Summary:Annie Braxton has just arrived in the Bay after spending some time in the city. What's the first thing she does? Get's arrested. When her brother has to come and bail her out, everyone finds out that the Braxton's, of the infamous River Boys, have a sister. Then she meets a certain surfer. Does she fall hard or just trip?
Disclaimer: I do not own Home & Away in anyway shape or form. If I did I'd have an old episode on every day, so we can remember the characters that were in it when I started watching H&A, like Tasha, Robbie, Kim, Cassie and Matilda. Oh yeah, the only thing I own is Annie Braxton.
!WARNING FOR YOUNGER READERS!
Fighting. Language. Drinking. Drugs. Hospitalization. Assault.
Might be moved up to Rated M soon.
Chapter Ten: Uncovered
"Oh My God, Darl" Irene said going over as Annie got up off the ground. She took her arm and sat her down on the bed "What happened?"
"Um, there, ugh, there was a man in a ski mask, but" Annie said shaking my head still in shock "But, he's gone. He must have went out the-the window"
"April, close the window, will ya?" Irene asked her. She went over and peeped her head out before closing and locking it "I'll give Sid a call, you don't look to good"
"No, I'm fine" Annie protested.
"Irene's right. You might have a concussion or anything" April said.
"I've had a concussion before" Annie protested again "I'm fine"
"But, it's no harm getting checked out, Darl" Irene said getting up "I'll go call Sid, April stay here with her"
"So, I need a babysitter now?" Annie asked shaking her head
"Look, Irene's just looking out for you" April said, confused at Annie's sudden mood change.
"I don't need anyone looking out for me" Annie said getting up and storming towards the door "I can look out for myself"
"Annie" April called going after her. Annie walked out through the kitchen, grabbing her car keys from the kitchen counter. Irene, with Sid on the phone, watched Annie confused "Annie" Annie slammed the door behind her as she left.
"Hold on" Irene said putting her hand over the speaker "What happened?"
"I don't know. She got angry and left" April said.
Outside, Annie got in her car and pulled away from the beach house. She drove for a while, she didn't even know where she was going. She wasn't paying attention. Her mind kept drifting back to about 20 minutes ago. The faint light from the lamp, illuminating the shadowing room. The rough leather holding on tightly to her skin. His green eyes. She shook her head immediately trying to forget. Her vision began to cloud as her eyes watered up. She took deep breaths, trying to keep the tears from coming on full force. She was broken out of it by a distinct beeping coming from her headboard. Looking down she saw the orange flashing light in the shape of a petrol pump.
"Shit" She cursed, hitting her steering wheel with the heel of her hand, before pulling into the side of the road. How could she be so stupid? She knew she had to fuel up her car when she got it back, but never got around to it. Ugh, she felt like such an idiot. Running her hand over her face, she found it to be really cold. Her hands were freezing. It must have been shock or something.
Looking around the car, Annie noticed that she hadn't taken her phone with her. She cursed again hitting the horn. She was stranded in the middle of nowhere, without a phone late at night. Seriously that's how urban legends start. Annie quickly locked the doors so that no serial killers got in. But her mind just kept replaying and replaying the attack. Was it planned? Or was it just an interrupted Robbery? Unless...no, of course not. That is long forgotten.
Resting her head against the steer wheel, letting a couple loose tears roll their way out of her eyes, Annie couldn't keep it in any longer. Of course, she had a right to feel upset, someone just broke into the place she was living and attacked her. It was scary. What if she woke Irene and April up when she got in and they were upstairs? What would have happened if they hadn't come in? Annie didn't want to think about it.
"Annie?" She thought she heard a voice say. She sat up straight away, taking a sharp breath. Trying to sit as still and breath as quietly as she could, Annie kept her ears peeled. Someone was outside. Shaking from fear, Annie slowly closed her eyes. A hand rapped on the window, making her jump and look over "Annie? Annie, it's Heath"
Relieved, Annie opened her door and got out, throwing her arms around her brothers neck.
"Hey, it's alright" Heath said running has hand over his little sisters back.
"Wha-What are you doing here?" Annie asked pulling away and running her fingers under her eyes to dry up her cheeks a bit.
"The woman you're staying with found your phone and called us after you took off" Heath said "Brax is over there now. She said something about you being-"
"Yeah" Annie said, cutting him off before she could say anything, rubbing her throbbing shoulder "I went back into my room and he was there, and-"
"Come on, let's get you back" Heath said going over and reaching into the car to get her keys "And didn't anyone every tell you that you need petrol for a car to run"
Annie chuckled slightly, drying off her cheeks again and going over to his truck.
Back in Summer Bay, Brax was waiting along with Irene and April for either Heath or Annie to come back. They hadn't heard anything from either since Brax arrived and said Heath was going to drive around for a bit and see if he could find her.
"I understand why she run off, I mean she's always been independent" Brax said when April explained it again.
"How long are they going to be?" April asked wondering, just before the door opened and Heath through the door with Annie in his arms.
"What happened?" Irene asked, seeing the 19-year old unconscious.
"She fell asleep on the ride back" Heath said propping her up high in his arms. Believe it or not she wasn't as light as she was when she was 10 and fell asleep on the couch. She has gained some weight and was weighing down his arm "Where's her room?"
"Just down there to the right" Irene said pointing down the hall. Heath went down and put his sleeping sister into her bed.
"You shouldn't have let her fall asleep" April warned following them "She could have a concussion or anything"
"Hey, Annie" Brax said shaking his sisters shoulder slightly. Slowly she began to stir, turning around to him.
"Leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep" Annie complained keeping her eyes closed and pulling the duvet up around her. Brax and Heath chuckled.
"It's the same old Annie for sure" Heath said walking out of the room.
"Hey, thanks for calling" Brax said to Irene "I'll call her in the morning to see how she is"
"Alright" Irene nodded and Brax passed her and April leaving.
Annie awoke in the morning feeling well rested. Turning over in the bed, she immediately groaned because of a pain erupting from her shoulder. Sitting up in the bed, Annie saw that she was in her room. The last thing she remembered last night was getting a ride back to Summer Bay with Heath. She must have fallen asleep in the truck.
Throwing the duvet off her, she noticed a large bruise forming on the side of her left thigh, half visible under her pyjama shorts. Pulling them up and running her skinny fingers over it, she flinched away as more pain erupted from it. Then it hit her. Everything that happened last night. It all came back like a flash flood. Unexpected and unprepared for. Her watery eyes darted over to the locked window, and she felt reassured that it was locked.
Getting up out of the bed, she caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. She gasped when she saw a large bruise on her left shoulder, and several bruises around her upper arms from where he would have grabbed her. Around her wrists were also bruised from where he held her, staring into his evil green eyes.
Annie shook her head snapping out of it. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a long 3/4 length white t-shirt and changed. Applying make-up to her face, where she saw she had a little bruise appearing beside her eye, at the top of her cheekbone, she noticed one on her neck. She pulled on her hair bobble and let her hair fall down in waves around her face and shoulders. Once she had finished applying a thin layer of foundation, enough to cover her bruise, she put on some mascara and blush, before pulling a pair of combat boots onto her feet.
"Morning" Annie greeted Irene as she walked into the kitchen.
"Morning, Darl, how you feeling?" She asked.
"Fine" Annie chirped as she poured a cup of coffee, without showing any emotion on her face.
"You gave us a scare last night running away like that" Irene said walking towards her.
"I know, I'm sorry" Annie said looking over her shoulder and shrugging "What time is it anyway?"
"About half-nine" Irene answered "By the way, I said I'd call Sid and have him come over once you've woken up"
"No, it's fine" Annie answered "I'll just go to the doctors later and get checked out"
"You sure?" Irene asked her wearily.
"Yeah" Annie said taking a drink. Really, she had no intention of going to the doctor. She was fine. Just a little bruising, it'll heal up in a week or so. She downed whatever cooled coffee was in her cup in one go "I might go get breakfast at the diner this morning. See Ya"
"See ya, Darl" Irene said going out the door and walking towards the diner. The walk seemed longer than usual. She had walked there before, but usually took her car, which was why she ran out of petrol. Unnecessarily using her car. But, each second seemed like 5 minutes. Every noise seemed to startle her. A bird chirping in the bush next to her. A man starting his lawn mower. Everything seemed heightened, and she never felt so good to get to the one place in her life.
"Hey, Leah" Annie greeted her "Can I get a breakfast special and a coffee please?"
"Yeah, coming right up" Leah said as I took a seat at a nearby table.
"Hey, I was going to call you" Brax said sitting down.
"Why is it we always run into each other here?" Annie asked wondering.
"I don't know, but how are you?" Brax asked
"Fine" Annie said putting on a fake smile. She was very good at those.
"Really?" Brax asked
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Annie asked cocking her head to the side.
"Because you were attacked last night" Brax said looking down at her hands and seeing bruise marks around her wrists from where the guy grabbed her. As soon as Annie saw him looking at her bruises, she hid her hands under the tables.
"Look, I was just a little shaken up last night" Annie explained "I'm fine now"
"You sure?" He asked, concerned about his little sister, and she nodded in reply.
"There you go" Leah said placing the food down in front of her. Annie beamed at the food. She was starving.
"Thanks, Leah" She thanked before digging in.
"Well if you're sure she's okay" Brax said and Annie nodded, her mouth full of scrambled egg.
"Annie" A female voice said catching her attention. Turning her head, she saw Charlie walking towards her "Irene called in this morning reporting the break in and assault last night. I'm sorry to hear about it, but, I'm going to have to ask you to come down to the station and submit a statement"
"Yeah, fine" Annie agreed swallowing her food "I'll come once I'm finished"
"I'll drive you" Brax offered
"No, Brax-" Annie protested
"How are you going to get there then?" He asked, knowing her car got towed this morning to the nearest garage. Annie opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't form words. In defeat, she closed her mouth and looked away. Brax smirked in victory "Thought so"
"Right, I'll see you down there soon" Charlie said walking back to the counter.
"Okay, so can you explain the events leading up to the attack?" Charlie asked, sitting in the questioning room with Annie, video recording it.
"Um, I came back from a shift I covered at Angelo's around 11:10, 11:15" Annie began "The ugh the back door was locked, I remember that and Irene and April fell asleep watching TV. I went into my room and changed"
"Was there anyone in your room?" Charlie asked
"No" Annie replied "But, the ugh, the window was open. It was open all day to let in a breeze. After I changed into my pyjamas, I brushed my teeth and woke Irene and April up. When I went back to my room and-"
"Can you explain him? Like what was he wearing?" Charlie asked, seeing Annie stop there, not wanting to talk about what happened "Physical characteristics like height, weight? Any piercings, tattoos?"
"Um, he was wearing all black, I think" Annie replied "It all happened really fast, I didn't get a really good look at what he was wearing, but he was wearing a ski mask. Um, I say he was about 5'12'', 5'13'' maybe. He was tall. Fairly taller than me. Um, I don't really know if this would count"
"Believe me even the tiniest detail you remember could help" Charlie reassured her
"He had these really distinctive green eyes. Like really green eyes" Annie described "But, he ugh, he actually turned me around to face him, like he actually wanted me to see them, you know? And he had this fairly wide nose, you could tell from the mask it was big"
"Ms. Braxton" Charlie began, keeping professional "Do you have any idea who might have organized an attack on you?" Annie shook her head "I'm sorry, but you'll have to answer aloud for the recording, Ms. Braxton"
"No, I don't think I know anyone" Annie lied. She had an idea in the back of her head, but that would be long forgotten. They wouldn't even know she was back locally.
"Even the Pirovic's?" Charlie asked her. Annie eyes shot open at the mention of the Pirovic's.
"Why would you say that?" Annie said trying her best to talk her way out of the situation, like her brothers would. But, she was never any good at it. She always hesitated at the wrong moments and everything.
"Because we have photo's from 2009 when we were surveying the Pirovic's on susceptive drug production and marketing" Charlie said taking out the folder "And you happen to pop up in a few of the photos. Care to explain?"
"It's not me" Annie said after a brief hesitation. Shit, she just gave herself away completely.
"Ms. Braxton, this young woman bears-" Charlie began but was cut off by Annie.
"I don't care what you think" Annie said leaning forward "That's not me. That's just someone who happens to look like me when I was younger. I'm finished now"
"Suspended at 10:48am" Charlie said getting up and following Annie out of the room.
"How'd it go?" Brax asked, seeing them come out.
"Good, I'm just going to use the bathroom and go" Annie said walking towards the doors marked 'Toilets'
"Did it really go 'Good'?" Brax asked Charlie.
"I don't know" Charlie said standing behind the counter and opening the folder to show some of the pictures she believed to be Annie "Is this your sister?"
"Yeah, that's her when she was like 16" Brax confirmed "Why?"
"We think she was involved with the Pirovic's" Charlie said wearily. She was only telling him it because he seemed concerned about his sister The investigation was halted a few years back, after they couldn't find any evidence to convict them, but still she shouldn't be giving out that information.
"What?" Brax said shocked.
OHHHHHHHHHH! What do you think? Annie and the Pirovic's Gang, but I'm going to tell you, this storyline bit is going to take a while to play out, like it's going to reach the high during the Gang War thing in about July/August. Currently, now the story is set in early March, so you have to wait a while. I have another storyline I want to follow first, but it will intertwine with the whole Pirovic thing. You'll just have to wait and see what's going to happen, is all I can say.
The next chapter is going to be very Annie centred, like tonnes and tonnes of dialogue. Some of Annie's past and stuff to do with Annie's future will occur as well.
Coming Up in Chapter Eleven:
Romeo and Annie's friendship grows!
Casey enlists in Annie's help!
Which leads her to question her current life!