Fighting to Be Free (Fighting to Be Free 1)

Once we were in, I slammed the door behind me and flicked the lock. As I turned back into my room I stopped, my stuff was everywhere, my clothes all over the floor, all the furniture upturned.

Someone had broken into my room.

Ellie kissed back up to my mouth but I needed to make sure no one was still in here. “Get down now!” I ordered, supporting her weight with one arm while I unclamped her legs from my waist quickly with the other.

“Jamie, what?” she asked, looking at me like I’d gone crazy.

Shit, maybe I frightened her, oh well no time to explain now. I grabbed her hand and forced her behind me as I looked over my room, but there was no one here. I pushed her gently against the wall as I strode over to my little bathroom to make sure whoever had been in my room, had definitely left. Oh shit, please don’t have taken my money!

“Oh God, what happened? Have you been robbed?” Ellie asked breathlessly, obviously taking in the room for the first time. I didn’t answer I went straight to the toilet and lifted the lid of the cistern quickly, but there was nothing in there. The little plastic bag that I had put my money in was gone.

Fuck it, that was everything I had! “I’ll call the police,” Ellie said quickly.

What? Police, no way! I don’t want to call the police, I’ll get killed for being a freaking grass!

“No Ellie, it’s fine, nothings been taken, it’s just a mess that’s all. There’s no need for the police to come,” I said quickly. Great, what the hell am I going to do now? I had nothing. I had $25 and about forty cents in my pocket and I was due to pay the next weeks rent on Tuesday morning. Damn it!

“How do you know nothing’s been taken?” she asked. I walked back into the room, she was still pressed against the wall where I left her, looking terrified.

“I don’t have anything worth taking, all I have is clothes and those are all over the floor, I don’t have anything worth stealing.” I shrugged trying not to show her I was totally screwed. Wow, come Tuesday morning when I didn’t have the rent money I wouldn’t even have this crappy little roof over my head, now that‘s a depressing thought.

“Nothing’s gone?” she asked, looking around slowly as if she could see something missing.

I shook my head and took her hand, “Come on, I’ll drive you to get your car.” I gave her a little tug towards the door. I didn’t want her here, it obviously wasn’t safe and I didn’t want her anywhere near trouble.

She pulled her hand out of mine, frowning, “What? Don’t be stupid, Jamie.” She bent down, scooping up an armful of my clothes off of the floor, throwing them on the bed.

What on earth is she doing? “Ellie, come on, I’ll drive you to get your car and make sure you get to Stacey’s. I don’t want you here if it’s not safe,” I said honestly.

She just shook her head and carried on picking up my clothes, throwing them on the bed. When she had them all, she kicked off her shoes and sat on my bed cross-legged and started to fold up my clothes, putting them in a pile. Jeez, she really is incredible. I can’t believe she’s doing that, I’d honestly never met anyone like her in my life.

“Well don’t just stand there watching me! If you don’t need to call the police, then you need to sort out your room, Jamie,” she ordered, nodding at the furniture on the floor. I snapped back to reality and lifted the drawers and dresser back up putting them back in the right place. The crappy little stereo that came with the room was gone but that was ok. She’d finished folding my clothes and helped me put them in the drawers, smiling a sad smile at me.

“Oh no, your photo got ripped,” she said suddenly, bending to pick something up from the floor.

Photo? Oh God not the one of Sophie!

“What? No!” I cried angrily. She handed me two halves of a photo and I closed my eyes, I was so angry I don’t think I could speak. This was the only photo I had of her, it was the only thing that mattered to me. Why the hell would someone do that? Damn it, why didn’t I take it with me when I went out?

“Who is that little girl?” Ellie asked, putting her hand on my arm.

“That was my sister, Sophie. She died,” I said quietly, not really wanting to talk about her.

Ellie gasped, “Oh Jamie, I’m so sorry. How did she die?” she asked quietly, as she stepped closer to me. I took a deep breath and put the ruined photo down on the sideboard. There nothing I could do about it now, there was no point getting stressed and angry about it, there was no way I could find out who broke in so I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

“She was murdered, four years ago,” I said, watching her face fall and her eyes open in shock.

She wrapped her arms around me tightly and hugged me, “I’m so sorry, that’s awful. What happened?”

I sighed, “I don’t want to talk about it, Ellie. Really, you should go, it’s not safe for you here.” I hugged her back, just enjoying being close to her. I wouldn’t ask her here again, this just proved that I wasn’t good enough for her. She’s too good to be in a place like this, with a guy like me.

“I don’t want to go, Jamie.” She pulled back to look at me, her face stern and confident. There was no indecision on her face, she really didn’t want to go.

“Ellie, really I think,” I started, but she put her hand over my mouth to stop me speaking.

“Do you want me to go and you’re just saying you’re worried as an excuse to make me leave?” she asked curiously. I laughed and pulled her hand off of my mouth. She really thought I just didn’t want her? Is she actually crazy?