Thomas and Elias were acting very quietly lately, instead of getting up to their usual antics after school, they would rapidly walk home at the end of the school day, enter their house, and we wouldn't see them again all evening. The trouble is we didn't see them at school either, there was a rumour that they had been spotted down by the bridge, which was located on the outskirts of the village. The bridge had been left deserted after the fishermen struggled to catch any fish there and had decided to move to a better flowing area, therefore everyone had stopped going there, and it was now overgrown and empty, apart from the homeless people and the animals that passed through regularly.
Jenny had also been missing from school recently and no matter how much myself and Becki had texted and called her, there was no answer and the communication was non-existent - Jenny the girl who was always so popular, happy and craved attention was now a distant memory, and the memories were the only thing Becki and I were able to hold onto.
I had started speaking to Adam again, I had come to the realisation that my motto that I swore by previously 'chick's before dicks' was immature, selfish and pathetic and I actually missed his company more than I let on, I was miserable without our friendship. This took a lot of grafting and making it up to him, he was quite understandably disappointed and upset with me and my actions and I knew I had to regain his friendship and trust. I started messaging him through his mobile number and Facebook account and at first his responses were slow, short and blunt but over time and the more effort and attention I was giving him, he slowly let down his guard and he welcomed me back into his life. I had noticed Becki and Adam had already become good friends, I mean you could understand why, Becki had characteristics that everyone adored and at a guess, I think she had become quite lonely too.
I had been so caught up with my work, school life and Jenny's family that Adam was now fighting his own demons, his dad had to do a short stint in jail after he had ignored the police warnings on several occasions and ended beating up a man who was left hospitalised with broken ribs and required facial reconstructive surgery in an unprovoked attack. The jury had sympathy for him, but they all found him guilty, and the judge had sentenced him to 12 months in prison. He was swiftly taken to Brixton Prison which was a men's prison in the London Borough of Lambeth, South London.
This prison was however located several miles away from Adam and therefore visiting him was not an option, they did however exchange letters on many occasions.
There had been a breakthrough in the murder investigation for Adam's grandmother, a bloke named Tommy Every had been arrested for murder, he had left his fingerprints on the headboard of the bed and after the police had been able to collect and gather more evidence, they finally made the arrest. The beast, however, had to be tasered by the police as he had resisted arrest, and it was rumoured that it took seven police officers to pin him down to the ground. Adam's mum attended all the court hearings on her own and although it was a slow process, at long last Tommy was sentenced to twenty-three years behind bars. Luckily, he was sent to another prison as Adam's dad would have killed him!
Tommy was a known gypsy that caused trouble wherever he went, he would hang around in a group with six-seven other gypsy men and would intimidate anybody that got in his way. He had currently been working on the local fair ground rides, which had been put up in the football field as a yearly event. Himself, alongside other gypsy families, would travel all over the country and take advantage of civilians and their hard-earned money. The police informed Adam's family that he was a 'wanted person', he had attacked a young female one night in the fair field up country and when she refused to have sex with him, he had punched her to the ground and then kicked her violently in the vagina. When the judge had passed his sentence in court, he glared at Adam's mum and shouted whilst smirking "I killed a granny, I killed a granny, the bitch shouldn't have woken up, I killed a granny!" Laughing like a maniac, he was then taken down to his cell by four armed police officers. Adam's mum said the laughing sound was still ringing in her ears. Adam was unable to attend the court, the severity of the case was extreme, and they would be describing the scene and showing pictures, Adam being a young adult with strong emotions would have to sit there and listen, and his mum was not prepared for him to do that, so she had banned him from attending, which Adam was very unhappy about.
Adam, had grown into a handsome lad, and although we were just friends, he was very easy on the eye. He was definitely the type Jenny would have usually leaned towards, his wide broad shoulders showed strength and his arms bulged out of his top showing he had been working out recently to gain the upper body muscles, it's a shame Jenny hadn't seen him for so long as he was certainly oozing out boyfriend material. Adam had also got himself a job after school in the evenings on the boats down the local beach, he was a skivvy to the fisherman, but it paid well and obviously had great physical benefits. His bus pass came in handy as the job didn't involve transport, so he had to get there and back by himself and sometimes when the bus was delayed or didn't show, he would have to run there, as his boss was not the type of man that you wanted to mess around. He certainly took no messing, and Adam was fully aware of that. Adam wasn't just good-looking, he had a great personality to match, he was always so caring and kind, and although he had showed anger and resentment in the past, he was now the most chilled and contented person. He was great to be around, and I loved spending time with him.
Becki was also changing into a beautiful young lady, her ginger hair always shone so beautifully in the sun and although Becki was always on about dying her hair, I think she was secretly proud of it, and she lapped up the attention. As we were getting older our bodies started to mature, our features started to change and with that presented new problems, we had to buy bras, fitted underwear and worse of all spot and acne creams! It was part and partial of growing up, and we had to accept the changes! My mum and Amy were really helpful with this, and one weekend they took me and Becki shopping to buy our toiletries. Amy advised us on what sanitary items she had found the best, which deodorant had lasted the longest and which shampoos had stopped her hair from becoming greasy to early. We had our boobs measured correctly in store and then brought proper bras that fitted our body shapes. We had a great girlie day out, we stopped in the coffee shop for a treat and on the way home we sang our favourite songs at the top of our voices in the car, mum even smiled and joined in, the only thing we were missing was our friend Jenny.
I had seen Jenny a few times recently, and although we never spoke I did on occasion see her look in my direction and half-heartedly give a little smile, before her mum would usher her back into the house. Jenny's appearance had also changed, her once beautiful blonde locks were now a dull greasy mess, it looked thinner than normal, and I noticed that some areas had bold patches where the hair was missing. She was always slim looking but somehow even her figure looked different as if she hadn't eaten food for a while, and she was walking with a limp as if she had really hurt herself. She wore clothes that looked two sizes too big and most of the time she had worn sunglasses over her eyes, even when it was pissing down with rain. I had made notes already in my 'record book' but when I re-laid the information to mum, she also documented in her little black notebook.
Mum was still spending a lot of time at home, and although she said she was off work with sickness I had my suspicions she was still working, but with the case being so close to home she had to be really careful with her approaches and techniques. I had a gut feeling she was watching Jenny's family. She would sit outside with her notebook at different times of the day and night, and I had noticed her colleague Eve was also popping around more frequently for a cuppa!
I hadn't seen Eve for a while, the last time I remember seeing her was when dad had left our family home and mum was struggling to look after two children, work a full time job and provide shelter and food for us. Eve had very kindly stepped in, she was like a grandmother figure I never had, she cooked, cleaned, did our washing and showed us love and affection. She was a short lady, much older than mum, her brown hair sat so neatly on her head, she was plumpish and had such a kind face. I had missed her loving ways over the years and especially when I had been by myself so much, I would have loved to had been embraced in her warm loving arms once more. She spoke so wise and soft, and I would hang on to every word she said. I could remember Eve always liked a good cup of tea, however; some could disagree, as she barely dipped the tea bag into her hot milk, she would tut if you had made it wrong, so I stopped offering and just gestured that she made it herself instead.
Her husband Tony was also very kind, although apparently according to Eve he had now turned into a 'miserable buggar' and she worked more hours to get away from him. Eve was a dedicated and committed social worker, she had helped many families during her decade of years within the job and was very well liked in the community. She had a great way with working with children and their parents and even when she had to sadly take children away from their homes, there were hardly any confrontations. She had been recognised within her job and had several certificates for her hard work and service to the job. She was at the grand age where she would be able to retire, but she loved her job that much that she couldn't stop. I had overheard Eve saying to mum one day, "If I stop the job I love, then what is left for me? What would make me wake up in the morning, how would I help people? Imagine the children that already slip through our net, there could be more, lots more, I can't, I just can't".
Eve always felt like this when it came to her job, she wanted to be able to save every single child who had been neglected, and although she did a very impressive job, unfortunately in their line of work they also witnessed children who couldn't be saved and would unfortunately die. That was the harsh realisation of being a social worker.