Headlights - New Hope Club Book 1 (Reece Bibby)

Two

"It's funny how things never change in this old town" - Niall Horan

Emma's POV

"Amy please be a sweetheart and put on your socks." I said and stroked a strand of my short light blonde hair behind my ear that didn't decide to stay there. I think I had cut it a bit too short lately.

"NO." My little sister Amy protested full-throated what made me sigh. I hated it when Amy was having one of her stubborn moments and right now this was one. For a four year old she could be quite determined which wasn't that good of a trait when you really needed to hurry. All I could do was to try to stay calm and smile.

"It's winter Ams. If you don't put on your socks you'll be freezing." I tried to convince her but Amy just crossed her arms in front of her chest, pouting.

"I wanna go barefoot to kindergarten."

"If you don't put on your socks, Santa won't give you presents for Christmas. You know Christmas is only five days away?" I knew this was mean but sometimes you need to be tricky to convince four year olds. Anyway, it worked. Amy's face fell and within a nanosecond she had shot up and put on both socks before I could even blink.

"Shall we go down for breakfast?" I suggested, Amy nodded and her shock of brown hair hurried down the stairs as quickly as possible which wasn't the most silent way. I sighed and followed her downstairs where she was already trying to reach out for the door of the fridge but she was too small to reach it.

"You must be quiet Ams." I said as I picked her up and sat her onto her chair. "Dad's been home late and he's really tired. You know if he's woken up he's getting really angry?"

Amy's face went pale and she put her finger onto her lips, gesturing to be quiet. I did the same as well, then winked at her. Amy didn't understand that Dad was drunk every time he came home late. But she knew that when he came home late and he got mad at Mum or me he would hit us and smash things. She also knew that he needed to sleep it off in the morning and whenever he was woken up, he couldn't control his anger.

I gave Amy some banana and toast and wanted to get myself some food from the fridge as well when I noticed that there was shattered glass in the sink. I bit my lip in anger and put it into the trash.

This was what annoyed me most. It wasn't that Mum and Dad didn't do the things that parents normally do. You know, dress their kids, make them breakfast, take them to kindergarten, get them Christmas presents or simply play with them. I was still here to do all that but what pissed me off the most was that they didn't care at all. They didn't care if Amy cut herself on that glass or anything. Although they didn't care about her, they could at least put the glass in the trash so Amy wouldn't get injured.

The whole situation with my parents was a huge mess I was stuck in and there was no escape since there was Amy and I loved her more than anything to just leaver her here.
I guess Amy was the last failed attempt to save a marriage that's already been ruined years ago.

For a short amount of time I had really believed that it was getting better. After Dad had come back from jail and Amy had arrived my Dad had stopped drinking and my Mum had started smiling again and the times of walking around like sleepwalking became less. But after a year it all started again. Dad went to the bar next door, getting drunk nearly every night and my Mum got depressed again, drugged up to the eyeballs with antidepressants.

I noticed that I had zoned out and just stared into blank space. I shook my head and turned around to see if Amy had finished her meal already when she abutted against the glass of milk and poured it all over my black dress.