Chapter 25
Cooper’s hand tightened around mine, trying to control the shaking but it wasn’t working, I was still scared.
The room that we were sitting in was small, confined and just made me feel uncomfortable. My leg was bouncing up and down of its own accord until Cooper gently rested his warm hand on my jeans.
“Calm down, you’ll be fine,” Cooper whispered and his voice soothed my nerves. My eyes darted around the room at the desk, the dark walls and the metal door to the side of our seats.
Sadie was talking to the man behind the desk and was glancing over at me occasionally. She was fidgeting with a pen on the wooden surface, I knew she was nervous and I had told her that I was okay to go in on my own, but she had insisted on accompanying me for moral support.
“Allison Scythe,” Inspector Marks strolled through the door with a piece of paper and a small smile. He wasn’t going to be the one taking my statement because he knew me, but he would still be in the room.
I glanced over at Cooper and he kissed my cheek, whispering ‘good luck’ in my ear. Reluctantly, I took my hand from his and got up.
Sadie followed in closely behind me and gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. The interview room was extremely small and only had one window. For some, that window was the last that they were going to see of the outside world, which made me wonder if my dad had been in that room when giving his statement.
“You’ll be fine,” Inspector Marks told me in a kind tone just as another policeman walked through the door. He was holding three files and he threw them down onto the table where there was a large recorder and a microphone. I looked into the corner and there was also a security camera. Apparently my statement had to be given via video as well, just in case I didn’t feel confident enough to go into court.
“Good morning, Allison, we’re just going to ask you a few questions,” the man replied and Sadie put her hand on mine. It was warm and reminded me of my mothers. I clenched my eyes closed and took a deep breath.
“Okay,” I replied and Inspector Marks settled into the chair on the other side of the table, next to the other policeman.
“Statement by Allison Scythe, victim of child abuse case, evidence to be given against suspected defendant, David Scythe. Inspection completed by Inspector John Marks and Inspector Robert Tiles.”
I sat back and waited for them to finish before Inspector Tiles cleared his throat and sat forwards against the table.
“Allison, I have it here in front of me that you have told Inspector Marks that the abuse started at the age of ten, is this correct?” he asked me and I nodded.
“Yes, that’s correct,” I answered in a clear voice and Sadie looked down at her lap.
“Approximately a week after your mother’s funeral?” he asked, flipping through the file and looking up at me through his piercing grey eyes.
“Yes, sir,” he nodded before snapping his head up to look at me.
“Would this be a plea for attention? You irritated your father so much that he turned to violence just so that he could grieve peacefully?” he inquired, his voice was solid like stone and every ounce of my blood seemed to cool. What was he on about?
“What? No, definitely not,” I replied. Sadie didn’t look very impressed with his form of questioning and I was certainly more worried than I was when I had first entered the room.
“It is also in your record that you have been ice skating, Miss Scythe. Could this be the cause of your injuries and you are making this up to make your father pay for your mother’s death?” he asked me, his voice was slightly more aggressive and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“No, those injuries came from his abuse, sir,” I tried to keep my voice level but I was panicking inside and Sadie was glaring at the man in front of us.
“We don’t have any witnesses, so as far as this is concerned, you could be making the entire case up,” he finished and I was left gaping at him. Why hadn’t Inspector Marks intervened?
“But, I’m not,” I stammered and he rolled his eyes.
“Are you sure about that, Allison? Even young Amy, your father’s partner, didn’t see anything. The only evidence that you have are the scars on your body, which could be from ice skating,” he retorted, sitting forward on the table so that I could smell the caffeine on his breath.
“I’m positive; it’s not just physical scars. I am scared to go outside, afraid I’ll run into him. He is constantly at the back of my mind; I can’t go anywhere without thinking of him, sir. He’s affected me physiologically as well,” I finished and his eyes softened slightly, but his voice was still hard.
“You’re putting on a pretty convincing act,” he replied and I slumped back in my chair, feeling the warm tears rush to my eyes. Why didn’t he believe me?
“That’s enough, you have done brilliantly, Ally,” Inspector Marks replied and the man next to him sighed through a small smile.
“I am very sorry that I had to put you through that, however, that is what it is going to be like in a cross examination in the court, I was merely preparing you.”
Inspector Tiles finished explaining why he did what he did and I let out a small breath of relief.
“Is it really going to be that hard?” I asked and he nodded with sadness coating his expression.
“I hate to see a girl so young, and already so emotionally drained go through that, but it is how his lawyer will treat you if he pleads not guilty,” I ran my hands down my face.
The interview was over after another ten minutes of court preparation and some other details that they needed on me and my case. Victor had organised a lawyer for me and told me that he was one of the best in the business so I would be okay and have at least one nice interview when at the stand.
“Is everything okay?” Cooper asked when we walked out. The inspector stayed in the room and Sadie came out with both of her hands on my shoulders.
“Its fine,” I walked over to him and threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. Taking a deep breath of his coffee scent, I smoothed my face against his t-shirt.
He rubbed my back a few times and we walked out to the car.
Victor was sat in the front and Lisa was in the back with her science books, she was on study leave so still had to do some revision even whilst we were away.
I had offered to pay my way there, but Victor wouldn’t let me.
Swinging the car door open, Cooper slid in beside me whilst Sadie got into the front. Apparently, Dorset was only a few hours away so I would be able to sit with Cooper until we got there.
“Here,” Cooper handed me one of his earphones and took the other one. I put it in my ear and rested my head on his shoulder; he didn’t seem to mind and just put his arm around my back.
Cooper and Lisa had filled me in on what to expect when we got there. We would be sleeping in tents, we would be meeting Clara up there and there wasn’t any proper indoor plumbing. Clara and her mother used to get along well with Sadie and when they were younger, they used to go out and spend the weekend in Dorset so they kept the tradition going. Whenever they went up there, Clara and her mother would as well. I didn’t know Clara very well, but I guessed that it would be the perfect opportunity to get to know her better, she seemed nice enough.
I was humming along to the likes of The Script, Ed Sheeran and Example when Cooper rested his chin on top of my head. I could feel his steady breathing and feel his warm breath on my scalp, I knew he was asleep, I didn’t blame him. We’d had a fairly long night the night before. Lisa was out at a friend’s studying, whilst Victor and Sadie had gone out for dinner.
Cooper and I had hooked up whilst they were out. We had been in his room and it just happened, but we would definitely be doing it again. I’d fallen asleep shortly after but I knew it was amazing, much better than Daryl.
“Kids, we’re here!” I forced my eyes open and stretched, accidently hitting Cooper in the process.
We filed out of the car with our bags and found ourselves facing a large sign. It was green and told us that we had arrived at ‘Tyrol Camping Site’
The place itself was quite nice. It wasn’t what I expected. There was a long path going through the middle of the trees that led to a large clearing. Each camper was allocated a clearing where they would be allowed to put up their tents and do whatever it was that they needed to do.
The reception was a large cabin with red fabrics coating and wooden desks. There was a sofa in there but whilst Sadie went to sign us in, Cooper, Victor and I unloaded the tents from the car.
They weren’t heavy, but I was struggling enough that Cooper was laughing at me all the way to the clearing.
“Ally!” I heard Clara’s Italian accent and she was rushing towards us with a big smile. Her long red hair was tied back in a high ponytail and there was an older looking woman behind her, which I guessed was her mother.
“Hey, Clara,” she smiled at me and then continued to help her mother with their tent.
“Good evening, Clara,” Cooper and Victor replied politely as they dumped our tents.
Cooper and I would be sharing our own tent, Clara and Lisa would be sharing a tent, Sadie and Amelia, Clara’s mother, would share and Victor would stay in his tent alone.
Cooper and I had decided to set our tent up by a forested area that was close to the outhouse. I didn’t really want to walk very far in the middle of the night if I needed a wee.
“I don’t get it!” I exclaimed, dropping the tent pole and glaring at Cooper. He was sat on the floor, leaning against a tree.
“Then look at the instructions,” he shrugged, taking a sip from his coke and I narrowed my eyes.
“C’mon! Give me a hand, please?” I said in a hushed tone and he shook his head whilst laughing.
“Let me have those three packs of mini eggs that we packed, and then I’ll put the tent up,” I groaned, looking over at my bag and then nodded.
“Fine, deal.”
He grinned and started to get to work on putting the tent up. It didn’t take him very long and when it was up, I realised that it wasn’t as small as it looked.
Cooper slung his arm over my shoulder and gave me a quick kiss before chucking our bags in the tent.
“Cooper!” I heard Sadie and Victor calling so he kissed my cheek before walking over to the other side of the clearing.
There were four tents up around a pit, I supposed that the fire would go there and there was a small wooden outhouse a little while down the path.
It was quiet and peaceful. The only sounds were those of small rabbits or birds, carelessly living their lives and running around the woods. They had no idea how much freedom that they had, or how little they had to worry about. The trees were stood in an army around the camp, letting little light escape into the small campsite and the small patches of grass seemed to cower under our feet and the trees.
Clara strolled over to stand next to me and she smiled warmly in my direction.
“Hey, long time no see,” she winked and I laughed.
“It’s been almost a week!” I grinned at her and she nodded.
“We’ll have to get together when we get back, go shopping or something. It’ll be good! Anyway, I’m on food duty so I’ll see you in a bit,” she walked off and I smiled.
The food wasn’t half bad. Victor had brought some bacon with him then Sadie and Clara had fried it over the fire. We’d sat around and talked for a while, but Lisa soon had to retreat back to her tent for some science revision and Clara went to call Dale. This left Cooper and I with all of the parents, so we soon went back to our tent as well.
“Right, you owe me some mini eggs,” Cooper winked and I laughed.
The tent was quite cosy. We had a small carry lantern in the middle with two sleeping bags and four pillows. I didn’t see why we brought it all; we would be sleeping in close quarters anyway.
“Fancy playing a game?” Cooper asked, leaning back with his arms behind his head. I looked him over and smiled to myself, thinking of the night before and then I met his eyes. “If you’re done drooling that is,” he said and winked as I laughed.
“Get over yourself.” he grinned and I leant back carefully against the side of the tent. The dim light that was coming through the green plastic shone off Cooper’s face and I shrugged.
“What game?” I asked and he smiled, sitting back up.
“Never have I ever?” he offered and I raised an eyebrow. It was beginning to get cold so I grabbed Cooper’s hoodie and pulled it on. He watched with amusement and pulled on his other jumper.
“We don’t have any alcohol,” I replied, loving the feeling of the soft fabric on my skin. It was warm and worn, etching Cooper’s scent into my arms.
“Hmm, sex crazed and an alcohol addict, interesting...” he smirked and I rolled my eyes.
“You didn’t seem too concerned about my sex addiction last night,” I noted and a full on grin spread across his face.
“Not at all, last night was perfect.” His voice took a soft and serious tone before another smile played on his lips.
“Now, fancy a game?” he asked and I nodded.
“Go for it, mini eggs?” I offered and he laughed.
About ten minutes later, we were sat opposite each other with a pool of mini eggs in between us.
“Never have I ever... Kissed a person of the same sex.” I left my white mini egg in my lap and gnawed on my lip. It was then that I noticed Cooper hadn’t put his mini egg in his mouth and he was going a cute shade of pink.
“Oh my god, who did you kiss?” I asked and he smiled sheepishly.
“A game of truth or dare a while back, I kissed Josh for a full sixty seconds,” he admitted and I couldn’t keep the laugh in. He joined in with me after a moment and I wiped the tears from the sides of my eyes.
“Right, never have I ever... kissed someone and regretted it,” he said I put mine in my mouth, feeling the smooth surface run over my tongue.
“Daryl,” I replied and he nodded as if that explained everything.
“Never have I ever lied to avoid a speeding ticket,” I replied.
Cooper put his egg in his mouth and grinned at me.
“Just after I finished my test, I took Lisa out to her friend’s and we were running late so I was a bit over the speed limit. The policeman stopped us and I told her that Lisa was suffering from acute appendicitis and that I needed to get to the hospital,” he paused and then hung his head. “To check the information, they called our parents. That’s why I never go a miles per hour over the speed limit, I was grounded for months!” I grinned and picked up another mini egg. It sounded like the type of thing that Cooper would do.
“Never have I ever been engaged or married,” he said with a shrug and I ate the egg. I was pretty sure that his eyes popped out of his head.
“What?” he exclaimed, choking on his saliva.
“Calm down, it was a school project a while ago. ” I chuckled to myself and took out another sweet.
“Never have I ever played strip poker,” I said. Much to my relief, Cooper didn't eat his egg.
“Never have I ever kissed a stranger,” Cooper said calmly and raised a quizzical eyebrow when I put my mini egg in my mouth.
“I thought it was Daryl, I was at a party and it was so embarrassing!” I blushed at the memory and pushed my fringe back. Cooper laughed softly and grabbed another mini egg.
“Never have I ever put someone’s hand in warm water to make them pee,” I said proudly and left my egg on my thigh. Cooper didn’t and I laughed.
“Who was the poor soul?” I asked and he grinned.
“Dale, he went to sleep early and Josh and I thought we’d have a little fun,” he shrugged carelessly and I grinned. It was probably Josh’s idea.
“Never have I ever showered with anyone,” Cooper admitted and I left my egg in the bag, smiling when my boyfriend grinned.
Cooper and I didn’t stay up much longer we were both looking forward to the day after, where Victor was going to show us how to canoe. So I moved over and nestled against Cooper’s chest feeling his hand caress my back and my hair. I leant on one of my elbows and kissed him gently, running my hand through his soft, sandy coloured hair. He smiled against my mouth before pulling me against him and gently kissing my neck. We both soon fell asleep and I drifted off to the soft sounds of Cooper's breathing and the rabbits outside around the tent.
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