Stranger, Help Me

WRONG TIMING

"Alright. I think I'm outside your house. Loving the orange paint."

"...yeah... It's my place..."

"Is your father home?"

"... I don't know where he is."

"Oh. Should I knock?"

"Wait. Just wait."

"That's a lot of sound. What are you hiding?"

"N-nothing."

"Your voice is shaking again."

"It's not!"

"..."

"I-I... Sorry."

"It's okay. But it's quite cold. Can you open the door?"

"Okay. Can I just... Please don't... If you don't like what you see, at least pretend you do."

Beep, beep.

"What? Hey-"

"...hi."

"... Your voice is so much quieter."

"Yours is louder."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. Do you want to come in?"

"Sure. You look nice, by the way."

"..."

"Are you blush-"

"Gale, I am so not blushing."

"I smell waffles."

"I made them... For you."

"Really? Thank you, Evangeline! Oh. You're so tiny."

"I will not take offence to that."

"Your neck looks like it hurts."

"Okay, now I take offence to that!"

"I don't know what to do. Why are you so tall?"

"What?"

"Don't look down. It's okay. It's me."

"... Can I get a hug?"

"Why not?"

"..."

"..."

"Do you like my waffles?"

"I haven't tasted them yet. You're still hugging me. How old are you?"

"Sixteen and a half... I... I think."

"You think?"

"I don't really celebrate my birthday. I can check..."

"I trust you. I'm seventeen. I brought some textbooks for you to read and study. They're my old ones, from last year. I bought chocolate too. I don't which one, so I bought them all. I also got you lilies for your room. Ah. I also bought you honey."

"... And tissues, because I knew you'd start crying."

"Thank you thank you thank you."

"So this is what your hair colour is really like. Wow... my predictions sucked."

"Pfft, yeah they did. I was pretty spot on. Except you're actually really tall."

"I bet you can't reach the top shelf."

"... shut up."

"Hahaha!"

CRASH!

"EVANGELINE! WHO'S HERE!?"

"Hide. Now."

"What? What's going on?"

"Hide!"

"Hey- oomph!"

"EVANGELINE! WHO. IS. HERE?!"

"I don't know. Nobody came in."

"DON'T LIE TO ME!"

"Ah!"

CRASH! SLAP!

"S-stop! I'm sorry! I-I don't know!"

CRASH! THUD! BANG!

"BY THE TIME I COME BACK, YOU BETTER SHAPE UP! NO WONDER EVERYONE LEFT YOU. WHY DON'T I?"

"..."

"WHY DON'T I, EVANGELINE?"

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

SLAP!

"B-because... I have mother's blood. If not, I would be dead."

"Exactly. Good girl. Now clean up. And throw your waffles away. They're disgusting."

SLAM!

"..."

"..."

"I told you I look hideous."

"..."

"You can leave if you want."

"..."

"...everyone does anyway. I'm sorry for relying on you too much."

"Evangeline. We need the police."

"No."

"Why?"

"Children's home is the worst."

"And this isn't?"

"Please just... Help me?"

"The thing is, I want to. You're not letting me."

"Help me clean up."

"Where do I put the broken plates?"

"In the bin."

"How about the... Chair?"

"Against the wall. I'll throw it out later."

"You're bleeding."

"Am I?"

"Taking care of yourself is still so important. I will not leave you. Clean yourself up. I'll sort this mess out. I won't tell anyone right now, only when you're ready. But I do have a limit to how much pain I can see you on. Even this pain hurts me. Please... Please take care of yourself."

"..."

"She literally just walked away. Well... Let's get cleaning."

"Everything's okay."

"Everything's okay."

"...e-every-everything...everything's... oka-okay... Gale's here... h-he's... every-"

"Evangeline? I've finished cleaning. I brought my stuff in from the car to your room. We should tal-"