Orphan

Chapter 58

With the bed perfectly laid and the room made comfortable, I laid myself down, staring at the wall as if it would bring any answer to my millions of questions. My eyes closed slightly more with each blink. "What's taking you so long?" I heard his dreaded voice from downstairs and I heaved a heavy sigh which burned from within me. I stood to my feet and made my way down the stairs. I felt sluggish and that was an understatement. I just needed rest, complete and utter rest. "There you are. You sort yourself out?" Harry asked as he tossed a block of chopped wood into a fire pit. His tank with doing very little to conceal the scars and tattoos beneath it. I shook myself out of the little daze I was in and shrugged. "Well, you can help Abigail with setting up, go enjoy what you women love doing most," Niall chuckled holding the axe over his shoulder as he smirked, feeling very chuffed with himself. "Shove it," I mumbled flipping him off as he merely laughed harder. "Unless of course you would like to help with the wood out here." He grinned, tilting his head slightly.

"Fine, let me show you how it's properly done." I muttered walking towards them. Zayn and Liam seemed somewhat amused, Harry was allowing the little dispute, surprisingly. "Take it," Niall chuckled tossing the axe at my feet just barely chopping my toes off, I screeched a mother of all screeches as I jumped back. "You dick! I could have gotten fucking hurt."
"Wanna lay with the big dogs you gotta handle the fleas pussycat." The boys laughed, I had had enough of their bullshit. I took the axe from the ground and a log of wood, which admittedly was a lot heavier than it looked. "Don't tip over."

"Don't worry yourself about me." I smiled rolling my eyes, aiming the axe at the log, then smashing it down, splitting it through the middle. "Oh my, someone is determined. Check your nail, hope you didn't break one." Niall grinned as I chopped some more pieces of wood, throwing it into the pit. "Looks like you can do some things right."

"Yeah just imagined it was your head and it worked out great." I sassed, "Now you can go fuck yourself with the axe." I spat throwing it as his feet, stomping inside while the boys laughed. "Monique." I sighed, shaking my head, clenching my hands together. "I know okay, I know watch myself. I need to respect them."

"Can you shut up for a second? No. Let me see your hands."

"My hands are fine," I crossed my arms, in an effort to hide my hands which were actually stinging a bit, "Just show me," he persisted, loosening my arms and turning my palms face up. I frowned looking away, at anything else basically. My palms were red, bits of wood laced my skin. "You see, if you're going to work outside, you've gotta have the proper equipment. That being gloves, splinters are a reality. And as impressive as your axe skills are, you went a bit too fast there. You could have hurt yourself or any one of us. Cool your anger, got it. He's only trying to test you. Next time I won't be this gentle." He mumbled quietly putting a piece of wood from my skin, I winced slightly. "Go help Abigail."

I took my hands and shoved them into my pockets, making my way to the kitchen; where Abigail and Louis stood firm in conversation. "We can do it, trust me."

"No, we can't. You want to get murdered, don't you?" Abigail growled, leaning over the counter to Louis. "If we do it, it'll be good. Trust me. He won't see it coming. He deserves it anyway." Louis shrugged taking a bite of an apple. Abigail sighed wiping down the counter throwing the dishcloth at Louis. "If you're going to stand there looking pretty then wipe down those counters." She mumbled, I steadied my breathing and walked in slowly, both of them seemed taken aback. "Hey..." I smiled slightly. "Hey, when did you get here, thought you were upstairs." Abby smiled nervously, turning to me as she wiped her hands clean. "Oh no I was, I was just outside and then Harry told me to come help you, so here I am." They both nodded, Louis seemed weary of my presence. "I'm surprised you're both standing here and none of you are dead yet." I chuckled lightly, trying to lighten up the situation. What exactly were these two hiding? "Aren't we all surprised to be alive." Louis snickered taking a final bite of his apple as he swaggered on outside to the rest of the heathens.

"So, how are you and Niall doing?" the topic was sensitive, a lot more than you'd think. That must be why Niall was in such a terrible mood – towards women more specifically. "Oh, good." She muttered shrugging ever so slightly. "Just good? After the whole courtroom-"
"I don't need you to tell me what happened in that courtroom, I know Monique." She sighed, shaking her head slightly. I frowned. "Do you maybe want to head down to the beach for a walk? We-"
"Your sympathy is something I don't want, nor need. I'll be fine on my own thank you. Let's just stick to cleaning up and getting the food done." She seemed more down than usual, I swallowed the fast-growing lump in my throat and nodded. Her eyes flickered from my hand on the marble counter top to the vase. "I, Uh...can you take the bottle out to them. They must be thirsty."