Ring Around Rosie (21 page)

The speed and force with which Rosie
brought down her weapon on Silas’ head surprised even her. And immediately
after her blow had struck, Martha was there to echo it. Silas’ body slumped
onto the floor but he was still conscious, a look of confusion slowing his
response.

“What the…” he began in a drunk-sounding
voice, before he was silenced by the next blow hitting him on the back. Rosie’s
broom handle shattered as it made impact, then, without pausing, she turned to
reach for something else. Silas was not going down easily though, and he began
to crawl across the room towards Mai-Li’s cowering body.

“Help me, Mai-Li,” he groaned, reaching
towards her shivering frame. He grabbed her foot and she screamed, kicking at
him with the other. Then, before any of them knew what was happening, Silas had
pulled Mai-Li’s foot with all his strength and dragged her down next to him. A
knife shone menacingly at her throat. Martha froze, mid-strike.

“Put. That. Down,” hissed Silas, clutching
Mai-Li’s trembling body to him. Rosie could see he’d already drawn blood so she
stepped back, dropping her weapon, Martha echoed her.

Silas struggled to sit up, wincing in pain.
He pulled Mai-Li up beside him and then sat glaring at Martha and Rosie,
obviously trying to decide what his next move should be. Martha looked defiant,
but Rosie didn’t have the same confidence and she was suddenly gripped with the
terrible realisation that yet again she had made things worse for herself. It
had been too easy to get caught up in Martha’s gung-ho escape plan, but she
didn’t really know how things worked. She had no idea how dangerous these
people were, she’d only just arrived. She was as naïve as Rosie had been in the
beginning, and Rosie was starting to hate her for getting their hopes up and
for making her think that she might ever leave this hateful world.

Silas scrambled to his feet, holding Mai-Li
close, the knife pressing into her neck so hard it was creating a pocket of
blood that was dripping slowly onto the floor. Rosie realised now why Mai-Li
was so reluctant to go along with their plan; she had probably been here
before, more than once, and the disappointment of a failed escape had to be
worse than not trying at all.

Silas ordered Martha and Rosie to sit on
the bed beside Jelena and not move. Rosie wondered how much of this Jelena was
even aware of; her face showed no reaction.

“Now then,” he said, trying to regain
composure. “Before I was so rudely attacked I was coming to tell you to pack up
your stuff,” he said, looking at Martha and Rosie.

“Where are we going?” asked Rosie, quickly.
She could feel Martha pulsating with anger next to her and was afraid of what
she might do or say.

“That’s not for you to worry about. Just
get your shit together, you’re being picked up in an hour.”

Rosie felt sick. They had blown their last
chance to escape, and now they were being sent abroad where no one would be
able to find them.

“You’re not taking me anywhere,” said
Martha defiantly. She sounded rather like Rosie knew she did sometimes when her
parents wanted her to do something she didn’t want to do; like she was trying
to sound confident and grown-up even though inside she knew she was still just
a little girl. Silas could see straight through her façade too and merely
laughed in her face.

“You’d do well to do as you’re told like
these two here, if you don’t want to incur the wrath of Griff,” Silas chuckled.
Rosie saw Mai-Li shudder in Silas’ arms and he squeezed her tightly in response
and planted a long wet kiss on her cheek. “Isn’t that right Mai-Li?”

Mai-Li tried to pull away but the knife bit
into her neck and she squeaked in pain.

Like a mother reacting to her baby’s cry,
so Jelena lifted her head slowly from the bed, her eyes wild as she glared at
Silas. Rosie and Martha stood up as she swung her legs off the bed and screamed
a scream so terrifying and desperate that Rosie felt her organs resonate.
Jelena launched herself at a surprised Silas, biting and scratching at his face
and anything she could get hold of. In response he stabbed at her repeatedly
with the knife but she didn’t seem to feel it in her adrenalin-fuelled fury.

Martha sprang forward and smashed his hand
away with a chair leg, a roar from Silas echoing the sound of shattering bone.
He dropped the knife, as well as Mai-Li, and clutched his arm, just as Rosie,
mustering all her strength and courage as well as memories of the pain and
suffering she and all the other girls had been put through, placed the final
blow straight to his face with the back of a chair. Blood spurted from his
nose; then there was silence.

They all waited, holding their breath,
expecting him to move, but his body lay motionless. Martha prodded him, but nothing.
Rosie was shaking as she dropped her weapon and went to hug Mai-Li. Martha
joined them and the three of them trembled in a heap until their hearts
returned to normal.

Martha was the first to pull away.

“We’ve gotta go,” she said urgently. “We
don’t know how long it will be before someone else turns up.”

Rosie leaped to her feet and pulled at
Mai-Li’s arm. She didn’t budge.

“Come on,” she said, heading for the door.
“We may not have much time!”

Mai-Li shook her head.

Rosie looked down at Silas’ body next to
Mai-Li’s feet. “I can move him if you’re afraid to go past him,” she said,
pulling at one of Silas’ feet and dragging him a little way away from Mai-Li.

But Mai-Li still shook her head.

Martha was busy trying to get a hold on
Jelena’s now limp body to lift her off the floor. She was bleeding from several
places and flitting in and out of consciousness. Rosie ran to grab the other
side.

“Come on Mai-Li, we need help with Jelena!”
shouted Rosie, fear filling her chest as the time ticked on.

But Mai-Li wouldn’t move, she just sat
shaking her head, her knees tucked up under her chin. Rosie and Martha half
lifted, half dragged Jelena’s body out of the door, but as Rosie looked back
Mai-Li was still sitting in the same place, her eyes wide with fear, her body
rocking back and forth.

Rosie dropped her side of Jelena and went
back into the room.

“Please Mai-Li, we
have
to go. Don’t
be afraid, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I can’t,” whispered Mai-Li.

And as Rosie watched her little body
shivering in the corner she realised that Mai-Li couldn’t bring herself to
leave this room any more than that bird Captain could leave its cage.

Rosie bent down and hugged her; tears
pouring silently down her face.

“I’ll come back for you, I promise.”

Mai-Li just looked at her and nodded
slowly. Rosie saw no hope in her eyes; all the fight had gone. She hugged her
one last time and leapt up to help Martha carry Jelena down the stairs.

As they stepped out into the sunlight Rosie
took a deep breath. Never before had freedom smelt so good.

Rosie pressed her face up against the train
window, her eyes flickering as she tried not to miss anything. Everything had
taken on a whole different hue, brighter, more beautiful than she remembered. The
grass so green, the sky so blue, it was a picture book world where the colours
never faded and the story told of rabbits and rainbows and pots of gold.

Suddenly the colour and light disappeared,
and only her face was visible as darkness engulfed the speeding train. Not for
the first time, was she surprised by the look in the eyes of the person staring
back; they were darker than she remembered, and they seemed disappointed, as if
something hadn’t happened the way it should and now they couldn’t forget and go
back.

She jumped as light tore through the train
again and her face vanished. She felt a reassuring hand on her leg and turned
to smile at Ted. He had hardly left her side since she had escaped nearly two
months ago, his eyes ever watchful, protective, terrified of letting her out of
his sight again. The regret and guilt he felt oozed out of him with every
expression, every movement, every look he gave Rosie. He couldn’t stop blaming
himself for what had happened to her and the guilt lay on his shoulders like
the heavy bleeding carcass of a recent kill.

Rosie in comparison was dealing with it all
in a much more positive way. She regularly checked in on Baduwa and Jelena, who
were coincidently together at the same girls’ home. Baduwa had taken Jelena under
her wing and was slowly repairing her damaged body and soul with her positivity
and bright colourful spirit, which at last had found its much needed sanctuary.
It made Rosie laugh to see Jelena made-up and preened to within an inch of her
life; decorated with lipstick and hair clips, her sad empty eyes highlighted
with colourful eyeshadow. Jelena couldn’t have helped smiling when looking at
herself in the mirror, even if it was because a clown was smiling back.

Both girls had been allowed to stay in the
country, although Jelena wanted to return to Norway one day to see her family.
Baduwa was determined to make a life for herself in England; to have the job
and house she had been promised all those months ago, and to save enough money
to get her mother and sisters out of Nigeria.

Baduwa had never mentioned Utibe on any of
the occasions Rosie visited, and Rosie couldn’t bring herself to think about
it, so Utibe’s memory became the occasional flash that was quickly batted away
before it forced itself uninvited into their conscience.

“You want a drink?” Ted’s voice broke into
Rosie’s thoughts.

Rosie nodded and said she’d like to come
with him, stretch her legs.

The train was busy, and as she walked down
the aisle eyes lifted and heads turned in her direction. There was the
occasional whisper as if her movement had stirred wind in the trees. Rosie felt
immediately self-conscious because she wasn’t sure if it was that they were
just curious about who was passing or that they recognised her; after all, her story
had been in all the newspapers and on the news, as Martha had promised. And,
despite her being a minor, she had insisted on telling her story personally;
Martha had said the only way to get people to really care was if they actually
got to know her. Otherwise she was just another faceless statistic. Her mum and
dad hadn’t been happy about it, of course – they just wanted to forget about
the whole nightmare and get on with their lives – but Rosie had told them that
she needed a reason why it had happened to her other than she was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time. And if it was to save others from the same fate
then she could accept that as her lot, and maybe one day come to terms with it
and move on. They understood and told her they wanted only the best for her and
that she should do exactly what she needed to do to help her get through it.

Rosie smiled at the thought of her parents.
It had been the most amazing feeling when she’d seen them for the first time
after so long. It was at that moment that she had known it was all finally
over. It hadn’t been the person in the car that slammed on the brakes as the
three girls staggered out into the road screaming, or the paramedics as they
were taken to the hospital. It had been seeing her mum and dad when they walked
into her hospital room that finally made all the fear and sadness fall away. It
was like coming home.

And then suddenly Ted was there, hugging
all of them, and Rosie was laughing and crying, and trying to breathe as Ted
held her so tightly and cried into her hair. And she squeezed him back, like
she never wanted to let go, and thanked him over and over for all he’d done.

And there had never been a time that Rosie
could remember feeling so happy and so safe, and so completely in love with her
family, who hadn’t given up on her even after everything she had put them
through in the past. It was the moment she had dreamed about for so long and
she never wanted it to end.

Rosie and Ted walked into the buffet
carriage and the smell of bacon hit their noses. A few people were eating and
drinking, some turned to look as they entered. As they waited to be served, a
woman walked up to Rosie, her eyes filled with the same sadness and emptiness
that Rosie now knew so well.

“I have a daughter who’s your age. Since I
heard your story I have been terrified that the same thing may happen to her.
There seems to be no discrimination in the traffickers’ selection, anyone can
be a victim.”

Rosie nodded, a little taken aback. This
had happened a few times to her already and each time it was so surreal, like
they were talking to someone else.

The woman gripped Rosie’s hand and smiled.
“Seems some of the stories have a happy ending though. Stay safe.”

As the woman walked away Rosie was aware
that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were staring. She pulled Ted
by the arm and dragged him out of the carriage, back to their seats where she
resumed her absorption in what was going on outside the window.

“Do you want to stay here whilst I get the
drinks?” asked Ted

Rosie nodded without taking her eyes off
the passing fields and houses.

Ted made his way back down the train. He
still marvelled at the power of the press. Trafficking had gone from being a
dirty little secret whispered between nations to a full-blown initiative
embraced by everyone, all because it had happened to a white British girl and
was now too close to home to be ignored. The sleeping giants that were the
continents had been awoken from their slumber by a fourteen-year-old girl’s
story, and now they were sending ripples of action through the countries in an
attempt to stamp human trafficking out.    

Not for the first time, Ted thought of
Martha and how she had played such a huge part in saving Rosie. Her story had
been in every newspaper and on every news program across the world. You could
almost hear people stirring and saying to each other,
I had no idea this was
going on, did you? Why did no one tell us? Why has no one done anything about
this already? It should never have been allowed to go on for so long
! 

Ted ordered drinks for them, his eyes
wandering around the room as he waited. He had fears of his own; fears that
Griff was still out there somewhere. And not just him, but the man that had
pretended to be their dad when Rosie fell in the road: Gabriel. He was still
free. And then there was Silas. When the police had gone back to the house, at
Rosie’s request, to find Mai-Li, the place was deserted. There was no sign of
Silas’ body, nor of Mai-Li, and the rooms downstairs were all empty too. Rosie
had been distraught; she had blamed herself for not dragging Mai-Li out of
there when she’d had the chance. She had been so desperate to get away, it
hadn’t crossed her mind that Mai-Li may not be there when someone came back a
few hours later. Everything moved so fast, everyone was so expendable.

Ted collected the drinks and walked back to
Rosie. Her breath had misted up the window and she was drawing faces with her
finger. She turned and smiled when she felt him sit down.

Ted’s phone rang. “Hi Martha,” he said,
grinning at Rosie. “Yeah, we’re fine. How are you? Really? That’s great news!
Yup. Yeah, we’re still on for tomorrow, we’re on our way up to London now. Yes,
the house is great, nowhere near the sea and close enough to London for us to visit
regularly. Yeah, I miss you too. See you tomorrow then.”

“That was quick,” said Rosie.

“She was rushing to a press conference;
there’s been a huge police raid on a suspected trafficker’s house in
Manchester. It’s the epicentre of a massive trafficking ring and they’ve busted
loads of the people responsible, and rescued hundreds of women and children,”
he said excitedly.

Rosie beamed. She had never seen her
brother so mushy over a girl. She could feel his nervousness at seeing her the
next day, and it made her want to giggle.

“She was just ringing to check we were
still ok to do the interview tomorrow. You are, aren’t you?”

Rosie nodded. She hated being at the centre
of all this attention; she wished in a way that she could go back to her life
of blissful ignorance, bury her head in the sand and pretend none of it was
happening. But for some reason she had been through all that horror so that the
world would sit up and take notice, and she thought that knowing she was
helping others was, in turn, probably helping her to deal with everything that
had happened rather than burying it deep where it would fester like an
untreated wound.

The next station is London Waterloo where
this train will terminate
,
came the voice over the intercom.

Rosie and Ted gathered their bags. They
were staying at their uncle’s house whilst in town, but Rosie had insisted on
visiting Lo at the boys’ home on their way, as she tried to do each time she
was in London.

Rosie was helping Lo with his English. The
authorities had been unable to track down his family so he couldn’t go home,
and Rosie wanted him to have the best chance of finding a family to adopt him.
He was still very introverted and the staff at the home said he often woke
screaming in the night, but that during the day he was gradually coming out of
his shell and playing with the other boys. He was always really pleased to see
Rosie, a grin spreading across his face every time she entered the room.
Helping him was her small way of giving back what had been taken away. And he
gave her purpose too; he was the cement that was gradually filling in the huge
hole left by her recent experiences.

The taxi arrived at the boys’ home, and Ted
and Rosie grabbed their bags and walked up to the door. As they heard the bell
echo throughout the inside of the huge building, Rosie pictured the happy grin
that would welcome her, the face that gave her hope for the future.

The door swung open and they were greeted
by Andrew, the manager of the boys’ home. It was unusual for him to answer the
door, and Rosie sensed there was something wrong. Normally Rosie was let in and
allowed to go straight to the common room where Lo would be waiting for her,
but it seemed Andrew had other ideas this time. His expression was troubled as
he led them through the corridors to his office.

He gestured towards the two seats on the
other side of his desk, and Rosie and Ted obediently sat down. Andrew folded
his hands under his chin and looked at them both with sorrow in his eyes.

“Lo has gone,” he said quietly. “He went
missing yesterday and no one has seen him since.”

Rosie leapt from her chair and rushed out
into the corridor. She ran through the halls, opening all the doors to startled
eyes beyond. She could hear Ted behind her calling her name, begging her to
stop.

“Lo!” she shouted. “Where are you, Lo? It’s
Rosie, I’ve come to take you away from this awful place.”

The squeak from her shoes on the wooden
floors as she searched each room echoed her frenzied cries. Why was he not
here?

“Lo, darling, please come out,” she called
again.

Finally Ted caught up to her and held her
tight in his arms as she thrashed around, trying to pull out of his grip.

“He’s gone,” Ted whispered into her hair
over and over again.

Rosie eventually submitted and, sobbing,
allowed herself to be half-carried back to Andrew’s office. She was aware of
frightened eyes on her as she passed the rooms she’d searched, and all she
could say was
sorry
.

Ted placed her gently back in the chair,
where she sat, head down, tears dripping silently from her eyes.

“Do you have any idea where he might have
gone?” asked Ted, sternly. “Surely this shouldn’t happen.”

Andrew shook his head. “It shouldn’t
happen, but it does. We just don’t have the staff to watch every child
twenty-four-seven. Some run away, and some are taken back by the very people we
saved them from in the first place, and until we get more funding I’m afraid it
will continue to happen. I’m sorry.”

Rosie looked up at Andrew, his edges
blurred. “But Lo wouldn’t have run
away
…” she whispered.

Andrew shook his head again. “No… no, he
wouldn’t have run away…”

“So that means…” Rosie couldn’t say the
words, her voice muted by a terrifying realisation, one that sucked the breath
out of her like a vacuum and left her gasping like a fish out of water: Lo was
back in that world, alone and unloved. A tiny ghost in a giant house of
horrors.