Never Forgotten

Chapter 5: Home

Eleanor

Looking out the window as the high rise buildings flew by, I began to think about Oscar and where he was if he was alive. It's just the more thought I put into it, the more unrealistic it became about him getting out alive. He was in a coma. He couldn't move. Surely if the doctors rescued him then they would have contacted Brian. I wasn't sure, but I also wasn't losing hope on him.

"Mummy? Do you like my drawing? I'm going to save it for daddy when he comes back".

I looked up at Brian in the front seat to already see him staring at me and Sofia through the mirror. He sighed heavily before turning his eyes back onto the road.

"Oh sweetie, it's beautiful!".

Sofia had drawn another picture of me, Oscar, her and her baby brother or sister. This time she had drawn her younger sibling as a little boy. But the one she drew earlier was with a baby-girl, and I left it at home on the mantelpiece. I placed it there intentionally so if Oscar was to come to the safe house, he'd have some indication of where we were. Home. My mother's home.

If anyone did come by, they would see it as a child's drawing and nothing more. It was subtle enough that even Brian didn't pick up on it. That was a second home to all of us. To him, that was simply one of Sofia's beautiful drawings.

I just hoped Oscar would magically turn up and take us all away with him.

"We're here. Are you sure we're gonna fit. It's a very small looking house".

"Ooooh ducks" Sofia yelled out whilst frantically trying to free herself from out of the car seat.

Undoing Sofia's seat belt, I smiled as she jumped out of the car with her plait coming undone. She giggled as she tried to hug the ducks, but started crying when the ducks started chasing her back.

"Shoo shoo" Brian kicked his leg out to scare the ducks away whilst he snuggled Sofia in his arms.

Grabbing Sofia's fluffy backpack, I ensured Oreo was nice and snug in there and carried it over my shoulder.

Guards had already chosen their positions and were stood with their guns hidden away if they should need them. And before we could knock on the door, my mum opened the door and looked at all of us with wide eyes and a pale face.

"Hi mum" I mumbled sheepishly. It had been almost a year since I had seen her and I had lost count of how many times she called me.

I watched as her mouth opened to speak, but no words could come out. Her face turned white, her body stiff and she looked like she was about to collapse.

"Mum, let's get you inside. It's rather cold. I'll get the kettle on for us".

Nodding at Brian, I rested my hand on my mum's shoulder and gently pushed her inside. She was still frozen as if she had seen a ghost. Perhaps she thought I was dead from the lack of contact.

Brian was still out the front with Sofia, but they quickly followed after me chatting about all the animals they saw.

Escorting mum to the kitchen, I sat her down on a chair and put on the kettle whilst grabbing a couple of mugs.

"Mum, I know you're in shock and I'm sorry, but a lot of things have happened".

"You don't say. But darling I need to know, the pregnancy. Was it consensual? I worry so much about you living alone in London".

My heart broke. That's the first thing. It's a natural thing for mums to worry. Besides, I hadn't contacted her in so long that she must have thought something bad happened to me for me to cut contact with her.