AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll let you know that I eat fucking honey loops for breakfast with real milk,” I whisper-yell, realising I’m but a few feet away fromhim. My own breathingis loud and quick as my chest moves up and down rapidly.
I stare at him, biting the inside of my cheek. I wait for a response, but Chester has nothing to say anymore as he only stares back. Then he shakes his head, seemingly giving up what wasn’t possible to begin with.
“Evangeline, everything all right?” Topper’s voice interrupts the tense silence between us. I turn around, marching Topper’s way, who has his eyebrows raised, wondering what he just walked in on.
“So, it’s Evangeline, eh?” Chester yells with smugness in his voice.
“Fuck. Off.”
“Thank you, Dubois,” he yells again, and I can’t help but throw the bird over my shoulder.Eat my pink manicured nail, arsehole.
“That’s Chester Boyd?” Topper whispers in disbelief.
“Yeah, well, screw him.”
Chapter Four
Chester
Five years old
Mummy is yelling. So is daddy.
They yell and yell and nothing will stop them. Yesterday, they screamed at each other for a very long time. I don’t know how long. I tried to read the clock, but I couldn’t. Not yet anyway. Mum says I will be able to read it when I’m older, but I did see the hands moving forward yesterday. They ticked away and kept on ticking.
But the longer it took, the angrier they got.
Mummy cried. Daddy left and slammed the door closed behind him. He didn’t arrive back home until late. I was already in bed when I heard the front door opening.
They started yelling again, and I watched the hands of the clock moving forward again.
My teacher tells me not to yell at people, but my parents do.
They do it all the time. To each other.
I don’t like it when they yell. I don’t like it now.
“You will go with me to my sister’s birthday party,” Mum barks. Her voice echoes through the house. I’m in the living room, and they’re in the kitchen, but still, I hear her. It’s loud and hurts my ears. I close my eyes, hoping it will go away.
“I will not,” Daddy grumbles before a cabinet is slammed shut, and I shiver because they scare me. I quickly grab Robert and hug him closer to my body. He’s my stuffed giraffe, and Daddy gave him to me when I was even smaller and younger.
My lips tremble, but mostly, it’s my belly that hurts. It hurts so much. It hurts when they fight. I drop a hand on my belly and tap it softly, hoping it will stop hurting.
“You promised,” Mum screams, and I whimper, holding Robert tightly.
“It’ll be okay,” I whisper to him and caress his mane. I pry my eyes open, one, then the other, and breathe out when all I hear is silence. Maybe Daddy left through the back door. Maybe Mummy isn’t speaking to him anymore.
My heart slows down, and I let go of Robert. Are they finally done? Does that mean we can leave for my football practice?
I focus back on the cartoon Mummy put on before she told me when we need to leave for my very first football practice. When the small hand points at the nine and the long one at the twelve.
That was a very long time ago, and I want to play football. My friends play it as well. We play it when they come over. I love it, and I’m fast. I run as fast as a train. Even faster. Daddy said I will be the best football player ever.
I think he lied because both my parents forgot that we were supposed to leave a long time ago.
“You will come with me because that’s the decent thing to do. Family shows up at birthday parties for each other. I promised them you would be there. Don’t embarrass me.”
“I didn’t make that promise, Felice. I would have never promised such a thing. You just assumed, once again, that I would go sit and talk with your obnoxious family for hours. I’ll pass,” Daddy says, and I’m quick to grab Robert again because they’ll start arguing all over again.
