Later that evening, Leo and Erin were making their way back to Leo's house after a long and tiring day. Leo had told Erin about his meeting with the social worker but she'd just shrugged in reply and had barely said a word to him. As they travelled in his car, Erin turned her face away from Leo and started out of the window, watching the rain make patterns down the car window
"Erin?" Leo said as he heard the girl sniff
"What?" she said her voice full of emotion. She still did not turn her head towards him but Leo guessed she was crying
"Please talk to me" she turned her body further away from him and huddled closer to the window
Leo took this as a sign not to push things any further and the two of them continued their journey in silence
They were soon back at his house and the two of them set about their evening routine. Leo was getting increasingly worried about how quiet Erin was becoming, he knew she wasn't a loud girl by nature but she wasn't this quiet usually. She seemed distant, her eyes glazed over showing no emotion. She was picking at her dinner barely eating a thing and this made Leo extremely apprehensive
"I need to look at that cut on your arm now" Leo said gently sitting down on the sofa next to Erin was gazing distantly into space "Is that ok?"
Erin shrugged and he took that as a sign of consent. He gently peeled back the dressing on her arm. This was the last injury she had sustained from jumping out of Jane's car and it was also the deepest. He'd checked and cleaned it everyday and it had been healing nicely but as he looked at it today he saw a totally different story. The stitches had been ripped out and the wound had been bleeding badly since there was a lot of dried blood crusting around the wound, the skin around the wound looked red and raw and Leo could see the first signs of infection developing in the now open wound
"How did this happen Erin?" he asked gently
Erin shrugged for the second time
"Did you do this to yourself?" Leo asked
Erin paused for a moment and then looking up at him, said in a very quiet voice "Yes"
"Aright Erin" he gently soothed seeing tears well up in her eyes "Come on, let's go and get this cleaned up"
He led her gently into the bathroom and sat her down on the edge of the bath. He poked around in his bathroom cabinet for cotton wool and as he bustled about getting things ready Erin just sat there in silence her body shaking with emotion. He sat down beside her and took her arm and placed it on his lap, holding it with a gentle firmness that only he would be able to do.
"This is going to sting" he said pouring a strong smelling liquid onto a piece of cotton wool
He gently dabbed it on the wound and Erin flinched with pain. She could feel the liquid burn on her skin and the shock of the pain seemed to jolt her back into reality. As Leo looked back at her, he could see emotion in her eyes as she gasped trying to control the pain that was burning right through her. He continued his work in silence and after a while he was sure that he'd cleaned up the wound to his satisfaction so he re-dressed the wound and returned Erin's arm to her own lap
"Do you want to talk about it?" Leo said as they both made their way out of the bathroom
Erin turned and looked at Leo "Yes" she said trying to control the shaking of her body
He smiled gently at her and led her into the sitting room, they both sat down together and Erin leaned into Leo, at once feeling safe and secure with his arm around her shoulder
"When did you do that to your arm?" He asked
Erin paused before finally saying "This morning"
"Why?"
She wrinkled her nose "I don't know exactly…but it made me feel better after I'd done it"
"How did it make you feel?" he asked gently
"I don't know" she sighed "It just made thing a lot clearer and it felt like a whole weigh had been lifted from my shoulders"
Leo nodded understandingly "Erin" he said after a moment's silence "You realise that what you did isn't a good way of dealing with things"
She looked up at him and nodded "I know…things got too much"
"What sort of things?"
"Everything"
"Well it can't be everything" Leo said gently
"I was scared that when you went to the social worker meeting, that they wouldn't like you and they'd send me away somewhere horrible" she blurted out
"That wont happen" Leo said firmly "I wont let it"
Erin nodded slowly taking Leo's words onboard
"Would I also be correct in thinking that school would be another worry?"
She looked up at him clearly puzzled "How did you…?"
"Nikki told me" he said giving her shoulder a quick squeeze
"Oh…" Erin replied, Leo couldn't tell if she was annoyed or not
"She was worried about you"
"I know" Erin said a brief smile flashed across her face
"Well, you're seventeen and you don't legally have to be in education"
"I want to" Erin said firmly "Just not at that school"
Leo nodded "Well I'm sure it can be arranged that you can transfer to a different school"
"Really?" she said sounding unconvinced
"Really" Leo repeated
Erin sighed "I'm sorry" she said "I've been causing you so much trouble"
"Not at all" Leo smiled "Just promise me one thing"
"What's that?"
"That you will talk to me or Nikki or Harry when something's on your mind, or if you don't feel like talking right it down in a letter or do a drawing or something. Please don't suffer in silence anymore"
Erin nodded "I promise"
The two of them sat there late into the night, Erin had never felt safer before. Curled up in Leo's arms she felt safe and warm but most of all she felt loved. The pain she had felt when Leo had been cleaning up her wounds had driven away the numbness and her head and heart felt clearer than they had in days. She felt as if she were looking at the world through new eyes and her heart felt so light after talking with Leo. As she felt her eyes droop with the weight of fatigue she slipped off into a peaceful sleep, safe in the comfort of Leo's arms. A while later Leo looked down at the young girl in his arms, Erin was fast asleep and he couldn't help but notice the small smile that played across her lips as she slept peacefully. This was the first night that Erin had gone to sleep and not woken soon after screaming, drenched in sweat from her nightmares. Tonight she slept peacefully safe in the knowledge that nothing would hurt her as long as Leo was there for her.
Author's note: Sorry a bit of a depressing chapter, the next one will be a bit more light hearted I promise. Also I must once again apologise for not updating reguallry, school has been hetic (more than usual) and during sports day there was a 'hitch'. During the 200m race (somehow I was roped into it) I managed to trip over and fall awkwardly on my arm. Unfortuantly I broke my arm, 2 fingers and thumb, so updates will be slow and short for the current time (sorry!) But I have a way to go with this story so please bear with me and thanks to those who have reviewied!
