You Saved Me From Myself » Places

         Darrin looked up as he heard someone speaking to him. "Good morning. You must be Darrin- I'm Ella.", the woman said, her hand being offered to him. He flicked his brown eyes to look at Ella. He took in everything about her. He snapped out of the stupor he seemed to be in when Zayn, Zaira, and his mother entered the large kitchen. Zayn and Zaira were identical twins and looked so very much like their father. They both had light brown hair, Darrin's smile, his eyes. Perhaps it was better that they didn't take after Hannah. Darrin didn't show any signs of acknowledging any of his family. Instead, he rose from his seat and walked out of the room. He made his way back upstairs to his bedroom and closed the door. He flopped upon the bed, closing his eyes. He was beginning to feel the pain again. Seeing Ella reminded him of Hannah. He wasn't sure why but he would make sure that she wasn't getting too close to him. The handsome man reached over to his bedside table and poured himself out two pills. He quickly took them, allowing the drugs to work their magic on him.

Judith frowned as Darrin left the room. She smiled apologetically to Ella. She wasn't going to say anything in front of the children. Zaira was eyeing Ella whereas Zayn seemed to be trying to look anywhere except for at Ella. "Hello! You guys can call me Ella. I'll be helping out your grandmother and your father to take care of you guys. If that's alright with the both of you, of course." Ella said. "Dad doesn't take care of us." Zayn said quietly. Zaira quickly nudged him hard in the side as if trying to tell him to shut up. The young girl looked up at the woman that was going to be taking care of them. "That's fine. It'll be fun to have someone new to play with! Won't it Zayn?" Zaira said, looking to her brother who only nodded. Judith smiled at the two. "Why don't you two go and play outside? Stay near the house. I'm going to show our friend around." she said, smiling. The two children quickly made their way away from the adults, running to play outside. "I'm sorry if Darrin wasn't friendly. He's not been himself since Hannah left. I've tried everything that I can think of and nothing works." Judith sighed heavily. It was obvious that she was under a great deal of stress. "Come, I'll show you around the house." The older woman led the way, showing Ella the ground floor first. They went through the living room, workout room, play room, and finally the activity room. "Now we'll go upstairs. I'll show you to your room first so you can leave your things in there." Judith smiled at Ella. She was very happy that the woman was there.

Judith made her way up the stairs and turned to the first door on the left. She opened the door and allowed Ella to enter. "This will be your room. You are more than welcome to redecorate as you wish. Darrin won't mind. Just let me know how much money you'll need. It's the least that I can do." Judith allowed for Ella to look around the room before gently interrupting the younger woman. "Let's finish with the tour. Then you can unpack as I fix an early supper." she said. Judith led them back into the hallway. She pointed out that Darrin's room was actually beside of Ella's, and the children's rooms were across from the two adults. Judith then proceed to show the other play room, spare guest rooms, and finally the music room. The older woman opened the door ushering Ella inside. She shut the door. The room was black and red filled with all sorts of instruments. It was obvious that Darrin, nor anyone else for that matter had been inside of this room for some time. Upon the walls were posters and pictures of the band that Darrin had been a part of. They looked so happy. From the arrangement of all of the items in the room it was obvious that at some time Darrin had been very proud of this room. "He hasn't been in here for at least a year. It breaks my heart that he's no longer doing what he loves. I'm not sure if you ever saw the band perform at all, but you could see that all of them had such energy. They loved performing more than anything. I can only pray that he'll pull himself out of the mess he's in." Judith said, frowning. "Well, I need to work on supper. I'm not going to be staying here tonight, I'm sorry. I've not seen my husband in a few months. He refuses to come here with Darrin the way that he is." The older woman exited the music room and headed downstairs to prepare the food.