CHAPTER 10) Concern For Amelia

Fortunately Amelia had survived her suicide attempt without anyone knowing that she had made an attempt to end her life. But this was all Amelia wanted. She began drinking and taking regular overdoses. She had even stolen tablets from Tom’s house. Her emotional pain was crippling her. She was getting little sleep and was eating very little and at time she could barely move. She had also started phoning in sick for her shifts at the hospital. “Why won’t I just die?” Amelia questioned. She was feeling desperate and began to feel frustrated that anything she did did not relieve her from her pain.  This was a recurrent cycle for the forthcoming weeks.

Melanie had become extremely concerned about her sisters erratic behaviour. She sat her parents down in the lounge because she felt they needed to know about Amelia’s state of mind. “What’s wrong darling?” Catherine asked who was concerned. Catherine was the girls’ mother. She, like them, was tall and slender with chestnut, brown hair. She had sparkling emerald eyes which would entice anybody who looked straight at them. “It’s Amelia. I think she’s going to get herself into trouble”, Melanie said in a concerned tone.

“Whatever makes you think that sweetheart?” said Melanie’s dad, Larry. Larry was quite short and chubby with dirty blonde hair. He bared no resemblance to his daughters except they all shared the same sapphire blue eyes. “She’s been hurting herself dad. I’m really worried”, Melanie said. She was determined to make them see that their daughter needed help. “What do you mean she has been hurting herself?” enquired Catherine.

“You know, she’s been cutting herself. That’s why she’s wearing such baggy tramps clothes”, stated Melanie.

“She’s very stressed with university at the moment Mel. You know that. She has said that’s what the problem is”, Catherine reassured.

“No mum. I think she’s in danger of really hurting herself”, Melanie persisted.

“Nonsense. She has more sense than to do anything stupid. I’m not happy she’s been cutting herself but she is under a lot of pressure from university. She’d tell us if she was feeling that bad”, stated Larry.

“This is the problem dad. She’s not saying anything. You are not listening to me. She needs help dad”. Melanie was now almost in tears. She’s didn’t understand why her parents would not listen to her. How could they not see that Amelia had turned into a complete mess? Why were they in such denial?

“Well I will make her a doctor’s appointment for next week so she can talk with a professional. All we can do is wait for her to come to us”, Catherine said, realising how concerned Melanie was for her sister. “I just don’t think we should go in all guns blazing. She wouldn't speak to us then.”

Amelia was unaware that her sister had expressed her concern to her parents. She had decided that she should go to Tom’s house to spend a little bit of time with him. Once again she had been neglecting him while she had hit the self destruct button and she felt incredibly guilty about it. She hoped that Lewis wasn’t home. He had been tormenting her enough already. For the past day or so she had been seeing human shadows in her room that weren’t hers and she was paranoid that he was watching her. He had broken every single part of her defence. She felt weak and defenceless.

Amelia was distant around Tom. She didn’t want to get too close in case he had any sexual ideas. She didn’t want to bare her mutilated flesh to him as most of her body was covered in cuts except her hands, feet, back, neck and face. Sex was also one of the last things on her mind as she was feeling abused, violated and scared that Lewis would attempt to rape her again. She snuggled up under Tom’s arm, she had missed feeling loved. She felt ashamed that she was hiding so much from him. “I’ve missed you babe. I was beginning to think you didn’t want to be with me”, Tom said.

“Of course I want to be with you. I just haven’t felt well”, Amelia said coldly.

“You look terrible Ams. You have been distant, you are dressed in a tracksuit, you have not bothered with your hair and makeup or anything”, said Tom, clearly concerned.

“Oh what is it with everyone asking me if I am okay. I’m fine”, Amelia snapped.

Amelia and Tom had sat in silence for most of the afternoon. There was an uncomfortable atmosphere between the two of them. Amelia was not fine. She was far from it. She was sick of having to act like everything was normal and having to smile. She wanted to tell Tom everything but every time she opened her mouth to try, nothing would come out. It was as if she was being gagged from being able to tell the truth. “I think I’d better go. I’m clearly making you feel uncomfortable”, Amelia said whilst fighting back tears.

“Baby, please don’t go. Stay, why are you being like this?” Tom pleaded, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as Amelia ran out of his house. Tom was left feeling confused and upset. He didn’t know what he had done to upset his girlfriend. He had thought everything had been going well up until now. He didn’t know what else to do except to confide in his brother.

Tom was rarely on the verge of tears but the situation with Amelia had really upset him. He stood outside his brother’s bedroom and knocked on the door and walked in. “Yo bro what’s going on? Hey what’s wrong? You look like you’re about to burst into tears”, Lewis said, who felt a little uncomfortable in seeing his brother upset. “It’s Amelia. She’s, she’s just cold towards me. She’s been distant with me for the past few weeks. I, I just don’t know what I have done to upset her. She looked awful. She looked genuinely ill and I don’t know what I am supposed to do”, explained Tom.
“It’s simple”, replied Lewis. “She is probably seeing someone else. Why else would she be cold and distant otherwise? She’s a pretty girl, it wouldn’t surprise me”, said Lewis, who seemed to be enjoying his brothers pain. He needed to manipulate Tom. “You really think so? I dunno. I mean, she has never been in a proper relationship before me. She’s quite uncomfortable around males she doesn’t know. It just doesn’t seem like her”, said Tom, with a tone of sadness in his voice.

“Maybe she’s just on her period or stressed, or just got the flu? The only way you’ll know is if you talk to her mate. I can see if she will talk to me if you like. We’re quite good friends and she texts me a lot”, Lewis lied, with a slight smirk on her his.

“Really bro, you’d really do that for me? I might text her sister, see if she will tell me anything”, said Tom.

“Yeah do that, you’re probably worrying over nothing mate”, Lewis reassured his brother.

“Yeah, you’re right”, said Tom with a smile on his. He smiled and touched knuckles with his brother and went back into his own room. Lewis snickered to himself. “Silly bitch”, he thought. He picked up his spare mobile phone and then began texting his latest messages of torture to Amelia.

CHAPTER 9) Numb ***TRIGGER WARNING***

Over the past few days, Amelia had barely eaten or had any contact with the outside world. Her days had become mundane and self destructive. She would go to work, come home and go straight to her bedroom. Her evening would usually consist of cutting her arms, receive abusive text messages from Lewis then stay awake all night crying. She had hardly slept in days and it was taking its toll on her. Her family had noticed this. Melanie was insisted on finding out what was wrong with Amelia, but did not have any success. She had also noticed that Amelia had been wearing tracksuit bottoms with baggy tee shirts, which was unlike Amelia. Amelia was usually very fashion conscious.

It was eleven o’clock in the morning when there was a knock at Amelia’s bedroom door. Melanie popped her head around the door, and then came in when she saw Amelia barely stir. She walked over to Amelia’s bed and began to shake her. “Come on Ams get out of bed”, she shouted. Amelia rolled back over. “Oh what is with you Amelia? I wish you would tell me what’s going on”, Melanie demanded. “There is nothing wrong Mel. Why can’t you see that?” insisted Amelia.

“I don’t believe that shit for a minute Amelia. You wear all these shitty, crappy clothes and you are always crying. Don’t think that I don’t notice Amelia. Mum and dad may be blind to this but I’m not”, said Melanie, trying to make Amelia see sense. “The problem is you Mel! You are constantly harassing me. You won’t leave me alone”, replied Amelia whilst turning on her side, away from Melanie. Melanie then began to see the red mist. She pulled the covers off Amelia then grabbed her legs and pulled her off the bed. “What the fuck Mel?”shouted Amelia, angrily. Melanie gasped. As she had pulled Amelia onto the floor. Her pyjama top had ridden up and she saw several gashes on Amelia’s stomach. “Oh my god Amelia! What have you done to yourself?” shrieked Melanie, with tears in her eyes. Amelia felt sick. She felt as though her dirty little secret was going to be discovered. “And you tell me nothing’s wrong Amelia, absolute bullshit!” Melanie shouted. Amelia lay motionless on the floor crying. Melanie lay on the floor with her sister and held her while they both sobbed.

The girls had been on the floor for over an over before Melanie sat up. “Please Amelia, let me help you”, Melanie begged. Amelia sat up and was still sobbing. “Fine you want the truth. For five years I have had to pretend everything is okay when it’s not. My heart is breaking and I have to live with feeling dirty every single day. I am worthless and useless. Just leave me alone”, Amelia replied.

“Please Ams, tell me what happened. What do you mean?” pleaded Melanie. Amelia sighed but Melanie did not stop insisting. Finally Amelia snapped. “I was fucking raped!” Amelia screamed. Melanie was taken aback. “W-w-what did you s-s-say?” she stuttered. Amelia stared at Melanie with tears in her eyes. “But please Mel, I don’t want to talk about it. I am struggling as it is”. Melanie grabbed her big sister and gave her long hug.

Amelia and Melanie had been holding each other for a while. For the first time in her life, Melanie was lost for words. “Ams, I know you don’t want to talk but I am here. Just promise me one thing, promise me you’ll get some counselling. I can’t bare you hurting your pretty self”, Melanie said softly, then walked out of Amelia’s bedroom. Amelia was heartbroken. Not only was she hurting, but she had hurt her sister. She felt like she was an abomination and that everything would be better if she wasn’t alive. She wouldn’t be hurting her sister anymore, she wouldn’t have to hide behind the truth to Tom anymore and he could lead a happy life. She would also be free from Lewis’ evil wrath.

Amelia felt dreadful. She couldn’t stop crying and for the first time in her life she actually wanted to die. The once happy, bubbly, popular young lady was fast becoming a shadow of her former self. She needed a release. She needed to feel free. She needed to feel euphoric. She scrambled up from the floor and began to rummage through her sock draw until she found one of the Stanley knife blades that she had hidden in there. She had covered her entire legs and stomach in cuts over the past few days and today her arms were the target of choice. She pressed down hard on her blade and sliced away at her arms. It was as if she were a butcher slicing up meat. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth while she was cutting her arms. She enjoyed the pain, after all she deserved it. After a few minutes she could feel blood trickling down her arms. “Sweet, sweet blood”, Amelia thought. She had slashed her arms quite severely in certain places and decided that was enough punishment for one day. Normally she felt relieved after she had cut herself but she still felt as bad as she did before.

Amelia lay on her bed after she had wrapped her arms up in a couple of towels to stop the bleeding. She didn’t quite know how she would be able to hide the cuts on her arms well. She decided that she would have to start wearing hoodies and cardigans. Amelia had not heard her phone ring while she had been mutilating her body. She had noticed two unread text messages on her phone. The first one was from Melanie that read, “To my beautiful big sister, I think you are brave and strong and I will be here to hold your hand. We will fight this together”. Amelia was overwhelmed with emotion. She didn’t think she was brave or strong at all. If only she could tell Melanie the truth about how she is feeling and the truth about the rape. But she couldn’t. Every time she thought about what she would say, a pain would sear through her entire body, leaving her paralysed and unable to move or speak. Amelia then read the second text message. It was from Lewis. “I am coming for your sweet, sweet ass. Can’t wait for history to repeat itself”. Amelia was filled with dread and fear. Why was he torturing her so much? Wasn’t being raped once enough? Amelia knew she couldn’t let this happen. She had no other options left. She needed to kill herself.

Amelia waited until everybody had gone to bed. She had thoughts replaying round and round in her head. She had been having terrible flashbacks. All she could see and feel was Lewis on top of her, thrusting violently inside of her. She could even feel the pain ripping through her body. Enough was enough. Amelia went downstairs rifled through the medicine cupboard. She found some narcotics that had never been opened and some opiate painkillers. She took the boxes of pills upstairs with a glass of water. She popped all the tablets out of their holders and began taking handfuls of them at a time, then swallowing them with some water. It did not take her long before she began to feel dizzy and lightheaded. While she was still conscious she wrote a note to those she loved and cared about, which said simply, “I’m sorry”. She folded the note up and put it under her pillow and then got into bed. Amelia became very drowsy. “This is it”, she thought. Amelia thought she would fall asleep and never wake up. She thought that she would finally be at peace.

CHAPTER 8) Cuts ***TRIGGER WARNING***

Amelia left Tom’s early on the Sunday morning, much to his disappointment. Amelia reassured Tom that he would have a nice day catching up with his brother and doing brotherly things. He knew she was right. He held her and whispered “I love you so much babe. Amelia whispered,
“I love you too babe”. She then got into her car and started driving home. Tears began to stream from her eyes and began to blur her vision that she struggled to see where she was driving. She couldn’t believe the mess that she had now gotten into. Amelia wasn’t sure why she did what she did next. Instead of turning right to go home, she turned left and carried on driving for miles down the winding, country roads. She needed to be on her own. She needed time to think. It seemed random to Amelia but she carried on driving until she came to small hardware shop.

Amelia couldn’t work out if she was in control of her body, but she certainly didn’t feel like she was. She got out of her pink Mini, locked it and then began to browse the small, cramped aisles of the hardware shop. She walked past plenty of screws, nails and spirit levels. She stopped in the middle of the second aisle when she saw a packet of Stanley knife blades. She picked them up from the shelf and not to make herself look suspicious, also picked up a bag of nails. She went to go and pay for her items then returned to her car.

Amelia pulled off from the hardware shop and began to drive for miles and miles down several more country roads. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was doing, but she could feel herself filling up with more rage and hatred for herself. She found a lay by and pulled in and sat staring out of her windscreen for a while until she turned and looked at the blades she had purchased. Amelia couldn’t believe what she was thinking, but she just knew she had to. She looked out of her windscreen again. She noticed the herd of cows in the field next to where she was parked, all moving in the same direction and also noticed some remnants of a burst tire that had been left there. Amelia had no idea where she was and wiped the tears from her eyes. She looked at the blades that were sat on her front passenger’s seat. Amelia couldn’t control herself. She picked up the blades and ripped the packet open and picked up one of the blades. She sat and began to examine the blade. It was a shiny silver and could see her sapphire blue eyes reflecting back at her. She lifted the blade into the air and ran her finger against the new, sharp blade. She inspected her finger and noticed a small droplet of blood about to drip off the end. Amelia smiled. She knew what she had to do.

Amelia undid the zip on her jeans and pulled them to her knees. She could see very faint scars on her thighs that were constant reminders of her past. She remembered how good it felt to release the pain. It was the only way she managed to make it through the coming months after her rape. Amelia had not self harmed for almost three years, but she did not know how she could cope with this new pain. She pressed the blade hard into her thigh and began to slice her sweet, porcelain skin. Amelia took a deep breath and looked out of her driver’s window. She felt a sharp, burning sensation in her thigh. She looked down and saw a large cut, with crimson coloured blood trickling from her thigh. Amelia couldn’t believe how deep she had cut herself and let the blood drip from her wound for a few minutes. She liked the rush she felt. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She then attacked the rest of her thigh, like a psychopath would attack their victims. Amelia did not stop until her entire thigh was covered in hundreds of cuts and scratches. She grabbed a scarf that was in her backseat and tied it round her thigh then pulled up her jeans.

Amelia suddenly regained control of her actions. She then began to ponder to herself. “Where the hell am I?” she thought. Amelia turned the key in the ignition and swung her car round in the opposite direction and began following the winding road back. Amelia glanced at her radio clock and saw that it was now two o’clock in the afternoon. “Shit”, Amelia thought. She had hoped that Tom had not text her parents to tell them she was on her way home. Amelia carried on driving and noticed a familiar building on her right hand side, the hardware shop that she had stopped at earlier. All Amelia wanted now was to be at home so she began to increase her speed and began overtaking cars round bends. Her driving became increasingly erratic. After a few near miss collisions, Amelia was finally home. She grabbed the blades and shoved them into her handbag, and began to limp indoors. Her parents’ car was not there so she assumed that the house was empty. Amelia ran up the stairs into her bedroom and slumped onto her bed.

She had just closed her eyes when she heard her ringtone on her phone sound. She got up and rummaged through her bag, throwing her clothes onto her bedroom floor. Eventually she found her purple blackberry and opened the text message she had on her phone. She didn’t recognise the number so she assumed it would be a text sent to the wrong number. As she read the message her eyes widened and she took a large gulp. "Dirty slut". She knew exactly who was behind it. Lewis must have asked Tom for her number. Now she would never be able to escape his torment.

CHPATER 7) Meeting Demands ****TRIGGER WARNING****

The night consisted of Lewis and Tom having a catch up as they had not seen each other since the party. Lewis spoke mostly about his new job working in a bar and had said he had got time off especially to spend the weekend with his brother. He talked about stories of drunken girls cooing over him and how he had to fight them all off. He had jokingly told Tom that he was wasted in nursing. “Well he’s got me”, Amelia stated, completely flabbergasted that he would say such things to Tom when his girlfriend was present. She felt completely nauseated. Every now and then Lewis would go to the fridge and would hand everyone a beer. Amelia didn’t really want to drink, but felt she had to be polite and to act as completely normal as possible. Tom began talking about his new placement, working with the community mental health nurses. Lewis seemed interested and Amelia chimed in with comments about her placement every now and again but remained mostly silent for the evening.

It had just gone past eleven and Amelia began to feel a little tipsy and lightheaded from the beer she had been drinking. “Excuse me guys, need to pee”, Amelia announced whilst toppling over Tom’s size thirteen feet. Everybody erupted with laughter, with Lewis cheering like he was some sort of football hooligan. Amelia got up and ran upstairs to the toilet. She needed some space and air. She didn’t know how much more she could stand being in the same room as Lewis. After all, this was the guy who taken away her innocence and had violated her when she was a teenager. Amelia’s heart began to race and she began to become slightly breathless. “Come on Ams. Pull yourself together”, she told herself. Amelia sat on the edge of the bath for a good ten minutes while she tried to regain her composure. “Right let’s just get this over with”, she ordered herself. She unlocked the bathroom door only to find Lewis standing outside the door.

Amelia froze and turned pale. She was scared and began to have palpitations. Lewis stood there smirking, but didn’t say anything. “Not again, please not again”, Amelia thought to herself. She began to have flashbacks of the night where Lewis had raped her. “What do you want from me?” Amelia demanded, whilst trying to catch her breath. “Nothing”, Lewis replied, still smirking.

“Then will you please just let me pass”, Amelia snapped.

“Well come on then”, Lewis dared. As Amelia passed by him he grabbed her by her waist and began whispering into her ear. “I know you want me”, Lewis said. Amelia began to struggle and Lewis began to caress her breasts.

“Get the fuck off me you bastard!” Amelia shouted. She pushed past him, but Lewis managed to catch her wrist and pinned her up against the wall. “Don’t you talk to me like that you dirty bitch. Want me to tell my brother about what a whore you really are?” Amelia shook her head. “Well then give me some god damn respect!” Lewis ordered. Amelia began to cower and had now begun to cry really hard. “You are a dirty slut; god knows what my thick shit of a brother is thinking of being with a slut like you. I’m gonna make your life hell until you leave us the fuck alone you good for nothing piece of shit”, threatened Lewis. He then loosened his grip on Amelia, whilst still smirking like the Cheshire cat. Tears were streaming down Amelia’s face. “If you tell anyone about this, remember what I said?” Lewis lowered his voice whilst threatening Amelia once again. She nodded her head. “Will you t-t-tell Tom I have gone to bed please?” asked Amelia. Lewis said nothing and went back downstairs.

Amelia had locked herself in the bathroom again. She had collapsed onto the bathroom floor in a heap, whilst crying so heavily she could hardly breathe. All her makeup had smeared down her face and onto her clothes. “What am I gonna do?” Amelia asked herself. She loved Tom and she didn’t want to lose him, but she was too scared to tell Tom the truth. She very much doubted he would believe her over her brother as Lewis was very manipulative. Amelia felt dirty and worthless. She was helpless and didn’t know what she could do. This was her worst nightmare. She knew she had to try and act like nothing was wrong for Tom’s sake. She began to repeatedly punch herself in her thighs. It was painful but Amelia knew she deserved it. She deserved to be punished. After Amelia was satisfied she had punished herself enough, she took off her makeup and washed her face. She then headed for Tom’s room and got into bed.

CHAPTER 6 ) Three's A Crowd

Amelia had been upbeat for the past week, without a care in the world. Life was good and she was enjoying work on the neurological ward. She had decided that she would stay at Tom’s house this weekend as his parents would be away Saturday night and they would have free reign of the house. Amelia had felt guilty because she had almost forgotten Tom the past month, and had only seen him a couple of times a week while she had been going through her rough patch. “This is what I need”, Amelia thought to herself. She had missed Tom dearly and felt guilty that she had neglected him. She wished things hadn’t been so complicated and that she could have just spilled her heart out to Tom, but seeing as Lewis was Tom’s brother, that was out of the question.

Amelia pulled up in front of Tom’s house in her pink Mini Cooper. It had been a present that her parents had bought her for her 18^th birthday. It was a bubblegum pink and was so spotlessly clean that it sparkled in the sunshine. She got out of the car and slowly meandered to Tom’s front door, whilst checking her makeup was perfectly applied in her pink pocket mirror. Amelia hadn’t quite reached the front door when it opened and saw Tom stood leaning on the door frame. He smiled and kissed her on the lips. “Hi babe, you look beautiful”, Tom said as though he was the luckiest man in the world.

“Oh baby you smudged my eyeliner”, complained Amelia, whilst smirking. Tom led Amelia into the lounge and took her bag. “Make yourself a drink or something or get a beer or vodka if you like, just chill out and I’ll be back in a sec while I take your bag upstairs”, Tom said to Amelia.

Amelia had not been to Tom’s house on many occasions. She had only stopped for tea or to pick Tom up when going out on a date. She looked at the pictures on the wall and on the mantel piece. There were several pictures of Tom and his rugby team and many of Tom’s school photos along with many photos of Tom collecting awards. Amelia noticed that there were not many photos of Lewis on show. She thought this was rather odd as Debbie and Malcolm didn’t seem the type for favour one child. She walked through the hallway into the kitchen and helped herself to a beer in the fridge then returned to the lounge and began to relax on the sofa.

Amelia was taking a sip of beer when she heard Tom come thundering down the stairs. He came straight into the lounge and slumped into the sofa next to Amelia. He used the remote to turn on the television then put his arm around Amelia. They canoodled on the sofa, giving each other pecks on the lips whilst not really paying attention to the television. “This is so nice, no parents to interrupt us”, Tom giggled.

“I know. I have been looking forward to just having me and you time. I am sorry I haven’t been myself recently. I have just been so stressed”, apologised Amelia.

“Don’t worry about it babe. I know you have been working hard”, Tom said, reassuring Amelia.

“Tom?” enquired Amelia. Tom gave her a look to indicate he was listening. “I was looking at the photos on the walls and over there on the mantel piece and I just wondered why they are mostly all of you and hardly any of Lewis”.

Tom cleared his throat. “Well, it’s sort of complicated. A few years ago my parents and Lewis had a massive fall out. And they took all the photos down and now since they have been speaking terms put recent photos of him up.”

“Oh, I see. What did they fall out over?” asked Amelia, very inquisitively.

“Well a few years ago Lewis went off the rails. We never got to the bottom of why but he became angry and was heavily into drink and drugs. He got kicked out of uni and my parents were disappointed. But then he became angrier and wouldn’t help mum around the house while she and dad were at work and when she nagged him he would flip at her. Mum tried to get him into anger management but he refused to go. She really tried her best with him. Then mum noticed he would come home around six in the morning with bruises, black eyes, cuts and covered in blood. Mum suspected he was in trouble with drug dealers but he remained adamant he was off the drugs. They got into a big argument and Lewis started beating mum up. Dad came home and beat the shit out of him and kicked him out. They didn’t have anything to do with him for about four years until recently he apologised and had gotten proper help for his anger issues. Dad still isn’t keen but mum seems keen to give him another chance”, explained Tom.

“And you? Are you willing to give him another chance? I mean he could have been doing anything to get those black eyes. He could have raped someone for all you know”, Amelia said aggressively.

“Hang on minute Ams. That’s too harsh and such a horrible accusation to make. I mean I was pissed because of the way he treated my mum and everything was always about him. Dad reckoned we should have been harder on him sooner. But he really has changed”, said Tom defensively.

“Well I hope he doesn’t shit on your parents again. They are good people. Anyway enough about him, more about you”, Amelia smirked.  Amelia felt sick. She knew the truth but she had to get on with her life. She grabbed Tom and began to make out with him.

Tom and Amelia had been making out on the sofa for about fifteen minutes. Tom was laying flat and Amelia was sat on top of him. She pulled him up and took off his tee shirt and began kissing him again. He stayed sat up and pulled Amelia's top over her head. Tom began running his hands up and down Amelia’s body and slowly cupped his hands around her breasts. He was about to remove her blue, polka dot bra when he heard the front door slam. Tom and Amelia both sat up with a fright and scrambled to put their tops back on. Tom got up and saw Lewis now sat on the smaller sofa in the living room. “Christ Lewis, you could have rang me to tell me you were coming home”, said Tom with obvious annoyance in his voice. Amelia had now turned white. “Well I couldn’t leave my little bro alone could I? Didn’t realise you were having company”, Lewis smirked.

“Yeah well you never asked”, Tom said whilst handing Lewis a beer. Amelia felt increasingly uncomfortable and just wanted to run as far away as possible but she knew she had to act like everything was completely normal. “Well, I’ll go and order us all a pizza and we can have a few bevies and have a good evening”, Tom said, completely unaware of the tension between Amelia and Lewis.

CHAPTER 5) Forgetting The Past ***MAY TRIGGER***

It was now late September and the leaves from the trees had begun to fall from the trees. There was a slight chill in the air but Amelia had put on a soft, purple, fluffy fleece. She was sat on a blanket under the apple trees, reading a book about neurology that she had loaned from the university library. Amelia had just started working on a neurological ward and wanted to read up on various neurological conditions so she would have knowledge of the conditions and illnesses her patients had developed. No matter how hard she tried, Amelia could just not concentrate on her reading. She got distracted every time there was a gust of wind or heard the leaves rustling on the perfectly mowed lawn.

Amelia began to up at the sky and suddenly became rigid and still. All of a sudden she was back in the field where she was raped four and a half years ago. She could feel Lewis’s breath on her neck and the pain ripping through her body. Then her mind fast forwarded to where she was lying in the field, alone. She was crying and in pain, struggling to stand up. She staggered the entire mile walk home. She knew she had to keep walking so she could get home and clean herself up, even though she was in excruciating pain. The next thing she knew, she was in her bathroom, washing the blood away from her face, hands, genitals and her legs. She had a bruise and cut on her cheek and another on her temple from where Lewis had struck her. She also had a split lip and her body, wrists and legs were covered in large, purple and blue bruises.

Amelia remained rigid while she snapped back into reality. She felt sick. She thought she had moved on from this but while Lewis had returned back into her life, she was living her worst nightmare all over again.  She felt numb. Amelia picked up her book and slowly took a walk back into the house, where she was greeted by her parents and Melanie. “Ams, fancy going into town later for a few bevies?” asked Melanie. Amelia hesitated with her reply but knew she could not disappoint her sister anymore than she had done recently. She managed a smile and replied, “Sure, I think a good night out is what I need. Just the two of us”.

It was early evening and the sky was turning a blood orange colour, so the girls decided it was time to get ready. They both looked in Amelia’s wardrobe to search for a dress to wear for the evening. “Err excuse me madam but you have your own wardrobe”, said Amelia, sarcastically.

“But your clothes are better than mine, please can I borrow a dress, please, please please. I’ll do your hair for you”, pleaded Melanie. Amelia smirked and picked out her favourite dress that she had not worn for over a year. It was a lavender coloured dress with a sweetheart cut over the bust with a ribbon that tied up around the waist. It was also incredibly short but both girls had stunning figures and could pull the look off. Amelia handed it to Melanie. “Oh Ams, but this is your favourite dress!” Melanie exclaimed.
“Just put it on”, Amelia insisted. Amelia then picked out a short, zebra print dress and put it on. The girls then began styling each other’s hair and compared makeup tips. After an hour and a half, the girls were finally ready.

It had been a long time since Amelia had taken her mind off thinking about her past and had been the first time she had genuinely smiled for a month. “It’s time to move on now” she thought to herself. She thought it was silly looking back on the past, especially as Lewis was never around at Tom’s and had not seen him since Tom’s party. Amelia smiled and took her sisters hand and danced. Amelia felt care free while she was twisting and shaking, and taking swigs from her apple vodka. It was definitely the best she had felt in ages. The two sisters flitted between club to club and had a fun filled night. It was three o’clock in the morning when the girls decided their feet hurt too much to party on and called for a taxi to take them home. Amelia grabbed Melanie’s shoulders and pulled her towards her and gave her a drunken sisterly hug. “I’ve been so worried about you sis”, slurred Melanie.
“It’s ok Mel. Trust me, I am fine now. Everything is going to be fine. This night out is what I needed. I had become so engrossed and stressed with my work that I had forgotten how to live”, reassured Amelia.
“Oh sis you fool. I thought it was something serious. I thought something had happened to you at Tom’s party. Remember sis, I am always here for you; don’t keep me in the dark. I love you”, Melanie grabbed Amelia and Amelia shed a tear. They looked at each other in a "don’t be so daft" manner and began to giggle.

CHAPTER 4) Amelia's Secret ***TRIGGER WARNING***

Two weeks had passed since Tom’s birthday party and it was still very much on Amelia’s mind. All she could think about was seeing Lewis and had started to relive her past. She had been very distant since the party, shutting herself away in her bedroom. Her excuse was that she wanted to focus on her university work and usually only surfaced from her bedroom when it was mealtimes or to have a toilet break.

It was a very warm Sunday afternoon and Melanie and her parents had gone out into town to go university shopping for Melanie. Melanie was following in her older sisters’ footsteps by wanting to train as a nurse. She was not as bright as Amelia, managing to scrape C grades in her recent exams but she was bubbly and full of personality. Amelia was half way through her second year as she started her course in the previous January and had been doing very well in her studies, passing all of her assignments with seventy percent and above. She had also received glowing reports from all of the hospital wards she had worked on and had received an award from university for achieving high marks. It was through university that Amelia met Tom. He was in the same year group as Amelia but was studying mental health nursing whereas Amelia was studying general nursing. They had become very close friends by the end of their first year and began dating four months ago.

Amelia had opted out of helping Melanie with her university shop, much to Melanie’s disappointment. Amelia had claimed that she had a migraine and her parents told her they were not surprised as she had been studying hard recently.  However, what they didn’t know was that the real reason for Amelia’s avoidant behaviour was because she couldn’t face the world. Amelia lay down on her bed, holding a teddy bear that Tom had won at the arcade for her on their second date together. She closed her eyes and began to drift off to sleep.

Amelia felt rain on her cheeks and her bare arms. She crossed her arms as she began to shiver from being cold. She was wearing a small black dress with fishnet tights in the middle of winter. She knocked on the green wooden door of the country house where she had been invited to a New Years Eve party. She was glad to be in the warm and a skinny boy with black hair handed Amelia a bottle of beer. “Enjoy your night Amelia!” the boy shouted, over the extremely loud Slipknot track that was playing. The boy who had greeted her lived in the country house with his older sister and decided to host a party while their parents were away in Ireland. Amelia soon found her friends and began to mosh to the loud music that was playing.

Amelia was only fifteen years old but she liked to rebel every so often. She was often classed as a goody two shoes at school as she always got good grades in all of her classes, but she enjoyed letting her hair down and having fun with her friends. She had got talking to a young man who was a few years older than her. They shared an interest in the same music, art and both liked parties. He introduced himself as Lewis and reached for Amelia’s hand and shook it. Amelia could feel her cheeks blush slightly and introduced herself to him. Lewis invited his friends to join Amelia and her friends and began playing drinking games with vodka shots and chugging back cans of beer in one attempt. One of the girls who was with Amelia began to be violently sick after chugging her can of beer and some of the girls sat outside with her. Amelia, Lewis and one of his friends with extremely messy black hair walked down the large country house garden and stood behind some conifer trees. Amelia began to shiver as it was an extremely cold New Years Eve and Lewis gave her a blanket to wrap round her shoulders that had been previously tied round his head. She politely thanked him and he put his arms round her. She didn’t mind, she had had far too much to drink and the body heat kept her warm.

The boy with messy black hair began to roll what looked like a large cigarette. “You ever got baked before?” he asked Amelia. Amelia hesitated with her reply. “Err no I haven’t. Is that a joint you just rolled?”

“Arrrr isn’t that sweet? She’s never seen a joint before”, Lewis sniggered whilst giving Amelia a peck on the cheek. She had never received so much attention from a male before, and was extremely flattered. The boy with messy black hair lit up the joint of weed and took a few puffs, then passed it to Amelia.

“Take a toke”, he said. Amelia looked at Lewis who nodded his head. Amelia could smell the smoke that the joint was burning. It smelled a little bit like a largely overweight builder with extremely bad body odour. She pursed her lips around it and took a puff, then a second, then a third.
“I  think she’s got a liking for de ganja”, Lewis joked whilst taking the joint from Amelia. They passed the joint amongst themselves till it had all been smoked. Amelia stood very still. She didn’t want to move because she was afraid she would fall over as she began to have a floating sensation in her body. She looked at Lewis who burst with a fit of laughter and Amelia could not help herself but join in.

The boy with messy black hair had disappeared but that didn’t bother Amelia or Lewis. They were spinning around in circles in the garden, making themselves dizzy and falling over whilst laughing hysterically. “Oh golly I am so wasted. I can’t feel my nose”, Amelia giggled. Lewis then picked Amelia up and she gave a shriek and a very loud giggle. They went back into the living room where more drinking games were being played and Amelia and Lewis joined in, chugging back shots of whiskey and sambuca. By three in the morning Amelia was very drunk and was staggering around the living room. “Well I’d better go ‘ome”, Amelia told Lewis.

“I’ll walk you back”, Lewis said while putting his arm round her whilst she smiled.

Amelia could now not feel the cold and she still had the blanket Lewis had given her over her shoulders. Lewis had stopped and pulled Amelia towards him and started to kiss her. She resisted at first but he pulled her back towards him and she kissed him back. Amelia liked the sensation kissing Lewis gave her. She put her arms around his waist and she felt his tongue slip into her mouth and meet with her own. She could feel Lewis caressing her breasts, and then felt his hand slip into her pants. Lewis began rubbing his hand against Amelia’s vagina and she leaned back onto a wall whilst spreading her legs open. She liked the tingling sensation that Lewis rubbing his hand against her clitoris was giving her and she gave Lewis a nip on his lip with her own. Liking the reaction he had received, Lewis then began to slip his fingers into her vagina. Amelia began to feel uncomfortable. “I think we should stop now”, said Amelia. “You can’t just lead a guy on like that sexy”, said Lewis, proceeding to insert his fingers into her vagina. Amelia pushed him away, “No really I mean it! I don’t like it. I mean it, please stop!” Amelia pleaded but Lewis was not listening. She tried pushing him away some more but he managed to grab both of her hands and wrestle her to the floor. Amelia tried screaming but she was in the middle of a field with not a soul in sight. “Shut the fuck up you dirty slut,” Lewis ordered. He punched her in the face and in the stomach so hard that Amelia flinched and couldn’t move. He took the blanket off her shoulders and tied it around her face to muffle her screams. He again punched Amelia in the face so hard that she became dazed and could feel him dragging her back behind the wall. He struck her again with a hard object and she blacked out.

Amelia woke up in a daze to find Lewis on top of her and had penetrated inside of her. Amelia began to cry and scream as she was in so much pain. Up until this point Amelia had been a virgin who had never even dated a guy, now she was being violated by one. She was scared and began to fear for her life. She continued to scream mainly because she was in pain but just in case someone could hear her cries.“Shut the fuck up you silly bitch. No fucker can hear you. This is what you get for being a frigid bitch. You only had to suck my cock”, Lewis shouted at Amelia, whilst pinning her arms down. The charming young man that she had known earlier had now turned into a monster. Amelia fought with all her strength to push Lewis off of her but she quickly became tired. Pain ripped through her vagina which paralysed her and Amelia soon began to stop struggling. “Maybe if I just let him do it, I will be able to get out of this alive”, Amelia thought to herself whilst sobbing and trying to muffle her screams.

After fifteen minutes of being raped violently, she could feel Lewis’ penis become extremely hard inside of her. He quickly pulled out and then began to masturbate and sat on Amelia’s stomach whilst doing so. He began to moan and then pointed his penis toward Amelia’s face. She could feel a warm liquid spraying on her face whilst Lewis began to moan louder and louder. Everything then fell silent with only Amelia’s sobs being heard. Lewis then got up and zipped up his trousers. He looked over Amelia and had an evil grin on his face and started to kick her. Amelia covered her face with her hands and her arms. “Now if you tell any fucker about this I will come down and fucking kill you. I will shove a knife so far up your pussy you won’t know what has fucking hit you. I know where you live bitch so I will hunt you down if this gets out”, Lewis warned Amelia. He then ran off and left Amelia lying in the muddy field, freezing cold with her underwear still around her ankles. She lay there motionless, trying to comprehend what had just happened to her. She tried to get up but stumbled. She pulled up her tights and her underwear but noticed that there was a lot of blood around her groin. She managed to get herself up and staggered home, keeping her mouth closed so she didn’t cry out in pain.

Amelia woke up screaming. She sat up and began breathing heavily. Tears streamed down her cheeks. What had happened? Was it all real? Amelia could hear footsteps running up the stairs. “What’s going on?  You scared me to death!” Melanie said, concerned.

“I’m fine. I’m okay I just had a bad dream. Must be the migraine I think”, said Amelia, trying to reassure Melanie. Melanie sighed then walked out of the room. It had taken Amelia a few minutes to realise what had just happened. She had relived the night she was raped by Tom’s brother, Lewis. Amelia slumped into her pillow and began to cry. She felt dirty, she felt abused and she knew that Lewis was now going to haunt her for the rest of her life.

CHAPTER 3) A Ghost From The Past

When Amelia arrived at the rugby club where Tom’s birthday party was being held, she was amazed by the amount of people who had turned up for Tom’s party. She knew he was outgoing and rather popular, but this took her by surprise. Amelia smirked and grabbed Tom by the waist, “Happy birthday babe”.

The function room was kitted out with several 21 decorated balloons and each wall had a banner saying Happy 21^st Birthday. There was a buffet table with a selection of sandwiches, crisps, volauvents and sausage rolls. At the end of the table was a selection of jelly, cupcakes and trifle. In the centre of the room was a mini dance floor and the DJ was stationed next to it. There was a warm atmosphere and Amelia knew that this would be a night to remember.

Amelia’s best friends Katie and Sam arrived about half an hour after Amelia. Katie was tall and skinny with long blonde hair and wearing a very noticeable gold sequined dress. Sam was the same height as Amelia and slightly overweight. The girls greeted each other with hugs, shrieking and bombarded Tom with kisses on the cheek. “Watch the lippy. Ewww. I have girl germs.”

“What are you, like four Tom?” joked Katie. The gang erupted with laughter, made worse by Amelia and Mel’s infectious laughter.

“What time will your brother be here babe?” enquired Amelia.

“Errrrr, he said he’d be here about ten as his mate was giving him a lift” answered Tom.

“Ok. I hope I don’t embarrass myself”, Amelia giggled. Tom shot a "don’t be ridiculous" glance at Amelia.

Ten o’clock passed and Amelia and her gang were showing off their dance moves, laughing and taking pictures with their identical pink cameras whilst doing so. At this point Tom had undone some of the buttons on his shirt and his hair was slightly dishevelled. Amelia had begun to feel slightly tipsy but decided to order more vodka and red bulls for everyone. There was a queue at the bar and Amelia was waiting for about fifteen minutes before she eventually got served, much to her annoyance. When she got back from the bar, Amelia noticed that Tom was stood with a rather short but skinny guy with mouse brown hair, dressed in black skinny jeans with a studded belt and a tight tee shirt. She couldn’t see the man’s face as his back was turned to her. Amelia managed to catch a rather drunken Tom’s eye. “Babe, I want you to meet my brother Lewis. Yo Lewis, this is my sexy girlfriend Amelia”. The skinny man with brown hair turned round and greeted Amelia with a smile but when their eyes locked, both of their smiles diminished. Amelia turned a deathly white colour, much paler than usual. “Errr hi”, Lewis mumbled.

“Hi, nice to meet you”, Amelia lied. “Can you just excuse me for a moment I need the little girls’ room”. Tom looked slightly baffled at the obvious awkwardness between the pair of them but continued to take a swig from his bottle of Stella Artois.

Amelia had locked herself in a toilet cubicle for half an hour. She felt nauseous and was in disbelief. How could Lewis be Tom’s older brother? A tear began to roll down Amelia’s delicate face and was in an almost catatonic state. She was disturbed from her daze when she heard a crowd of drunken girls barging into the toilets.

“Amelia. AMELIA!”

“Are you okay Amelia? What’s wrong?”

Amelia quickly wiped the tears from her cheek and opened the door to the cubicle and managed a feeble smile. “Dodgy volauvent I think”, Amelia replied.

“You just sort of weirded out when that Lewis dude joined us”, said Sam who was obviously very concerned.

“I am fine I just came over a bit dizzy and have been a bit sick that’s all”, Amelia reassured the girls.

“Well we will call you a taxi home”, said Katie.

“No it’s okay, I feel better now”, exclaimed Amelia. Melanie however, did not look convinced.

The girls rejoined the party and went to search for Tom, who by 12 o’clock was completely legless. Amelia noticed that Lewis was no longer with him. “Where’s your brother gone?” asked Amelia.

“He went home. Something to do with being up early in the morning”, Tom was slurring his words and Amelia giggled slightly and grabbed hold of Tom tightly and did not loosen her grip for a good few minutes.“You alright babe?”

“I just love you Tom. So much.” Amelia began to choke back the tears and then let go of Tom and joined in with the girls’ questionable dance moves. While the girls were laughing and enjoying themselves, Amelia forced a laugh every now and again for the rest of the evening.

The party ended at 2 o’clock in the morning and Amelia and her gang were very amused by the fact Tom’s parents were carrying him into a taxi.

“Think someone enjoyed themselves a little too much”, Melanie giggled. Eventually Amelia and Melanie’s taxi arrived and both girls slumped into the back seat of the fusty smelling taxi. There was silence for a while until Melanie grabbed Amelia’s hand.

“What really happened tonight Ams. You have not been yourself all evening. I’ve been really worried about you”, said Melanie who was clearly worried.

“Nothing”, Amelia sighed.

“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe you one bit!” snapped Melanie.

“Oh Mel don’t spoil a good night. Nothing’s wrong so just drop it will you?” Amelia rarely lost her temper, but she did not feel like sharing her deepest, darkest secret.

After the ten minute taxi journey the girls were finally home. Melanie paid the taxi driver the fare while Amelia fumbled with her house key trying to open the door. Melanie snatched the key from Amelia’s hand and opened the front door with ease. Amelia barged past her sister, completely blanking her and ran straight upstairs into her bedroom. She threw her clothes off onto her unusually clean, cream carpet and got straight into bed. Tears fell from Amelia’s eyes like raindrops from the sky. She knew that tonight would be a night to remember, but she knew she would remember it for all the wrong reasons.

CHAPTER 2) Meeting The Parents

It had taken Amelia almost two and a half hours to have a shower and turn herself into the goddess that she was. She looked stunning. She was wearing a hot pink off the shoulder dress which complimented her slim but curvy figure perfectly, coming down to just above her knees, and wore hot pink heels with zips at the side. Amelia did not know how she was going to last in such killer heels all night but as long as she looked good, the pain was worth it.

Amelia must have been staring at herself in the mirror for at least ten minutes. Her wavy, chestnut hair was now perfectly straight, with not a single strand of hair out of place. Her makeup was immaculate; soft pink cheeks to accompany her perfect, porcelain skin and bold, sparkly silver eye shadow which made Amelia’s sapphire blue eyes stand out even more than usual. Amelia applied yet another coat of lipstick. This was not her usual shade of pale pink, but a vibrant shade of hot pink.

Amelia was in deep thought when she was interrupted by her younger sister Melanie shrieking at her. “Yes, yes you look fine. Come on or else we’re going to be late!” Amelia suddenly came back to reality and picked up her clutch bag, which was also hot pink. “Oh for God’s sake Amelia, come on! Stop pissing about”, Melanie commanded.  Melanie was quite bossy, whereas Amelia was reasonably laid back. Melanie was almost the spitting image of her elder sister. The only difference between the two was that Melanie was slightly taller and had her hair cut into a bob. Amelia quickly hurried herself to her father’s gleaming black BMW before she felt Melanie’s wrath.

The girls got into their father’s car. “It’s a lovely day for a celebration, isn’t it?” This was their father’s feeble attempt at making conversation whilst passing the time while he drove them to Tom’s house. “Yes dad it is. I’m so glad it hasn’t tipped it down with rain”, Amelia replied politely. Melanie butted in.

“Yes, I spent ages doing my makeup and Amelia spent all afternoon doing hers”. Amelia shot a glance at Melanie. Their father laughed, “Oh you girls and you’re makeup”.

The girls sat in silence for the remaining five minutes journey to Tom’s house. Amelia was once again in deep thought. She was nervous about meeting Tom’s parents. She had been with Tom for four months and had not met his parents properly yet. She had met his mum a couple of times when she came to pick Tom up from her house, but had never been to Tom’s house while his parents or elder brother were there. Amelia felt slightly sick. She was rehearsing what she was going to say to them in her head, and more importantly, how she was going to behave in front of them. She looked out the window and instantly recognised the house the car had stopped at. It was Tom’s house. She took a deep breath and got out of the car. She was greeted by a chubby woman with golden blond hair and bright green eyes. “Hello Amelia. It’s nice to finally meet you properly! I’m Deborah, Tom’s mum, but you can just call me Deb or Debbie. Oh it is so nice to see you. Is this Melanie?”

“Yes this is Melanie. Everyone mistakes us for identical twins! “, Amelia stuttered.

“Hello Deb. Nice to meet you. Just ignore my sister, cat’s got her tongue and her brain’s in a mush”, Melanie giggled.

“I’m just fine Mel. Sorry we are a bit late Deb, you know us girls, like to look our best”, Amelia admitted nervously, whilst receiving a nudge from Melanie.

“Oh don’t worry. I know all too well. It took me nearly two hours to transform from a dragon into a yummy mummy”. Everyone laughed. “Well here comes Malcolm, my lovely husband, say hello to the girls Malc”. Malcolm was skinny, with grey hair and smoky brown eyes. Amelia could not quite believe that this was Tom’s dad as he bared no resemblance to his son, except his eyes. “ ‘Ey up. I’m Malc, Tom’s dad. Taxi’ll be ‘ere in a minute. Let’s ‘ope birthday boy hurries his arse up. Bet ‘e’s taken longer to get ready than you pair combined”. Amelia and Melanie chuckled. Malcolm was a typical Derbyshire bloke with a broad accent. It was an accent hard not to love.

About ten minutes passed, before Tom finally appeared from the house, locking the door. Melanie giggled. “I’ve never seen him looking so smart, he normally dresses dead common”. Amelia immediately came to her boyfriend's defence.
“No he doesn’t. Just because you are all la-di-da young lady”.  Both sisters chuckled with their infectious laugh. Amelia could see Melanie’s point. Tom normally dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt. She hardly recognised the smart young man that emerged from his house. Tom was dressed in a suit with a trendy blazer from Topman. Amelia was admiring the sight of her boyfriend when Malcolm announced, “Taxi’s ‘ere”.

CHAPTER 1) Amelia's Garden

It was a warm day in August. The sun was shining and the sky was blue without a cloud in sight. Amelia was sat at the old, wooden picnic bench in her back garden with her boyfriend, Tom. The bench had been varnished ten years ago by Amelia’s mother, Catherine. It was once a very rich shade of brown but after years of sunshine, rain and snow, it was fair to say that the picnic bench had seen better days. Amelia turned to her left and gazed into Tom’s smoky, brown eyes. She smiled at him whilst inquiring nervously, “So, tonight I will meet your entire family”.

Tom rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Yes gorgeous, you will.”

“But what if they don’t like me? What if I get too drunk and embarrass myself? Oh gosh, I can’t believe we have been dating for four months and I haven’t even met your parents yet!”

Tom put his arm around Amelia’s waist and kissed her on her the top of her head. He could feel her soft hair on his lips. “Baby, you really need to stop panicking. You will be fine. They will love you and can’t wait to finally meet you. You’ll be okay babe, I promise. Besides, your friends and sister are coming aren’t they? So if you do make a prat of yourself you can always sneak over and hide with them.”

Amelia shot Tom an evil glance whilst giggling. Amelia had a very infectious, loud giggle and Tom could not resist joining in.

Amelia spent the next hour canoodling with Tom at the picnic bench. They were both admiring the view of Amelia’s back garden. Amelia’s garden was very spacious. It was almost like a miniature field. The grass was a very healthy looking green, with each strand of grass mowed to equal lengths with precision. Flowers of all different colours brightened up the garden. There were carnations, iris’, violets, orchids and of course, a variety of roses. Apple trees shaded the bench where Amelia and Tom were sat, keeping them cool and ensuring that Amelia’s porcelain like skin did not burn in the heat coming from the sun.

Tom looked at his watch and stood up. Tom was a tall, well built man. He had broad shoulders and was very muscular with a rugby player’s build. Unsurprisingly, Tom was a big sports fanatic who played rugby every Sunday morning and trained at the gym almost every day. Tom had golden blond hair with spikes, which he gelled to perfection every day. “It’s nearly 4 o’clock babe, I had better go home and get ready for my big night tonight.”

Amelia stood up and wrapped her arms around Tom, ignoring the fact that she was covered in old varnish that had peeled off the bench. Amelia was all of five foot four, and just came up to the base of Tom’s neck. “Okay babe, my dad will drop me and Mel off at yours around seven”.

Tom bent down slightly and gave Amelia a quick peck on the lips, forgetting that she had just recently applied another coat of her favourite pale pink lipstick. Tom raised his voice slightly, while holding Amelia by her waist, grinning like the Cheshire cat.  “Not again! You and you’re bloody lipstick! I’ll see you later then, I love you babe!”

“I love you more!” Amelia exclaimed. “I will see you later. Bye!”

Tom let go of Amelia’s waist and began walking to his racing green Vauxhall Corsa. Amelia waved him off, and then headed up to her bedroom to get ready for Tom’s big 21^st birthday party.