May-Li stumbled down the stairs shocked from the revelation. She didn't know how to react or what to do. Had she done the right thing? Should she have kept Farah awake and taken her straight to the police station.
"Mike, I'm sorry to phone you at this time but it's an emergency" May-Li said down the phone. This was the first time she had even phoned Mike in the middle of the night.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked wiping his eyes "Do I need to come around?"
"I don't think so. It's just Farah just told me that he killed her, he killed my mum" May-Li said "They were her exact words when she woke up from a nightmare"
"Right, I need you to record the notes now. Is she sleeping now?" Mike asked.
"Yes, she cried herself to sleep. I'm going to camp outside her room. She woke most of the house up from her nightmare but only Jody heard" May-Li explained.
"Okay, log it and then wait until I arrive tomorrow. We will both need to be there for the meeting tomorrow. It's important that you don't ask her any questions about it until she tells us again. We need to make sure that it wasn't just a nightmare, that it really happened" Mike said, and May-Li nodded.
"I'll take my laptop up the stairs and do some paperwork until I need to start breakfast" May-Li said, and Mike agreed.
"Will you manage until I get there, or do you want me to come now?" Mike asked "It must have been a big shock for you"
"I'm fine, honestly" May-Li said. They spoke for a bit longer on the phone before hanging up. It was now 4:30 in the morning so it was pointless May-Li trying to go back to sleep. She wouldn't have slept anyway. She got her laptop and walked up the stairs to sit outside Farah's room.
She opened the door slightly and checked on the pair of them. Jody was back to snoring and Farah was still in the exact some position as May-Li had left her in. So much of May-Li wanted to go in and move the girl's hair off of her sweaty face but she knew she couldn't. If she did and Farah woke up it could set her off again. As May-Li was unsure about the exact abuse her father had put the girl through, it was important that May-Li didn't do anything that would trigger a memory and reaction.
May-Li returned to outside their room and wrote up her notes. She ensured to use the exact words that Farah used. Once she had finished that she moved onto some paperwork that she needed to finish. Before long, other children started to get up.
May-Li left Jody and Farah sleeping. She didn't feel the need to wake them up. To be honest, she was slightly nervous about saying the wrong thing to Farah before Mike arrived. She waited until 9:30 before going to check on them. Mike had just arrived for his shift and could supervise the children down the stairs. The whole atmosphere in the house was very tense. All the children had been woken up by Farah's nightmare and were worried about the girl. The plan was for May-Li to wake both girls, speak to Jody while Farah was in the bathroom. She would then take Farah down the stairs into the office with Mike.
"Carmen, Tee" Mike called and both older girls looked at him.
"Can you keep an eye on the younger children for me. May-Li and I really need to concentrate on Farah for an hour or so" Mike said and they both nodded. They were more than willing to help and pull their weight when needed.
May-Li woke both girls up and then Farah disappeared to the bathroom first.
"Jody about what you heard last night" May-Li started to say.
"It's fine, I won't tell anyone. I had nightmares about what Kingsley did and whatever man she was talking about is worse than him. She should go to the police. Like I did" Jody said and May-Li smiled at the girl's sensitivity.
"Don't worry we are going to speak to Farah now" May-Li said. They spoke for another couple of minutes before Farah returned and Jody went into the bathroom.
"I'll leave you for 5 minutes to get dressed and then can you come down to the office for me?" May-Li asked and Farah nodded nervously.
May-Li left Farah and found Mike.
"Do you think we should go into the quiet room? It might give more privacy" Mike suggested, and May-Li agreed. Farah came down 10 minutes later and nervously stood at the door of the office.
"Shall we go into the quiet room?" May-Li suggested and softly put her hand on the girl's back. Farah's face dropped and instantly her breathing became erratic.
"No…contact...dad" She managed to get out and May-Li nodded. She was annoyed at herself for not thinking about that. Instead they stayed in the office and sat down on the sofa. Mike was sat on his office chair which he'd brought closer to Farah and May-Li leant back on the arm of the sofa.
"Do you know why we want to speak to you today?" Mike asked. Farah looked around to May-Li and then back to the floor. Mike was unsure if the girl would speak to him as she didn't often.
"Because of what I said last night, when I woke up" Farah admitted, and Mike nodded.
"Can you tell me what you said?" Mike asked needing more from the girl.
"He killed my mum, my dad killed my mum" Farah admitted. Both Mike and May-Li looked at each other with wide eyes. This was what they had both feared.
"You have a couple of options as to what you want to do next. I know that you find speaking really challenging but you do get on well with May-Li. You can tell her what happened, I'll just sit here or your other option is that we call your social worker now and go straight to the police station" Mike explained stating the two options very clearly for Farah to see.
Farah thought for a minute, she ran both scenarios through her head before deciding.
"Can I tell you and May-Li?" She asked nervously and Mike nodded.
"Of course, you can, just you take your time" Mike said, and Farah nodded. Farah looked down at her hand and started fidgeting.
"Do you want my hand?" May-Li suggested, and Farah nodded nervously. May-Li gave the girl her hand and Farah pulled it into the grip of both her hands. She twisted the ring on May-Li's finger, and it took the pressure off her.
"Mum was going to have a baby. We found out it was a girl and Dad wasn't happy. He wanted a boy. They couldn't tell at first so we had to wait a while to find out. Dad wanted mum to have the baby now. He made her do things to make the baby come quicker but it didn't work. I went up to bed and I could hear them shouting. Dad was really angry, I snuck down the stairs and watched. He pinned mum on the floor and lifted her dress up. He had a knife from the kitchen. He cut her stomach open, it was low down, the bottom bit of the bump. Mum was screaming and crying but then she went to sleep. He pulled the baby out and she was crying. Dad stabbed her in the heart, and she stopped crying. Mum never woke up" Farah said. She told the whole story in one breathe before looking up.
"She was dead" Farah said before bursting into tears. May-Li pulled the girl into her arms and Mike stroked her hair soothingly. He looked over and saw some of the children watching from the living room. He knew that from that distance they wouldn't have been able to hear but he wanted to protect them. No child should be aware of such evil in the world.
Mike popped outside and told the others that they should start making lunch. They knew that something important was going on with Farah so ran off to do as they were told. Mike re-entered the office where May-Li was still attempting to calm Farah down. Mike took this as an opportunity to write the notes up. He then called the social worker and went into the quiet room to speak to her.
"Your social worker would like you to go to the police station now" Mike admitted. Farah looked up at him with tears in her eyes. She was distraught.
"Can May-Li come too?" Farah asked nervously.
"Of course, I'm sure we'll be allowed to do the same as we did at the last interview" May-Li said and Farah nodded. There was still so many unanswered questions that both Mike and May-Li wondered, however they knew that all would hopefully be figured out soon.
May-Li and Farah went to the police station where they were met by Helen. They instantly went into the interview room. Farah told the story exactly the same as she had done this morning. Helen was so surprised to hear the girl speaking and it made May-Li even prouder of her. Farah knew that for her mother to get justice she needed to speak. She was doing it for her mother.
"Farah, do you know what he did with the body?" PC Hamilton asked, and Farah nodded.
"He put the baby in a box and then put mum in the car in the boot. He was scared that I would go to someone else's house, so he put me in the boot with their bodies. He drove to this place with a lake beside it and my uncles were there too. They had dug a hole. They put my mum and the baby in the hole and then filled it again. Dad then put the car into reverse and the car went into the lake" Farah explained.
"Do you know where it is?" He asked and Farah nodded.
"But only from my old house. Dad left once the hole was almost filled. We went through a slant in the fence and then walked back to the house. Dad filled a bag of clothes and told me to do the same and then we left to a coach station. When Dad says he's going to be away for a few days, I go back there. It's far away though" She admitted.
"We will drive you now" The policeman said.
"Can May-Li stay, I have another case to deal with" Helen explained, and the policeman agreed. May-Li and Farah climbed into the back of the police car and they drove to the address Farah had given them an hour away in Middlesbrough. May-Li held Farah's hand the whole drive.
They arrived and Farah guided them the way. It was complicated and she had to climb a couple of walls and go up and down alley ways, but they finally found a gate. Farah moved a slant of wood and pushed her way through. They all managed to get through, and Farah carefully counted her steps.
"Here" She said. The policeman nodded and called through on the radio.
"Shall we go back now?" May-Li asked. Farah shook her head. She looked at the space where her mother and sister were buried. She broke, falling to the ground and sobbed. She hit the ground hard and screamed. May-Li pulled her into her arms where they stayed until the police arrived.
"I'm sorry, you are going to have to move her. We need to get started straight away" The policeman who had accompanied them to Middlesbrough said. May-Li looked at him wide eyes. How was she going to move Farah when the girl could barely stand?
"I can't move her" May-Li said.
"Do you want me to lift her?" He suggested and May-Li shook her head. The girl had been abused by her father, that would be a step too much.
"Sorry, she's struggles with men" She admitted, and the policeman nodded. May-Li knew she only had one object. Although she was petite, she knew that the girl was petite as well. She was also under weight.
"I'm just going to lift you up so that the men can get started" May-Li said to the girl knowing the importance of telling Farah what she was about to do. Although Farah didn't respond, the minute that May-Li lifted her up. Farah wrapped her legs tightly around her care worker and May-Li walked them over to the police car.
She climbed into the back with the girl and held her in her arms until the police officer came. They drove back in silence. By the time, they arrived back at the police station, it was almost 6 o'clock and May-Li realised that neither of them had eaten all day.
"Do you want to get a McDonalds' on the way home?" May-Li asked, and Farah shook her head. She was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed.
"Well, you'll need to have a sandwich when you get in" May-Li said, and Farah just nodded. They arrived back at Ashdene Ridge and Farah ran straight to her room.
"Mike, came out of the office. He smiled sympathetically to May-Li.
"Just had Helen on the phone. They've found two bodies" He said, and May-Li nodded. She couldn't even muster anymore than that. She was emotionally and physically exhausted.
"Why don't you head away early tonight? I can manage from here" He said.
"Let me make a sandwich for Farah. I'll take it to her and then leave" May-Li said. Mike offered to take it instead, but May-Li insisted.
May-Li knocked on the door and Farah stood up and opened it. The girl had red rings around her eyes. It was obvious she had been crying. May-Li put the sandwich down and opened her arms allowing the girl to fall into them. She just rubbed the girl's back until she pulled away.
"Will you be okay if I leave now? It's Shona on tonight but if you need me call" May-Li said, and Farah nodded. She stepped away and picked up the sandwich.
"Remember if you need to talk, all you need to do is say" May-Li said and Farah nodded.
"Thank you" She said smiling at May-Li. She was grateful for all the support the woman had given her today.
So what do you think? Can I just get an update on who is all reading still? Just a little I'm still reading so I know :)