CHAPTER 7
Jane had discussed her findings with her husband Mike.They both decided that it would be too risky to tell Ellie now.The Phillips boys were obviously going through rough times and Ellie at twelve would not be able to handle the knowledge that her father had killed her mother.She did not have a tough upbringing and was not old enough at twelve to understand the sort of lives her biological family lead , besides which they felt that Scott and Kane might be a disruptive influence on her life.
Jane had confided in Kaitlyn , who was shocked , but remembered that there had indeed been a daughter.She felt sad that the siblings would not know about each other for the time being , but respected Jane's need to protect her daughter.Ellie would find out when she was eighteen and at that age would be able to make up her own mind whether she wanted to contact the Phillips brothers and in the meantime they hoped she would forget about the boy she briefly met on holiday.
Time passed and Scott continued to get into more and more trouble. He stole and sold on cars , got into fights , broke into houses and was generally despised by the people of Summer Bay.Often he would drag Kane into his wrong-doing, Kane really had no choice , but sometimes he enjoyed the feeling of power , the adrenalin rush of driving away a stolen car. His main passion though remained boats , he had sat on that wharf watching them come and go for as long as he could remember.He often earned a bit of money helping out and dreamed of owning his own boat one day.He never shared these dreams with Scott , Scott would only have laughed at him , squashed those dreams, so he kept them locked up inside himself.
Lilly was distraught , Chris had lost his battle against cancer.She had invited Scott and Kane to the funeral , but Scott told her to rack off.Where had their aunt and uncle been when their parents had gone , he wanted to know! Why should they go to the funeral of someone who didn't give a damn.Kane had wanted to go , he remembered seeing his uncle working as a deckhand and the secret times when he slipped him some money saying, " don't tell your dad." But as usual Scott decided for both of them. Kane did however send his aunt a card saying how sorry he was , another secret from Scott.
Kane was becoming more of a problem at school.He was rude to the teachers and violent with other pupils.Mr.Fisher the headmaster was at his wits end, it wasn't as though he could call Scott into the school to discuss Kane , after all he had been even worse when he was a pupil.
Josh was slowly becoming more and more resentful of his parents.Sure they gave him everything money could buy , and he knew that they loved him , it just seemed that the love came with a price.So much was expected of him , no one asked him what he wanted.To be honest he didn't know what he wanted , all he knew was that he didn't want to be like them! He became even more moody and sullen , and isolated himself at his expensive boarding school , pushing away those boys who had previously been his friends.
Ellie was blossoming into a beautiful girl , everyone commented on the blueness of her eyes and lovely smile.She was popular and did well at school , remaining firm friends with her young neighbour Ebony.
Josh's eighteenth birthday was rapidly approaching and as his parents were planning a lavish party and talking about him joining his father's business.He was feeling more and more trapped. He didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps but his parents didn't understand.
"So what do you want to do then , dear" his mother asked.
"I don't know , but I need to get out there and find out what the real world is about."
That night his parents discussed this and decided that the best thing to do would be to let him have his own way as usual , if he didn't want to be working for his father then he would only sulk and drive everyone mad if they forced him to.
"Let him see what the real world is like , I'll give him a year tops before he comes back.He'll have got it out of his system and be raring to go.My father let me have a year off before joining the business , and it did me no harm." Said Josh's father.It was decided that Josh would leave a few days after the party , he was to stand on his own two feet after touring Europe and Asia , but with the understanding that if he needed help , his parents would bail him out.
Kane's birthday had been a few weeks earlier.Just as with every other birthday no one remembered , he only remembered himself because the teacher had written the date on the board at school , and asked the class the significance of it.It was the date of some battle they were supposed to have looked up for their homework , but when the teacher asked
"Who knows of a significant event in history that occurred on this day?"
Kane blurted out , "Yeah , I was born."
The class all laughed but the teacher wasn't amused, not that Kane cared anyway. He was bored so he decided that since it was his birthday he'd take the rest of the day off.He picked up his bag and walked out. The teacher didn't even bother saying anything they were used to this kind of behaviour from Kane Phillips , but try as they might to get rid of him , the education department insisted he remain.Words such as deprived , emotional problems, socio-economic-problems and so on were bandied about. But all the teachers wanted was to get this disruptive boy out of the school so they could get on with teaching the other pupils and most of the parents felt the same way.
A new teacher had started at the school , Shauna bumped into the boy and spoke to him.She wanted to know why he had dodged her PE class.Truth was he had to many bruises from his latest run-in with Scott , but he made some smart remark and walked off. Shauna asked about him , the other teachers explained how he was violent and unpredictable and his chequered family history.Shauna felt sorry for him and treated him kindly , no one at school had ever done that before , he wondered why she was being nice to him. It was so long since anyone had treated him like a human being ,and soon he developed a crush on the pretty young PE teacher.
Shauna grew concerned that Kane appeared to be developing feelings for her. She knew of his background and history of trouble-making and turned to her partner Jude Lawson for help. Jude became very angry and when he saw Kane he gave him a piece of his mind and threatened him.
The next day the gossip was all over Summer Bay , Kane Phillips had been admitted to hospital in a critical condition, the police would interview him as soon as he regained consciousness , the fingers were pointing at Jude Lawson. Jude and Shauna knew that he was innocent and were shocked when Kane made a statement to the police blaming Jude for the attack.
Shauna was determined to prove Jude's innocence and decided to confront Kane.He wouldn't tell her who had beaten him up , but when Scott approached he looked so terrified that the answer was staring her in the face.She remembered the missed PE lessons , the odd black-eye always put down to fighting , the typical behaviour pattern of a victim of domestic violence.She knew she had to speak to Kane again , but this time she would get the truth and the evidence she needed to prove Jude's innocence.
Scott was angry and scared.He hadn't meant to hurt Kane so badly , it was just that when something inside him snapped he couldn't stop.Anyway it was Kane's fault , he'd kept some money back from Scott , what did he expect.He needed to be taught a lesson , he needed to know who was boss.
Kane had always known his brother was capable of violence , but recently he had been totally losing control , he knew that one day he might kill him the same way their father had killed their mother , but like her he didn't know how to get away , who to talk to, and at the end of the day Scott was all he had and they had always looked out for each other.
Shauna spoke to Kane again , this time he admitted that it was Scott who had nearly killed him , but no way was he going to the cops.Scott was his brother and anyway he would kill him for sure if he found out.Shauna , however , had taped the conversation , and said she would go to the police herself.
Kane panicked , he couldn't let his brother go to prison , after all it was his fault , he shouldn't have kept the money , Scott was bound to have found out , no wonder he did his block. He told Scott about the tape, Scott went berserk , he ordered Kane into the car and sped off at a dangerous speed.Kane didn't know what Scott was planning to do but one thing was obvious , Scott was totally out of control and Kane was terrified.
Scott saw Shauna up ahead and dragged her into the car.They drove to a secluded warehouse , where Scott held Shauna prisoner trying to get her to tell him what she had done with the tape.Shauna's only hope was Kane , but could he overcome his fear of his brother and his misplaced loyalty to help her. She spoke to Kane behind Scott's back , Kane agreed to help her but Scott was getting suspicious and what was more he had a gun. In the end Kane risked his own life to help Shauna get out , she told the police how he had helped her and charges were only made against Scott.
Kane felt terrible , he had betrayed his brother.He knew he had done the right thing but it didn't make it any easier. The folk of Summer Bay looked on him with renewed disgust , just look what those Phillips boys had done now, OK he had come good in the end , but he had taken his time about it.Shauna knew what he had been through , how hard it had been for him , but she was safe now welcomed home by Jude and her step-father Alf and her many friends.
Kane on the other hand had no one to welcome him home , infact he no longer had a home.His landlord slung him out.He had no family to talk the ordeal over with , he had betrayed his only family to save Shauna and now no one wanted to know him any way.He didn't know what to do where to turn , all he knew was that he was scared and alone and that there was a rage in him and he had no idea how to deal with it.Eventually he found temporary refuge at the drop in centre, but all the locals made sure they steered well clear of him and warned their children to do the same.
Dani Sutherland was having boyfriend problems.She was worried that Will still had feelings for his ex-girlfriend , Gypsy, and their romance was becoming a complicated on- off affair , a mine field of mind games while Dani kept testing his loyalty.Dani didn't know why but she felt drawn to Kane Phillips.He fascinated her and the fact that everyone warned her to stay away from him only made her illicit meetings with him more exciting. Mr.Fisher had caught them kissing in the common room , her foster – sister had seen them too , even Gypsy had warned her that she was playing with fire.The boy was dangerous and unstable they warned, look at his background , look at the kidnap.But Dani did not want to listen to them and carried on seeing him behind Will's back.
Kane wasn't sure what was going on.This princess of the bay , he'd even called her a spoilt princess, was meeting with him, kissing him.At first he thought it might be a joke , maybe she would go back to her nice friends in their nice houses and laugh at him. But she assured him she liked him , he felt special , things like this didn't happen to people like him!
One day he helped her carry her shopping into the house.They were alone and he started to kiss her.She said something about having a boyfriend , but Kane wasn't listening, he knew what she wanted.Dani told Kane about Will but still he didn't stop kissing her, why wasn't he listening.He started to take things further , he thought she might have said 'no' , but he wasn't sure , anyway if she meant 'no' she would resist wouldn't she , but she was doing nothing to stop him.Dani was scared she had said 'no', why didn't he stop?Why couldn't he tell she didn't want to, she was terrified, she froze in shock and horror, she knew he wasn't going to stop. Why was she so quiet , he thought , wasn't she enjoying it,well who cares anyway, didn't some girls pretend not to enjoy it so they wouldn't look tarty.
It was over. On the way out of the house Kane saw Brodie , Dani's foster-sister.
"Me and Dani are an item now," he told her.Brodie went into the house. Dani was crying she felt dirty, she hadn't wanted him to do it , why hadn't he stopped?Why had she frozen?Maybe if she had said it more forcefully he would have stopped.? Maybe he hadn't understood , but she had said 'no'.She had been raped!
The police arrested Kane , he couldn't believe it, she had wanted it , he was sure of that, why was she lying , hadn't he been through enough already. Some people doubted Dani as details of the elicit affair came out.But most rallied round her , after all who would you believe a nice girl like Dani or a loser like Kane Phillips.As the court-date approached Kane was losing his grip, he knew everyone hated him , he went to school and the looks were full of disgust and scorn.He lashed out at anyone and everyone who crossed his path.When would the nightmare be over , when would people believe him.
Dani was having a terrible time , she wasn't sure if she should take the case to court.The secret affair was being uncovered piece by piece , what if people didn't believe her.Luckily she had a strong family and lots of good friends to see her through, but she still had nightmares and she still felt dirty, she didn't know if she would ever get over it.
The verdict came in 'not guilty' , but if Kane thought that it would make any difference to people's attitudes he was very much mistaken. He was branded now , not only was he scum , now he was rapist scum , the lowest of the low, filthy and disgusting , not fit to breathe the same air as the rest of Summer Bay.
Dani was glad that everyone believed her , the ordeal was hard enough to bear any way but at least she knew she had the support of family and friends.Kane was cracking under the pressure , he knew he had to get out of there or he would lose his grip on reality altogether.He couldn't understand why everyone took Dani's side.Even the court had aquitted him , why couldn't anyone understand that he thought she wanted to do it.He moved schools to Summer Bay and moved in with Aunt Lily, she didn't want him there but felt she owed it to Chris's memory to have Kane stay.He soon quit his new school , everyone there had heard about the rape , no one wanted to know him. He got a job working on the ferry as a deckhand.He loved his job and for the first time in his life found something he was good at.He kept out of his aunt's way as much as possible , he knew she didn't really like him, but at least he had a roof over his head.
Josh travelled around Europe and Asia , he relied on his parents money to finance his travels , but eventually returned to Australia and still refusing to join the family business decided to strike out on his own.He got a job as a life guard in Summer Bay and started going out with a pretty girl called Dani.
Ellie was sixteen now and growing more curious about her biological family.Her parents had kept abreast of the news in Summer Bay via Kaitlyn who still had some friends there , including Mark who had just taken a job as a counsellor at the drop in centre.They had heard about the kidnap and the rape.How could they tell their beautiful , innocent daughter about the awful family she came from.A father in prison for killing her mother.One brother a violent sociopath another a rapist.No they would protect her from this knowledge for as long as they could.She would not be able to find out unless she made her own enquiries and she could not do that until she was eighteen.Maybe she wouldn't want to know by then, they hoped.
Kaitlyn had been horrified by the news of the kidnap and rape.She could not imagine the Kane she knew doing something like that.She believed the girl had been raped , but after everything he had just been through maybe the jury were right , maybe he had mis-read the signals , and made the most terrible mistake of his life.A mistake that would stay with him and the girl forever and touch so many other people's lives. Kaitlyn cried once more for that little boy , that nobody's child, but this time she cried for the poor girl whose innocent life would be innocent no more, how had fate thrown them together to deal such a cruel blow.
Dani was getting nowhere in her relationship with Josh.He was becoming frustrated , wanting to take the relationship to the next level , but Dani was not ready.Thoughts of Kane filled her head when Josh touched her.She tried to explain it to Josh , but he didn't seem to understand .She asked Mark's advice and after some counselling sessions she decided that the only way to get Kane out of her head was to confront him.To make him see what he had done and how it had ruined her life.Mark advised her to think about this very carefully , and to talk it over with her family before making a final decision.She made up her mind she needed to confront Kane.
