Hello all! This is a new story by Totem, and me and its based on Paige… and you'll see what happens! Please R&R!
"Miss Matthews?" Paige looked up from her desk, tiredly. She had been up all last night thinking, and hadn't been able to fall asleep. She sighed, imagining the dark circles that probably had formed under her eyes.
"Yes?" She found herself smiling fakely at her boss. "What do you need, Mr. Cowan?" She so badly wanted to get back to work, to stop thinking about everything that happened. Paige hadn't really imagined herself as the type to run from feelings, but it was exactly what she was doing now, and she wasn't about to stop after how many miles she had ran.
"Looks like we've got a child abuse case on our hands, and you're the only social worker free for this." Mr. Cowan looked Paige in the eye. "I know you're right for this case. I know it'll be the first, but I have no doubt that you'll come through with flying colors. That is," He paused, and continued in a stiff voice, "That is, if you arrive to work on schedule, and don't leave when you're not supposed to."
Paige rolled her eyes, and flicked her dark hair behind her, "Mr. Cowan, when I accepted this promotion, I promised you there wouldn't be any more of that. Are you calling me a liar?" This was what Mr. Cowan both loved and despised about Paige, she was very to the point, and very quick to jump to her defense, or anyone's defense that she believed needed it.
"No, Paige, I'm just reminding you of our rules." Mr. Cowan gave her a smile, "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have promoted you."
She placed a file to the side of her desk and asked, "So what's this case about?"
He took a seat on the chair that was in front of Paige's desk, "All of the information is in this file" He said as he passed Paige the file he held in his hands. "Any questions you know where to find me…and I think we need to get the cops in on this one" Cowan explained.
Paige nodded, as she had already began to flick though the file she instantly felt her heart tighten, and the anger rise. She hated these cases, these cases that to anyone were so obvious except to a courtroom where the scum always seemed to walk free. She was reading through, absorbed in the incident reports, the background info, and the detailed accounts. As she continued she came to the most recent, there had been numerous hospital visits in the past few months and they seemed to becoming more frequent. She got the end, the latest visit, and the worst yet. The young boy had been admitted into hospital yesterday from what the reports say with a broken wrist and battered face. He claimed to have fallen down the stairs, the hospital felt differently, so rang through to South Bay social services. This was all Paige needed to know; closing the file and standing to her feet she lifted that and her jacket and set off out of the office.
She knew that social work was supposed to be very stressful, but for her now, it was a stress reliever. Besides, she didn't matter anymore; it was that little boy who had so obviously been beaten that mattered now.
While in the car, Paige racked her head for important details from the file. The kid's name was John Parks. Her heart sank at the name Parks, a name she normally tried to forget. But, there were a million people in the world with the last name Parks, so she knew she didn't have to worry. John was ten years old. He had a sister named Maria, and his mother was having another baby. The father's name was not yet mentioned in the file, although the mother's was Alice. Paige knew she would immerse herself in this project that, she would not have a life outside of this project, and for the time being, this was her life. Her sisters would be angry, but, her first thought was 'screw them, I need to follow my own path'. She couldn't believe he was only ten years old, and not to mention that Maria was six, cases like this made her sick. Her car pulled to a stop, and she had to blink her eyes twice, she was at the hospital. Paige couldn't even remember driving to the hospital, all she could remember was the boy's picture in the file.
As she walked up the stone steps to the entrance, Paige ran the picture through her head. It was a class picture, with a blue curtain background, and he was in a neatly pressed, collared red shirt. His two front teeth were missing, and even though someone had obviously tried to tidy it, his brown hair was tossed and messy. His green eyes looked familiar, but warming. She didn't see any sadness in them, but she was prepared to when she visited him in the hospital.
Paige patted her hair nervously, and walked up to the reception desk, "I'm here to visit a John Parks," She looked down at a little white card of information that had become damp from her sweaty hands. "Third floor. I'm from South Bay Social Services."
"Yes, a Miss Matthews was scheduled to come, is this she?" The receptionist asked sweetly.
"Yes. I'm Paige Matthews."
"Alright, the room number is three hundred twenty five."
"Thank you!" Paige said anxiously, and walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor. Her mission was about to begin.
Tbc… tell us what you think!