Chronicles of Araxx - Forever Broken
Chapter 16

Getting ready to go out was the most fun part for Lee, although she couldn’t escape the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach.

What was Jacob doing in London? Was it just a coincidence? Or did he know she was somewhere in the city? Either way, it was extremely unnerving.

How long would it be until he found her? She started to panic.

There was no way she could go back with him, no way she was ever going back to living in a cell.

Her breathing became rapid and shallow.

She could feel her face becoming hotter, and she didn’t know what was happening.

Bree walked into the room with her towel wrapped around her, fresh from the shower. “Bathroom’s free, Lee.” She trailed off when she saw her friend having a panic attack. She rushed over to her and sat down on the floor with her. “Breath, Lee, what’s wrong?”

“What if he replaces me?” Lee stuttered, “I can’t go back. I can’t.”

It didn’t make a lot of sense to Bree. Lee had never really explained what had happened to her while she was homeless and before they met. She knew Lee lost her family, and that she’d been homeless for a while, but she didn’t know much more than that.

Bree made Lee comfortable on the floor and encouraged her to breathe deeply.

Once Lee was doing as instructed, Bree left for the kitchen, and returned a few minutes later with two cups if sweet iced tea.

“Have you calmed down now?” Bree asked as she handed Lee a cup.

Lee sipped the cool drink, nodding her head and sighing. “I’m sorry, Bree,” she said. “I shouldn’t get myself so worked up about.”

“I think you need to explain a little more, though,” Bree said. “What do you mean, you can’t go back?”

“It’s complicated,” Lee said. She was scared to tell Bree her history, but this girl had become her only friend, and Lee felt she trusted her enough to tell her everything. “Can I tell you after I get cleaned?”

“I’ll be right here, waiting to do your hair when you get out of the shower, then you can tell me all about it,” Bree said as she began towel drying her own hair.

In the shower, Lee scrubbed herself clean, washing away all her bad thoughts and memories with the hot water. Her hair was still leaking red dye, and it filled the bottom of the bath with a reddish colour. She swished her feet around in the coloured water, wondering if she stood there long enough if her feet would turn red as well.

The landlord who owned the building had mistakenly turned the heating on for the whole building, so Lee and Bree were using the built-in radiators rather than the storage heaters and it made their flat a lot warmer.

Lee’s towel was warming on the radiator while she was showering, and by the time she finished, it was toasty warm and soft as cotton wool.

She pulled the towel around herself and breathed in the warm smell. The smell of freshly washed towel warmed through and full of the scent of flowers filled her nostrils. It was a heavenly smell, and the one she liked best. Recently, she’d learned to appreciate nice smells, clean clothes and good food after all those years of the exact opposite.

When Lee left the bathroom, she found Bree sitting in front of the mirror with a pair of straighteners in her hand. Bree always looked best with curly hair, and she was just about finished doing hers.

The multi tones of her blonde hair shone in the bright light coming in through the window, and it bounced so beautifully when she moved. Bree was still wearing her towel, not wanting to get her outfit dirty before going out. She had not done her make-up yet and said this would be the last thing she did after she put her dress on.

Lee walked over to her, with badly towel dried hair, and sat down on the floor next to her.

“My god, girl.” Bree laughed. “When are you going to learn to brush the knots out your hair yourself?”

“But you promised,” Lee reminded her, giving Bree her puppy dog eyes.

“I know, and you know I don’t mind.” Bree started combing the knots out of Lee’s hair as she spoke, “It’s kinda like having a little sister.”

Lee never had any siblings, but being with Bree felt how she imagined having a sister would feel.

“What’s up ginger nut? Are you going to tell me what happened earlier? Why the panic attack?” Bree asked.

“It’s got to do with how I ended up living on the streets,” she said.

Bree stopped brushing her hair. “I don’t need to know if you don’t want to tell me.” Bree smiled an understanding smile.

“You told me your story.” Lee paused. “I owe you to tell you mine.”

“It started when I was very young, maybe five or six, I don’t really remember how old I was. I do remember the fire, though.”

Both Bree and Lee looked down at the angry scar on her right arm.

“The flames were everywhere, burning our house down. My mother came into the room and picked me up, carrying me through the flames and out of the building. I don’t remember her face any more.”

“Oh, that’s sad.” Bree sighed.

Lee continued, “I saw my father outside the house, but he was already dead, on the ground. There were people everywhere, loads of them. And Kane...” Lee’s voice trailed off, going white and hollow.

“Lee?” Bree asked after a minute of pure silence.

Lee snapped out of her trance and continued, “Long story short, Kane killed my mother and kidnapped me. They left my family to burn and took me with them.”

“For the next god knows how many years, they kept me in a cell with dirty walls and bars on the windows, heavy doors and guards 24/7. It was horrible. Kane would question me most days, ask where it was. I don’t even know what it was supposed to be that he was looking for!” Lee stood up. “Then he came.”

“Who?”

“Jacob.”

“That guy from the shopping centre?” Bree was stunned.

“Yeah, him. He was amazing, Bree. He came into my cell and he was so nice to me. I must have been about twelve or thirteen, and he was the nicest person I had ever met.” Lee had a smile on her face. “He called me beautiful, said I was the best thing to happen to him, and he called me his girl. He was sweet and sensitive and kind, and I fell in love with him. Then he also started asking questions... Strange questions about ‘it’ and I didn’t know the answer. When I couldn’t answer the question he got nasty and he hit me. Then he just stopped visiting me.” Lee sat down. “It was all mind games. He would ignore me, then be nice and visit all the time, then he’d be mean and violent. I didn’t know what to think.”

“So how did you get away?” Bree asked.

“I broke out, ran away and came to London. I met you and I couldn’t be happier.” Lee was smiling again.

“Lee, that’s awful,” Bree said, throwing her arms around Lee. “Are you sure you’re still okay to go out tonight?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” She genuinely did feel better about things, happier in herself, and less frightened, knowing that Bree knew everything about her.

Bree couldn’t help thinking about Lee while they got ready to go out. Sure, her life hadn’t been great, but at least her troubles ended when she killed her stepfather, Lee’s problems were literally following her around. She wondered why Jacob would have followed Lee to London, or how he even knew she was there, but thought it best not to ask too many questions.

Lee had opened up to her, and although Bree would never have asked her outright why and how she ended up on the streets, she was curious. She had so many questions, but given Lee’s fragile state, thought better of it.

The club was like nothing Lee had ever seen, and she wasn’t even inside yet.

The night was dark, and there was a chill in the air, but Lee was shivering for a different reason. There were so many people outside the club, all older than her, and they all seemed so confident in their bodies.

Women giggled and men wolf whistled at them. Most of the people in the queue were already drunk, or well on their way there.

Bree had made cocktails at home while they were getting ready, but with only two drinks each, the girls were still sober.

Lee was also well aware she was only seventeen, and too young to be attempting to enter the club anyway.

At the front of the queue, coming up quickly as the crowd entered the club, was the single biggest man Lee had ever seen. One of the women in front of them, who was clearly hammered, bent down to pick up her handbag, which she’d dropped when she fished her phone out to take a selfie. With the tall woman no longer obscuring her view, Lee was able to get a good look at the bouncer. The man practically filled the doorway. He was huge. In fact, huge was an understatement. The muscles on his arms had veins protruding from them, making him look slightly alien.

A very drunk man at the front of the queue staggered forward towards the door with his friend who was equally drunk.

“You’re not coming in here,” the bouncer said to him. His arms were folded in front of his chest over the black vest he wore. He obviously didn’t feel the chill in the air, and probably never did with the amount of muscle he had.

“What you gonna go about it big man?” The drunk guy goaded.

“Yeah!” His friend encouraged.

The bouncer stood in silence, his arms still folded, still as a statue.

The first man stepped forward, raised his arms to the side and shouted, “What!” directly in the bouncer’s face.

A drip of the drunk man’s spit landed on the bouncer’s nose, and the vein on his bald forehead began to pulse, yet he still kept his cool. “I won’t tell you again. You’re not coming into this club,” he said in a calm tone.

“Oh yeah?” The first man boasted. “Just watch me.” He stepped forward, but the doorway was blocked by the bouncer’s massive body. The drunk man shoved him, but the bouncer did not move. “Out of my way,” the drunk man slurred but was quickly interrupted.

With one quick movement, the bouncer stepped forward, picked the drunk man up from the ground and threw him across the velvet rope and into the street.

His drunk friend then thought twice about tangling with the giant and retreated through the crowd and out of the queue, leaving an open path from Bree and Lee to the door.

Bree took this opportunity, grabbed Lee’s hand and pulled her towards the door.

“Alright sweetheart!” The bouncer said with a smile.

“Hey Tim, having a tough night?” Bree started up a conversation.

“Drunk kids, no trouble really.” He smiled, his white teeth beaming through his lips. “You’ve got a friend with you tonight?”

“Yeah, this is Lee.” She smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Lee.” Tim held out his hand to shake.

Lee took it, her forearm almost completely engulfed by his hand. “Erm, nice to meet you, Tim.” She smiled back. He seemed nice if a little intimidating.

“In you go, girls,” he said without hesitation. He didn’t even check their ID’s which Lee found strange, but Bree clearly knew him, so that must have been the reason.

The inside of the club was even more of a shock to Lee than the outside. As soon as they entered the door, Lee could hear the music and feel its vibration. The bass was pulsing, gently rattling her ribs inside her chest and the corridor was narrow and dark, painted black, but purple and red lights could be seen flashing around the corner. The music was already loud, although it was almost unnoticeable from the outside. Lee felt nervous. She had never been anywhere like this, but Bree knew what she was doing. She grabbed Lee’s hand and pulled her into the main body of the club through a black curtain.

The music and heat hit them as they walked through, almost like they were entering another world. The lights bouncing off the walls and ceiling were mesmerising, and the bodies dancing in time to the music were something Lee struggled to keep from staring at. She looked down at the feet of the women, all in heels, all dancing well. She then looked down at her own shoes and wondered how long she would be able to dance in them.

Dancing, now that was something Lee had never done.

“Do you want a drink?” Bree’s voice was so quiet, even though she was standing right next to Lee.

“Sorry?” Lee shouted over the music, not able to hear her friend over the base of the music.

“Drink?” Bree asked again as she raised her hand to her mouth in a gesture.

Lee nodded, then watched Bree walk towards the bar. She had no idea what her friend would bring back, but Bree always seemed to pick the best-tasting drinks.

Lee felt a little awkward standing in the club, not dancing, watching other people dance around her, and without Bree there, she was uncomfortable. A tap on her shoulder made her jump.

“Only me.” Bree smiled.

Lee was reading her lips more than hearing the words, but she was able to make it out over the music, just. The music had quietened a little, either that or Lee was becoming used to the volume.

“You’ll never guess what happened at the bar,” Bree said as she guided Lee over to a small table.

“What, and what are all these?” Lee looked down at the tray Bree was holding with a multitude of different coloured drinks in tiny glasses.

“Shots,” Bree said, downing one after she put the tray down on the table. She handed Lee a shot glass with a bright blue substance. “Drink it all at once.”

Lee drank it, then pulled a face. “Sour.” She cringed.

“They’re good, though.” Bree took another, this time green.

Lee had one too. It tasted faintly of apples, but she had no idea what the blue one was.

“So like I was saying, guess what happened at the bar?” Lee had no idea, and before she could say anything, Bree was talking again. “You see the tall guy at the bar, the one with the dark hair, he offered to buy the drinks for us,” Bree gushed.

“What did he do that for?” Lee was cautious.

“Just to be nice, I guess.” Bree shrugged, having a red shot next.

Lee made a mental note to keep an eye on the man as she too had a red shot.

After a few drinks, Lee was feeling light-headed and giddy. She wasn’t used to alcohol, and it had gone to her head pretty quickly.

The music was driving her to dance, and soon she and Bree were on the dance floor, having a whale of a time.

Bree was a brilliant dancer, and people couldn’t keep their eyes off her. Her body moved in time to the music, and she seemed to flow effortlessly like water. With the nude coloured dress and the blonde curls on her head, she looked like something out of a film. Men watched her, drooling over her body, while the women around watched with jealousy how pretty she was. It was as if Bree felt the music rather than heard it.

Lee didn’t look so graceful, but she was enjoying herself all the same.

“I told you this DJ was good,” Bree shouted over the music.

Lee had to agree, the club was alive with people, not one of them sitting down, and the choice of music was great. They were all songs Lee did not know, but the rhythm was familiar, and she couldn’t keep from dancing.

Across the club, behind the DJ sat three men, they were watching, their attention on one red-haired girl in particular.