Diversity Saved my life

I'm just going to go and see if she's ok

Ashley and the lads all ran backstage after taking their final bows in the last show of the Genesis tour it had been one of their most physically demanding tours and Ashley was proud of every single one of them, after getting changed and packing all the costumes away into the boxes it was time to load up the tour bus with all the bags and finally head home. As Ashley was loading up the bags he noticed a girl hiding behind the bins he was interrupted slightly by Perri waving his left hand in front of his face saying 'earth to Ashley are you going to get on the bus or walk home' Ashley motioned his head over towards the girl and said 'Pel have you noticed that girl over there' Perri nodded and replied 'Yeah me and Mitch noticed her when we bought the costume boxes out to the tour bus Mitch was pretty sure he saw her wearing a Limitless t-shirt'.

Ashley gave his bag to Perri and slowly walked over towards the girl keeping a wide birth so he didn't scare her Perri took a step forward and said 'Where are you going Ash' Ashley turned around and said 'Pel just stay there I'm just going to go and see if she's ok'. The girl looked up as she heard footsteps coming towards her she pulled her knee's closer to her chest her face hidden by her long red hair as Ashley got closer he noticed that the poor girl had no shoes on, her feet were badly cut, she was shivering from the cold rain and she had multiple bruises all over her body.

Very slowly Ashley crouched down in front of the girl and said 'Hello there are you ok, actually that was a stupid question I can see your not ok I'm Ashley Banjo can you tell me your name miss' the girl looked up at Ashley and said in a shivering voice 'My names Holly please don't hurt me', Ashley's heart broke when Holly said that to him he shook his head and said 'I would never hurt you Holly, but someone clearly has can you tell me who it was'. Holly pushed her wet hair back from her face and said 'My boyfriend he's been keeping me locked up in his house, he would beat me every day, I thought I would die there until I managed to escape tonight and I came to the one place where I knew I would feel safe' Ashley looked at Holly sympathetically and said 'And where is it you feel safe' Holly put her head down and whispered 'Anywhere where you and Diversity are. Ashley knew this was a big step to take but he couldn't leave Holly there he held out his hand and said 'Come with me, I'm going to call the police and myself and my friends will keep you safe until they show up'.

Holly stood up but her knee's were badly cut and her legs tired from doing so much running that she just collapsed in a heap Ashley caught her before she hit the concrete he carefully scooped her up in his arms and carried her over towards the tour bus, Perri was stood by the door to the tour bus he looked up from his phone and saw Ashley walking towards him carrying a girl in his arms and despite all the blood and bruises Perri thought she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen in his entire life. Francesca looked up from the magazine she was reading and said 'Sweetheart what's happened who's this' Ashley carefully placed Holly down on the sofa at the back of the tour bus and said 'This is Holly I found her over by the bins she's a victim of abuse she told me that her boyfriend has kept her locked up in his house for years and beating her up nearly every day, I need to call the police can you and mum look after her'.

Ashley grabbed his phone from his pocket and called 999 and told the police everything once Ashley got off the phone he made his way to the back of the tour bus to check on Holly his mum walked over and said 'She's got a slight temperature going on, but she should be fine', Ash nodded and said 'Did she say anything else' Danielle looked down at the floor and said 'Her parents are both dead she says they died trying to protect her, she seems to be getting on well with Francesca she's letting her tend to her wounds'. Ashley sat down next to Sam and said 'I can't let her be put into care mum, I want to foster her' Danielle sat opposite Ash and said 'That's brilliant Ashley it's really good that you want to look after her, but you need to speak to Francesca as-well I'll ask her to come over'. Francesca walked over to Ashley and sat down opposite him and said 'Your mum said you wanted to speak to me is this about Holly' Ashley looked up at Francesca and nodded before saying 'Yeah it is, I don't want her to end up in care she needs to be somewhere safe where she can feel loved. How would you feel about fostering her'.

Francesca took Ashley's hands and said 'I think that's a brilliant thing to do my love', Jordan walked over with two female police officers in tow Ashley stood up and the first police officer said 'You must be Ashley Banjo I'm PC Foster and this is PC Jones, I understand you found a young victim of abuse', Ashley nodded and said 'Yeah I was just loading the bags into the tour bus when I saw her hiding behind the bins over there, so I went over to see if she was ok and she told me everything that had happened to her'. The first police officer said 'Did she say anything else to you' Ashley looked up and said 'She didn't tell me but she told my mum that her parents died trying to protect her from her boyfriend. Myself and my wife want to foster her and give her a safe home can we do that'. 

PC Foster nodded and said 'Yes you can do that you'd just need to go through the proper channels' Francesca smiled and took Ashley's left hand before saying 'Can she come home with myself and Ashley till we get everything settled' PC Foster nodded and said 'That's entirely up to her'. Perri stepped forward and said 'Sorry to interrupt but have you caught the guy who did this to her' PC Jones stepped forward and said 'Our colleagues caught him searching the car park for her he's on his way into custody as we speak it's likely it'll go to court', Francesca walked over to Holly and said 'Holly would you like to come back home with me and Ashley we'll keep you safe sweetheart'. Holly smiled and said 'Yes please that would be very nice'.

The police officers were happy that Holly was safe so they left the tour bus and went back to the station the tour bus driver started the engine and started the long journey back to Essex Ashley sat on the chair near the sofa watching Holly sleep peacefully despite having been through hell, Perri walked over and said 'You look exhausted Ash why don't you go and get some sleep I'll sit with her' Ashley nodded and said 'Thank's Pel, she's got a slight temperature so just keep her cool alright' Perri smiled and sat down beside Holly.

Perri was pulled from his thoughts as he saw Holly slowly stirring from her slumber she looked around and saw a boy with an afro sitting beside her he reached out and placed a cold flannel on her forehead she smiled and said 'Your Perri aren't you. I'm Holly' Perri smiled back at Holly and said 'It's a pleasure to meet you Holly, we're going to keep you safe I promise you that' Holly looked down at her hands and said 'It might take me a while to trust you, I've had some terrible things done to me' Perri reached out and touched Holly's left hand but pulled away cause he didn't want to scare her he looked up at her and said 'Take as long as you want, we'll all support you'. Perri watched as Holly drifted back off to sleep he took the flannel from her forehead and placed the back of his hand gently against her forehead her temperature was getting better which was a good sign.

Holly was woken from her sleep by someone gently shaking her she looked up and saw Ashley kneeling beside her she looked around and realised she wasn't on the tour bus anymore she was in a room which was painted white she smiled and said 'This room is so beautiful' Ashley sat up on the chair and said 'This is the spare room but now it's your room and you can decorate it however you like', Holly sat up and said 'Do you mean I can stay here'. Ashley noticed Francesca stood by the door she walked over to him and said 'Myself and Ashley have talked about this we were going to foster you but we have now decided that we would like to adopt you. Would you like that', Holly was so happy that she sat up and hugged Ashley and Francesca Ashley said 'I take it your happy about this' Holly nodded and said 'I'm so happy I can't begin to describe it'.

For the first time in years Holly felt safe and happy.