20th March 2012

I woke up on Isaiah's chest and his arm around my waist. Boy did we have fun last night!

I smiled at the thought and extended my arm so I was hugging him.

"Good morning beautiful." His deep voice resonated around the room. I giggled.

"Morning." I smiled. He began stroking my baby hairs and I felt like going to sleep all over again. My hair was no longer in that bun and my curls were all over the place.

"Did you sleep well?"

"I slept real good thanks." This was probably the first time I had slept fully all through the night in years.

"Good."

"Isaiah?"

"Yes, baby girl?"

"We have to do this again before I leave."

"Oh yes, most definitely." He agreed. I laughed.

"You made me feel so good."

"You realise we didn't have sex right?"

"You don't need sex for things to feel good." I laughed. He joined in.

"I'm just playing. Being with you feels so right."

"Mm so right."

"I've never felt-" he got cut off as there was a short knock before his door opened.

"Sorry to wake you, have you seen-" Mrs Duboe froze in her spot and I pulled the quilt up further although I was already covered. I still had my shorts on and Isaiah had his on but Mrs Duboe wouldn't be able to tell. Both of us being topless was enough to fuel her anger as she looked at us with disgust.

"Mrs Duboe-" I started.

"Don't say a word! Isaiah, I would have expected better from you. You want to do this?" She pointed to us.

"In my house?" She dug a finger into her chest.

"We didn't-"

"Don't you dare say another word, don't you dare!" She pointed a finger at me.

"Isaiah you're needed in the kitchen. You! Get out of his bed, NOW!" She screamed. Her face and neck was extremely red so I knew she was proper pissed off.

"Mrs. D-"

"Isaiah, do not test my patience! You! Get out of his bed! Come on move! I want both of you showered and downstairs in the next 20 minutes and don't you even try to take a shower together! Riah, out of his bed!" She yelled, storming off. I sighed and ran a hand through my curls.

"Oh, fuck." I grunted.

"Don't worry, I'll explain." He gave me a peck on the cheek.

Amber appeared in front of the door and scoffed.

"Wow, Riah. You get down fast." She smirked and sauntered off.

Could the day get any worse?

"Riah you better be out of his room in 5!" I sprung up as she started to countdown.

"4!" He passed me my top and I struggled to put it on.

"3! 2!" I stumbled out of his room.

"I'm out! I'm out." I called. I gave Isaiah one last look before going into the bathroom.

After I brushed my teeth and showered, I got dressed in leggings and a hoodie before cautiously proceeding downstairs.

I'm not even gonna lie, Mrs Duboe was PISSED! I had never seen her so furious before, it was like she was a completely different person. She brushed me off when I tried to explain and she wouldn't even look at me.

I ate breakfast and played with the kids in the garden. As I played I watched Isaiah come into the kitchen and talk to Mrs Duboe before she looked at me apologetically.

I gave her a small smile and resumed playing with the kids. She called me inside to talk and I sat quietly at the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's okay." I shrugged.

"I didn't give you a chance to explain-"

"From what it looked like we did I wouldn't expect you to. Sorry if you feel I disrespected you and your house."

"Oh no honey I see the way he looks at you. I don't mind you spending time with him especially now that your time with us is coming to an end. Just, no sex." She shook her head. I laughed.

"Mrs Duboe, I wouldn't do that, I'm only 16."

"That doesn't stop a lot of kids your age though does it?" She peered at me through her lashes.

"I just don't want you doing something you're going to regret. You're too sweet to get hurt."

"Aww, I'm not going to do anything, don't worry about me." I smiled, standing up.

I went up to see Isaiah and sat on the end of his bed.

"You alright?" He asked. I nodded.

"Thanks for speaking to her." I was referring to Mrs Duboe.

"I had to, she was shooting daggers at you when you were playing with the kids." He laughed.

"I can't believe you're leaving me in 2 weeks." He pulled me onto his lap.

"I know, it's gone so quick." I huffed.

"I'm gonna miss you, baby girl."

"I'm gonna miss you too." I felt my eyes getting teary and looked away. Rah I fell for him FAST.

"Baby don't cry. If you cry, I'm gonna cry and you know how much of a wreck I am when I do." He kissed my cheek. I laughed and looked back at him.

"I'm excited to go home but most of me wants to stay right here. With you." I blinked. He gave me a slow kiss and rest his head on my shoulder.

"Just think of it like this; you go home and be with your friends and family daily for the next few years and then I can be greedy and have you all to myself for the rest of our lives. How's that sound?"

"I like that." I giggled.

"Mm, I know you do." He laughed. We sat silently for a bit.

"When did I become so sprung?" I questioned.

"I've always been sprung, I'm not gonna lie."

"Lol, no you have not." I laughed.

"Who says 'lol' and yes I have, ever since you walked through that door and I saw you sitting on that couch."

"I say 'lol' and I could never tell."

"Mm that's because you never paid attention to me."

"Boy please, you never paid attention to me!"

"I did, actually. If you paid attention to me, you would have noticed." He joked.

"To me you only started watching me after you found out about..." I trailed off. We both knew what I was talking about. Charlie. I gulped. Although he had stopped trying to do things to me he was still a disgusting person in my eyes. He lifted his head off my shoulder and held my hand, stroking it softly.

"If I could take all of you with me just so you could be away from him, I would." I looked at him.

"You don't have to worry about us. We'll be fine, he can't hurt any of us."

"What about the kids though? He could easily hurt one of them-" realisation hit me.

"I won't let him."

"What about Kacey? Oh my gosh, my sweet Kacey, I don't want anything to happen to her-"

"I'll protect her-"

"She thinks it's normal, she thinks it's just a game. It'd be so easy for him to do what he wanted to her-"

"Hey. Hey. Stop worrying. I won't let anything bad happen to her or any of the kids. I promise, I won't let him touch a single hair on her head." His eyes searched mine. I sighed.

"Do you believe me?" He asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"He's just a sick, vile excuse of a man who doesn't deserve to be around these children. God knows what he's going to do next now that he doesn't have me or Jessica to prey on-"

"Sorry, what?" He cut me off.

"What?" He stared at me, a confused expression plastered on his face.

"What did you just say?"

"I said he has no one to prey on."

"Yeah you-"

"Yeah me."

"And Jessica, you said Jessica." He let go of my hand.

"What? No I didn't-"

"Yes, you did. What do you know that I don't know?" He slid himself from underneath me. I breathed in slowly.

"Isaiah, I don't know if you'll want to hear this."

"Tell me." He urged.

"What do you know?" He asked. I sighed and told him; what Charlie was doing to me he had done to Jessica and whereas he never got to be sexual with Mr he had successfully done that with Jessica on more than one occasion and he was the father of her child.

"Wait, hold up, I don't understand." He rubbed his temples.

"What is there not to understand? It makes perfect sense Isaiah." It felt kind of good to have told him and his reaction was better than what I thought it'd be like. For now.

"Who are you? How do you know all of this?" He shook his head.

"Charlie asked me the same thing." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm exactly who I've been telling you I am and I know because everything just clicked."

"What do you mean 'everything just clicked'? What is 'everything'?"

"What he was doing to me, how you told me she was pregnant and bruised when they found her-"

"I don't understand-"

"He was abusing her, in that very bed I've been sleeping in. I only know that because of Kacey-"

"What does Kacey have to do with this?"

"She knew what was happening, she thought it was a game. Charlie let her see what he was doing sometimes but most of the time he didn't let her see everything."

"What are you going on about?" He looked at me in disbelief. I grunted, frustrated.

"I'll show you." I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the room I shared with Kacey and Amber.

Amber wasn't home as always and Kacey was in her bed, yet to fall asleep. She smiled as soon as she saw me and I smiled back.

"Don't question what I'm doing alright? Just play along." I instructed.

"What?"

"Just play along." I repeated, climbing onto the bed.

"Pretend to hit me."

"Erm-" he seemed uneasy.

"Just do it." I nodded. He raised his eyebrow before lightly grabbing my hair. He pretended to punch me and I exaggerated my movements, dropping my head into the bed. Kacey giggled, causing both Isaiah and I to look at her.

"What the fuck?" He whispered, looking down at me. I nodded.

"Get on me." I urged, quietly.

"What?" He was taken aback.

"Climb on me and pretend like you're taking off your shorts. You'll see what she does next." He was hesitant at first but eventually complied and we watched Kacey slyly as he did so. She had pulled the quilt up so it hid most of her face except her eyes. She was still watching us.

"Grab my throat." I mouthed. I thought he didn't understand because he didn't do it right away but as I started to repeat myself he did so, catching me off guard. I felt myself getting emotional as I remembered and I breathed deeply, closing my eyes to allow the tears to fall to either side of my face.

"Call her." I mouthed, my eyes still closed.

"Kacey." His tone was slightly abrasive.

"I know, I know. Turn around and don't turn back until I say so." Her voice squealed excitedly. She had no idea that this wasn't a game. Isaiah let go of my and I sat up as he climbed off of me. I wiped my face and looked at Kacey.

Sure enough she had packed herself on the furthest inch of her bed, lying so her back was facing us.

Isaiah looked at me in disbelief as he walked closer to Kacey's bed.

"Kacey?" She turned around at his voice, disappointed that this 'game' had ended.

"Who played this game? Not me and Riah, someone else. Who played this game?" He asked her. She looked up at him like he was crazy.

"Daddy and Jessica." She nodded. That's all I needed to hear.

We went back to his room, closing the door behind us. He wouldn't stop pacing back and forth and I was yet to stop crying. He noticed and kneeled down in front of me.

"Did I hurt you? Let me see." He tilted my neck but I brushed him off.

"You didn't hurt me. I just remembered." I shrugged. His face fell and he pulled me into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I lost my temper that night. I'm sorry I hurt you, I'm sorry he hurt you. It won't happen again baby I promise, I won't hurt you." He held me tightly. I knew his apology was sincere and he would try to protect me at all costs. I nodded.

"Now do you understand? Charlie shouldn't be around these kids." I sighed.

"Well what are we supposed to do? We don't exactly have any hard evidence."

"What if we tell Mrs Duboe?"

"No, that won't work. She'd do anything for him. Anything to protect him or keep them together."

"Are you sure? It doesn't really seem like she's very fond of him nowadays." It was true. She wasn't speaking to him much and I could hear them having arguments some nights.

"Nah trust me. Whatever mess they've got going on now is only temporary. They always bounce back."

"Okay so since we can't go to her or go to the police since we have no evidence, I'm stuck on what to do next." I rubbed my head, trying to come up with an idea.

"We can't do anything." He huffed.

"Not until we've got enough evidence." He nodded.

"How are we meant to get evidence?" I asked. He shrugged. This was a tricky situation. We decided to not do anything just yet but we decided we were going to tell Amber when she got in.

It was about 2:30 when I heard her coming up the stairs and I pulled her into Isaiah's room before she could protest.

"Get off me, you bitch!" She pushed me away.

"Gosh, Amber! Stop acting all crazy." I breathed.

"Me crazy? You're the one acting crazy, hoe."

"I'm not a-"

"You're a snake too, telling on Charlie."

"Hold on, you wanted me to tell you-"

"Whatever, Riah. Stop talking to me." She put her hand up and faced Isaiah.

"Why am I in here?" She spoke with attitude, pulling the chair from his desk and positioning it in front of the bed. She sat and stared at him.

"We've got something important to tell you and we can't have you telling anyone else at the moment-"

"Oh my gosh." She looked at the both of us.

"You're really wasting my time right now." She stood up.

"It's about Charlie." She froze and I watched her, noticing her gulp. She slowly sat back down and when she spoke she was a lot quieter.

"What about him?" She crossed her arms.

"This might be a little hard for you to hear-"

"I don't want to hear it from you, I want to hear it from Isaiah." She screwed me.

"Yes?" She raised her brow waiting for him to continue.

"He was abusing Jessica. The same way he's been abusing Riah, had been abusing Riah. He was doing the same to Jessica. And he was raping her. The baby she was pregnant with was his, it was his baby."

I observed her facial expression as he told her what we knew. She didn't seem phased. At all. It's almost as if...

"You already knew, didn't you?" I licked my lips. Her focus shifted to me. I held her gaze and she was the first to break eye contact.

"I didn't think he would have let it get that far." She whispered. Isaiah and I shared a sigh.

"Amber!" Isaiah shouted.

"You're telling me you knew? You knew what he was doing and you didn't tell me? You didn't tell anyone? You let it happen! You let her die!" He stood up and she did also, backing away as he advanced towards her.

I jumped up, standing in between them.

"I didn't think she would-he would-"

"You didn't think at all! You fucking knew what he was doing to her and you let it happen! She could still be here if you told somebody, if you told me!" He yelled. He lunged for her and she screamed. I did the first action that came to mind and I ran into his body and hugged him.

"I know you're angry, I know you're pissed and hurt but hitting her isn't gonna make things any better, I promise you." I said into his chest. He was just standing still and I hugged him tighter to remind him I was there. He eventually sighed and hugged me back.

"Sorry." Was all he said.

"It's okay. It's okay because you didn't hit her. Or anyone. Or anything." I breathed. He laughed briefly.

"Yeah." He let go and I stopped hugging him. When I turned around, Amber was staring at me with her mouth open.

"What?"

"I haven't seen anyone calm him down that fast." She whispered, giving me a small smile. I shrugged and we all sat back down.

"Look, Isaiah I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was going on. I should have said something."

"It's too late now." He refused to look at her and I saw her eyes become teary.

"I didn't think it would get so severe. I didn't know he was doing it everyday, if I knew I would have said something but I didn't know until like the week before she jumped." She had started crying.

"You should have said something anyway." He said harshly.

"How long had he been abusing her?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know, I've only been here just over a year-"

"You do know, stop lying." Isaiah was getting riled up and I put my hand on his thigh.

"Oh, God." She looked up at the ceiling.

"Amber, tell us." My voice was very soft because I wanted her to feel like I was on her side. She let out a sob.

"When I stopped sleeping with him and I started coming home late, around then." She dropped her head into her hands.

"What?" Isaiah and I said in unison.

"You were sleeping with him?!" I was completely and utterly shocked, that was the last thing I would have expected but at the same time it made sense. She nodded.

"It didn't last for that long, maybe 2 or 3 months."

"Why were you sleeping with him?" Isaiah asked. She sighed and looked up at us.

"He made the proposition to me a little after I got here. He said if I did things for him I would get money in return. I denied him at first but he persuaded me. I don't know, he showed me attention and I never got that at home. He made me feel good, I guess. We didn't start fucking right away, first it was like letting him touch me or see my bits and I know it sounds bad but I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the attention and the money I received afterwards. He'd give me £50 for letting him see or touch me and he was doing that a few times a week so at the end of the week I was getting like £200 and it was a lot to me." She shrugged.

"Amber." I didn't know what to say. I was astonished.

"It was good money. £50 see or touch, £100 for head and £200 for sex. £300 on a good day." She shook her head.

"I could have refused but I didn't want to. The money was good."

"If he was sleeping with you, how did he then move on to Jessica?" I asked. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"He got tired of me. Wanted something different, wanted a change. Plus I might've been getting attached to him." She mumbled.

"Attached how?"

"I was falling for him, okay? He could see I was so eventually he stopped it. And then Jessica walked in on us one time. She threatened to tell and he got so mad he began hitting her. He said if she told he'd kill her. And he continued doing it, beating her up, like a reminder. He said he'd kill me too if I told anyone that he was hitting her."

"So then what did you do?"

"I kept my mouth shut. I was jealous of her. He looked at her the way he used to look at me and I was jealous so I let him hit her. And then he started forcing himself on her and I knew she didn't want it so I let him. I let him do what he wanted because I knew it hurt her and I was so angry that she had stolen him from me! He did it in front of me and in front of Kacey and Jessica would look at me for help and I'd just leave. I'd just go out." She sobbed.

"I know you must think I'm a terrible person and I regret everything. I'm sorry I allowed him to do that to her, I should have helped." We sat in silence, just listening to her cry. I must admit, from that moment on I did see Amber in a different light. She wasn't the caring, welcoming person I thought I was getting to know when I first got here. I now saw her as petty and I wouldn't be able to shake that label off so quick.

I wanted to ask her more questions but Isaiah wasn't going to give her a chance.

"Get out." He said to her.

"What?"

"Get out of my fucking room, Amber! Get out!" He yelled, standing up. She flinched before quickly exiting the room.

I'm going to be truthful with you guys; I was disgusted with Amber's actions. I didn't need to know Jessica to know she didn't warrant what she went through. Her allowing Charlie to hurt Jessica out of spite? Nah that is immensely cruel.