𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 -𝐋.𝐒

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 <23>

AFTER THE RATHER STRANGE EVENTS OF THE AFTERNOON, Jennifer took Alice home and sent her straight to bed. Alice had woken up in the car ride as they were heading home. She begged her mom to take her back to school- she wasn't finished looking for dart, if course she couldn't exactly tell her mom that, so she made up a lie about missing out on important information about AV club.

It was safe to say Alice didn't make it back to school. In fact, she was in strict house arrest. Something about her mom needing to keep an eye on her, she was frightened Alice might have a concussion.

With a cup of warm milk beside her and the sound of the tv on softly in the background, Alice fell asleep. She came to the conclusion there was no way she was getting out this house. Even if she tried sneaking out, there was no way she'd get away with it. She feared her mother would check her room for her at least every ten minutes. She figured she could do with a nap. And that was the first time in ages she had managed to fall asleep so quickly. Usually, she was up for hours. Normally because of the nightmares. She was worried they'd come in the night. They always did. And eventually she gave up on trying to avoid them. There was no point.

Jennifer was happy seeing her asleep, and this time she didn't look disturbed. She actually looked peaceful. The only thing that disrupted that peace was when  Steve arrived home after school covered in sweat from basketball practice.

As he noticed his sleeping sister on the couch he didn't make a sound. He send his mother a nod of welcome before slowly tip-toeing upstairs to his bedroom.

Alice didn't manage to sleep long. She woke up after thirty minutes. She still felt far more refreshed that earlier. But she was really, cold.

A large bowl of chicken noodle soup and fresh milk was sitting steaming away on the table beside her.

Curtesy of her mother of course.

Alice wolfed the lot down. She hasn't eaten much since the Halloween incident. She didn't know if she'd be able to stomach food. She certainly couldn't bare the idea of breakfast this morning. She didn't quite manage lunch either. However after her nap, she felt like a new person.

"How are you feeling?" A soft voice asked from behind her.

"Better." Alice replied, slurping down more soup.

Her mother looked at her with glass eyes. "I just wish you could catch a break from this mess. All these terrible things keep happening to you. It's like you're cursed."

Alice looked at her mother in disbelief. "Mom, I fell off a skateboard. It didn't break anything, so what's the big deal? Stop trying to protect me from every little thing in my life that goes wrong. I can handle myself."

"No, you can't handle yourself. You made that clear last year when you went missing! I'm your mother, I'll protect you because that's my job."

"But I'm telling you I don't want to be protected! I just want to be treated like a normal person. Stop, treating me like I'm some sort of tragedy."

Jennifer took a in a sharp breath before grabbing the dishes and cutlery which Alice had finished with.

"Nothing can change what happened last year." Jennifer grumbled. "You know that. I can't stop treating you differently until your better."

Alice refused to look at her mother. She was full of anger. It was completely unfair what happened last year and she almost felt like her mother was blaming her for what happened. It wasn't her fault. It was theirs. They ruined everything.