~ Chapter 1 ~
Living with Charlie was . . . . weird.
He didn't hover, in fact, I didn't see him for the rest of the afternoon while I unpacked my belongings and settled myself in my room.
I ran my hands over the purple bedspread that Charlie had obviously got for me. It was plain, made of thin fabric, and not my taste. But at least I didn't have to go out and get something.
Sighing I reached into my backpack and powered up my laptop. Logging onto my Facebook page I saw that I had a few messages from a couple of my friends back in Phoenix. Most just asking about the flight and if I was settling in ok. I huffed, closing the laptop without replying to them.
How could I tell them about the loneliness I was feeling, from being taken away from everything I knew into a new life. And the grief. It had only been 2 weeks since mum and Phil had past. But it still felt like I got the news hours ago.
I heard a thump followed by a curse, so I got up to go down stairs to investigate what happened. The stairs creaked as I moved silently down the stairs, giving away my presence before I could let myself be known.
Charlie looked up as I approached, huffing as he looked back down at the broken glass on the floor at his feet. "Clean that up."
I blinked in surprise at the commanding tone of his voice. "Sure," I answered hesitantly moving to the kitchen to grab a t-towel to pick up the shards of glass before wiping the floor with paper towel to clean up the liquid.
"Have you unpacked everything upstairs?" Charlie asked, sitting down on the recliner to put the baseball on the TV.
"Yeah."
"Good, I want you to clean up the kitchen and cook something for dinner. Now that you are here I won't have to spend as much money down at the diner, because you will be able to cook for me."
I frowned. "I don't really feel like cooking tonight dad. I'm kind of tired from the flight."
Charlie's feet slammed down to the floor as he came stalking back into the room. "What did you say?"
I cowered back slightly. "I-I'm not feeling up to it at the moment," I replied shakily as I saw Charlie's fists start to shake.
"Did I ask you whether you were feeling up to it or not?" he demanded angrily.
"N-no."
"Then I suggest you go in and do as I say," Charlie said stepping to the side.
"Can't we just –" I started but Charlie's hand shot out and grabbed my left bicep before I could blink. I gasped in shock.
"Are you really going to disobey me, Isabella? Just after I told you not to?" Charlie barked, his eyes glittering with anger.
I was speechless. I couldn't believe that Charlie was being like this. Had he always been like this? I wondered. Perhaps I had been too young to remember if he was or not. Or maybe he thought I was too young to be commanded around like he was doing now.
"Well?!" Charlie yelled, glaring down at me.
I slowly shook my head.
Charlie squeezed my bicep tighter, making me wince slightly at the pain his hold was inflicting on me. "Speak girl! God gave you a tongue, use it! You will answer me when I address you, and you will do as I ask without question in this house, otherwise there will be consequences. Do you understand?" He demanded shaking me slightly with his hold on my arm.
I clenched my teeth in pain as I nodded. Seeing the angry look on his face, I quickly answered. "Y-Yes."
"Then I suggest you get to it," he shoved me towards the kitchen, making me stumble and bang into the doorway.
I heard Charlie scoff as he walked back into the lounge room to where the baseball game was playing on the TV still.
I blinked the tears away that sprung to my eyes. Perhaps he is still bogged down with grief from losing his ex-wife, the same as how I was grieving for my mother. Though I didn't go around taking it out on other people, I thought bitterly.
Looking down I pulled up the hem of my shirt to see a red patch with a graze where I had banged my hip into the doorframe. Letting go of my hem I pulled up the cuff of my shirt and saw angry red marks appearing where Charlie had grabbed me. Carefully with my other hand, I reached up to rub where the throbbing pain in my bicep was that still lingered.
I turned to the kitchen to see what there was to do, and I was surprised at what I found. There was a few dishes sitting in the sink with dried food crusted to the sides of the dishes. Giving away the fact that they had been there for several days. Spills on the stove from what looked like can food, and all of the cupboards had scuffs and dirt marks all over the fronts of them. The fridge was filled with what looks like plates of old food, and more spills on the shelves. Clearly Charlie didn't clean his house properly, if at all. Sighing I moved over to the sink to start with the dishes, that way, I could use the clear sink to hold hot water for me to clean down the rest of the room.
Residing into myself I got to work. My thoughts lingered on Charlie and his apparent anger issues. Did his anger come out when he was at work? Faced with criminals and misbehaving civilians? Did he grab them by the arm and order them around like he just did with me?
My mum never spoke badly against my dad. She never mentioned being mistreated by him or him having the apparent anger issues that he did now. God I wish she was still here so I could talk to her, and hear her voice. If I was to call her now with how I was feeling, and if I told her what was going on now, she would know what to do. She would tell me that my dad just needed space, and that there was something that was probably bothering him and to not take it personally.
Taking a deep breath, I took the advice that I had mentally conjured up that my mum had spoken. Maybe I'll try and talk to him later. See if something was bothering him. See if there was anything I could do to help him.
Scrubbing away at the fridge, I poked around in there to see what there was that I could cook up for dinner. Not seeing any meat other than some rashers of bacon, I made a mental note to remind myself to tell Charlie that he needed to do some grocery shopping. Spying some eggs, spring onion, and some frozen vegetables out the freezer I decided to make some fried rice for dinner.
His dried staples that were in the pantry were severely lacking. There was barely enough rice for the both of us, and other than some sugar and instant gravy mix he didn't have much else that I could use to make up some future meals.
I cleaned up the stove and then found the pots in a lower cupboard. Putting them on to boil I started chopping up some of the spring onions when I heard a car pull up from outside and a car door slam shut.
Wiping my hands on the t-towel I found hanging on the oven door, I heard Charlie getting up from the lounge room to open the front door.
On the other side was a boy that was vaguely familiar with what had to be his dad. The boy looked up at me in surprise, with wide brown eyes that radiated kindness as he pushed his long jet black hair over his shoulders and reached out to push his dad, who was in a wheelchair over the threshold of the front door.
"Billy! Jake! Good to see you boys again! Come in the game hasn't long started." Charlie greeted happily as the boy Jake, steered Billy into the living room. "Isabella, you remember Billy Black, and his son Jacob?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it's good to see you Billy."
Billy smiled up at me from under the Indian cowboy hat he was wearing. "You too Isabella, sorry to hear about your mum." He offered.
The slight smile I had on my face slipped. "Thanks, Billy."
Charlie cleared his throat, and Billy looked up at him from his chair. "Shall we go watch the game Bill?" He asked seating himself next to Billy on his recliner.
I turned and headed back into the kitchen. Hearing footsteps behind me I looked over my shoulder to see that Jacob was following me into the kitchen.
"So do you really remember us, or were you just saying that to be polite?" Jacob asked as he leaned back against one of the kitchen counters.
I looked up to see if he was joking with me or not. From the playful grin on his lips I could tell that he was just trying to make conversation with me, and that he didn't mean it in a nasty way.
"Half and half, you both looked familiar to me but if you had of asked me what your names were I couldn't have told you," I replied honestly.
Jacob laid a hand across his chest over his heart and pulled a dramatized hurt expression. "Why Isabella, I am offended that you don't remember this handsome face!" He exclaimed in mock outrage.
I grimaced. "It's just Bella, actually." I said instead of replying to what he had just said.
Jacob frowned, probably thinking back Charlie from earlier. "But your dad called you Isabella."
I pursed my lips, thinking quickly. "Yeah, he-he just likes to use my full name."
Jacob raised an eyebrow but clearly didn't think much on it as he looked at the ingredients on the bench and at the rice on the stove.
"Well, Bella," Jacob said, putting emphases on my name, making me roll my eyes. "What are we cooking?"
"Fried rice," I replied going back to chop up the vegetables. "Are you guys staying for dinner? I'll put some more on otherwise." I asked politely, though I started to internally panic. What if he said yes? I knew there wasn't enough rice to feed any more people. But I still asked as I felt like it was expected of me.
Jacob shook his head. "Nah," he said putting me back at ease. "We will be heading off before then. We just wanted to come over because we heard you were arriving today."
I felt myself blushing. I wasn't used to being the centre of attention. And I didn't like it.
"So do you go to school here?" I asked, changing the subject once again.
"Nah, I go to school on the Reservation." He replied, handing me the carrot as I finished chopping the spring onion.
I shook my head. "Oh, well that's too bad. It would have been nice to know at least one person in a sea of new faces."
Jacob chuckled. "When are you starting at school?"
"At the start of the week. So in a couple of days, I guess," I said.
"Ah, it shouldn't be too bad." Jacob countered.
"We'll see."
So, that's the end of chapter 1. A nice and long chapter. At this point, Jacob is still human, cue the long hair. But what did you all think? Some chapters may not always be this long, but they will be a decent length with each up date.
Please leave a review for me to read when I wake up. They always bring a smile to my face, and I would love to know all of your thoughts so far.
I'll try and update within the week.
So, until next time.
~ Sarah xoxo
