[Sticks]

Episode IV – …And Yet So Far

”Just because you are paranoid, it doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you” is how the old saying goes.

According to the Wikipedia definition of paranoia is:

Paranoia is a disturbed thought process characterized by excessive anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs concerning a perceived threat. In the original Greek, παράνοια (paranoia) simply means madness (para = outside; nous = mind) and, historically, this characterization was used to describe any delusional state.

So paranoia is a debilitating condition that can make the sufferer believe people are out to get them, and could explain why so many people live in fear of secret government conspiracy controlling their lives and monitoring their every conversation.

But what if they really are out to get you?

Well that seems to be what Rebecca Sands, the former Spirit of Kindness, believes. She has twice been in the clutches of the New York Police Department who are convinced she is some sort of co-conspirator with Corporal Tania McCaskey in some crime she has never heard of, cheque fraud. She thought things were on the up, when a law firm rescued her from them, the Miami PD said they were not interested in her, she got new clothes and stayed with a very nice Christian couple and best of all was reunited with her Uncle Matthew.

But now it seems the NYPD will not let the matter drop, and have sent three more people to get her and have a third bite of the cherry, perhaps permanently…

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Rebecca was sitting there on the floor of the foyer of the law firm looking up at the two male police detectives, and the lady police officer from juvenile division, sent to come and throw her into prison or worse. They had come to do this cruel deed, just after a happy reunion with her Uncle Matthew, Rebecca must be a really bad person she thought if all these bad things kept happening to her

“Why are you harassing her?” Matthew demanded, “She is not guilty of any crime”
“Are you her lawyer or something” John Zachery, one of the detectives, asked in an irritated tone.
“Look bud” the other male detective butted in, “we just need her to come down town, ok”
“Now if you will step aside sir, Melanie Carter is here to look after Miss Sands rights as she is still a minor” Detective John Zachery told him pointing back at the woman with his right thumb

Before Matthew could respond, as their questions and orders came too fast for him to get a word in, they heard the sound of Rebecca suddenly choking and gasping for breath.

~ ~ ~ ~

Suddenly it seemed to Rebecca that her windpipe was closing and she could not breathe, She tried frantically to breathe in short fast pants but it seemed like a loosing battle and she was going to die. Rebecca was sweating now and her heart was racing and to cap it all she was also feeling feint. Rebecca collapsed on the floor, choking, still trying to breathe.

Rebecca was in a really bad way what with feeling feint, she was also feeling dizzy and felt light headed, she felt sick and her chest and stomach hurt badly. The NYPD had obviously come to kill her, and they were doing it by somehow suffocating her. She was also shaking and crying as she fought for every breath of air. She was absolutely terrified each breath would be her last, or that her heart would explode.

What bad thing had she done for them to be doing this to her?

The breathing was becoming more difficult as Rebecca was getting exhausted by trying to stay alive, and she was now getting weaker and weaker, she was terrified that she would soon be to exhausted to breathe and suffocation and death would soon follow.

Several thoughts ran round her head as she lay dying

Jim, her mother’s boyfriend must have got some way of remotely punishing her for running away and getting him in trouble.

Maybe it was they Spirit of Lust as well, the spirit of vice who murdered her father, she must have escaped somehow and come to kill her.

Any second now, Rebecca felt she was going to die.

~ ~ ~ ~

Matthew and Melanie Carter, the woman, the detectives had brought along, squatted down to try and assist Rebecca as she appeared to hyperventilated and go into convulsions as she lay on the floor.

Detective John Zachery took out a cell phones, dialled a special number and called for paramedics to be sent to the building immediately.

Matthew just held her hand and kept calling Rebecca’s name as she lay on the floor going paler and paler and rapidly gasping for air.

About two minutes later they were joined by Lisa Duncan, who had just come out of the elevator, seen the commotion and ran up to help.

Lisa pushed her way through Melanie and Matthew and looked right down at Rebecca’s face.
“Rebecca” She said in a clear firm tone, “Breathe slowly”, then she sat Rebecca up and cradled her in her arms, “We have to know first aid to be registered foster parents” Lisa then told Matthew.

“What’s happening to her” Matthew asked, his voice cracking with emotion.
“By the looks of it, she’s having a panic attack!” Lisa exclaimed, then she noticed the two men with police badges and then said, “She almost had one yesterday at the mere sight of two NYPD officers”. Then Lisa returned back to trying to reach Rebecca and telling her to breathe slower, but Rebecca was not responsive and barely coherent. She was still breathing too fast, and murmuring “What did I do wrong” and “please don’t kill me” over and over again.

A lone paramedic in motorcycle gear, with his kit bag burst through the door into reception and raced up to Rebecca, “I’m the first response” he yelled.

“Have you got a paper bag?” Lisa asked him as the paramedic reached Rebecca
“Sorry Mam” the paramedic responded, “We don’t recommend paper bag rebreathing nowadays” then he took out a syringe and a small bottle.
“What’s that?” Matthew asked
“It’s a mild form of Alprazolam” explained the paramedic, “The normal version usually comes in tablet form”
Quickly he pulled the correct dose into the syringe and then got Lisa to hold Rebecca’s arm still while he injected her.

Within about a minute, Rebecca’s breathing had calmed down and she immediately burst into uncontrollable crying and saying how she thought she was going to die
“That’s one of the other symptoms” Lisa told Matthew

Rebecca honestly thought she was going to die, and now she could breathe, but she felt so incredibly weak, the NYPD had got her.

An ambulance pulled up outside and two paramedics came with a gurney into the building
“Why are you taking her to hospital?” Lisa asked, “Once these things pass it’s usually over”
“Because she’s a minor and I had to administer the Alprazolam we have to as a precaution” explained the first-response paramedic

“We didn’t know this would happen” Detective John Zachery told the first-response paramedic, almost ignoring Matthew’s presence, “We just came to speak to her”

“IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO MY NIECE” Matthew shouted at detective Zachery, and then he turned back to Rebecca who had been strapped to the gurney, given an oxygen mask and was being wheeled out to the ambulance.

Matthew picked up Rebecca’s wheeled pink suit case and followed the paramedics out, turning back only to tell Liza to call Gavin.

Matthew saw them load the still weeping Rebecca into the ambulance and made to get in.



One of the paramedic’s blocked him, “Sorry sir, only relatives or law officers can ride with the patient”
“I am her relative” Matthew insisted, “I’m her uncle”
“Sorry sir, only parents, or immediate guardians can count here”

Matthew was getting frustrated, “Rebecca’s parents are both dead” he told the paramedic, and then pulled a folded up document from an inside coat pocket and handed it to the paramedic. “This piece of paper is confirmation from the Rochester County social services department in New Hampshire that I am Rebecca Sands’ legal guardian”

The paramedic took it and looked at it, and then showed it to the other paramedic who came in the ambulance.

Detective Harry Smith came up from behind, “Any problems here?”
“No officer” the second paramedic responded and then handed the piece of paper back to Matthew and told him, “Ok you can ride in the back with your niece”

Matthew jumped into the back of the ambulance and sat down so he could look at Rebecca and hold her hand to try and reassure her.

“I’m getting in too” Detective Harry Smith told the paramedic.
“No way” objected Matthew, “You’re the reason she’s in this state”

Detective John Zachery came out and told Detective Harry to let them be, and that they would find out from the driver where she was being taken.

The first ambulance paramedic got in the back and closed the door, about two minutes later the ambulance pulled out into the traffic.

Rebecca was still crying, and repeating that she thought she was going to die, and asking what she had done wrong and what ever it was she was sorry. She was clearly out of it.

“Rebecca, love you haven’t done anything wrong” Matthew tried to reassure her.
“I’m sorry uncle” Rebecca sobbed
“Rebecca, you have nothing to be sorry about, I am going to have those guys badges, because I love you Rebecca, and I hate seeing you hurt like this” Matthew’s was becoming overcome by his emotions.
“Sir, I think she needs to rest” the paramedic told him, “I am going to have to administer a sedative and it will knock her out”
“Do what you have to, just get my sister’s baby well” Matthew replied
Matthew then watched as the paramedic injected Rebecca, his little sister’s only child, his niece with some kind of compound to help Rebecca sleep. He held her hand as she drifted off to sleep, telling her as she slipped into unconsciousness that he loved her and was not going to leave her side.

Once she was under sedation, Matthew looked at Rebecca lying there on the gurney with the oxygen mask and broke down.
“Are you ok sir?” The paramedic asked him
Matthew sat up and wiped his eye, and recomposed himself, ”Just give me a moment”, then after a minute or so told the paramedic that Rebecca was the only child of his sister whose death in his mind, had been caused by a piece of low life scum who had forced his sister into prostitution, and that Rebecca was the only link he had to his dead sister, and he was determined to bring her up as his own daughter, and now she had been hospitalised over some offence she was totally innocent of.
“I’m sorry about back there earlier” the paramedic apologised, “I had no idea”.

The ambulance sped through the New York traffic and arrived at the hospital within fifteen minutes, and Matthew insisted on staying with Rebecca as they wheeled her to a ward, all the while he kept telling the hospital staff he had did not care how much it cost, and that he had medical insurance aplenty, he just wanted his Rebecca fit and well.

On of the nurses, got confused with the relationship of Matthew to Rebecca and told him that his daughter would be fine and that she was in the best possible care. Matthew chose not to correct her, as that was how he now considered Rebecca to be, his daughter, or she would be if he had his way. It was something he briefly mentioned to his wife Susan, and she had seemed to be of the same mind as him, if he had read her right, that is.

At his request, the hospital staff found a private ward. Matthew was told to wait outside, while the nurses changed Rebecca out of her normal clothes into a hospital gown, as she was still heavily sedated. Matthew told them that Rebecca had some proper night clothes in her suitcase, but the nurses told him it was regulations until she was seen by a consultant.

Matthew relented, and decided to take the opportunity to use the hospital payphone to ring his wife to let her know of the delay. Instead he saw Detective John Zachery, Detective Harry Smith and Melanie Carter enter the corridor.

“You’ve got a nerve” he growled at them, “What are you going to do now, handcuff her to the bed.”

John signalled to the others to stay back.

“For your information detective” Matthew started, “I am Rebecca Sands uncle and because both her parents are dead I am also her legal guardian, and if necessary her lawyer”
“Sir” Detective John tried to say, but Matthew was not finished
“No you look, for your information as well, when you had my niece arrested at JFK that was the first time ever she had stepped foot on US soil, I have the documentary evidence to prove it, and if you persist in trying to fit her up for some crime committed in another state, that has now accepted the truth about my niece, I will file a civil suit against you and the department for harassment, false arrest and false imprisonment. You are lucky I have a good health insurance plan, or else I would be suing you for the cost of this trip to hospital”
“Sir,” Melanie interjected, “if he is the girl’s uncle, her legal guardian and her lawyer, then you don’t need me”
Detective John Zachery turned to her and told her, “Ok Melanie, thanks for making yourself available”
With that, the woman left the two detectives.

Matthew was confused, “I thought you were going to arrest Rebecca and take her to juvenile halls or something”

Detective John Zachery shook his head, “We seem to have our wires crossed, Mr Sands, we need to talk”

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Rebecca started to come round, she was shivering and still felt woozy from something, and then felt a pain in her right hand, so weakly she was just able to lift her right arm and noticed there was some needle inserted into her hand, which had a tube attached, which led to a see through bag attached to a metal stand, which had some kind of electronic box attached



Rebecca had been put on an intravenous drip.

Then she noticed she was in a bed and no longer in her clothes, but a typical hospital gown, and someone was gently holding her left hand with two hands.

“Welcome back to the land of the living love”, Rebecca heard in a familiar voice, it was her Uncle Matthew, she had vague recollections of him saying he would not leave her, when she had just been saved from suffocating and everyone, apart from him, seemed to be trying to kill her.
“Uncle Matthew” she said weakly, “I’m sorry” and then a tear emerged from left eye and trickled down the side of her face, then she added, “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble”

Matthew took a handkerchief and gently wiped Rebecca’s tear away, “Rebecca, love, you didn’t, you just had what we call a severe panic attack and your body kind of shut down, given what has happened to you, I’m not surprised, but your safe now”
“But the police” Rebecca insisted, “They came to lock me up”
“About that Rebecca, they spoke to me” Matthew reassured her, “They are not going to arrest you or lock you up, you’re not to worry about them now, concentrate on getting better”
“I don’t understand Uncle Matthew”

Rebecca tried to sit up, but still felt cold, woozy and was unsteady.
“Don’t get up love, your still on sedatives, something to help you relax and stop you having another attack love” Matthew told her
“Does this mean your not going to take me to your home now” Rebecca asked tearfully, she was still pretty confused and distressed.
“Rebecca, love, no it doesn’t, and it’s going to be your home as well. Your aunty Susan knows what has happened and the hospital is keeping you in over night, and I am going to stay here in the hospital with you, even if I have to sleep in this chair”

There was a knock on the door, it was the consultant. Rebecca watched as the consultant handed a big square thing to her uncle and asked him to sign something, which Uncle Matthew duly did. Then the consultant came over to Rebecca and asked her how she was feeling.
“I feel dizzy” she replied, “and I don’t feel strong, and I’m cold”
“Side effects of the medications and we will get you a cardigan to put on” the consultant told her, “You gave everyone a nasty fright there”
Rebecca again in a tearful voice replied, “I’m sorry sir, I didn’t mean to”
“I’m sorry Rebecca” the consultant told her, “that came out wrong, it wasn’t your fault, you were just unwell, that’s all”
“Yes love” Matthew chipped in, “nobody is blaming you for anything, now Rebecca, as I said, I’m here and we want you to get well.”

Matthew then turned to the consultant, “Does Rebecca still need that drip in her hand” he asked, “It will make putting a cardigan on a bit difficult”
“It is standard procedure here, as your niece was sedated when she was admitted, and I would like to keep it in for the time being, to see how she progresses” the consultant replied, “any way the nurses are able to help her put on any other clothes around it. I will ask them when they next come by this way.
“And when will that be?”
“It’s hard to say, this is a busy hospital Mr Sands”

“But I’m cold Uncle Matthew” Rebecca whined
“I hear you Rebecca” Matthew replied, then he took his top coat off and gently laid it over the bed where Rebecca lay, and being carful to avoid the IV, he mad sure it covered past her shoulders.
“Try and get some sleep love” Matthew told her, “I’m right just here, I’m not going anywhere”

Rebecca closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sensation from the IV drip needle, luckily Uncle Matthew’s coat did help to warm her up, for a brief moment she wished he was her daddy, especially as she could just about tell that he loved her like she was his daughter and wanted to protect her, but Uncle Matthew being her daddy, wasn’t that pushing her luck a bit too far? After all, all sorts of nasty things happening to her must be because she had done something wrong? Rebecca was happy to settle for him being just the loving and caring uncle. He was turning out to be.

It was about an hour before the nurses could come and attend to Rebecca, and carefully they manipulated the IV so that Rebecca could put on a cardigan, and then they took her to the bathroom. When she returned, another nurse brought an extra blanket, to help keep her warm. All the while the nurses chatted to each other as if Rebecca wasn’t there, except when they had to tell her to do things, and then they put her back into bed and left her in the ward with her uncle sitting in the chair beside the bed.

Matthew asked Rebecca if she was still feeling cold, but at that moment she was fine.

Again Matthew asked how she was feeling, and from Rebecca’s reply, Matthew could tell she was still feeling a little light headed and groggy from the medications, and so once again he told her she could try and get more sleep and not to worry, as he was there to watch over her and protect her.

Rebecca moved down a bit more in the bed and did her best to pull the covers over her left shoulder, but she could not do much about her right arm, as it still had the IV in it. Matthew then carefully placed his top coat over her so her right shoulder was covered and just her hand with the drip was poking out. Then he brushed Rebecca’s hair from out of her eyes and sat back down in the chair, just gazing at Rebecca, as she once again dropped off to sleep.

As Mathew watched over her, he remembered how he and Susan would just sit for hours hand in hand, watching their son Frank sleep in his cot. Also when ever Frank was ill while he was growing up, Matthew and Susan would either take it in terns to sit vigil, or would sit vigil together. Matthew just wished Susan was with him, to sit vigil over his niece, and eventually, Matthew drifted off to sleep.

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Matthew started to wake up, and noticed a small woman, almost as if she were a dwarf.



She seemed to be repositioning the coat and the covers so Rebecca was still warm and snug in the hospital bed. Then he noticed her stroke her hair. Then Matthew realised, she was not a nurse, but as he was about to speak, she looked at him with intense green eyes and then melted away, and then for Matthew everything went black.

Matthew came round; the visitation by the small woman must have been a dream. It was a very funny one as it seemed quite real

Rebecca was still fast asleep and looking quite peaceful compared to when she had the seizure at the law firm, brought on by the appearance of what seemed like two detectives and a woman to arrest her for the third time.

He looked at the air tickets he had bought to take himself and Rebecca to Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire. He looked at his watch; the plane should be taking off by now. So they missed a flight, there would be others, being with his dead sisters orphaned child was all that mattered at that moment, if only they had not had that family row all those years ago, perhaps his sister might still be alive, and perhaps he could have persuaded her to have joined him in the US, but that was all water under the bridge, and her last legacy was in front of him, sleeping in a hospital bed, with a drip in her hand, lonely, frightened and vulnerable, and his duty to protect, even if other members of the Sand’s family were shunning her.

It was around five in the afternoon when the consultant came round, and Matthew gently woke Rebecca up.

The consultant measured her blood pressure, her pulse rate and her breathing, all seemed nominal. Even the light-headedness was dissipating, so the consultant told the two of them that the IV drip could come out and so he removed it, and put a big plaster on Rebecca’s hand from where it had been. The consultant then told Rebecca that if she ever began to feel like she did, then she should try breathing slowly and deeply through the nose using the diaphragm and abdomen

Matthew told the consultant that he would try and remind Rebecca should such an episode happen again.

The consultant then reiterated, that just to be on the safe side, they would keep her in over night, once again Matthew insisted that if that was the case, he would stay there as well

The consultant told him there was no need as she would be all right.

Rebecca grew worried when she heard this, she had only just been reunited with him that day, and now they were trying to separate him from her. He had told her that he was there to protect her, if he went, then maybe the NYPD would seize their chance to reclaim her. She still did not understand what her uncle had meant when he had told her that they were not going to arrest her. She had heard them, they wanted to ask her questions and she remembered that back in England, when someone on the news said a person was helping police with their enquiries that really meant they had been arrested. Perhaps they had lied to her uncle; perhaps they were getting this consultant to send her protector away.

Rebecca’s windpipe began to close and she began finding it difficult to breathe

“Please don’t leave me” she just about gasped, “I’m frightened” she gasped again, then “they’ll take me away” she added

Matthew sat down on the side of the bed and held Rebecca’s hand, “Come on Rebecca, breath slowly through your nose” he told her, then he got her to imitate him as he did the Diaphragmatic Breathing, while the consultant stood next to him.

With in three minutes or so Rebecca was back to breathing normally

“Who will take you away?” the consultant asked Rebecca
“The police will” Rebecca whined, “They say I helped Corporal McCaskey do a cheque fraud, but I don’t know what that is” she pleaded

“Who’s corporal McCaskey?” the consultant enquired
“She’s an army officer” explained Matthew, “she was accompanying Rebecca on a plane from England, but it got diverted here, and when they landed she was arrested on an extradition warrant from Miami for a cheque fraud that was committed there while she was in the UK”
“So why is she afraid is the police will take her away?”
“They keep saying I was something called an accomplice” Rebecca chipped in, “but I don’t know what cheque fraud is Uncle”
“They have arrested her twice so far, and the second one they effectively made her strip in front of other prisoners in the police cells” Matthew added, “and her attack was triggered by some officers turning up as we were leaving our New York office” Then Matthew turned back to Rebecca, “Rebecca, those guys who showed up, are not going to hurt you or take you away” Matthew reassured her, “All they want to do is talk to you, and they are not going to take you to the police station, and when they do, I will be with you”
“Please let my uncle stay” Rebecca pleaded to the consultant, “I promise to be good” she added

Matthew turned back to the consultant, “No way am I leaving my niece while she is in this state” he insisted.
“But hospital policy”
“I don’t care about hospital policy, she needs me and if I go now, she will have a relapse, can’t you see that”

“I think you may be right, I will tell the administrator that in my medical opinion you should not be separated from her at this time” the consultant relented, “Meanwhile I will try and find a double room so you will be comfortable as well, but if we have a high demand”
“I appreciate that “Matthew told the consultant.

Then the consultant left to continue his rounds.

Rebecca sat up in the hospital bed, and the best of her ability, she hugged her uncle and closed her eyes, “I love you Uncle Matthew” she told him

Mathew hugged her back for about a minute, “I love you too Rebecca” he reciprocated, then he got off of the bed and sat in the chair beside it, and held out his hand so Rebecca could hold it.

About a quarter of an hour later, the nurse brought in a meal for Rebecca, but nothing for Matthew. Rebecca offered to share what little they gave with her uncle, who was now her hero. Matthew politely declined; he said he would ask a nurse late to get himself something from a vending machine.

After the nurse cleared the empty plates away, twenty minutes later, they told him they had found a double room and would ferry them across. Another nurse came with a wheel chair and insisted that Rebecca sit in it as it was hospital policy. While an orderly pushed it, Matthew came along carrying Rebecca’s suitcase and his overnight bag.

The double room was nice and spacious, and unlike the single room, a lot warmer. It had it’s own ensuit bathroom and shower, plus it had cable television, so uncle and niece spent a happy evening watching the nature channel, to help Rebecca forget about what had happened and so she could relax.

After about three hour long documentaries, Rebecca started yawning and was having trouble keeping awake, so Matthew opened her suitcase, took out and gave to her, her night clothes and closed the curtains around her bed to give her privacy while she changed out of the hospital clothes.

While Rebecca was changing, Matthew used the private ward’s telephone and phoned Susan his wife to update her. Like him she was completely aghast at how Rebecca had been treated, and told him how she and Frank were eager to meet “the new member of the family”.

New member of the family? It sounded like his wife Susan was amenable to an idea he had floated at her, just before he had left to drive down to New York.

Rebecca finished changing, pulled at the curtain to try and open it, but she found it difficult, so Matthew said his goodbye to his wife on the telephone and helped her open the curtain. After Rebecca had gone to the bathroom, as instructed by her uncle, she got back into bed, and Matthew tucked her in, and wished her pleasant dreams.

Soon, Rebecca was asleep, and Matthew gently laid his top coat over the bed to act as an extra blanket to keep his precious niece warm during the night. Then he kicked off his shoes, took off his watch and put it on the cabinet and lay down on the bed next to hers, and unusually for him was drifting off to sleep quicker than normal.

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Rebecca was standing in a snow plane, in her night clothes and she suddenly felt very cold, and she started to shiver.

“Thought you could escape me then you little urchin” came a terrifyingly familiar voice.

It was Jim

Jim trudged towards her, “What’s the matter little girl, No Hogan to protect you”

Suddenly he produced a meter long bamboo cane, just like the one he used to threaten to hit her with when her mother was out seeing to his “friends” in order to make her keep her mouth shut. The first and only time when he actually hit her was when she was nine, when he laid into her and used it across her legs and bottom, not because she had been naughty, but to show what she would get if she disobeyed him. The bruising lasted several days, and her mother was made to write a sick note to get her out of PE so the teacher would not see it. When she was ten, it disappeared, and that corresponded with one of the times that Jim beat her mother up, her mother had just told her she had taken the beating for her Rebecca, and they never spoke of it again. But now Jim had it back, or a new one at least.

She tried to run, but the snow was just too deep for her and so he caught up to her in no time, pushed her to the ground and raised it up his arm brought the bamboo cane down on Rebecca back hard.

It was agony and Rebecca screamed in pain and started to cry

He lifted his arm again
“Run away from me will you” he shouted at her, and then hit her again.
Rebecca screamed with pain.

“Scream all you like you snivelling little brat; no one will hear you hear, and even if they did they would not give a monkeys”
Then Jim snarled, “They would probably think you deserved it”

He lifted his arm again, “Tell tales on me will you”

Jim brought his arm down with all his force to inflict maximum pain on Rebecca with the bamboo cane and Rebecca flinched, waiting for its cruel sting, Jim’s hand just moved down and she was spared. Some how the cane had been removed from his hand.

Jim looked at his empty hand, “What the hell?” Jim shouted, then he looked down at the crying girl lying in the snow “Ok, I don’t need a cane to punish you, you little urchin” and he lifted his foot to kick Rebecca in the side.

Rebecca looked in terror at Jim’s heavy boot as it reached its highest point before it would be accelerated into her soft unprotected little body.

Suddenly she was aware of another man running through the snow, and Jim was knocked to the ground.

“LEAVE REBECCA ALONE” a familiar voice shouted

“Uncle?” Rebecca asked.
“It’s ok love I’m here” her uncle replied

Jim started to get up off of the floor, “Who on earth are you?” he demanded
“I’m her uncle” Matthew responded

Matthew got between the man and his niece, to protect her

Rebecca just raised her self up on to her left elbow, looking at the two men, one who had caused her pain and the other, her hero, her rescuer, her Uncle Matthew
“So Rebecca, still getting others to fight your battles to save your worthless hide”

Matthew pulled Jim to his feet in one go by his shirt lapels, “My niece is worth a lot more than you, you scum”
“Mind your own business; this is between me and her”
“She is my business, she’s family” Matthew replied, then he threw Jim to the ground
Jim sat up and pointed at a frightened Rebecca, “I have the right to punish her, just like I had the right to punish her mother for disobeying me”
“You really are a nasty piece of work” Matthew told him, “Anyway I thought they put you in prison”
“Yeah, but your precious little niece there keeps bringing me right on back, because she knows she is a worthless piece of crap” Jim shouted those words “worthless piece of crap”, pointing at Rebecca, and secretly Rebecca thought them true, after all why were all these horrible things happening to her if it were not so?

“Rebecca, love” Matthew said out loud, still watching Jim, to make sure he could not attack her again, “It’s not true, you are worth a lot to me”

Rebecca looked up at her uncle, and slowly got to her feet, making sure, her uncle was between her and Jim, she was trying to stop crying, and was still in pain from the caning Jim had inflicted upon her.

“Look at that snivelling little wretch, how could anyone care about such a pathetic creature as that?” Jim sneered

Rebecca looked down at the ground, Jim was right, wasn’t she Rebecca had been a runaway, she had used powers to make people do things, which wasn’t right, and even the NYPD thought she should be in prison. Maybe Jim had a point

“I care about her” Matthew barked back, and then he turned round and gently held Rebecca’s upper arms, “Rebecca, I love you and am so proud of you, as if you were my own daughter”

Rebecca hugged her uncle, “I love you Uncle Matthew, I’m so glad you want me” she tearfully told him.
“Don’t listen to that man Rebecca” Matthew lovingly told his niece, “You’re not worthless”
“I guess not Uncle Matthew” Rebecca sighed
“Rebecca, you are worth a lot to me and everyone who loves and cares about you” Matthew insisted
Rebecca looked into her Uncle Matthew’s eyes and could tell that he meant it, so maybe he was right and Jim was wrong, and she wasn’t what Jim had told her she was, especially if her uncle was prepared to move heaven and Earth to come for her and protect her. “No I’m not worthless Uncle” Rebecca said with more confidence.

Suddenly there was a loud and elongated “No” as both turned around to see Jim fading into nothingness.

Then both of them were standing in a meadow, in warm summer sun, with a short lady standing before them. The lady held up her right hand and a green glow surrounded Rebecca for a second, and the pain from the caning vanished.

Matthew recognised her, ”I saw you in the hospital”
“Indeed you did sir, I was not careful” the lady replied in an Irish accent
Rebecca then remembered what Hogan O’Brian the leprechaun had told her earlier, “Are you Rosie O’Brian?”
“The very same my dear”
“So we are dreaming?” Rebecca asked
“Absolutely, my dears, you are just dreaming”
“What?” Matthew replied
“Was Jim here?” Rebecca asked
“No, but your self loathing took on his form, you must listen to your uncle a bit more”
“Yes Miss O’Brian” Rebecca replied.

I have to let you go now, pleasant dreams for the rest of the night

With that, Rebecca’s dreams became more chaotic as normal dreams are, but these were happier ones, a gift from Rosie, so it would seem

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“Morning Rebecca” Matthew told her as Rebecca awoke from her dreams, “How are you feeling” he then asked

Her uncle was dressed and ready and sitting on his bed, and he had taken out some fresh clothes from the suitcase for Rebecca to put on.

Rebecca sat up, swung her legs over the bed, and edged forward to try and get off. Her uncle then got off his bed, picked her up and gently put her down so she could stand on the floor, then she just hugged him. “I love you Uncle Matthew, thank you for saving me” she said.

Matthew was momentarily caught off guard by this show of emotion and the word’s “saved me”, could she really have shared the same weird dream that he had of defending her from some assailant in the snow? Surely not – that was impossible Matthew kneeled down, and hugged her back, “I love you too Rebecca”, he reassured her, then told her, “you need to get showered and dressed, so we can get out of here”

Matthew waited while Rebecca took her clothes for the day into the shower room, had her shower and got dressed in there. Then she emerged and they waited for the nurse to bring Rebecca breakfast. Again she tried to share with her Uncle Matthew, and again he declined, telling her she needed it more than him.

The consultant arrived, examined Rebecca and cleared them for leaving, which they duly did.

Outside the hospital, Matthew hailed a yellow cab and requested that it take the two of them back to the offices of the law firm.

Matthew told Rebecca, not to worry or panic, but they were going to talk to Detective John Zachery alone, and he had promised them that Rebecca would not be re-arrested by the NYPD as they had done two days before. Even so, Rebecca was still worried.

They arrived at the offices of the law firm and walked through the foyer hand in hand to the elevators and took the elevator to the floor where Mr Davies worked. On the way up, Jane got in the elevator. ”I’m so glad you’re ok” she told Rebecca, “we were worried when we heard what happened to you”
“Thank you Miss Gardener” Rebecca replied, “I was very frightened” she added
“I bet you were honey” Jane Replied
“And I was very angry at the way they showed up” Matthew told Jane
“Mr Davies is planning on lodging a formal complaint” Jane replied
Just then the elevator doors opened. They reached the floor where Mr Davies worked.

Doreen was on duty at the floor’s reception desk. Doreen leaned over and spoke to Rebecca “And how are we today Miss Sands, are you feeling better?”
Rebecca looked up at her kind face and replied “Thank you Miss Doreen, I’m better now”. This was not really accurate, but Rebecca had learned that adults always asked people how they were as some kind of greeting, and they never really wanted to know how you were truly feeling inside. Rebecca was scared stiff, she was being taken to see an NYPD detective, who had tried to take her away the previous day

There was a buzz on the intercom and Doreen answered it, then put the phone down and pressed a button on the desk. “Mr Sands” Doreen told Matthew, “They’re inside waiting for you, go right on in”

Jane went down the corridor to another office and Rebecca waved “goodbye to her” Jane smiled and waved back.

Then Rebecca was led by her Uncle Matthew into the office.

In the section where there were easy chairs and a coffee table, sat Mr Davies and Detective John Zachery.

Matthew and Rebecca sat on a couch which was next to them. Rebecca looked at the Detective in abject terror, and clung on to her uncle’s arm.
Matthew whispered into her ear “Long slow deep breaths love, long slow deep breaths”
Rebecca started the slow breathing regime, trying to be brave and not cry.

“Rebecca” Detective Zachery opened with, “is it ok if I call you Rebecca”
Rebecca nodded, hardly able to utter a word
“Let me just say this first Rebecca, I apologise for scaring you like that yesterday, I was not made aware the full facts of the situation”
“ok” Rebecca forced out, still on the brink of tears due to shear terror, then she squeaked out, “Please sir I don’t know what cheque fraud is sir, I didn’t do it” then she was unable to hold the tears back.

Matthew put his arm around his niece and gave her a hug, “It’s ok love, they know that, he’s not here to arrest you”

Mr Davies leaned over and handed a box of tissues to Matthew, he took one and handed it to Rebecca to dry her eyes.

Detective Zachery waited for Rebecca to calm down, “I’m sorry that your upset Rebecca, I should have introduced myself better yesterday, I’m from IAB”

“IAB?” Rebecca repeated in a tearful voice
“It stands for Internal Affairs Bureau, we investigate if police officers are accused of breaking the rules”
Rebecca turned to her uncle, “I didn’t do anything wrong” she pleaded, tears still in her eyes.
“Rebecca love, this guy polices the police, he’s investigating how you were mistreated” Matthew replied
“That’s right Rebecca” the detective confirmed. Then he paused, looked at Matthew and then continued, “When any prisoner in police custody commits or attempts to commit suicide, we are now informed as a matter of routine, just in case of procedural errors.”

Rebecca remembered how she had rolled her bed sheet up, to make a rope to hang her self, when she thought not even her uncle would want her and when she thought everyone considered her to be a criminal.
“Oh no” she whispered
Matthew gave her a reassuring hug, and once again Rebecca looked up at him. “It’s ok, I know about it love” he told her, “and I’m here for you now, and I will never let you get that low again”
“Am I in trouble?” Rebecca asked her uncle
Matthew just shook his head and kissed Rebecca’s forehead, “no love, not you’re not, the people you put you in that cell are”

Detective Zachery waited again then continued “Rebecca, usually this inquiry is just what we call a paper exercise, and we normally speak to the custody sergeant or the person who made the discovery in this case, Detective Fern Brown.”
“She was nice” Rebecca quietly said, “is she in trouble because of me” she then asked, worried that she had got someone who had been kind to her in to trouble with the law.
“No she’s not Rebecca, far from it, she was most helpful. She told me how you were made to strip naked in full view of everyone, in violation of protocols to hand back some clothing, if I heard correctly”

Rebecca, thought back to how she had been ordered to remove the clothing she had been made to wear by the group home run by the Administration for Child Services, and once again Matthew had to hug his niece as she was reduced to tears, just remembering the humiliation she had felt. “They were laughing at me” Rebecca sobbed
“My Niece had her human rights violated in that police station” Matthew told the detective.
“So we are discovering” the detective replied then he asked,”Rebecca did anyone tell you that when you were being questioned you could have a youth advocate present”
Rebecca, just shook her head then still crying, replied, “They just kept shouting at me, they wanted me to say I was something called an accomplice to cheque fraud and I don’t know what they are”
“Well that confirms that” Detective Zachery told her, “We looked at the interview logs and there was no evidence they asked you that, and being a minor they were not supposed to interview you in the way they did”
“Then why did they?” Matthew asked
“Well for a start, they claim that as the person she was with was wanted on an extradition warrant they didn’t think the regulation applied as it was not a crime committed in this state”
“What!” Matthew exclaimed
“And to make matters worse, and I suspect this was the real reason, they were in a sort of competition with two other precincts, that have been given official warnings on who can clear the most number of extradition warrants”

“But there wasn’t a warrant out on Rebecca” Mr Davies interrupted, “When we contacted the Miami Police Department they said their suspect worked with a male suspect and not a minor. In fact the Miami PD were lead to believe the NYPD had both the male and female suspects and not just the female one until we informed them”
“Yes Mr Davies” Detective Zachery responded, “My colleague also contacted the Miami PD to confirm their procedures for interviewing suspects who are minors, just in case the officers claimed they were following their protocols”
“And were they?” Matthew asked
“Miami PD has exactly the same safeguards; the interviewing officers were just trying it on in my opinion, to get your niece to confess to being an accomplice to get more points in their sick little competition with the other two precincts. We have had problems over the years across the US with minors making false confessions due to inappropriate confessions.”

“And my niece would have confessed to this if the ACS hadn’t intervened” Matthew said with growing anger in his voice
“But I didn’t do anything” Rebecca insisted, “I kept telling them I had never been abroad before and they didn’t believe me”
Matthews tone dropped as he spoke to Rebecca, “I know love, but they believe you now”
“Yes we most certainly do Rebecca” Detective Zachery told Rebecca, and then he continued “We are also investigating the interviewing officers for possible perjury over getting the judge to order the ACS to surrender you Rebecca back to the police station.”
“What did I do to them?” Rebecca asked, still very upset
“Nothing Rebecca” Detective Zachery told her, “like I said, they were in this competition and they wanted the points for sending Miami PD two suspects instead of one, so they told the court that Miami PD had requested your extradition as well and the ACS was blocking it”
“Why didn’t the ACS group home contest it?” Matthew asked, “I understand they just folded”
“Well that care home is usually for juvenile offenders” Detective Zachery told him

“Is that why we were made to walk outside in the cold?” Rebecca asked, “And why they made us miss meals if we didn’t make our beds properly” she added in all innocence

“I don’t think that’s supposed to happen” Mr Davies chipped in, “Did they make you miss a meal Rebecca?”
“No sir” Rebecca answered, “but one girl had to miss breakfast and make all our beds, and when we were marching outside in the cold one girl did this” and Rebecca mimicked the action of someone holding their arms up to try and keep warm, “and she had to do twenty push-ups while we watched and then she wasn’t allowed to eat anything for the rest of the day”

Matthew was now concerned that someone else had miss treated his niece, “Rebecca love, while you were walking outside, what did you get to wear if this girl was cold”
“We were only allowed to wear a white tee-shirt and jeans uncle” Rebecca replied, again in all innocence for as far as she was concerned, that was how it was, then she added, “only the man who made us march was allowed to wear a coat”

Matthew looked at detective Zachery and Mr Davies, “That shouldn’t be happening, should it”

“I’m afraid I’m not briefed for policing the ACS, you would have to raise that with the ACS directly”
“I’ll do that” Mr Davies told him, “I have contacts in the right places to look into that”
“But my friend Mazy told me people said that’s how we deserved to be treated” Rebecca insisted, again in all innocence
“No it isn’t love” Matthew told her, put his arm around her and gave her another hug, “especially not my little girl”
“I thought she was your niece, not your daughter” a confused Detective Zachery asked
“Your right, she is my niece, but as far as I’m concerned, she’s my little girl now” Matthew replied, still hugging Rebecca
“I think I understand” The detective said, “You love her very much, I can tell”
“And I love my uncle Matthew” Rebecca announced and put her arms around him and tried to hug him as best as she could.

“Anyway” Detective Zachery interrupted, “Getting back to the matter in hand, the officers appear to have lied to the judge to get the ACS to surrender Rebecca, so they could put her on the same flight as this Corporal Tania McCaskey.
“But I never saw Corporal McCaskey” Rebecca chimed in.
“That was because by the time you got there, someone got the call that the Miami PD officers had arrived at the airport earlier than planned and Miss McCaskey was taken to the airport” Detective Zachery explained.
“So she’s in prison in Miami” Rebecca then asked, “She seemed a nice lady”

Detective John Zachery paused again, “This is where this sorry mess really turns into a fiasco. I got a call from my counterparts in Miami, it seems when they got someone in to ID McCaskey, and he told them that she was not to one who committed the offence in the fist place. The Miami PD and the NYPD yesterday got an angry call from a Colonel Samuel Peters in England, confirming that she was out of the country when the offences was committed, so she has been released. She now trying to find the money to get back to New York”
“So why did they arrest her if she didn’t do it either” Rebecca asked with a confused tone of voice

Detective Zachery then went onto explain further “Rebecca, it seems that Corporal McCaskey’s details may have been on a D O D laptop that was stolen two months ago, and an identity thief used her passport number to commit the fraud. The arresting officers should have confirmed her identity in New York before calling Miami. They never even bothered to interview the rest of the people on the flight she came in, which for crying out loud was a US Air Force aeroplane. “

Then Rebecca asked, “Am I free to go with my uncle to New Hampshire please”
“Absolutely” the detective reassured her, “I don’t think we will need you further as we have enough to institute disciplinary procedures, if not criminal ones against those officers who abused you”
“I was so scared of them sir” Rebecca sniffed, “I was frightened you were all trying to stop me go and live with my uncle and I kept thinking I had done something wrong” and then she broke down again, and again her uncle had to hug her to try and comfort her
“Rebecca, you never did anything wrong” The detective told her, “it was the officers who processed you who got it wrong”
Matthew then turned to Rebecca, “Rebecca, I think we have taken enough of Detective Zachery’s and Mr Davies valuable time”
“Ok Uncle” Rebecca sniffed and then took another tissue from the box as Matthew offered it to her

The detective stood up, and so did Mr Davies. Rebecca just looked up at him, as she wiped the tears from her face.

The detective looked at Rebecca and then spoke to her, in as kind a voice as he could manage, “Rebecca I’m so sorry you were treated this way, after we have concluded disciplinary proceedings, the department will be talking with your legal representatives about compensation, but I just want to assure you that the New York Police department takes rule breaking by its own officers very seriously and there are many who work there, like Detective Fern Brown, who would be horrified at what happened to you, as it reflects badly on them.”

Mr Davies then showed the detective to the door, and just as he was in the doorway he stopped and told Rebecca, “Rebecca, I spoke to Mrs Lisa Duncan, and she said this experience had made you afraid of NYPD officers, you don’t have to be, most of them are doing an excellent job in protecting people like you and your uncle. They aren’t out to get you.”

Rebecca got up, and then walked up to the detective with her arms wide open. The detective knelt down and allowed a tearful Rebecca to hug him.
“Thank you” she was just able to get out.
“That’s alright” the detective whispered, “I’m just sorry this had to happen to you”

Rebecca let go of him and the detective stood up and left, then Rebecca ran back to her uncle and hugged him, has he had got up off of the sofa.

“Take as long as you like” Mr Davies told them, so Matthew knelt down and hugged his niece back, with what she had been through since the plane she was one had been diverted, she needed a lot of reassurance that things from now on would be ok.

After about ten minutes, Matthew left the office, said goodbye to Doreen and Jane, took the elevator down to the foyer and left via the front door.

Outside there was an NYPD officer with a squad car, “IAB suggested you might like a ride to the airport” he told Matthew, “to show we are not all bad guys”

Rebecca instinctively gasped at his presence, but her uncle reassured her that it was ok this time.

The police officer let Rebecca sit at the front while her uncle sat in the back with the officer’s partner, and true to their word they drove them to the airport, whilst the police officer at the front expressed how angry they were that some of their colleagues had let the force down, by targeting Rebecca, especially given her experience back in England at the hands of a child molester.

They arrived safely at the airport, and Matthew was given two tickets by the police officer who had been driving them, to make up for the flight they had missed while Rebecca was in the hospital.

Rebecca gave both police officers as big a hug as she was able, and then Matthew and Rebecca went to baggage check-in to check Rebecca’s suit case and then they went through security without a hitch and made it to airside.

They just had thirty minutes to wait in the departure lounge before their flight, a domestic flight to Portsmouth International Airport in New Hampshire, the nearest airport to her uncle’s home in Rochester, so they sat together on a seat, with Matthew holding a protective arm around Rebecca waiting for the flight to be called

Rebecca smiled at her uncle and he smiled back, he had proved to be every much the hero she had believed him to be, and she knew that he loved her, just as if she were his daughter.

However Rebecca began wondering, how his wife and his son going to react to her?
Her uncle had said how they were eager to meet her, but were they really?
She knew that her grandparents on her mother’s side also lived in New Hampshire, but they refused to have any dealings with her or her mother, so what did they have against her and would they oppose her living with her uncle?

Rebecca kept expecting something to go wrong, to prevent her leaving New York, but the flight was called and so they made their way to the gate, and into their seats on the plane.

Rebecca closed her eyes, still fearing the worst
“Not long now love” Matthew told her
Rebecca nodded, but she was too afraid to speak, as just when things seemed to look up, something would happen to shoot her dreams down in flames.

Then the plane taxied to the runway. Waited for ten minutes, and finally took off

Rebecca was back on her way, but how would she be received in Rochester New Hampshire?

She didn’t want to tell her uncle, but she was worried her welcome might not be that warm

To be continued