“Mummy!” I cry out in the middle of the night, woken from a bad dream that seemed so real. I'm afraid to get out of bed.
“What is it baby? Did you have a nightmare?” My mother asks, smoothing my hair back and kissing my head as she scoops me up in her arms and rocks me gently.
I simply nod as I press myself to her chest, listening to the vibration of her voice as she tells me that everything is ok. It was just a dream.
“What are you doing in here?” the gruff voice of my father says from the doorway.
“She had a nightmare, Oliver,” my mother tells him, as she continues rocking me in her arms. I cling tightly to her, knowing that soon she will leave. Daddy doesn’t like it when she holds me.
“You need to stop coddling her. You have two other children who need you more than that bastard does.”
I wonder what a bastard is, as my mother presses her hands over my ears and speaks to my father. I hear nothing but a muffled sound through her hands, along with the hum of her voice through her chest. But I can’t make out any words.
Shortly after, she’s putting me back into my bed, and telling me that it’s time to go to sleep. I don’t go to sleep though. The sound of my parents arguing keeps me awake. I think they’re talking about me. Although, they’re saying things I don’t understand.
By the time morning rolls around, the house is quiet again. Rubbing my eyes, I wonder if the whole thing was a dream.
Sitting up in bed, I wrap myself in my own arms. I wish it was real. I miss cuddling my mummy.
Chapter One
“I’d better go home,” I announce, as I stand up from the side of the pool. I’ve been hanging out at my friend Ramona’s house with her and two other friends. She has this big heated pool that we all love dangling our feet in while we talk about boys we like to look at, girls who annoy us, and parents who just don’t understand.
“Don’t go. It’s not even 5 o’clock yet,” Jess points out. She cocks her head to look up at me and shields her blue eyes against the sun. Her straight, shoulder length blonde hair falls to the side as she regards me. “Surely your curfew isn’t this early.”
“It’s now at 5:30 on a Sunday, and 9:30 on Friday and Saturday - every other day; I'm not even allowed out. If I’m a minute late, I’ll be grounded. You know how strict my parents are,” I remind her.
“You’re fifteen years old. It’s not like you’re still in primary school. I say just go home when you’re ready. It’s not like they can do anything too horrible to you right?” Ramona says from beside Jess. “What’s grounding really? They say you can’t go out, and you sneak out anyway. I wouldn’t let them push me around if I was you.”
“Guys get off her back,” my best friend Maddison puts in. “Neither of you has heard the way her mother goes off when she does something wrong.”
“Yeah but her brother stays out as long as he likes. He’s always parties and things. Why is it so different for Paige?” Jess asks.
“It’s just the way it is,” I say, checking my watch and thumbing of my shoulder towards the gate. “I need to go okay? I don’t want to be late.”
“It’s okay,” Maddison says, pushing up on her hands to slide herself back from the pool. “I think I might head off too. I’m pretty sure I have some homework left to do before tomorrow.” She shakes her feet off and stuffs them into her flip-flops, before coming to stand beside me. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Ahh, homework, schomework! You guys are no fun,” complains Ramona, as we make our way through the brown Colorbond gate that separates her backyard from the front and call out good-bye.