'You'd better come in…'

Those were the words that Erin never thought she would hear Leo say and now she was sitting in the living room still clinging on tightly to Leo unable to lift her gaze to the woman sitting in front of her

"So you're Erin's godmother" she heard Leo say

"She never mentioned me then" came the harsh reply

"Well…no not exactly" Leo stumbled over his words "Things have been quite chaotic with Erin moving from place to place, I'm sure it just got lost in translation"

"I highly doubt it" Nora snorted "Useless like your father"

Leo flinched at the woman's harsh words but Erin said nothing and just tightened her grip on him so now she was clinging to Leo like a limpet

"Erin's my daughter and I would appreciate you showing her a decent level of respect"

"Your daughter?" Nora said, her voice registering a tone of surprise "And there's me thinking they just made a typing error"

Leo shot a puzzled look to Erin who was unable to return any expression of emotion. Nora fumbled around in her pocket and pulled out a crumpled up newspaper article and handing it to Leo.

The older man took it from her and smoothed it out as he quickly scanned over the text

'Erin Dalton, 17 from Park Lane School was the winner of the Eden Art Prize….'

Leo felt a swell of pride in his heart as he reminisced that only a few weeks ago Erin had won a local community art competition although she had been exceptionally modest and humble about it

"You always did have a nasty habit of landing on your feet" Nora sneered as Erin finally plucked up the courage to look at her godmother

"I think Erin deserves some happiness after what she's been through" Leo said curtly

"After what she put her poor mother through you mean!" Nora snapped

Leo was about to reply when Erin put a hand on his arm to stop him, he gently took her hand and wrapped it in his as he cleared his throat

"Well it's getting late and Erin has school tomorrow…" Leo began

Nora interrupted him "Don't you want to know how I found out where she lived?"

"I think we've heard enough for tonight…"

"People know about you Erin" Nora said with gleaming eyes "Your mother's friends are all around. Never forget that…"

"That's enough!" Leo said getting to his feet suddenly in a very imposing manner "I think you should leave"

Erin had never been so glad to hear Leo speak in her life and suddenly she felt a swell of hope that this woman would leave her home and never come back

"I want to see Erin" Nora said "I'm her godmother and I want access"

"I think enough has been said for tonight" Leo said moving towards the door "We can talk about this later at a reasonable hour"

"I'll be back, don't you worry" Nora said storming out of the house and slamming the door behind her.

Leo turned back to Erin who was huddled up on the sofa

"It's okay" he said to her

"No it's not" Erin's head snapped up and Leo could see tears forming in her eyes

"She's gone now" Leo said trying to calm an increasing erratic Erin down

"You think this will be an end to it?" she said standing up and brushing past him "It's far from over"

And with that Erin ran out of the room and hurtled towards her bedroom before Leo could say anything more to her


Erin's body convulsed as each sob racked through her small frame. Deep down she had know that the pleasant times she had spent with Harry, Nikki and Leo were too good to last. She was so angry at herself for being lulled into a false sense of security; of course her mother was not going to let her off that easily. She had always known that she was never really going to shake off her past; her mother was controlling her even six feet under. Suddenly she heard a knock at the door and she quickly leapt under her duvet and pretended to be asleep.

The door gently clicked open and Erin knew that Leo was standing there analysing whether on not she was in the mood to talk

"I know you're not asleep…" Leo began "…And that's fine of you don't want to talk to me tonight. I just want to let you know that I won't ever let Nora or anyone else harm you Erin. The first day I met you I promised I would help you and I still keep to that promise. If you don't want to see her again then you don't have too. No one can hurt you anymore Erin or make you do anything you don't want to do"

Erin bit her lip to try and stop letting out a sob. She kept quiet for a few minutes longer before she heard Leo gently sigh and leave the room

Pushing the duvet away from her, she sat up in bed, feeling the fresh air strike her face, shakily climbing out of bed and moving towards the window she peered out into the gloomy night. By the dim illumination of a nearby streetlamp she could just about make a figure standing on the other side of the road peering up at her window, despite the lack of light Erin knew who it was. Trying to fight the rising nausea in her stomach she roughly pulled the curtains across her window and flung herself into bed wrapping the duvet tightly around her


Leo sat wide awake in bed listening for any tiny noise that Erin made. He was worried about her, he had never seen Erin reaction so strongly to anyone before and he would never forget that look of sheer terror in Erin's eyes when she opened the front door to Nora.

Suddenly Leo heard a short, sharp scream coming from Erin's room. He leapt out of bed and sprinted towards the young girl's room. Flinging the door open he was met by a terrified looking Erin who was curled up in a tight ball on her bed. Flicking on her light her knew something wasn't right; Erin had a sheen of sweat across her forehead and her dark hair was plastered to it. Her bed sheets were soaking and the pungent smell of urine lay heavy in the air.

"Erin…" Leo said moving slowly towards the girl so not to scare her anymore than she was already

Erin looked up at him still quivering violently. Her breathing was ragged and her face was pale and drawn. Her body convulsed and Erin gagged which was soon followed by a retching as she consequently vomited all over the bed. For the first time in nearly a year, Erin's nightmares had returned.