I felt someone move next to me. Possum and Cue were standing up, everyone else was still asleep. "What are you doing?" I asked them. "Going to get some breakfast for everyone" Possum said. I closed my eyes and fell back to sleep.
"Rise and shine! We got food" Cue said as he nudged us all awake. "Your cousin?" Big W asked. Possum nodded. She jumped up and rushed into the kitchen. I followed. There was a pile of waffles, pancakes, donuts and bacon. Plus a big jug of maple syrup and a bottle of fancy orange juice. "Wow!" I said. "Do you want to wake your family?" Possum asked as he got some plates out of the cupboard. I rushed up stairs and into Fiona's room. She was cuddled up to Conner. "Breakfast time" I told her as I jumped onto the bed. "Lucy, we don't have enough food" she told me. "It's already sorted, go look" I told her and ran off to wake the boys and Debbie.
My friends sat on the floor and ate while my family sat around the table. Fiona was cooking eggs for everyone as well. "Donut" Jav asked, Lip grabbed one and chucked it to him. Jav split it in half and gave some to me. "Thank you" I told him. "I didn't know family actually ate breakfast together" he said. "Yeah, it's pretty cool" Possum said. "Ok, who wants eggs?" Fiona asked and walked over to us. She put some on everyone's plate and went back to the kitchen to cook more. I got up and took my half donut over to dad who was still asleep in the lounge room. He didn't wake up so I left it next to his head. "We are a good family daddy" I told him. I felt so proud.
"There you are" Dad yelled as he walked up to me. "Let's go have some fun!" he said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from my friends.
"I don't like going into people homes, can't I just pick pockets?" I complained as dad lifted me over the fence. "No, this is quicker" he said. We went over to the back of the house and I crawled through the dog flap then unlocked the back door for dad. "Ok, you know what to do, anything valuable, money, drugs and find the alcohol cabinet for me" he said and started poking around in the kitchen. I went and unlocked the frontdoor like I hadbeen taughtthen went exploring.
I was looking through the upstairs bedroom when Dad hurried into the corridor. "All done?" I asked him. "Ahh, no just going to check out the shed outside. Got a feeling something goods inside. You stay here and keep checking the drawers" he told me and rushed away. I hadn't found anything yet, the jewellery box was locked and there was nothing good anywhere else.
I was on my way downstairs when there was a loud knock on the door. I stopped, they shouldn't be able to see me from the stairs. The knocking continued "police, we know you're in there, open up!" a guy yelled. I panicked and bolted down the stairs and headed to the back door but was grabbed by someone as soon as I reached the kitchen.
I sat next to the policewomen's desk. She had given me a sprite and some cookies but I wasn't hungry. I hurt so bad, not my body, my feelings. "Lucy, your sisters here for you" the policewomen said. I followed her out the front. Fiona and V were standing there. Fi ran over to me and squatted in front of me. She just looked at me, I couldn't look at her. "Ok, come on" she said and took my hand.
The hurt turned into anger on the bus trip home. "I hate him" I said and jumped to my feet "I fucking hate him" I screamed and kicked the seat and everything else I could reach. I punched the back of the chair. Fiona grabbed my arms. "Lucy, shhh, it's ok" she told me. "He just left me there!" I yelled and tried to get my arms out of Fiona's hands. I kicked at her legs. "Let me go!" I told her. V grabbed me around my waist and lifted me off the ground. After a while I stopped. Fiona grabbed me off V and sat down. She rocked me back and forth, V sat next to her and put her head on Fiona's shoulder, her face right in front of mine. "It hurts so much" I whispered and started to sob, "I know, I know" Fi whispered.
"She's 7, they can't charge her with anything" dad yelled "that's not the point, you left her" Fiona yelled. "I couldn't risk getting caught. Why are you so upset, it worked didn't it? She held the cops up so I could get away …" "what? Don't tell me you planned this" "she's 7, nothing was going to happen to her" "dad!" Fiona stormed upstairs and started banging around in Franks room. "What the hell are you doing?" Frank yelled as he followed her. "You need to get out of my house" Fiona yelled at him. "It's my fucking house" "get out. You don't even realise what you have done. I don't want you around the kids anymore dad. You … you broke her. She's only 7 and you … just get out. Get out!" I crawled back into my bed and started to cry. He was no longer dad, he was Frank. Fucking Frank.