Faye's Diary

Chapter 28

Later that night when everyone was in bed, I left the spare room that I had been sleeping in and crept into Charlotte’s room.

“Are you awake?” I whispered as I stuck my head around the door.

She moaned and said, “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.” She got out of bed and hugged me. “I can’t believe you just turned up like that! I think you should tell me the whole story now; and why are you on crutches anyway? What happened to you?”

We both climbed into her bed and I proceeded to tell her the whole story. I started with the fact that I hid my diary so near to hers and that it was still there now, and I ended with me turning up at her university.

“And you know what happens after that.” I concluded my tale.

I looked and saw that Charlotte was close to tears. “You saved Amy’s life! You were run over Faye! And all of it was to find me, I feel so bad!”

“Well don’t feel bad. It wasn’t your fault. I chose to come and find you, so it’s my fault. That is obviously why I’m on crutches too, although I don’t need them all the time.”

“I can’t believe Lilly and Dan too, they drove you all the way up here and let you stay over and everything. I thought that they were never going to get to meet you, but they knew who you were straight away!”

“They said that I look just like you.” We both turned to look at each other. I could only see the outline of her features through the darkness but that was ok; I’d already stared at her enough today anyway. “So, what’s your story then, if you don’t mind telling me?”

She sighed and said, “Well, I suppose I owe you a story now, but I’ve never really told it as a story before. Well, I lived with your Mum up until I was seven.” I hated the way she said ‘your Mum’ as if she had nothing to do with her. “She left my Dad when I was three. I can’t remember him much. After that she had a string of boyfriends and wild nights out and I stayed with Granny a lot; but she still loved me. At that point. Her last boyfriend that I ever knew was called Lee.”

I stopped her. “When I was telling my story, I left a bit out. The first time I stayed over here, I read your diary. I didn’t mean to but Lilly told me it would be ok. I’ve got the missing one.”

Charlotte gasped. “You have my missing diary? Really, I’ve wanted to come and collect that for years but I’ve never been brave enough to just turn up uninvited. I wish I had now, that way I might have found you sooner.”

I quickly ran next door without replying to her and delved into my bag. Her diary was still in there. I went back into her room and handed it to her.

She hugged me again, “Thank you so much Faye! You just seem to bring more and more good things my way! I mean, first you brought yourself, then you told me about Amy, who I’d still like to meet by the way, and now my diary too!”

I got back into the bed and she began her story again. “If you’ve read my diary then I suppose you already know what happened with Lee.” I nodded and she went quiet for a moment. “Well, it took me a while but I eventually told your Mum, but she didn’t believe me. I tried to convince her but she wouldn’t listen. She said that she was going to be with him forever and that I wasn’t going to make up silly little tales to ruin it for her. She obviously confronted him about it though because the next day he came in and hit me and pinched my arm until it was bruised and told me never to tell anyone else ever again. He stopped coming round as often then and Mum didn’t let me be alone with him, but they still dated. A few days later in school though, I took my cardigan off because I was hot and my teacher saw the bruise which was like purple by then. She asked me who had done it but I didn’t want to tell her and she obviously suspected some sort of abuse and your Mum was called in. She made up a lie about it but when we got into the car she shouted at me too. The next day my teacher made me tell her all about it and she was so nice that I did. She called Social Services who called the police. Lee’s in prison now. I was taken into care though because they found your Mum guilty of knowing about it but not telling anyone. She went into prison for a short while and Granny couldn’t look after me, she was too old and at the time Aunty Alice was too young.”

She stopped for a moment as her voice cracked and she began to cry. I put my arm around her and waited for her to calm down. When she did, I asked, “What happened to me? I was alive, I was three wasn’t I?”

She nodded. “You were put into care for a few months, but to a special toddlers place, not with me. It was only while she was in prison though, and then she got you back, under careful supervision. I hardly ever saw her again. I saw her when I spoke in court, but Hilary, my social worker wouldn’t let me speak to her. I suppose your Mum told everyone that I was dead and moved on. She was meant to be able to get me back but when she started having boyfriends and wild fling with all sorts of people again, the court lengthened her sentence to ten years.”

“Mum didn’t go to prison for ten years!”

“No, I mean she couldn’t get me back for ten years. So they started to look for a family for me.”

“Mum could have gotten you back last year.” I said.

“It had been too long. She hadn’t even seen me for years and I was almost eighteen by then. For once she did something right and just left me alone.”

We were quiet for a very long time and when I asked her if she was awake there was no reply. It was too cold to go back to my own bed, so I just fell asleep there, in my sisters arms.