Infection

Chapter 3 - Train Wreck

Walking through the front door, I shook off the water from my small umbrella, Seth had been right!

"Eve.. getin here na!" the slurred voice of my father called from the living room.

Great, I quickly hid the bag of clothes I'd just bought, putting them behind the shoe cabinet. "Coming dad!" I shouted, walking slowly into the dirty, dark room, the TV being the only source of light.  My dad was slumped in his old chair, a cheap bottle of vodka swinging at his side.

"Why you back so late!"

"I stayed after school to do some work."

"Oh, so you thought you would stay after school hur," he stumbled to his feet swaying slightly. "Trying to get away from your old dad." he spat.

"No, I just needed to do some work."
"I just needed to do the work," he mimicked. "Sure, you were," he took a step forward, taking a swig from his bottle, but ending up with half of it dribbling down his unshaven face.

I turned and ran, leaving the bag of new cloths behind the shoe cabinet and leaped up the stairs.

"Get back here na!" he shouted. I could hear him stumbling up the stairs behind me.

I bottled into my small room, slamming the door shut behind me and locked it. It was another one of those days, ever since mum died... the door groaned loudly as he pounded it with balled fists.

"You can't hide in there forever darling!" he snarled.

I sat there on my bed in a ball, trying to ignore him, fighting back tears. My room was nothing more than an old wooden bed and a large cabinet in the corner with a cracked mirror plastered across the front of it. The wallpaper was a muddy green and peeled off in most places and not forgetting the bare wooden floor. My school books were neatly piled at the foot of my bed along with a few possessions, it wasn't much but I survived.

The pounding soon died off and I could hear him shuffling back down the stairs to bath in his filth. I should be used to this by now, it's been what, six years... but still nothing quite prepares you for it, especially since that man used to be my father.

He blames himself for her death, I hear him mumbling about it in his sleep. Doesn't help with me being a reminder for him every day that it happened. Always said I looked too much like her for my own good, the ginger hair; blue eyes, I had the lot. It's as much a curse as a gift, oh if my friends knew who I really was.

The daughter of a drunk.

I must have dozed off because it was dark when I next opened my eyes, and I was still in my school clothes! With a groan, I got off my bed and unlocked the door. Even from here I could hear the loud snores, so I quickly made my way down to the kitchen and grabbed a microwave meal, bunging it in the microwave and giving it a couple of minutes to cook. While I waited, I went through to the living room, not bothering to keep silent, after all he's been drinking he won't be waking up anytime soon. So I began picking up the scattered bottles of alcohol, one of my many jobs. But before I made it out of the room with an arm full of empty bottle something on the TV caught my attention. It was currently on the news, something about a train wreck right outside of town and a list of casualties, hadn't Seth been getting a train?

"Earlier this day an East Middles train derailed right outside of Lincoln city, as to why, we have yet to be told but what we do have..."

I gasped and the bottles slipped from my grasp with a crash as a photo flashed across the screen of a young lad being pulled out of the wreckage... Seth. I stood transfixed, to the TV barely able to believe my eye, but there was no doubt about it. He was covered in blood and severely bumped up, but it was definitely Seth... my Seth. I teared my eyes away from the screen, looking down at the time "23:37" for all I know he could be dead!

... .They were taken up to Lincoln hospital earlier this evening to receive treatment. We were lucky so many survived such a tragic accident..."

The hospital, of course! It wasn't too far from here, and it wasn't as if I was going to be missed. I looked down at the sleeping figure of my dad, he won't even realize I've gone. He's never awake when I leave for school anyway. I weighed it up in my mind; I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing he could be dead but what if dad finds out? I looked out the window, it was still throwing it down, but what harm did a little rain do. That's it, forgetting the meal in the microwave; I grabbed my shoes and jacket and opened the front door. I was going to get socked! Turning back, I looked one last time a dad then ran out into the ghastly night.