Tiny Crown

Chapter 20

She had been glad to leave the tiny room with no windows, now Emilia was grateful to be outside. It was windier and she could smell the damp ground and wet leaves. It smelt fresh. She closed her eyes for a moment and just let herself breathe. A few droplets of water landed on her skin; it was starting to rain. That meant it was time to go back inside again.

Once they were back inside, Emilia felt a weight in her chest. It didn’t quite feel like her usual chest pain. She wasn’t sure what it was.

She watched as he locked the back door and Emilia looked down.
“I don’t want to sleep in that room,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to go back to it, not… not today.”
Evan sighed as he bit his lip. “I understand,” he said. He said nothing for a moment and Emilia figured that she’d probably end up sleeping in that room anyway. “You could sleep on the couch? The only other bedrooms are my room and Olivia’s room and she doesn’t like other people sleeping in there.”

“Olivia’s room?” asked Emilia. His sister had her own room in his house?
“Liv used to stay over every other weekend. Mom didn’t like it and tried to stop her staying over but she just sneaked out and came over anyway so she just gave up trying to stop her in the end,” he explained. “She likes to get away from Mom.”
“I can’t blame her,” said Emilia. Their mother was crazy, she didn’t want to imagine what it would be like to live with her.
“I mean, obviously Mom’s stopped her from coming over now. I’m surprised she hasn’t sneaked over, if I’m being honest.” Evan frowned, it seemed like he missed his sister.

“She has some movies, I have some too, you could watch some of those in the living room?” he suggested. “I don’t really know if I’m being honest but I… I get how you’re feeling.”
“Watching movies sounds great,” Emilia said honestly. She literally hadn’t watched one in a month or more and she needed the escape of getting lost in a movie.
“I’ll go and see what movies she has and set up the dvd player and stuff,” said Evan. He had a small smile on his face as he nodded.

Emilia soon discovered that Olivia was a John Green fan as she had the two movies of his books and according to Evan, she loved his books. There was a few Disney and Pixar movies. Emilia ended up picking one of those to watch first.

Groaning, Emilie woke up curled up on the couch with a fleece blanket wrapped around her. The sunlight was shining through the window. The chocolate wrappers that she had left on the table - Evan had let her have snacks - were no longer there and the tv was off. She figured she had probably fallen asleep while they had been watching one of the movies. Sitting up, Emilia rubbed her neck, it was stiff and sore from being awkwardly curled up on the couch.

Standing up, Emilia wandered into the kitchen, Evan wasn’t there, or in the other living room. Humming, Emilia wandered back to the living room and wrapped herself in the blanket as she sat down for a moment. Looking at the clock, she realised it was past midday.

Then, she heard Evan’s voice. It sounded like he was in the other room, the one across from the living room where he worked. Emilia figured he probably had some sort of home office in there, probably a desk with a computer or a laptop. She struggled to imagine Evan working.

Sighing, Emilia stood up again, she didn’t want to knock on the door and interrupt whatever phone call he was having. Standing outside the closed door with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, she stared at it. It was probably for the best that she didn’t disturb him. Looking to her right, she saw the front door. Out of curiosity, she reached out and turned the door handle. Gently, she pulled on it.

It opened.

Emilia’s eyes widened, did she shut it? Last time she tried to leave, he had stopped her and gotten angry. But Evan was distracted with the phone call…

She held the blanket tightly with her left hand as she carefully opened the door with her right, willing it to not squeak or creak. She opened it enough for her to squeeze out and the blanket fell from around her shoulders as she left the house.