Little Lady

Ed's POV

I finished off singing my final song: Cold Coffee.

"Thanks everyone." I waved as everyone began to cheer. It gave me a buzz performing, it made me feel alive. I absolutely loved it.

I walked off into the staff room to get my stuff before leaving. The TV was on and it was the news.

"13 year old girl Angel Mason was found dead in the boot of her Uncle's car in the early hours of this morning. It was her birthday-" The TV carried on.

I studied the screen when they showed a photograph of the young girl. I gasped in horror. I knew this person. It was that little girl, Angel from the Winter Camp. The girl who told me about all her problems.

She was dead.

"Horrible, isn't it?" A man in the room who I had failed to notice before spoke.

"I briefly knew that girl." I told him.

"Wow. Apparently her Uncle Dan was using her as a prostitute to get him money." He told me.

"Oh gosh." I remembered her telling me about her Uncle Dan.

"My name's Mikill." He went to shake my hand. "I've heard your songs, they're amazing."

"Thanks." I said. "I started writing a song about that girl Angel, but I couldn't think of a way to finish it. I guess I know how to now..."

"Maybe I could help write a song with you?" Mikill asked expectantly.

"Uh, sure." I smiled.

My mind was flooded with thoughts of Angel and how terrible her life must have been. If only I could've done something, she might still be alive.

Mikill and I began writing a rap, however we kept the chorus of the song the same as the song I previously wrote (The A Team). It was actually pretty good. Here I was, sitting with a complete stranger writing a song about a girl who got murdered by her uncle.

"Just one last line." Mikill was in deep thought.

"Little lady left this earth in the worst way, all because she got a card on her 13th birthday." I spoke.

"That's awesome... well, not awesome... I mean, it's a good lyric..." Mikill trailed off.

"Yeah dude, I know." I said.

Instantly, my phone began to ring from the inside of my pocket.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Ed, it's me." Louise's angelic voice spoke gently through the phone. After her being sick yesterday, I told her it wasn't wise for her to come into work today. So instead, she told me that she was going to her friend Lottie's house this morning.

"Oh hey! I'm just on my way home now." I told her and stood up from where I was sitting. I moved the phone away from my ear and said to Mikill: "I gotta go mate."

"Alright." He acknowledged that I had to leave and gave me a nod.

"Oh, okay," Louise said once I had moved the phone back up to my ear. She sounded a bit anxious.

"Are you alright baby?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She tried to sound cheery. "I'm still at Lottie's but I'm leaving in a bit."

"Alright, I'll see you at home." I smiled.

"Mhmm, bye." She hung up abruptly.

She definitely was not okay. But I think I had something up my sleeve to make sure she was feeling better. She just had to wait until Christmas. And I just had to hope my friend Jamal wouldn't forget about me.

I began the short walk home and reached there in 5 minutes. As soon as I walked in, the landline phone was ringing. I quickly locked the door and then paced to the phone.

"Uh, hello?" A girl on the other end of the line spoke.

"Hi, who's this?" I asked.

"Oh it's me Lottie. Hey, Ed." She greeted.

"Oh hi, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if Louise was there." She replied.

"She's with you, isn't she?" I asked confused. "Or she just was anyway."

"No...that's why I'm calling. I haven't spoken to her in a week." Lottie revealed.

"Oh..." That didn't make any sense. "Uh, she's not in right now, but I'll tell her to call you when she gets home."

"Alright, cheers Ed." She thanked.

"No problem. See ya." I said and then hung up.

Louise lied? Why would she do that? Unless she had something to hide that is... She did sound really off before. She's been acting strange ever since yesterday morning. Something was wrong.

"Ed? You home?" I heard Louise say from the doorway.

"Yeah, in here." I called her.

She walked in, her face drained in colour and she held a fake smile. I could see right through her.

"Lottie okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, she couldn't stop going on about these new shoes she bought yesterday." Louise lied.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "It was nice seeing her."

"Strange that." I began. "Because Lottie just called and said that she hasn't seen you in a week. She told me to tell you to call her by the way."

"Oh..." She trailed off.

I walked up to her so we were face to face. I now noticed that her eyes were all puffy as if she'd been crying. On the outside, she looked fine, but when I looked into her eyes I saw that they possessed so much more emotion. Fear.

"Have you been crying?" My voice came out as a whisper. Slowly, I moved my hand up to her face and stroked it lightly. "Lou?"

She couldn't speak. All she did was nod her head and then millions of tiny tears trailed down her face.

"Hey, don't cry." I was concerned. I drew her into a comforting hug as she weeped on my shoulder. I felt my shoulder going wet. She was really upset. "What's the matter?"

I pulled back from our hug to see a frightened and upset Louise. I hated seeing her like this. I moved my hand to her face and wiped my shirt sleeves under her eyes.

"Nothing, I'm fine. I'm just being stupid." She shook her head.

"You're clearly not fine."

"Just ignore me. I'm being pathetic." She pushed her tears away with her hand.

"I don't care if you're being 'pathetic' or 'stupid', just tell me." I told her.

She shook her head.

"Alright," I sighed. I knew she really didn't want to talk about it. "You don't have to tell me right now if you don't want to."

She sniffled in reply.

"But I want to see that gorgeous smile of yours. I know it's in there somewhere." I poked her playfully in the stomach. "C'mon."

The edges of her lips twitched a little, satisfying me. I held both of her hands and swung them in and out.

"But if something is upsetting you, you know you can tell me anything, right?" I smiled at her.

"I know." She sniffed. "Thanks, Ed."

"It's okay." I leaned in and kissed her. Salt water swirled around my mouth but I didn't care. I was going to be right here with Louise where she needed me.

"There is something I should tell you." She confessed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I wasn't at Lottie's house today." She admitted.

"Yeah, I already knew that."

"I was... I was at the doctors." She informed me.

"Oh because you were feeling ill yesterday?" I realised. "You could've told me that. Why didn't you want me to know?"

"Because..." She trailed off.

"Because?" I was confused.

"I-I found a lump and I got frightened. My...my mum died from cancer and it sort of shook me up. So I went to the doctors today to get it checked out." She let out a breath.

"Wait, wait, wait. What?"

"I went to the doctors today and I'll get the results back in a few days to a week." It pained her to say. I could tell she was holding back her tears.

"What are you saying, Lou?" I shook my head. No. It couldn't be.

"I might have cancer, Ed." A tear slipped from her eye.

The feeling that over came me was indescribable. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest I thought it was going to explode. My hands were numb and sweaty and my eyes were stinging.

"You..." I shook my head. "You might have cancer?"

"I might not. I don't know..." She shrugged her shoulders.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly. I didn't ever want to let her go. She was my Louise.

"I won't let anything happen to you," I whispered in her ear. "I promise."

I felt her grip on me tighten. I wanted to protect her: keep her out of harms way. Then, then I knew. Well... I think I had known for a long time, but I was just too afraid to admit it. But I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew for certain.

I was in love with Louise.