Chapter 29 #3
Elowyn let out a choked gasp, tears spilling over her lashes as she hissed through her teeth, her whole body tightening until the stinging finally calmed.
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"Ointment."
Squeezing a proper amount onto her finger, Elowyn carefully smoothed it over the stinging skin, letting out a shaky breath as the coolness eased the burn just a little.
?She opened the box of bandages under the sink, flipping through them one by one, but they were all too small to cover the length of the cut. Frowning through her sniffles, she searched the back of the shelf until her fingers brushed against a roll of sterile gauze.
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That would work.
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Unrolling the white mesh, Elowyn wrapped it securely around her forearm five, six times, tucking the end firmly into itself to hold it in place.
She lowered her jacket sleeve, wiped her face with the back of her hand, and stared at the floor, seeing the small, dark drops of blood still scattered on the clean tiles.
"Let's clean the floors," Elowyn whispered to the empty bathroom, her voice small and shaky as she looked down at the red drops leaving a trail out her bedroom.
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Before she could turn back toward the kitchen, her eyes drifted up and caught her own reflection in the mirror above the sink for the first time that evening.
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She froze.
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The left side of her face was already turning a deep, bruised purple against her skin, the distinct swollen outline of a handprint starkly visible across her cheekbone and jaw. Right near the outer corner of her eye, three angry red scratches marked where her mother's fingernails had ended.
"Oh no," she gasped. "Oh, dad's gonna see this," she whimpered in panic.
She pulled her hood up seeing if it would cover anything.
It didn't.
"Okay. Clean the floors first, then figure this out."
Moving mechanically, Elowyn went to get the cleaning supplies.
She started in the bathroom, wiping away every stray drop of blood from the tiles until the surface was perfect in her eyes again, her movements rigid and precise.
Then she moved to her bedroom, tracking the tiny smears near the door, and out into the hallway, forcing her focus entirely onto the physical task of scrubbing.
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The kitchen was last.
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When she reached the doorway, the physical reality of the room hit her all at once. The shards of the white plate had been left in a pile along with the broken chocolate chip cookies where her father's welcome-home treat had been destroyed.
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She stood frozen on the edge of the tile, the quietness of the house pressing down on her temples like a physical weight.
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Dad's cookies.
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The thought slammed into her brain, and suddenly the internal barrier holding back the rising tide of sensory and emotional overload completely shattered.
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Her breath hitched, turning into a sharp, jagged gasp that wouldn't catch.
Her chest seized up, every muscle tightening into a agonizing knot as the sheer volume of everything that had happened crashed over her nervous system at once.
The dull overhead kitchen lights suddenly felt like needles stabbing into her eyes, the hum of the refrigerator morphed into a deafening, piercing roar inside her skull, the stinging on her cheek, the throbbing cut beneath her gauze-wrapped forearm,
and the dull ache in her wrist all merged into one intolerable wave of agony.
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"No, no, no," she choked out, her hands flying up to press frantically over her ears to block out the noise, but it was coming from inside her own head.
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Her knees buckled. She dropped hard onto the hard kitchen floor, right amid the debris of the ruined plate and the scattered cookies. The impact jarred her bones, but she barely felt it through the white-hot static of absolute panic taking over her brain.
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She curled inward, rocking violently back and forth, her fingers clawing into her hair as the overwhelming horror of it all completely unraveled her.
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"I can't... I couldn't open it," she sobbed, her voice breaking into high-pitched, ragged wails that echoed off the walls. "The banner isn't up!"
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Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face, stinging the angry red scratches near her eye and hot against the swelling purple handprint on her cheek.
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"They're gone," she hyperventilated, rocking faster and faster as her chest heaved in desperate, shallow gasps of air. "His cookies are gone, they ate them, they're all gone, and I broke the plate, and everything is wrong, everything is ruined, dad's coming home and it's all messy-"
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The world was spinning too fast, everything was just too much and the unbearable reality that she couldn't fix any of it trapped her inside her own breaking mind, leaving her sobbing uncontrollably alone on the floor.
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"Welcome home dad!" Elowyn sang as happily as she could, running up to her father, throwing herself into his arms.
"Hey fairy!" Atticus wrapped his arms around her. "Why are all the lights off in here? I can hardly see you!" He chuckled.
"Fairy?" He whispered when he felt her small body trembling in his arms. "Hey, what's wrong kiddo?"
"I just missed you," she choked out through her tears.
"I missed you too," he said full of worry.
Something was wrong. He immediately knew it.
"Hey, talk to me pumpkin," he tried to look at her face, only for her to shove it back into his chest.
"Okay, you can talk when you're ready," he reassured as he pulled her in for a tight hug, knowing the pressure of it always calmed her down.
"The lights were bothering me. That's why they're off," she whispered after a while.
"Okay. That's okay, I can go buy new bulbs. Dimmer ones."
"No. They're fine. It's just... they were bothering me today."
"Any particular reason for that?" He moved his hand to brush her hair, only to realize his daughter had her hoodie pulled up.
"How about we go get some french fries? I can make sure they're fresh out of the fryer."
"No, thank you," she murmured. "I'm really tired."
Something is definitely very wrong. His daughter would never dare to deny french fries.
"Alright, how about you go get some rest, okay? I'll just be here unpacking if you need anything," Atticus kissed the top of her head.
"I made you two Nutella toast, with strawberries. They're on the table."
"Thanks kiddo. I was actually craving something sweet this whole week," he chuckled, suddenly frowning when he felt Elowyn start crying again.
"It's okay, I'm here," he hummed, slightly rocking side to side. "Let it out, pumpkin."
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Elowyn didn't feel like being in the presence of anyone, but she didn't want to be alone.
After she finally stopped crying as hard and bid her father goodnight, she immediately threw herself on her bed, hugging one of her plushies close.
"William has school tomorrow morning and Dan has work. Seraphina- "
She didn't want to think about Seraphina right now, it was too difficult to try and process everything. At the moment, the only people she could absolutely say without a doubt are her friends were William, Dan and Mikey.
Mikey.
Wiping her face from the few tears that were still falling, Elowyn sat at her desk and turned on her old monitor.
Mikey is his own boss. He should be available.
Elowyn grabbed her phone, ringing Mikey.
"Hey gremlin, how's it going?" His voice came through almost immediately.
"Hey Mikey," Elowyn smiled a little.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked after hearing her voice crack.
"I don't wanna talk about it," she muttered.
"Okay... but if you ever do want to talk, I'm here, you know that right?"
"Yeah, I know. Um... I was just wondering if you wanna play Minecraft with me for a little bit," she sniffled.
"Of course, let me just make sure it's okay with the Mrs. and I'll be right on."
"Okay," Elowyn whispered, a tiny, barely there smile returning to her face as she pulled her headphones over her ears and waited for Mikey to come online.
She didn't know how long she would be able to keep pretending that everything was fine, but for tonight, she didn't have to explain anything. She could simply sit with Mikey in their little Minecraft world and let someone else make the noise disappear.