Prolouge - Paula
Prologue
Date: 25th January 1996
Place: Canterbury, Kent, UK
Weather: Cold, Windy, Rainy. Crap.
In the early hours of the 25th of January 1996 the whole house was woken up by the sound of a loud banging at the door. Myself and Joey, a member of my staff, took a torch and a frying pan and began unlocking the many dead bolts of the main doors. The rain was heavy and falling in sheets, every so often a blinding flash of lightning lit up the black sky. We could not think of anyone who would voluntarily be out in this sort of weather.
We wrenched the old, heavy door open and stood ready for someone to attack or jump out at us. But there was no one there, I sighed and began closing the door.
“Wait,” Joey put her hand on the door to stop it, “I heard a kid crying out there.” I opened the door again and stuck my head out into the rain. There was still nothing, I began to bring my head in when I spotted a movement on the door step. I crouched down and looked. There was a white waterlogged bundle left heaped on the door step. I poked it, the bundle moved. Gaping I picked up the bundle and brought in inside.
“What the hell is that?” Joey was confused. I moved the swales of sopping blanket around until a small red-ish nose peaked out. “Shit. Who’d live their kid out in that at this time of night?” I smiled grimly and carried the kid into the kitchen where the radiators were clacking to life on their timer.
I put the kid on the table and began peeling the swathes of blanket from it’s now shivering body. It was a girl. She sneezed and was pinky-red in the face. Dressed in only a pale pink dress she was very cold.
“Joe, get me a spare dress, yeah, and a thick blanket.” Joey left the room. I began cooing at the tiny girl, stroking her cold face with a finger. She giggled as Joey came back in the room. “Oh yeah get me a towel too.” She sighed at me and left the room a second time. I had begun unzipping her dress and shimmying her out of it by the time Joey returned again. She threw the towel over the table at me, which I caught and began towel drying the baby.
Once she was dry I dressed her in a baby grow, and wrapped the blanket around her. When I looked at the time it was nearly 6, in half an hour I would begin waking up the rest of the children. Joey wadded the white blanket and was about to throw it in the washing basket when she heard a rustling from in the blanket. She searched through the sodden mess until she pulled out a damp, folded piece of card. Tossing the blanket into the washing basket she came back to the table, unfolding the card. She read it aloud,
Dear who takes my baby,
I know that it was irresponsible of me to leave my daughter on your doorstep at this hour in this weather, but I had no other choice.
Please, call her Poppy- Sue Ream. Her real name is Jezzabel Jeckson, but she must never know.
In entrusting you with Jez I may be putting you in danger but I had no other option, I wish no harm to befall to her.
Do not tell her I am still alive, I don’t want to bring her false hope that one day I may come back for her, because I do not know, and because if she were to know she would be in worse peril than she would’ve been had I kept her with me.
Once she adopts her new name she will be protected, but if she ever finds out who she really is, there will be people after her, bad people.
I wish I could be there to see her grow up, but alas I cannot.
Look after my baby.
Please.
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“Well, blow me down and call me a picket fence. That's a strange letter if ever I heard one.” I leant back in my chair. “I supposed we’d better get her on file as what was it? Poppy-Sue!” Joey nodded and went to the filing cabinet we had stored in the dining area. She pulled out a blank file and began filling in the new form. “We’ll call the social at 10 and see if we can keep hold of her. Oh and we’ll call the doctor in as soon as the surgery is open, we need to get her checked over and assessed, seeing as she’s had a cold night.”
I am Paula Nickel’s. I am head care worker at an orphanage in Canterbury, and this is the story of Poppy-Sue Ream, otherwise called Jezzabel Jeckson. As from her view.
Welcome to the eyes of a fifteen year old girl. Who doesn't know who she really is.
Poppy-Sue
Date: 24th January 2011
Place: Canterbury, Kent
Weather: Sunny, Misty, Frosty
My name is Poppy, Poppy-Sue Ream. And today I am fifteen. I have been told that I have been here since I was less than two days old and that I was left on the door step, of this orphanage, in the middle of a thunder storm, and no body knows why. I also know that when I came here I was too young to stay, but Joey and Paula argued with the Social to let me stay, and I don’t know why.
Up until I was nearly 5 Joey was like my mother. She fed me, bathed me, and made sure I was okay. Then one day she just wasn’t there ant more. I was 5 and I cried for her, but no one told me where she had gone and why. I soon began to realise that people left all the time.
As soon as I could talk I made friends with Noah, he was nearly the same age as me, except I was two weeks older. We promised we’d be friends forever, and we’d walk around every where together holding hands. We’d help each other up and down the stairs when they were too high for us and we had to climb them, we’d each dinner opposite each other and play footsies under the table and sit there giggling to ourselves because we thought no one else could work out what we were doing, even though we were kicking everyone else while we were playing.
When I woke up in July when I was about four, I looked over at Noah’s bed and I was empty. I was confused because neither of us got up before the big hand on the clock was at the 9 we weren’t allowed; it was nearly at the 7 so he was up too early. I got out of my bed and started walking around the house looking for him. When I got to the office, he was sitting outside wearing his favourite t-shirt and shorts and a coat, with all his clothes in a brown suitcase. I sat next to him on the bench.
“Where are you going Noah?” I asked him. He looked at me, and smiled just like he did when we were playing footsies at dinner.
“I'm moving.” He said. We’d heard big people say it on the TV; he said it like he was all grown up. I giggled.
“Where are you going? When are you coming back?” I asked him. He shrugged. We sat together in silence for what felt like forever, holding hands, when in reality it was less than ten minutes. Joey came out of the office, and when she saw me she lifted me on to her back and ran making aeroplane noises into the kitchen.
“Lets make you breakfast then!” she said, as she sat me on a stall. I crossed my arms. “What's wrong with Mrs Grumpy?” she asked in a funny voice.
“Where is Noah going?” I asked her. She looked at me, not sure of what to say. She bit her lip.
“Pop, do you know what happens in an orphanage?” I shook my head, “This is where kids are put when their parents can’t look after them; and if we know that they’re going to be here a while, we find them a new family to live with. And Noah’s parents died when he was very small, so he has no where else to go, so we’ve got him a new family.” I looked at her,
“Is he coming back?” I asked her. She shook her head,
“It’s not likely, honey.” She said to me. I cried, right there and then. When I could finally see through my tears a slipped off of my stall, and ran down the hall to the office. Noah wasn’t sitting outside it, so I opened to office door. There was three people in there I’d never seen before, two of them were sitting either side of Noah holding his hand. He looked lost. The other was stood next to Paula, I didn't know it at the time but this was Noah's Social Worker. Paula looked at me,
“Is everything okay there deary?” she asked me smiling. I ran towards Noah and pulled myself on the bench next to him pushing the stranger lady out of my way. “Pops you shouldn’t be in here.” Paula said.
I put my arms around Noah,
“Jojo just said you’re going and you’re never going to come back!” I cried to him. Paula sighed.
“When will Joey learn?” she said. She stood up and lifted me gently off the bench, away from Noah. “Go find Joey; she’ll give you a bath. Okay Poppy.” She gave me light push towards the door I’d left open. I turned back and glared at her but did as I was told, because I’d seen her shouting at the big children and she was scary when she shouted.
I was 4 and I never saw Noah again. After that, it seemed all my new friends we’re given new families, there was Helena, Zoey, Jack, Tobias and Emma; they all left me to go with another family. By the time I was 13 I had given up on making friends in the Home.
And now I'm 15 years old. I’m getting ready for school. At my secondary school, I do have friends, they all know that I live in a home and they’re cool with it. We’re all into the same sort of music and we’ve all helped each other through any crap we needed to face. My best friends name is Rayner, his hair is browny black and nearly reached his shoulders, his skin is deathly pale, and he’s just taller than me; and I don’t think he realises how much I love him.
Then there’s Holly; our ball of energy, Jessie; our pessimist, Callum; the crazy weirdo, Leo; the over confident prick that we all love, Kory; the fashionista, Amy-Lee; the major mood-swinger, and Jade; the guy we’re just waiting for to come out. I love them all to bits, okay maybe not so much Leo, but I do love them all. And I can’t wait to see them all today.
I hear the bell ring while I’m finishing doing my eyeliner. No one answers, so who ever it is at the door rings again. I look in the mirror, my eyeliner is only half done, but i think if someone is ringing this early it must be important. I run down the stairs and answer the door.
Standing there is one of the prettiest women I've ever seen. Her hair is strawberry blonde and styled perfectly in curls, she is wearing a black tailored suit and scarlet gloves. Her make up was dark, she has brown eyeshadow on her top lid, then her under lids are lined with black shadow and she has while highlight under her brows and along her water line. Her lipstick is a jammy red, and her blusher is a peachy colour that emphasises her cheek bone. She looks at me obviously amazed that I would let anyone see me only wearing half my make-up.
“Yes?” I asked her, she flicked her hair over her shoulder.
“My name is Felicity Jackside,” she put out her hand out for me to shake; I looked at it, but didn't shake it. She put her hand down “You can call me Flick.” She tried to walk in; I stood in front of her.
“So, Flick, what do you want?” She laughed,
“I’m here to see my daughter.” She said, I looked at her,
“Who’s your daughter?” I asked her. God she was annoying me, she just turns up and expects to see her daughter, and brag right in, when we didn't know who she is.
“My daughter is Jezzabel Jeckson.” She said, “Jez must always talk about me.” She tried to push past me. I stood directly in front of her,
“There’s no one called Jezzabel in this house.” She laughed again,
“Of course there is you just must not’ve been here long. Jezzabel has been here since she was a baby!” she pushed me out of the way, and walked into the hall, and turned around. “Where is the head care worker?” she asked
“Listen, I’ve been here since I was two days old. And no one called Jezzabel has ever lived here! So I think you should leave.” She opened her mouth to reply, when I heard a voice behind me.
“Pops, who’s that?” Paula came up behind me.
“This is Flick, She’s looking for some kid called Jezzabel, There aren’t any kid here called Jezzabel.” I turned to look at Paula, her face was pale. “Sup Paula?” I asked
“Pop, go to school, now please.” She pushed me towards the door.
“Hey, I’m not properly dressed yet, and I need my bags!” I turned to the stairs,
“Go then. Just move out of the hall!” I ran up the stairs to finish applying my make-up. When it looked as perfect as I could get it. I ran down the stairs and straight out the door without breakfast. The Flick woman had made me late. I ran down the road and spotted Rayner, Leo, Jessie and Kory waiting for me.
“Gah, take your time will you Poppy!” Leo shouted across the road. I gave him the finger,
“Some woman turned up at the home, so she made me late! So shut up, yeah!” I stopped in front of him and slapped him in the head.
“Poppppppppppy!” Holly came running up behind me and hugged me. When she let me go she turned to hug Leo,
“Lee, why don’t you moan at Holly? She’s later than me!” I pretended to whine. He laughed and kissed Holly.
“Cos I actually like her.” He said sarcastically. I slapped him again, “Control your dog Rayner!” he said to Rayner.
Rayner laughed, “Not my dog.” And began sprinting down the road, I shrieked and ran down the road after him pretending to beat him round the head. He put his hands above his head defensively until I stopped. And began my ‘first thing in the morning’ rant,
“So this woman turns up outside the Home this morning, and she’s like I’d like to see Jezzabel, she’s my daughter. I told her there no one here called Jezzabel, there never has been. So she pushes past me and walks in like ‘oh you’ve obviously not been here long.’ I mean excuse me, I’ve been in that shit hole since I was a baby. No one called Jezzabel has ever been there. So I told her I’d been here forever and just as she was about to say something Paula comes into the hall and starts poking her nose in, and I tell her that this woman wants to see some kid called Jezzabel, and she goes all pale and basically tells me to piss off!” I stop to draw breath, Rayner laughs. I hear Jessie and Kory behind me talking low to each other, and further behind I can hear the sound of two people playing tonsil tennis, Leo and Holly, not the most obvious match but for them it works.
“So do you know who this woman is?” he asked. One of the things I loved about him was the fact he listened and was at least very good at pretending he actually gave a crap about what I was saying. Why the hell haven’t I plucked up the courage to tell him I'm in love with him?
“Dunno who she was but you wanna know her name?” I bounced on the spot with glee. I don’t know why but I just found her name really funny. Rayner nodded, “Her name is Felicity Jackside, she said ‘but you can call me Flick.’” I put on a phoney ‘sexy’ voice, and then giggled madly. Rayner grabbed my arm to stop me physically rolling on the floor laughing. He kept hold and towed me to school which was just around the next corner. When we reached the gates we stopped and surrveyed the playground looking for a place to stop, when we found an empty spot we walked over, the rest of our group vaugly following behind, and we stopped. Callum and Jade wandered over detaching themselves from another group of not so close friends. I nodded at them both as a greeting, then slouched against the fence we'd stopped by. “Shit, I don’t even know what I got first!” I realised; I pulled my bag off my shoulder and rummaged around in it to find my time table,
P1: GCSE ICT Miss Jubal
BREAK 10:00
P2: GCSE History Mr Clemency
P3: GCSE Mathematics Mr West
LUNCH 12:30
P4: GCSE ICT Miss Jubal
P5: PSHE Miss Sanders
I groaned,
“Have you ever seen a crappier day?” I whinged. “Look I got Miss J twice and oh the joy of Mr West!” Rayner nudged me,
“Shut up moaning you have to joys of moi, in three of your classes!” he said. “Plus you get the extra joys of having Holly," i groaned, "In your History along with Callum and Kory and Jessie in your PSHE. And Amy-Lee is in your ICT too. So it’s not that bad.” I groaned. He was the only person to know that I really didn't like Holly. When I was round his, I’d have another rant about my annoyance and hate at her. He told me he only paid attention because he found my rants hilarious most of the time.
Holly popped up behind me, “Heard me name.” She said,
“Surprised you heard anything over the sound of you kissing Leo!” i replied casually, she dug into my rib right where she knew it really hurt. “Hey that hurt, bitch!” I said to her. She shrugged, I normally said what I liked to her how ever horrible, and if I added a laugh on the end, she’d think I was joking. I never was.
The bell rang. I walked away and spotted Amy-Lee sitting on the bench surrounded by a mob of guys, all of whom she had once liked but alas she was still single.
“Aym’s you coming, the bells just rang.” She looked at me only half listening,
“Ya-ha.” She said before turning back to a kid that looked half her age.
“Now!” she waved her hand at me dismissing me. I huffed and walked into the fleet of boys and grabbed her by the arm, “Hell no you did not just wave your hand at me bitch-features.” I started dragging her away from the boys.
# Now I know. That I can’t make you stay, but where’s you heart? But where’s your heart? But where’s your- #
My ringtone tinkled from my pocket, playing the beginning of Famous Last Word by My Chemical Romance. I let go of Amy-Lee’s arm and pulled my phone from my pocket and checked the caller ID. Rayner and Amy-Lee looked at me,
“It’s Paula.” I said. Rayner nodded and said,
“Good luck.” Before taking Amy-Lee’s wrist and pulling her toward the main school doors, I heard her say ‘What’s she need good luck for?’ before I answered my phone and tuned the playground bedlam out,
“Sup Paula?” I asked before she could say hello.
“No time to explain properly, you need to come home now.” Her voice was worried sounding. “Put on the hoodie I know you take to school with you even though their banned, put the hood up and walk directly home.” Okay weirdest instructions in history! Rayner and Amy-Lee began walking to the door; Miss Jubal was a push over but, be late to her class. You are dead meat!
“Why? What's happening?” I asked pulling my Bullet For My Valentine hoodie from my bag.
“Oh do as your told without asking for once, please Popsy.” She snapped. I sighed,
“Sure, but what about school?”
“I’m sure they’ll manage without you for one day. But hurry up!” she hung up on me. I put on my hoodie zipped it up and flicked the hood up. Swinging my bag back into my shoulders I started walking the opposite way to the students filing into school. Still with my phone in my hand I exited the school gate.
I pulled up the New Message icon on my phone,
Tell Miss J I felt ill and went home. Will talk to you later. Tidy your room, I’m coming round at 6 30.x
I sent it to Rayner. His reply was almost instant,
Why? What did Paula want?x
I laughed,
Wish I knew. First time I’ve been instructed to bunk.x
His reply took a while longer this time. I guessed he was thinking,
Instructed? I swear Paula just gets weirder by the day. Maybe it has something to do with that Flick woman? Text me when you know.x
I put my phone in my pocket and carried on walking, I was on my street.
I put the key in the lock and pushed the door open. Paula was perched at the bottom of the stairs biting her nails; when she saw me she stood up and wrapped an arm around me.
“What’s so urgent?” I asked her as she guided me to her office. She went and sat behind her desk. She seemed to struggle for words,
“You know when you were younger and you’d ask us why you didn't have a mum and dad?” I nodded, “We’d always tell you we didn't know.” I nodded again, and began chewing my thumb, “Well that was never strictly true.” I leant against the wall, “The night you were left there was a letter that was put in with your blanket. The letter was we assume from your mother.” I slid down the wall and sat on my bottom. “The letter said that your mother was in some sort of danger and she was leaving you with us to protect you. It said that we were not to tell you that she was still alive, because she didn't want to ever give you false hope.” I leant my head on my knees, “She said we had to call you Poppy-Sue Ream, because if you knew your real name you would be in some sort of danger. So we followed her instructions, and told you we didn't know who your mum and dad were and whether they were still alive, we didn't know ourselves.”
I rested my chin on the top of my knees, “Why are you telling me now? My mum must have thought it was important that I never knew who I was, so why do you see the need to tell me?” Paula stood up and went to the filing cabinet. She dug through the overflowing mass of files and pulled out mine. It was one of the thickest. She brought it back to the desk and started talking whilst racking through the loose bits of paper,
“That woman who came this morning, she wanted something. She wanted you. Ah!” she found what ever she was looking for.
“But Paula, she was looking for a girl called Jezza-” I stopped talking as she thrust me a thick page of aged ivory card. I looked down; it was written in prefect elegant script.
“Read it.” Paula urged. I looked down,
Dear who takes my baby,
I know that it was irresponsible of me to leave my daughter on your doorstep at this hour in this weather, but I had no other choice.
Please, call her Poppy-Sue Ream. Her real name is Jezzabel Jeckson, but she must never know.
In entrusting you with Jez I may be putting you in danger but I had no other option, I wish no harm to befall to her.
Do not tell her I am still alive, I don’t want to bring her false hope that one day I may come back for her, because I do not know, and because if she were to know she would be in worse peril than she would’ve been had I kept her with me.
Once she adopts her new name she will be protected, but if she ever finds out who she really is, there will be people after her, bad people.
I wish I could be there to see her grow up, but alas I cannot.
Look after my baby.
Please.
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My eyes were leaking; I wiped them hastily with the sleeve of my hoodie.
“So that woman this morning was looking for me. I’m Jezzabel?” I was trying to believe it, but all I felt was numb. “What did that woman want?” I asked Paula. She shook her head twice,
“I don’t know. She asked where you were. I said you’d gone. She asked where, I didn't say. I asked her who she was; she told me she was your mother, so I asked her what she left you with when she left you. She couldn’t tell me so, I told her to leave.” I stared at her.
“Then why call me out of school and tell me all this, my mum said don’t tell me.” Paula looked down at her desk, like I was scolding her.
“She’d seen you in your uniform. I didn't want to risk her working out where you went and coming after you.” I stood up and prepared to leave the room, “Where are you going?” Paula asked,
“You’re being stupid. I’m going back to school.” I opened the door and was going to step out when I heard her voice from behind me,
“Please just stay in just this once.” I turned back to her. Her face looked scared, “Please.” She was just being overprotective; I nodded at her and ran upstairs.
The only kids that would be in were the really small kids who were new, and had only been here for less than six months. They’d soon get used to me; I went into my room and switched on my stereo and turned up to maximum and let The Black Parade sort out my blaring head. I flopped down on my bed.
My phone vibrated while I was laying with me head under my pillow. There was a text from Rayner,
Found out what was so urgent yet?x
I thought about what to say before I replied,
Think you can get out ICT to ring me?x
He didn't reply. I curled up again under my pillow, crying. It felt like my whole life had been some sort of lying freak show. I listed all the things I had found out in the past 20 minutes.
My real name is Jezzabel Jeckson, my real mum and dad could be alive and out there somewhere and when they left me they were in danger. I thought about it, if they hadn’t come back for me it must mean they wee still in danger. I sat up as my phone began to ring,
# Now I know. That I can’t make you stay, but where’s you heart? But where’s your heart? But where’s your- # I checked the Caller ID, it was Rayner.
“Hey.” I said
“Hi. Listen I haven’t got long Miss J thinks I'm only going for I pee. What’s happening?” I heard his voice echo around the bathroom he was standing in. I sniffed. “Are you crying?” he asked,
“Been crying yeah,” I said surprised at how croaky my voice was.
“Shit it must be bad. I’m coming over now.” The door of the bathroom he was standing in creaked. I laughed at him. Not believing that he was actually going to bunk.
“Go back into your cubical and I’ll tell you why, dummy.” I smiled through my haze of tears, and bounded across my bed to turn my music down a bit. “So Paula called me just before the bell this morning. You know that, you were there. She said to me that I had to come home, and that I had to wear my Bullet hoodie, you know that one you brought my for my birthday last year. And I had to put the hood up and go straight home.” My voice went jumpy. And I sniffed.
“God this sounds bad.” Rayners voice was barley audioable on the other side of the phone.
“So when I got in she took me into her office and told me that every time I asked who my mum and dad were, they would tell me they didn't know. They were lying to me. She gave me a letter and told me that when I was left on the step of the Home that letter was there with me. It said, Dear who takes my baby, I know that it was irresponsible of me to leave my daughter on your doorstep at this hour in this weather, but I had no other choice. Please, call her Poppy- Sue Ream." I paused and took a breath, "Her real name is Jezzabel Jeckson, but she must never know. In entrusting you with Jez I may be putting you in danger but I had no other option, I wish no harm to befall to her. Do not tell her I am still alive, I don’t want to bring her false hope that one day I may come back for her, because I do not know, and because if she were to know she would be in worse peril than she would’ve been had I kept her with me. Once she adopts her new name she will be protected, but if she ever finds out who she really is, there will be people after her, bad people. I wish I could be there to see her grow up, but alas I cannot. Look after my baby. Please.” I stopped talking at the end of the letter. My voice cracked a few times while I was reading,
“Well that weird.” Rayner said, “Shit, you must be feeling like crap. You want me to bunk to come look after you?” he sounded genuinely concerned. I laughed a bit,
“No. I’m fine.” I said.
“Are you sure?” he said, “I swear there has been less than half hour of ICT and I am dying! I don’t give a shit if I come to yours for you to soak my shirt in tears, just let me get out of school!” I laughed again,
“Well if you’re gonna beg, then sure. Paula wont let me come back to school, so its gonna be a pretty crappy day without anyone decent to talk to.” I smiled at him down the phone, even though he couldn’t see it. He laughed. I liked his laugh it was deep and sounded evil,
"Okay, leaving now.” He said,
“How you getting out?” I asked him. In the four years I’d been at the school I’d never bunked off, or ‘truanted’ as the teachers called it.
“Have you never ever bunked Pop- Jezzabel?” he stumbled not sure of what to call me now. “There's a huge gap in the fence behind the dance studio, it comes out near the reception gate.” I ‘uh-hu-ed’ “God, what do I call you now?” he asked,
“I guess its Jezzabel.” The name now felt weird on my tongue.
“Right Jezzabel, I’ll see you in 10.” he cut off the call. I sighed and dropped my phone on the bed. I crawled over my duvet and turned the sound up a bit more on my stereo, just enough that it make my head hurt, but I could still probably heard the door.
In my head I was accumulating a plan.
Computer Hacking
Date: 24th January 2011
Place: Canterbury, Kent
Weather: Sunny, Cold
The doorbell rang; I bolted from my room tripping over my laces and landing over the balustrade, winded. Paula’s office door opened,
“It’s alright I’m getting it Paula.” I yelled down the stairs. She shut the door again, I was surprised, she normally either argued or ignored me, she must think this shit is bad. I sprinted down the stairs, unclipped the latch and opened the door. Rayner was leant against the wall, out of breath. “You didn't need to run.” I told him. He sniggered and pushed me out of the way so he could get in. “Quick upstairs. I gotta make up something to keep Paula out of my room today.” He laughed,
“That sounded worse than it should have done.” He said and ran up the stairs.
“Jerk.” I muttered under my breath before closing the door. Paula popped her head out of the office door,
“Who was it?” she asked. I waved my hand at the door,
“Some guy trying to sell me car insurance.” I answered. She raised an eyebrow and turned away, “Oh and I’m going through my wardrobe so don’t come into my room without knocking, okay?” I called out to her, she waved an arm over her shoulder, I took it as a yes and shot up stairs.
Rayner was lying across my double bed, leaving zero space for me, with his hands behind his head. I looked at him laughing, before running towards the bed and bellyflopping his legs. He slapped my head lightly, laughing too. I rolled next to him.
“So you’re trying on clothes that you need to get rid of? Ace!” I looked at him confused. “You gonna be prancing round in you bra!” when I still looked at him funny he continued, “You just said to Paula you were going through your stuff to sort through it.” He paused to see if I’d caught on, he sighed, “Honestly, are you blonde under all that brown hair?” he asked, “You,” he poked me in the face, “Looking through clothes,” he tugged on my jumper, “Meaning, you,” He poked me again, “Take off clothes, to try on other clothes, meaning I see you,” he poked me a third time, “Half naked.” He said it slow like I was thick. I caught on and started slapping his arms. He knocked me onto my side and pinned me down to my bed hovering over me holding my arms to my side and leant down,
“I thought you were supposed to be mourning the fact you’ve just been told your not really Poppy?” he breathed in my ear. I wriggled underneath him trying to get away, “If your were making it all up, I might tell Paula that I'm here.” He whispered. I got an arm free and pushed him off the edge of the bed, laughing.
“You know,” I started, “I'm trying to ignore it right now. So just shush.” He poked his tongue out at me.
“You can’t hide from it, Jezzabel.” He said to me softly. I nodded, I knew I couldn’t but that didn't stop me trying. I threw one of my pillows at him,
“Jeeez you sounded like a shrink just then.” I said as he threw back the pillow and clamoured onto the bed. He smiled,
“Ah, that be exactly what I be aiming for.” Sometimes what he said didn't make sense. I rolled my eyes,
“You know that councillor I had to see back in year 8?” I said to him, he nodded. “The one I got sent to when I pinned that maths teacher to a wall with a broken chair leg?” He nodded again. Back then I was really violent and antisocial, I couldn’t be in a classroom for to long and had threatened teachers when they tried to tell me what to do. Because I was in a Home they gave me another chance and instead sent me to a councillor twice a week. Although she was nice, she didn't do much help, “Well she always said to me when I was in a bad mood when I turned up to a session, you can’t hide your feelings from me. I seemed to do it just fine, cos she sent me away after a few weeks. It’s just you who can see my hiding place.” I gave him a smile that meant this conversation is getting awkward and sentimental. He grinned at me weirdly so I pushed him off the side of my bed again and then leant over the other edge of my bed to retrieve the laptop I had borrowed from school a few weeks ago. I opened it up and logged on.
Technically this laptop didn't belong to the school anymore. Amy-Lee’s dad had taught me about Computer Networking, so removing the school Network from the laptop was easy as pi. I had found some pirate running software and programmed the laptop to my settings. It was the sort of thing I did when I was bored.
“Hey isn’t that the laptop you asked Miss Jubal to borrow at the beginning of the year?” Rayner asked me from the other side of the bed. I looked at him,
“It was – but now it’s not.” I said shortly. He started juggling with my toy elephant and giraffe,
“Ya no, it’s really sweet that you still have cuddly toys.” He said teasing me. I threw my piggy heated bean bag at his face. I had good aim.
“Ya no,” I started the same as him; “You should shut up. Cos I could easily hack you laptop from here and email your entire internet history to your mum, including all the porn websites.” He looked at me guiltily.
“Can you really do that?” he asked me. I thought about it, it had been intended at an empty threat but thinking about it, if I could find out his laptops IP address it would be almost too easy.
“Yep.” I said. He opened his mouth and closed it again, “You look like a guppy doing that.” I said. He did it again. I laughed. “Anyway.” I said, trying to distract him, “If you’re finished your fishy ducky impression, you can come and help me.” He slid over the bed and sat next to me, smushing me right onto the edge. I laughed again and pushed him back towards the other side.
“Help you with what?” he asked.
“To find this Flick woman.” I answered restarting my laptop so I could switch it to a mode with which I could hack a computer. Rayner raised his eyebrows at me, “What?” I asked, “She’s the only person I know that could know something about my real mum and dad.”
“Fair one.” He said shrugging, and lying back on my bed while I typed away, sending Trojans and breaking Firewalls. He stared at the screen but his eyes were blank, he never understood this complexity if compture-ness. I ignored him, and continued to type until I accessed Paula’s computer that had access to the Home’s CCTV. I looked through the stores of video until I found the right video that was labelled with the right time and date for the woman’s appearance. I nudged Rayner so he sat up,
“Watch the screen, the sounds not to good so we’ve got to listen hard.” He nodded, I turned up the speakers. The first footage I played was from Paula’s office, the image was black and white and blurry, but you could distinguish the difference between Paula and Felicity. Knowing how slow Rayner could be on the uptake I pointed out who was who. He nodded; we both listened hard as the voices started to crackle through the speakers. Paula’s voice was heard first,
“We have not heard of that child for nearly 15 years.” She said slowly. ‘Flick’ looked at her as if surveying Paula,
“Where is Jezzabel?” she asked as if she had not heard Paula speak. Paula repeated her self,
“We have not heard of that child for nearly 15 years.” Flick leant forward in her chair,
“Why?” she breathed, her voice so quiet the camera microphone barely picked it up. Paula leant forward in her chair resting her elbows on the desk, much like she had when she spoke to me,
“Because we once had a child who was brought here 15 hears ago, but now she isn’t here. We have seen no need to speak of her since she went.” Paula’s voice seemed strained.
“Where did she go?” Flick asked.
“Before I reveal anymore information to you, as this goes into confidential matters of a child in state care I will need to verify who you are, and if you are who you say you are.” Paula seemed to get a hold of herself, her crackly voice on the film evened out slightly. Flick tittered,
“I hardly think I need to tell you who I am, seeing as Jezzabel is my daughter.”
“It’s just a simple question that only Jezzabel’s mother would know.” Felicity leant further forward in her chair, indicating that Paula should go on, “What was baby Jezzabel left with when she was left in out care?” Flick leant back in her chair, and clasped her hands over her knee.
“Why, her clothes of course. Any good mother would leave her baby with something warm to wear.” Her voice was pitching steadily higher, as if she were under pressure. Paula, to, leant back in her chair,
“Anything else?” she asked. Flick shook her head. “Then, unfortunately I can tell you no more about the whereabouts of Jezzabel, be her here or else where. I think it is time for you to leave, yes?” Paula stood up and opened to office door. Flick remained seated. “Miss Jackside, I said it is time for you to leave.” Flick’s head flicked up to look at Paula.
“Why,” she questioned, “Would you mention anything about the possibility of Jezzabel being here?” she asked. Paula looked confused. “I quote, ‘be her here or else where.’ Why would you mention her being here if you say she has not been here for 15 years Ms Nickel?” Paula spluttered. Felicity stood up and straightened her skirt, “Thank you,” she said holding her hand out, “I think I have all I need to be getting on with.” Paula took the woman’s hand out of pure confusion. Felicity left the room and the Home.
The way Felicity spoke it was as if she was the one interrogating Paula. I could see why Paula was worried that she would come to my school, she didn't seem thick therefore I knew she would piece together that Paula had let it slip that I might still be here, the fact Jezzabel was 15 and that all the children that went to secondary school that lived in the home all went to the same school. She could have come to my school.
I closed the video window and opened a different one which was the front door at the time Felicity left.
She stopped by the door and pulled out her phone the camera zoom wasn’t clear enough to see what she was doing on her mobile, but then she put it to her ear calling someone. The disadvantage was that Paula thought it was rude to listen to conversations that were had on the doorstep so the camera didn't have a microphone, and I didn't know what she had said.
When she hung up she delved into her bag and pulled out a bottle of Bodyshop Et De Toilette Rose and sprayed it in her hair, at her chest and towards her knees, she wiped a finger over the cap to catch any drops of perfume, put the bottle in her bag and rubbed the droplet of Rose water over her fingers. She straightened her skirt again and turned off the door step walking toward the school.
I closed the CCTV files and stared blankly at Paula’s Pon & Zee desktop wallpaper. I made you a cookie, but I eated it.
I laughed at it and logged off. I then restarted the computer and logged on to the computer properly, so I could find an IP address for a page with a network of our towns CCTV cameras. I noted down the code and restarted the computer again.
Rayner had slumped on my bed half way through my search and began to doze, he was bored. I nudged him in the ribs,
“The next video will be on in a sec.” He opened his eyes, and looked at me.
“Why are you so technology brilliant?” he asked in an envious sort of tone. I chuckled and blushed,
“I dunno. Maybe I get it from my dad; we’ll never know unless I find them...” I trailed off. And turned back to my laptop and started typing hacking into the local council’s camera network hub.
It wasn’t easy, they had dozens of fire walls, the Trojans I sent seemed to take a while to take effect, and their systems were set up to send my malware when I tried to get in, so I had to send more Trojans to effectively ‘eat’ them. It took well over 20 minutes before I got in. Then I had to search the entire database for the right cameras at the right times.
When I eventually found them Rayner had completely fallen asleep. I saw this as a chance to properly get back at him for pinning me to my bed, and stood up balancing on the dodgy springs of my mattress, I took a deep breathe and sat as heavily as I could, without damaging him, on his stomach.
His eyes snapped open quicker than you could say Mississippi and he shouted aloud. Then seeing me sat pixie-like on his stomach his eyes narrowed until they were mean little slits. I laughed until I was red; Rayner was too winded to do much more than squint-glare at me for a while.
When he regained his regular breathing pattern I was chocking on my oxygen overdose. He sat up quickly knocking me onto his legs; I rolled off them still shaking with now silent laughter. He reached across and dragged me toward him only hold an arm and a leg. I shrieked. He laid me on my stomach and sat on the top of my legs, where the thigh meets the bum.
“There,” he said wriggling where he sat, “Now hack things and ruin my digestive system.” He said in a fake menacing voice. I reached with the hand he hadn’t laid me on, to the laptop still lying open on my bed and dragged it toward me. I double clicked the first video, opened it and turned up the brightness because it was a dim black and white image. I skipped through the video until Felicity walked into the shot; I then paused the shot and turned too looked over my shoulder.
“It’s on a 3 second picture capture.” I told him. “That means they take a picture every 3 seconds and string it together to make a video-type-thing.” He nodded and spun round so he was sitting on the laptop side of my legs.
The video showed Felicity walking along the road in the direction of my school she got to the end of the road and turn to the corner of the road that I took to school. Here she paused and looked down the road, exactly at the camera I was using to watch her. She put a hand in her pocket and pulled out something thin like a pencil. A bright laser light hit the camera lens and the image scrambled like a bad receptive TV.
I clicked out of the video and went on to another from the last camera on the street. We got to the same point where she paused before, and after she pointed her pencil-y thing at the first camera she went through and lasered the whole streets cameras, the camera we were watching from was last to switch off.
At around about the 5th camera she was turning off, a sleek black car pulled up behind her and stayed until the last camera was turned off. After that we obviously couldn’t see what happened. I sighed and moved my arm from under my chin where it had been holding up my face, and faceplanted into my bed.
“Why did she do that?” I whinged, “Now I can’t find my parents.” I lifted my arm off the bed into the air then let them flop back on my bed to emphasise my point of hopelessness. Rayner leant forward off of my legs, I sighed at the relief of being able to feel and move my legs,
“Wait,” Rayner slid the laptop closer to his side of the bed. And rolled back the video a few slides squinting at the image of the car. “Get me some paper.” He said his hand out but his eyes still on the car. I lent off my bed and pulled a sheet of scarlet paper from my pile on the desk next to my bed and a jet black roller pen and gave them to him, “Thanks.” He said and began writing something, “Think you can get another laptop from Paula’s office?” he asked. I shrugged,
“Sure.” I said sliding off the bed and shuffling along the carpet to the door. “What are you doing?” I asked him.
He looked up,
“I’m gonna search the number plate of the car on a police car registration register.” He said.
“Why can’t we use that?” I asked pointing to my laptop.
“We need it to look at other videos.” He said, “We’re going to use the laptop you’re going to get to search up the car, and some how track it. Then use this laptop to search the camera data base and find where the car is going.” I nodded and disappeared behind the door.
Impressum
Texte: I Own Everything To Do With This Story Unless Otherwise Stated. Any Resemblence To Real People, Stories Or Products Is Purely Coincadental.
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 21.11.2011
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