Chapter 50

Chapter 50

"Thank you, Madam Moreau. See you tomorrow, Mrs. Alby." Alison bid the old lady goodbye and hobbled out of the studio as she would after every practice. She headed towards the café across the street to get her usual chicken pie when she noticed Loraine walking alone not far in front of her. She called her after making sure that she was alone.

"Hey, you're not with Rob or your brother?" She caught up with her as she staggered along the way.

"No, they're both busy so I'm taking the cab home today. What's wrong with your legs?" She noticed the odd way she was walking.

"Oh, too much practice. Just let me drop you off. I've nothing to do anyway." She offered.

"You sure? I don't want to trouble-"

"It's no trouble at all. But first, let me get my chicken pie before we leave, alright." She beamed or maybe even drooled at the mention of the chicken pie. They walked towards the café and made their way back to Alison's car. Turns out, Loraine's neighborhood was close by to hers, only about a ten minutes' drive away. This was the first time she went to Jason's house, she wondered why he never asked her to visit his place before.

"This is me. Thank you so much. Do you want to come in, have some hot tea? Sorry, we don't have hot chocolate." She pouted.

"It's alright. Maybe next time. Remind me to get you a packet of-"

"Loraine! Get in now!" A firm low voice yelled out, she turned to see a tall silhouette standing by the front porch looking incensed.

"Sorry. That's my dad, I kind of told him that I'd be home early tonight." She apologized.

"What? Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you needed to be back ASAP, the queue was incredibly long today. Let me walk with you and at least explain." She offered taking off her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

"Where the hell were you?! Why isn't your brother taking you home? Oh, he'll get it once he's home." The man who seemed to be around fifties fumed, muttering the last sentence which Alison heard and wondered what was that supposed to mean.

"Good evening sir. I'm Alison. I apologize, I offered Loraine to drop her home but we went to buy the chicken pie which had a really long queue. It's my fault that she came home this late. I apologize for the delay, sir." She defended occasionally biting her lips, the man looked intimidatingly scary, although she could see the resemblance with Jason, they were both equally big and tall but he had blonde hair like Loraine unlike Jason's brown hair.

"Fine, although it's supposed to be Jason's responsibility, what kind of a brother is he, he can't even do a simple thing in this house."

"I think he is an amazing brother, it amazes me how he always takes care of her, maybe he's caught up with something today, sir." She blurted out unconsciously having the urge to defend him which she regretted immediately once she saw his eyes darkened at her defense.

"What do you know? You should just-" He retorted before being cut by another familiar voice.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Jason said from behind them, noticing the tension between them.

"I apologized once again, sir, I didn't mean to pry. I was just dropping her off. I best be going then. I'll be taking my leave. Sir." She nodded towards the man, Loraine and gave a quick glance to Jason before turning to hobble back to her car as quickly as she could.

Oh my god! You stupid, stupid, nosy girl! Why would you say that to him! Why do you even say anything at all! You've nothing better than to make Jason's dad angry? Isn't making Jason angry enough? Lord, help me!

"Hey Alison." He called out catching up with her halfway to her car. Damn it.

"Yes?" She turned mustering all the courage to hide her swirling emotions and cover it with a flat expression.

"Thanks. For dropping Loraine back home. You don't have to." He said, the whole ten words he ever spoke sincerely to her.

"I was on my way home anyway. You've sent me back home more times than I could even remember. And... Loraine already thanked me so... I'll just go." She replied cursing herself midway for bringing up their past.

"Thanks again. See you at school." He finally said after what seemed like a minute of him contemplating of something with himself.

"Right. Bye." She went straight into her car without turning back and quickly drove home trying to convince herself to forget about him. Once reaching home, she took a shower and changed into her pajamas then laid herself down on the bed while she stares blankly at the ceiling. It was almost midnight, March twenty-eighth. It was almost Leah's birthday.

"Happy birthday! Someone is officially fifteen years old now. You're halfway your teen years. Now make a wish and blow out the candles so I get to finally eat the cake." Alison handed the cake closer to Leah who was still in her pajamas. This has been a tradition for the two girls to wish each other birthday with a cake at exactly midnight.

"Done. You can indulge in the cake that was supposed to be mine." Leah teased.

Alison barely slept a wink the whole night, dreading this whole day. This was another year that she had to be reminded of the birthday of a girl who was no longer here.

"Al, are you okay? You seemed a little off today. Is everything alright?" Layla asked from her table while Alison packed her things into her bag.

"Couldn't sleep last night. Just tired I guess." She offered a soft smile and the two girls walked out of the class together when they saw Jason with new bruise decorating his left jaw.

"Jason! What happened again?" Layla called out and rushed towards him.

"You know me. I'm going to go ahead and get some food. See you." He shrugged obviously not wanting to talk about it and walked away from them.

He was fine yesterday evening. Did he go out again and got into a fight? Or... Did his dad actually do that to him? He'll get it once he's home... That's what he got?

She felt repulsed with the thought that a father was capable of doing that to their own child. He's been abused at home by his own father? He's forced to take care of his sister without a mother while his father beats him? He's been through a lot. Yet this was still her theory which she would very much hope to proof herself wrong.

After buying their lunch, Layla and Alison sat at the table with Zoe who was already sitting with her fresh salad on the table. Soon, Mia and her friends walked in arrogantly like they owned the school striding past Alison's table before giving her a smile. Layla was still stating the possibilities of what happened to Jason while Alison and Zoe listened and ate their food. She was not going to tell her what she suspected because it was obvious that he did not want anyone to know. After all, Layla knew him for a very long time and she still did not have the slightest clue on the reasoning behind those occasional bruises on him. Then, Alison's phone buzzed repetitively, spamming her phone with messages. Once she opened the phone, she should have known the meaning behind Mia's wicked smirk. There were reminders of what day today was and the reminder from news articles of why she will not be here to celebrate the day, not forgetting the blame that was pointed at Alison for her absence.

Happy 15th Birthday, Leah!

She never even gets to celebrate her sixteenth birthday.

"I'm sorry that you've to be the person to find her in this situation. Can you tell us what happen?" The female officer held her notepad ready to jot down her comments.

"I... I came by wanting to talk to her. I knew that her parents were both working s... so I let myself in with the sp... spare key. I walked up to her room and opened the door. I thought... I thought she was sleeping or... or listening to her headphone, it was quiet. But then... when I opened the door...I saw... her... she was... she was there... by the cupboard... I couldn't... I... she was not moving... Her skin... Her lips... I tried to take it off... but I couldn't. And I... I just... I went... to check... check her pulse... and th... there was none. Leah... she's..." Alison stammered as she tried to explain what happened while still being in the state of shock.

"Were you the one who called us, Miss Brooke?" The officer asked while she just nodded unable to form any more words.

"Alright, we'll be in touch for further statement. We've notified her parents. Once again, we're very sorry for your loss, Miss Brooke. If you need anyone to talk to, we have a special line for this traumatic experience..." The officer continued but she was unable to listen any further as her mind went back to the scene at Leah's room.