The Companion

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Uncut Version
by Stardust Grrl

Part VII: Home Again

Margaret smiled as she pulled up in front of her parents’ flat. She had such a great time the night before. She sighed happily. "I wonder if I’ll ever do that again," she said out loud with a laugh. She looked down at her clothes. "If Angie ever wants these back, it looks like I’ll get to!" Margaret liked to talk to herself. She didn’t like dead silence that much, so she talked to herself occasionally to break it.

"Such a perfect day!" Margaret breathed in the sweet July air. She looked at the flat. Everything looked the same, of course.

She took a deep breath as she opened the door. She plastered a big smile on her face, ready to greet her family. Here goes, she thought.

She opened the door. "Hallo!" she called. She found her parents sitting in the living room, talking to someone. "What the—Andy! What a surprise! What are you doing here?" Margaret was happy. Andy’s presence didn’t make her distraught or anything, just a little curious. He usually didn’t come over to talk to her parents; he just came over to see her, a treat that Margaret could easily live without.

"Andy’s come over to tell us some things," Margaret’s mother explained. She seemed especially disgusted by Margaret today. "And what is that rubbish you’re wearing?"

"What, you don’t like it?" Margaret straightened her top and smoothed out her jeans.

"I do," Andy said. He ogled Margaret’s curvaceous features, which were easily seen due to her tight clothing. Andy’s staring was met by a spiteful glance from her mother. He turned a bright red and looked down at the floor.

"Margaret, Andy’s told us some interesting things," Margaret’s father said.

"Have you, Andy?" Margaret smiled. She instantly realised what he could have told them and turned a very pale white. She looked at Andy.

Andy smiled nervously at Margaret. Oh no! He thought. What have I done? He put his hands in his head and silently cursed himself.

"It’s alright, Andy," Margaret’s mother said, patting him on the back. "You’ve done the right thing."

"What?" Margaret asked in a meek voice.

"Margaret, I can’t believe what you’ve done!" Margaret’s father threw down the paper he was holding. "Why did you have to do this to us? It’s a terrible, shameful thing! You get out of the house, now! And don’t ever come back, you bitch!" With his anger-filled speech, Peggy began to cry. Andy looked at Ward in disbelief and stood up.

"What…?" Margaret decided to play the sweet little innocent girl role. She was very scared on the inside and her knees were shaking.

"Damn it, Margaret! You know what you’ve done! You’re bisexual!" Margaret’s father yelled and his face got all red.

Margaret turned an extremely pale white and felt like she was going to faint, but started to get angrier and angrier with each word he said.

"Andy’s told us everything. The drugs, the men, the…women," Ward said in disgust. Meanwhile, Peggy was bawling. "I can’t believe you! And you weren’t even at your flat last night! Where were you? Having sex with women?"

Margaret, being the person she was that acted on feelings and not thoughts, stomped over to Andy. She made a tight fist and socked him as hard as she could on his jaw. Andy hit the floor hard and was out cold. "You freaking bloody bastard! I trusted you, damn it! I trusted you! Damn you! Freaking son of a bitch!" She stormed out of the room and ran into her bedroom. She slammed the door violently behind her.

"I can’t believe he’s done this!" Margaret yelled. She was blinking back tears. She looked around her room. Everything was packed into boxes except her three favourite posters. She took them off the wall, rolled them up, and stuck them into a box marked "Posters."

She glanced out her window. "Thank God I’m on the first floor!" she said. She opened her window. She could easily fit through. She took a box and climbed out the window to her Volkswagen.

Soon enough, Margaret’s room was empty except for one box and her Volkswagen was dangerously full. She crawled back in through the window and looked at the box, marked "Stuffed Animals." She opened the box and happy childhood memories flooded back to her. The happy times she had at the playground, her father pushing her on the swing, Margaret always wanting to go "Higher, Daddy, higher!"…every night when her mother tucked her in and sang her a lullaby…going over to her grandparents’ house, of whom were long gone now…Margaret sighed and smiled.

She took out her favourite one, a ragged old teddy bear, and gave it a hug. Her childhood was so happy and she didn’t want it to be forgotten. She left her bear on the floor of her room and took the box with the rest of the toys to Anne’s room.

Anne was crouched in a corner, clutching a piece of white chalk. "Margaret, I’m scared!" She threw herself at Margaret for a big hug. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing, Annie," Margaret hugged her. "It’s alright. Annie, I want you to have this." Margaret opened the box and showed Anne all of the toys inside.

"But you love them!" Anne was a very caring girl for a child of her age. "Why are you giving them to me?"

"Annie," Margaret’s eyes watered. "I’m going to go away for a while. But don’t you worry, little one, because I’ll be back to visit you."

"Where are you going?" Anne asked a lot of questions.

"I have to go on a trip for a while," Margaret wiped her eyes. "I’ll be back."

"Why are you going on a trip?"

"Annie, there are some things you won’t understand until you’re older. So, guess what? When you get older, I’ll tell you."

"Okay…but you are coming back?"

Margaret paused. "Someday. I will come back someday."

"Do you promise?"

Realising that this could very well be the last time that she would ever see her little sister’s face, she nearly burst into tears. "I promise," she said between breaths.

"Margaret, it’s okay," Anne patted her on the back. She smiled at her big sister. "I know what’ll make it better! I’ll sing you a song." Anne thought for a while. "How about a rhyme? Georgi Porgi. That’s a good one."

Margaret smiled at Anne as she recited it. "Georgi Porgi, pudding and pie. Kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play…um…"

Margaret laughed. "Remember? It goes, Georgi Porgi ran away."

"Oh! That’s it! Georgi Porgi ran away." Anne giggled.

"Little one," Margaret said, getting up, "I must be going now. I promise I’ll come back to see you."

"Okay!" Anne smiled and hugged her. "Margaret, I love you. You’re my favourite big sister."

"I love you too, Anne. And you’re my favourite little sister." She smiled and waved to Anne. "Bye bye now," she smiled.

"Bye!" Anne waved.

Margaret walked out to the living room after getting her teddy bear from her room. She found Peggy hovering over Andy with a bag of ice, who was just beginning to come to. Her father was trying to calm himself down by reading the paper.

"Mum, dad," Margaret said, clearing her throat, "You have done your best to raise me, and you have done a fine job. I commend you for that. Thank you for everything. But this—this is just how I am, and nothing in your power could have or ever will change that."

Her mother looked up from her nursing. Her father looked up from his paper. They exchanged glances for a few seconds, with her mother’s gazes yelling "No!" and her father’s saying, "She has to go." Andy opened his eyes and saw three identical Margarets, which was all too much for him. He accordingly fainted.

Peggy wanted to cradle Margaret in her arms like the good old days, but she knew her husband would not allow that. Margaret was shunned from their family—She’s not my daughter anymore, she thought, bursting into tears. Peggy dropped the ice and ran back to her bedroom.

Margaret, Ward, and the comatose Andy were left alone in the room. "Margaret," Ward began, "Goodbye. I wish you the best in life. Remember all I taught you." Tears welled up in Margaret’s eyes, and she bent down to hug her father. He shook his head. "Goodbye."

The dam that had once before seemed impermeable to any sort of feelings broke suddenly and a torrent of tears streamed down Margaret’s cheeks. "Oh, daddy!" She dropped to her knees and wept. The teddy bear dropped silently to the floor beside her.

"Margaret, goodbye." Ward said in a final tone of voice. On the inside, Ward was crying. But Margaret had disgraced her family, and such a thing was not to be taken lightly. He was doing what had to be done.

Margaret looked at her dear daddy, her big blue eyes reddened from her incessant crying. "Goodbye, daddy," Margaret sniffed. "I—I’ll always love you." She started to cry even more as she got up and picked up her bear. She walked out the door, giving the flat one last look over. This was the place where she had grown up, and now she was supposed to forget everything about it? It just could not be done. Nevertheless, she walked outside, closing the door for the last time.

Margaret slowly walked to the street. When she got to her car, she turned around and looked at her old flat. It looked the same, but the feelings and mentalities had all changed. She wondered why it had to be that way as she turned the ignition key, tossing her bear onto the passenger seat atop a box. Margaret drove off, wondering when she would see her family again.

Ward was depressed. He had kicked his little girl out of his house…he couldn’t believe he had done such an atrocious thing. He slowly walked to the bathroom to get some medicine to take his mind off of the grief and sadness he was feeling.

Peggy, hearing the door to the bathroom shut, peeked her head out of her room. She walked to the living room and found Andy sitting up with his head in his hands. She was filled with a sudden rage.

"Andy, I hope you’re happy!" she yelled. "I can’t imagine why you wanted to do this—to break my family apart! I’m sure there’s some underlying, two-faced scheme under all this nonsense—there always is—where you’ll benefit somehow. But why, Andy, why? I thought you were a good bloke!"

"Mrs. Canterbury," Andy said shakily, "I’m so sorry…I had no idea it would turn out like this."

"You’d better be sorry!"

"I am, ma’am."

"Why in bloody—no, I won’t say it—why did you do this?"

"Um," Andy wrung his hands. "I’ve always…well—I’ve, um…"

"What? Out with it!"

"I’ve always loved Margaret!"

Peggy rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows that," she said. "But if you loved her, why would you do this?"

"I thought—I thought that if I told you all the bad stuff that Margaret’s into, you’d…make her marry me…"

"What!"

"Well, I’d marry her to calm her down, you know. I’d come out the hero."

Peggy’s face turned a beet red with fury. "You egotistical son of a bitch," Peggy got up and rolled up her sleeves. "Get out of my house or I’ll sock you one! Out!"

"Okay, okay! I’m leaving!" Andy backed away towards the door. "Don’t hurt me!" Andy cried as Peggy charged toward him. He high tailed it to the street and ran as fast as his legs could carry him in the direction of his house.

"And don’t come back, you bloody wanker!" Peggy yelled at the top of her lungs. The neighbour across the street peered at Peggy, shocked, through an upstairs window. Peggy flashed her an obscene gesture and stormed back inside the house. "God, some people!" Peggy said to herself.

Margaret pulled up in front of her flat, once her home away from home but now her first. She started to drag the cumbersome boxes out of her car and into her new home with a sigh.

Margaret remembered her beloved sister and how she had comforted Margaret with her little rhyme. What was it? She thought. "Georgi Porgi!" she said. She smiled and thought about her sister.

"Georgi!" Margaret dropped the box full of clothes she was carrying on her wooden floor. "Oh my God! Why didn’t I think of it before?"

She rushed to the phone and quickly dialed a phone number. "Georgi!" Margaret said. "Listen, do you want to be my roommate? Wow! Great! When will you be over? Well, I know you’re not all packed, but just come over, okay? Yes, I am a bit sad…it’s a long story. Come quickly! I have so much to tell you! I swear, you won’t believe any of it! It’s not just about the concert, hee hee hee! Okay. Bye!" She hung up the phone. "Thank you Anne!" she said out loud.

The overcast skies that had followed Margaret wherever she went that day seemed to have cleared when she walked outside. It was such a beautiful day now, and it was a wonder Margaret had not noticed it before. Sure, she was still a bit distraught, but things were looking up now. After all, her all-time best friend would soon be her roommate. Maybe she could do alright. Just maybe.

---This page last modified: 16 Dec 2018--

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