Blind

Part One- Silence And Secrets

Ella Watford knew something was wrong. Very wrong.
Ailie Cole sat alone at the back of the class, staring out of the window. Her right eye was a nasty shade of green and swollen, she tried to hide it by her long dark fringe. Her classwork book was open in front of her, empty, except from the black doodles in the corner.
The class was busy talking and working, so Ella made her move. Carefully she went over to the table where the 15 year old sat, silently.
‘Ailie? Are you okay? Do you need any help?’ She asked in low voice. Ailie looked up at her teacher, her eyes full of sadness.
‘No, I’m okay, thanks Miss,’ her voice was so quiet Ella had to strain to hear.
‘Are you sure?’ The girl nodded. ‘What happened to your eye?’ Ailie turned back to the window.
‘Nothing,’ she whispered, her voice choked with thick emotion.
‘Okay. Do you want some time outside or anything?’ Ella said, unsure. Ailie jolted her head trying to shake. ‘Well, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.’ said Ella soothingly. With another jolt of the head Ella walked away.
When the final bell, indicating the end of the school day rang, Ella watched as Ailie limped out of the classroom, trailing behind the buzzing swarm of teenagers. She examined Ailie’s bruised face. It was worse than she intially thought. A huge black mark shadowed her narrow chin, finishing under her prominent cheek bone. Her skin was sheet-white and thin, almost papery. Under her half closed eyes there were horrible bags showing just how tired she was. Her lips were swollen and chapped, they looked painful. She held her head down as if she was embarrassed.
Ella felt a surge of guilt, pity and anger for the girl. She must help in whatever way she could.
Suddenly her mobile phone began vibrating in her pocket, dragging her away from her thoughts.
‘Hello?’ she said, not looking at the callers details.
‘Hello Elanor, darling, it’s me,’ a posh, high voice elongated the words, rolling them around in her mouth before slurring them into her vocabulary.
‘Oh, hey mum,’ Ella’s mind was already wandering off to her student. She was hearing but she was not listening.
‘...So what do you think? Elanor? Are you... Are you there?’ Ella switched back to her mother.
‘Yes, I’m here. Sorry what did you say?’ replied Ella politely, but if her mother had been listening she would have heard her daughters need to get off the phone, but instead she insisted on talking about the garden party she was attending. Again Ella switched off, this time ‘mmm-’ing when she stopped for breath.
‘Look, Mum, I’ve got to go; I’ve got loads of books I need to mark.’ Her mother sighed and complained, eventually signing off.
Ella put her head in her hands, her blonde hair gently tickling her wrists.  She sighed, shutting her eyes.  When she opened them, she began packing up the stacks of unmarked books. The school was silent and empty when she left, only the odd caretaker or overworked teacher scuttled past, paying Ella no attention and she was grateful for that.
Ben was stood in the doorway by the time she got home, his face lit up when her Ford Mondeo slipped into the driveway. He grinned showing his blue braces and waved. She got out, her face in a composed smile.
‘Hi Aunty Ella’! He said, running over to the car, helping drag the boxes of books inside.
‘Hello Ben, how are you?’ She pushed the door with her back, entering a brightly lit hallway. He followed her, chatting about school.
‘When’s your mum getting back?’ Ella interrupted. Eve was her older sister who had dumped her two children on her while she went on a business trip in America. The only reason she had obliged was because Eves’ husband, Thomas, had died the year earlier and she was only just getting her life back together.
Ben was an excitable but gentle 12 year old, who loved his food, but was athletic enough to balance his weight. At school he was the class clown, making his year six class roar with laughter every time he opened his mouth. He was an A* student and had already began looking at his options (which were 3 years away). He was beginning to notice that girls were attractive but wasn’t quite at the stage of getting a girlfriend. His brother was encouraging him to get one because when he started high school he wouldn’t get as many girlfriends, as it was a private boy’s school.
‘In three weeks; she rang this morning,’ Ben said, becoming slightly quieter. Ella looked over at him, but she couldn’t worry too much.
‘Where are Connor and Chris?’ She asked, breaking the descending silence.
‘Connors gone to the shop and Chris is somewhere upstairs,’ Ella raised an eyebrow. Leaving two boys by themselves, clever Connor, she thought to herself.
She plonked the boxes of books down and swiftly went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, while calling out to Chris to come downstairs.  Ben followed his expression thoughtful.
‘Chris, I’m not telling you again, get down here,’ Ella yelled with her back to the door. She turned to Ben and jumped when she saw Chris leant on the doorframe.  His dark blonde hair was in a messy halo around his head, half in his deep brown eyes. He flicked his hairs, his eyebrows raised. ‘You alright?’ Ella questioned, seeing his face. He looked tired and sad.
He nodded and looked down.
‘When did Connor go?’
‘5 minutes before you got here. He went for some milk and stuff from the shop.’ His voice was low.
Ella frowned.’ We’ve got enough milk,’ she looked in the fridge; it was packed with the essentials. Chris shrugged; he began to slope off to his room. ‘Chris, what’s wrong?’
He turned. He gave Ben the look, so his brother quickly disappeared upstairs. He walked slowly into the kitchen and sat on the bench. He stared at her, the muscles in his jaw jumped.  He opened his mouth, but made no sound. She waited patiently, sensing his anxiety but she knew that everything would spill in just a moment.
The doorbell rang, shocking them both. They turned to the corridor, where Connor was heaving a box through the door. He grinned when he saw them. His hair and jacket were wet from the weather.
He dropped the box on the bench next to Chris and stepped over to his girlfriend. Passionately, he kissed her. She responded happily but he knew she wasn’t all there. He pulled away and grinned at her.
‘Happy five year anniversary, Ell,’ He laughed at her expression, a mixture of shock and embarrassment. 
‘Oops,’ She giggled ‘I forgot,’ She bit her lip, guilty.
‘I know, but I didn’t,’ He gave her a hug, Ella looked over his shoulder at where Chris had been sat, but he was not there. She turned her attention to the large box.
‘What’s in the box?’ She said, curious.
‘Aha, well, a little present,’ He let go of her and gave the heavy box to her. Carefully, she opened it. Inside was a slim black laptop. She stared at it. Shook her head; blinked. Then put her hand on her forehead, the other supporting her hip.
‘Connor, we can’t afford this!’ Ella gasped her eyes wide. Connor shook his head laughing.
‘It’s not what you think, honestly. My mate Harry works at the Sony shop down town. For some reason they couldn’t sell this at the usual seven hundred quid price tag. So I asked how much it was and...’ He took a receipt out of his jeans pocket ‘£300 with the software. Tell me I’m a genius,’
‘You’re a genius,’ whispered Ella, bemused. He nodded in satisfaction.
They spent the evening discovering how to work the high-tech laptop. Ben was even more excited than the adults, his energy bounced around the room, by the time it was nine o’clock Ella was literally drunk on Bens vigour.
‘Time for a shower, Benny-boy,’ said Ella slightly giggly. He bounded up the stairs, nattering about modern technology. She shook her head, absolutely amazed by his liveliness. She followed him up the stairs, turning right at the landing.

Cautiously Ella knocked on Chris’ door. The two boys had their own rooms because Ben got a little overexcited when he stayed at other people’s houses. Also Chris needed his own space, to do homework etc.
‘Yeah?’ murmured Chris from inside.
‘Can I come in Chris?’ asked Ella sensitively. There was another murmur and the door opened.
Chris was a good looking lad. His blonde hair was carelessly teased, his skin was flawless, not covered in acne like the rest of his class. His angular face was jaunty and confident. His torso was tough and perfectly shaped, showed off by a tight t-shirt.
He reached up and ruffled his already messy hair, still holding the door. He raised his eyebrows faintly as she tried, unsuccessfully, to see into his room. From the corner she could see, it was the inspiration for his hair.
‘Hi Chris, I was just wondering what you’re doing tonight?’
‘Why?’ he asked, looking anything but impressed.
‘Well, if you’re going out I’d rather you tell me now,’ her cheeks were flushing and she couldn’t work out why.
‘No.’ He said ‘I’m not going out,’ He looked at the floor, the hand in his hair moving to his neck. His shoulders dropped somewhat.
‘Are you sure? I mean, you can if you want.’
‘No!’ he said sharply. He sighed. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t want to.’
‘Okay, err, I’ll be downstairs if you need me.’ She turned and walked back downstairs, her head buzzing with thoughts.
That night Ella couldn’t sleep. She felt full of dread as if something was going to happen- something bad. She turned over to face Connor. He was snoring loudly, facing the ceiling so it echoed around the room.
‘Shut up,’ she whispered to his sleeping profile. His snores subsided for a second and then began even louder than before. In the darkness she heard Ben’s heavy breathing. It was then she realised that Chris’s usual heavy breathing was absent. Heart pounding with a distant fear, she quietly got out of bed and went to the landing. Chris’s bedroom was silent. Ella pushed the door open to an empty room.
She was angry and upset. Why did he have to sneak around? She stepped into the deserted room. On the bed lay Chris’s phone. She knew that if he found out she had looked at it, he would be furious and probably wouldn’t speak to her, but something compelled her to break the rules. Ella picked it up, she unlocked it and stared at the background picture. It was Chris and Ailie both smiling at the camera, huddled close together.
Together.
Shocked, Ella began to search his phone, starting with the text messages.
She skim read each one, ignoring the offensive and rude messages from his mates. She paid attention to the ones from girls; there were literally hundreds from Ailie. She read the oldest first. It was easy to tell not only how much the pair cared and loved each other but how Ailies mood had slowly soured and became more depressed. Eventually the messages from her decreased.
The most recent message disturbed Ella, it read;
Tuesday 5th October 1.42am
I’m sorry. I can’t take this anymore. I’m already dead. I have been since I left you. I’ve been living a lie, my mum didn’t die in childbirth, HE killed her. I won’t be his slave anymore. You can’t save me.  You’ve no idea how much I love you and how you saved my life. You know me better than anyone I’ve ever met.  Now I can’t hurt anyone, especially you. I love you. X
...
It was the shrill ring that woke Ella up the next morning. The mobile was still in her hand, still on the text.  The tears had dried now.
She stumbled over to the phone and picked it up.
‘Hello?’ Her voice cracked.
‘Hello, is Miss Elanor Watford there, please?’ It was a formal male voice on the line.
‘Yes, speaking?’
‘Miss Watford, this is Constable Newton, do you have a minute?’
‘Of course Constable. What’s wrong?’ Ella wondered why they were only talking in questions.
‘It’s about Ailie Cole of your year 10 classes,’ the breath in Ella’s throat caught, her heart tightened.
‘W-what’s happened?’ She stuttered. Her insides were clenched.
‘I am sorry to inform you that Miss Cole is dead.’ The sentence was greeted by a deadly silence, which Ella broke by bursting into fits of tears.
‘How?’ she gasped through the heavy tears.
‘It looks as if it may have been suicide. She left a... note.’  The officer sounded uncomfortable, Ella could tell.
‘What did it say?’ She asked; the tears slowing as her head began clinking into gear. There was a tense silence on the line. She repeated the question, more forcefully.
‘Miss Watford, can you tell me why her letter was addressed to you?’ he said quietly.  The breath caught in her throat, while her eyes widened, the phone clattering to the tile flooring.