get on marlon's page now. it's mental!

Noah rolls his eyes at Samson's text, but he's bored out of his skull, so he clicks on the link in the text and the page opens up - someone's livestreaming to it, but it's a rubbish angle and you can only see their legs. He listens, trying to pick up on what they're talking about. There's a man and a woman and the woman sounds like she's crying, and she sounds really familiar.

I watched him. He was cruel. He may have appeared kind to you, but to everyone else? Despicable. He told me that he'd killed people who'd done less than me, and he seemed proud of it.

Then what happened?

He realises with a start that it's Rhona's voice. It all clicks into place; they're talking about Graham.

The end was quick. I smashed his head in with a torch.

Noah's breath starts coming quickly and for a second he thinks he might be sick. He recognises the bloke's voice now; it's that Pierce that was married to Rhona. He frowns, but he's in prison, isn't he? He was put away for raping Rhona. That Bails got 30 years for what he did to his mum. Surely they can't have let this one out after so little time?

Is that what you did to Vanessa? And Johnny and Kim? Did you kill them too?

His whole world stops. He can hear something that sounds like drumming, and he realises it's his heart, thumping in his chest and echoing in his ears. He struggles to hear anything over it. He's not sure if Pierce confirmed or denied what Rhona asked him.

He can't have killed them. Who'd kill a harmless little thing like Johnny? Surely not even this guy could do that. And Vanessa, she's the nicest person Noah knows. She's already been stabbed and nearly died. How can she be mixed up in this now?

Footsteps batter down the stairs and Sarah rounds the landing, eyes wide. "Are you watching this? He's got Vanessa and Johnny! And that's Laurel's house."

"Shhh!" Noah's eyes are glued to the small screen, willing Pierce to say something that will let him know that Vanessa and Johnny are alright, but they've moved onto something else now and Noah's chest starts to feel tight with panic. He looks to Sarah.

"They can't be dead, though. He can't have killed them."

Before she can reply, Noah scrabbles to his feet, yanking on a pair of trainers as he stumbles out of the door into the street, yelling for Sarah to stay with Moses. Blue lights are flashing, giving the whole scene a weird glow, but he quickly picks out his mum, stood at a police barrier with Tracy. Tracy's got her arms around his mum.

"Mum!"

She doesn't even turn around. Tracy does, and her face is streaked with tears.

"Noah," she says. "You'd- you'd best go back inside, yeah?" She tries to smile at him. "No point in us all standing out here freezing, is there?"

She's treating him like some daft kid who doesn't know what's going on. He shakes his head and steps in front of his mum; she still doesn't look at him. Her eyes are trained on the house up the road, like her whole life is in there.

"Mum!" His voice breaks on the single word. "Mum, are they in there? Are Vanessa and Johnny in there with him?"

She just keeps staring up the road. Again, it's up to Tracy to speak to him. "We don't know, Noah. We think so, yeah."

"Then why are all them cops standing around?" he demands. "Why aren't they in there getting them out?" He grabs his mother's arms until she looks at him. "Why didn't you get her out? Why did you believe she'd go away and leave us without saying anything?"

"Noah," Tracy begins, gripping his wrist. "This isn't your mum's fault. We all thought Vanessa had gone to Paris."

"It is my fault."

The first words she speaks take the wind out of his sails. She's never one to take responsibility. Especially not for things like this. But she shushes Tracy when she tries to protest.

"No, it is." She sniffs. "If we hadn't argued that day, I'd have known something was wrong straight away when she didn't come home. I'd have- I'd have known. I'd have looked for them sooner. Instead of leaving them with that- that bastard." She covers her mouth with her hand. "Oh God, if he's hurt them-"

Noah swipes angrily at his face. He wants to yell at her, he needs somewhere to direct his anger, but she's just as terrified as he is. "Mum," he says. "What if they're-"

"Don't say that," Tracy begs. "They're fine. I know they are. Aren't they Charity?"

She takes too long to reply, so he knows she's thinking what he's thinking. But eventually she nods and tries to give him a smile. "Course they are. You know our Ness. Tough as old boots, she is."

"But Johnny's only little. And he's-"

Her eyes go wide and he turns just in time to see a load of police officers entering Laurel's. It's not like on the telly, there's no music to tell you that something exciting's happening. It's just silence. And all they can do is wait. His mum's hand grasps his own and he holds on tight.

There's the occasional crackle of static as police speak into their radios. A woman starts to walk towards them, talking into her shoulder. His fingers creak from how tightly his mum is holding them, but he doesn't protest.

"We've located both Vanessa and Johnny," she says, in that dead calm way police have of talking. "They're alive and responding, but we-"

Whatever else she says is lost in the noise his mum makes, somewhere between a wail and a sob, and then Tracy's hugging her and pulling him in an'all. It feels like a month since he found out she was in that house, even though it can't be more than half an hour, and the utter relief he feels is indescribable.

They're alive.

Wrestling her way out of the embrace, his mum's already lifting up the police tape and trying to get underneath. "Where are they? I need to see them. I need to tell her I'm- I'm-."

The woman puts a hand on his mum's shoulder and shakes her head. "I'm really sorry, but we have to get them to hospital as quickly as we can to assess their condition. You can go to the hospital and you'll get to see them there once they've been examined."

"Condition?" She shakes her head. "They're- they're hurt? He's hurt them?"

"We'll know better once they've been seen by a doctor, now, please, stay on this side of the tape."

"C'mon," Tracy's saying, tugging at his mum's arm. "Let's get down there. Are you alright to drive or should we ask-"

Noah follows them. "I'm coming with you."

"No." Pulling away from Tracy, his mum grabs him by the shoulders and looks him properly in the eye. "They- they won't let all of us in at this hour, babe. You need to go home and wait. Try and get some sleep, eh? I'll call you when I know anything."

"But, she was there for me," he protests, his throat almost too tight and sore to get the words through. "She was there when I woke up in the hospital. I want to be there for her. And Johnny. He's so little and he'll be frightened if there's nobody with him."

Fresh tears make their way down his mum's cheeks as she shakes her head. "Me and Tracy will be with them. With both of them. I know you want to be there too, but there's nothing you can do right now. And I need you to wait here, with Sarah and Moses, where I know you're all together and safe, yeah?"

He hears the plea in her voice. He knows that she probably doesn't want him to see Vanessa in whatever state she might currently be in. For all his mother is a bombscare at times, she also likes to be in control of the facts. She hates the unknown and the thought of taking him with her when she doesn't know what's waiting for them will only make things worse for her. So he nods.

"Call me as soon as you know anything, okay?"

She nods rapidly. "I will. Promise." She darts forward and kisses his cheek. "Go home. Lock the door. I'll call you."

He watches her jog to Tracy, draping an arm around her shoulders as they make their way down to her car. He trudges down the road, his mind still going a mile a minute over all the things that could possibly have happened in the time Vanessa's been missing. He feels sick just thinking about what he might have done to her. To both of them.

When he opens the door, Sarah's in his face right away, asking questions.

"They're alive," he says.

To his surprise, Sarah bursts into tears and throws her arms around him. They're not that touchy-feely, normally, but he wraps his arms around her. Because he really needs a hug right now. She quickly lets go, pulling away and wiping her face with her sleeve.

"Sorry," she sniffs. "I just-"

"Yeah." He nods. "Me too."

"So where are they now?"

"Going to hospital." He kicks his shoes off and moves round to the sofa, falling heavily onto it. "Mum's gonna phone to let me know how they are when she's seen them."

Sarah perches on the armchair and nods. "Then we just have to wait."

So they wait.