things."

"They make me feel good." Jesy said as she lied back putting her face in Leigh-Anne's pillow.

"How do they do that?" Nicki asked moving towards the bed.

Jesy was about to answer when the sound of the door downstairs slamming. And Leigh-Anne's happy voice carried all the way up to them, "We're home!!!!"

Jesy shot up and ran right out of the room. "LEIGH-ANNE IS HOME!!!" She shrieked.

Nicki followed just in time to see the two girls hugging on the stairs with Princeton looking awkward behind them. "Well you guys are home early. It's only like six thirty . . . I thought you were coming back tonight." Nicki said.

"We were but Leigh-Anne missed Jesy too much and the teachers got fed up of her crying and so they brought us home early." Princeton said. He looked tired as he swerved around the still hugging girls and went to his room.

"Leigh-Anne you were crying?" Nicki asked moving towards the girls.

"Princeton is overexaggerating . . ." Leigh-Anne said not letting go of Jesy even though by now Jesy was pulling away.

"I'm not. No one got any sleep. We are all lucky she didn't start throwing up." Princeton said crankily. He slammed his bedroom door.

Jesy was trying to escape the everlasting hug. She couldn't breathe. "Leigh . . . I think you're crushing me." She groaned. She still felt weak from losing blood last night.