Baby be Mine

Chapter 3

[Mic]

As I slide the key into the lock on the front door, all I can think of is my bed calling me. Now I actually get a lie-in tomorrow I suddenly feel extra tired. All my energy was used riding my bike home. As I clear the bike from the doorway and lock up, I check the time on my watch. Ten to ten. I've been up since six this morning.

Thank God, the cinema has cancelled my shift tomorrow morning. That makes tonight my last shift there until the Christmas holidays. I'm grateful for the cinema giving me the option to only do seasonal work. They didn't pay the best but I was able to get more hours there. A lot of the staff put their shifts up for swap so I've managed to get a lot more in that way.

My shift in the shop is not until four in the afternoon so I don't plan on getting out of bed until closer to lunch time.

Propping my bike against the wall for the night I hear a noise.

I freeze.

What should I do? Should I leave? Sneak out?

I know I didn't leave anything on that would make a noise. I wouldn't leave anything on period. Got to save as much money as possible. Not working three jobs all summer for nothing. I'm working to get the maximum in with the minimum outgoings. I don't have to pay rent or a mortgage but there are still bills for the house, not to mention food. Every other penny goes to savings for the rest of the year when I'm working less and studying more.

It's a pinch but I've survived the past year like this.

My phone is charged, I could leave and call the police.

Or should I just go check it out?

Nobody seems to be in a rush to escape. It wasn't like I was quiet when I came. Didn't have a need to be.

"Kay kay, is that my little sister?"

Wait. "Amelia?" I ask, my feet moving me towards the living room.

There sitting in the dark, only lit up by the phone screen she is fiddling with is my older sister. She jumps up when I walk in and pulls me into a hug. I automatically react, hugging her back, enjoying having family contact for a brief moment.

She was all I had left. I was only fourteen when we became orphans, Amelia was twenty-two. When dad became ill our parents made a will, leaving me in the care of Amelia if the worse was to happen. I don't think they ever thought it would come to that. Amelia and I were always close growing up, even with the eight-year age gap. She was protective of me and I looked up to her.

When I was a baby, Amelia would nag my parents to help take care of me. Bathing me, feeding me, changing my clothes and changing my nappy. She wanted to do it all.

As I got older, she would walk alongside me, holding my hand as I got my balance. If I got scared in the night, I knew I could climb in with her. She'd cwtch me in and make up a story to help me get back to sleep.

I started primary school as she started high school. The high school started and ended before the primary. Amelia would walk to the primary at the end of the day to meet mum and me. She would listen as I told her about my day, threatening to hurt anyone who was mean to me.

We were more than sisters; we were best friends.

Then that day happened.

From then everything changed. I was in school. It was a Wednesday, third lesson, Art. I was called out of class by someone from the office. She never said a word to me as we walked to the head teacher's office. She didn't need to. The look on her face was enough for me to know my dad was gone. He'd been fighting the cancer for nearly two years. By the end it was stage four practically everywhere. We knew we didn't have long left with him. So, when the office worker called me out of class, telling me to bring my stuff, it had to be dad.