"How long has he been hurting you?" There it is. The question I dreaded, but I promised him I would be honest, so I took a deep breath and answered.
"Seven years." I didn't look at him. I waited for him to pull his hand away, to hit me, to say I was...
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Chapter 34
Ellas P.O.V:
'I'm heading straight for the castle.
They want to make me their queen.
And there''s an old man sitting on the throne
that''s saying that I probably shouldn''t be so mean'
'I''m headed straight for the castle
theyve got the kingdom locked up
and there''s an old man sitting on the throne
that's saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut'
'Straight for the castle'
"Ella?" I distantly heard Mrs. Moalch calling from downstairs. I stopped tapping my foot on the carpet and removed the earphones from my ears, abruptly ending the song.
"Is everything alright, Mrs. Moalch?" I shouted back and heard a murmur of a response. I resisted a sigh and placed my pen on top of my Math books before walking downstairs and into the living room. Mrs. Moalch was trying to take notes from some kind of a cooking show that was running on the TV.
I choked back a laugh at the sight by clearing my throat. Mrs. Moalch looked up from her note making for a brief moment to smile at me before hurriedly writing something again.
"Will you please take Mony her lunch? She's at a dance class and forgot to take it along with her. My car keys are on the counter near the front door," she said quickly. My eyes widened slightly at the mention of driving her car, but her firm voice left no room for arguing so I nodded and slipped into the kitchen to get Mony's lunch from the fridge.
Mrs. Moalch had once again put her excellent cooking skills to amazing use and had made some sort of French dish I have never tasted before. I grabbed the lunch and placed it next to the car keys before rushing back upstairs to grab my phone.
I would have asked Kane to come along, but his dad insisted on him attending a meeting which should be ending – I looked down at my watch – any minute now.
I took a second to get used to the car before pulling onto the road and joining the late afternoon traffic. It took a few minutes but I finally pulled into a parking spot outside the dance studio. It was the one activity I could afford Mony taking. They didn't ask much for the classes and Mony had many friends who would always drop her off at Simon's house afterwards.
"Oh. Hello, Ella." I nodded my greeting to the instructor and peeked into the classroom. I frowned when I didn't see the familiar bobbing of my sisters head while she practised some form of leap.
"I brought Mony her lunch. She forgot it at home," I told the instructor who frowned at the news.
"I'm sorry, but Harmony hasn't shown up for today's lesson. I assumed she couldn't make it as she sometimes cannot. I didn't think anything of it." I looked up sharply at the information and immediately pulled out my phone, not seeing any miscalls from the studio. I met the woman's apologetic gaze with a stern one of my own.
"I see. I must ask that you contact me next time she does not show up. That is a policy the studio has in place, isn't it?" I snapped at the woman. She frowned at my tone but nodded none the less.
"Of course. Please, understand that there has been many instances where she has missed class with your knowledge. I assure you this is just a miscommunication and it will not happen again," the instructor promised. I nodded stiffly and walked back to the car, my cell phone in hand.
There was one miscall from Mony.
I quickly clicked on the icon to call her back. The phone gave two rings before switching over to voicemail.
"Mony, its Ella. Where are you? Are you alright? Call me quickly, I'm worried," I ranted quickly before ending the call and dialling the school.
"Hello. I'm Ella, Harmony's older sister. Is there any chance she's still in the school building? I asked as politely as I could. After receiving a negative from the administrator I started to panic. I knew she wasn't with Simon because he had chess practise. We spoke about it during the last period. I also knew he would call to tell me Mony was with him.
Where else could she be?
Perhaps...
I hurriedly dialled the number to the last place I hoped she would be.
"What?" The familiar and bone chilling voice barked through the phone. I didn't bother wasting time on formalities.
"Is Mony there?" I growled at him.
"Who?"
"Harmony, your youngest daughter. The one you abandoned for alcohol," I snapped a reply and heard him groan.
"Ellaina? Is that you?" His voice was groggy and sounded just a little bit sober. I shook the thought away. I had given up on that piece of hope years ago.
"Yes. Now answer the question. Is. Harmony. There?" I spoke with a warning tone to my voice. One I'm sure he's never heard before.
"You get your ass back in this house, you hear me? You have one hour or I'm calling the police! You hear me? I'll call the goddamn police on you!" he shouted his ridiculous demands and I almost laughed. He was probably laying half naked on the floor looking for his other shoe. He wasn't going to be calling anyone. I wasn't going to allow him to trample over me anymore. I was finish with his bullshit excuses.
"And how exactly are you going to explain the bruises you left on me?" I barked and ended the call. Like usual, a conversation with him gave me lots of necessary information.
Again, sarcasm.
"Ella? Is everything alright?" Kanes voice asked through the phone. I shook my head not really trusting myself to speak.
"Where are you? I'll come get you?" he demanded and I heard him start his bike. I cleared my throat to get my voice under control and quickly spoke.
"It's not me, Kane. It's Mony. I don't know where she is. She's not picking up her phone and I'm worried with all the disappearances lately that she might have been..." I trailed off. His breath hitched through the phone and he took a minute to gather his thoughts.
"Ella, get home. I'm on my way. Don't do something reckless, just get home so we can think this through. I'm sure she's fine," he tried to reassure me but the news of the disappearing girls kept ringing through my head.
It didn't feel real.
It felt like a dream.
A nightmare.
"Ella? Listen to me," Kane ordered and I murmured a 'yes'.
"Start the car. Get. Home. You can't do anything for her if you're stuck in a parking lot, crying." Although his words were harsh it snapped me from my trance. I turned the key in the ignition.
"Hurry, Kane," I ordered him as I put the car in drive and knew he had a grim, dark look in his eyes. The same one now reflected in my own.
