And September 14th is...Cream-filled Doughnut Day. Hmmmmmm Doughnuts, I want a chocolate one. Would anyone want a doughnut instead of cake? Anyway, I managed to crank this one out under the influence of insomnia. I miss sleep :(. Enjoy!

Chapter 9: I'll Never Let You Find Me.

After the get-together from hell with her parents it had thankfully been agreed that there was no need for her to endure a repeat performance. Mrs Bishop had explained to her that social services had decided it was best for her to stay were she was at Elm Tree with minimal access to her parents while they completed their investigation. It was an idea that Anna readily agreed with as in the two weeks since the meeting she had started to find her place in the DG.

Shortly after she had came back from the meeting in a daze, Gina and Mike had surprised her with agreeing to set her up with piano lessons along side Gus. It had come as a huge surprise to her as she hadn't realised they knew she played, but Tracy and Liam (Crash) had let slip afterwards that they had overheard her discussing music with Gus and relayed her interest to the head care-workers. So far they were going well, her technique had slipped a little from lack of practice but she was fast catching up to her past abilities.

When not practising, she had kept her promise of getting to know Tee better. Despite the couple of years that separated them, Anna found that they had a lot of the same interests in common and enjoyed spending time with her. The only down side of their friendship was that her brother Johnny often insinuated himself into their games, his over-protectiveness a frequent buzz kill for Anna as his behaviour often reminded her of her father despite the fact she knew Johnny only did it because he cared. However the advantages in this case far outweighed Johnny's odd actions. Through Tee she was able to get closer to a few of the other girls at Elm Tree, like Carmen and Lily.

It was finally nice for her to be around girls her own age without constantly having to lie about herself and her family. Without having to make excuses every time they wanted her to go somewhere or come to her house or just asked what she had got up to over the weekend. Granted, they all stayed at the same place and weren't allowed to go to many places unsupervised but it was the freedom she now felt at having the burden lifted that really made the difference. It was times like this when she was nearly doubled over with laughter, the tears literally streaming down her face and surrounded by others in similar states that she felt lucky to land in a care home with nice kids in her own age group.

They had been discussing the upcoming start of the new school year and Lily had been doing impressions of some of the teachers that worked at Anna's new school. Thankfully, she had found out that the school she would be attending was also the one that Lily, Johnny, Liam, Sapphire, Frank and Elektra went to and although only Johnny was in her year, it would make it easier for her knowing that the others were also there. She was still nervous though, she knew what new schools were like having had her fair share of them in the past, but this time was different; she would be going as a care kid and everyone would know. The others had picked up on her anxiety and had dragged her out into the garden after breakfast to cheer her up. She was disappointed that Tee and Carmen weren't in the same school yet but Lily had promised to hang out with her and Tee had vowed to make Johnny be nice and at least talk to her.

Both commitments had made her smile, cheering her up immediately and she had asked what the school was like, prompting Lily into her comical imitations. It wasn't long before their laughter gained an interest from the others in the garden and they were soon joined by Frank and Liam, who after a moment of simply joining in on the laughter once they'd figured out what was going on, quickly began to share their own stories and impersonations of their teachers. Letting their merriment wash over her, she realised that this was her chance for a new start. She didn't know what was going to happen; whether or not she would be staying at the DG or if she would have to go back to her parents, but she could use the time she had to become someone new. No-one knew her at the school after all, well other than those at Elm Tree, and she could be anyone she wanted to be. She could become a new person; one who was happier, freer. One who could act like everyone else her age and hope that art would imitate life, that it would soon become true and she would eventually become so different from who she was that they would never be able to find her.

She was pulled from her musings from by Tee tugging excitedly on her arm. "Come on, Anna! You're on my team."

"Team?" Although amused by her enthusiasm, she had no idea what the younger girl was talking about.

"Weren't you listening? Sometimes I think you live in a different world," she scowled playfully at Carmen as she came towards them, interrupting their conversation. "we're going to play a game of football. You in?"

Looking towards the bigger part of the garden that ran alongside where they had been sitting under the shade of some large trees (not elms; she had checked), Anna could see that Frank, Johnny, Lily, Liam and Toby were already kicking around a football with relative ease, waiting for them to catch up. "What's the teams?"

"Boys against girls." Tee chimed in, skipping a little to catch up to the two of them.

"Again?" She groaned dramatically, throwing her hands in the air. "Why does it always have to be boys against girls?"

"Because they didn't get it the first two times." Tee replied cheekily as she ran off to catch the ball that had been sent wide by a bad block from Liam.

"Get what?" The young boy asked agitatedly, frowning at the laughing forms of Lily, Toby and Frank as they made fun of him for messing up the pass.

"That you're clearly never going to win against us," she continued, smiling cockily at the less than happy teenager as she sent the ball towards him with a practised turn of her foot.

"Yeah, we're just too good." Lily added, laughing when she jumped in front of him to intercept the ball before delivering it to Anna who clumsily stopped it, placing her foot on top of it to hold it still. For a moment she simply stood as she was, a smile on her face as she took in Liam's incredulity. The boy quickly bounced back though, his trademark grin coming back in force,

"If you're so sure why don't we make it interesting?"

The four girls shared a look of questioning before Lily took charge. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Losers have to give up their weeks allowance and," he stopped for a moment, clearly pausing for effect earning him an eye roll from all four of the girls and a huff of exasperation from Carmen. "do the chores of the winners."

"Guess you four are going to be busy next week then. Right Anna?" Lily was staring down Liam as she spoke, barely even looking Anna's way as she questioned her.

Glancing to the other girls, Anna could see nothing but determination in their faces. Smiling at their enthusiasm, she quickly agreed. "Right." From then on all it took was a slightly wide pass to Tee for it all kick off.

It was a scramble at first. Confusion reigning while each team tried to simultaneously get into position and get possession of the ball. The only problem was no one had discussed positioning prior to the game and so no one knew where to go. A few goals were scored by both sides before goal keepers were chosen and the game settled into something more easily recognisable as football. Fortunately, with Anna in goal and away from the main play, her team were just able to pull out a win much to the disgust and frustration of the boys.

"Looks like we've got a good week ahead of us." Lily gloated as she high-fived first Carmen and then Tee and Anna.

"Yeah, yeah. That's if Mike and Gina let us do all your chores." Liam countered, smiling smugly as he thought he'd found his out.

"So nobody needs to tell them," Anna countered, giggling slightly as she was still in a a high over the game.

"Yeah Liam, you're not gonna back out of a bet are you?" Carmen asked teasingly, looking to Johnny, Toby and Frank as she spoke to gage their reactions. Liam did the same only to see that they looked like they agreed with the girls even though it cost them.

"Whatever, we were going easy on you anyway." It was a lame comeback and everyone knew it, but as it was probably the closest thing to agreement they were going to get they let it go.

The group dispersed soon after; Lily dragging Carmen off to help her pick out an outfit for going to visit her dad and sisters and Toby, Johnny and Tee had gone off to play pool. That left Anna, Liam and Frank still in the garden, half-heartedly passing the ball around as Anna tried to get them to teach her how to do keepy-ups.

"Loved to, really. But we have things to do so maybe another time. Right Frank?"

"Yeah, we're busy for the rest of the day." Frank replied smoothly as he passed the ball back to her.

"Doing what, I'm surprised you're both even allowed out in the garden after the way Mike was bawling you out." It had been an impressive sight watching Mike shout at them for trying to scam the shopkeepers from round the corner. They had seemed cowed by it however, so Anna was immediately suspicious when they appeared to be planning something else.

"Nothing much, just hanging out. Maybe next time yeah?" They left then, saying their goodbyes as they went, Liam's accompanied by a wink that caused an eruption of butterflies in her stomach despite her irritation at their – at his – brush-off.

After trying to do the keepy-ups by herself and failing miserably, she finally gave up and made her way inside, intent on getting in some piano practice before her lesson the next day. She was soon lost in the music, her fingers flying over the keys as she ran through the pieces their teacher had set her. She was so absorbed in her task that she didn't notice Toby trying to get her attention until he roughly shook her shoulder.

Jumping a little, she almost snarled at the poor boy for breaking her concentration. "What?"

"I, I found this in the hall. I thought maybe you'd dropped it." He almost thrust the crushed piece of paper into her hand, all but running away before she could even figure out what it was. She felt bad for causing him to sprint from the room, but curiosity over what she had been given soon won out.

Straightening out the crumpled paper, she found that it was a note addressed to her. It was simple and to the point, just a few words asking her to be at the den at two. Her first instinct was to disregard it and throw it away, after all it had to be someone in the DG - who else could have dropped it in the hall – so why couldn't they just come and talk to her, it wasn't like she was hard to find. Frowning now, she shoved it into her pocket and tried to go back to her playing. She was halfway through a rendition of a piano solo of Debussy's Clair de lune when the thought first hit her. What if it was from Liam?

It was stupid really and probably totally wrong but she couldn't help but think it. Carmen, Lily and Tee had already teased her about her crush, saying that they were sure he had been flirting with her on various occasions and she had thought it all joke. But then again, who else could it be?

Excited now in spite of all intentions to be otherwise, she gave up any pretence she had left of continuing her practice and quickly bounded up the stairs towards her room – she had to change. After a flurry of activity that left the room looking like the aftermath of a small but vicious tornado, she had finally found something in her meagre collection of clothes that she was happy with. Stepping in front of her mirror, she groaned in distress over the state of her hair. Granted it wasn't as bad as it had been in the hospital but it was still short. It had grown enough to become style-able so that she could almost make it look fashionable. Almost. But as there was nothing she could do about it now, she was officially ready.

There was no one there when when she got the den but she was early. Looking at her watch she could see that it was only ten to two; plenty of time left. Sighing in slight disappointment, she sat down on one of the seats wondering, though not for the first time, where they had come from. She couldn't stop her leg from bouncing up and down - the only outlet her impatience had as Carmen would murder her if she chewed on her recently painted nails – and so concentrated on thinking of what she would say once he came to try and calm down so her uneasiness wouldn't be so obvious. She knew it might not be Liam, but since she had first thought of it the idea had been hard to get rid of.

Suddenly, she heard a twig snap behind her and she jumped up excitedly, forgetting her intent to try and stay calm and cool. Before she could turn around however, or even finish standing up, a hand had shot out to cover her mouth, a cloth clasped in it's grasp.

She struggled madly. Throwing her arms and legs around in a panic, hoping to hit whomever it was that had slunk another, gloved arm around her middle trying to hold her still. She couldn't break free no matter how she tried and her strength was beginning to falter. There was a smell coming from the cloth; a sickeningly sweet but heavy stench that she could almost feel making it's way into her mouth and nose, down into her throat.

It hadn't even occurred to her to connect the smell with why she was suddenly so dizzy or why she felt like she could no longer support her own body. She never thought that what was happening now related to the note that Toby had given her. In fact, one of her last thoughts as she passed out was her hope that Liam wouldn't think she had stood him up.

So the whole idea for this came from my friend who walked up behind me the other day, placed a hand over my face and asked 'Does this smell like chloroform to you?' Sometimes I seriously wonder about her lol.

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