Two
Gus, Jessie, Josh and Rick – who had decided to come with them as he had never had one of Gus's tours due to a variety of reasons including fire, moving care home, fostering – were now stood in the attic. "this is going to be your room Jessie," Gus said showing her the large area where her bed was with a chest of drawers, wardrobe and shelving for books. "I should warn you. We had a fire in the attic last year when Rick and Tyler first arrived and the floorboards got quite badly burnt. I fell through this floorboard here into Carmen's room," Gus said standing on the correct floorboard. "but since then we had the whole attic redecorated and the floorboards replaced so it is now a safe place." Jessie breathed out a sigh of relief as she had held her breath once she had heard about the fire. She looked around and could see small signs of fire damage on some of the items in the far corner of the attic. She shrugged. "that's the end of your tour. Do you have any questions?" Gus asked. Jessie and Josh shook their heads. Gus smiled at them and left the attic room. Jessie threw herself onto her bed.
"fire, brilliant. He had to say that," Jessie said rubbing a red wound on lower left neck. Rick walked closer. He spotted the mark.
"how did that happen?" he asked quietly. He was shocked at how bad the wound was.
Jessie sat up and gulped. "urm..." her eyes flickered to Josh before returning to Rick. "It was my mum." She swallowed hard. "she got angry and burnt me with a lit matchstick which she sellotaped to my neck. I couldn't do anything as she was holding my hands except scream in pain as the match burnt down further and further, burning into my neck." She smiled weakly. "I don't like fire, or people much," Jessie said.
Rick just stared at her. "that's horrible. What about you Josh where were you?" he asked. Josh gave him a sad smile.
"mum had sent me to the shops to get some bread and milk. I came back and Jessie was holding her sponge against her neck trying to cool it down. I phone social services after that. I'd had enough of mum bullying Jessie. Then we got took here. It's why the wound looks raw it happened yesterday. Is it still weeping Jessie?" Josh explained before turning back to Jessie. She nodded. "I'll go get some of that cream for it," Josh said standing up and walking out. Rick followed him. "don't tell anyone Rick. I think Jessie just wants to forget about it," Josh said. Rick nodded.
"of course. I won't tell anyone," Rick said.
Twenty minutes later Rick was stood in the office with Mike. "it's not right Mike. There's something going on between those two and it doesn't feel right Mike," Rick said to him. Mike indicated he should sit down while he sat behind his desk.
"What do you mean Rick? It's a brother and sister who are twins, their relationship is bound to be different," Mike told him. Rick shook his head.
"it's not that. They act differently from Tee and Johnny and they are brother and sister. They act different to the twins we had in Burnywood. I don't think it was just their mum that was abusing Jessie. I think Josh may have been too," Rick said voicing his suspicions carefully.
"What makes you say that?" Mike asked.
Rick sighed and thought about his reasons trying to turn them into legible sentences. "It's a bit suspect that Josh wasn't in the house when his sister was being burnt. She looked at him before answering but it was only a glimpse. And if Jessie had been abused for a while why had he never phoned social services before if he was concerned about his sister?" Rick said biting his lips. Mike looked at him.
"Rick I know you are trying to do the right thing. But Jessie has only been being abused for the past two months since she turned fifteen. Maybe Josh thought it would stop," Mike said calmly. "listen, I trust your instincts but would Jessie really have been curling up to Josh on the sofa if he was abusing her even if she was scared of everyone else?" Mike asked. Rick thought about it and shook his head. "I'll keep an eye on the pair of them but Rick, I'm sure he hasn't." Rick nodded and stood up and walked out the office and down to the kitchen where Josh was demonstrating some of his magic tricks to Elektra, Frank and an awed Harry. Rick leaned against the kitchen worktop and watched Josh as he made a book disappear and reappear. He seemed at ease with the other children which made Rick relax a little as if he was abusive he might be more tense. Gina walked in.
"Get off the worktop, yeah Rick. And if you are going to stay in here you can help me cook," Gina said to everyone in the room. Harry, Frank and Elektra left but Josh and Rick stayed to help and get to know each other.
Meanwhile Jessie was sitting curled up in the corner of her attic room, crying. Her neck was hurting even more since the cream had been put on it. She stood up and walked over to the full length mirror. She lifted her orange and purple checked shirt up and pineapple hoodie until it was just below her chest. She looked at the marks in the mirror. The purple bruises covering one side and the fading blue the other side. The red scars of the knife biting into her flesh along her back. The bleeding cuts along her left hip. She let the shirt and hoodie fall and pushed her ginger shoulder length hair behind her shoulder and revealed the one long scar from hairline above her eye to right ear that the curtain of hair had hidden. She shook her hair back into place and placed both hands either side of the mirror and stared into her reflection. She then shrugged her hoodie off and looked at her arms.
A/N: Sorry about this chapter. It's a little bit morbid. You will find out what is wrong with Jessie's arm but later. Thank you to sunshineee1 as she was the first reviewer and I hope you all liked this chapter. Indigo :)