Headlights - New Hope Club Book 1 (Reece Bibby)

Nineteen

"We're alone and broke but that's okay" - The Vamps

Emma's POV

We were already driving a while and Amy had fallen asleep. I had put on some children radio play on Spotify for her to calm her down and obviously it had helped.

I didn't want to upset her even more so I first checked my injuries in the mirror of the car when she had already fallen asleep.

There was a bruise on my jaw and one underneath my eye, a cut on my left eyebrow and one on my lip. That was something I could easily deal with but the bruise on my throat looked horrible. The shape of fingers was clearly visible and everybody who saw it would immediately know what had happened.

I got a scarf from the backseat and wrapped it around my neck to cover up the bruises.

The worst thing was the pain in my throat. Everything felt dry and raspy and swallowing and talking hurt.

I had already drunk a whole bottle of water but it didn't help.

I took a look at the petrol meter and my heart sank. The fuel was almost gone and we had been driving only for two hours. We were only half way there. I had no bank notes with me and I was pretty sure there wasn't enough money on my bank account to pay a fill up.

We drove to Nottingham because that's how far we came with the fuel that was left in the tank.

When I drove onto the parking lot of Nottingham train station, Amy was still tight asleep. I didn't want to wake her so I carefully picked her up and carried her on my hip, the rucksack on my back.

I got to the counter and asked the woman sitting behind it for a ticket.

"How much is a ticket to Bedford?" I asked and my voice was so hoarse from the choking earlier, I was afraid the woman would notice that something was wrong. But instead of saying anything, she just checked something on her computer.

"For you and the little one?"

"Yes." I said and she examined the bruises on my face. I kept it down and let my hair fall into my face. The woman looked at her computer again.

"The little one is free, how old are you?"

"18." I said. The woman nodded and typed.

"That would be 36£." She told me. "You can either buy it here or at the automat."

"Yeah, thanks, I'll consider it." I told her. "Have a nice day."

I went outside the train station and sat down on a bench to check how much money I had with me. As soon as I had sat down, Amy woke up.

"Are we there yet?" She asked.

"No, love." I said and stroke her hair and she nestled up against me. "We made a stop. What do you think about taking the train instead of the car?"

"I like trains."

"Great." I said and checked my purse. There were exactly 25£ in it and since I had paid the rent for our house last week, according to my bank account I was broke. I couldn't even afford a ticket to Bedford.