Good Riddance

The first thing I noticed was the unfamiliar smell. It was too clean; I say too clean because the smell of clean linen usually surrounded me when I awoke at home but now it was too clean. It smelt of disinfectant but masking something else, something a lot less pleasant – not that disinfectant was pleasant.

I opened my eyes. At least I tried to, I opened one but one was so puffed up and swollen that it wouldn’t open more than a crack so I just shut it again and contented myself with only using one eye. I realised in the following seconds as I became fully coherent that I was in hospital.

I looked down at the bed I was lying in and saw that the metal sides were pulled up so I couldn’t inadvertently roll out onto the floor. The elbow of my right arm was wrapped in bandages and when I reached my left hand up to check the damage to my face I discovered I had a large dressing type bandage on the left side of my forehead. I didn’t seem to be too badly hurt so I moved myself into a sitting position off the bed, my waist was aching and I found I had few finger-shaped bruises on it, nothing too bad. My memory flashed to the guy’s eyes who had held me close to him and I whimpered slightly, my eyes flickering around the room as an almost ridiculous reaction. Of course he wasn’t here, I don’t know where he was, but he wasn’t here. Here, I was safe.

It was dark outside and I surmised that it must be the night after the incident. I refused to think of it – as yet – as more than an ‘incident’. That meant it must be Sunday night. My eyes moved around the room once again searching for clock and when I found one I read that it was ten past two in the morning. I looked to my left and my eyes rested on the prone body of Billie. I made a small noise of something that could have been fear as I saw that he had an oxygen mask over his face and an IV attached to his hand. I looked down and realised that I shouldn’t be too concerned about the latter because I had one too.

His bed was about a metre away from mine, this was due to the smallness of the room we were in. It had the two beds in it, a computer and other medical equipment in it. There was only one double set of doors leading to the room and I noticed there was a police officer outside the door. We were being guarded.

“Billie” I tried to speak but what came out was more of a croak. My throat was as dry as the Sahara desert, probably something to do with the drugs that may or may not be in my system at the moment. I didn’t expect to get a response from Billie so I looked at how long my IV tube was and saw it was quite long; draping over the top of the stand. I found the latch on the metal side and quietly put the side of my bed down so I could swing my legs out of the bed and step onto the cold floor of the hospital.

His bed had the metal railings up as well and I clung onto it as my head spun from standing up for the first time in a while. I looked down at his face and saw that he looked totally peaceful, he didn’t look to be in pain, but I wanted to know why he needed an oxygen mask.

“Miss!”

A voice behind me made me turn slowly.

“Get back into bed!” said the friendly looking nurse who had just entered the room, presumably with the intention of merely checking to see whether we were still asleep. I felt dizzy from turning around and the nurse had to help me get back into the bed, something I felt intensely embarrassed about.

“What’s wrong with him?” I whispered as she tucked the thin duvet back around me, “Why does he need that thing? He’s okay right?”

The nurse smiled sympathetically at me.

“He’ll be fine” she said, “We think that he got kicked in the ribs at some point during the attack, two of his bones of rib cage managed to crack and it’s bruised his lungs but he should be alright, that’s just to aid his breathing. Other than that his injuries are similar to yours except without the cuts on the arm and he seems to have broken his knuckles on his right hand which suggests he punched somebody”

While she had been talking various flashes of the previous evening were coming back to me and I remembered the sickening crack I had heard when my guy had kicked Billie in the ribs. I tried to block in from my mind but I was replaying the scene in mind over and over like a bad black and white movie.
I turned my face into the pillow as the nurse went over to check Billie’s oxygen mask.

“Do you need some sleeping aid miss?” asked the nurse. I turned my head back to her and nodded slowly, I knew if I didn’t have it then my mind would be plagued with images of the previous night, I saw her turn a dial on my IV and a few minutes later I succumbed to the black nothingness of dreamless sleep once again.

This time when I awoke the smell was familiar and the pillows under my head were a different colour to the ones I had fallen asleep on. I rolled onto my back and looked up into the familiar canopy of my own four poster bed. It was warm and soft on my skin as I lay in the silence of my room. I could hear my mom moving about downstairs and my dad in the room next door. I could also hear unfamiliar voices and I assumed that they were the police.

I swung my legs out of bed and saw that I was still wearing the regulation hospital pyjamas. My head spun slightly as I stood up but not nearly as bad as it had done when I was in the ward. I walked to the door and I was met as I opened my door by my dad.

“Hey Scarlett” he said.

“Hey dad” I said, “Am I needed downstairs?”

By that I meant was I needed to make a statement to the police but my dad just shook his head.

“They’ll come up here to take your statement when I tell them you’re awake, just go sit in bed”

I nodded numbly and I returned to my warm bed. I pulled the cover up around my shoulders and waited for whoever was coming to question me make themselves known. The door opened about five minutes later and a female officer with short red hair and a male officer with blond hair entered the room, my mom was behind them and she pulled my chairs around so they could sit down. I felt a little uncomfortable as this happened and then my mom left.

“Afternoon Scarlett” said woman officer, she put her hand out and I took it and shook it gently, “I’m Monica and this is Thomas, we are two senior officers working on the incident that took place here the other night”

“Alright” I said, “Sit down please”

They both took a seat where my mom had drawn them up and the man got out a notebook and took a pen from inside of his jacket. They both took off their hats and placed them on the end of the bed.

“Now Scarlett, we’re going to need you to tell us everything you remember about the other night” she said, “From how you came to be in the house that day right up until you woke up in hospital last night”

“First, can you tell me how Billie is?” I asked looking at her.

“Mr Armstrong is still unconscious although he is breathing without support now” she said, “The doctors say that he will make a full recovery”

I half smiled and a wave of something like relief washed over me.

“Now can you tell us what you remember?” she asked me kindly.

“Um, Billie Joe and I were in the house and I heard voices downstairs –

“How did you come to be in house?” asked the male officer, speaking for the first time. I blushed crimson at his question.

“Billie had been in Ohio for two weeks and the first time I saw him was on Saturday, we had come back to the house to be alone and we had both just come out of the bathroom when I heard voices down stairs” I said quickly, “I quickly threw a shirt on and told him to do the same before I went downstairs to find out what was happening. I thought it might have been our friends playing a joke on us or something. Billie tried to stop me at the top of the stairs but me being the fool I am didn’t even think of the possibility of being something dangerous”

“And Mr Armstrong had an inkling it might be?” asked the man.

“No” I said, why was he asking me such dumb questions?, “Billie was merely more cautious than I was. He was just trying to protect me”

“Alright” said the woman glaring at her fellow officer, “Please go on”

“Well I opened the lounge door and encountered four men in the living room. They seemed as shocked to see us there as we were of them. I screamed and one of them put his hand across my mouth which I promptly bit, he hit me and I hit the deck. Billie hit him but two of them went at him as once and threw him down, he tried to kick out but one of them drew a gun and I saw the guy stood by me had a knife. They got us both to our feet and they threatened Billie so that I would tell them where everything was and they could get their filthy hands on it” I said.

“Then?” asked the woman. I breathed uncomfortably for a moment as I remembered what happened next.

“Then the guy who was next to me started to touch my waist” I closed my eyes, “And Billie told him to get off me and then he asked Billie why he should and why he couldn’t just –

I stopped.

“Couldn’t just?” asked the woman. My hand was lying on the coverlet and she put hers over the top, the skin on skin contact made me jump; the last time I had felt skin on mine was Billie’s limp hand on the lounge floor. I shuddered.

“Couldn’t just-?” asked the woman again.

“Why he couldn’t just rape me there and then and make Billie watched, and what Billie was going to do about it because the other guy had a gun to his head” I said, “Then Billie told him that if he touched me again then he would hunt him down; the guy seemed to decide Billie wasn’t shitting him and he got off. The tone in Billie’s voice made him get off but it gave me a little bit of hope of getting out of there. Then the guy who was holding me cut me to get over the insult”

“He threatened you?” asked the man. I nodded carefully.

“Can you tell us what happened then?” asked the woman.

“The guy who appeared to be leading the thing came back in and he told the guy to get off me and he cut me again sometime then and then they heard the police coming, someone must have called them, this guy hit Billie in the stomach and round the head knocking him out and then he hit me around the head and then kicked Billie in the ribs. That’s all I remember” I said.

There was a moments silence as everything I had said had sunk in to the officers.

“We’ll need to interview the young man involved” said the male officer, “When he wakes up”

I nodded and started to cry as the image of Billie wired to different machines around the ward.

“It’s alright we’ll catch them” said the female officer thinking my tears were from fear of the men who got away.

“Can I sleep now?” I asked tears still thick on my face, “I’m tired”

“Of course” said the woman, “We’ll send your mom in”

I nodded thankfully and lay down as they left the room. I didn’t really feel tired but my emotions were in total turmoil as they left, my mom came in a moment later. She didn’t look particularly sympathetic toward me.

“I know you’re awake Scarlett” she said, “You’re dad and I need to talk to you – the police are just leaving”

I half sat up as my dad came in. He didn’t look angry merely thoughtful.

“Now Lettie,” said my dad, that was my dad’s nickname for me, he hadn’t used since I was about five, “we need to know who the young man you were with was”

I closed my eyes, this was the last thing I needed right now. I started to cry and all I wanted was everything to be okay again. But everything wasn’t okay, Billie was hurt and now they were going to try and take him away from me, I knew it.

“His name is Billie Joe” I said.

“What is he to you?” asked my mom. I think she already knew that answer because her mouth was a thin red line and her eyes were narrowed. I wiped my stray tears from my eyes.

“He’s my boyfriend” I whispered. There was a moment of silence.

“Scarlett,” my dad said, “You can’t have a boyfriend”

“Why not dad?” I asked him, “I’m sixteen, I’m not a minor anymore and I love him”

“Love!” said my mom derisively, “You know nothing about love!”

“I do, I love him” I said to her defiantly, “And he loves me”

“That’s only because he’s trying to get into bed with you!” my mum said as if I was stupid.

There was another silence in the room and my mom’s mouth fell open and my dad’s disappointment turned to anger.

“Scarlett!” my dad said, “You haven’t?”

“Months ago” I said, “So there is no pointing in preaching that now he’s had me he’s going to discard me”

“Months ago?!” asked mom, “How long have you been lying to us about this boy?”

“He’s not a boy, he’s a man. We’ve been going out for five nearly six months and I didn’t tell you because I knew this would be how you’d react!” I said to them fresh tears springing in my eyes.

“He’s such a bad influence on you!” my mom said, “Look at you! You would never have answered back to us six months ago. I bet he’s affected your grades and your dancing. I mean – oh god you could be pregnant with his unwanted child –'

“MUM!” I yelled sitting up, “We’ve been using protection, I am not stupid. I know what I want and it’s him and trust me that if I was pregnant with his child it wouldn’t be unwanted!”

“See?” Mom said, “He’s brainwashed you, I bet he’s made you do all sort of unthinkable things like drugs and drink!”

“Mum stop!” I cried, “You’re making it so horrible when it’s not. Billie loves me and he tried to protect me on Saturday night”

“I bet that’s why those men were here in the first place” mom said, she was on a roll now and was likely to stop, “I bet he told them that we were going to be away and told them to case the house!”

“Stop!” I cried, “Billie’s not like that. Do you think I am that bad judge of character?!”

“Yes!” mum said, “You’re not old enough to think about boyfriends yet Scarlett. He’s leading you astray and you can’t see it – he’s bad for you and you are not to see him again.”

It felt like all the wind had been knocked out of me.

“What?” I whispered.

“You’re not to see him again” dad said repeating mum’s words, “He’s not good for you.”

“No, you mean he’s not good for you.” I said venomously, “You couldn’t bear to think of me with someone who is not our ‘class’. Well I tell you this both of you, just before we were attacked by those burglars, we were fucking on your bed. Yes on your bed. You can’t stop me seeing him”

Mom’s eyes wide at what I had just said and she couldn’t seem to say anything to me so instead she turned to my dad.

“See what I mean!” Mom said totally horrified to dad, “That man has totally brainwashed her, she’s not how she used to be. He’s just been using her.”

“You cannot stop me seeing him!” I shouted with tears mingling with my red flushed cheeks in anger.

“Watch us” said my dad.

“Get the fuck out of my room” I said to them.

“I beg your pardon?” asked my mom.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” I screamed. Mom slapped me hard across the face. I turned and put my head in my pillows until I heard them leave. They couldn’t stop me seeing him – I loved him.

***

I watched with a strange sense of detachment but also with anger and disbelief as my parents worked tirelessly over the next few days to turn the house into a prison for me and my life into one long detention. I wasn’t speaking to them at all as I spent most of my days while I was “recovering” from my ordeal curled up on my bed, watching them imprison me in my own house.

The double doors to my Juliet balcony got a padlock on them which only my dad had a key for; I had tried picking the lock to that one with a hair grip but found out that I couldn’t even do that. My main door also had a lock on it but they didn’t lock that until night. Yippee. I was certain that keeping me in like this was technically illegal one way or another but because I still lived under their roof, I was still under their rules.

I went back to school three days later and that made it slightly better. Only slightly.

My mom had called Mandy to ask her when I had dance classes so I couldn’t make any up and sneak off to see Billie at any point. My mum was driving me to and from school, my dad had disabled my car for the time being so even if I could find the keys they had taken off me then I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere.

The only person I was allowed to see was Zach. Jess wasn’t allowed over to the house anymore and I wasn’t allowed to call her, of course my mum couldn’t stop me seeing her at school but because I had to go see Mr Carlson every lunchtime (at my mom’s request) to make sure I wasn’t truanting, I couldn’t even get out then to try and see him.

Billie had woken up three days ago and been informed by Jess of the situation at hand. Apparently he nearly got himself sedated by the nurses because of the explosive reaction he had had.

Billie wasn’t allowed into school since he had left so I couldn’t see him then and because my mom had threatened to get a restraining order on him from the house, I had to be careful. I wanted to see him desperately but I was being watched all the time, my parents at home, Mr Carlson at school. Mandy was on my side somewhat but she couldn’t do much about the current situation.

The only person I could turn to Zach. He was the only person I was openly allowed to talk to. My mum was making sure that I couldn’t spend time with my previous friends because she was talking to Mr Carlson every night about what I had been up to at school. My dad had already threatened me with home schooling if I put another toe out of line. I couldn’t believe that they were going this far over a boy. Well they didn’t seem as a boy, they saw him as a drug-pushing, innocence-taking, house-robbing monster.

It was the third night after me going back to school and I was sat in my room; alone. I had my stereo on playing a generic station as I sat at my desk, tapping my pen against the wood. I stood up and went to the stereo desperately casting my mind back to the Saturday when Billie came back to the house, I turned the dial on the side of it trying to find the right frequency. I took me a few moments of concentration but then eventually I found the right station, turned the volume up and sat back down at my desk and pulled a piece of paper toward me.

“Scarlett!”

I ignored my mom’s shout outside the door and continued to think about what I was going to do. The door opened and my mum came in through the door, her face was like thunder. I didn’t even look at her when she walked over to my stereo and turned it off.

“Play it that loud again,” she said, “And I’ll take it away”

With that she left. The stony silence reigned in my room and I glared into the empty piece of paper in front of me. I picked up the pen I had thrown down when my mum entered the room.

Billie,

I don’t know how much more I can stand of this. It’s only been five days and that’s a lot shorter than the time you were in Ohio but it’s the fact that I could be seeing you and yet I’m locked in here. Okay this is getting a bit over dramatic and I don’t want to be like that. At all. There’s been enough drama in the past few days to suffice for two lifetimes. My parents are actually keeping me in here, there’s even a lock on my balcony doors. I’m not allowed to talk to Jess at school and my mum has threatened to get a restraining order on you if you come near the house, so please be careful. I want to see you again so much but I’m so scared of what will happen. My dad has even threatened to send me to boarding school in England. Not that he’ll do that; that would just be cutting his nose off to spite his face, he’s knows that I’m so close to getting offers from different dance companies and then I’ll be out of the state anyway.
Anyway enough of that crap. Are you out of hospital? I feel like such a bad person even having to ask that but I haven’t been able to talk to Jess, all I know is that you were awake; thank whoever might be listening. What’s happening? Does Ollie know what happened? Of course she does, that was stupid. Sorry.
It’s about nineish now and my mum has just come in and turned my stereo off because I was playing that station (too loud) that you changed my car stereo too on Saturday. She said that if she catches me playing that station that loud again then she’ll take it off me. Leaving me in total silence, more than I am already. I’m not even allowed to use the phone! I asked to call Zach but then my mum physically dialled his number and sat and listened to our very stilted conversation. I am actually under house arrest.
This is such bollocks. I feel like I should be talking about the weather or something like that, but then again that wouldn’t be exciting enough for us would it?
I miss you so much and I need to see you but my parents are tracking my every move; driving me too and from school, monitoring my dance classes and having Mr Carlson watch me while at school. ARGH! It’s driving me crazy and apart from random exclamation of anger (see above), I might actually start going a little loopy. Then I’ll be no good to anybody. Least of all you.
I’ll have to have Zach give Jess this letter so she can give it to you. This is so fucking complicated and it doesn’t have to be – it’s all their stupid fault. I’m getting progressively angrier as I think about this so I going to stop and write about something less hateful.
Do the guys down at the bridge know anything about this? Not that I suppose it should bother them, I don’t really want them to. Jo was going to get me that piece of music for you, you know the one you wanted? Well you’ll have to get it off her yourself now, tell me what you think about it? I added the middle section and I know I can’t really write music; you can mess about it with it as much as you like, I just asked Theo to give me his opinion on a few chords I played and he said they were okay so I bunged them in. It seemed to fit.
Just tell me what’s going on alright? I feel so out of it, all that I’ve got now is Zach to keep me in touch with everybody so please, please don’t let him get to you.
I Love you so much,
Yours, Scar.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I folded the paper in half after re-reading several times. It wasn’t much of a love letter, more of a cry for help. I shook my head, at least this was a way of contacting him. Now I really did feel like Juliet, except in this situation my family were the only against the romance. Well it wasn’t really a romance so much as a relationship.

I got up with the letter in my hand and went to my dresser and in a totally ridiculous act of girlishness something that didn’t usually happen to me, I spritzed the letter in my favourite perfume. I then turned, put it in the zipped compartment of my bag and heading into the bathroom decided I would have an early night.