Billy Hargrove // DNA

Chapter Eighteen

Amelia's eyes fluttered open, long before her alarm clock was supposed to go off. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness and slowly she began to distinguish forms such as her desk, the chair by the window and her wardrobe. 

Amelia had slept unsteadily all night. She watched the hours pass by as she constantly tossed and turned in her bed, unable to fall into a deep sleep. This time her inability to have a good night rest wasn't the result of one of her typical nightmares. This time it had to do with the nervousness and pain she felt.

When she came home yesterday, she had received a long lecture from her mom. The school had called to notify her that Amelia had fought with a girl on school property. Her mom was pretty pissed, to say the least. In addition to the detention she had received from the principal, Amelia had been given house arrest for a week. Meaning that she wasn't allowed to use the phone for private conversations with her friends nor was she allowed to meet up with them during the weekend. Amelia was also ordered to come home straight after detention ended. 

Amelia knew this was a fairly mild punishment so she didn't beg or plea. Her mom promised not to tell John about the detention, which Amelia was very grateful for. But unfortunately, the angels weren't so forgiving. 

John had come home later than usual, clearly frustrated with the findings at the lab. It wasn't until they finished their dinner (they always waited for John to eat) that he confronted Amelia about what had happened at school. He never specified how he found out, but he did. 

For the next hour or so, Amelia kept staring at the ceiling. When the natural light slowly began to enter her bedroom she clambered out of bed, blindly pulling some clothes from her wardrobe. Afterwards she carefully opened her bedroom door and crept into the bathroom. 

When she switched on the light, she recoiled slightly.

John had roughly grasped her wrists last night which had led to some dark bruises. Amelia pulled her baggy t-shirt over her head and saw the traces of John's shoe print on her stomach. John was always so kind to make sure that if Amelia had school the next day, she wouldn't have bruises on her face. 

How thoughtful of him.

She did however have dark under eye circles caused by the lack of sleep. Amelia quickly pulled on her clothes and applied some heavy make-up in a lousy attempt to make her look human again. While she did that, the only thing she was thinking about was Billy. He had said that he would be waiting for her but how could she possibly face him?

Her mom had given Benjamin clear instructions; he would come to get Amelia every school day and make sure she didn't stick around for too long. Of course, Benjamin wasn't so happy with that which Amelia fully understood. But this meant that he would never allow Amelia to get a ride from Billy to go to school. 

As much as Benji loved his slightly younger stepsister, he wouldn't dare to disobey his father.

After Amelia had finished making herself presentable, she went to Cora's bedroom. "Hi sweetie, wake up." Amelia said as she gently nudged Cora's shoulder. "Five more minutes." The little girl muttered. Amelia decided to pick out Cora's outfit; a gray dress covered with teddy bears and see through jelly shoes. 

"Cora, let's get dressed." The little girl yawned while stretching her tiny muscles. She scanned her eyes over Amelia's body, probably searching for bruises. Cora was only five years old and yet she knew how to scan someone's body for bruises. Amelia hated that Cora also suffered from John's terror even though he never physically abused her. 

"Okay." Cora whispered. Amelia helped her little sister change in the lovely dress. She couldn't help herself worrying about her baby sister. As long as Cora was a minor, she would remain under the care of John so unfortunately Amelia wouldn't be able to get Cora into a safer environment. Firstly, Amelia had to get herself out of danger before she could help Cora.