The Girl in the Hoodie

30

[Chapter thirty]

"Ouch! Fight me you ceramic bitch!"

Crash!

"On a scale of one to ten, how mad do you think mum will be?" My fifteen-year-old self mumbles after a moment.

"Twenty."

I grimace as Heaven and I stare down at the broken vase.

"Maybe she won't notice." I shrug uncertainly.

"Yeah nah, I think she'll notice the empty spot where her favourite vase used to be." Heaven states before turning to walk away. "Welp, good luck!"

"Where do you think you're going?" I grab her shirt and pull her back.

"To get a snack." She says, pulling her shirt out of my grip.

"No, you're not." I start. "You're helping me put this vase back together."

"Why?" She whines. "Why can't you just say that the Ghost of Christmas Past did it or something?"

"I would rather not get my ass beat for lying."

"Forget lying!" She exclaims. "You're going to get your ass beat for breaking mum's favourite vase!"

"Would you just go get some glue and tape?" I sigh in exasperation.

"Why do I have to help you?"

"Because you're my twin." I shrug. "If I go down, you go down with me."

***

If I go down, you go down with me.

Obviously that wasn't the case, seeing as Heaven's gone and I'm still here...

"Nevaeh Carter. Please make your way to the main office." A voice booms over the loud speaker, snapping me out of my memory. "Nevaeh Carter. Please make your way to the main office."

The whole class turns around to look at me.

"I got called to the main office." I say loudly. "Look at me like I killed someone, why don't you?"

Everyone turns back around as I grab my bag and walk out of the classroom.

Why the hell would they be calling me to the main office?

I soon as I get there, I see someone I haven't seen since before I moved to America.

"Aunty Mila?" I stand there, my mouth agape.

"Aroha." She sighs out my middle name which means 'Love' in Māori, enveloping me in a tight hug.

I immediately wrap my arms around her, not wanting to let go.

Aunty Mila is my mum's younger sister and was always more of a mother to me than my real mum. While mum was always more invested in Heaven and Lucy, Aunty Mila always focused on me. She's also the middle so she knows what it's like to be neglected and not feel as important. She doesn't have any kids so I was always like a daughter to her. She was the one person who bragged about me to her friends and work mates, not Heaven or Lucy. She made me feel like I was just as important as my sisters. It hurt when mum dragged me away from her and moved us half way across the world.

"What're you doing here?" I question, pulling away from her after a moment.

"I came to see you, baby." She whispers, pushing my hood off and running a thumb over my cheekbone. "My beautiful niece. I haven't seen you in so long. I missed you."

I bite my lip, pushing back the tears that were threatening to spill. "I missed you, too, Aunty."

"Let's go." She pulls away. "I've signed you out for the day."

"Where are we going?" I question while pulling my hood up as I follow her out of the school.

"My hotel." She tells me as we start walking. "We need to talk."

*~*

As soon as we get in her hotel room, she sighs, turning to me.

"Aroha, I stopped by your house. The door was unlocked so I walked in." She starts. "Beer cans, alcohol bottles, cigarette butts, everywhere, and your mum was asleep on the couch, an empty Vodka bottle in her hand. I knew your mother was unfit to take care of you, but I didn't think she was this bad."

I rub my arm out of instinct when she mentions the cigarette butts.

I was hoping she wouldn't notice, but of course luck wasn't on my side. It never is.

"Roll up your sleeve."

I gulp. "Aunty—"

"Nevaeh Aroha, roll up your sleeve." She says sternly.

I hesitatingly pull up the sleeve of my hoodie, looking anywhere but Aunty Mila.

I hear a gasp as she grabs my arm gently, inspecting the scars and cigarette burns.

"Nevaeh..." She trails off. "Honey, did she hurt you anywhere else?"

I don't answer, biting my lip, giving her the answer she was looking for.

"Where?" She asks. "Where else did she hurt you, Nevaeh? Show me."

I slowly pull my hoodie off, followed by my shirt, revealing the large scar going from my left shoulder to my lower abdomen.

She gasps, tears welling up in her eyes as I pull my shirt and hoodie back on, not bothering to put my hood on.

"Why didn't you call me?" She questions, pulling me into a hug. "I could've done something."

"She-She didn't mean it." I defend my mother. "She was drunk and stoned. She didn't know what she was doing."

"She shouldn't hurt you while she's drunk or stoned!" Aunty Mila raises her voice slightly. "She shouldn't be getting drunk and stoned in the first place!"

"But—"

"Nevaeh, this is child abuse!" She cuts me off. "No mother should be hurting their child like that!"

Tears well up in my eyes again as I realise she's right.

"Sweetheart, your mother needs help." Aunty Mila starts. "She's not fit to be looking after you."

I sniffle, tears rolling down my cheeks. "What're you saying?"

"We are going to send your mother to a rehabilitation centre and you're coming back to New Zealand with me. I'm going to adopt you so I'll be your legal guardian until next year, when you turn eighteen."

I swallow the lump in my throat.

I can't leave. What about a Megan? What about Tanya and Danny? Or Max and Dylan?

What about Noah?

"But Aunty..." I trail off.

"Look, Nevaeh, as much as I want to, I can't drop everything and move to America. Plus, you need to start chemotherapy soon. I would rather you have it done back in New Zealand with Doctor McLain." She explains. "We're going to send your mother to a good rehabilitation centre then we're going to go back to New Zealand, okay?"

Aunty Mila is the one who took me to the hospital when she thought something was wrong with me. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't know that I had cancer.

"I—" I cut myself off. "O-Okay..."

She smiles sympathetically, grabbing my hand.

"I'm not going to say I understand how hard this is for you, because I don't. I just want what's best for you." She presses a kiss to my head. "I love you, Aroha."

"I love you, too, Aunty."