Disclaimer: Everything recognised belongs to Jacqueline Wilson and the BBC. Anna, her grandmother and her parents however belong to me.
After finding out that the 16th was Fudge Day, I did a little research and found out that today, the 19th, is among other things Eat an Oreo day. I have a new found respect for holidays after finding out this information haha.
So, Happy Eat An Oreo Day! I hope it was filled with chocolatey goodness.
Chapter 3: So I'm Running Away, I'm Leaving This Place.
She was back in the room she had slept in the night before. After crying herself hoarse, Gina; the care worker with the nice accent, had led her back there, advising her to try and get some rest. Like that was going to happen. Her parents – her father, knew where she was and were at that moment on their way to get her. Gina and Mike had explained to her that the social work department and the police had to talk to her parents about her situation.
Her situation, she mused, was that her parents knew where she was in the first place. Surprisingly, she found she was less afraid of that fact than she had been just the day before. Less maybe, but her fear was still there, lurking constantly in the back of her mind like a nightmare. She knew she wouldn't be able to face them – face him, without breaking down completely. Restless and with nothing to do – she couldn't find the courage needed to face the other children just yet – she paced her room fitfully, eventually coming to stand in front of the full length mirror that adorned the pine wardrobe resting against one of the walls. She stared into it intently, somewhat shocked by what she saw.
Looking back at her was a young girl with extremely short, light brown hair and sad green eyes. A dusting of freckles spanned across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose and her mouth was turned down into a frown, the overall effect making her look scared and lonely. She hesitantly raised a hand to her hair, smoothing down the wayward curls with shaking fingers. Carrying on her inspection, her fingers left her hair and travelled slowly down to her face where they gently traced the scar that ran along the left side of her jaw. That one had needed snitches, and a lot of them. She had told the doctor treating her that she had fallen from her bike and he had believed her, by then she had perfected her act of seeming both embarrassed at what had happened and remorseful for wasting the doctors time. It was one that nearly always guaranteed a deflection of awkward questions.
The truth was that her father had pushed her, causing her to fall against the kitchen counter. The worst part had been that he wasn't even trying to hurt her, his entire demeanour at the time had been dismissive, and he had shoved her merely because she had been in his way. When he really wanted to hurt her he was more calculatingly and cruel. She remembered the time he had hit her so hard that two of her teeth had been knocked out. He had locked her in her room afterwards and the blood had poured from her mouth onto the floor and down her throat. At the time it was the only way she knew she was alive.
He had made her clean up the mess her blood had made after finally coming to let her out, and after the normal apology for her bad behaviour. She couldn't remember what it was she had done that time, whether it was bad grades or a lack of proper table manners. But she could remember the pain from it still being there almost a week later when she had attended her grandmothers funeral. A dull throbbing that combated with the grief, an anguish that felt like a knife was being twisted through her heart.
Anna had been close to her grandmother, who after being diagnosed with an early onset of Alzheimer's had been sent to live in a nursing home close to where Anna went to school; or at least the school she had went to at the time. The close proximity had meant Anna had spent a lot of time with her mother's mother, time spent learning how to play chess and discussing music. Her Nana had known nothing of the turmoil the young girl experienced at home and so Anna was able to spend a few hours each week pretending to be normal, to have a normal family. That was until her symptoms began to worsen. She had become more disorientated and on a few occasions had even failed to recognise Anna for who she really was, thinking instead that she was just someone doing community service or a member of one of the other residents family.
Anna had been distressed by her beloved Nana's frail condition, but continued to visit her, playing along with the theory that she was just a kindly visiting schoolgirl if the need arose. She forced herself to keep looking forward to the good days, the days when she was recognised and they would play the piano together, until they started to get fewer and farther apart. She had eventually died from pneumonia and Anna's whole world had come crashing down around her. Things that she had learned to take over the past few years became too hard to handle and the abuse seemed so much worse now that she no longer had an escape from it.
It was soon after the funeral, a week, maybe two, when she made the decision to run away. She had thought about it before, but fear had always stopped her. Fear that her father would figure out was she was doing before she could leave, fear that the police would find her and bring her back, fear that she would fail. She had still felt fear then but grief had numbed it, making it easier to overcome. She diligently planned every detail, right down to what she would take and when she would do it. She had waited until they her parents were both out for the night, at some party or another and came out from her room, her first act of rebellion and something she wouldn't normally have done. She had immediately went to where she knew her mother kept some savings and raided the lot, knowing she would need money to survive. Next she had grabbed the few possessions she truly cared about, mostly keepsakes of her grandmothers, a few clothes and ran, leaving her past behind and determined to never go back.
She scoffed at herself in the mirror as she remembered those first few days on the streets. She had been so young and naïve to think that she could have fended so easily for herself. It had soon been knocked out of her though. After only a couple of hours, a group of older kids had taken her money, and the bag containing all her clothes had been taken as she slept in a park on her second night, all she had been left with was her grandmothers trinkets.
The noise of a car pulling into the driveway brought her back to the present. With trepidation, she made her way slowly to the open window at the other side of the room. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she looked out onto the scene below. From the position of her window she could only just make out the back end of a police car with her fathers silver Honda civic parked behind it. She would recognize that car anywhere after scouring each street she walked down for any sign of it.
Frustrated despite herself that she couldn't quite see what was going on, she remembered that the window by the top of the stairs looked down almost directly onto the driveway. Taking determined, if somewhat shaky steps, she hurriedly stepped out into the hall, striding quickly towards the window. Looking down, she saw that Mrs Bishop, accompanied with a man dressed in an equally smart suit and along with two policeman had intercepted her parents as they tried to enter the building. Leaning closer, so that her nose was pressed against the glass, she could also see Mike standing slightly apart from the group.
Hands trembling in fear, she fought with the rusty latch attached to the window, desperate for it to open so that she could hear what might become of her. Finally, and with such force as to cause her to stumble forward, the window opened. Just in time for her to hear her father's angry voice, demanding to see her.
A/N: So I kinda lied, the parents aren't really introduced until next chapter. I didn't think I'd have this up till Monday night at the earliest but I had a burst of inspiration and pretty much powered through most of the chapter in about an hour haha.
Was at In:Demand Live with my sister yesterday for her birthday and I'm seriously suffering for it now. My voice is dead and I'm covered in bruises. Both signs of an epic gig haha.
Reviews/Critiques/Feedback in general is always appreciated, so please click on the review link below and share your thoughts.