𝟏.| ✬ 𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 ℬ𝒾𝓁𝓁, ✬ {ℬ. 𝒲ℯ𝒶𝓈𝓁ℯ𝓎}

\𝓉ℯ𝓃\

~

~𝓌𝒾𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇 - 𝒻𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝓎ℯ𝒶𝓇~
𝓽𝔀: 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮

Eleanora had been excited to go home for the holidays to see her mom and sister, but she regretted it the moment she walked through the barrier at King's Cross and saw that only Stephen was standing there.

Her face paled. "Where's my mum?"

"That's no greeting to give someone after spending four months away," Stephen chided. "Come here, give me a hug." He grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her into a rough hug. He smelled of alcohol and sweat.

She held her breath and pulled away as quickly as possible. "So... where's my mum?"

"Home with your sister." Stephen started towards the doors without offering to take any of Eleanora's things.

She struggled to carry her trunk, her owl, and her school bag to the car and loaded it all in herself. She climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door. "What are you mad about now?" Stephen asked.

She looked over at him, confused."What? I'm not mad about anything."

"Hmmm." There was a long pause.

Eleanora wasn't sure what she'd done wrong. "I'm sorry," she said softly a minute later. There was no reply.

~

As soon as Eleanora stepped inside of the tiny bungalow-style house, Daisy flew at her and flung her arms around her sister's waist. A flood of emotion hit Eleanora as she hugged her sister back. "Daisy," she murmured lovingly. "I missed you so much." The five year old grabbed her hand and wordlessly pulled her towards the stairs. "Wait," said Eleanora. "Where's Mummy, Daisy? I want to see her." Daisy pointed to the kitchen and Eleanora untangled herself from her grasp. "You go ahead, I'll be right up." Eleanora strode into the kitchen. Eveline was standing at the stove, stirring a large pot of soup. "Mum?"

"Eleanora!" When Eveline turned around, Eleanora's chest constricted as she saw the large bruise covering the area just below her mother's mouth. Before she could say anything about it, though, Eveline had swept her into a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you, honey. How was school? I want to hear everything." At that moment, Stephen lumbered into the room and wrapped an arm around Eveline's waist.

"How's dinner coming, babe?"

"Almost done. We'll eat at around... six-thirty." She looked to Stephen for approval and Eleanora frowned. She could remember a time when Eveline wouldn't let anybody push her around. Back when they lived with Eleanora's dad, when her parents got into fights it was usually caused by Eveline's stubbornness.

"Six-thirty..." Stephen said. "Well, hurry it up. I'm fuckin' starving." Eveline's eyes shifted to her daughter when Stephen cursed, but it didn't have any affect on Eleanora.