2. Butterfly Stitches.

Elspeth is a young woman who appears average in every way. She attends college & has a good group of friends; But she's not quite human. El is split between 2 worlds, teetering on the edge in both.

2.  Butterfly Stitches. 

 

"Could I have a lift to dads?” I asked, looking up to my mothers face and watching it sink. 

“What are you doing Elspeth?” She shook her head at me, then looked cautiously to Fran who was sat on the sofa with a cup of tea in hand.  

“He just want’s my opinion on something to do with the youth club.” I raised my brows to her. “Me: youth. Dad: old man, practically.” I shrugged. 

“Could Theo not give him a hand?” Mum shook her head. 

“He’s got all of his training to do, and he’s hardly youthful anymore.” 

“Fine, when do you want to go?” 

“Whenever.” I smiled, and head back to my room, knowing that she would try and put it off for as long as possible. She was worried that my father was going to corrupt me. He was worried that she had corrupted me already. They just couldn’t stand the thought of each other, which I think to be really sad, despite the fact that he’s an aggressive asshole and she’s a hypocritical softy. It was strange how those two characteristics described them both and their abilities to a T. 

 

- 

 

“Did your mother not want to come in for a cup of tea?” Dad asked when he answered the door. 

“Nope.” I shook my head.  

“Good.” He smiled. 

“Why did you bother asking?”  

“Thought I had better be polite.”  

“Why start now?” I raised my brows to him. 

“I might have asked for your final verdict, but don’t be a little b***h.” He slapped me around the face in a way that he must have thought to be gentle. It was completely the opposite. It stung, and I was pretty sure it was going to leave a dark mark 

“What did you want help with?” I asked, following him through the house after pausing for a moment. 

 
 

“This, the final layout and design. I will send it off now and the build can start tomorrow, but I want to know what you think of the wall designs.” Dad smiled.  

“Looks good.” I smiled up to him, pretending that my face didn’t hurt when my lips turned up. It was a genuine smile, not one I had forced onto my face. Before us was the building Miles had drawn up for dad.  

“Glad you like it.” He nod his head and stood with his hands on his hips.  

“I love it. You’ll have to put some plants out the front and make it look inviting.” I said, picking up a pen and rubber,  looking to him for permission to draw on his plans. 

“You’ve had a vision haven’t you.” He lent in a little closer. 

“Nope, I just have an eye for detail.” I smiled. 

 

"I'm glad that you're showing an interest in this." Dad smiled down to me. "Your brother was a bit off about my suggestion with allowing Anthropoids to attend." 

"I have to say, I'm a little wary about that. Surely it's more trouble than it's worth?" 

"I know you haven't told anyone about your abilities, no one other than people with abilities. It's no wonder that you're nervous about that part. But if we didn't think we could make it work, we wouldn't go through with it. 

"Fair enough." I nod my head. "Are you not worried about exposure though?" I sighed. 

"It's something that has crossed my mind; but you only tell your closest friends about something as big as abilities. They will be well adapted anthropoids, I am certain of that. 

"Let's hope so," I sighed. Dad snatched up the plans and rolled them all back up.  

 

"That all you wanted?" I asked. 

"That's all." Dad nod his head, then started to pull his coat on. "I'm taking Angie and Zina out to lunch." He looked very proud of himself. 

"Think I could have a lift home?" I smiled, not being rude or anything. 

"We're not heading in that direction." He said, then left the room. 

"It only takes 10 minutes to get to our flat." I frowned and followed him from the room. 

"That's 20 minutes added on to our journey. You're mother can turn around and pick you up." He suggested. 

"She's going shopping with Fran." I was annoyed with how inconsiderate he was to mums plans. 

"Enough of your cheek, I treat you like a grown up for a few minutes, and you think you can talk to me like that?" I flinched when dad turned back around to face me. "Have you not learned to drive yet?" 

 

"Yeah, but I haven't got a car... We can't afford 2 cars." I shook my head. 

"Maybe it's about time you got a job then Eli." He carried on heading out of his massive house. Trying to get him to sympathize with the lack of money mum and I had was absolutely pointless. He had so much he could spontaneously build a youth club; or treat his new girlfriend and her daughter to lunch at a posh restaurant where the serve caviar and champagne. He bought Theo a car for his 24th birthday last year, and this massive house is one of the many huge properties he owns. Mum and I are living in a small rented flat, and she works away half of the time just so we can afford to live in it. The divorce settlement really didn't side with us. 

"Believe it or not, I've been trying." I sighed. 

"Well you need to try harder." He said abruptly, climbing into the car. 

"So you're just going to leave me, locked out of your house? Seriously?" He didn't reply. "Have a nice meal!" I shouted after him as he pulled off of the drive and out of sight. 

 

- 

 

“El, you have dirt on your face...” Mason rubbed the side of my face, leaning right across the table and dipping his scarf into his lunch.  

“It’s not dirt you twat.” I pushed his hand away from me and laughed.  

"Who have you been fighting with?" Em laughed, pulling out a small box of sandwiches from her bag. 

"No one." I shook my head in an attempt to dismiss the topic. 

"Okay." She said chirpily, knowing I didn't want to talk about the origin of the bruise. She stared for a moment, but didn't say anything else. I became aware of the dull pain it was causing me, then routed in my bag for my cold water bottle. 

 

“They’ve started building your dad’s project you know Jelly. Drove past it this morning on my way to college.” Sol said with a mouth full of pasta.  

“Yeah I know. I finalized the plans with dad the other day.” I sighed. 

“Who even cares, it’s going to end up down the toilet. It’s a stupid idea and someone will get killed.” Em shook her head. 

“Probably.” I shrugged. 

“You make me sick sometimes... But, going off the topic. We still having that study night at yours?” Em looked to Sol. He just nod his head, not braving speech with the amount of food he had in his mouth.  
 

-  

 

“What site are you using, because I can’t find f**k all on here... El...” Em shoved me in the arm. 

“Yeah?” I asked but my voice wasn’t quite stable. 

“You feeling alright?” Sol frowned. I nod my head to him, then pulled a face to the weird metal taste in my mouth. All of a sudden I felt like I was going to be sick. I changed my nod into a frantic shaking of the head and jumped to my feet. He and Em followed me to the bathroom. I wasn’t sick, but I couldn’t breath. I started to panic when blood filled my mouth and spewed everywhere when I tried to breath. 

“S**t... What?!” Em looked so shocked. 

“That’s impossible I swear, you’ve had your abilities for years...” Sol’s face was filled with horror. “Mum!” he went on to call, then he shrieked it down the stairs. She took her time, casually strolled up the stairs and put her hands on her hips while I was dying. 

 
 

“She’s rejecting them... look.” Em was shaking. 

“Holy s**t.” June stood for a minute, not knowing what to do. “Gregg!” She shouted down the stairs to Sol’s dad. “Get The Company on the phone!”  

“No.” I shook my head and tried to protest. 

“You know what’s happening Elspeth, we need them. Just, stay calm.” She knelt down next to me and rubbed my back as I choked on blood that was filling my lungs. My entire body was shaking like mad as I tried to gasp for air. But as I took a breath in, I just choked and gasped for more air. “Solomon! Call Gail.” She demanded. 

“What can she do?” Em was stood, biting her nails and shaking her head. 

“Just do it!” June’s voice was breaking as she shouted. I tried to scream out as my head throbbed and a searing, burning pain ran through every inch of my body. I was invoking fire, but I had no control over it.  

 

“Here... water...” Em threw a soaking wet flannel at me, expecting me to catch it. It just smacked on the floor, tiny water droplets landing on my skin and soothing it. I fumbled for the flannel, still choking and gasping for air. I slipped on the blood that was pooling on the floor.  
“Elspeth, don’t try and get up...” June held her hands out to me, blood soaking the sleeves of her lilac blouse. My eyes were heavy, and I started to feel numb. I took in the blotchy faces that were looking down at me; they were all scared. All of a sudden they started spinning and flashing in strange colours; bright turquoise and mustard yellows... and then everything went black. I could hear them... Though I was pretty sure I wasn’t breathing. Mind you, with the amount of noise they were making, you could have heard them from the other side of town. There was something so very familiar about it though, the blackness, the screams and cries of desperation... 

 
 

-  

 
 

“I’m sorry, you can’t come in.” 

“But I’m her father!”  

“No admittance to anyone who is unauthorized.” 

“You have got to be f*****g kidding me.” 

“What’s going on?” 

“It’s Elspeth, she’s rejecting her abilities, that’s all they’ll tell us.” 

“What?!” 

“Please just let us see her, we’re her parents for God’s sake.” 

“I am sorry, I can’t let you in...” 

“Betty, take me in... I’ll make sure everything is alright.” 

“Very well.” 

“Thank you, Taylor...” 

“It’s not pretty, she’s had a particularly bad reaction, seems she’s fighting back. Probably would have made it if she hadn’t of hit her head.” 

“What do you mean, probably would have made it?” 
“We lost her for a good 3 minutes about an hour ago... Seems to be stabilizing now though.” 

“How is that possible?” 

“It is rare that anyone has enough strength to fight back when their body’s rejecting their abilities, but it seems that Miss Prince here is a very unusual one indeed. From her file, her last Sinew measurement shows that she was powerful, a strong 97 on the scale... Before we lost her, it was reading just above 100. We have just got the readings back, her Sinew is at 159. It’s phenomenal; I’ve never seen anything like it.” 

“She’ll be alright though?” 

 
 

“She’s going to be absolutely fine. We are just keeping her under anesthetic while we drain the blood from her lungs, but she’ll be awake and fighting fit in the next 24 hours. We might have to just keep an eye on her based on the rather large increase in Sinew, but other than that, she’s doing just fine.”  

“Mind if I stay for a bit? I told her parents I would make sure she was alright.” 

“Of course you can. I’ll get you something more comfortable to sit on.”  

“Thank you Betty.” 

“I’ll be back in just one moment.” 

“You’re something else you are. I’ll make sure we sort out that file though, neither of our dads can know that your Sinew is so high.” 

 
 

-  

 
 

I peeled my eyes open to the white of the room and threw my head straight over my right shoulder. There was no one in the room with me like I thought there would be. As I climbed out of the bed, I still felt such a familiarity. I pulled the stupid white gown over my head and put on the clothes that were in the corner of the room. They were mine; I was guessing my mother had brought something. I sighed before I left the stupid little room on the hospital ward, slipping out of the door and down the corridor towards the exit. I saw my mother and father behind a glass wall not far from the little room I was in. I moved past them as quick as I could and disappeared from the hospital ward. I had no idea how to navigate around The Company, but strangely enough I knew my way to the exit from the hospital ward; I spent enough time there, it would almost be worrying if I didn’t.  

 
 

On my way out I passed a gym. It was large and filled to the brim with people. I thought it strange seeing as the corridors were empty; I hadn’t seen a soul until peering into that room. I opened the door, intrigued. It was filled with chanting and jeering, and then I realized that there was some sort of force field in the very centre of the room. It was almost like a boxing match ability style... When I moved through the crowds, I realized that’s what it was. I was pretty sure that this was the sort of event that dads new youth centre was going to provide the Anthropoids who knew about those with abilities, and then us. It basically meant that someone was going to get killed.  

“Your parents know you’re here?” Someone whispered in my ear. It was none other than Miles Williams. 

“They don’t even know I’m awake.” I shrugged. A smile slowly appeared on his face, then his twitched his head in an action that suggested I follow him.  

 
 

We moved out of the gym and into the corridor, and when the door fell shut, silence engulfed us. 

“You’re incredibly lucky you know.” 
“Or incredibly unlucky, depends which way you look at it.” I sighed. 

“That’s kind of dark...” Miles didn’t take his eyes from mine. I just raised my brows and pouted my lips a little, why that was my reaction, I don’t know. “Where are you going?” He called after me when I turned abruptly and walked away.  

“Home. I want to shower.” I shrugged and carried on walking. Miles was still watching me walk away from him as I turned the corner to the main entrance of The Company. I got the bus back into town, then walked the short distance to the flat. My mother wasn’t back when I got there, so I enjoyed a long, hot shower.  

 
 

- 

 
 

“Hello?” I answered the phone in a dreary voice. I was slightly unhappy that whoever was on the other end had forced me to get up off of the sofa and pause the TV.  

“Gail, I’ve had the boys looking all over, they have no idea where she is...” 

“Hold on a moment.” I shook my head to Fran then went to answer the door. Taylor was stood there, looking slightly shocked with Miles behind him, grinning. 

“Hi...” I said after a moment. “Come in, I’m just talking to your mother.” I smiled then moved back over to the phone. “Sorry Fran, that’s Taylor and Miles at the door.” 
“Elspeth, is that you?” She sounded confused. 

“Yep.” I nod my head. Taylor held his hand out to take the phone. I handed it to him. 

“She’s at the flat yeah... Yes, you can tell Will's team they can stop looking...” 

“You had people looking for me?” I asked, looking to Miles. 

 
 

“Yes, we did...” Taylor nod his head. 

“And none of them thought to check my own home?” I laughed. 

“Obviously not... Have you been here all evening?” Miles asked. 

“Yep...” 

“I thought dad said he had his best on this...” Miles frowned to his brother.  

“That’s reassuring.” I tried not to laugh, but I did.  

“Get some shoes on El.” Taylor said when as soon as he put the phone down. 

“Why?” 

“I think you might be in trouble...” Miles grit his teeth and turned the TV off. 

“When am I not? bloody hell.” I sighed and slipped my vans on then followed the two of them from the house. 

 
 

This was my first visit to the Williams household, and already I could feel something strange in the atmosphere.  

“Where did you find her?” My mother jumped to her feet. 

“At your flat.” Miles said sarcastically. 

“Very funny.” Dad didn’t look amused. 

“No, we actually did find her there.” Taylor sighed and slumped onto the sofa.  

“You were at the flat?!” Dad’s face was fuming. 

“Yeah, went back, had a shower... just been watching some...” I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence before my father smacked me across the face. Fran and mum gasped and Taylor got straight to his feet.  

 
 

“Thanks dad, good to see you’re feeling like your normal self too.” I sucked on my lip where he had split it on my tooth.  

“Don’t wind him up Elspeth.” Mum warned. 

“We were worried sick, Eli.” Dad shook his head. 

“Yeah, I can see that... F**k.” I lifted my hand to my jaw, the delayed throbbing kicking in, which made me regret making him hit me a little. 

“Do you want something cold for that?” Fran asked a little timidly. 

“Nah, thanks.” I shook my head. 

“I’m sorry, Eli.” Dad looked to the floor. 

“No, you’re not.” I turned. 

“Where are you going now?” Mum called. 

 

 

“I’m going home, again.” I sighed. 

“Actually, I have a few questions for you.” I heard Tony move down the stairs. I let my shoulders slump. 

“Will it take long?” I asked, still facing away from everyone. 

“Depends whether you’re difficult or not.” He replied. 

“Let’s face it, when am I not difficult... Can I have a bag of peas?” I looked to Fran. She smiled and nod her head. 

“Please, take a seat.” Tony encouraged, sitting down on the opposite side of the room himself. I pushed my embarrassment to one side and joined Miles and Taylor on the sofa where the both of them had settled. 

 
 

“Can you remember what happened?” Tony’s tone of voice suddenly changed, and I had to stop myself from laughing. I failed. 

“Elspeth.” My mother frowned. 

“Sorry...” I cleared my throat. “I don’t really know... I just started choking then I was invoking fire and then I blacked out.” I sighed. 

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?” Tony raised his brows in a suggestive way.  

“You’re something else.” I widened my eyes to Tony, and hoped that Taylor understood what I was doing. “I nearly died and you’re accusing me of something... I don’t even know what... Thank you.” I smiled to Fran as she handed me the peas. Taylor laughed, and I took that as him getting my message.  

“You did die, it was my workers who brought you back. Bare that in mind, Miss Prince.” 

 
 

“Now I feel like I’m being threatened.” I shook my head. And Tony sighed. 

“At least she admits to being difficult.” Miles sighed too.  

“Anything else you want to ask?” I raised my brows to Tony. 

“What are you doing tomorrow evening?” He took me by surprise a little. 

“Nothing.” My dad answered for me. 

“What day is it tomorrow?” I asked, realizing I wasn’t actually sure. 

“Thursday...” Tony prompted. 

“Oh, Thursday.” I nod my head. 

“So you aren’t doing anything?” 

“Yes, I am. Busy all day, why?” 

“Stop lying Eli.” Dad said sternly. 

“I genuinely am. Got college, then I’m tutoring Em, then in the evening I’m babysitting for our neighbours granddaughter.” I explained. 

“She’s a compulsive liar.” Dad paused, then looked over to Tony. 

“How the f**k would you even know what I’m doing? You never see me.” I shouldn’t have let him get to me so much.  

“Elspeth.” My mother frowned.  

“It’s fine mum, you don’t need to back me up.” I got to my feet. 

“If you go along with her lies I will...” 
“You’ll do what?” I paused and turned to face my parents who were sat as far apart on the sofa as possible. The room fell silent, and he didn’t look up to me. 

 
 

“You’ll do what?” I repeated, throwing the bag of peas at my dad’s head. He lept to his feet and lifted his fist into the air. “I dare you to. Go on.” I egged him on when he seemed to hesitate before hitting me again. “Let’s see if you can embarrass yourself more than I already have.” There was complete and utter silence as an internal conflict took place in my father’s mind, then Tony laughed. 

“Take her home Gail, she’ll need rest for the weekend.” He said once he had composed himself. Miles looked to me with a sparkle in his eye, as did my father. There were 3 other people in the room though, and their eyes seemed to fill with fear, or I’m pretty sure it was fear anyway.  

“Thanks for the peas.” I said the most stupid thing I could think of before leaving, my father still ready to hit me. He remained that way as my mother slipped past us, apologizing for my behaviour then following behind me. 

 
 

-  

 
 

I looked a mess, a greeny yellowish bruise on my left cheek and a swollen purple jaw with a lovely split lip just to make things better. I sighed, my concealer failing to cover any of the discoloured skin.  

“You can’t leave the house like that.” My mother sighed when she saw me.  

“What do you expect me to do?” I paused before I left the flat. She didn’t respond, and so I left. 

“That’s nasty...” Glenda pointed to my face with her stick as she stepped out of the lift. I just looked to the floor. “You know Gail, it’s a shame you’ve ruined your pretty face.” 

“El...” Taylor was making his way up the stairs. 

“Oh, there is another pretty face.” Glenda laughed. “My knee’s been playing up duck, think I could borrow an arm to the door?” She asked Taylor. He smiled and held his arm out to her. “Hope it wasn’t you to do that to my beautiful Gail.” 

“Oh...” Taylor looked to me, a frown on his face. “No it wasn’t.” 

 
 

“I didn’t imagine such a nice looking lad would be so cruel.” Glenda nod her head. Taylor just laughed. 

“I’ll see you later Glenda.” I smiled to her. 

“Yes, see you later.” She smiled back when she was at her door. Taylor took her keys and opened the door for her. “Oh, Gail. Don’t let that big heart of yours weigh you down.” She pointed her finger at me, then closed the door behind her. 

“Gail?” 
“She thinks my mum and I are the same person.” I laughed lightly.  

“Oh right... Are you going to college?” He asked. 

“Yeah.” I nod my head. 

“Let me give you a lift? I need to talk to you.” He said very matter of factly. I just nod my head at him after a short pause.  

 
 

For some reason, I felt like I was on the brink of crying. Taylor drove in silence for the first few minutes, then he looked over to me, then back to the road.  

“You heard what I was talking to Betty about?” He asked. 

“Yeah... I heard you. What’s Sinew?” I asked, and Taylor smiled. 

“It’s the amount of power someone has. The highest recorded Sinew is at 202.” He said, still smiling as he spoke. 

“So mine’s kinda high...” I sighed. 

“Yeah.” He nod his head. “It was high before you died, then it got even higher.”  

“Why?” I asked. “If I was rejecting my abilities before, surely now my Sinew is higher it will happen again...” I frowned. 

“I don’t think you were rejecting them... I don’t think anyone has ever rejected them...” He said. 

 
 

“Have you had a vision since yesterday?” He asked. 

“1...” I said. 

“And what was it like? How did it make you feel?” 

“It didn’t knock me out, it normally does. I was pretty much conscious through the whole thing...” I frowned. 

“And have you used any of your other abilities?” He glanced over to me for a second. I shook my head. “Careful when you do, you might find they are more... advanced than when you last used them.” He smiled, but it was a concerned smile.  

“Okay...” I nod my head to him.  

“What happened to your cheek?” He asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence. "Is that where your dad hit you yesterday? 

 

  

“I’m good at winding him up.” I nod my head. 

“That shouldn’t make it alright.” Taylor shook his head. 
“It’s not alright. It’s either me or mum, and she’s more fragile than I am.” 

“You look pretty fragile to me.” He said, almost defensively. I looked down to my feet, trying to avoid eye contact. “Does Theo know?” 

“I think he tries to pretend that it’s not true.” I shrugged. 

“Great brother...” 
“He’s been through worse s**t with dad. I’m glad he doesn’t stand up to him.”  

“He’s not as fragile as you.” Taylor used my words against me. I just carried on staring at my feet in the foot well. 

 
 

-  

 
 

“Hey... Elspeth...” I heard my name but couldn’t quite make out who had called it from the hordes of people that were gathering around the bus stop. “It’s me, Richard.” The big lad with curly hair smiled the biggest smile known to man. When I eventually turned to face him, his smile vanished. “What happened to you?” His eyes looked as though they were about to pop out of his head. 

“Oh...” I laughed and raised my hand to my face. “I fell down the stairs at the weekend...” I shrugged.  

“Does it hurt?” He looked genuinely concerned.  

“Like a b***h.” I nod my head but laughed lightly. 

“Hey, I don’t s'pose you have a f*g do you?” He asked the question he had always asked me when we were at high school together. He hadn’t changed much since then, just gotten taller and fatter. 

 
 

“Nah, sorry Rich.” I shook my head. 

“Em? Got a f*g?” 

“So I’m second best, is that how it is?” Em raised her brows and put her hands on her hips. 

“Erm... no, sorry Emery...” He shook his head so fast and seemed to flush red in the face. 

“I’m kidding... Amber Leaf alright?” She started rummaging through her bag for her roll ups. 

“I thought you were quitting?” I frowned. 

“I was, now I’m not.” She smiled. I just shook my head. “We don’t all have the self control that you do.” She laughed. Richard joined in, though I’m pretty sure he didn’t know what he was laughing at.  

“Got a light?” Richard put the cigarette between his lips. Automatically I held my hand out and let a flame engulf it. 

 
 

I realised what I was doing, but not in time. Em dived in with a lighter and Richard flinched away from the both of us. Luckily I didn't invoke a flame in my palm. 

“Sorry...” I laughed nervously, snapping my hands behind my back. “Guess my self control isn’t what it used to be...” 

“Stupid b***h...” Em was smiling, but gritting her teeth. I was really going to have to keep an eye out, that was the second time in one day that I had almost used my abilities in public. I continued the nervous laugh, not really sure what else to do.  

“Alright, well, I’ll see you around, yeah?” Richard smiled and walked away, proudly smoking Em’s roll up.  

“What the f**k was that?” Em’s eyes were stern and piercing. 

“An accident...” I grit my teeth.  

 
 

- 

 
 

“El... El... El are you going to eat that? You’ve been staring into space...” Em was waving her hands in front of my face. 

“I’ve got to go...” I said abruptly and got to my feet. 

“What?” Em frowned and looked to her brother and his mate then followed me. 

“You alright El?” Nate asked in his soft, calming voice. 

“The flat is going to be turned upside down in half an hour... Mum isn’t home, I need to go.” 

“Wait, what?” Em followed me out of the room and onto the corridor of their student accommodation.  
“I just saw it, I need to go...” 

“You had a vision?” She frowned, she didn’t need to lower her voice here. 

“Yes, and I need to be there, so...” I looked to her for a moment, then walked away. 

 
 

I jumped in a taxi as in the vision, I had seen myself climbing out of one, then hearing a clatter... Sure enough, as I was paying the driver, there was a loud noise from the window of the lounge that looked out onto the street. I ran inside and up the stairs. The door was wide open, and I made sure I followed everything I had seen in the vision, carefully not making any mistakes. The intruder had pretty much trashed the entire apartment. 

“What the f**k?” The words escaped, I mess up for the third time. Suddenly it fell silent, and then something smacked me in the side and took me to the floor. A figure in black from head to toe grabbed the nearest item and tried to smash it over my head. I blocked the blow and forced my weight over them, flattening them on the floor. I pulled the mask from the blokes face and he head butted me. By the time I got to my feet he was halfway out of the flat, and I had blood gushing down my face. I ran after him in a wriggly line, and before I reached the door, I heard a scream. 

“Glenda?” I called faintly, cupping my hand under my chin to try and stop the blood from dripping everywhere. I hardly succeeded. There was a loud rumble, then a clatter, then the front door slamming shut. I ran out onto the landing when I regained my balance. “S**t.” I gave up cupping my hand under my chin when I saw Glenda at the bottom of the stairs, crumpled and bleeding. I ran down and to her side, seeing if she were conscious, then checked her pulse and immediately called an ambulance. I sat with her until it arrived, not being able to shake the thought that this was entirely my fault. The ambulance came the man and woman didn’t seem to be holding out much hope. 

“Are you a relative?” She asked me. 

“Yes, I’m her Daughter in law. It’s Glenda, Glenda Hopkins. Will she be okay?” I asked as they wired her up to all this machinery in the ambulance.  

 
 

“It’s too early to say. Will you be staying with her?” The man said, not looking too convinced about the daughter in law story. In all fairness, I probably should have gone with granddaughter.  

“Yes, I’ll be staying with her.” I nod my head. He nod his, then slammed the doors shut. I was sat in the waiting room at the hospital for hours on end. I’d phoned my mother and got her to try and reach Glenda’s son. Some nurse had passed and kindly offered to tend to my nose, soaking it to remove the blood, then she put a couple of butterfly stitches over the nasty broken skin. I looked a state: bruised, covered in blood and shaking. Glenda had gone in for emergency surgery as soon as she arrived at the hospital. I was still on my own there. Mum had called to let me know that her son and his wife were on their way. 

 
 

“Are you Elspeth?” A shaken voice asked. I was the only person in the waiting room, so I think the chances of me being the person they were looking for were pretty high. I just nod my head, not trusting my voice to turn out right. “How is she?” 

“They wouldn’t tell me much, just that she’s shattered pretty much every bone in her left side, and broken a couple on the right...” I said, realising how nasty her injuries were. The man lifted his hand to his head and a tear rolled down his cheek. Then a slim woman came in behind him and wrapped her arms around him.  

“What happened? You’re mother didn’t tell us much...” 

“Someone broke into our flat next door... I stupidly walked in and disturbed them, then they must have knocked Glenda down after head butting me...” My voice was shaky, and I pointed to my nose. “I didn’t even know she was behind me...” I shook my head. 

“There’s nothing you could have done...” The woman reassured me.  

 
 

I stayed with the two of them until the early hours of the morning. It was half past 5 when the doctor came into the waiting room. The 3 of us got to our feet immediately, and the doctor stood in silence for a moment. 

“I’m sorry, but it isn’t good news.” He shook his head. “There were some complications during surgery.” He explained. “Your mother passed away 40 minutes ago, all we could do to revive her wasn’t enough.”  

“Are you the girl who was with her?” Some police strode into the room. I just nod my head. “We are going to need to ask you some questions... Could you come with us to the station?” I nod my head again. I rest my hand on Glenda’s son’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry...” I whispered to the sobbing man, then went with the police. I answered all the questions they had, only swaying from the truth a little in certain areas. They let me go and one of the officers drove me home. By the time I got back, my mother had gone to work leaving only a note to say that she needed to speak to me when she got home. I was glad it was my day off college, so I tucked myself up in bed and slept.