Notes: I'm going to be brave here by writing my first ever multi-chapter fic… It's probably all been done before because I'm not very original with my storylines but hopefully if you've read it all before you're prepared to read it all again! I'm going to attempt to update every day but I really doubt it'll happen. I'm going for Sam/ Dylan friendship and I might hint at Sam/ Tom romance if everyone wants me to.

Disclaimer: I don't have any rights to the characters I write about

For my lovely baby sister Scarlet who celebrates her second birthday today xx

She gets lost in books like most people get lost in mazes. She'll start reading one but won't be able to stop; once a book is in her hands it doesn't vacate them until she is completely finished with it. Only then will she stop reading. She's reading now, sat in the staff-room with a book glued to her hands and her eyes glued to the page, absolutely determined to finish the book, or at least the chapter she's on. She stops only to glance at the clock and gives a sigh. It's ages until the end of Dylan's shift; she has plenty of time to read.

She doesn't look up again until she hears a familiar voice calling her name. 'Scarlet, your dad wanted me to tell you that he's going to be late, we've got an incoming RTC' she looks up to find Sam stood on the other side of the table, by the lockers.

'Oh' she says, disappointed 'how long will he be?' she asks, swiping a stray ginger hair out of her face. Sam moves her head from side to side in a 'so-so' gesture before saying.

'I'm really not sure, could be half an hour, could be all night' Sam tells her and she sighs in response, knowing that means he'll be working overnight again.

'Guess I'm stuck here then' she comments with a shrug, preparing herself for yet another night at the hospital. She ends up spending most of her nights there, what with Dylan working all the time and no-one else to look after her. She's grown used to it but she often wishes she could spend more nights in her own bed in her own home, where she feels most comfortable.

'I'll go see if there's any time frame on how long he'll be' Sam promises, slamming her locker shut and turning to face Scarlet. 'Toffee?' she offers, holding out a bag full of them, all wrapped in different colours.

'No thanks' Scarlet replies with a gentle shake of the head 'I cleaned my teeth before I came'

Sam raises her eyebrows, a little confused by this response. 'And that prevents you from having a toffee because?' she asks, trying to draw some sense from the remark she just heard.

'It would cancel out the action of brushing my teeth' she explains 'and besides, the flavours would mix; I had to use Luc's silly strawberry toothpaste and artificial strawberry mixed with toffee does not sound nice'

'But Scarlet' Sam says, placing a hand on the table between them 'you must have brushed your teeth at least two hours ago; I saw you in here at four' she says, giving an almost disbelieving chuckle as she does so.

'True' Scarlet admits 'but that strawberry stuff is strong; I can still taste it in the back of my mouth and I'd hate to even get a hint of the disgusting flavour I'm currently imagining' she points out, backing up her point, determined to be right.

'Fine, fine, if you're sure' Sam gives in, pretty sure there's no way she'll beat Dylan's twelve year old daughter, she's far too like him 'I'll just go and check with your dad when he'll be able to take you home'

Scarlet watches as Sam leaves the room, remembering when she used to call Sam her mother. Not that Sam was ever her biological mother but Scarlet had never properly known her real mother, she'd died before Scarlet could even utter 'Mama' let alone fully acknowledge the world around her. She'd loved Sam like a mother and she was definitely the closest thing she'd ever known to a Mum; she was the only woman she'd ever seen her Dad truly love and the only woman who'd cared about her and Jude, the only woman who possibly still cared about them.

She turned her thoughts to Jude, her older brother, who'd said he'd be at the hospital by five but still hadn't come, even though it was almost six. She exhaled out of pure indignation and frustration at the fact he was never on time before reaching over to her school bag and pulling her phone out of the front pocket. It wasn't anything modern, it wasn't even touch screen but it worked and that was all she cared about. She dials Jude's number and presses the call button while raising the phone up to her ear. She listens to it ring, her impatience mounting with every beep until eventually it goes to voicemail.

'Hi Jude, it's Scout, Dad's probably going to end up working overnight so can you get here as soon as possible? You said you'd be here an hour ago.' She ends the voicemail there before placing the phone down beside her book. She is about to resume her reading when Sam comes back in.

'Scarlet, it looks as if your dad is going to be all night, he's got multiple casualties to deal with.' Scarlet grimaces and opens her mouth to reply but before she gets the chance Sam cuts in 'but he says you can come back to mine if you'd rather sleep in a proper bed tonight, he tells me you've slept here every night so far this week'

Scarlet nodded in response the latter remark while answering verbally to the former. 'If it's all right with you Sam, I'd like it very much to sleep at yours tonight' she says politely 'can I just ring my brother first though?' she asks, picking up the phone from beside her and waving it at Sam. 'He was meant to be here at five' she explains.

'You mean Luc?' Sam asks incredulously 'I thought he'd gone to his mum's for the weekend' she says and she's right.

'No, Luc has gone to his mum's, it's Jude I need to call' Scarlet answers as Sam's bites her lip, suddenly looking as though she's about to cry.

'Scarlet, Jude's gone' Sam says to her, walking around the table and sliding onto the stool next to Scarlet, taking Scarlet's hand in her own. She looks Scarlet directly in the eye and says 'Scarlet, Jude's been gone for months now'

'What do you mean by gone?' Scarlet asks, her voice trembling and tears beginning to sting in her eyes.

'I mean he's missing and has been since July' Sam says, trying to comprehend Scarlet's lack of acknowledgement towards the topic 'someone claims to have seen him walk down a snicket on his way to the hospital at about quarter to five but no-one has seen him since then, he's been missing'

Scarlet shakes her head. 'No' she says, refusing to believe what she's just heard. 'You're lying' she concludes after thinking for a moment 'you're lying' she shouts, pulling her hand away from Sam's. 'I saw him this morning, I saw him' she persists 'he burnt his toast but covered it in marmalade and ate it anyway. He tricked Luc into believing there were ghosts in his bedroom and Luc started crying so I had to comfort him. He used the last of the toothpaste. He said he'd meet me here at five. He said. He promised.' Sam shuts her eyes for a moment, trying to stop herself from crying at Scarlet's reaction but Scarlet goes on. 'I know he's still alive, I know it, I see him every day'

'Scarlet, you're imagining him. Every time you see Jude you're imagining it, all those things you described happened the morning before he went missing' she wipes a tear away from Scarlet's cheek but Scarlet just flinches and jumps off the stool. 'He might still be alive, Scout' Sam begins, trying to find a way to make the girls accept what had happened.

'No.' Scarlet says 'that's Jude's name for me. Jude calls me Scout. Dad and Luc call me Scout. No-one else calls me that.'

'Okay then, Scarlet' Sam says, evidently getting exasperated 'your brother might still be alive but I sincerely doubt it and you have to accept this, you have to accept that he's probably dead'

Scarlet looks Sam in the eye and says through gritted teeth 'My brother is still alive. I'd know if he was dead; I'd know it'

There will be more explained about Luc in later chapters, he probably seems like a bit of an odd child at the moment but he does have relevance, trust me) Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review and if you like it enough to favourite or follow please do, I'd really appreciate it as I love to know people are enjoying what I write!

Happy New Year everyone!