Since they have mentioned new things about Tee and Johnny's past, the old chapter for them didn't suit anymore and I decided to make a new chapter for them. I will not take their old chapter down so you can still read that one all you want and such so… Here we go with their new chapter.
And I am so, so, so sorry it's taken me so long to update. But honestly, since I put the last chapter up some things happened and my life was turned completely upside down. It's better now though. But then I also have way too many stories going on and yeah. I won't pull any sob stories here but, if you just stick with me then I can promise I won't give up on neither this story nor any other.
Oh, and you might have seen I've deleted the cover picture to this story and all of my other stories as well. That was because I wanted to follow the rules and not use any other pictures then those who belong to me. A new cover picture might turn up.
Answers to anonymous reviews
Guest: I can't do else then agree there- poor Carmen.
Guest: Poor Louise indeed. I'm sorry you've been in a car crash too. I've never been but I can imagine it's… to say at least not very nice. I hope you were okay.
Guest: I'm sorry you're so confused about the story. But if you told me why maybe I could help you. Also, Lily and Carmen I've made chapters for and here comes a new chapter for Johnny and Tee.
Lara: I'm glad you think so and hope you like the rest of the story too
Guest: You just wrote 'poo' in a review. And I can't really know why. So unless you want to give me a good and mature reason then just stay away from me and my stories. Okay?
Guest: So you wrote the review 'she's a little darling' which is nice but you wrote it on Rio's chapter. So maybe you could tell me who you meant.
Guest: Please, if you haven't got anything to say about the story or my writing don't review at all. And if you just write that you're hungry I can't help you. I'm sorry.
Lujyne: I'm sorry. But I can't help you with that. So if you've got nothing to say about the story or my writing please don't say it at all. I hope you're all alright. But why did you say 'yes thank you'?
Lydia: You need to actually type a review before you send it. Now you just sent what it says before you write anything.
Tamzin lythgoe: Actually that's what the chapter is about. Carmen's home alone because her mum only cares about Lee. She's hurt because her mum cares about only Lee and she passes the dumping ground and decides to come with them because her mum cares about only Lee. I do make notes what we know about all of the characters past before the chapters and use it to make up one story after the other. So with what we know about them I just do my take of it. Thank you for reading and reviewing though. I hope you like the rest of the story.
Guest: Thanks, to explain the character's behavior in the care home through the stories is what I aim for. So that makes me happy.
Guest: I do take notes on what we know about each character's past. However, I cannot remember every single line. And as far as I can remember there's a line where Rio tells Crash he doesn't even know who his dad is. So that's what I made the chapter from. And this is only my take on it.
Guest: Well, I hope it was good anyway.
Johnny and Tee Taylor
Lucy Taylor came in at her job at a gas station somewhere at the island of Great Britain. So far it was just another ordinary day and she went to the bathroom to check her makeup in the mirror. Even though she knew, and she knew that everybody else could see and knew as well.
Lucy had done her best with covering the bruising with makeup. Just like she always did. And just like it always was she could just as well have come without makeup since everybody knew what had happened anyway. And everybody had kept on asking from when she had gotten her job here, and with time everybody had gotten used to her telling one lie after the other about how she had gotten bruises, black eyes and swellings over and over again. And one after one they had all stopped asking and acted like they didn't see it in the first place. But they saw, they all saw. And Lucy knew it very well, so she did the same as the others and acted like the bruises weren't even there.
So in fact, there was no one at that station who even cared about the bruises anymore… well… No one except one that would be.
Nineteen year old Maxine Michaels grabbed Lucy by the shirt as soon as she came out into the station again and pulled her with herself into a storage room where she looked Lucy sternly directly in the eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"What happened to your face this time Luce?" Not even Maxine herself could believe she was still asking that one question that they both knew the answer of anyway. "And no, don't come with some lousy excuse yet another time. What happened? For real?" Lucy hesitated and for a moment Maxine prayed silently to God that she'd for once tell the truth and let Max or one of their other friends and colleagues help her.
"I was lifting a box up on a high shelf and lost my grip. One of the corners of the heavy box hit me right above the eye. Don't worry about it. It's not sore or anything. And it was an accident." It was an accident- always these constant accidents that everybody knew were no accidents. And were no truths. And Lucy knew it too so she turned and started rushing out of the room, and she would have continued too if Maxine hadn't spoken to her just as she touched the door handle.
"You do know that I and everybody else knows what is going on after you've gone home for the night. And if you don't swallow your pride and get away from your boyfriend- Johnny or whatever his name was then you will lose more than just that pride. Much, much more." Lucy bit her lip and turned her head to look back at Maxine, and for a moment Max actually believed Lucy would tell her something.
"Jesse, his name is Jesse. Johnny is my son."
With those last few words Lucy turned towards the station and walked out to the shelves again. Maxine sighed and stopped by the hot dogs. But during the whole forenoon that Saturday, she kept an eye on Lucy. And couldn't help to notice how Lucy seemed more and more away in her own world and distant.
And at last, when it was time for Lucy's lunch break. Lucy walked right out of the station, over the parking lot and down the road without looking back. She went down the road, straight ahead for two blocks. Until she reached the preschool she had both of her children in and went right in and took her children with her. Without saying more than she had to she took all of the extra clothes Johnny and Tee had in their shelves at the preschool and their bags and then took five year old Johnny's hand in one of her hands, and three and a half year old Tee's in the other.
"Where are we going mum?" Johnny moaned when Lucy had pulled them with her for what felt like hours to a small child but wasn't more than five minutes. "Is this the train station?" Johnny looked around in the building they were in. "It's got to be a train station. I can see the trains through the windows. Mum, where are we going?" Lucy didn't answer, but looked to the board and saw there was a train leaving in just a couple of minutes. So she found it, and went aboard, placing Tee in Johnny's lap to save a seat.
"This train is going to Newcastle." Lucy almost whispered to her son and daughter. "And honestly, I have no idea where we're going. But we need to get away. And always." She took the kids' hands again. "What matters is that we always have each other. Yeah?" Johnny hesitated, but nodded. He knew what it was Lucy had been doing to their mum, he had seen it happen. And with that he decided he was going to do anything and everything for it not to happen to Lucy or anyone else he loved ever again.
Lucy kept on looking towards the doors. She knew it couldn't happen. That Jesse couldn't know where they were but still she imagined him coming bursting through the doors, slap her. And then pull the children with him just because he knew that would make Lucy follow too. Because if there was anything she couldn't do. It was let her children be in danger, or in the hands of someone who could hurt them.
So when the train started moving, slowly at first and then faster and faster and the hills, houses and people mostly became a blurry mass Lucy breathed out. Say much about Jesse Carlyle, but at least he would never be able to run to catch the train. And so she leaned her head backwards towards the seat she sat in and breathed out, just before she shot up again when the conductor came walking to see the tickets.
Lucy felt through her pockets for money to buy some tickets. But felt her chest tighten when she remembered her bag was left at the station, and that was where the little money she had was so right before the conductor came over to them she closed her eyes and said a quick, silent prayer that somehow this would work out.
When the conductor, a large man, perhaps in his mid- forties laid a hand over Johnny's seat and waited for the tickets while Tee looked to Johnny, Johnny looked to Lucy, Lucy looked to the conductor who was looking at Tee and smiling.
"Hello darling." He smiled down at Tee. "What gives us the pleasure to have a little princess on our train today hey?" He looked up at Lucy. "Tickets plea…" He didn't finish the last word as he saw tears rising in Lucy's eyes. How desperate she was trying to fight them away and the bruises she had been trying to cover up with makeup. And slowly his brains worked to put together the pieces and he looked at Lucy, and at Johnny and Tee.
The conductor knew he had a daughter in Lucy's age, a grandson and a granddaughter in Johnny and Tee's ages. And so he asked himself what he would have wanted to happen to them if it had been them sitting in front of it now and he laid his hands to his knees to reach the Tee's height before he spoke again.
"You do know what, princess? When royals come on this train we can make a special deal with them. So I'm going to give you three your very own coupe to sit in until we reached the end station in Newcastle tonight. And I am going to get you free lunch and free dinner and everything. Only, especially for you." The conductor was hesitating a bit but when he saw the look in Lucy's eyes he knew for certain he'd made the right choice. "Okay, come on then. Let's go."
The conductor patted Lucy's hand slightly as she took Johnny by the hand and he lifted Tee onto his hip and showed them through the whole wagon and checked one of the empty coupes. "You can stay in here." He whispered to Lucy. "Just stay in here, okay? I'll get you some lunch and everything and then as soon as we've reached the end station I want to talk to you. So don't get off the train. Okay?" Lucy nodded, and tried to hide the fact that she wasn't sure about that. "I'm Charlie by the way." Charlie backed out of the coupe and disappeared out of the Taylors' sight while Lucy drew a deep breath of relief and gratefulness and then told the children not to tell anyone their real names unless she told them it was okay to do so.
"What should my name be then?" Tee asked. "Can I decide for myself?" Lucy nodded and tried to act for Tee like this was just another game. "Yay, can my name be Alexandria then?" Lucy didn't tell Tee that she really disliked the name Alexandria. But continued smiling. "Yay, my name is Alexandria. Johnny? Johnny? What do you want your name to be?"
"I don't care." Johnny mumbled grumpily. "You can come up with one if it's so much fun."
Tee jumped around the coupe happily and tried to think of another name for her brother. "Sebastian." She said at last. "Sebastian should be your name. Mummy, can I come up with a name for you too?" Lucy nodded. "Ehr… Your name should be Queenie since that guy said you were the queen. And Queenie is a very nice name? Can I come up with a last name too?" Lucy nodded still smiling and fighting away the lump in her throat. "Bob. Our last name should be Bob." Lucy forced a laugh but nodded. "Alexandria, Sebastian and Queenie Bob. That sounds good. Okay." Tee crawled up in an empty seat and laid her head down on the arm support sticking her thumb into her mouth. "Now it's nap time." Lucy didn't protest, but took her own long- sleeved shirt off and draped it like a blanket over her daughter. Not until now realizing she was wearing the uniform form the gas station, and there was no way for her to get it back there.
Lucy let it go and once again rested her head back towards the seat trying not to head forward instead of thinking about the past. Still, she wasn't sure about what to do. But mentally and physically exhausted from all of those years along with Jesse, her daughter sleeping tightly and son sitting there keeping an eye on everything, she fell asleep.
It wasn't until late afternoon when they had stopped in Newcastle when Charlie Lysander walked back into the train and to coupe number twelve. He found it empty and felt his heart starting to beat hard in his chest in fear as he quickly searched through the whole train but already knowing he wouldn't find them in the train or anywhere else. And at last he went back to coupe number twelve and looked around to see if he could find just anything that would help him understand… And so he found a note on the table that he grabbed it and read.
Thank you for your help. I'm sorry we couldn't stay. The children are talking about you as their hero.
-Queenie Bob.
In the streets, several blocks away from the train station the woman that called herself Queenie, but in fact was named Lucy Taylor was walking through the blocks holding onto each of her children's hands and pulling them along to make them walk faster. None of the Taylors knew where they were going, but Lucy knew she needed to get away. Just get away. Far away.
"Mummy." Johnny moaned, what felt like several hours later. But none of the Taylor's knew anyway since none of them carried a watch. "I'm really hungry. It was forever since we had dinner." Lucy winced, she had known this would come sooner or later. And she had just been waiting for it continuing to roam the streets of Newcastle.
And she had feared this moment, feared it because now when it had rose she had a choice. Either she could steal something, or she would have to tell her son that she didn't have any money. And let them all three go hungry until they found money on the streets as of a miracle, or for someone else to know and help them. Like Charlie had known and helped them.
Seeing a gas station of the same kind that she used to work on, Lucy decided on the first of the options and turned towards it. But Tee, and her little legs had had enough of walking and she slumped down onto the road and refused to get up. Or maybe it was just that she couldn't walk anymore that she couldn't get up.
"Tee Taylor. You get up right now." Lucy tried tiredly. "We need to keep on walking or your dad is going to find us. Can you understand that?" Tee crossed her tiny little arms over her chest and shook her head. "Come on Tee. We need to keep on going. Here. I'll take your backpack for you. Then it will be easier, I'll even take Johnny's too." Tee still shook her head and Lucy didn't know what to do, But Johnny did. And he went right over to Tee after his mother took his heavy backpack and then lifted Tee up and carried her walking after Lucy into the station.
"Wait here." Lucy whispered to Johnny right inside the door to the station. "Don't go with anybody else." Johnny shook his head and promised he wouldn't so Lucy disappeared out of his sight between the shelves where she felt her pockets to get a better picture of how big they were and what she could get down in them. And then she slipped down a few chocolate bars down her pocket in the belief that nobody saw her.
"Well that's not very nicely done is it?" She heard a low, male voice so quiet he almost whispered it right into her ear and flinched. "Stealing is wrong. Isn't it?" Lucy looked up and met the brown eyes of a tall man with brown, greying hair. This was the person that the voice belonged to, and without her having to fake it. There were tears rising in Lucy's eyes while she lifted the bars out of her pocket to put them back on the shelf and come up with something else to do outside of this flipping gas station. But before she had put it back on the shelf the man had noticed the tears and grabbed Lucy's arm.
"Here, give me them. I'll pay for them. Are those your kids?" Keith nodded towards Johnny and Tee kids and stepped again. She wasn't so sure she could let this man do what it seemed that he was on his way of doing, but before she'd found the right words to protest Keith had taken what he'd buy and headed to the cashiers and Lucy went to stand by the kids and stepped outside.
"Here." Not one minute later Keith came outside with a hotdog, a pack with sandwiches, three drinks and a number of chocolate bars and bags of candies. "Here. Can you two share that nicely?" He reached the hotdog to Johnny and Tee. "And you, you can have that… If I can have one of them." Lucy nodded and took each sandwich in her hands reaching one of them to Keith. "And then, each coke." Keith reached the Taylors' each soda can and pulled up a fourth one out of his pocket. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to meet some friends." Without another word Keith turned around and walked down the parking lot.
Lucy wanted to say her thank you. But with the kids she couldn't run to catch up with him and he wouldn't hear her if she so shouted at the top of her lungs. So instead she closed her eyes still holding her children's hands tightly and tried to push her answer away to the man that was just disappearing around the corner.
"Thanks."
Lucy would right then have thought that she'd ever be seeing Keith again. And she would never have imagined that that assumption was wrong- very wrong.
Only the same night a number of hours later Lucy, Johnny and Tee sat on a park bench in an ambush. Tee had fallen asleep and Johnny was fighting to keep his eyes open while Lucy was tense and sat and looked from one side to the other. Ready to protect her children with all that she had if she would have to.
A man came walking in the dark, he was tall and big and had the hood pulled up and hands shoved deep into his jeans pockets. Seeing him come through the ambush and right towards her family she grabbed hard in Johnny's hands and he held tighter around his little sister. But still Lucy's heart was beating hard and fast and she could feel the panic arisen in her chest as the man came closer and then stopped right by them. But so far away he was still in the shadows.
For a moment the man was just standing there, so he walked into the light under the lamp post by the bench while pulling his hood down. And Lucy drew a relieved breath when she recognized Keith from the gas station earlier today. And her grip around Johnny's hand loosened slightly as her heart and breathing went down to its normal rate.
"Wow guys, it's really late. What are you still doing here?" Keith kneeled slightly to reach Lucy's height. "Why haven't you gone home yet?" Lucy hesitated and brainstormed for a lie to come with so she wouldn't have to bother Keith with problems that weren't his to bother with. But before she had come up with anything, Johnny had already told Keith the truth.
"We haven't got a home to go to."
Now it was Keith's turn to hesitate as he looked from Johnny to Lucy, to Tee and back to Lucy scratching the back of his head confused before he spoke again.
"I work at a small motel not too far away from here in town. And I know just the way to do it to let you guys live in one of the rooms for free without my boss knowing anything about it and throw you out. So I guess you can just come with me." Lucy glared at Johnny for letting Keith know about their situation but followed anyway. "I'm Keith by the way. I'm not so sure I told you that. What are your names?" Lucy glared down at Johnny so he wouldn't say anything, but Johnny kept on tugging her sleeve. "I think your little guy wants to tell you something."
"Mum…" Johnny showed Lucy to come closer and whispered quietly in her ear so Keith wouldn't hear. "We shouldn't go with him. Don't you see his eyes look just like daddy's? The black part is all big and things and I've got a really, really bad feeling about him. So please mummy, don't go after him. We'll find someone else. Someone nicer."
"You're being silly now." Lucy said coldly and lifted a barely awake Tee onto her hip. "Keith is nice. And if you don't stop that nonsense now. Then we'll just leave you here. Show some gratefulness to the only one who's helped us." With that Lucy turned around and let Keith lift up Tee while she herself took the bags they had and Johnny realized he didn't have any other choice than to go after his mum, his sister and whoever this man actually was.
"So what are your names?" Keith asked once again when they were in room number thirteen at the motel. "I don't think you told me that." Lucy looked to Johnny once again, and sent him a death glare- no more truths and that was it! It seemed like she wanted to tell him before she turn against Keith.
"I'm Queenie, and this is Alexandria and Sebastian. Our last name is Bob." Lucy could tell Keith didn't believe her. And she couldn't blame him- what kind of people with any sense of self- discipline would name a child 'Queenie'? But he didn't ask anymore and just showed Lucy where the sheets were and told her that if they'd want to get in and out of this room they would wait until he came around so his boss wouldn't see them and find out about them. And then he gave Lucy some cash to use for whatever she wanted from the room service, said goodnight. And left.
"Mum… You know we have room number thirteen, right?" Johnny asked drowsily on his way on falling asleep and Lucy nodded. "But number thirteen means bad luck. So if we're in room number thirteen that is going to mean it leads bad luck to us. Isn't it?" Lucy stood up for the sofa she had to use as a bed and draped another blanket over Johnny.
"Now, what did I tell you about such silly and stupid things? Thirteen is in fact my lucky number. And even if it was the number for bad luck then we have to be grateful and happy with what we get. And whatever happens you know the most important thing is that we're all together." Johnny nodded. "Now, sleep tight honey."
The next morning Keith walked up to his boss. "There seem to be some water damage in room number thirteen. I've closed all the windows and doors and called the janitor but he said it would be a while before they could get here so I think it's best if we keep everything closed there to keep it from spreading to other rooms." Keith crosses his fingers and hoped that the lie would sound believable enough for Mr. Douglas to believe it. But he just nodded and continued with his papers.
For one month Keith's plan worked. The electricity in the room wasn't turned off luckily, and when it was needed he'd bring in food in there for the Taylors' to have. Or more likely the Bob's as Keith himself would still believe- or not believe. He managed to keep it in between him and one more colleague who checked the family days that Keith weren't there, and Mr. Douglas didn't seem to notice anything.
However, a month after the Taylors' came to Newcastle. They proved to be wrong about that Mr. Douglas hadn't noticed anything.
Mr. Douglas had in fact noticed Keith and his friend Martin sneaking in and out of room number thirteen. The first few times he didn't mind about it. Just thought that they must have forgotten something in there. But then, no matter how much they were sneaking. He noticed them going in and going in, and one time it even seemed that Martin had brought a whole bag of his children's old clothes.
And at last he took matters into his own hands when he was for certain he heard voices from inside the room. And he stomped into room number thirteen. And found one little girl, one little boy, and a woman staring up at him with fear shining from their eyes. Along with Keith and Martin, with expressions of chock and both of them in loss of what to do next.
"KEITH HARPER!" Mr. Douglas shouted at the top of his lungs. "MARTIN ALEXANDER. YOU ARE SO FIRED. BOTH OF YOU. AND I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ANY EXPLENATIONS. GET YOUR THINGS AND THEN LEAVE. IF I EVER SEE ANY OF YOU HERE AGAIN. INCLUDING YOU THREE. I WILL CALL THE POLICE. UNDERSTAND?"
With that. The Taylors' including Keith didn't take long to get the bags packed and out of the room. Martin seemed pissed off at both Keith and the Taylors' and didn't say a word to any of them before he pushed Mr. Douglas out of the way and disappeared out of the others' sght. While Keith helped the Taylors' get their things and then went to get his while they ran off.
"Well… if it means something…" Johnny started on the way from that motel. "I'm happy that we got away from Keith." Lucy kneeled and looked her son sternly and angrily in the eyes. "I'm sorry mum. But he just gave me such a weird feeling." At the moment he said that last Johnny was looking with such puppy eyes that Lucy couldn't help but just embrace her little boy.
"I know Johnny. But sometimes you just have to go with things even though they give you a bad feeling. And now we can't go with Keith either. So have you got any suggestions on what we should do now?" Johnny shook his head sadly. "Me neither honey. Maybe… Maybe if I can't come up with anything. We'll just have to go back to your dad."
"NO MUM!" Johnny shouted. "No we can't go back to dad. You said he hurt you and we can't go back to anyone who hurt you." It seemed like Johnny wanted to say more but seeing the look on his mum's face he knew he should stop and just hugged her. "It's okay mummy. We'll come up with something. What is most important is that we've got each other. Right?" Lucy nodded and lifted up Tee to sit on a park bench while Johnny sat down in the other end and Lucy herself in between them. And barely had they sat down before Keith came running and caught up with them.
"Hey. I'm sorry about all of that. I…"
"No, no, no." Lucy interrupted. "We're the ones who should say we are sorry. I can't believe you lost your job because of us. I am so, so sorry." Keith just smiled and sat down on the arm support of the bench.
"Nah, it feels quite nice to be away from Mr. Dumbass. Sorry, I wasn't thinking. You are never supposed to use such bad words. Okay? But he's… not the nicest person. And not the nicest boss in the slightest so… I should actually just thank you. Thank you… And… I know you don't know where to go. So if you… Queenie Bob? Could do two small things for me. Then I'll let you move in at mine. Okay?" Keith looked to Johnny who was just glaring up at him, but acted like he didn't see it and looked to Lucy again.
"What do you want?"
"First of all… I want you to tell me your real and actual names. And second of all." Keith showed Lucy to come closer. "I want you to kiss me." Lucy hesitated, she wasn't so sure about this. Even though she and Jesse had never been married and simply everything she had had to do to be single was run away from him it still felt a bit like cheating. And she couldn't kiss Keith… Could she?
In the moment she was still hesitating about doing what Keith asked her she looked Keith up and down. And not until now she realized he was in fact a handsome man. Tall, and fit and Lord those eyes! And so she grabbed the children one by one by the shoulders and turned them with their backs against herself and Keith while she stood up and took a few steps over to Keith who had also gotten onto his feet.
"My name is Lucy- Lucy Taylor. These are still my children and also has the name Taylor. Their real names are Johnny and Tee. I let Tee decide what we should all use for fake names and that might or might have been a good idea."
And then she reached up, and standing on her toes she could kiss him. Slowly and tenderly, and like she hadn't kissed anyone in God knows how many years- if any time ever.
And there was that violin music playing loud with the rhythm in her strong heart beats. That feeling that had been creeping closer was taking over her whole body one part by the other and made her feel all warm and tingly. And everything was pink and red and fluffy. And maybe that was why Lucy didn't notice.
Because Lucy Taylor didn't notice. She didn't notice even living along with Keith that he went from being kind and happy all the time to become more and more angry. And more and more violent. Or at least she didn't notice anything he did wrong when he made her children take care of the tidying and cleaning and how angry he was if they did something wrong. Because Keith Harper would always make sure Lucy wasn't there to see it.
Lucy Taylor didn't even notice that she wasn't there to see it. Or at least she didn't for the next two years while she and her children lived along with Keith. But that was all coming to an abrupt change, two years later. And when we meet the siblings again, Johnny is seven, and his little sister Tee is five and a half years old and her body is buried in the sand while the tide was coming in.
"MUUUUUUUM" Johnny was shouting desperately and panicking as the tide was rising higher and higher and already was Tee up to the chin while she was stuck by Johnny foolishly and playing burying her in the sand. "MUUUUUM."
But there was no use shouting. Lucy had walked away with Keith and she was too far away to see or even hear his desperate shouts. The tide was only reaching higher and higher and the only thing Johnny could do was to hold his breath, dive under the water and dig away as much sand as he had the time to before he had to reach his head above the water surface again.
"MUUUUM. TEE'S DROWNING. HELP ME! SOMEBODY!"
Johnny ended his shouts when he saw and heard Tee coughing from the water having risen up to her mouth. She leaned her head backwards to keep away but there was almost no time left and Johnny dived under the water again and tried to get away the sand and mud holding his sister stuck under the water and for a moment he was certain that his sister would drown.
But still he had to reach up above the surface to catch his breath. Also just as he did that he could see a couple. Old- older than his mum, one man and one woman coming running towards them and poor Johnny almost cried with relief while together they managed to pull Tee away from the sand and up from the water in the very last second.
It was early evening and had been getting colder after the warm day and both Tee and Johnny were soaking from head to toe and shivering cold. The man lifted Tee up while the woman took Johnny by the shoulders and lead him up to the hill leading to the beach and the man jogged to the car and got a blanket that was big enough for Tee and Johnny to wrap around the both of them.
"Hello." The woman sat down by Johnny and Tee and rubbed Johnny's shoulder. "My name is Marie and that man. His name is Steven. What are your names? Can you tell me your names and tell us what happened and why you were screaming?" Johnny nodded and stuttering of cold he told Steven and Marie that his name was Johnny and his sister's name was Johnny and Tee and told them how he had just buried Tee's body in the sand for fun and game before everything went so very wrong.
Both Johnny and Tee were exhausted, Tee had fallen asleep with her head against Johnny's shoulder already before he had reached the middle of today's story, and by the last few words Johnny was so tired he was having trouble keeping his head held up. So after the final word he finally let it slump down towards Tee's head and the both Taylor- siblings were sleeping deeply.
"What's going on?" Not a minute later Lucy and Keith ran up. "What happened? What are you doing to my children?" Tee had been whimpering a bit in her sleep so Steven had lifted her up and cradled her for a bit. "Let go off my daughter you creep. Let go off her. I said let go."
"No." Marie pulled in Lucy's shoulder to get her attention. "Now you listen up for a bit Lucy Taylor. Yes, Johnny here told me your name and I want you to listen closely because I'm only saying this once. You do not- ever, under any circumstances leave children this young alone on a beach. Do you hear me? If I and Steve hadn't driven by in just the right moment then Tee would have been dead. She would have drowned because Johnny buried her in the sand- because she wanted to. And then the tide came in and we came right in time to pull her up. You could have lost both of your children today and all of that because you left a seven and a five year old alone at a beach and that was very irresponsible of you…"
Marie was just going on and on and on so at last Keith lifted up Johnny from the ground. And Lucy, Tee from Steven's arms before they both hurried towards Keith's car where they placed the children on either side of the backseat and then drove off to their house. Where Lucy went to go put Tee in her bed, while Keith said he'd wake Johnny up and talk to him about what had happened earlier.
"Wake up." As soon as Keith and Johnny got into the kitchen and were out of Lucy's vision Keith threw Johnny down onto the hard floor so he woke up. "How dared you do that to your sister? How could you be so stupid?" Every other word, or more like every word Keith would pull his hand or his foot backwards to kick and hit Johnny in the place that felt best for the moment. "You could have killed her."
"I'm sorry Keith. I'm sorry…" Johnny tried. But at least half of the times Keith hit or kicked him he aimed for Jonny's head and when Johnny drifted further and further into unconsciousness. And soon he didn't make a sound at all. But Keith could still hear the sounds from the hallway and he heard Lucy come out of the children's room and go into his and hers bedroom and then he lifted Johnny up and went to put him on his bed before he left, turned off the lights and closed the door.
A couple of hours later when it was completely dark outside and Lucy and Keith were both asleep Tee woke up in her bed and silently crawled out of bed. It was dark in the room but still Tee knew there was something wrong with Johnny. Even at her tender age of five she could hear his breaths being short and shallow and every single one followed by a slight moan.
"Johnny." Tee walked over to Johnny's bed and tried to shake him awake. But Johnny just moaned and barely seemed awake. "Johnny, what's goi…" She was interrupted when she felt something wet stain her palm and reached up to light the lamp on their shared bedside table to see what it was. And she could feel her heart beating when she saw it was red.
"Johnny you're bleeding. Johnny please wake up. Please wake up. Please don't be dead."
Poor Tee was panicking at this moment and could barely pull herself away from her unconscious brother to run out into the hallway and lifted her hand to knock the door to her mum's and Keith's bedroom. But just as she was on her way to do that she remembered how angry Keith had been the time Johnny had accidentally woken him up one night- so how angry wouldn't he be if Tee woke him up on purpose.
Tee hesitated for a moment and then ran out into the kitchen where the house phone laid on the kitchen bench and Tee could just barely make herself tall enough to reach it and quickly called 999 in loss of what else to do.
"Emergency services. What's your emergency?" The woman in the end of the phone said. And Tee hesitated fast to find the right words to say. And remembered what her mum had said about being polite and introducing oneself in the phone.
"Hello. My name is Tee Taylor. And my brother… He won't wake up and he's bleeding really badly."
"Okay… Can you tell me your address sweetheart?" The woman's voice had gone softer and slower when she realized she was talking to a little child. Tee sobbed and shook her head without knowing that the person from emergency services couldn't see her. "Sweetheart, can you tell me what address you are on so the paramedics can find your house?" Tee sobbed again.
"I don't know."
"Okay, that's okay honey. We'll just use our computer here and I'll be able to see where you're calling from. Does Postman avenue number sixteen sound about right to you?" Tee nodded to the phone- that sounded just familiar. "You need to tell me out loud sweetheart. I can't see you nodding or shaking your head."
"Y- Yes. That's where w- we live."
"Okay, there's an ambulance on its way no sweetheart. So can you go to the front door and check so it's unlocked so the paramedics can get in." Tee didn't answer verbally this time. But moved out in the hallway and felt on the door. With everything that was going on Keith must have forgotten to lock it for the night because it was already unlocked and opened easily, and the hospital was so close Tee could already hear the sirens.
But they still felt so far, far away and little Tee knew that these blocks had loads of twists and turns. And the three minutes or so it took before Tee could finally see the blue lights from the ambulance and hear the sirens clearly. Well, that was a very long time.
"What's going on?" When the paramedics were just lifting Johnny up on a stretcher when the noise had woken Lucy and Keith up. They came out in the hallway and seeing the paramedics they were immediately woken up. "Johnny. What happened?" Johnny only moaned still half unconscious and Lucy turned to Tee instead. "What happened Tee?"
But Lucy knew, she knew that there was no other explanation to this happening. No other explanation to the broken rib that had poked right through the skin and caused a large wound. No other explanation to Johnny's bruised face, bleeding gum and nose. And there was no other explanation to his arm being in such a wrong position that it was.
But not until now Lucy Taylor realized that it wasn't just Johnny's arm's position that was wrong. Damn it, everything about this was wrong. How could she had been so blind? How could she have let someone hurt her children like she had promised herself to let no one do in the same moment as she left the one that had hurt herself so badly?
And she needed to get herself- and even more important her children away from it.
Now.
"I see what you're thinking!" Keith half mumbled half whispered into Lucy's ear while she gathered purse, shoes for both her and Tee and Tee's blanket to go after the paramedics and ride with Johnny to the hospital. "And don't even think about it. You're not leaving me. You're way too coward. No one will ever love you. And no one will ever be able to love you like I do. Because you're so… damn…. Coward. Lucy Taylor. You are such a coward!"
And Lucy Taylor knew. She knew Keith was right. And she knew that even if she couldn't leave herself. She just couldn't let someone hurt her children. So she wrapped Tee in the blanket and walked out to the paramedics where she handed Tee over to a paramedic with tears streaming down her cheeks.
"I can't take care of my children. So please. Do whatever you want. But just… Please, let them end up somewhere where they're better treated than with me?" The paramedic's chin just dropped and he looked from the little girl in his arms, to the woman in front of him and to the man up on the porch before he looked back to Lucy.
"It's okay. I can live here… But they can't. Please, just make sure they're safe." The paramedic who's name tag named 'Daniel' nodded. And he took Tee in a more secure grip before he climbed into the back of the ambulance, not so sure about what else to do. And certainly not when Lucy came to the opening in the back. "You'll be going away without me you and Johnny. Okay sweetheart? But it doesn't mean that I love you any less because I still love you very much. Okay? Always remember that?"
The door was closing.
"BUT MUM." Johnny must have gathered all of the strength that was left in his body to shout. "YOU SAID IT WOULD BE OKAY IF WE STAYED TOGETHER." The shouts were made into muffled sounds when the lid to the back of the ambulance closed.
So without looking back she ran into the house and collapsed in what had been Tee's and Johnny's room without even trying to hold herself together. And she was falling into pieces.
Lucy Taylor was falling into pieces, and there was no stopping it. And there was no healing. But Lucy Taylor still knew. This was the best for them all. Because all together, she and her children would never ever be okay. So it would have had to happen or she would have never done any right. And they would never ever be safe….
…Never
And there it is. I hope you liked this chapter.
Also, if there actually is someone out there named Queenie. I am very sorry about what Lucy thought of it. But honestly, I like the name I just… Well I'm not sure. Either way I think it's a sweet name.
I have started leaving random facts in the end of every chapter. This one is pretty boring, actually they're all pretty boring. But I don't always have something great to think about.
Random fact
I needed names for Steven and Marie and remembered one episode (the only one I've watched) of Ally McBeal that I saw months ago. In which there is a character Marie- then she had a name. The reason I watched this episode was because the woman who played Marie is one of my favorite actors- Romy Rosemont. Who is married to Stephen Root- Changed the spelling of his first name a little and done! Steven and Marie it was!