gone ✧*｡ luke a.u.

8: may 15th, 2011

ELLIE

THURSDAY, MAY 15TH, 2011

Morgan and Jack had come out of the kitchen by the time Ellie walked back in, Jack's golden hair sticking up straight and Morgan's a wild mess around her head. It was blatantly obvious what they'd been doing. Ellie only hoped Ro hadn't heard.

"Ellie!" Morgan called, the moment her daughter came back into the room. "I'm staying at Jack's tonight. Here, drive the kids home." She pulled her car keys out of her pocket and tossed them at Ellie, who only just managed to catch them overhead.

Ellie just swallowed and nodded. Her cheek still burned from Morgan's slap, and she didn't want to say something wrong and bring on another fight. She knew Morgan would kill her if she ruined the relationship with Jack -- not that it was anything much besides sex and free weed.

"Dan, Ro," she said quietly, starting from the dining room with her eyes downcast. "Come on. We're going home."

Roman stood up and went to Ellie's side, but Dan was more reluctant. "Why can't Mum take us home?" he spat out, glaring at Morgan as if demanding an answer from her. By Morgan's side, Jack looked away from them, like he was pretending they didn't exist.

"Go, Dan," Morgan hissed at him, and that was the end of it. Dan turned away and walked ahead of Ellie, out the front door without another word.

Ellie didn't see Luke as she was leaving. She wasn't sure whether she felt let down by that or relieved. He'd been so close to her in the hall she could feel the warmth of his skin.

They didn't bother saying goodbye. Ellie felt almost sorry for the other brother, Ben -- at least he'd tried to make conversation. He couldn't have known that she and her brothers weren't like normal kids. But they were out the door before she could turn back.

The walk back to the car was silent. Ellie knew that Dan and Ro were still shocked at Morgan hitting her, and none of them felt like conversation after a dinner as bad as that one. The food was fine, just pasta, but being ignored by Morgan, hearing the sounds of their badly-concealed sex from the kitchen, seeing Luke there . . .

A sudden streak of panic flashed through Ellie's mind. What if he told someone? His friends, other kids from school, that girl Anna Cast everyone loved? She wouldn't be able to stand it. He wouldn't do it, she thought, trying to convince herself. He wouldn't tell people.

Would he?

Only when they were already in the car, Dan in the passenger seat and Ro buckled up in the back, did Ellie realise she had no idea how to get home from here. She'd only had her license for two months, and she didn't know the roads as well as most experienced others. Not to mention that the six-lane highways around Melbourne always daunted her enough to keep her from driving whenever she got the chance. She might have learned how to handle them, but neither of her parents ever really allowed her to drive their cars, unless they had no other option.

"Shit," she muttered under her breath. "Dan, is there a map in the side there?"

Dan checked the passenger door's side pocket and the glovebox, but there was nothing.

"Shit," Ellie said again, then remembered that Ro was in the back, probably listening. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her hoodie and unlocked it, bringing up the Maps app. "Dan, could you . . .?"

He took the phone without question and Ellie started up the car. It rattled and screeched like something in pain, even as she drove. It smelt terrible, and the floor was littered with trash; Ellie's feet struggled to push through to the accelerator. Though her father owned more than one overly expensive car, Morgan remained determined to use the shitbox she had purchased with her own money, and successfully endangered all of their lives in the process.