Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Brit's point of view

"No way am I going out in this thing, it looks worse now than it did earlier," I shout to Kim from behind the tree which I'm technically hiding behind. Am I allowed to run? I think Kim would catch me, or Glynnie would shoot me, to be honest I think I may take that chance, now don't get me wrong I have nothing against swimsuits and I know I agreed to it back in my room, but it feels like it may have shrunk thirty sizes in the space of the car journey. "Come on, we're missing all the fun, you look fine stop worrying," Kim shouts grabbing my arm and tugging me from behind the tree, d****t there are a lot of people here, why did I agree to this again? Better yet why did Liam and Glynnie agree to this, surely it is in some way a threat to my security being this open, and with the size of this 'swimsuit' I have no wear to put my gun so it has to go in my bag, so if anything happens either swimsuit related or not I am blaming them. Or my ghost will be blaming them.

"Last one to the sea is a rotten egg," John screams starting to run, oh he is not going to win this one. It is on like donkey kong, I sprint after him, 'accidentally' bumping into him on my way past, oops. I crash into the water first "I won, I won," I sing doing a happy dance in the water, gosh they are seriously slow. "Guys come on," I yell splashing water at Mase as he finally wades into the water.

"Brit what's that on your stomach?" Kim asks walking closer staring at my stomach, looking kind of shocked. Wait have I got seaweed on me? Yuck, it's so slimy and slippery and green. I mean I have no problem with the colour green specifically but with seaweed it just adds to the yuckiness of it all. "What happened to your stomach?" Kim asks again stepping closer, finally looking down at my stomach I see no seaweed, huh, all that's there are the bruises but most of them have faded now, and the cut, but even that doesn't look as bad as it did, Max did it the day before they found me, they were so worried about it when it wasn't that bad, it wasn't the worst. "How did you get that cut?" Jacob asks walking up behind Kim, it's only a couple of inches long, and it wasn't deep enough for stitches, believe me that was one of the first things they checked, along with asking a million questions and other body examinations by a tonne of different doctors, all staring at me with the same pitying looks.

"Brit... why is your stomach like that?" Kim presses bending to get a better look I suppose. It's only a cut, it's not like my guts are spilling out onto the ground or anything like that. "Only a little scrape its fine, I fell over, it's all okay. Look its started healing," I lie smiling at them, if I tell them the truth they will just over react, that's all anyone does when they find out they treat me like I'm a china doll, and I'm not, I survived. "It looks sore, it doesn't look like its healing, are you sure that it feels okay?" Kim says looking suspicious. Am I really that bad a liar? I thought I was actually pretty good. "You have scars all over you are they also from a 'scrape'?" Kim says looking sad, I don't know why she's sad, it's my body, and my body has felt worse, much worse, Max never believed in kind punishments, I don't think those kind of punishments exist.

"Maybe we should just leave it," John says snapping me out of my thoughts, maybe that was for the best, nothing good ever comes from thinking of the punishments. Distraction time. Turning around I catch sight of Mase, "Water fight" I scream at him slashing water all over him. If looks could kill I think I would be about a million feet under. I dive down under the water before he can react, I've missed this, I don't think I ever went swimming with Max, just in case someone ever saw us, well me specifically. People could have recognised me and none of his 'friends' wanted to risk me being found on their property, or for Max me being found period. He was so paranoid he made me wear a disguise to take my GCSE's, he got his team to make me a fake identity, so for all of my exams I was Mary Santos, the blonde haired, blue eyed girl from Hertfordshire, with an English father and a Spanish mother. He made me practice my cover story for days before he let me leave the house, I was escorted there by one of his men, with a team a few minutes away. He had people in the exams as well, usually his 'friends', and let's just say none of his 'friends' were legal, actually I don't think any of his 'friends' had a truly legal job.

I swim back towards the shore a little before the babysitters realise I'm not within however many feet of them. It's not like I'm going to run away or anything, believe me, I've thought about it, especially when it took me begging them this morning to even let me come here because apparently, it's a 'safety risk'. Out of the corner of my eye I catch Blondie eating one of my biscuits, oh hell to the fudge no, "Blondie," I scream speed swimming towards him. You would think the idiot would have learned by now not to annoy me. As he starts to run I speed up, he is so not getting away that easily.

"Ahhhhh my castle," a little girl screams as Blondie runs over her sand castle. Sending her a smile I jump over the remains of the castle, sandcastles are like biscuits, they are very important, especially when you are younger, hearing footsteps beside me I quickly glance to my left to see the little girl sprinting next to me. Haha power to the girls. I speed up a fraction before diving onto Blondie, knocking him to the floor. Clambering up I cross my arms over my chest, "You ate my biscuits again," I shout. "Yeah and you ruined my sandcastle," the little girl yells copying my movements, as Blondie staggers to his feet.

"Sorry little girl, but she scares me more than you," Blondie says patting the girl's head. Launching herself at him, she grabs onto his leg. "Quick dig a hole," She shouts holding onto his leg, I quickly kneel down and start digging, I've got to admit I'm liking her thought process, it kind of reminds me of someone. "Done," I shout standing up to grab Blondies arm, these are the amazing things that can be achieved through good hard teamwork and true commitment. Pushing him into the hole, the little girl starts shoving the sand back on top of him, sealing him into the ground.

Tay...... she reminds me of Tay. I've been so caught up in myself that I forgot to the check the homes. Stupid, stupid person. I smile down at the girl and run back to the others trying not to cry. You can't cry in front of them Di, they won't understand, they barely understand the simple parts of it, they will never understand this, you need to be strong, you need to make them believe you are fine, Max can't get you if you're fine, he can't hurt you.

I've been so selfish worrying about myself and my problems, when she could be in real danger. I grab my towel and spread it out on the sand before flopping down on it. Grabbing my phone that Mase and John gave me out of my bag, I search the names of the homes, playing with my anklet.

Flashback

"Happy Birthday Mummy," Tay sings smiling up at me, looking adorable with her front teeth missing. When she lost its she was so proud, she couldn't stop talking about how the tooth fairy was going to visit and how she had written a letter for the fairy, it was so cute. "Presents. Presents. Presents," Tay screams shoving a small box at me. Aww she didn't have to get me anything, just seeing her smile was enough of a gift. Opening up the box I pull out a silver chain. "Thank you TayTay," I say giving her a huge hug. She pulls the chain out of my hand and wraps it around my ankle doing the clasp up all by herself. "It's an ankle bracelet, look it says T and B on it. Kathy thought of it, I came up with the writing though. Do you like it? Do you? Look I have a necklace with the same on so we're always together," She practically screams hugging me around the neck almost choking me. Not that I really mind, as long as she's happy that's all that matters.

End of Flashback