The Unknown Tomlinson

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

When dinner was over, everyone filed into the living room. Mark sat in the recliner, and the girls sat on one couch along with Jay. Liam, Zayn, Harry, and Louis sat on the other couch. I sat on the floor next to Niall. Mark leaned over and turned on the radio next to his chair.

"You have a beautiful house, ma'am," I said to Jay. She smiled at me.

"Thank you, dear," she said.

"Yeah, but you can never tell how beautiful the house really is because mum covers it in pictures," Fizzy laughed. I smiled.

"It's a bad thing that I want people to know how much I love my family?" Jay asked as she acted offended.

Fizzy shook her head and laughed. "She's right, mum. There are a lot of photos in here," explained Louis.

"All of these pictures are of you guys, though," Jay said as she walked over to a shelf of photo frames.

"See, this is Lottie on her first birthday. Look at how cute she is with frosting on her nose." Jay pointed to a picture of a baby with cake frosting all over her face. I looked over at Charlotte on the couch. Her cheeks were as pink as the blouse she was wearing.

"And this is Louis when he was five. He's so cute wearing his little suspenders."

"Mum!" Louis complained. Everyone laughed as he groaned.

Jay continued down the line of photos. I noticed she skipped over a picture, and I got curious.

"Who's that?" I asked as I got up and walked over to her. I pointed to the picture of the baby she skipped.

"Oh...that's...my sister's daughter. That picture was taken the day after her birth. And, surprisingly enough, that's the only picture I have of her," Jay explained.

"Why?" I asked as I looked at the picture of the baby.

"My sister and I aren't very close. We stopped talking a few days after her daughter's birth."

"Oh...I'm sorry," I said.

"Its fine, dear," she smiled.

The boys and I left after a bit of small talk with Louis' family. The boys followed in their cars behind Louis and me. While in the car, I leaned my head against the window. I could feel my eyes starting to close. Eventually, I stopped trying to fight it and let sleep over take me.

 ~~

I felt someone with their arm around my back. I opened my eyes to see Louis carrying me into the flat. I yawned, and Louis looked down at me as he set me on the couch. "Raise and shine, sleeping beauty," he said. I smiled.

"I'm tired, Louis," I yawned.

He let out a small chuckle. "I know, Ellie. Why don't you go change?" I nodded my head and walked towards the steps. I was about to walk into the wall before Harry took my hand and lead me upstairs. He opened the door to my room and led me over to the cupboard door.

"Thanks, Harry," I said as he turned and left the room. He smiled back at me before he went downstairs. I opened the cupboard door and closed it behind me. I found a pair of blue striped pajama bottoms and a blue tank top to go with it. I changed quickly and ran back down the stairs.

The boys were sitting in the living room watching a rerun of the Alan Carr show. "Good night, guys," I said as I stood in the doorway of the room. They all got up and hugged me. And Harry planted a kiss on my forehead when no one was looking. I blushed, of course. "See you in the morning, Louis."

He turned and smiled at me. "Good night, Ellie. Sweet dreams!" I walked back upstairs and into my room. I left the door slightly cracked and made my way over to the bed. I picked up my phone from its place on the bedside table and dialed my aunt's number. I listened to the phone ring until it finally stopped. I got her voice mail. I sighed and hung up the phone. I'll call her in the morning. I put the phone back in its place and slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Mummy, where are we going?" I asked. My mum turned around in her seat and smiled at me.

"We're going to visit Aunt Jen, love," she said. She turned back around in the passenger seat and took my dad's hand.

I smiled. I was the luckiest girl in the world. I have a loving family and great friends. So what if I was adopted? My parents loved me, and that's all that mattered. Nothing could possibly ruin it.

My dad leaned over and turned on the radio. A song I didn't know was playing. "Daddy, who is this?"

He looked at me through the rear view mirror and smiled. "This is the Beatles, El. This song is your mother's favourite."

I smiled and tried to look out my window. The snow was coming down hard now. It seemed impossible to see through the window. I sighed and rested my head against the cool glass.

I closed my eyes for a few minutes before I heard my dad start to panic. I opened my eyes to see my dad swerving into the other lane. "No. No! NO!" he yelled as we crashed into the cars in front of us. My mum screamed before being smashed into the windshield.

"Mummy! Daddy!" I screamed. Tears were streaming down my face. The window next to me shattered into a million pieces. The broken glass left cuts on my arms.

"NO!" I yelled. I felt someone shaking me. I quickly opened my eyes to see a worried Louis staring down at me. I hugged him. It was just a dream. No it wasn't. It actually happened. I felt the tears fill my eyes and run down my cheeks. Louis stroked my hair as he tried to hush me.

"Shh...Ellie. Calm down. It was only a dream. You're safe. Everything is alright." The tears kept coming but they were less violent now.

"I saw it, Louis. I saw my parents die. There was nothing I could do about it," I sobbed. He rubbed my back to comfort me. I pulled away from his embrace and looked into his sympathetic eyes. "I saw it happen, and I didn't do anything to prevent it," I cried.

He shook his head. "Ellie, there was nothing you could've done. You were ten years old. If you tried to save them, you would have died, too," he explained.

"I should have at least tried, but I didn't. I just let them go."

Louis hugged me again, and I cried into his shirt even more. "No. No, Ellie. It wasn't your fault. Your parents would have wanted you to survive that horrible crash. They would have wanted you to be happy." I pulled back from Louis once and nodded.

"I know. I just really miss them, Louis," I sniffled. He gave me a half smile and wiped the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.

He looked at the clock under the television and turned back to me. "Well, it's 6:30. Do you want to come downstairs and have a cup of tea?" I nodded as I wiped my eyes. He smiled and took my hand. He led me downstairs and into the kitchen. I sat down at the island as Louis poured me a cup of tea. He handed me the cup with a smile.

"Thanks, Lou," I said as I sipped the tea he made me. He sat next to me and sighed. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just a bit tired. I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Why? Is everything okay?" I asked concerned.

He nodded as he stared at his tea. "Yeah. I was just thinking too much." He gave me a half smile. I smiled back. There was something off about how he's been acting lately, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He's been acting differently ever since he came back to dinner with Jay. I wonder what they talked about. I hope Jay was okay.

"So what are we doing today?" I asked hopeful.

He laughed. "Ellie, I can't tell you. It would ruin the surprise." I groaned. "Oh, shut up and go get dressed."

"Yes, sir," I said as I stood and saluted him. I ran up the stairs and into my room to get changed.