𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 | mileven au.

SIX...

CHAPTER SIX
"MAGES & CLERICS!"

she woke up to the sound of a wind softly whisking through her cracked window, wafting onto her bedsheets and crawling onto her skin as her eyes fluttered open. she rubbed her eyes, blinking slowly as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight of the september morning. as her back rested against her fabric pillow, her eyebrows scrunched together as she heard a loud hacking erupt from the bathroom down the hall.

she used her hands to push herself off of her twin bed, her nose crinkling as she smelt a gross odor through her bedroom door that was parted open ever so slightly. as she heard another hack sound throughout the one-story house, el sprung out of the comfort of her bed and rushed to the bathroom.

the wooden door was sealed shut, but the sounds of fluids spilling out of chapped lips into the toilet water was still as audible as ever. eleanor frowned, placing her hand on the brass door knob and twisting it as the door creakily opened.

her shoulders slumped as she saw the sight of her mother hovered over a now vomit-coated toilet seat, multiple glass bottles of alcohol sprawled around her on the unswept bathroom floor. her mother turned around, her eyes bloodshot and puffy as she stared at her daughter.

"get me some riesling," the hungover woman demanded for another alcoholic drink, wiping the edges of her stained mouth with her forearms before hurling into the toilet once again. eleanor cringed in disgust, looking away as she attempted to block out the god-awful sight and smell.

el's feet stayed glued to the bathroom floor, her eyes wide as she watched her mother continue to vomit into the toilet. she watched in fear as the drunk woman's teeth began to snarl, her chest heaving up and down with such intensity that eleanor believed her chest was about the burst right then and there.

"i told you to get me some goddamn riesling, eleanor!" the wrinkled face barked harshly, her voice raspy and breaking in certain points of her command. the fifteen-year-old flinched as her ear-piercing yell rang in her ears, before quickly stumbling over herself and scrambling into the kitchen to get the goddamn riesling.

the brunette reopened one of the numerous bottles of riesling that were spread throughout the home, if you could even call the place she resides in a living space. she poured the intoxicating beverage into a plastic cup, grateful for her quick thinking to place the alcohol in an unbreakable glass. she tripped over her own feet to reach the bathroom, the drink shaking in her trembling hands.

eleanor stood in the doorway, kneeling down next to her guardian whose back now rested against the shower curtain. she tilted the older lady's chin upwards with two delicate fingers, placing the cup to her crackling lips and pouring the refreshing liquid in her mouth as if it was clockwork, as if it was a routine.

it was. it was a routine.

her mother's heavy breathing slowed, letting out a groan of relief as she eagerly begged for more of the addictive drink by lightly slapping her daughter's arm. eleanor's lips turned downwards, but nevertheless, she found herself dripping more of the beverage into her mouth.

after all, if she didn't, things would end in the worse.

—

she hummed the new madonna song to herself absentmindedly, flipping through a collection of teen magazines that were piled up in a hefty stack on her bed. as she was in the midst of reading the latest celebrity gossip, she groaned as she heard the doorbell chime.