It was Opal who picked AJ and Miranda up after school. Both of their moms were working late and it was one of Reggie's college nights. AJ went with Kathy and Jenny upstairs to play on the computer but Miranda lingered in the lounge with Opal, who was taking the opportunity to watch her stories on the television.

"Come and join me then." said Opal, patting the space in the couch next to her. "It's not like you to be shy!"

Miranda sat beside her and turned her attention to the soap opera. The scene that had Miranda's attention was of a man and a woman arguing. The man grabbed the woman by the wrist so she slapped him and told him to leave her alone. The man then grabbed the woman more roughly, pulled her close and forcibly kissed her.

Miranda quickly covered her eyes.

"Is he going to rape her." she gasped.

Opal knew all about Miranda's nightmares but Brad and Sophie's antics of fighting and making up were so familiar to her that she hadn't thought for a second how the soap-y drama would appear to the still slighty traumatised little girl.

"Oh no, sweetheart, no!" said Opal quickly turning off the television. "No, these two fight so they can make up. It is very messed up, but they love each other really!"

"But she said no… and she hit him…"

"It just a soap. It's all over dramatic and silly. It's not meant to be real."

"But..?" Miranda asked, her brow creased with a frown. She trailed off not really knowing how to ask her question.

"What sweetheart?" Opal asked, putting her hand on the little girl's knee.

"Why do they pretend to hurt each other?"

"It's their job, honey. Actors are given a script with the lines to say and the actions to go with it. It is their job to bring the story to life."

"They get paid to hit each other?" Miranda asked.

"They get paid to pretend to hit each other. They also get paid to pretend to fall in love with each other, or pretend to hate another character even if it that character is played by their best friend."

"Do they like it?" Miranda asked.

"I can only speak for myself, from my experiences in the Pine Valley Amateur Dramatics Society, but it is great sometimes to pretend to be someone else. I'm sure you do it too, where you pretend to be witches and wizards playing with AJ; or a mommy to you dolls; and didn't you go around for a while pretending to be a doggy when you were very little. Why did you do that?"

"It's fun." said Miranda, "But I wouldn't want to pretend that someone is hurting me!"

"Don't you play shoot outs with AJ?"

"But we don't pretend to…" Miranda trailed off and looked down at her lap. "On the film I saw, he took her clothes off and he…"

"Okay, okay…" said Opal, stopping the dramatized little girl from having to finish her sentence. This was about the rape scene she shouldn't have seen. She was clearly still struggling with it.

"They were still pretending. Really great actors; they can help tell the hard stories. If the story is important enough to them they try and make it look as real as possible and what happened to your mommy, although really horrible, is a really important story. People who don't know about rape or the effect it can have on people have now seen that scene and were horrified by it just like you were. It educated them and hopefully changed their attitudes towards victims of assault."

Miranda nodded but she was still frowning. She clearly was still troubled by something and Opal wasn't sure how else to explain it.

"Miranda, sweetie, what else can I say?" Opal asked.

"I don't know." said Miranda quietly.

"Have you asked you mommy or your doctor about this?" Opal asked.

Miranda shook her head. She was quiet for a long time with Opal's arm around her shoulder, realising she didn't want to say what really troubled her about it... not to Opal.

"Can I go and play with AJ now?" she asked quietly.

"Of course sweetheart." said Opal.

She watched with concern as the little girl pulled out of the hug and disappeared up the stairs. She would have to tell Bianca all about this new development when she came to collect the kids later.

Opal turned the television back on to catch up with her soap but as the scene between Brad and Sophie continued Opal found it uncomfortable watching the cartoonish way they were making light of a violent relationship. It was something she had never noticed before and she was now rather disturbed by it.

Opal switched off her stories. Maybe she should go and see what the kids were up to instead.

…