A Mother's Word

Chapter Ten

I cleaned myself up and walked back to the office door. Elias was now eating another biscuit and had moved from sitting on his own chair to sitting very closely to the adult with the kind smile, he looked safe, he had started to relax his shoulders and his lips started to form a little smile. They looked as if they were completing a cross word puzzle, he looked happy. An adult from the meeting was currently on the phone, and he was recalling certain events and disclosures that had been made in the office. I guessed he was on the phone to the police reporting the abuse.
Mum spotted me by the door and came over, her eyes looked swollen from crying, and she looked stressed. She draped her arms around my shoulder and gave me a big cuddle, she then said I would get in trouble for being absent from my lessons, and finally she then warned me that soon Jenny and Thomas would be walking along this corridor and I needed to hide. She didn't want me to be caught in the crossfire, as she had predicted that Jenny was in denial and would not be happy for the accusations to be thrown around about her family.

The police had been called, and Jenny and Thomas had been taken out of their lessons and were now placed in separate rooms with adults across the school. Mum was right, Jenny had to pass the office on the way, and although I had managed to hide in one of the store cupboards I was able to see and hear what was going on.
Jenny seemed angry and frustrated, she was swearing, and her body language showed she was extremely cross. She was struggling with the police officers, trying to break loose from their protective arms, she wanted to make a run for it. She was causing disruption, she was being loud, abnoxious and was getting her voice heard.
Who was she so cross with? The adults were helping her, why was she so angry with them?
I didn't understand this stage in the process of accepting help, I thought as soon as someone had told the truth about the abuse everyone would be happy, I was so naive.

I then heard Jenny shout "Cassie is going to pay for this, her and her interfering wicked mother"
How did she know it was me?

The police had now been at the school for around half an hour, they had in total eight police officers attended, they didn't look like your average police officer, they had their own clothes on and didn't seem so regimented. They had already had their debrief and knew where they were all going, four of them went into the room Jenny was being held in, two in Thomas' and two in Elias'.
They were then swiftly taken away in the police cars to the police station, closely followed by the team of adults from school. Mum rang me and I slowly retreated from the store cupboard that I had been hiding in for the last two hours, she had heard Jenny mention my name so knew that I would be shaken up and confused, and she wanted to explain what was going on and how things worked. We left school and went to get a coffee, mum looked deflated and worn out, and I now understood why she was always so tired after work, I was exhausted, and I didn't do anything apart from listen to what was being said. Mum was going to join them down the police station shortly, Jenny, Thomas and Elias had been taken into police protection, and they now had 72 hours to investigate. Mum dropped me home after our coffee, and she went down there to help build the case.

I needed a friend around me, and so I messaged Becki to see how she was, but her reply was very direct, she would have normally written an essay and always seemed chirpy, but I was struggling to get anything out of her. I decided that after the school day had finished I would go and see her.
3:30pm came, and I watched out my living room window, Becki didn't normally take long to walk home, so I knew she would be walking down our street soon. Finally, as the minutes ticked by, Becki was finally in view. I watched as she entered her house, and after several minutes I went up to her front door. Her dad answered, he was always such a pleasant man, however; he even seemed off today, at first he tried to tell me that Becki wasn't home yet from school, but I knew he wasn't telling the truth as I had just seen her walk through the door. In the end she came down to see me, she looked tired, and her eyes were puffy from crying.
She was upset with me. Herself and Jenny had seen me that day talking to her brothers, and then all of a sudden the police had come and taken them all away. Becki, who didn't know what had been happening, was confused. I tried to tell Becki what had been happening, but she didn't want to listen, she had been spending time with Jenny that day after not seeing her properly for months and I had now gone and ruined that by taking Jenny away from her. I was trying to help Jenny, but people didn't realise that!

A police car then pulled onto our street and headed towards Jenny's house, Jenny's mum answered, she was wearing blue denim jeans and a flowery blouse, she also had a mixing bowl in her arms as if she was making a cake. The police officers entered the house and one hour later they, alongside Jenny's mum were entering the police car and driving back down the street, 'Uncle Dave' was nowhere to be seen.
Becki looked at me annoyed and then turned her back, walked into the house and closed the door firmly behind her. Her dad reopened the door and calmly told me "Becki needs a break, she will message you if she wants to talk, please don't come around here again unless she asks you too", my heart broke, I had now lost two of my best friends.
I thought that would be it now with Jenny's family, the police must now have enough evidence to help Jenny and her brothers and arrest their mum, but I didn't know how wrong I was!

I decided the following morning to walk down the footpath by their house to see if the house was still in the disgusting state it had been previously. This time I didn't need Adam to come with me and I didn't tell anyone what I was doing either. Amy had warned me the night before to now leave things alone as it was causing stress for everyone and if they were being abused it was their own fault now as I had tried to help. Her wordings were not always portrayed correctly however I knew exactly what she meant, I had tried to help.
I still got up earlier than normal and collected my newspaper, I didn't know if to continue with my plan, but I found myself walking down the street towards her house anyway.
Jenny's house seemed a little brighter, someone had brought new plants to go in the pots out by the front door, it looked like the house had a hose down recently and as I quickly peeped in the downstairs window the room that once was full of grime now looked spotless!
Someone had been cleaning the house whilst we've been at school, someone knew the police were going to be coming, they must have had a tip off from someone, but who would have helped her?

That evening I was shattered, I ended up going home and up to my bedroom where I flopped onto my bed, the room started spinning, and I remembered I hadn't drank anything at all. There was a tumbler on the side table, so I took a gulp and then closed my eyes.
I woke several hours later to the sound of voices being raised and car doors being slammed shut, mum had returned home from the police station, and she was quickly followed by Jenny and her family who were now yelling awful comments to her on the street. Mum stayed professional, she was used to dealing with confrontational conflicts, it was all part of her job role.
Amy quickly joined mum outside, and although she could be incredibly gobby at times, she decided now was not the time to start arguing back, she knew how hard mum had been working on this case and her being involved wouldn't help any situation.
It was typical behaviour being shown of Jenny's family, and we were not surprised they acted out this way after feeling embarrassed, ashamed and caught out.
In all the years I had been friends with Jenny I had never seen her be so aggressive, her personality had changed, and she was now behaving in an uncharacteristically moody, unpredictable and selfish manner.

It was just a shame that Jenny's mum and 'Uncle Dave' had managed to fool everyone and Jenny, Thomas and Elias were all in denial, it was obvious, they wanted to hide the real impact of what was happening to them. They wanted help, but they were too scared to admit the truth, they had been forced to lie so many times before that it had now become their 'truth'.

Mum walked into the house, followed by Amy who had closed and locked the door behind them, mum flopped down in to her little armchair and stared into the distance. Her skin looked pale, her breathing had slowed down, she was weak. This job was hard work!
Mum was still fully dressed, so I helped her take her shoes off and then walked in to the kitchen to put the kettle on, by the time I had returned with her cup of tea, she was asleep and snoring. I found a blanket from the airing cupboard and placed it over her sleeping body. She was exhausted. Amy checked outside through a tiny hole in the curtain, it was dark, and she couldn't see anything, she told me to go to bed, and she would sleep on the sofa to "protect mum".