[Sticks]

Episode II – Thoughts of Darkness

It is certainly true that sometimes things do not work out as you expect them to. Sometimes it is for the better, but sometimes not. There is that famous quote, “All the plans of mice and man are oft to gang a glee”. There is always that one factor we over look, because we have been lazy or because it is a chance in a billion occurrence, which can wipe our plans out, just like a minor defect crippled the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

This seems to have been the fate to have befallen the former Spirit of Kindness, a minor spirit of virtue, raised as a human child by the name of Rebecca Sands, who of her own free will gave up minor spirit-hood to become purely human. Because her parents are dead, one a major spirit of virtue, her father and one human, her mother and the only other adult in her life, her mother’s “boyfriend” who has turned out to be a child molester come pornographer, she was put on a plane to the US to live with her uncle and his family, however the plane they were on was diverted from New Hampshire to New York, due to weather, the corporal accompanying her has been arrested on a Florida extradition warrant for a cheque fraud that occurred there while she was in the UK.

Rebecca, meanwhile was also detained by the NYPD until grabbed by the New York Administration of Children’s Services , where she has been strip searched, questioned, given a “uniform” and place in a prison style dormitory

It certainly looks like Rebecca’s plan for a new and better life have not gone the way they should, and have run into the sand

It had been about one and a half hours since Rebecca had been processed, and she was still crying, although not as much as she had had first, but still she was whimpering.

“Hey kid, quit that racket, or I’ll give you something to really to cry about” A fifteen year old girl shouted at Rebecca. The girl looked tall and mean, and had tattoos on both her arms. Her hair was almost shorn off, Marines style.

Rebecca looked up at her in fright, “Sorry” she uttered in her weak and teary voice
“Sorry what” insisted the girl
“Sorry Miss” Rebecca ventured
“Miss?” the girl said incredulously, then grabbed Rebecca’s hair, and pulled her head back, then put her face next to Rebecca and said, “it’s Sorry Mam”
“Sorry Mam” Rebecca uttered, afraid of this young teenage bully who as a lot bigger than her.
“Now you are going to quit that racket, get off that bed, and drop and give me twenty” the teenager told Rebecca, then shouted at her “Do you hear me you little maggot”
“Yes Mam” Rebecca replied
The teenager released Rebecca’s hair and then meekly got off of the bed and started doing the press-ups that had been demanded of her between the beds. After the first one however, the teenager put her foot on Rebecca’s shoulders and violently pushed her down and held her.
“Why aren’t you giving me my twenty”, she sneered, then added, “no, it’s thirty now”
Rebecca tried to push up, but the teenager was too strong for her.
“You are pathetic” the teenager shouted at her, suddenly she took her foot off of Rebecca’s shoulders, but then with her bare foot, kicked Rebecca hard in the side of the head and then pushed her head against the floor, causing Rebecca’s nose to bleed.

Rebecca was stunned by the attack and rolled over onto her side against the bed, the teenager then bent down, put her right hand against Rebecca’s throat, “You are going to do what ever I tell you, and don’t even think of telling the staff, not that they care anyway” The teenager told her

“JENNA THAT’S ENOUGH” came another teenager’s voice

The first teenager stood up and turned round to face someone Rebecca could not see
“Get Lost Mazy” the first teenager yelled, “I saw her first”
“I said leave her alone Jenna” the teenager identified as Mazy repeated.
“I told you she is mine” Jenna the first teenager replied, then lunged out of sight, Rebecca could only presume at this Mazy who had tried to intervene on her behalf.

Suddenly there was a thump as Jenna hit the floor. Rebecca was too afraid to get up and was in pain from the attack, and was trying to wipe the blood from her face with her hands. It was already staining the T-Shirt, and she was frightened now that she would get into more trouble with the authorities for messing up the T-shirt.

She kept thinking that she should have given Jim what he wanted, and this was punishment for running away from him. Maybe it was punishment for using her powers without knowing it to get people to give her food or money for food, when she was living on the streets of London, unaware that she was a minor Spirit of virtues, the Spirit of Kindness

Rebecca could hear the clump of feet as staff members finally came in to intervene, but she just stayed there lying on the floor, wanting to cry but now too frightened, as it was obviously not acceptable to the other residents.

“OK, Jenna, that’s it” came an adult male voice, “And you too Mazy” he added
“Jenna attacked me, and the new girl, I was just defending myself” came Mazy’s voice
“That cry-baby was annoying me, and Mazy should have minded her own business” Jenna spat back

“I don’t care who started it you’re both going into solitary” the male adult told them. Rebecca just wondered what punishment was going to be dished out to her, as they might consider that she started it by crying about never getting to see her uncle.

“John” came a female adult voice, “I just caught what happened, and Mazy is telling the truth, Jenna took a swing at Mazy and Mazy just used some martial art or something to put her on the floor”
“It was Judo Mam” Mazy’s voice interjected
“Ok Harriet, but you know the rule about fighting” John replied, “both need to be locked up in solitary”
“But on this occasion John, I think we can make an exception for Mazy, she was not the aggressor, Jenna was, as usual” Rebecca heard Harriet say, then Harriet, obviously speaking to Mazy, “You have got to teach me that move honey”
“Only too glad to Mam” Mazy replied.

Rebecca then saw from her position on the floor, the male staff member frog marching, Jenna away to who knows where. Harriet then came round to where Rebecca was lying on the floor, in pain and too frightened to get up. Harriet was a tall black woman, and obviously the most senior staff member of the two who had intervened.

“I’m sorry mam” Rebecca sobbed, “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble”

Harriet squatted down and took Rebecca by the hands, “Honey, you weren’t causing any trouble it was Jenna, she is always trying to do this” Harriet reassured Rebecca, then added, “she thinks it makes her look tough, but it actually makes her look more like a bully and a coward”. Harriet, then holding both hands, helped Rebecca get up, and then sat her on the bed. Harriet then got Rebecca to pinch the soft part of her nose and lean forward and breath through her mouth, to deal with the nose bleead

Mazy came and sat down beside Rebecca and put her right arm around her, “No one’s going to hurt you with me around kid”
Rebecca just looked down at the floor, pinching her nose as instructed, “Thank you Mam” she uttered weakly
“Hey kid, you don’t have to call me mam like that Jenna insisted, I’m just Mazy, what’s your name”
“Rebecca”, Rebecca replied, “Rebecca Sands”

Harriet then spoke to Mazy, “Can I leave her with you, while I get the doc to come and look at that place on the side of her face, and get her a clean t-shirt.”
“Yes Mam” Mazy responded, “You can count on me”
“How old are you Rebecca?” Mazy asked Rebecca
“I turned Eleven last month, Mam, I mean Mazy” Rebecca responded, still instinctively using the formal address with anyone older than herself

Mazy looked up at Harriet, “Mam, isn’t she a bit too young for this section”
“Sorry Mazy, we don’t have any places in the other section, now I have to go and get the doc” and with that Harriet left

“Rebecca?” Mazy asked, “Are you from England?”
Rebecca nodded, still trying to hold her nose to stop the bleeding
“Are you related to those two other girls from England who came here a while back
“No” Rebecca replied, “I don’t have anyone back in England now”
“Are your parents over here then?” Mazy enquired
Rebecca closed her eyes and tearfully replied, “They’re dead”, then added, “my mum died about three weeks ago,
Mazy hugged Rebecca with her right arm, “That’s a tough break Rebecca” then added, “you must be the only genuine orphan in this so called orphanage
“Do you have your parents still?” Rebecca asked
“Yeah kind of, they’re going through a divorce, I’m here because I ran away from my mom, because she drinks and I want to be with my stepdad, but she went and told the ACS that he was beating me and molesting me which is BS” explained Mazy, “Jenna is here because she has been in trouble with the courts and her mom says she is out of control”

Then Rebecca said quietly, “I ran away too” then added, “From my mum’s boyfriend”
“Why?”
“He wanted me to do things” Rebecca started
Mazy, being more worldly wise could guess where this was going, especially from the way Rebecca had said it, “Say no more” Mazy interrupted, so where did this happen” she then asked, expecting Rebecca to mention a part of New York City.
“Back in England Mazy” Rebecca replied, “In my home town of Slough”
“Then why are you in New York?”
“I have an uncle in New Hampshire, so they put me on a plane to go there, but we got diverted and the lady taking me there was arrested for something called cheque fraud, and the police think I was doing that as well so I won’t get to see him now” at this Rebecca broke down in tears.

At this point the doctor who had performed the medical examination arrived with Harriet and had a cursory look at her. He told her that she would most likely have some serious bruising, but he could not see anything more serious. Mazy asked why they did not perform an x-ray but Harriet just asked her who she thought would pay for that. Again other concerns it seemed outweighed Rebecca’s welfare.

Rebecca was sent to the bathroom to clean her face up from the blood, with Mazy offering to go with her to make sure she was alright, but Harriet insisted that it had to be a member of staff, and so she went instead. She also insisted that Rebecca change into the clean T-shirt there as well. Well at least it was not in the dormitory with everyone watching, as she had feared

When they returned, Mazy tried to speak to Harriet on Rebecca’s behalf about her uncle, but she was told that was not her department and there was nothing she could do about it. Mazy told Rebecca that at least she had tried.

For the rest of the evening they chatted about the differences between England and the US. The other residents in the dormitory seemed more interested in other things, so it was just Mazy and Rebecca talking to each other

Rebecca had missed the last meal of the day, with the time that she had come in, but at least she had eaten on the plane although that had been some time ago. It was approaching lights out, so they all settled down for the night, and Rebecca silently cried her self to sleep, thinking of her mother who had died, and how she never got to see her in hospital where she caught the infection that would kill her, how she had made people be kind to her because of some power she had, which she had given up because that was the right thing to do, and of her Uncle Matthew, Aunty Susan and cousin Frank, whom she thought would never see, because she had been accused along side Corporal Tania McCaskey of a crime, it looked like neither had committed.

Slowly though, Rebecca drifted off to sleep.

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Rebecca suddenly seemed to be in a large dark space. She was frightened.

Then coming towards her, lit by some unknown light source, was the man she hated and feared most, her mother’s boyfriend, Jim.

“Thought you could run away did you” Jim said as he approached
Rebecca tried to run, but somehow found she could not, “I thought they said you had gone to prison” she told him

Jim just came up to her, grabbed one shoulder with one hand and slapped her across the face with his other hand, “I got out, they can’t hold me, you naughty girl” then he gave one of his characteristically evil grins, “You are going to have to be punished”
“Sorry Jim” Rebecca tried to bleat, but Jim was having none of it
“I am going to have to give you a good spanking, film it and send it to my friends”
Rebecca was still paralysed with fear as she thought she felt his free hand fall on her other shoulder, so he could forcibly turn her around.

Suddenly out of nowhere came a blast of lightning which hit Jim in the side and knocked him away from Rebecca. Rebecca turned her head to where the lightning had come from, and saw what looked like a very small man, possibly a dwarf.

[img=200x300]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Leprechaun_ill_artlibre_jnl.png[/img]

“Hello former Spirit of Kindness” the little man told her in an Irish accent, “Or is it just Rebecca Sands now, no matter”
“Hello?” Rebecca could just about utter
“Greetings My fair Rebecca, My name is Hogan O’Brian, I was also accompanying you to your Uncle, but I kind of kept out of sight”

Then Rebecca noticed Jim out of the corner of her eye getting up, and then she noticed he had got his hunting knife. “I thought you were a coward Rebecca, always running to someone instead of doing as you are told” Jim shouted.

Suddenly Jim threw the knife at Rebecca.

The knife stopped in mid air a foot from Rebecca’s chest and vanished.
“Just Go” Hogan yelled at Jim, and suddenly another lightning bolt hit him and Jim was no more.

Rebecca turned and looked Hogan, “Please sir, where am I” she whimpered
Hogan looked up at her, “Rebecca my dear, you are still in bed, in that orphanage in New York”
Rebecca looked puzzled, she was clearly on some dark plane well away from that place.

“Rebecca, my dear, you are dreaming” explained Hogan, “Like most of us Leprechauns, I mearly have the ability to enter into the dreams of mortals like yourself now to communicate with them”
“Is that what my Mother’s boyfriend just did” Rebecca nervously asked.
“No Rebecca, that worthless piece of unmentionable stuff is rotting in a prison cell and he has no powers like mine, what you saw was a manifestation of your guilt”
“What?”
“Yes Rebecca, you thought that what happened in New York was some how your fault for running away from that evil man. You also feel guilty for how your former powers made those people be kind to you, and this guilt has manifested into this man. You are starting to think you must be punished for some imaginary offence”
“I never meant to hurt them” Rebecca told Hogan, her voice cracking with emotion.

Hogan went up to Rebecca, “even if I am only in your dreams, I can still give you a hug”, and then Hogan gave Rebecca a quick comforting hug then told her, “Rebecca, your soul really is the epitome of kindness, all you could do was bring out what was there in those people. Rebecca you helped them to do what had to be done, so stop beating yourself up about it”

“But I ran away” Rebecca objected, “good girls don’t run away”
“And if you had stayed, and allowed that pathetic excuse for a man to violate you, you most likely would have ended up dead like your mother. No Rebecca, you definitely should not allow that man to make you feel guilty for escaping from him. It was just a pity that there was no one to help you once you got off the train at Paddington. Even your Uncle Matthew and his family believe you were right to run away”

“But I won’t get to see them now” Rebecca said wistfully, “they think I am guilty of something called cheque fraud along with Miss McCaskey”

Hogan shook his head, “I know, I was there, but I was invisible, Corporal Tania McCaskey is innocent, but those NYPD dolts have put her in jail and have called up their colleagues in Miami to come and collect her, probably today or tomorrow. I have spoken to her CEO and he is going to try and make some kind of representation, but I’m not holding my breath”

“But what about me they took me to the police station too and then they took me to this place” Rebecca
“And who do you think notified the ACS? It was the only way I could get you out of that police station. The NYPD moved too fast for the air Marshalls on the plane to get you.”
“But they said they won’t send me to my uncle”
“Rebecca, that’s not what they said, just that it was not their job in the centre to go gallivanting around the country looking for relatives of those children in their care. But Rebecca, you are relatively safe, just keep with Mazy and avoid Jenna seeing as she hit you, although I think they are moving her to another holding facility. The other children there won’t be a problem, especially Mazy”
“Why especially Mazy?” Rebecca asked
“Because she used to be the minor Spirit of Caring, we helped her out last year”
“Can you do anything for her?” Rebecca asked
“Working on it, but you humans are so fickle, you are worse than us Leprechauns”
“I suppose so Mr Hogan, I just wish I could have seen my Uncle”
“And so you shall. He was contacted just before you went to bed. He rang the ACS centre where you are and was told he had to come and collect you in person and bring loads of ID” Hogan replied, then with a twinkle in his eye added “he even offered to give a DNA sample to prove you were his niece”
“When is he coming?” Rebecca asked

“Well my Rebecca, there is a delay, first the weather is still bad so nothing can fly from their local airport, and two your Uncle Matthew is a very busy high level lawyer and needs to get his affairs in order so he can come down, like getting someone to cover for him, so we are talking of about from three days to a week, before he can even think about coming down here, well so I would have thought, know how these lawyers work and all that.”
“A week?” Rebecca questioned It seemed to Rebecca at that point, even among her family, she came second to everything else
“But Rebecca my dear, you will be perfectly safe here” Hogan insisted, “a lot better that sleeping rough with a hungry and homeless sign”

Suddenly, Hogan let loose another lightning into the distance at another manifestation of Jim. “Self pity, Rebecca is just as bad as irrational guilt, don’t give into it” Hogan told her, then added, “I think it’s time to get up now, if you want to be first into the showers”

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Rebecca woke up

This Hogan in her dream was right, she had still been in her bed at the New York group home. Some of the other children were still sleeping. Rebecca looked up and noticed she was being looked at by staff, so she grabbed her wash pack and headed for the shower.

A member of staff stopped her and told her it was half an hour too early, but another member of staff on duty asked what harm it would do, so Rebecca was allowed to go and shower.

After the shower, Rebecca made her way back to her bed and sat down and began wondering, was her strange dream about Jim, a leprechaun, her guilt complex and her uncle real or just a dream.

“Morning Rebecca” came a familiar but welcome voice, it was Mazy with her wash pack heading for the shower. But no, Mazy came and sat next to Rebecca on the bed.
Rebecca was suddenly worried, Mazy seemed slightly different from the night before, “Morning Mazy” Rebecca meekly said.
There was a sudden awkward silence between the two of them, and Rebecca just looked at the floor, again she felt small, and not just the physical smallness.

Rebecca felt Mazy’s right arm gently put around her shoulder, and Mazy pulled her so their heads were touching.
“So you were the Spirit of Kindness then” Mazy whispered
Rebecca opened her mouth, but was unable to speak, so this dream of a leprechaun by the name of Hogan O’Brian was real.
“Hogan spoke to me last night too” Mazy went on, “My biological father was the Spirit of Compassion, my mom had been depressed because she had been made to have an abortion by a former boyfriend when she didn’t want to, so he kind of went with my mom and she had me”
“Oh” was all that Rebecca could muster.
Mazy could see that Rebecca was stunned at this revelation and so asked, “so who was your real dad”
Rebecca turned to look at Mazy, who was smiling at her, “The Spirit of Friendship Mazy”, and then Rebecca looked at the floor again, “But he’s dead, he was murdered”
“According to Hogan, my father was killed fighting in some civil war in some place called the Mystical Realms” Mazy sighed
“Sorry” Rebecca replied.
Mazy then realised they needed to lighten the mood so took hold of Rebecca’s left hand with her left hand and told her “We ex minor spirits of virtue need to stick together, don’t we”
Rebecca nodded.

Mazy then went off to have her shower, while Rebecca sat on the bed, looking at the floor and remembering her mother and wishing her uncle would arrive as soon as possible. Hogan had a point, if the weather was as bad as they said, he would not be able to fly down, plus he had a family, a job and other responsibilities that came well before her. Rebecca was only a niece and so would just have to take a number and get in line.

Mazy returned from her shower and instructed Rebecca on how they wanted their beds made, as they would be inspected before breakfast. Rebecca then helped Mazy do her bed, and then the two of them went to stand by their beds as the other children, woke up, showered and made their bed.

The man that came to inspect their beds walked by and looked intently at Rebecca’s bed before moving on. He passed the beds right up to Mazy with no problem, then passed Mazy’s bed he paused at a thirteen year old’s bed, then leaned over and dragged the blankets off and the sheets, and then shouted at the teenager that she would be missing breakfast while she remade her bed properly, then he told everyone else to strip their beds so this thirteen year old could have plenty of practice.

The children except the thirteen year old were marched out of the dormitory in silence to a dining hall, where they were instructed to remain in silence. Rebecca was absolutely terrified of this man, and it seemed everyone else was too, and the sound of a pin dropping would probably be the most deafening sound that would have been in that room.

The breakfast was some kind of oatmeal concoction which did not taste good, but that was all there was, and the only thing to drink was water, which had a metallic taste as well.

Rebecca kept thinking of that girl who had been punished for not making her bed properly, and was petrified she might be the next victim. She so wanted to ask what it was she had done wrong, but nobody dared speak, the group home or orphanage she was in was more like some kind of detention centre.

They finished what passed off as breakfast and were ushered into some kind of enclosed outside courtyard, where they were expected to “exercise” for a time, again in strict silence. They were also joined by the thirteen year old who had been made to miss breakfast while she re-made all the beds in the dormitory. This exercise consisted of marching in stone cold silence, in the cold air.

Rebecca’s bare feet stung on the cold concrete as she trudged around the courtyard, shivering in the cold. The same staff member who had inspected the beds was there, with some kind of baton in his hand and a thick coat on. All the girls were allowed to wear were the white t-shirts and elasticated jeans and nothing else, not even underwear.

Rebecca noticed a girl in front, a fourteen year old this time bring her arms up to try and keep warm. Immediately the man pointed the baton at her and ordered her to do twenty press-ups for insubordination, while they all had to stand to attention and watch, again in strict silence. The girl was then informed that she would not be having any further meals that day as part of her punishment. She was then frog marched off to some detention cell elsewhere. So this was how they achieved behaviour control Rebecca realised, through starvation and intimidation, and like Jim had told her, they would not be believed, even if this were to somehow turnout not to be ACS policy.

Rebecca was desperately trying not to let her teeth chatter, lest she be punished for that, when they were finally allowed inside, and back to the dormitory. Rebecca found a radiator, but it was cold, so she just sat on the floor next to it, hugging herself trying to warm up.

Mazy came and sat down beside her, “I don’t think that girl has ever had breakfast here” she remarked, “that guy is always finding something wrong” she added
“Why” Rebecca asked
“Because she’s a Latino, I suspect”

Rebecca then remembered that the girl in the courtyard was of mixed race, and it was horrendous that someone like that had managed to get into a position of authority, but that was how it was, and as Mazy pointed out, most of the children who came here had some brush with the law for some reason, and so some might feel that they deserved to be so treated.

About an hour later, a woman came and called for Rebecca to come with her. It was too early for her Uncle to have made it down so she wondered what it could be and was very nervous given what had happened to her. Rebecca was shown into an interview room with another lady sitting at a table and a male police officer on a chair by the window.

It was the woman at the table who spoke first, “Rebecca, do you know why you are here?”
“No Mam” Rebecca nervously answered
“Well yesterday you were arrested at the airport because you were with someone who is being extradited to Miami on charges of cheque fraud”
Rebecca maintained a stunned silence; it looked like she was still being accused of a crime she had never heard of before in a place she had never been to before.
“Well yesterday, the police officer’s were interviewing you, when the New York Administration of Child Services had not been informed and so the interview was stopped because it was not in accordance with NYPD policy” the woman continued.

Again Rebecca could only sit in stunned silence.

“Well the police have applied to the court to have you turned back over to them to be placed into detention pending extradition to Miami on suspicion of conspiracy to commit cheque fraud”
“But miss” Rebecca objected, “I have never been to”

The woman interrupted, “Zip it. I don’t want to hear it”

“Can I take her now?” the police officer asked, taking out a pair of handcuffs
“Yes officer, she is all yours”

The police officer came over and pulled Rebecca to her feet, and handcuffed her hands behind her back, and then frogmarched her to the door and into the street, where she was placed into the back of a squad car for the second time in twenty four hours. The police officer’s partner was waiting in the driver’s seat.

The leprechaun was wrong; she was never going to see her uncle, not now. She even thought she might get the electric chair; she should have given in to Jim. If she had complied with his wishes, this would not be happening to her.

The squad car drove through the New York streets until they were back at the police station where she had been taken to the previous day. The police officer who had collected her from the group home opened the car door and pulled Rebecca out, as far as he was concerned, she was nothing but low life scum and lower than the kind of stuff that sticks to the underside of a shoe. She was obviously guilty, why would they be arresting her if she weren’t

Again she was taken to the main booking hall, and then to holding cells with various criminals where her handcuffs were removed. She was then ordered to immediately remove the ACS clothing, as it had to go back, and handed an orange jump suit to put on instead. In stunned shock, Rebecca turned her back to the custody officer and sobbed as she slowly complied, to a chorus of wolf whistles from some prisoners and cries of shame of others. She had never been so humiliated, apart from the previous day when she was frogmarched in cuffs through the airport terminal. The custody sergeant then yelled at the prisoners to be quiet. The orange jump suit was too big, and she was cold, she handed the ACS clothes to the officer, who then took them away.

Rebecca sat down on the prison bed and put her head in her hands and wept.

“What are you in for?” asked one prisoner
“I haven’t done anything” Rebecca protested.
“Yeah, that’s what they all say, come on what did you really do?”

Rebecca looked up at the window, and the bars, then in a dark moment, wondered if she could make the bed sheet into a rope and get it to reach the bars with the other end around her neck. Then everything could be over. Maybe she could find a sharp point on the bed, something that would open a vein or an artery.

No one believed she was innocent

Would anyone really care if she was no longer around?

She even supposed that not even her uncle and his family would want her now

Wouldn’t the world be better off without her?

Tears streamed from Rebecca’s eyes as she contemplated these dark thoughts, if only she had given in to what sordid desires Jim had wanted her to perform; now it seemed she would be better off dead.

Rebecca looked down at the bed sheet, stood up, turned around and slowly lifted it off of the bed and then sat down on the mattress and began to start rolling it up, tears streaming down her face as she did so. Nobody seemed to notice what she was doing, or they did not care.

She had just about fashioned a rope from the bed sheet when a red headed female detective coming back from speaking to another prisoner noticed what she was doing and somehow twigged what Rebecca’s intentions might be.
“You don’t want to do that honey” she gently told her through the bars, “it’s not the answer”.
Rebecca looked up at her and then down at the improvised rope and then burst into uncontrollable sobbing. She didn’t really want to kill herself, but everything just looked so hopeless as nobody would believe she was innocent and she felt so worthless

The detective called for the guard to open the cell up and went in and sat down beside Rebecca and gently took the improvised rope away from her and handed it to the custody sergeant and asked for him to bring the chief down. She then put an arm around Rebecca, while Rebecca sobbed her heart out.

While they were waiting for the chief, the female detective, to make conversation with the child, asked why she had been brought in, and then Rebecca, barely coherent told her about the chain of events that that lead her to this point, the arrest at the airport, the first lot of questioning and the removal from the ACS group home and finally how she was humiliated when she had to change right there in the cell out of what little clothes she had from the ACS in to the jump suit in full view of everyone. On hearing this, the female detective was horrified.
“If what you’re saying is right, then someone has screwed up big time”
Rebecca just heard the word “if” and insisted she was telling the truth and why would nobody believe her.

The female detective then realised that Rebecca had a British accent and that seemed to tie in with her story.

The chief came down the detective asked why she was being held, the chief explained that she was apprehended with a suspect in a cheque fraud, and was therefore suspected of being an accomplice, and was to be handed over to the Miami detectives as soon as they arrived to collect the main suspect, and besides the juvenile halls were full. The detective pointed to Rebecca’s British accent and asked might that not show she was telling the truth, that even if this other women was guilty, there was no way that Rebecca was involved. The chief just told her that would be for the Miami PD to decide once she was down there, and they were due to arrive in about five hours. The chief then ordered that Rebecca be moved to another cell and put on suicide watch.

The female detective said that this seemed ridiculous, but the chief thought otherwise and thanked her for preventing Rebecca from harming herself and then reminded her that it was not her case and that she had others that needed her attention. The female detective gave Rebecca one last hug and told her at least she believed her and she was sorry she could not do any more and then left.

Rebecca then found herself moved to another cell, where it was not possible to harm herself and that guards would be watching her at very frequent intervals to make sure she was not doing anything that could be considered self harm.

Rebecca was in the special cell for what seemed like two hours when a male police detective, who had originally been one of those who interrogated her the previous day, came and had the custody sergeant open the door
“Your lawyer is here” he told Rebecca
“But I don’t have a lawyer” Rebecca said weakly
“Well someone has hired one of New York’s most prestigious law firms to represent you, so you do now” the detective replied, then he added, “Which seems mighty suspicious to me, are you sure you don’t have anything to tell us”
At that a tall man in a grey suit came in and told the detective, “Detective that question is way out of line and you know it. You have no reason now to hold my client” then the male lawyer turned to Rebecca and told her, “Miss Sands, we are leaving now”
Rebecca looked at the detective, confused
“You’re free to go, apparently Miami has suddenly decided it has no interest in you”
Rebecca nervously stood up and the lawyer held out his hand, which Rebecca took, and slowly at first the lawyer led her out of the cell and through the holding area. All the while the lawyer was saying how they would be filing a false arrest and false imprisonment law suit on behalf of his client, and how they would be filing a suit against the city as the NYPD had not protected her rights as a minor.

Rebecca just wondered who this lawyer was and who had hired him, as she had no money, but she was glad that someone thought she was worth rescuing.

Then they reached the booking hall, where a police officer told them if they were taking Rebecca away, then they would need the orange jumpsuit back. Rebecca told her lawyer that this was all she had to wear, as the ACS had confiscated all her clothes she had been given in England and that the ACS supplied clothed were removed from her in the police cell. When Rebecca told the lawyer how she was made to change in the cell in front of everyone, the lawyer was even angrier at how she had been treated and said he would be adding that to the list as well.

The police officer just listened to the lawyer’s rant and said that Rebecca’s lack of other clothes could not be helped and was not his problem, the jump suit was county property and if she wanted to keep it on, she would have to stay in lock up.

Rebecca started to panic, it seemed the NYPD wanted to use what ever trick they could use to keep her here, they seemed determined that she would be sent to jail for anything, even if the Miami PD didn’t want to know her, Rebecca knew when she was beaten and mumbled that they seemed to have won, but the lawyer was having none of it. The lawyer asked if they could wait in an interview room to confer and possibly contact someone about replacement clothes for Rebecca,

Just then, the female detective that had intervened when Rebecca was fabricating a rope from the bed sheet came in with a bag and expressed relief that someone had posted her bail. When the lawyer told her actually she was being released with no charge, the female detective squatted down and told Rebecca how glad she was, and that she would see if there was any way that she could have how she was treated investigated. The detective then handed to Rebecca the bag she had brought in and told her “I went to the ACS home and told them if they continued to hold onto this lot it could be construed as theft”

Rebecca took the bag and looked inside it, they were the clothes she had been wearing when she was leaving England and gave the female detective a big hug and whispered “thank you”, and then the detective guided her to a ladies toilet so she could have some privacy while she changed into her clothes.

The female detective then reunited Rebecca with her lawyer and handed Rebecca her business card. Then the lawyer and Rebecca went to leave the police station. Before they left, the desk sergeant handed the lawyer a small book, which the lawyer handed to Rebecca, it was her US passport. They then walked out of the police precinct, which Rebecca was glad to get away from.

The lawyer then took Rebecca to a parked car where another woman in a dark blue suit and knee length skirt was waiting.
“Hello Miss Sands” the lady introduced herself, “My name is Jane Gardener, and I work an assistant to Mr Davies here at the same law firm”

Rebecca was very much shell shocked about this change in her fortunes and was strapped into the back seat of the car by Jane. Jane then got in the driver’s seat and the lawyer in the front passenger seat. Through the journey in the packed streets of New York, the car drove, where about in New York, Rebecca did not know, it was nothing like she had known in England, for one thing they drove on the “wrong” side of the road, and the traffic lights were different.

Rebecca wanted to ask, who had had hired them, but the lawyer and the assistant seemed to be engaged in discussing her case as if she were not there. Rebecca thought it would be rude to interrupt so kept quiet. Then they mentioned something about foster homes, as possible options for Rebecca to stay in. Rebecca just wanted to go and be with her uncle and his family, but was beginning to think now, this might not happen

Rebecca finally got courage to speak, and asked how they knew she was at the police station, the lawyer just replied that the person who had hired them had informed them of the situation, and they were duty bound to maintain confidentiality. Rebecca decided to let the matter drop, she was out and that was al that mattered. Then Rebecca thought of Corporal Tania McCaskey who had been kind to her when she found her living rough in London and when they were at the Facility and on the aeroplane, and Mazy, the former Spirit of Caring, who had stuck up for her at the care home and wished there was some way they could be helped, but sometimes life is not like that.

The car stopped outside a large office block and the lawyer got out. Rebecca also managed to get out of the car by herself and the lawyer held her hand as he lead her into the office block. Meanwhile, Jane, the assistant drove the car off somewhere, The lawyer explained that she was parking the car in the office’s underground parking lot.

As they entered into the offices, Rebecca was over awed by the massive foyer and she was ushered to a small café bar come waiting area, where the lawyer ordered for her a hot chocolate and a chocolate chip muffin.

Rebecca sat at a table and said “thank you” and started to eat the muffin, which was dreamy compared to the food served at the ACS group home. The lawyer then spoke to the servers at the café and then after instructing Rebecca to wait for Jane, he left.

Rebecca sat there in the foyer, eating the muffin and drinking the hot chocolate, looking outside the window, watching the world go by. She was an orphan and alone in New York City. Her only relative was hundreds of miles away and if this Leprechaun was right, considered her way down on his list of priorities, since he needed to sort work out before coming to collect her.

Rebecca took out her US passport, and looked at it, thinking of how she had got it. She thought of Commander Mark Johnston who had given it to her, she thought of the colonel who had promised she would be sent to a new and better life with her uncle and his family, which so far had not worked out. She even thought of that woman with the Geordie accent, called Jenny Green, who had offered to find her a new home in North East England.

Rebecca looked up and sniffed and wiped her eyes as she remembered her mum and tried to remember her father. As she gazed at the people walking by oblivious to her existence or even their fellow New Yorkers in the street with them, she realised just how alone she felt, and a tear ran down her left cheek. She then stared at the crumbs on the empty plate and her empty cup with her head in her right hand, her elbow on the table, and again dark thoughts of utter worthlessness crowded her mind.

Was she ever going to see her uncle and his family?

The corporal had said they were eager to see her, but that was before her arrest at JFK airport. Would they care that she now had an arrest record, she could remember that her Uncle Matthew was some kind of official in his local church. Perhaps they might be ashamed of her now because she had been arrested. She remembered how when she was growing up in slough the other children had been told by their parents, that because of what her mum did for a living, they were not to associate with her, maybe if they found out what she did, whatever it was, they might not want to have anything to do with her.

It seemed clear to Rebecca, fate would not allow her to have a new life, she obviously did not deserve one and everyone would be better off if she were not around. She had no idea who had hired the legal firm to rescue her from the police station, and she was grateful for it, but she could not see why anyone would want to have anything to do with her, a worthless and penniless orphan, who had used some mind control before she was able to ditch that ability and who had been arrested on suspicion of some crime.

No one would miss her

No one would want her

She had even been told that her uncle had other priorities in life before it came to her

As Rebecca concluded that everyone would be better off if she were not around, she slipped of the chair, and with tears streaming down her face she headed for the front door so she could slip away quietly and would no longer be a burden to anyone.

To be continued