asked softly.
“Yes, we’ll be fine.” Kay’s voice was determined as she reassured her friend. “Not immediately, but we’ll be fine eventually.”
“I’m sorry to leave you with all the tidying up.”
“Don’t you worry about that. I’m sorry you had to leave early.”
The friends exchanged a brief hug before Stacy followed her husband and son who had already exited the house. Kay stepped into the living room and picked up the blanket she had made for Sophie, wrapping it around the girl as she came to sit beside her as well. Then she and Philip simply let her cry until she was too exhausted to cry any more.
Chapter Seven
The biting cold air was a welcome sensation to Sophie as she stood on the porch, surveying the garden and fields beyond. Badger and Tilly lay quietly at her feet, their normally exuberant morning behavior reined in by Sophie’s quiet demeanor. Sunlight was beginning to stretch over the distant hills but all around her was silence. It would be an hour at least before her aunt and uncle would rise but Sophie was wide awake and had been for some time. Unable to sleep any more, she had decided to get up and embrace the start of the day as if it were the start of a new chapter in her life. For in essence today was a new start for her.
The night before she had told her aunt and uncle about her conversation with her mother. She had told them everything, in fact. She started at the beginning, informing them about the point at which, so many long months ago, she had begun to notice a strain in her parents’ relationship. Thinking it was a rut and that it would pass, she ignored it. Even the strongest relationships were strained at times. However, that rut developed into a rift she was caught in the middle of with no means of bridging the divide, and so she fell. Homework and exams had been the first thing to suffer but the result she had hoped to achieve through this did not occur. Her parents were not united over concern about her dismal grades. Instead they were pushed apart even further, each blaming the other – when they had gone beyond blaming her – as the cause of Sophie’s slide from straight A’s to failing, whether it was through being too lenient with her or disciplining her too much.
Unable to drive them closer through a common concern, Sophie had opted to take cover from the shrapnel of their disintegrating marriage through the shield of drugs and alcohol. If she didn’t give a damn about her home life then she couldn’t get hurt, and getting high or hammered was a very effective means of forgetting her troubles to the point where she didn’t care about anything except where the next entertainment would come from. Though the alcohol and weed were effective, an increasing recklessness began to build inside her, a desire to seek out thrills rather than mere entertainment.
Shoplifting was illegal and would piss off her parents if they found out – both admirable incentives to participate. The rush of escaping from the security guard after she had shoplifted had been addictive, a new kind of high that was alluring, if transient. She knew it would have led to more daring thefts if she’d sought to find an escape down that route. She could admit now that she’d blamed Abby but it was her choice to do it. She’d wanted to do it. In hindsight, it was lucky that she had got caught up in Mark’s theft and her foray into the enticing world of shoplifting had come to a grinding halt. If she hadn’t, perhaps she would have gone down his route one day.
Her uncle and aunt had listened without interrupting her. Once she was finished, they had thanked her for telling them and offered her comfort. There were no recriminations. They seemed to sense that none were required. Sophie knew her actions were wrong but Kay and Philip understood why she had done the things she had. After asking Sophie if she was okay with it, they had decided to phone her parents today to discuss the
“Yes, we’ll be fine.” Kay’s voice was determined as she reassured her friend. “Not immediately, but we’ll be fine eventually.”
“I’m sorry to leave you with all the tidying up.”
“Don’t you worry about that. I’m sorry you had to leave early.”
The friends exchanged a brief hug before Stacy followed her husband and son who had already exited the house. Kay stepped into the living room and picked up the blanket she had made for Sophie, wrapping it around the girl as she came to sit beside her as well. Then she and Philip simply let her cry until she was too exhausted to cry any more.
Chapter Seven
The biting cold air was a welcome sensation to Sophie as she stood on the porch, surveying the garden and fields beyond. Badger and Tilly lay quietly at her feet, their normally exuberant morning behavior reined in by Sophie’s quiet demeanor. Sunlight was beginning to stretch over the distant hills but all around her was silence. It would be an hour at least before her aunt and uncle would rise but Sophie was wide awake and had been for some time. Unable to sleep any more, she had decided to get up and embrace the start of the day as if it were the start of a new chapter in her life. For in essence today was a new start for her.
The night before she had told her aunt and uncle about her conversation with her mother. She had told them everything, in fact. She started at the beginning, informing them about the point at which, so many long months ago, she had begun to notice a strain in her parents’ relationship. Thinking it was a rut and that it would pass, she ignored it. Even the strongest relationships were strained at times. However, that rut developed into a rift she was caught in the middle of with no means of bridging the divide, and so she fell. Homework and exams had been the first thing to suffer but the result she had hoped to achieve through this did not occur. Her parents were not united over concern about her dismal grades. Instead they were pushed apart even further, each blaming the other – when they had gone beyond blaming her – as the cause of Sophie’s slide from straight A’s to failing, whether it was through being too lenient with her or disciplining her too much.
Unable to drive them closer through a common concern, Sophie had opted to take cover from the shrapnel of their disintegrating marriage through the shield of drugs and alcohol. If she didn’t give a damn about her home life then she couldn’t get hurt, and getting high or hammered was a very effective means of forgetting her troubles to the point where she didn’t care about anything except where the next entertainment would come from. Though the alcohol and weed were effective, an increasing recklessness began to build inside her, a desire to seek out thrills rather than mere entertainment.
Shoplifting was illegal and would piss off her parents if they found out – both admirable incentives to participate. The rush of escaping from the security guard after she had shoplifted had been addictive, a new kind of high that was alluring, if transient. She knew it would have led to more daring thefts if she’d sought to find an escape down that route. She could admit now that she’d blamed Abby but it was her choice to do it. She’d wanted to do it. In hindsight, it was lucky that she had got caught up in Mark’s theft and her foray into the enticing world of shoplifting had come to a grinding halt. If she hadn’t, perhaps she would have gone down his route one day.
Her uncle and aunt had listened without interrupting her. Once she was finished, they had thanked her for telling them and offered her comfort. There were no recriminations. They seemed to sense that none were required. Sophie knew her actions were wrong but Kay and Philip understood why she had done the things she had. After asking Sophie if she was okay with it, they had decided to phone her parents today to discuss the
Similar Books
