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Chapter 32: A Living Nightmare

Philip had been planning on telling his aunt about talking to Mollie. That's why he had found himself in the doorway of her office. That was when he heard the name. Max Tyler. Just like the photograph, it seemed familiar.

Ignoring the fact that he was already late for registration, Philip had gone to the first free room he had found with computers.

He logged on in record time, internally begging for his instinct to not be right. Philip had been standing at the door for the most part of Rachel and Eddie's conversation. He had already known of the merger, with his aunt announcing it in assembly on Wednesday, and letters being sent out to parents. Not that his mum received one. Thinking of assembly, Philip was reminded that one was taking place in ten minutes. He had to be there, or Rachel and Eddie would start to panic. That was if they hadn't already begun to.

The point was, if his gut instinct was right. This was bad. Really bad. If it was right, then Mollie's father and the man who used to abuse him as a child was going to be the executive headteacher. And he would have a grudge to hold over his aunt and Eddie. A motive to be spiteful and to push them out. And Melissa would undoubtedly be back.

Maybe this was why Philip had an urge to clamp his eyes shut as he typed into the search engine.

Max Tyler executive head teacher

The merger would be common knowledge amongst the press by now. So surely the position of executive head would be too.

Philip couldn't decide if he had struck gold or not when he spotted one of the first articles. It read 'Max Tyler appointed executive head for merger of John Fosters with five other schools in the area.'

Philip held his breath as he scrolled downwards, searching for any images. And there it was. Max Tyler, aka Mollie's father. Aka the man who used to hit him. Aka the man who is mum was back together with. Standing proudly, or perhaps smugly, outside a building that Philip guessed to be Max's old school.

He felt his heart rate and body temperature rising instantly. Philip could hear his mum's words from their phone call running through his mind. In fact, he's starting a new job in a few weeks, back in England. She must have known. Rachel was right about her, she wanted revenge on her sister and maybe this was Melissa's way of getting it.

Philip felt sick. It wasn't just Rachel he had to worry about. He wasn't sure if he would be able to stomach coming into contact with the man who had abused him all of those years ago. It was unlikely that Max would recognise him, but he would know his name. Philip's surname was Ryan after all. And Mollie, what about her?

He resisted the urge to scream. Of course when he had thought things were finally back on track, something bad would happen. It was just the way things were going at the moment. And Philip didn't like it one bit.

As he stood up, the only coherent thought in Philip's mind, was that he had to find Rachel. And fast.

….

"Look, Rach," Eddie stopped Rachel as they approached the hall, placing a hand on her arm, "if he's not in assembly, we will go have a proper look for him."

Rachel was nodding as if she were agreeing with him, but Eddie could tell that she was becoming increasingly panicked about the situation. Eddie did find it odd himself, and he too was fairly worried. He just hoped that those emotions hadn't shown when he was trying to reassure her. It was the last thing she needed.

Why did Philip become so concerned and on edge after hearing Max's name?

Eddie dreaded to think of the possibilities. Given the events of recent weeks, anything could have happened.

It was as he gave Rachel's arm one last squeeze that they were about to walk into the hall. That was when Philip came running down the corridor.

"Rachel! Eddie!"

The boy was evidently out of breath, and Eddie found himself wondering why he was in such a rush. By the look on Rachel's face, she was thinking of a similar thing.

"Philip, what on earth's happened?" She said, "Eddie and I have got a hall of students waiting for us..."

She gestured towards the hall and Eddie knew that her emotions were conflicted. Rachel would want to help Philip, to find out what was going on. But equally, she wouldn't want this conversation to be available for the student body to hear. Because they were already waiting in the hall, and they would be beginning to get restless.

"Rachel, I'll take assembly. You get up to your office, and find out what's up. I'll be with you right away."

Rachel nodded once more, smiling at Eddie. She found herself in a strikingly similar position to that of three days previous. Philip wanting to talk to her and Eddie supporting her. She just hoped that it wouldn't lead to more dramatic revelations.

They hadn't even reached her office before Philip was pulling an all too familiar photograph out of his pocket. It was the one of Melissa and her not so new man in Paris. He repulsed Rachel to look at, not only had he abused Philip as a child, it was likely that he was now spurring Melissa on to threaten Julie.

"Ask me who this is," Philip fumbled, pushing the picture towards Rachel.

She felt her brow furrow. She was utterly confused. What did this have to do with Max Tyler…. oh.

Rachel's nephew was looking at her expectantly, willing her to ask the question. She didn't know if she needed to, she might already have the answer. But she had to be sure. To hear it before she could dare to believe this living nightmare.

"Wh... who is it?" Rachel shook her head as she opened the door to her office.

Philip paused, glancing down at the photograph which was now in Rachel's grip, "the executive head… Max Tyler… the man who used to hit me as a kid… Mollie's dad. Whatever you… you want to call him. But he's coming here…"

Philip forcefully pointed his finger towards the floor as he said here, punctuating the severity of that.

Rachel had already put two and two together but this just confirmed her fears.

"How… how do you know that?"

"Like… the picture, his name was… it rang a bell."

Rachel exhaled slowly, finally walking into her office. She could sense that Philip was following her in and she didn't turn round until she reached her desk, so that she could lean against it. Rachel felt like her legs might collapse beneath her if she didn't have some sort of support.

"So I looked him up. On erm… google."

Philip put his hand in his pocket again, this time bringing out his phone. He passed it to Rachel, staying silent as she studied the picture. It was an article, presumably one that Philip had found online. But it was the image that caught Rachel's eye.

She had the picture in one hand, and the phone in the other. If Rachel hadn't already been one hundred percent certain, this was living proof. Max Tyler really was Mollie's father. Melissa's not so new man. The person who used to hit Philip all those years ago. And he was coming to Waterloo Road, whether they liked it or not.

Because as much as Rachel's instinct was to call the police, and inform them of who Max Tyler really was, it wasn't as simple as that. Max used to hit Philip over ten years ago. And as horrific as it was to admit, there was no real evidence. It would be their word against his. And Melissa's. It upset Rachel to think about, but if her sister had kept quiet all those years ago, she wasn't going to confess now.

That was another thing, Melissa's return had already been imminent. Now, it was impossible to ignore. Along with Max Tyler, she would be making an appearance. And Rachel really didn't know what to think about that.

"Rach."

As Philip spoke, Rachel realised that she had been quiet for too long. Her eyes flicked back up to meet her nephews and the fear in his eyes, told Rachel that they had to find a solution to this. They had to face it head on, together. Herself, Eddie and Philip. Because that's the way things were now.

Rachel just had to remain confident that Melissa and Max wouldn't get in the way of that.