Right okay so basically I spent last Friday shadowing a social worker! We spent the day in a few meetings and I spoke to one woman (I think she was a senior social work practitioner type person) anyway, we were talking about when young people are taken into emergency care, which got me thinking about my past and my own experiences. So basically I decided to write a fanfiction, this chapter is a lot more fiction that anything from my own life but it's quite possible the next chapter will be a bit more biographical (obviously with added drama.)

Hope you enjoy!

Oh p.s. I uploaded this especially for MirrorSparkles1234 because she sounds a bit glum. :)

It was the year 1998 on a gloomy and wet November afternoon, the sun had already began to dip out of the sky leaving the neighbourhood slowly submerging into darkness, and a 12 year old Jacqueline Burrows had just walked through her front door. Little Jacky had always been an odd young girl, she was smarter than her peers which made them feel inferior to her and therefore gave them a reason to bully her. The school had bought her Mother in multiple times in a bid to try and understand why she had such a tough time making friends but with no such luck. Paula often wondered whether the lack of a Father figure contributed to it, or perhaps her isolated childhood without having any siblings to play with. To be truly honest though, Paula Burrow's had always felt detached from her daughter, they had nothing in common and although deep down she loved her, there was something in her mind that told her this would be the best thing for the pre-teen.

Jacky kicked her soggy shoes off in the hall way, flung her dripping coat on a hook and began to make her way quickly up the stairs. She heard a familiar but softened voice call quietly from the kitchen,
"Jacky love, come in here please..." The fiery haired twelve year old sighed and stomped back down stairs into the kitchen where her mother sat at the table with a cup of tea. In the corner of the room she set her eyes on two suitcases, before flicking her emerald eyes back to focus on her Mum. "Sit down a minute love." She nodded her head towards the empty wooden chair across the table from her and pained a smile at her young daughter. The young girl sat down at the table with a puzzled expression
"What's going on Mum?" She queried with a sense of childish innocence and naivety.

Just a week ago Paula Burrows only daughter was due to turn twelve, as usual she tried to get to have a party but Jacky being Jacky refused, saying "I don't want to invite anyone over, they're all imbeciles!" This in turn broke down into the usual screaming match between mother and daughter, leaving Jack crying upstairs into a book while Paula drowned her sorrows in a bottle of supermarket vodka. Unfortunately at that moment the young mum looked to the house phone on the wall. This took her mind back to a conversation she had with a male acquaintance just a few days before.

"Heeeey Pauly B, Dale here, how's it going? Listen, sorry I didn't get back to you after our date the other day, I've been kinda busy."
"Oh hi Dale, um yeah I'm good, that's fine don't worry about it." Paula had been introduced to Dale by an old friend recently, and although they'd only been on one date, she felt something special with him.
"Yeah so anyway, I'm gunna cut to the chase, I've got a little proposition for you."
"Oh right, um what is it?"
"Well see the thing is, I've been offered a job in India...and I'm going to take it."
"Oh...well yeah that's cool, I mean um..it's early, I mean..y'know..."
"Wait a sec, just let me finish Paula. I...want you to come with me." There was a long period of silence between the pair as she processed what had just been said, "Paul'?"
"No. I mean, I'm sorry Dale, I've got a daughter." and with that she hung up, not expecting to hear from him again.

She stood in the kitchen, leaning against the sink, staring at the phone and cradling the bottle of vodka. 'I can't. Can I? Maybe it would be best...she'd be better off without me...' She thought to herself through a mind clouded by the tingle of alcohol and emotion before picking up the phone and dialling his number.
"Yello"
"Uh hi Dale it's me, Paula." Her voice cracked a little as she spoke, making the young man's mind rush with concern.
"Oh hey, you alright?"
"Um yeah..well no, um listen, I've been thinking, I want to come to India with you."
There was a familiar silence between the pair again, this time as her contemplated this revelation.
"What? Are you sure? What about your daughter?" Paula sighed hopelessly as a tear fell down her cheek.
"She'll be better off without me." He though it best not to question, after all he was getting what he wanted, a beautiful young woman to come with him to India.
"Right well, we leave next Friday."
"Okay, just let me sort some stuff out yeah? and I'll get back to you." With that she hung up the phone once again and set about sobering herself up before searching for the number of the office of the social services for the area.

Back in the present day and Paula Burrows sat at the dark wooden table, studying her daughter's shining auburn hair and young face, even at this age she could tell she was going to be stunning. Earlier that morning she had received a phone call from a Natalie Patel from the duty social work team in Bristol, finalising the plans for later that afternoon and giving the stranger all the details of her young daughter. Her daughter was still staring at her Mum across the table, confused and concerned, the query about the suitcases behind her in the forefront of her mind.
"Mum?" She prompted the sad woman to give her some sort of explanation.
"Oh god. Jacky, I love you so much, you know that right? Paula sniffed a little as she spoke to her innocent little girl, she couldn't bare to be hurting her this much, but she knew it was for the best. "I just want you to know I'm-" her anxious confession was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. With a heavy sigh Paula heaved herself out of the chair, leaving her cold cup of tea, and opened the door. Jacky heard the unknown voice in her hallway.
"Hello Miss Burrows. Is she ready?" Paula couldn't bare to speak to the snooty professional so she beckoned her to follow, and lead her into the kitchen.

"Mum? What's going on?" Jacky climbed down from the kitchen table and stood in the doorway, her green eyes glistening. "Who's that?" She looked towards the strange woman behind her mum.
"I'm sorry Jacky." Miss Burrows kissed her confused daughter and slid past her towards the two black suitcases. Jacky turned and faced her Mum with tears brimming in her eyes,
"Sorry for what?" He voice crumpled into a heart breaking whisper, "Mum please, what's going on?" The torrent of tears began to run down her pale young face, Paula refused to look at the young girl as she escaped out the back door with her things, muttering painfully under her breath,
"Goodbye my sweet." She struggled down the path without turning to look back, Ms Patel called down the drive after her, exasperated and annoyed,
"Miss Burrows! Come back, you can't just leave!" Without the energy to give a second thought the woman climbed into the red ford escort, shot it into gear and rushed off the drive. Jacky came to a sudden realisation as she ran out onto the drive and tried to run down the road. The less that sympathetic social worker grabbed her by the arm as she cried,
"Mum! Mum! MUM COME BACK!"