Hazy

Leanne could barely heave her body up of the ground, feeling dizzy and petrified as the road ahead of her began to spin wildly.

She lifted her head slowly on the ground outside Websters Garage and feeling around helplessly in the dark for her phone. She needed Nick right now and unlike earlier on that day, he wasn't there to punch Callum's lights out.

She took a deep breath and everything began coming back to here, haunting her, making her relieve it. Callum hadn't gone as far as raping her; she was slightly relieved about that. But he had beaten her, kicked her, battered her and dragged her away from the sight of anybody that could have helped her.

She couldn't find her phone in the dark, so she began calling, pleading with someone, anyone to come and find her.

"H...help," Leanne whispered, her voice and body trembling from the shock and the bitter cold. "Someone help me, please."

In the Platt's, David ran downstairs to his wife that was making them a cup of tea each so they could settle down in front of the telly, now both kids had gone to bed.

"Right, what we watchin tonight then?" Kylie asked, handing David his cup of tea and cuddling up next to him on the couch.

She grabbed the remote but suddenly stopped. "Wait...have ya put the green bin out?"

"Ugh," David groaned. "I've only just flamin' sat down!"

Kylie giggled, watching him grumble his way outside to the back yard, wheeling the bin through the side gate to the front.

It was when Leanne saw Nick's brother that she finally started talking louder.

"David," Leanne cried. "David, help me."

David wheeled the bin further out of the back garden, edging towards what he thought was the sound of his brother's ex-wife.

"Leanne?!" David said. "What the bloody hell are ya doing out here?" He asked from a distance. He couldn't see the state was she in until he came closer and saw how bruised and bloodied she was. "Oh my god."

"Can you phone Nick?"

If David's mouth had fallen a few inches more his chin would have hit the floor.

"Oh my god, what even happened to you?" David helped her up, grabbing both her arms and leading her to the Platt's.

"Can you phone Nick?" Leanne repeated, ignoring everything that David was asking. She didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted him.

David took Leanne through the back, her body still trembling and it looked so much worse in the light of their house.

Kylie hadn't turned around yet and was munching on chocolates with her feet up on the coffee table.

"Flamin' hell David, what took ya so long? Were ya collectin' the bins yerself?" She joked before turning back and seeing the state of Nick's girlfriend.

"Leanne!" Kylie exclaimed as she jumped up and ushered her onto the sofa. Leanne plonked herself down, staring off into the distance. It was all coming back to her, much more vivid than before.

Kylie knelt down in front of Leanne.

"D'ya wanna tell us what's happened then?" Kylie sounded sincere, placing her hand on Leanne's knee lightly. Leanne soon burst into tears that were hysterical.

Kylie looked over to her husband for some form of answer. David shrugged his shoulders at her.

"I'm gonna phone Nick for ya." David said, reaching for his phone on the kitchen table.

Leanne nodded in reply, still shaking from the cold. She wiped her eyes and felt her make up run down her face. Kylie pulled the leopard print blanket down off the back of the couch and slipped it round Leanne's shoulders.

"There, let's warm ya up. Yer freezing." Kylie said kindly.

David was tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for his big brother to answer his phone.

"Come on Nick." David grumbled. "Pick up the bloody phone!"

At the flat, Nick woke up to the sound of his IPhone ringing at full blast. He hadn't planned on dozing off but he soon found himself falling asleep on the couch. He couldn't be bothered to cook either so once it hit nine he fell asleep. The phone continued blaring its repetitive and irritating tune as loudly as it could possibly ring.

"Agh," Nick grumbled, reaching for his phone on the coffee table. He pinched at the bridge of his nose to wake himself up slightly and prepare his eyes for the illuminations his phone would bring. What startled him more was that it was David ringing.

His mind was going in circles.

Could it have been Max?

Was it his Mum? Or his Gran?

"Hello?" Nick said down the phone, preparing himself fof the worst. He wasn't fully prepared to hear what David would tell him.

"Mate...something's happened...well, it's Leanne."

His heart might have stopped at that point as the urge to throw up violently dawned upon him.

"Leanne...oh god, what's happened to her?" Nick was speaking faster, more rushed and panicky than before.

"That's the thing...we don't know. She won't tell us. I found her outside the factory a minute ago and she was beaten up. Beaten pretty badly."

"Callum." Nick gasped. "Shit. It was Callum."

"You don't know that for sure." David replied although he too had a feeling his nemesis was behind this attack.

"Yes I do David. I'm on my way round." Nick hung up quickly and grabbed the keys to his Bistro, flat and car and rushed out of the building of flats into the chilly November Night.

David came back in to the living room to see his wife staring at Leanne, waiting patiently to get some form of answer. Kylie looked over at her husband helplessly to see if he had a clue as to what had gone on outside.

"Callum." he mouthed so Leanne couldn't see or hear. Kylie shook her head violently at her husband and instantly hugged Leanne, knowing all too well how threatening Callum can be when he wants to be.


Carla was at the Rovers, enjoying a quiet drink with Michelle after a rather busy yet successful day with a potential client. All had gone well with Mr Matthews and by the sounds of it, he was going to give her £30,000 for a deal on thongs and 'sexy lingerie' as he put it himself. Carla had to chuckle though. The thought of Beth Tinker and 'sexy' in a sentence; her stitching lacy underwear and being a gobby cow at the same time.

"So...all good then?" Michelle rushed over from the back of the pub, carrying a new bottle of red for her and Carla to share.

Carla checked her messages on her phone. "Yeah...Aidan's seems to be a good addition to the factory."

"Well that's good. Bless him, he loves working in there."

"Least someone does." Carla sighed. "Have you heard the factory girls...oh and Sean?"

Michelle shook her head. "No...fancy sharing with the rest of us?"

Carla sipped the remainder of her wine. "Well, I spent some of the wages when I was...ya know, in a bit of a mess. Gambling and stuff."

"When ya say 'some', how much d'ya mean?"

Carla traced her fingers along the rim of the glass, trying to act cool and nonchalant as she dropped the bombshell on her best friend. "Oh y'know...just erm...just four grand."

"What?!" Michelle exclaimed, her black eye-liner emphasising how big her eyes were. "Oh my god...what are the staff sayin'?"

"Oh y'know, the usual. Mrs Connor this and that. They hate me Chelle."

"I'm sure they don't. They're all a nuisance. But look Carla, if you need to borrow any money me and Steve will give ya some."

"Look. That's really nice of ya but I'm in enough debt as it is."

Sally burst in the pub excitedly, beaming with happiness as she had found the missing money she needed inside her bank account. She had dropped the money with Steph at the Bistro earlier and now she needed to tell her boss how much she appreciated her getting it for them.

"Mrs Connor!" Sally squealed excitedly. "Thank you, thank you!" She threw her arms around Carla who remained rigid, her eyes telling Michelle that she just wanted her assistant to get off her.

Sally pulled out of the hug and looked at her boss. "Sal, what the hell are ya on about?"

She tilted her head at Carla as though she had pretended she knew nothing. "Oh come on Carla. You know what you have done!"

Michelle folded her arms, just as confused as Carla.

"What are you on about?" Carla repeated. "I really have no idea what yer talking about."

"You paid me the rest of my wages. By the sounds of it, you replaced all the money everybody else is owed as well."

Carla's eyes bulged, following in Michelle's direction.

Michelle raised her hands up. "For once, I had nowt to do with it."

"Well I didn't do it." Carla mused. "So who did?"


Eva headed into the kitchen of her flat, wearing just her dressing gown after the passionate sex she had just had with Aidan. God he was good. She had forgotten how good it felt to be treated with respect, to be charmed and made to feel like she was the only woman on the earth.

She smiled to herself as she poured herself a glass of water, taking a sip. The picture of her and Jason on the ledge above the sink caught her eye and took her back to a time when they were happy and no disability got in the way of the love they shared. She missed those times; she missed him. The happy-go-lucky, smily and flirty Jason that she had once admitted was the one. Now? She guessed she could call him 'one' she'd been with but definitely not one she wanted to spend the rest of her days with. That Jason was well and truly gone, beaten to a pulp in the ginnel.

She sighed again, ignoring the picture and heading back to the bedroom and snuggling up next to Aidan.


Carla had rushed back over to the factory, baffled at how the money had magically made itself into the accounts of her staff. She knew Aidan wouldn't have done it, or Michelle or even herself. Who would be feeling that generous?

She typed the usual password into her user on the computer and checked the wages for all of her staff. There it was in black and white.

He'd gone and bloody done it. She should have known it would have been him. The meddling martyr that always managed to get embroiled in lives that didn't involve his own. Now he was messing with her factory too.

If smoke could have poured from her ears than it would of. She grabbed her phone and sent him a short text; not revealing anything. She didn't hint she was angry, nor did she hint she was pleased.

Carla:

Come to factory now. Need to talk.


Nick had been sat beside Leanne for a good few minutes with the others, trying to get her to speak and admit something.

"Lea?" Nick touched her hand as she gulped down the whiskey Kylie had poured her. "Leanne, talk to me, please."

Gail soon came down the stairs, rubbing her eyes as she began to wake up. "What's all the noise for?" She moved to see Leanne and put her hand over her mouth. "You look awful. What happened?"

"Well she's not been to a day spa, has she?" David retorted.

"I gathered that David. No need to be facetious."

David and Kylie rolled their eyes at Gail.

Leanne finally spoke. "It was Callum. He beat me up." Once she said his name, she dissolved into tears, crumbling into Nick's arms as the others looked at her with sympathy. As if she hadn't already gone through hell in the past few weeks.

"I'm gonna kill him," Nick said bluntly. "I'll kill him and I don't care what they do to me in prison."

"That's not what Leanne needs right now." Gail replied. "You need each-other, not a cell wall blocking ya from talking."

"This is all my fault," Kylie whimpered. David put an arm around her shoulder.

"It's not babe." He comforted her, pulling her into his chest more. "I'll call the police. He needs to get sent down for this."

The others nodded but Leanne just carried on shaking in the warmth of Nick's chest and the Platt's leopard print blanket.


Carla gestured for Peter to come into her office. He looked smug and proud of himself, as though he had just given his parents the best school report that they'd ever read.

"Where shall we start?" Carla asked.

Peter smiled. He'd been waiting for her to ask him to 'start' all over again and now, here it was. "Start wherever you want Carla."

Carla froze for a minute, collecting her thoughts and getting ready to let all her anger go at once. "Peter, a couple of grand is not going to make up for you shagging Tina behind my back whilst I was pregnant!"

Carla screamed at him as he stood in front of her in the factory.

Lesson learnt for Peter. He wasn't touching money as far as Carla was concerned. "I know it doesn't fix you and me but...I wanted to help you because I wasn't there when you needed me."

"Oh my god. Are you for flamin' real?!"

He nodded, holding his hands together like a child would when they faced the head teacher.

"I want to help you Carla. It just...it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Like everything you do." Carla remarked. "A pint here, a good shag there, a good punch up and the occassional pregnancy!"

"Carla...please just listen to me. I said I'm sorry okay. I just wanted to help you out whilst you got back to normal. I know I shouldn't have nicked the keys and gone onto the computer without you-"

"You did what?! You broke in?!"

"No!" Peter protested, waving his hands in the air. "I swear I didn't!"

"So how the hell did ya get in? Zip wire? Parachute? Please do tell me Peter because I'm dying to know!"

"Aidan...he left his keys behind the bar in the Rovers. I erm...I just grabbed them for five minutes and then...well you know what happened."

"I could kill you." Carla gritted her teeth. "You've been back all of five minutes and now you're running my bloody factory from under me!"

"No I'm not!" Peter argued. "I did it because I want to help you. Make up for when I didn't help you and I wasn't there."

"I needed this when I had our baby Peter, not now!" Carla's voice was rising and she could feel herself about to lose it. "You and your bloody family love messing with people's lives, don't ya? Yer soddin' sister blowin' up me flat, blaming me, watching me rot away and now you...treating me like some flamin' sponger!"

Peter edged closer again, taking hold of her elbows.

"I thought you needed it...you needed me. I thought maybe we could tr-"

Carla looked even more incensed. "Try again?!" Peter avoided her intense stare, letting his eyes follow the floor. "Try again!?" She repeated angrily.

"I'm sorry." Peter whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You're always bloody sorry Barlow."

Peter sighed. "I always do stupid things; that's why I always say I'm sorry. But I do mean it though. I'm sorry."

Carla thrust her finger towards the door. "Get out!" She yelled. "Just clear off!"

"Un-fucking-believable," Carla muttered as Peter trudged out of the factory, sorely disappointed and underwhelmed.


The police ushered the other Platt's into the kitchen whilst the asked Leanne the necessary questions. Her bleeding on her face had stopped and luckily, Gail knew how to do first aid, so Leanne was bandaged up quickly. But it wasn't as straight forward as that.

"So, why did Mr Logan assault you then, Mrs Tilsley?"

"He's got a vendetta against our family." Nick said.

The policeman looked at Nick. "I'm impressed that you can make yourself sound like a man Mrs Tilsley. Care to answer my questions?"

Leanne nodded. "K." She mumbled.

"Mr Logan has a vendetta against you and your family. Why has he singled you out and attacked you then?"

"H...he and I argued this afternoon," Leanne admitted. "He'd caused this family no end of trouble and I've had enough. So I keyed his car with me high heel."

The officer took detailed notes, scrawling everything he could down.

"Ey mate?!" David called across the living room. "Might need another notepad with this family."

The officer nodded slightly, unsure as to whether to laugh or to back out the door slowly.

"Did he do anything to you after you vandalised his car?"

Nick and Leanne bobbed their heads up and down at the same time.

Leanne raised her hands to her throat. "He er, put his hands 'ere and threatened to hurt me."

"I stepped in." Nick said, failing to add in that he had 'stepped in' by punching Callum. It seemed like a minor detail that didn't really need mentioning.

"Okay. So, what happened this evening then?"

Leanne fiddled with the blanket that was covering her entire body and doing very little to make her warm.

"I was walking back from the Bistro...our Bistro 'cos I'd been out with my sister for dinner. He came out of nowhere and dragged me where nobody could see me and out his hands over me mouth so I couldn't scream for help."

"Did he sexually assault you?"

Leanne shook her head as the tears fell. "No, no he didn't."

"So what did he do to you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It's fine. He hit me, ripped at me clothes, kicked me and he punched me."

"And Mr Logan did this? He had no accomplices?"

"No." Leanne started. "Just him."

The officer stood up from the armchair. "Well I have all the evidence I need so I'll make sure we get you justice."

Leanne nodded, still in shock from the events of the evening. "Thanks." She managed to utter. "Thank you."

Nick helped her up off the sofa. "Come on, you need some sleep."

Leanne agreed and let him guide her home as Kylie turned to her husband.

"He needs to be taught a lesson." Kylie said.

"Yeah well we tried that and look how well it ended."

Kylie shook her head. "We need to get him good. This time there'll be no escape."


Thanks again for your amazing reviews! I love hearing what you think and any suggestions you have- some are definitely in the works!


Next Time

The Platt's are furious when Callum is released from prison after someone gives him an alibi. Who is it and why are they covering for the criminal?

Eva is caught up in the moment with Aidan and doesn't think twice about Jason. Is there a way back for them?

Leanne and Nick finally talk about the miscarriage.

Simon sees sense.


It's great to hear you all like the spoilers and your ideas of what's to come are great. So, every five chapters you will get a bumper load of spoilers for what's coming soon!


And...In the next five chapters

Who meets a grizzly end?

Which Tilsley is acting suspicious? And why?

A huge secret is revealed, causing heartache for a female. Who will be her knight in shining armour?

Who finally receives a kiss from the one they love?


Also, please check out my other stories too, especially my latest, 'Canada. '