2
“Topaz where were you today?” Kylie demanded with her hands on her hips. Topaz looked into her adoptive mother’s hazel eyes and shrugged. She moved to push past her but Kylie grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into the sitting room. “Stay.”
“I’m not a dog!” Topaz protested angrily as she was pushed onto a settee.
“I know. Dogs are obedient.” Kylie retorted sitting on the opposite settee with her husband Danny. “Now tell us where were you today?”
“School.”
“Now tell the truth.” Danny sighed running a hand through his greying hair. Topaz studied him sadly; his once glossy ginger hair was now grey from the stress she was causing.
What will they be like when I go home? She wondered without realising that she was crying. What will they think? They’ll think I’m missing…dead or something…oh God! The thought of the two worrying over her for the rest of their lives made Topaz break down. They wouldn’t know what had happened to her, for all they knew she could have been left in a ditched brutally murdered!
“Topaz what’s wrong?” Kylie moved over to her but Topaz jumped up and sprinted out off the room. She ran up to the loft that had been redecorated a few years ago to be her room. A hatch in the ceiling served as an entry to her room and she quickly pushed her chest-of-drawers over it to stop anyone following her up.
“Topaz please don’t do this,” Danny begged her, his voice faint; “we need to talk! We can help you with whatever it is!” Topaz remembered Robert’s reaction and more tears fell down her face.
“No you can’t!” she cried hysterically, “you can’t understand what I’m going through and you definitely can’t help me!”
“Try us,” Kylie’s voice was warm and soothing but also desperate as she pleaded with the young teenager. “Topaz honey…are you pregnant?”
“No!” Topaz screamed feeling hurt and offended; she knew she was a flirt and that she had, had a severe personality change but still! She hadn’t even kissed a guy! “Please…just leave me alone!”
“Okay hun…but when you’re ready to talk we’re here for you okay?” Topaz nodded even though she knew they couldn’t see her. She couldn’t talk because her throat was too thick with tears and she was afraid she’d cry harder if she spoke.
She heard her phone beep and she blankly rummaged through her schoolbag looking for it. She looked at the screen and groaned when she saw she had a text message from Robert. How could she have said all that stuff to him? He was her only true friend; he’d never taunted her like the other children had when she was younger.
We need to talk. Please call me back. Topaz slipped the phone back into her bag and pushed it into a corner out of the way. She sat on her bed and grabbed her radio clock looking at the time; 13:23. Maybe I should do some work to catch up. She thought standing up and picking her bag up again. A wave of dizziness swept over her and she sat back on the bed waiting for the spell to pass.
Only the spell didn’t end it just kept carrying on getting worse and worse. Slightly worried that she was getting ill Topaz lay down and closed her eyes. By the time the numbers on the clock moved to 13:24 she was fast asleep.
