Emily entered the silent house, relieve flooding her fragile body. The emptiness was a luxury, knowing that soon her brother would be back. And then her parents.
She padded around in her cat slippers, the fad with all of the ten year-olds. Emily grabbed a packet of crisps and sat on the sofa, taking the quiet. Soon enough, only an hour or so, the key was scraping in the lock, and the first was back. Alex.
He stalked past Emily and into the kitchen to grab a packet of crisps, like his sister. They watched iCarly- Emily's choice- until a familiar voice was calling out in the hallway. Their mother was home. Let it begin.
"Emily? Were you here by yourself? For how long?" The angered tirade of questions had begun.
"Only an hour or so," she said, before walking out of the living room, and upstairs to the refuge of her bedroom.
A while later, her father was home, and the storm began.
"She was here for an hour, Derek. Emily is ten, and left alone. It's illegal!" Her mother bellowed, the sound reverberating around Emily's bedroom upstairs.
"Calm down Clarie. We both have work, that's all. We can't do anything else."
"Dad, please take a moment. It's no Mum's fault."
"And you," Emily's father said, rounding on Alex next, "you should be doing your revision. You need GSCE's. So get your ass upstairs and get revising! Why do I bother? What difference does it make?"
Emily refused to hear anymore. Her mind was focusing fully on her book, but she couldn't picture the story. Her mind was swimming with the words and the sounds coming from downstairs. Ornaments being throw from both sides of the room, smashing at the other. Her mood was sinking lower and lower, until her mind was set.
She went to sleep, her light on at 8:45pm sharpish. But her eyes were wide awake by 4:00am and her arms were busy.
By 4:30am, her plastic bag was packed with a thin blanket and various bags of crisps and nutrition bars for the road.
"Goodbye." Emily whispered.
And out of the door she went. And into the night. As a girl called Nothing.
YOU ARE READING
A Girl Called Nothing
RandomThere is a girl. Who lives by the sea. Who has no family. She is called Nothing. She sees everybody. Nobody sees her. She wanders. Looking for nothing, but finding everything. A girl called Nothing.
