EVANORA

4 Years Later.

The dread that was floating around Evanora was like an enormous black lightning cloud that sent bolts of pain instead of electricity into her nervous system and subsequently her entire thought pattern and body language suffered as a result. She was walking eyes cast downward to the ground back to her house after a short bus ride back from school and luckily for her...he wouldn’t be home. She could eat, go to the toilet, do her homework and read before her father came home and then hopefully avoid any interaction depending on how drunk he was, then sleep with one eye open on the door to her bedroom all night.

She heard him coming up the road yelling out her name at 11:30pm and it woke her up in fright. He was almost home.

"EV.....YOU UP?,...PUT THE KETTLE ON LUV I WANNA CUP OF COFFEE...EVVV!!!" screeched Evanora’s father as he swung the front door open and threw his bag and work jacket over the couch on the way to the toilet staggering as he went bumping into walls swearing the darkest profanity’s while Evanora clutched the blanket from her bed to her face. He was louder tonight than normal and it wasn’t going to be as easy to get him to go to sleep. Evanora got up and put two pair of pants on and a big wooly jumper even though it was a warm summers evening she wasn’t going to take the chance. She put her running shoes back on and quietly opened her bedroom door squinting into the darkness because as of right then...the house went quiet.

Without warning the door was pushed violently open hurling Evanora to the floor on her back and there silhouetted in the doorway was her father

“Didn’t you hear me call for you dammit?”

“I was asleep dad and just got up then to help you”

“Bullshit I don’t believe you now get out here and make my coffee”

“Ok dad but I have to get some sleep because I have school tomorrow”

“Get up off the floor and make my coffee dammit NOW!”

“Ok Ok..I'm on it dad”

And that was how the night began for Evanora with her father. She made her fathers coffee and kept her distance while he sipped his drink in the kitchen. Outside crickets and woodland creatures howled at the moon and stars beckoning mates to join them in a frenzied night of passion while in the kitchen nothing but fear and cold sweat cursed through Evanora’s veins. She stood facing her father watching his eyes close slowly and the cup in his hands started to fall forward. If he fell asleep the coffee would fall into his lap and he would wake up screaming and most likely hurt her then it would be another few days off school for the bruises to heal and then the cycle would start all over again. Evanora moved quickly and quietly over to her dozing father and stood very still in front of him and she thought she had timed it just right because as his eyes closed the cup fell forward right into her hand without spilling a drop. She exhaled slowly under her breath then turned to put the cup back gently on the kitchen sink. As she turned to move a strong pair of hands grabbed her and an alcohol soaked voice whispered......

“Come here and give you dad a cuddle Ev, I haven’t see ya all day” and before she could place the cup in the kitchen sink she was dragged back into her fathers lap and his attentions to her began in earnest. This was not the first time this had happened, it even happened when her mother was alive but as she got older it seemed to intensify the feelings and as hard as she tried to fight against him it was to no avail.

If she struggled he hurt her, if she relaxed and let him have his way it was over quickly and she didn’t have to hide any bruises or miss school as a result. So while her father began taking off her first layer of denim pants Evanora focused on the kitchen window and listened to the nights sounds, closed her eyes and wished she was miles away from this man who was about to start doing things to her that father should never EVER DO!!

The wind picked up outside and the sounds from the forest at the end of the house block seemed to groan their disapproval at what was happening in the kitchen. Tears fell down the face of Evanora and splashed on the ground at the bottom of the kitchen chair mingling with the dirt and dust from her fathers shoes.

Some one help me...please help me...I'm begging you, thought Evanora as the sounds from the forest intensified to be almost human in tenure with a wind that came out of nowhere like a hurricane. Momentarily Evanora was shifted around in her fathers lap and his grunts replaced the sounds of the forest.

Pleeeeeease I’m begging you......anyone......help me......mum.....I need you.....Before any further abominations took place between her father and Evanora there were several loud noises like possums jumping on the roof from the trees next to the house. This side tracked her father and he relinquished his filthy grip on her and exclaimed openly in a loud voice....

“What da fuck is that on the roof !!!?”

“I don’t know dad....should you go and investigate to make sure the roof is ok?”

“Yep...gonna do just dat... go get ta bed now Ev I'm gonna get my gun from the bedroom” and he pushed Evanora off him and on to the floor in front of the stove where she bought her knees up under her chin and wept openly as she heard her father walk down the hallway of the house to his bedroom then back cocking his gun at the same time and swearing about possums and how much he hated them. Poor little Evanora was in the foetal position on the floor now having slid down the face of the stove and she could feel the cold kitchen air on her legs and body. She had to get to bed, she had to get away from her fathers torch as it shone into the kitchen and Evanora stopped breathing till it passed and he continued his search for what had happened to the roof.

Evanora gathered her clothes and ran back to her bedroom and closed the door, put jeans back on and got into bed, both pairs with a belt. It was 12:20 am and all the kids in her school were usually in bed at 8:30 pm and fast asleep...she was awake and totally frightened out of her wits. She would not sleep until her father passed out for fear of similar repercussions before the night was out.

A single gunshot echoed out around her home and she screamed into her pillow with fear...please I need help and when she lifted her head from the pillow and opened her eyes her pillow glowed orange and she settled instantly. She heard her father bumble his way back into the house swearing as he went but as of right now she wasn’t scared any more. She was calm and quiet. There was a feeling now that she remembered from years ago returning to her body and mind and she closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep...almost as if she was cradled in a protective layer that she could feel.

Her father would never hurt again after tonight...