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Chapter no 37

Then She Was Gone

THEN

The sun came up early. Ellie took the chair that Noelle had sat on the night before and pulled it across to the window. She climbed onto it and peered through the grimy glass. She saw a tangle of undergrowth, a brick wall painted cream, a water pipe streaked green. If she peered upward, she saw the pink clouds of the cherry blossom tree, the blue sky, nothing more. She realized immediately that the only way anyone would see her in here would be if they were looking for her and she wrote the words โ€œhelpโ€ and โ€œEllieโ€ into the dirt. She stood on the chair for more than an hour, her face pressed up against the glass. Because people must be looking for her. They must be.

 

 

She jumped down from the chair at the sound of the locks being turned on the door and she picked it up with both hands. At the sight of Noelle in a green polo neck and faded jeans a surge of horror and anger coursed through her and she grabbed the chair hard and swung it at Noelle. It glanced off the side of Noelleโ€™s head, but she caught it before Ellie was able to properly hurt her with it, caught it and threw it across the room. Ellie jumped on her then, jumped on her back, her arms around Noelleโ€™s throat as she tried to bash her head against the wooden wall. But Noelle proved herself to be stronger than she looked and manhandled Ellie backward and against the wall where she strangled the breath out of her, strangled her to the point of light-headedness and stars and then let her fall to the floor.

โ€œYou cannot be doing things like that,โ€ Noelle said afterward, dropping Ellie on the sofa bed upside down, locking her ankles together with a plastic tie. โ€œWeโ€™re in this together, you and me. We have to work as a team. I do not want to have to tie you up like a criminal. I really do not. I have treats in mind for

you, lots of lovely things I want to do for you, to make this nicer. And I wonโ€™t be able to give you the treats if you behave like this.โ€

 

 

Ellie struggled against the cuffs around her ankles, pounded her feet against the end of the bed. She roared and thrashed, and Noelle stood and watched her, her arms folded, shaking her head slowly. โ€œNow, now, now,โ€ she said. โ€œThis isnโ€™t going to work. The longer you behave like this, the worse it will be and the longer youโ€™ll be here.โ€

Ellie stilled at those words. So, there was an end. Noelle had an end. Her muscles softened and her breathing steadied.

โ€œGood girl,โ€ Noelle said. โ€œGood girl. If you can behave like this for the rest of the day, Iโ€™ll bring you your first treat. How about that?โ€

Ellie nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

The treat was a chocolate bar. A big one. She ate it in five minutes.

 

 

Ellie thought of before; she thought of eating toast and jam, calling Hanna a cow because sheโ€™d taken the last bag of salt and vinegar crisps that Ellie had mentally put aside for herself. She thought of filling her bag with books, a packet of ready salted crisps and a banana. She thought of her dad off work with a summer cold, in his dressing gown, sticking his head down the stairs and saying, โ€œIโ€™ll go through that maths with you later on if you like?โ€ And her smiling at her dad and saying, โ€œCool! See you later!โ€

She thought of leaving the house without turning back to look at it. She thought of her house.

She cried.

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