Locks and Keys

Chapter 27

A couple that looked like they were in their mid-forties were walking up the drive towards our human pile-up, with disgruntled and angry looks on their faces. The woman was short; maybe just over five feet tall and her face seemed vaguely familiar, until I realised she looked like an older version of one of my assailants – Ava. The man had dark hair with greying flecks around his ears and a pair of wide rimmed spectacles balanced on the bridge of his nose. If my assumptions were correct, these people were Ava's parents and they weren't too happy with my accusation against their daughter.

"How dare you! How dare you accuse our daughter of such an awful crime!" Ava's mum shouted, silencing all the laughter that had radiated from our tumble. Everyone got to their feet and stood around me, as if making a human blockade to protect me from the intruders.

"Maybe we should take this inside, we don't want to disturb the whole neighbourhood, now, do we?" My father suggested sternly, but Ava's mum threw her hands in the air in protest. "Please calm down."

"Calm down?! You want me to calm down after your daughter started spreading lies, running round to the police and accused my Ava of kidnapping and assaulting another person? She could go to prison for something she would never do!" The woman practically screamed, tears dripping down her cheeks and her voice cracked slightly towards the end of her rant.

"Please come inside, so we can sort this out in private, we don't want everyone listening in to things that don't concern them." My mother voiced, her authoritative tone billowing out over the group, making me shudder. Mother was quite scary when she wanted to be. The woman sniffled and began to protest, but her husband pulled on her hand slightly, which silenced her protest. We pushed ourselves through the now open front door and all bustled into the living room, sitting wherever we could; be that on a sofa, chair, coffee table or floor. Our uninvited guests stood in the doorway to the room looking hostile and unapproachable.

"What seems to be the problem here?" My father asked, his face blank and unreadable.

"Isn't it flipping obvious?! We want you to drop these ridiculous charges against our daughter!" Ava's mother cried, mocking my father, which I knew he wouldn't appreciate.

"These charges certainly aren't ridiculous and not to be taken lightly, ma'am." My mother said, looking between the couple. "Your daughter verbally abused, kidnapped and injured our daughter. We've only just brought her home from hospital. The injury Ava inflicted on her caused her some serious memory loss, she's lucky that her memory is finally returning to her."

"Ava would never do such a thing! She'd never hurt a fly, let alone one of her friends!" The man spluttered, looking offended by the facts my mother recited.

"Then I'm sorry, Sir, but you don't know your daughter at all. Now, if you wouldn't mind, please leave my house before I call the police, we have every right to lie a restraining order against Ava and the rest of your family." Dad ordered, getting up and pushing them out the door.

"You'll be hearing from our lawyers! Don't you forget it! Whatever grudge Vanessa has against Ava will not be tolerated; Ava will certainly not be sentenced for a crime she would never commit!" The woman screeched, stomping down our driveway. She got into the car that had been pulled up outside and slammed the door behind her, making me flinch a little. The couple drove away and my knees gave out. Lock caught me before I could fall on my butt, but he couldn't stop the tears that were streaming down my face.

"Lock, take your sister to bed. She's had a long day already, with too much drama for a lifetime." Mum said softly and Lock nodded, picking me up and carrying me upstairs. He kicked the door of my bedroom open and set me down on my bed. He turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm.

"Please don't leave." I whispered, my grip was shaky around his arm.

"I'll be right back, I'm just going to say goodbye to everyone." He reassured me. I let go of his arm and sat bolt upright, clutching one of my pillows as a substitute, as my twin left the room and hurried downstairs. Hushed goodbyes were muttered from what I could hear, car doors opened and engines started, as Lock made his way back upstairs and into my room. Behind him, Ollie followed, and my eyes widened.

"A-aren't you going home?" I stuttered and he shook his head. My brother sat down on my bed on one side and Ollie on the other.

"I think I'll leave him to comfort you, I'm sure he'll do a better job." Lock said, before setting down a glass of water on my nightstand and left the room. Ollie and I lay down on my bed and I snuggled into him, lying on my side and resting my head against his chest, as one of his arms wrapped around me and the other held onto the hand that I had around his waist. His heart was beating at a steady pace, which was contrasted with my erratic heart rate that had been caused by my mental breakdown. I sniffle once and buried my nose into the crook of his shoulder, feeling a comfort wash over me that I had never felt before. I had never felt this safe, not even with my own brother. I lost myself in that feeling, embracing it wholeheartedly, as I drifted off to sleep.

*****

When I woke up, it was dark and the streetlight illuminated the bedroom through my open window. Ollie lay asleep next to me with his arms still entrapping me to him, which wasn't appreciated because I really needed to pee. I extracted myself from his arms with much disappointment and anger towards my bladder, and trotted off to the bathroom. I did what I have to do and returned I my room to see Ollie sitting up, looking around with a confused look plastered across his face. He spotted me and breathed a sigh of relief.

"There you are. I thought you had jumped out the window or something." He said, a grin spreading across he face.

"I would never do such a thing when I have you in my bed." I winked and he laughed. "I just went to the loo."

"Ok, I didn't need to know that." He said, still laughing. I shushed him quickly and his laughter became snickers.

"Do you seriously want to wake the whole house? Do my parents even know you're here?"

"Thy gave me permission, they've noticed how fond you are of me." Ollie explained, whilst he wiggled his eyebrows. I sat down on the bed and hit him on the arm, which made him flinch in mock pain.

"Get down." I growled.

"You wanna go, mate?"

"Fight me, right here, right now." I said putting my fists up. He quickly grabbed them and pinned then behind my back, which was a definite plot twist; I hadn't expected him to actually fight me. He kept my hands pinned, which meant his arms were wrapped around me and our faces were close together. He leaned in and was about to kiss me when I purposely head-butted him, causing him to let go of my hands and allow me the opportunity to pin him. I pushed him down and sat down on his chest. I clapped in victory, which made Ollie laugh.

"Fair win." He said, even though he looked slightly disappointed with the fact he hadn't gotten a kiss. I rolled my eyes and leaned down, gently pressing my lips to his, before quickly pulling away.

"That's all you're going to get. Now, sleep." I instructed, which earned me an eye roll.

We lay back down and snuggled together in silence, comfortable in our tired state.