Daisy Madigan's Paradise (3 page)

'Daisy,' she
answered standing still.

'You're a good
artist,' he said, pointing to her sketch book.

Daisy shook
her head shyly, 'not really,' she whispered.

But he nodded
strongly, 'You are... honestly.'

She
smiled.

'So... what
are you doing here all on your own?'

This time,
Daisy was the one to shrug.

'That's okay,
if you'd rather not say. I get it,' he said sadly.

'I really
should go,' Daisy said. 'My... erm... Dad's waiting for me.'

Jack smiled,
'Yeh, okay. Maybe I'll see you around... Daisy.'

She reddened,
nodded and turned, running away as fast as she could.

Within
minutes, Daisy stood outside her home. The home that wouldn't be
home for much longer. Taking a deep breath, she slid the key into
the lock and walked inside. Her Dad sat on the bottom step of the
stairs.

'Daisy?' he
whispered.

The shock of
hearing him speak made her drop the keys. Leaning forward to pick
them up, she said nothing, just waited to see what he had to say
for himself.

'We have to
leave,' he stuttered. He didn't mention the almighty mess she'd
made. Perhaps he understood.

'I know. I saw
the letter.'

She watched
him struggle to speak.

'Where are we
going to go?' she asked.

He gulped
hard, 'I...I...don't...' he croaked, 'I don't know, love.'

He hadn't
called her 'love' in such a long time that she felt a lump in her
throat.

'Do we have
any money?'

Beau slowly
shook his head.

'You mean, you
and mum never saved anything up?'

He looked
embarrassed.

'But why? What
about me, Dad? Did you never think about me?'

She was
angry.

'Daisy, I
know... I know you're angry. I'm angry too. I never thought this
would happen. I always thought we would be okay the way we
were.'

'You should
have planned for emergencies Dad. You never know what's going to
happen in life. I... I thought you and Mum were better prepared
than this. This is crazy. So we don't have any money, we don't have
anywhere to go. You don't have a job now that you're drunk all the
time. What are we gonna do? Dad, answer me that? Oh and while
you're actually talking to me, perhaps you can explain this too,'
she shouted as she turned around and lifted up her sweatshirt to
reveal the tattoo inked into her back.

When Beau saw
it, he gasped loudly.

'But, you're
only 15,' he stuttered. 'It's not supposed to happen until you're
16.'

'What Dad?
What is it? And why shouldn't it happen until I'm 16?'

Beau stood up
to take a closer look.

'Semper
Fidelis,' he said with a sad smile. 'I should have known.'

'But what is
it Dad? I don't understand?'

Beau's
eyebrows knitted together as he turned his daughter back around,
placing a hand on her shoulders, Daisy saw a tear slide down his
cheek.

'I'm sorry,
Daisy. But this is all happening at the wrong time. You don't
deserve any of this. You deserve a much better father than me. I'm
so very sorry. You're better off without me. Now that I know you've
developed already. I know you can get on with your life. I know
you're going to be alright. You're so strong, in more ways than you
know. You will get through this and you shouldn't have to do it
with a drunken father to deal with. You'll manage, Daisy. I promise
you that.'

The last few
words came out in sobs.

'But Dad,' she
whispered. 'I don't understand.'

'We have to be
out of the house by tomorrow afternoon. You're going to be alright,
Daisy,' he said sadly. Leaning forward, he gently kissed her
forehead and then before she knew what had happened, the front door
was open and he'd gone. Again. But this time it felt final. Daisy
knew he'd left for good. She knew she was now on her own.

CHAPTER
6

She still had
the money from the sale of the car that she tucked carefully into
her bra top. All her treasured belongings were folded and placed
into the large rucksack that she hiked onto her back. As she
stepped through the front door, she took a long look backwards,
wiping her eyes roughly with the back of her fingerless gloved hand
and closed the door behind her.

She knew
exactly where she would go. It was her second home after all.

Walking
through the old wrought iron gates, she almost felt like she was
being welcomed home. For the first time in weeks, Daisy smiled,
took a long deep breath and stepped over the threshold into Abney
Park.

Taking her
usual route, she followed the well worn pathway until she reached
the old lion, as she liked to call him. When she got there, she
gently stroked his sleeping face and let her rucksack fall to the
floor beside her. She even did a little twirl before falling onto
her bottom with a sigh.

Laying
backwards onto the moss covered ground, Daisy looked upwards at the
patchy blue sky, watching as cloud after cloud scattered past in a
hurry. The tall trees swayed in the breeze as if dancing to a
silent overture. Daisy began to imagine what they could be dancing
to as she watched intently how they started to move more slowly
across the sky. Soon she was humming along, trying to match the
song to the movements, like a family game she remembered from
Christmas time where they would take it in turns to hum a song and
the others would have to guess what song it was. Daisy smiled as
she remembered how good a voice her dad had. He was such an amazing
singer. In fact, he could quite easily have done that for a
living... if he wasn't always so drunk these days.

Unkeen to
think about her father, Daisy returned her attention to the
potential sounds of the dancing trees. Ultimately choosing
Coldplay's Paradise as the perfect song. With her eyes now closed,
Daisy sang quietly along:

'When she was just a girl
She expected the
world
But it
flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her
sleep
And
dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise,
Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her
eyes'

'It sounds
like you're singing about yourself... Daisy,' said a familiar
voice, making her jump up in fear.

'Jesus!' she
yelped at the same time.

'Oh... there I
go again, frightening the life out of you. Sorry,' Jack said,
blushing.

'Do you mind
if I sit down?' he asked politely.

Eyeing him up
and down, Daisy decided she had no choice. It's not like she owned
the park.

'Sure,' she
said, moving her bag out of his way.

'You're an
amazing singer,' he offered.

Daisy
spluttered, knowing very well that he was lying. She had always
sounded terrible when she tried to sing. Her mum had always cringed
and laughed.

'Then you must
be tone deaf because I can't sing.'

He looked at
her with an odd expression.

'I ain't tone
deaf and I'm telling you, you can sing. Really, in fact I'd go so
far as to say your singing is even better than your drawing and
that's saying something.'

Daisy laughed,
'I really think you must be on something, then.'

'Actually, I'm
a musician myself so I know when someone can sing.'

'Whatever,'
said Daisy before realising how horribly rude that sounded.
'Sorry,' she added, lowering her eyes to the ground.

'S'okay. What
are you doing here, anyway? You look like a runaway or
something?'

Daisy shrugged
her shoulders.

Jack held up
his hands, 'Still not ready to talk then? No problem.'

Daisy felt
even guiltier. She had been brought up to be polite and friendly
and here she was being rude and totally unfriendly.

'Look, I'm
sorry... it's just... a long, complicated story, that's all.'

'Well, Daisy,'
he said as he leaned backwards on to his elbow, 'I've got all the
time in the world.'

CHAPTER
7

It was the
first time Daisy had ever had a real friend. Crazy, considering she
was now 15. But she'd always felt different from the other kids at
school and it never really helped when most of them at that place
had been so mean to her. In the end, she'd just decided she was a
loner, at least at school, anyway. Away from school, she had never
needed any friends because she was so close to her mum and dad. The
thought choked her up and she tried to push them from her mind. She
didn't want to cry again. She'd spent so much time crying over the
past few months that she felt all cried out.

Turning over
in the darkness, Daisy shivered as she watched the near full moon
through the hole in the roof. She zipped the sleeping bag up
tighter around her face and watched a slither of cloud momentarily
darken the world around her. When the moon appeared again, she
sighed, rolling over on to her side and closed her eyes.

She'd been
sleeping in the dilapidated old chapel for just over two months and
it was getting colder, but it was the only place she could find
that wasn't completely open to the elements. She'd gotten by okay
until then but the last of her money would soon run out and then
what would she do? She'd had no choice but to buy herself a decent
sleeping bag and some other 'camping' equipment to allow her to
continue to live outdoors, but the lack of funds was beginning to
worry her. She fell asleep wondering how she would feed
herself.

The following
morning, Daisy woke up to find Jack sitting a few metres away
watching her.

'Hey,' she
yawned. 'What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?'

'It's Sunday,
Daisy,' he laughed, throwing a stone in her direction.

'Oh, right,'
she said as she climbed out of the sleeping bag and shivered
slightly. It was starting to get a little chilly.

'Are you okay,
Daisy?'

She nodded,
folding it and shoving it back into her rucksack with the rest of
her worldly possessions.

'Why do you
ask?'

'Well, it's
seriously cold now. I don't know how you're coping with all
this.'

'I'm coping
fine thank you very much. I can look after myself,' she said, her
chin jutting out in front of her.

Jack frowned,
'Daisy... you can't go on like this.'

'Course I
can,' she sulked. 'Besides, where am I supposed to go? What am I
supposed to do? I'm 15, Jack. I can look after myself just fine.
Just... just... mind your own business.'

Her face
flushed a deep red colour as she realised she was having her first
argument with her only friend. She didn't like it. But when she
turned back to apologise, he'd gone.

'Great,' she
muttered under her breath before plonking herself down on the stone
floor. She held her head in her hands and shook it. Tears
threatened to erupt but she knocked them back, refusing to cry. She
never wanted to cry again... about anything.

Taking a piece
of stale bread out of her bag, she stood up, put the bag on her
back and walked out of the chapel into the cool fresh air. She took
a bite, chewed for a few moments and tried hard to swallow what
tasted like a piece of cardboard. It was gross. But it was all she
had and she really didn't want to spend her last few pounds... not
yet anyway.

Walking
through the cemetery, she shied away from the early morning
joggers, dog walkers and photographers keen to take advantage of
the light. She felt like her space was being invaded but it was the
same every Sunday morning at Abney Park.

Everywhere she
went, she spotted a stranger wandering about and she wanted to
scream at them to go away. But it didn't belong to her. She knew
that... deep down.

So she decided
to take a walk away from the park. As she ambled through the large
open gates that led away from the vast forested green space, her
heart began to race and she felt nervous. But she held her head up
high and carried on walking along the road as cars sped by beside
her.

Crossing at
the traffic lights, she spotted a small corner shop with fruit and
veg on a stall outside. Her mouth watered as she remembered the
flavours of those juicy apples. She could even smell them as she
moved closer and closer until she stood directly in front of the
stall. Sweet and tangy, the memory filled her mouth as it began to
water. Before she'd even given it a single thought, Daisy swiped an
apple and took a long hard bite, the juices dripping down her
chin.

'Oy, you
better be planning on paying for that,' shouted an angry looking
Indian man who'd appeared from nowhere.

Daisy,
startled, swallowed it and turned to run. Her heartbeat increased
and before she knew what she'd done, she was back at the
cemetery... in a matter of seconds.

Confused at
the speed in which she'd run home, Daisy checked to make sure she
wasn't being followed and rushed back through the gates, looking
for a hidden spot where she could sit and try to make sense of what
had just happened.

As she settled
down onto the moss-covered ground in a corner hidden from view,
Daisy looked at the bitten apple in her hand guiltily.

I stole it
, she thought.
I've never stolen a single thing. Mum would be so
mad.

Soon, the
tears she'd been trying to keep at bay flooded through her tear
ducts as she sobbed her heart out. 'I'm not a thief,' she
whispered, shaking her head.

An
out-stretched hand patted her gently on her shoulder. Daisy didn't
even look up as Jack took a seat by her side. She knew it was him.
Since they'd become friends, she always knew when he was near, she
could somehow feel his presence.