Paige ran as fast as she could away from him. She kept running and running until she finally had to stop and take a breath. She stopped at the edge of a park and made her way towards the nearest bench she could find. She sat down and took deep breaths. When she had finally caught her breath she closed her eyes and the next thing she knew she was crying. She placed her head in her hands and tried to stop the tears but it didn't work. She just kept crying.
A screaming voice behind her made her jump. She turned around but there was nobody there. She turned back and then she heard it again.
"Hello?' She asked. She stood up when she heard the scream again. She turned around trying to figure out where it was coming from.
"Help me!' She heard the scream again. She ran towards the direction she thought the scream was coming from. She kept running and running. Then she came to a sudden stop when she saw a pair of flailing legs behind a bush.
"Hey get off her!' Susie screamed when she saw the man lying on top of a girl with his arms around her neck. The girl was crying and screaming. "You." She cried when she saw the mans face. It was the same man who had tried to rape Paige when she had first arrived in town.
"Oh no. Not you again." The man stood up quickly and pulled his pants up then ran off. Paige was about to run after him when the girl cried out.
"Please help me." She had tears pouring from her eyes, she was covered in scratches and bruises and she was bleeding above her eye.
"Are you alright?" Paige sat down beside her and sat her up.
The girl shook her head.
"Did he rape you?"
The girl nodded.
"Oh you poor thing." Paige pulled her close.
"It's ok. You're safe now." Paige said and she stoked the girl's hair. "We need to get you to the hospital." She pulled out her mobile phone and dialled the number of the police station.
"Mt Thomas Police Constable Jones speaking." Evan answered the phone.
"Evan its Paige."
"Hey Paige where are you?' Evan asked. Paige looked around then she saw a wooden sign with a name on it.
"I'm at Moerda Park. I need help fast. I didn't know who else to call."
"What's happened?'
"There's a girl here who says she's been raped. She's pretty beaten up. It's the same guy who tried to get me Evan. You have to come and help."
"Hold on a second." Evan turned to Cameron. "Cam I need to head out to Moerda Park. Paige is out there and she says she's with a girl who's been raped. She sounded really panicked Cam."
"Righto. Ah take PJ out with you and-"
"Is Amy free?" Evan asked. He knew Paige wouldn't want to see PJ right now.
"She's working on a case for me why?"
"I just think it would be best if I took a female officer, considering the circumstances." Evan quickly thought of a cover.
"Fair enough. Get down there and help her out."
"Thanks Serge." He placed the phone next to his ear again. "Paige hold still. We'll be there as soon as we can. Call an ambulance whilst you're waiting for us."
"Ok Evan. Please hurry she's not doing so well." Paige looked at the frightened child in her arms and hung up the phone.
Evan arrived 5 minutes later and the first thing he did when he got out of the car was call for Paige.
"Paige!" He cried. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" She called back. "Hurry."
Evan and Amy rushed behind the bush to where Paige was sitting, holding the barely conscious girl in her arms.
"Have you called an ambulance?" Amy asked.
"No. I'm sorry. I should have..."
"Paige it's ok. Just calm down a bit." Evan hushed her.
"I'll call an ambulance." Amy suggested and she walked back to the patrol car and radioed for an ambulance.
Evan turned to the girl Paige was holding. "What's your name?" he asked gently.
"Sarah. Sarah Miller." The girl replied softly. "Please you have to help me."
"We will Sarah we will. Just hold on."
Paige was still sitting behind the bush next to Evan, holding the girl close to her when the ambulance pulled up. Two paramedics rushed to their side with a stretcher.
"What happened?"
"She was raped. It looks as though she was pretty badly beaten." Evan explained. "She's barely conscious." Evan added.
"Well it's a good thing you got here when you did. We've had four of these incidents in the past three weeks. The others haven't been lucky enough to make it though." The paramedic told him as they took the girl from Paige's arms.
They lifted Sarah onto the stretcher carefully and carried her off to the ambulance. "What's your name?" One of the paramedics asked.
"Her name's Sarah Miller." Evan told the paramedic.
"Thanks." He closed the ambulance door.
Once the ambulance had driven away Amy turned to Evan.
"You should take her home and get her cleaned up. I'll drop you off on my way to the station." Amy suggested.
"Yeah. Thanks." Evan replied. Paige was still standing behind the bush, shaking as Evan put his arm around her and led her to the car.
Amy did as she said she would and dropped Evan and Paige off at the pub before heading to the station.
"It's ok Paige. You're ok." Evan held her as he led her up the stairs to her room. "You sit down and I'll run you a nice warm bath."
Paige nodded and sat on the end of the bed. Evan walked into the bathroom and started the bath running then when he walked back out to the bedroom he saw that Paige was on the phone.
"Yeah I'm fine...I'm staying at a hotel in town...okay. Look I have to get going now. I'll call you tomorrow...Okay bye. Love you too." She hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Evan asked making her jump.
"Oh you scared me." She turned around. "That was my friend Sam. She's been trying to get hold of me for weeks now. I've only just charged up my phone. I got 10 messages from her so I thought it would be a good idea to call her back."
"Oh." Evan replied. "Your bath's ready."
"Thanks." She replied and she stood up. She was walking into the bathroom when Evan grabbed her arm.
"Are you okay? About what happened earlier I mean?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. I just feel sorry for that poor girl. She didn't look any older than twelve. I can't begin to imagine how many other girls he's done that too."
"It's okay. Amy will find him. She'll make sure he's put away."
"Yeah. I'm just scared he might come after me that's all."
"He won't. There is no way PJ's or I would ever let anything happen to you."
"Yeah. Well I guess I'd better go have a bath. And you'd better get back to work." She pulled away from him and entered the bathroom.
"Hey ahh...My cousin is getting married next weekend and she's invited me and Susie up. How would you like to come with us?"
"I don't know...?"
"Hey it'll be fun. You can get all dressed up and watch her walk down the aisle then get really drunk at the reception afterwards." Evan laughed. Paige smiled.
"It's a really nice thought but I really don't feel like going to a wedding anytime soon. Besides it will give you some time alone with Susie. I get the feeling she may like you more than she's letting on. And from what I've seen and heard you feel the same way about her." Paige teased.
"What are you talking about? Susie and I are just friends."
"Whatever. You're going to the wedding with her no matter what right?"
"Yeah so?"
"So if I tag along then it means you two haven't got any time to spend alone together."
"What are you getting at?"
"Oh nothing." Paige smirked. She leant back on the bed and looked at the clock. "You'd better get going. You're supposed to be at work."
"I want to stay here and make sure you're okay."
"Evan I'm perfectly fine. I can look after myself you know."
"I guess. Make sure you get some sleep hey? It might make you feel a little better."
Paige rolled her eyes. "Okay." She closed the bathroom door.
Meanwhile at the station...
"How did you go?" Cameron asked when Amy walked back into the station.
"Well the girl was pretty badly beaten. It was lucky Paige got there when she did. Otherwise this girl's fate would have been the same as the other three."
PJ raised his eyebrows when he heard Paige's name.
"Did you say Paige was there?" He asked.
"Yeah. She saved the girl's life." Amy replied. "Why?"
"No reason. Where's Evan?"
"He's taken Paige to get cleaned up."
"Was she hurt?" PJ asked slightly worried.
"No. She's fine. She was just covered in the girl's blood." Amy replied, "He should be back soon."
"Could you send him into my office when he gets here please? There's something I need to discuss with him."
"Sure." Amy replied and she got back to her work.
½ hour later the front door opened and slammed shut and Evan made his way into the main office.
"You're back." Cam noticed. "How's Paige doing?"
"She's fine. She's just a little shocked. I told her to sleep it off."
"That's great." Cam smiled.
"Hey ah...PJ wants to see you in his office." Amy told Evan.
"Ah right." Evan replied and hesitantly walked into PJ's office.
"I thought you said Paige was back at the pub." PJ glared at Evan when he walked into the office.
"Well I figured that must have been where she was. She just ran away so I didn't know where she-"
"She ran away!" PJ cried. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't think it was your business."
"Not my business? Evan she's my daughter for Christ sakes. You let her run off and now look what's happened It could have been Paige that was raped!"
"Well it wasn't was it?" Evan retorted. "She's old enough to look after herself PJ. I don't think she needs to be constantly under watch."
"What would you know she's not your daughter."
"No but she just happens to be like a younger sister to me and I would never let anything happen to her either. But she doesn't need to be babysat anymore PJ. You may have missed out on her younger years but that doesn't mean you can make up for it now by treating her like a baby now."
"What would you know? You wouldn't know anything about raising a daughter!"
"Well apparently neither would you. And from what Paige has told me she doesn't want you to be her Dad either. She doesn't want anything to do with you!" and with that Evan exited the office.
Later that night Paige was sitting in her room reading a magazine when there was a knock at the door.
"It's open." She called back. She heard the door creak open but didn't look up to see who it was. "You were right getting some sleep did help me. And for once I didn't have any nightmares." She laughed and looked up. When she saw whom it was her smile turned to a frown. "What do you want?" She mumbled turning her attention back to the magazine.
"I wanted to give you something." PJ replied.
"And what if I don't want to take it?"
"You don't have to accept it if you don't want to but...it belonged to your mother." He hoped that would get Paige's attention however her face stayed buried under the magazine. "I'll just leave it here and you can have a look. If you don't want it then you can give it to Chris and she'll give it back to me and I'll never bother you again." He placed a cardboard box onto the end of the bed, turned and walked from the room.
Paige waited until she heard the door close before sitting up. She placed the magazine onto the bed beside her then forced herself to peer into the box PJ had left.
"Wow." Paige pulled a big black photo album and placed it onto her lap. She opened the front page and smiled when she saw her mother staring back up at her. She flicked through the album looking at each photo carefully. Beneath each photo was a small caption.
She flicked through more until she came to a picture of PJ and Ray when they were younger.
"My two best friends." The caption read. Paige closed the album and was about to put it aside when she noticed an old piece of paper sticking out the side. She carefully pulled it out and unfolded it. She could barely make out the writing. It looked as though a kid who had just learned to write had written it.
When I grow up I'll...
When I grow up I'll marry my best friend PJ. We will live in a house near the beach with lots of windows so we can always see the water. We'll have three kids and we'll name them Paige, Helena and Kieran. We will grow old together and live happily ever after.
By Kerry Dallas age 10.
"Wow. Mum really started young didn't she." Paige thought with a laugh. She folded the paper and placed it back into the album. She then pushed aside the album and went through the rest of the box. She picked up a stack of crinkled paper that had been rubber banded together. She read the top piece.
Hey PJ,
This lesson is so boring. I wish we were at home in the pool. That would be soo much better than this. Anyway I can't write much cause Miss Kelly is glaring at me again. Write back!
Kerry.
Then below that was another note written in different handwriting.
Kerry,
Yeah I know this lesson sucks. Miss Kelly is such a bad maths teacher. She makes everything so BORING! Being in the pool would be cool. Hey look I rhymed. I'm a poet and I didn't know it. Hehe. Write back!
PJ
And so it went on. Little notes on the same piece of paper, changing from one handwriting to another every few sentences. Paige couldn't help but laugh.
"Man they even wrote notes to each other." She smiled. She placed the stack of papers aside and went through the box again. This time she pulled out a silver ring. She held it up and examined it. There was an engraving on the inside that read: M.O. loves K.D. 4 Eva!
"Awww that's so sweet." Paige placed the ring on the chain around her neck then she went searching through the box again.
By the time two hours had passed she had finished going through the box. She had found several different memoirs from her mothers past, all of which had some sort of connection to PJ. The last thing she pulled out of the box was a plain white envelope with only one word right in the middle. PAIGE.
Curious as to what was inside she opened the envelope and pulled out a two page letter. She recognised the handwriting as her mothers so she immediately began reading.
Dearest Paige.
I know you wont get this until you are much older but right now I am sitting in the hospital slowly dying. Your father is sitting beside me holding you in his arms. You look so cute wrapped up in your little pink blanket sucking on his thumb. It makes me so sad to know that I wont ever get to see you grow up. The doctors told me that I only had little time to live. However being sick doesn't stop me from writing this for you.
I want you to know that no matter what happens to you or where you end up I will always love you. As will your father. As I watch him play with your hands I can't help but wonder why I didn't tell him about you before now. I can tell by the look in his eyes he loves you more than anything. I just hope he will always feel that way.
Your aunt is also here with us. She has been kind enough to help look after me whilst I've been pregnant. I just hope she shows the same amount of care with you while you're growing up.
Well I guess I'd better go soon. Writing this is giving me so much grief. I can barely feel my body let alone move a pen. But like I said nothing is as important as writing this down. I want you to know that no matter what happens your father and I will always love you and you will be in our hearts forever.
I will be watching you from above as you grow. Please take care of everyone. I'll miss you forever.
All my love.
Your Mum.
Paige let more tears fall from her face. She couldn't help it. She had never felt that much pain and longing before. She needed her mother. Even though she had never known her Paige really needed her at that moment. Paige was hurting for her mother. At that moment she finally realised how much PJ must have been hurting. She finally realised what she had to do. She gathered all of her mother's things, placed them back in the box then headed out of the door. She practically ran down the stairs and into the bar area where she saw PJ standing with everyone from the station. She didn't about everyone knowing the truth anymore. Her mind was only focussing on one thing, getting to her dad.
"Dad!" She cried and she watched as he turned around to face her. That was when she ran right into his arms, ignoring everything around her but PJ.
"I'm sorry." Paige whispered in his ear. "I shouldn't have been so horrible to you." Tears were rolling down her cheeks.
"Paige." He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. Memories of holding Kerry washed back into his head. "I love you." He whispered to her. "I always have."
"I know." She replied and she too closed her eyes. "I know."
And at that moment, oblivious to everything around them, they shared their first real hug as father and daughter.