Hero

Poppy woke to the sound of Eleanor trudging around the kitchen. The girl was quite small but she sounded like an elephant when she walked around the flat. With a big yawn and stretch Poppy climbed out of bed to see what the noisy girl was up to.

Not only were the two girls best friends and flatmates, they were also cousins. There was a three year age difference between them but Poppy and El had always been inseparable. Neither of the two had siblings so they always considered each other sisters. They only grew closer when Poppy’s mum passed of breast cancer the summer before her 31st birthday. The entire family was devastated and nine year old Poppy was completely lost. Her father left shortly after his wife’s death, claiming not to be able to handle the stress of raising a pre-teen girl on his own and leaving his elderly parents to care for his young daughter.

Puberty was quickly approaching for the young girl and without a mum to explain all of the changes she was going through she was helpless. Eleanor saw how scared and confused her baby cousin was and took it as an opportunity to step into the role of ‘big sister’. The two cousins spent the entire summer in Eleanor’s bedroom reading her mum’s Cosmopolitan magazines and sneaking into the den late at night when everyone was asleep to watch reruns of Sex and the City.

When Eleanor finished college she moved into her own flat in Central London while she attended university. When Poppy graduated three years later she moved into the dormitories of King’s College. The entire family was ecstatic when Poppy received her letter of acceptance from the esteemed university; this was just the change she needed in her life to find herself and gain some independence.



Poppy had been just settling into university life, it was her second month being away from her grandparents’ home and living in the dorms. She adored her roommate Anna and was quickly befriending all of her classmates.

It was an unseasonably warm night in November and Poppy was just leaving a wonderful play at the student theatre. She had a bright smile on her face as she admired the city’s Christmas lights. She was just passing Mrs. Roper’s candle shop when she felt her phone vibrate in her coat pocket. When she pulled out her phone and unlocked it she saw that it was a message from Eleanor.

Eleanor: 10:01pm
Hey Pops, I’ve just gotten home. Let me know when you’re on your way xx

She typed back a quick reply.

To: Eleanor:
Just leaving the theatre now. Should be there in 10 xxx

Poppy put her phone back into her pocket and continued the trek to Eleanor’s flat. The cousins had been planning this night for weeks, El had just returned from a school trip to Rome and the two were getting together for a sleepover to watch Christmas films and drink cocoa. Poppy usually would have taken a taxi to El’s flat but it was a beautiful night and she figured she could use the exercise after the two cupcakes she had eaten earlier that day at brunch.

The streets were buzzing with people as she neared the entrance Hyde Park. It was dark and in hindsight a small girl like Poppy shouldn’t have been walking through the park alone, but the Christmassy atmosphere of London in November made her feel safe. She was so preoccupied deciding which film to watch once she got to El’s that she couldn’t hear the footsteps approaching her.

She screamed when he grabbed her from behind. His hand covered her mouth and he whispered in her ear, “I’ll kill you if you scream.”



“What are you doing out here?” Poppy asked when she saw Eleanor dancing around the kitchen in her polka dot pajamas. The stereo was blasting a catchy pop tune at an obscene volume. Poppy took a seat at the breakfast island while El continued to dance around with a spatula in her hand.

“Lou’s new song!” El smiled happily.

Eleanor was dating the Louis Tomlinson of the UK’s own boy band sensation One Direction. Lou and El were brilliant together and Poppy considered him her brother. She knew how hard it was on Eleanor that Louis traveled all the time but Poppy was convinced that nothing could tear the couple apart, not even the nasty things Lou’s fans said about El on social media.

Poppy smiled as El turned to the waffle maker and poured in the batter while she sang along to the music. Waffles were Eleanor’s answer for everything. Break up with a boyfriend? Waffles. Fail your maths finals? Waffles.

Poppy knew whenever El was making waffles that she could expect a motherly chat at the breakfast table. Of course El was going to want to talk about the news. Poppy had been silently dreading this conversation, hoping that if she didn’t say it out loud that it wouldn’t be true.

As if Eleanor could read her mind she turned the music off and brought the plate of warm waffles to the breakfast island. She passed Poppy the maple syrup before taking the seat beside her. Poppy looked at her cousin after taking a bite of her waffle.

“Spit it out, El.”

“How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” Poppy shrugged.

“Maybe this means the police will catch him now. Maybe they have his DNA.”

Poppy sighed. She hated talking about it. Nothing was going to change, the police didn’t care when it happened to her so why would they care now?

“They didn’t even try to catch him, El. They treated me like an inconvenience.. The police don’t care about it.”

“I just want that bastard in prison.” Eleanor muttered. Poppy looked at her older cousin to see her eyes welling with tears. Poppy shifted in her chair and pulled Eleanor into her arms.

“Don’t cry, El. I’m fine.”

“No you aren’t. Neither of us are fine. He ruined our lives Poppy.”

“I know he did..” she whispered.

Nothing had been the same since that night, Poppy couldn’t deny it. The entire family dynamic had shifted; whatever semblance of independence she had gained in her two months at uni had vanished completely, she was treated as the baby of the family once again. Her poor grandparents had never recovered since Eleanor called to tell them that Poppy had been attacked; Poppy could hear the worry in her grandmother’s voice every time she called to check up on her. What she hated most of all about the monster that attacked her was the fact that he had hurt her family as well.

“We have to move on with our lives, El. We can’t let him haunt us forever.. we just can’t.” Poppy sounded as if she were trying to convince herself of what she was saying.

“Yeah.. Let’s try to be happy now, Pops. We deserve that much; you deserve it.” The smile Eleanor gave Poppy was genuine but the sadness in her eyes was still visible.