31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 5 - 'Terracotta Tile'

Police Officer: Miss Ellis, do you know a Mr Joseph Cook?

Mhairi:(Gingerly) Joey. It's Joey.

Police Office: OK. Joey Cook. Please state whether you know Mr Cook or not.

Mhairi: Yes, I know him. I'm his girlfriend.

Police Officer: And you witnessed the events that occurred at twenty-six Ripley Road yesterday, July eighth, which resulted in Mr Cook falling off the roof of said address and his subsequent coma

Mhairi: Yes. (Mhairi clearly trying to hold back tears.)

Police Officer: You understand that Mr Cook has been accused of climbing a tree in order to watch the sixteen year old daughter of Mr and Mrs McDonald of the previously stated address.

Mhairi: (agitated/defensive/shocked)  That's ridiculous! Joey would never...

(Mhairi stops, becomes composed. Clearly forcing herself to remain calm and co-operative.)

Mhairi: He shouldn't have been in the tree. And I get why it could look like that, especially knowing my neighbours. But that wasn't why he was in the tree. At all. Joey being in the tree had nothing to do with Rachel. She wasn't even in her room.

Police Officer: Can you tell us why he was in the tree?

Mhairi: It was my fault. This whole thing should never have happened. Why did I have to be so stubborn? (Fighting back tears.) All I had to do was let him in the door. We'd had a fight. A bad fight. I just thought he'd get pissed off and leave, you know? He'd go back to 'the guys' and give me some space. But he didn't. He jumped the fence and started to climb the tree. He was just trying to get to me, to talk to me. He must have really thought he was losing me to climb that stupid tree. I mean, he is terrified of heights. I can't imagine how scared he was. To get to my window, he'd have to walk past Rachel's window then jump the small gap between the houses. They must have spotted him in the tree. And, them being them, immediately jumped to the conclusion that of course he was a pervert. (barely contained rage.) By the time Mr McDonald came raging out of the house, Joey was going past Rachel's window. When he heard all the shouting, he turned round, swiveling on his foot. That's when the tile came loose. And Joey...he...he....That's when Joey fell, (cries/sobs/wails)

Police Officer: Miss Ellis, we have more questions. Are you able to continue?

Mhairi: Yes...ahem...yes.

Police Officer: In their statements, Mr and Mrs McDonald informed us that they had often seen a man loitering around their home and garden, usually fleeing to avoid being recognised. They believe it may have been Mr Cook as the man often fled towards your garden.

Mhairi: Really? They think that it was Joey? They have a sixteen year old daughter, who is not allowed out after nine, with a seventeen year old boyfriend who has a car, but it is totally my boyfriend who has been sneaking around their house.

Police Officer: So you know who has been hanging around outside the McDonald residence?

Mhairi: Yes, his name is Fred Alderton. Nice kid actually. He finishes work at around nine and stops off to see Rachel on his way home. Never goes into the house. Either stands in the garden and she pops her head out the window; or he climbs up to the window, sits on the roof and they chat.

Police Officer: Can we go back to something you said earlier? You said that Rachel was not in her room at the time of the incident. The McDonald's were under the impression that she was,

Mhairi: They had grounded her, so she snuck out. Probably to see Fred.

Police Officer: Just to clarify, Mr Cook's reason for climbing the tree was to get to you and nothing to do with Miss Rachel McDonald?

Mhairi: Yes.

Police Officer: And Mr Cook is not the man seen fleeing twenty-six Ripley Road on several occasions? It was, in fact, this Fred Alderton?

Mhairi: Yes. Are we nearly done? I'm sorry, but my boyfriend has just fallen from a roof and is in a coma. What they are accusing him of is ridiculous, I've told you everything. Can I please leave?

31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 4 - 'Red Plaid Shirt'

It still smelled like her. She's worn it so much, it was as if her scent had become embedded in the fabric. Most girls stole their boyfriend's hoodie or jumper, maybe a t-shirt, but not his girl. No, for Ivy it had to be his red plaid shirt.

He could see her now: curled up on the couch reading during restless nights, wearing nothing but lace boyshorts and that shirt; dancing around his kitchen in that shirt, making breakfast and wearing that shirt; practicing her routines in that shirt; tearing through the house looking for 'her' shirt; movie nights with Ivy wearing the shirt as a dressing gown and Ivy borrowing the shirt to 'complete her outfit'. There were more photos of Ivy in his red plaid shirt than there was of him in it. Any time he wore what was technically his shirt, people would ask why he was wearing his girlfriend's clothes. He could almost hear her laugh and gloat that she'd always said it really was her shirt. 

It was her shirt, Emmet knew that. It may have been from a mens department and Emmet may have bought it long before Ivy ever borrowed it, but it was Ivy's shirt. Always had been, since the first time she tried it on.

Every memory of Ivy in that shirt was bitter sweet and made him smile. All, except one. Ivy's tear-streaked face contorted with pain, fury and disbelief as she threw the shirt at him. The day he got his shirt back was the day he lost his girl.

Ivy would never forgive him for what he did or for the words he said. Pretending that he didn't feel the same, that he didn't want her anymore, had been the hardest lie he'd ever had to tell. It had torn his heart to shreds. But he had to do it. She wasn't going to go, she was going to stay trapped here, because of him. She was going to give up her dream, for him. She was going to give up her chance at everything she had ever wanted and worked for her whole life, solely because she loved him.

He couldn't, he wouldn't, let that happen. He wouldn't let her make the wrong choice. Ivy O'Neill deserved better than a life stuck here with him.

31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 3 - 'Tick Tock Tick.'

Tick. Tock. Tick.

Tick. Tock. Tick.

Tick. Tock. Tick.

The constant heartbeat of the antique grandfather clock echoed through the house. Each beat a twist in Lauren's gut.

Tick. Tock. Tick.

Amid the beating of the clock, Lauren could hear footsteps climbing the stairs and the other end of the hall. She knew who it was and what was about to happen.

When Aiden entered the room, she didn't turn to greet him, she just steadfastly faced the grandfather clock.

"What are you doing? It's time to go. Grab your bug-out and...wait...why are those weapons not packed? We have to go. Now. You know that. It's your plan. What the fuck are you playing at?"

Lauren steeled herself and squared her shoulders.

"I'm not going." She forced herself to remain strong and standing tall. "Aid, you have eight minutes. Go. Get everyone out of here. Now, Aiden."

"What the hell do you mean, not going? You really think that I'd...we'd leave you behind?"  Confusion came out as annoyance.

"You have to or you'll die." Lauren's voice, still aimed at the clock, remained expressionless and flat as it had for the entire exchange. Matter-of-factly, she continued, "We both know how stubborn I am and that, therefore, it will take more than seven minutes for you to change my mind. You will miss the window of escape; everyone we have fought to protect will die and you and I, we will be tortured. So you will leave without me, because, you and I both know that you will not sacrifice multiple lives to save one. No matter who the one is. Seven minutes, Aiden, go." Lauren sensed Aiden beginning to approach her slowly. "Aiden. Don't. Just go." Aiden stopped.

"Lauren...please. Come with me. Why wont you just come with us?" Aiden pleaded.

"To do what we swore we'd do: protect the group at any cost. We've lost so many already. Ava's pregnant now, that's a new generation to defend. There is more at risk so the price is higher too." Lauren's shoulders slumped ever so slightly in defeat. "It's me they want, Aiden. I can hold them off a little, give you a bigger window. Once they have me, it's unlikely they will stop hunting you, but they might back of a little, enough for you all to get away. That maybe, that extra chance for everyone's survival is worth what I'm going to do." Emotion had crept into Lauren's voice. She paused and regained her composure. "It's worth my life."

"They wont just kill you, Lauren, they'll...they'll..." Aiden faultered.

"They wont get the chance." That's when Aiden saw them. The bright, yellow pills.

"That's why you wouldn't let me tell you which safe house or what route. You knew what you were going to do. If you don't know where we are, you cant tell them. You knew all along."

"We both knew it would come to this, Aiden. You know it's what needs to happen. I have to stay behind."

"Lauren...I..."

"Dont. Aiden, please, I know but please don't say it. Please, Aiden, just go." Lauren fought back tears, still not turning to face the man she loved.

"Goodbye, Lauren."


Moments later, Lauren was left alone in the abandoned house,

Tick. Tock. Tick.

31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 2 - 'Then the light changed...'

A drop of sweat slid down Saffie's spine as she smiled into the sun. The sound of the waves crashing on the beach to her right seemed to bring peace to her soul, which was what Saffie needed after what she had left behind back home. Yells and cheers of surfers on the beach and conversations of passersby on the street, mingling with the ebb-and-flow of the sea was music to her ears. After four months, the novelty of being surrounded by the Australian accent had not worn off, even slightly. The Aussie sun warmed her skin as the salty perfume of the sea filled her nostrils. The pain and confusion of the last year, of what she had left behind in Scotland, was far from her mind. Moving Down Under had meant moving towards her happiness.

Saffie walked along the sparsely occupied street, as cars stopped on her left, in a queue starting the the traffic lights just up ahead. Out of the corner of her eye, Saffie saw something that stopped her cold. In a trance, she turned and stared into the black car paused next to her, Jake. Saffie felt like she was looking at a ghost.

She stared, unblinking, at the profile of the boy who went missing. His chocolate hair was longer and lighter and skin more tanned, but it was definitely him. It was definitely Jake Masson, sat there in the back seat, leaning forward to talk to the two sun-bleached, laughing men in front.

Memories flooded Saffie's senses: kisses; whispered 'I love you's; the feeling of fingers interlocked, of being in his arms; the smell of him, the one she'd been craving for a year. She went numb. All she could think was 'look at me. Jake, look at me. Please.' Saffie wanted to knock on the window, to make him look at her. She wanted to look into those eyes. But she couldn't move.

Jake sat back slowly, leaned against the headrest and turned his head to look out of the window.  His eyes met Saffie's and shock was suddenly written over every feature of his face.

"Jake." Saffie breathed as her hand began to reach out to him.

Then the light changed.

31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 1 - 'But You Said...'

"But you said..." 
"Fuck what I said." Bish's frustration shouted through his words. "I was talking shit and we both know."
"So how do I know you're not talking shit now?" Ellie challenged him, keeping her gazed steady on him.
"Because you can always tell when I'm lying. And because I'm about to do some stuff that I fucking never do and don't come fucking natural to me...and I'm gonna do them without any fucking beer," Bish's attitude was still on the angry side for someone trying to win a girl's heart. Ellie stayed silent; watching him, and when Bish finally made eye contact she raised her eyebrows in expectation. Bish gave a gruff, resigned sigh.
"I was wrong." His shoulders slumped and he looked at the ground.
"Well, that is a first." Bitterness filled Ellie's words. Bish scrunched his eyes and steeled himself to keep going.
"You were right." 
"Holy shit. Are you feeling ok? Or have you been replaced by the alternative universe version of yourself?"
"Ellie. I fucked up. OK?! You loved me and I left you alone. It was the stupidest fucking thing I have ever done. Shit Ellie, you're the only thing that made my life bearable." Bish stamped his feet pacing, looking anywhere but at her. Then he forced his gaze to look Ellie dead in the eye. "I love you, Ellie."
"Shit." The full weight of Bish's words hit her. "Bish...I...You don't say that. Ever. To anyone. I mean, you're almost allergic to the 'L' word."
"I'll say it to you every fucking day if you'll just take me back. I miss you, Ellie. It fucking hurts like hell." Bish stood there, desperate for the girl he abandoned to trust him again.
"Bish..." Ellie almost ran to him but fear stopped her.
"Ellie, I'm here and I am not going anywhere. I fucked up once, it will never happen again. I can't lose you again, I won't. I am in this. I promise. Fuck sake, Ellie. I'm talking about my feelings. Would I be doing this if I wasn't fucking in this a hundred percent?" Ellie looked at Bish, he was right, he wasn't running from his feelings; from her or from a tough situation. He was here. And, after all this time, he was telling her how he felt about her. 
"Say it again." Bish looked at her with a mix of surprise and confusion while a slow smile spread across her face.
"I love you, Ellie." Bish said softly as he walked towards her, pulled her close and kissed her. "I fucking love you." A huge smile lit up his face as he kissed the girl he thought he'd never get back.

31 Day Writing Challenge #2

I am doing another month long writing challenge. The prompts for the next 31 days are below.

Bring. It. On.