"Hey Zo'" Nick said, whilst they were waiting on the lift.
"Yeah?" She replied, distantly.
"The cafeteria is overcrowded and noisy, I don't know the I'm up to that. I don't know that you are either. Lets got down to the staff room and cook something, in the peace and quiet?" She nodded.
"I'd like that." Nick nodded back. The doors opened and they stepped in. Nick automatically hit ground and, once there, he and Zoe subconsciously headed for the ED staffroom. They walked in and were thankful that the only person in there was Tess.
"Hello you two," she said. "How's Jody doing?" Zoe smiled, grateful for Tess' concern for her daughter's wellbeing.
"She's not great, fast asleep just now. Her temp is still up but her breathing has improved, so is her pulse. They've got her on a nasal-gastric tube too. She's weak Tess, but she's managing." Zoe said, honestly.
"Well I really hope she gets better soon." Tess said, sitting on the couch.
"Me too, Tess. Me too." Zoe replied, joining her. Nick headed to the kitchen at the other end of the room and began to cook macaroni and cheese for him and Zoe. Zoe, et tempting to take her mind off of Jody for a while, seized the opportunity to talk to Tess.
"Actually, Tess, whilst we have a moment. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." She said, in hushed tones, so that nick couldn't over hear.
"Sure Zoe, what's up?"
"What's going on with you and Fletch? Even Nick's noticed the tension between you two!" Tess fell silent in shock.
"Oh... I, um. I didn't know it was obvious." She stammered eventually.
"Apparently it is. What's up Tess?" She asked.
"I told him it had to end. I've had to be brutal, he kept badgering me. I thought if I was a bit, stoney, then he'd leave me alone. It's working, I didn't mean it to affect work though. I'll fix it Zoe. Promise." Zoe nodded.
"Okay. Are you all right though?" Zoe asked. Tess just nodded. "Okay, well, I'm here if you need me." Tess forced a smile.
"Thanks Zoe."
He pulled up outside the house and just stared at it. It was an old, abandoned ghost of what could have been an okay place. Knowing that the upcoming task wasn't easy Darryl paused to mentally prepare himself.
"Okay mate, can't stall any longer." His partner said.
"I know." He replied. He nodded to his partner, Dave, and exited the car. After locking the doors, the two officers headed up the path to the front door. Dave turned the handle, and, unsurprisingly, it wasn't locked. He swung the door open and both men took a sharp intake of breath at the horrifying sight that lay before them. The hall way was horrible. The paper was hanging off of the walls, photos scattered the floors, their frames broken and their glass smashed. The carpet was torn and peeling, there was blood stains all over it. The officers took more reassuring breaths and entered. To their left was the living room. It was worse than the hall. The blood stain under the radiator was still there, it was horrific. 'The young girl was right to be petrified.' Darryl thought to himself. They moved on to the kitchen, kicking through piles of empty beer bottles. It had no furniture in it, but it held the same blood stains as the living room and hall way. The sight of the place was enough to give anyone nightmares. They moved as quickly as possible through the house, trying desperately to find some form of evidence other than the few photos that they had picked up. The worst part of the whole house, however, was the little girl's bed room that lay at the top of the hall. It still held its furniture. Its walls were pink, but dirty. The carpet was equally filthy. The most daunting thing about this room was its innocence. Compared to the rest of the house, this room was clean and free of harm, but the memories that were made here were tortured, that's what made it so bad. Both officers thought that they couldn't see anything worse until they found the diary. It was an old, hard back, little, pink book. Filled with the messy scrawl of little girl's handwriting. Its pages were soiled with the agony experienced by an abandoned youngster, the thoughts she couldn't bear to keep locked inside. Memories so awful that, in her little girl's handwriting, she spilled onto the old, yellowed pages of the little pink book that now had two, fully grown men in tears.
Glad to get out of the house, both officers left, taking with them the diary and a handful of photos. Both determined to help the poor, sad little girl whom they now knew, needed them. Needed as much love, comfort and reassurance as possible. So they had to find her mum, otherwise, she might just break. Anymore bad news, anymore bad events in her life, may just destroy her. The diary served as proof of that. Both men were silent as they drove back to the station. Both would be haunted by this case for quite some time. Somehow, the silence felt right.
Hey guys. I know i promised to try and do that faster, but I've been really busy what with school going back on monday, stressing about going into year 12... Blah blah blah. Plus this was a hard chapter to write, not just because its a sad Chapter, but because a certain character in this chapter and the previous one was named after a very close family member. This person had severe depression and killed himself at the start of last year. I will never be okay with this and even just thinking about it hurts like mad. Ive named the character after him on honour of the man I knew him as. All i can say is I truly regret everything that happened and wish i had talked to him more since we left for Australia. I'm choosing to tell you all this, not to make you sad or pity me, but to remind you all that sometimes, the ones we love leave us before their time, we often can't help. In my uncle's case, no one could help (and that's not to say no one tried. We did, right up til the day he died) . The point is, don't lose contact with those you love, talk to your loved ones as much as you can, even if its just to say "hey" every once in a while. Sorry for the sadness in this chapter and authors note.
Aimee x