Little White Lie

Chapter 3

|3|

•Charlotte•

The sound of a plate falling and breaking against the floor echoed in the house. Instantly I was out of my bed and running down the stairs. 

Dad's room door was wide open as I ran downstairs and into the living room. Nobody was there. I walked towards the kitchen to see him standing with a half a plate in his hand and the other piece shattered on the ground. 

"Are you okay?" I asked him as I pushed my feet into a pair of slippers and walked towards him. 

He nodded. "I wanted to make breakfast." 

He was always up earlier than me, and I couldn't do anything about it. He woke up at random times and I was a light sleeper so I struggled to sleep at night, in case he needed my help. Today I was late though. Extremely late for school as well. I could hear my phone ringing upstairs, 

"I'll make you something." I said to him as I walked over the broken glass on the floor. He wasn't wearing any shoes. I took my slippers off and bent down to put them near his feet. "Wear these and walk around the glass." I told him as he slid his feet into the slippers. 

Dad nodded and walked besides the wall and towards the door. "Should I just wait in the living room?" He asked me and I nodded with a smile on my face. He nodded back at me just as I heard a knock on the front door. Mary had come late. The time was well past half eight and I had missed my first class. 

I walked with dad out of the kitchen, careful of the shattered glass. Dad walked into the living room, making himself comfortable on his chair as I opened the door. 

Mary apologised immediately as she walked into the house. "Drew called me and I got carried away with him on the phone." She explained as I closed the door behind her. 

Drew was her son that was in the army. Mary had mentioned he would be arriving soon. 

"It's okay, I'm not going to school today." I told her, watching a frown find a place on her face. 

When I arrived home yesterday, I ran upstairs quickly and pressed a hot cloth to my rib. It was bruised up and it hurt but the pain would be numb soon and that was all that mattered. I had walked back downstairs and lied to Mary who assumed I had gone to my usual job. 

Joe let me work at his Diner on the weekends when he needed me. He would pay me but it was also a lie for Mary who asked where I was working. She had gone to Joe's Diner one day and hadn't found me there. Mandy, one of the employees at the Diner, had rang me. I had finished the fight as quickly as I could and ran to the back door of the diner. She never suspected anything after that. 

"Go to school, Charlotte. You can't be missing any more classes." Mary shook her head at me, knowing I had missed a lot of last year. 

"I'm already late and I can stay here to help dad today." I told her and she rolled her eyes and walked me towards the stairs. 

"Go get ready. Everything will be fine." 

"You promise?" I asked softly. 

I was so afraid I would go to school and in a few hours, dad would forget about me again. I didn't want to feel that. 

She smiled at me. "I promise."