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(aka Bike) Part 905 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad
All Rights Reserved. |
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As Julie went to open the car door the vision of her stepping in front of the ambulance flashed through my mind. I felt myself struggle to carry her broken body, knowing she was dead. I screamed, “NO,” and reached over and grabbed her, pulling her back into the car.
“What are you doing, Mummy?” she squealed in surprise.
“We’re going home, while I still have the will to live.”
“What about my mother.”
“Sod your mother, if she’s too stupid to heed advice, she deserves to die.”
“Mummy, I can’t believe you just said that?”
“Well, I did–you’re not going to kill yourself, just to prove a point, I don’t know if I can save you a second time.”
”Excuse me,” she said, “Who said I was going to kill myself, I was just gonna talk to her–alright?”
“Julie–I just had a the picture of you walking in front of an ambulance–it hit you and I knew you were dead, and this time I couldn’t save you.” I had to stop the car, I was crying too much to drive.
“You think I’d do that like, deliberately?”
I pulled her to me, “I don’t know what I thought, I just knew you were too precious to waste your life like that.”
“Wouldn’t that like, hurt–I mean getting hit by an ambulance?”
“Probably very much.”
“Ouch–look, I like, promise I won’t dive in front of any ambulances–can I like go and see mum, again.” She wiped the tears from my face, “I don’t want to die, Mummy.”
“You were going to do that, though, weren’t you?” I was drenching her in tears and she was sobbing, too.
“I was thinking maybe if I broke an arm or something, and you fixed it, she’d have to believe us. I don’t want to die.”
“You silly, goose–don’t ever think like that again–and don’t ever take the healing for granted–it might not work the next time.”
“I won’t.”
We hugged and cried together for several minutes until both of us looked like pandas. Then we laughed hysterically at the way our makeup had run. I keep some remover pads in my bag, so we got rid of the worst of it.
“Did you mean that–like, what you said?”
“About your mum?”
“No, like, about–me?” she blushed.
“Being precious to me?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Do you think I’d lie to you?”
“Um–not exactly lie, but maybe fib a bit."
"Julie–the reason you are sitting in this car, living in our home and wearing those clothes–is because you are precious to us all–not just me–but the girls, the boys, Simon, Tom and Stella as well.”
“No one has ever said that to me before.” She started to weep copiously.
“We love you, Julie–what more can I say?”
“No one loves me, that’s the problem–they pretend, but I mess it up and then they get angry and beat me.”
“No one will beat you while I’m about,” I hugged her tightly, “I promise you that–and I think I can speak for the others too. Read my lips–c’mon look at me–I love you, Julie Kemp.”
She stared at my lips, then her watery gaze went to my eyes and she burst into tears again. I wasn’t much better, dripping tears and other nasal fluids on to the shoulder of her coat.
“You’re not just conning me, are you?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” I said making an X mark with my finger over my chest.
“Oh, Mummy,” she cried again. I held her for a while and she cried herself out.
“Let’s go home, if we stay here much longer, the salt water from all our crying will rust the chassis.”
She laughed and muttered something like, “Silly, Mummy.” She stared ahead through the windscreen, there were still one or two tears but something inside her had changed. She glanced at me as we were turning into the drive of Tom’s house, and whispered, “I love you, Mummy.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
I stopped the car in its usual place–“What will we do about, Mum and her cancer?”
“I’ve thought of that–we tell your dad, or you tell your dad–he’ll make her do something, I’m sure. He’s had a big lesson about loss–he won’t let her go, even if she’s too stupid to see the facts for herself.”
“Did she say thank you for saving Dad?”
“No–I suspect if she really believed I had, she’d have stopped me. I know she’d have tried to stop me saving you, if you had been hit by that ambulance.”
“Why?”
“Because her need to beat me at something, is greater than her ability to think of other people.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t save her then?”
“Oh yes we will, Julie–she’s still your mother–and I hope one day she’ll see the light, so to speak.”
“What are we going to tell the others?”
“About all this–shall we say nothing, and keep this just between ourselves.”
“Yes, Mummy.” She hugged me again, and added, “I love you, Mummy.”
“I love you, too.” Three little words, I hoped the healing that emanated from them could help her to leave behind past pain and hurts–I had a feeling that they would, in time and given some further evidence to prove I wasn’t lying to her–damaged teens need lots of restorative care and love, possibly more than younger children because they resist it or sabotage it–they have patterns of behaviour to break down and rebuild in positive ways. The process had started–why did it have to be so jarring on my nerves? At this rate, I’ll have a nervous tic by the time I’m thirty.
Somehow we got through the rest of that day and when we went to the hospital again, her dad had been discharged. “What do we do now?” I asked her as we walked back to the car, for which I’d just paid a couple of pounds for parking.
“We could go to their house,” she suggested.
“If you go in there, will they ever let you out again?” I asked, it was a genuine concern.
“Course they will–I’m sixteen, Mummy.”
“You’re also quite a bit smaller than your father. If your mother tells him, he might just imprison you.”
“I used to live there, I know all the ways to get out, besides you’d call the police wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, I suppose I would, but I don’t like the idea of you going in that house again. It just gives me bad vibes–it isn’t a good idea.”
“What else can we do?” she looked very disappointed.
“Here, phone them and ask them to meet us in half an hour–um is there a cafe or anything near them?”
“There’s a pub.”
“Okay, suggest that,”–I glanced at the clock in the car, it might still be open. “Have they got a car?”
She nodded.
“Tell them to come to Morrison’s again and we’ll meet them in the restaurant there.”
Which is what she did. They weren’t too happy about it. I paid for a bunch of flowers for Julie to give her mum, and a bag of fruit for her dad. He didn’t drink very much–‘the old crone wouldn’t let him.’ I was tempted to keep them and give him a case of wine instead, but I mustn’t let my feelings intervene here–we needed to convince the woman she was ill.
We were there for nearly an hour before they arrived–I began to wonder if they’d come at all. They insisted on getting their own drinks and cakes. I sent Julie up with her dad to get a refill for us.
“Have you thought any more about what I told you yesterday?” I asked Mrs Kemp.
“Yes, you’re a fraud. We spoke with the doctor who discharged us–he said Brad never was that bad, they must have confused the notes.”
Hoist by my own petard–I made such a fuss about secrecy, that they obviously didn’t tell the junior staff what had happened. “What about what Dr Nicholls said when we first met?”
“It was very late and he was trying to stop me hitting you.”
I smirked at this, I think she was the one in danger.
“Don’t you smirk at me, you madam, I can still pack a punch.”
“You’re ridiculous–d’you know that? If I thought you were serious, I’d sue the arse off you and have you arrested for threatening behaviour. Mind you, part of me would like you to try; it certainly would shorten your lifespan.”
“You don’t frighten me.”
“Where are they?” I looked at the queue for the food and drinks and they weren’t there.
“Gone to the lavs I expect,” she said unconvincingly.
“He’s grabbed her, hasn’t he? You lying cow–well, carry on, you’ll be dead before Christmas.”
“So will he, if you try to get him back–we’ll kill him first.”
She rose to get away, and I pulled her back down, she struggled and squealed and I suspect I might get banned from that particular supermarket–but I held her there.
“Call the police someone, this woman has just abducted a child.”
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Comments
Oh good grief!
If Mrs Kemp is suposed to be a Christian, where does this “So will he, if you try to get him back—we’ll kill him first†come from?
Susie
I am sorely tempted to say ...
"from a very *Christian* lady" but that would be unfair.
I admit the next bit is a bit of a diatribe but ...
Devout whatevers, IE those who *KNOW THE TRUTH* are sadly some of the worst offenders of human rights and civil liberties.
Too many so called *Christans* ignor the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" and the "golden rule* and they totaly forget Jesus is suposedly about forgiveness and peace. But then some Islamics forget women are suposedly held in high reguard, even perhaps equals in the Koran, so why the near slavery of women?
Or look at the leaders of totally secular nations like the USSR suposedly was. Their official atheism *religion is the opiate of the masses* and the *benevolent state* became *religion* and look at the deaths that caused.
But then man, um human, no humyn kind? -- see I can do PC speach -- is expert at self-delusion and self- contradictory behaviour.
I hope the dad's and her disappearance are innocent but I must fear the worst.
As to the mom, DIE DIE DiE !
See, I can be kind. It's not like I sentenced her to watch FOX NEWS the rest of eternity.
Ang, Bonzi TWO cliffhangers in a row? How cruel, how mean, ... Bravo.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Yheah, they're Christians.
Wow, that was a switchback I had not expected. Good job Angharad!
Why is it we expect the best conduct from religious people but usually get the worst?
The way that the religious establishment has trashed me and many others... I think it has cured me of religion, but not God.
Khadijah
I Wonder How Many Have Been Murdered?
I often wonder how many have been murdered in the name of religion? There were thousands killed by stake burning and other forms of torture all because someone thought they really thought they knew what Jesus was all about. Islam has been guilty of killing people that didn't agree with their ideology either. It is like you said. I have distanced myself from the organized aspect of religion, but I still believe in God and Jesus.
Religion, an interesting Dichotomy
Maybe 10,000 or 100,000 years ago someone stood in the quiet of the night in an open spot, maybe in the Desert and looked up at the sky and wondered. Did that man or woman invent Religion by trying to construct an explanation for an environment that they could not explain? Did someone talk to him?
Who can say where religion started, but more often than not, the best of intentions become over run with the high need for order, power seeking, types who envision themselves as leaders. Maybe their very own insecurity and inability to tolerate what they see as disorder eventually take the belief system from a nurturing accepting group to a militaristic rule bound malignant one.
Some think that Satan gets in and wrecks things. Never the less, I think it is likely that most of the death in the world is owing to religion run amok. I am old and tired and just wish that who ever is allowing this mess to continue would either come and either dump the world into the Sun or fix it, and soon perhaps?
Khadijah
'dumped into the sun'
Khadijah,
I'm a redheaded, fair skinned individual - I'd get sunburn if that happened!
As for religion - most have been invented by crackpots who've been told by voices what to do. These days we accept they're bonkers, in days of yore, they thought they were blessed by whatever deity was in vogue.
Angharad
Angharad
Not all fall into...
That category... Scientology was "invented" by L. Ron Hubbard, as the result of a bet at a Science Fiction convention. (If memory serves, he bet he could make more by inventing a religion than from his fiction, but I don't recall that part.) I'm not saying anything as to the validity of Scientology, just talking about it's origins.
As to what the Mom/Dad appear to have done. I have a friend, that through a series of circumstances got "sucked" into a cult... His wife was distraught... His personality changed a LOT. He was a student at a prestigious school of music, and he no longer had any interest in playing his double bass, etc. His parents flew here from the west coast, and with the help of some "professionals" they first "extracted" him from the cult, and then he went through a few days of deprogramming. After the event, he completely remembered all he'd been through, and how they'd sucked him in... But, was very glad to be out.
I tell this story, because I suspect that Julie's parents believe they need to do a similar type of "intervention" and there ARE people out there that claim to be able to CURE conditions like Julie's. *sighs* I've seen what some of those "experts" can do to families, and it's not pretty (from my point of view).
I do hope that they're able to straighten things out.
BTW, you seem to have forgotten the rule against "cliff hangers". :-)
Annette
For several years, Scientology wasn't a religion, until ...
they realized that as a religion, they would not have to pay income taxes on the money they were raking in.
I'm a regular here, but I do not need yet another round of hate mails from the LRons. I willingly gave up one of my three best friends when we could not agree on the subject.
Old Mother Hubbard, went to the cupboard...
I've heard the "rumour" as well, and so have a lot of other people, but I heard it before Scientology became much of anything, in the Fifties, through Science Fiction fan gossip, which was, in its own special way, a cult of its own back then. If you read the stuff, people looked at you askance. So it's easy to see where he got the idea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_controversies#L._Ro...
And of course, it turns out that he had to start a religion before anyone would read his SF books. Which came first, chicken or egg?
Cheers,
Liobhan
-
Cheers,
Liobhan
Dangling again!
I wonder if there are any bird nests on this cliff face? I've been dangling from it long enough I should know by now....
Great, as usual.
Thanks.
Yay, first comment!
ETA: Drat!
Lady Cameron's new power
I do not believe she has been shown the ability to have a prophetic vision before. Though a more dramatic add-on would be looking just outside her windshield, she sees an ambulance blazing in to AE while she lectures her could have been dead stray.
Kim
noticed that as a new
"power" too. Sad that she didn't see the kidnap coming. Suspect it won't last too long. These two are rank amateurs compared to the russian mafia.
Thank You
Angharad,
for leading us up the garden path like that. Never in my whole life already have I been so happy to have been so mislead.
Briar
Briar
Ouch!
Well, I suppose you haven't earned the title "Cliffhanger Queen" for nothing...
I'm relieved that last night's cliffhanger was only a daydream, but this one looks to be real. So, where have Julie and Brad disappeared to?
Evidently Mrs. Kemp hasn't consulted a doctor about herself yet...and Brad was evidently discharged by someone other than Mr. Nicholls.
Or, more to the point, is it possible for the Cameron household to get anywhere near settled for any length of time? You could probably produce an action adventure feature film out of any typical week's worth of episodes...
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
I don't like my readers to get bored
and my characters do use loos and shower, eat and sleep as well as work - I just like to give them something else to do besides the mundane - as you'll see in the next exciting episode, including more Biblical stuff - don't forget I went to a church school.
Angharad
A confirmed heretic.
Angharad
Confirmation Classes
Did they hold confirmation classes for heretics?
Michelle B
With one bound ...
... she was free! The first part of this episode reminded me of another long running radio serial from my childhood - Dick Barton, Special Agent. Dick always used to escape whatever peril he faced in one evening's episode at the start of the one following.
Then she does it again! And here we are dangling off a precipice studying bird life as a previous commenter wrote. She's a one that Angharad. I think she's making us all pay (and dearly) for that batch of quiet episodes we enjoyed a week or so ago.
Robi
Bike pt 905
Now, the blue light gives Cathy vision of future, too. Too bad it not help her about the rents stupidity.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Well, Mrs. Kemp is certain a
Well, Mrs. Kemp is certain a "good christian woman" isn't she, what with her "we will kill him". I have never been able to understand the mindset of "born again christians" like Mr.& Mrs. Kemp. If you notice I did not capitalize christians because they are not Christians in any sense of the word. They do not follow or live the life that Christ said to live which is "Love your neighbors as you love yourself". Neighbors means EVERYONE, including your own children. I just hope Cathy can find Julie and get her free of her parents before they harm her some more. Hopefully, PC Bond will be the officer or one of them that shows up to the call or even the woman PC and her partner who came to a call previously, as they all know Cathy. Jan
I live in Texas
don't even try to talk about stupid religion stuff. The conservatives here are absolutely insane.
Hoping that "hit by ambulance" thing
isn't coming now as Julie runs from her father. Or maybe left alone with him she'll be able to talk some sense into him and get him to acknowledge her.
And I guess Cathy did see something coming - wouldn't let Julie enter the house again.
Oh man
The twists and turns in this tale have been amazing. It takes a very long series to make it work. Good job.
Hilltopper
So evidently
Saving the life of Mr K does'nt seem to have made any difference to how he is treating Julie....There he is thinking he can do just as he please's with Julie's life....Well little does he know what he has taken on here, Not only is Julie much stronger minded than she was , But he will also have to contend with Cathy......You might even begin to feel sorry for him.....If he was'nt such a bigot!!!
Kirri
Harder than it sounds...
Julie is a handful even when she is being good. Somehow her parents have missed this little fact. They are about to find out the truth.
Unthought of?
I am about 2 years behind, as the current episode is about 1669 or thereabouts, but has anyone considered the possibility thqt Julie's father did not kidnap his daughter, but rather removed her from her mother's incompetence as a mother, her self righteous judgement, and extreme Ignorance and Apathy? ( I don't know and I don't care is what is causing the downfall of humanity at this stage. Perhaps the Mayans have been correct all along, but we won't know for a few months, will we?
A Mother's Love is not to be returned, but passed on.
Don't let someone else talk you out of your dreams. How can we have dreams come true, if we have no dreams?
Katrina Gayle "Stormy" Storm
These people just brought their son home, Constable
Let's see, the number one in her subject in Europe and GB. Stupid enough to be done in by a couple of room temperature IQ's, Time for the Avenging Angel to make her appearance. Break out the compound bow, Cath.
Cefin