Forty two

Jessie's POV

Charlie broke down on the street. He just stopped and crumbled. He refused to move. I thought about our situation. "Take them. Get Mike. Send him along and I suppose send the police along to remove..." I gulped, "the... bodies." The image of Mari swam through my mind and made me feel sick. "I'll stay with Charlie," I added. Josh nodded and led Jade, Lily, Holly and Zach down the street and towards Elm Tree House. I sat down on the pavement edge next to where Charlie was just crying. I wasn't sure what to do. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. He just needed someone who understood him and to know someone was there for him. I couldn't stand to see him hurting like he was and I vowed to never let anyone hurt him again. We sat like that for ages until I heard a car rumbling towards us. I looked up and saw our mini bus. Mike jumped out looking worn and haggard. I assumed Josh had explained.

"Jessie are you hurt?" he asked. I shook my head. "and you cousin?"

"Physically – no. Mentally, yeah I don't think he's feeling too great," I answered over the sounds of police sirens approaching. The police cars pulled up.

"Sorry to interrupt. But two bodies were reported at being here. Could one of you show us to them?" he asked. I nodded.

"Mike, take Charlie into the minibus. I'll be back in a minute," I explained as I walked back towards the warehouse. The policemen followed me and I walked into the room. The first thing I did was lead them over to the tarpaulin covering Mari. "That's the first one," I said pointing at it put refusing to take it off. I led the other half of the officers into the backroom. I walked in and immediately fainted.

***5 hours later***

I blinked and looked up into a hospital light. My head was hurting and I wondered why. I thought back. I remember walking into the back room of the warehouse. An image went through my mind. The image of Lily. Sprawled. The smell of blood which clogged up my nose and made me faint. I'm scared of blood you see. Even the smell of it makes me faint. It smells like rust or iron. I shivered and then sat up in my bed. Mike was stood outside my door but Charlie was sat on the end of my bed.

"Hey cuz," he said. I smiled.

"hey," I replied weakly.

"I'm not going to ask what you saw. I'm sure they will anyway. Mike is letting all four of us stay at Elm Tree. It could be a bit of a squash but Zach is moving in with Frank, Jade is sharing with Elektra and Faith, I'm moving in with Josh, Lily is going to share with two girls Carmen and Lily – can I point out that is going to get confusing, and Holly is joining you and Tee in your room. Apparently the only other girl Holly could share with is Jody but she doesn't like sharing rooms because it makes her scared or something?" Charlie told me.

I nodded. "yeah. She said it makes her think of things she didn't want to think of." I shrugged. "how old is everyone?" I asked.

"Holly is eleven, Lily fourteen, Zach is sixteen and Jade is fifteen like us but she's almost sixteen," Charlie explained. I thought through this in my head. That now made one six year old, an eight year old, two eleven year olds, five sixteen year olds, five fifteen year olds, a twelve year old and three fourteen year olds.

"Wow! That is a lot of kids and a lot of teenagers in one house. There's thirteen teenagers and one person who is about to become a teenager," I said in awe. Charlie laughed.

"You always knew how to cheer me up Jess," he told me. I grinned and swung my legs out the bed as Mike came back in.

"Ah! You're up. We can go home now," he said. I cheered. I hated hospitals. The smell was almost as bad as blood. We walked out the hospital and got in the mini bus. "They are going to arrange funerals for them and let us know," Mike told me. I nodded and glanced out the window. Up until that moment I had forgotten about the fact my other cousins were dead. Mike pulled up at the front of the drive and we jumped out.

"You been in yet?" I asked. Charlie shook his head.

"No. I hadn't even seen what the outside looked like until just then," he told me. I smiled at him.

"Then you are in for a big surprise," I said opening the door. I could loads of commotion from the kids about moving beds, finding space, letting the newbie's in. Surprisingly I couldn't hear Elektra's voice in the mix. I indicated up the stairs to where all the noise was coming from.

When we reached the landing, I realised just how busy we were. It looked like Piccadilly circus during rush hour. Rick, Josh and Blake were moving a camp bed up the stairs into the attic. Lily, Lily and Carmen were all stood in the doorway to their bedroom chatting about hair products and discussing where Lily could put her things. That was when it hit me just how confusing having two Lily's was going to get. Faith was stood opposite them with Jade. They were shouting at each other and Elektra was sat in between them, cross legged on the floor. Tee and Holly were nowhere to be seen. Tyler and Jody were just jumping around making noise and mess, Johnny was attempting to help Frank and Zach move a mattress into Frank's room, Floss and Harry were just sat on the top stair watching it all. I shook my head at the pandemonium. I stuck two fingers in my mouth and whistled hard. Everyone stopped and looked at me.

"ok. Calm down. Tyler, Jody, Floss and Harry you can't do anything so go downstairs and play or something. Carmen, Lily and Lily. Sorry I can't cope with that. Lily, yes you. The one that comes for respite. I am now referring to you as purple as you always seem to be in purple and you are hardly here. That should clear up confusion. If you three are sorted go into your bedroom and get to know each other and stay out the way. Rick, Blake and Josh, keep doing what you are doing you are doing a good job same with Johnny and Frank. I'll ask you lot what is going on in a minute," I said pointing towards Elektra's group, "and has anyone seen Tee and Holly?" Tee and Holly popped their heads out our bedroom door.

"We are here," they said. I took a deep breath.

"And calm is restored to Elm Tree. You three sort your differences out," I said pointing at the three girl's in Elektra's room and then walking into my own room and flopping on the bed.

A/N: Did anyone else get confused about ages just then? Yeah I did too. So I'll break it down for you.

Year 1 – Aged 6-7: Floss (6)

Year 3 – Aged 8-9: Harry (8)

Year 6 – Aged 10-11: Jody (11)

Year 7 – Aged 11-12: Holly (11)

Year 8 – Aged 12-13: Tee (12)

Year 10 – Aged 14-15: Carmen, Lily (Purple), Lily, Johnny, Tyler (all 14) and Charlie (15)

Year 11 – Aged 15-16: Faith, Elektra, Rick, Frank, Zach (All 16), Josh, Jessie, Blake, Jade (All 15)

I will NOT be including Mo in this story purely because I thought he was a very poorly written character and it would make my whole story a bit more complicated.

Also I want to know would you like to learn about how Holly/Lily, Zach and Jade ended up in the warehouse or not as I was thinking whether or not to include their storylines.

Please let me know and sorry for the long Author's Note but I had to do it. Love Indigo :)