The reason I smiled | Leondre Devries//Bars And Melody fanfic

Chapter Nine ~ The Argument

I sat waiting, my feet tapping impatiently on the kitchen floor. Desperate for a sign of good news. Mum had taken Gary out, she didn't want to tell him when me and the children were around because she didn't know how he would react.

It had been three hours since she'd left, I paced nervously backwards and forwards, trying to pass the time, wishing Mum was back. She said if she didn't return by 1:30am then call the police. It was already 12:00am and she wasn't back. Every single disaster scenario that could've happened to her span through my head. I tried to brush them away and think positive. I couldn't with my phone constantly ringing though, it was always Leo. He was as worried as I was. My voice was shaky and my palms were sweaty, I just didn't have he energy to answer the calls, so I let them run to voicemail.

It was 1:00am and Mum still hadn't returned. My nervousness increased, I started to feel physically sick, assuming the worst.

Just then I heard a loud bang from upstairs, making me jump. I grabbed my jumper and sprinted upstairs, into Sam's room. I found him lying on the floor, tears escaping his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. I rushed and picked him up into a cuddle, rocking him as I did so. He cried into my shoulder, eventually falling back to sleep. I tiptoed carefully towards his bed and slipped him under the dinosaur covers, pulling them up to his shoulders and grabbing his favourite dinosaur from the floor and squeezing it next to him. I heard him quietly snoring as I closed the door behind me. I trailed my familiar footsteps and walked back down the landing, dodging any toys or shoes that lay in my way and tiptoed down the stairs. I perched on the bottom step and just stared at the front door, hoping Mum would be back by now. I swivelled round to check the clock at the end of the hall, it read: 12:17am. I could feel the sickness arising in my stomach. Just then I saw a figure in the doorway walking up the garden path and towards the front door. I peered around for something to use as a weapon, the closest I could find was an umbrella. I grabbed the umbrella and slowly creeped towards the front door. One step at a time. I reached out for the handle, I could hear a faint knock. I slowly pulled down the handle and opened the door. There stood, on the front step, was my mum. She had a scratch from one side of her face to the other, her mascara smudged around her bloodshot eyes. She staggered in the house, tears streaming down her face.

"Grab your bags" she whispered to me.

"What?" I exclaimed shocked.

"GRAB YOUR BAGS" Mum shook me by my arms and yelled in my face.

She realised what she'd done and stood back shocked.

"Just...please" she whispered holding her self upright.

I ran up the stairs, threw some clothes into a bag, not forgetting to pick up my phone charger, hairbrush, make up and phone and rushed into the bathroom, grabbing everyone's toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash, I threw them into the bag before leaving it in the hallway and walking into Lilly's room to wake her up and get her bag. Before doing the same to Sam. Their bags were already packed, Mum knew this would happen. I picked up Sam, threw my bag over my shoulder, grabbed Lilly's hand and walked her down the stairs. Mum was frantically running round the house finding the bare essentials. For some reason she grabbed our passports and birth certificates. She grabbed the keys from the shelf and pushed us out the door. I was still holding Sam, he'd fallen asleep on my shoulder. I struggled to put him in his car seat. Mum yelling at me to hurry, she kept staring down the street, her eyes wide. After fixing Sam into the seat I ran around the car to the front, swinging open the door and slamming it shut behind me. I peered into the backseat to find Lilly and Sam both asleep in their seats. Mum sped off down the road at an unbelievable speed. She kept checking the rear view mirror frantically, her eyes wide open. Once we reached the motorway she relaxed a bit, slipping into her seat. I pulled my phone out of my bag, slumped into the seat and switched my phone on to see hundreds of messages from Leo: