Chapter 29 #2
"Always talking. Always asking questions. Always saying whatever stupid thing pops into that head of yours without thinking about anyone else." Janelle's voice grew colder. "You're twenty years old, Elowyn. When are you going to start acting like it?"
"I'm sorry," Elowyn whispered.
"Sorry doesn't fix anything. It never does with you."
Elowyn's fingers tightened against her cheek.
"You embarrass me every time I have to be around you. The way you talk, the way you act, the way you can't even take care of the simplest things without somebody holding your hand." Janelle shook her head. "You're completely helpless."
"I can take care of myself," Elowyn whispered, though the words sounded weak.
"Can you?" Janelle scoffed. "Because from where I'm standing, you can't even open a piece of plastic without running to someone for help."
Elowyn's eyes lifted to the unopened package still lying on the couter top.
"You need your father for everything. You need William to do things for you. Now you've got some woman playing nursemaid because apparently you can't function without collecting people to take care of you."
"And the only reason William has stuck around so long is because that boy is equally just as stupid," she spat.
"Don't talk about Will like that," Elowyn murmured.
"Or what, Elowyn? What will you do?"
The girl only lowered her eyes again, now ashamed she couldn't stick up for her best friend.
Janelle stared down at her daughter with open contempt.
"You have no idea how exhausting you are. Everything has to revolve around what you need. The noise is too loud. The lights are too bright. You don't like this. You don't like that. You can't touch this. You can't go there. Somebody has to explain everything to you like you're a five year old."
"And then you wonder why people don't want to be around you," her voice lowered.
Elowyn's lips parted, but nothing came out.
"You think your father is patient because he actually enjoys taking care of you?" Janelle continued. "He's your father. He's obligated to."
A tear slipped down Elowyn's cheek, making her raise her other hand and quickly wipe it away.
"And that woman isn't going to stick around forever either. Eventually she's going to realize what you are."
"What am I?" Elowyn asked, barely audible.
"A burden," Janelle's expression hardened. "That's all you ever have and will be."
The silence that followed was heavy and sharp, broken only by the ragged hitch of Elowyn's breathing and the occasional sniffle.
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Janelle looked down, her gaze shifting past the girl's form and dropping to the floor beside her.
The plate of cookies Elowyn had clutched to her chest had slipped during the fall, shattering into jagged shards across the clean kitchen tiles.
The two remaining chocolate chip cookies lay scattered among the white pieces like broken earth.
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"Get up," Janelle said, her voice a flat, unimpressed command. "And clean this mess."
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Slowly, fighting the trembling in her limbs, Elowyn pushed herself up onto her hands and knees.
A hot, sharp stinging flared along her left forearm, pulsing in time with her heartbeat.
She blinked away the blur of tears and looked down to find a trail of bright red blood was already winding its way down her skin, leaking from a clean, deep cut where a piece of the broken plate had sliced into her.
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"Well? Move," Janelle snapped, crossing her arms as Alan hovered behind her. "Stop staring at yourself and get it cleaned up."
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Elowyn let out a small, shaky sniffle, her fingers instinctively wrapping around her bleeding arm in attempt to stop the sting. "I... I'll go get the broom," she whispered, her voice cracking as she turned away to keep them from seeing her face.
She hurried to the small hallway closet, walking in and closing the door behind her.
She just needed a minute.
"It's okay," she whispered to herself, scratching harshly at her hands as she rocked back and forth. "I'm okay."
"It'll all be okay," her voice trembled and cracked, more tears spilling from her eyes. "Dad will be here soon."
"Elowyn?!" She heard her mother shout, making her quickly wipe her tears and turn to grab the broom.
"Sorry," the girl murmured, walking back into the kitchen.
"Just watch," Janelle whispered to Alan.
"Hey sweetheart," she crouched down to try and look Elowyn in her eyes.
Elowyn flinched, her fingers tightening on the broom handle while she started cleaning up the mess.
"Look, I really am sorry for reacting the way I did. It's just been a rough few weeks."
She got no response from the girl who had silent tears still streaming down her face, her focus glued to the floor.
"I've been really looking for a job, but haven't had any luck. And everything is so expensive these days, so I guess my frustration just boiled over," Janelle explained in a faux sweet voice.
"Everyone gets frustrated sometimes," Elowyn finally hiccuped.
"Yeah, see you get it," Janelle pouted. "And then we had the whole incident on the road today, didn't we Alan?" The older woman looked back at the man, who looked completely lost, but still agreed.
"Oh yeah, it was horrible," Alan exclaimed.
"What happened?" Elowyn said, wiping the tears on her cheeks, completely abandoning the broom.
"Oh, I wouldn't want you to get all sad or anything. It was just tragic. Really." Janelle sighed.
"Is everything okay?" The girl hiccuped again.
"It's just- well there was this poor mama dog on the side of the road with her pups," the woman explained making Elowyn let out a small gasp. "She was just trying to find food for her babies when she herself is severely malnourished."
"I volunteer at the animal shelter. I can call to let them know," Elowyn said, already reaching for her phone.
"No!" Janelle cut in then laughed awkwardly. "We already called and the place was closed today."
"Closed?" Elowyn tilted her head, her eyes still red, "It's the weekend, if anything they're usually open longer."
"Something about a broken pipe is what they told us, but me and Alan don't want to leave them out there all alone until tomorrow. Especially in this weather."
"It's very cold outside," Elowyn furrowed her brows.
"Exactly. Those poor pups would probably freeze to death."
"So you're taking them home?" Elowyn asked.
"We really wanted to. Honestly. But we don't live around here and can't really afford their necessities on top of getting a pet friendly hotel room."
Elowyn thought for a moment, trying to figure out how she could help.
"I have some money," she finally said. "So you can buy some dog food. I also have extra blankets they can use as beds for the night."
"I wish that would solve everything Elowyn," Janelle mumbled. "The thing is we can't even afford the hotel room. Like I said, everything is just so expensive."
"I think I have enough for that. I can check?" Elowyn sniffled.
"Sweetheart, we really don't want to take your money. We can just... hope for the best and maybe by morning the pups will still be there."
Elowyn shook her head and walked back to her room.
"The puppies can't freeze or starve," she murmured to herself as she reached for the jar in her desk drawer.
The jar she used to save up for her Avengers Lego tower set.
She pulled it out and dumped all the money on the desk, counting it up before walking back out to her mother.
Puppies not dying is more important than Legos.
"I think this might be enough for a hotel room and a small bag of dog food," she held out all her money to the woman.
"Oh Elowyn," Janelle cuped the girl's chin and leaned towards her. "Why are you so gullible?"
"Huh?"
Janelle shoved Elowyn's face before turning to walk away.
"What do you mean by gullible?" Elowyn questioned, trying to understand.
"You believe everything that's said to you, without ever questioning it. Do you really think this money is for some damn mutts?"
"You're leaving them on the street?"
"No, Elowyn! There is no puppies! Jesus Christ. We're leaving, I've had enough of you already," Janelle scoffed, grabbing Alans arm and made her way to the front door.
"Um... well if there's no puppies, may I please have my money back?" Elowyn sniffled.
"You already gave it to me. So no."
And with that, the front door slammed shut, leaving Elowyn standing there, her cheek, wrist and arm now stinging even more.
"Um," Elowyn's voice trembled, looking down at her still bleeding arm and to the floors that had droplets of blood all over.
She quickly made her way to her restroom and turned on the sink, running her forearm under it.
"I know what to do," she whispered. "Try to stop the bleeding," she recited, reaching for a towel.
"Apply pressure."
She pressed the folded towel firmly against the cut, keeping her hand steady. One minute passed, then two, the red stain on the fabric slowly spreading.
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"Apply pressure," she whispered again, holding it just a little tighter.
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After a few minutes, she lifted the edge of the towel to check. The cut was still bleeding, a line of red welling up right where the ceramic had sliced her.
"Okay," she murmured quietly to herself, her lower lip trembling. "I can try again."
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She pressed the clean part of the towel back down, holding it there even longer this time, counting the seconds in her head until her arm felt tired and cramped. When she finally pulled the fabric away, it was still slightly bleeding, beads of red pushing through the edges of the skin.
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Elowyn didn't want to tell her dad. If she told him, it would turn into a whole thing, and she didn't want that.
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Wiping the remaining smear of blood away with a dry corner of the towel, she moved on to the next step.
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"Disinfect."
?She grabbed the bottle of disinfectant from the cabinet and poured a little onto a cotton pad.
When she pressed it against the cut, a sharp, white-hot sting shot up her arm.