Chapter 63: Lori - The Foster Child

Oh my God, it’s Jacob. He’s tracked me down!

I’m shaking uncontrollably and Violet puts her arms around me. ‘It’s okay,’ she whispers but she’s trembling too.

Jacob must have written that message on the mirror. He’s sneaked in somehow and he’s terrorising me. Terrorising us. He’s probably taken the phones so that we can’t call for help. It’s payback for me leaving him.

And now he’s thrown a rock through the window. I bet he’s out there, waiting for one of us to go out. And where’s Elliot? He said the fuse box was in the garage so surely he would have heard the glass cracking, and our screaming. Why hasn’t he come out to see what’s wrong?

I have to speak up. I’ve got to warn them. ‘It’s Jacob. He’s come after me,’ I blurt out. ‘He said he would. He said he wouldn’t let me leave him.’

Mum turns around so that the candle illuminates us both. I can see the fear in her eyes and her voice quivers as she speaks. ‘So he was responsible for the bruise on your face?’

I lick my dry lips and try to calm myself down but my eyes dart over to the rock and the broken window and I start to shake all over again. If it is Jacob who’s responsible for all this, and I don’t see who else it is, then we’re all in danger.

Slowly I tell them about Jacob’s temper, and how controlling he is. ‘I’m scared of him,’ I confess. ‘He said that if I left him I’d regret it. I didn’t tell him that I was coming here, I just packed as much stuff as I could and fled.’ I swallow. ‘He sent me a couple of messages and I realised that he was tracking me so I blocked him and turned off my phone,’ I confess. ‘But now I’m wondering if he’s followed me down here.’

‘The bastard,’ Violet says furiously.

Mum wraps her arms around me and holds me tight. ‘He’s not going to harm you anymore, darling. We won’t let him.’

‘You don’t know how strong he is, Mum. And he gets so angry. He bruised my arm too… and split my lip.’ I close my eyes at the memory of that terrible row. I had never seen Jacob so mad, I thought he was going to kill me. I don’t even know what started it off. It was after we’d stayed with Mum and Elliot for the weekend, Jacob had come back in a foul mood. Nothing I said was right, so I kept my mouth shut. And that wasn’t right either. He was so apologetic the next day, swore it would never happen again. But it did.

‘The last time was bad. Really bad. I was petrified. I waited until he fell asleep and I left. That’s when I phoned you and asked if I could come home.’

‘I can understand why you think it’s him but’ – Mum rubs her forehead – ‘I’m not sure. There have been a few other things happen before now which couldn’t have been him. He lives too far away.’

I remember Mum telling me about the campaign of harassment they’ve been subjected to since she moved in with Elliot. ‘Do you think it’s all related to the little girl who played up in your office?’ I ask.

‘I thought it might be her brother.’

Violet shakes her head. ‘Caleb is a bit of a tearaway and when he’s crossed he goes to the extremes a bit, so maybe the other things were him. But he’ll be with his family today. This can’t possibly be him.’

‘It’s got to be Jacob.’ I shiver uncontrollably and wrap my arms around myself to try to control it. ‘He’s come to make me pay, like he said he would.’

Violet turns to me and squeezes my hand tight. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t let that creep hurt you.’

‘No, we won’t. We can’t assume it’s him though. But whoever it is, we are in danger. We need to stay together, keep alert,’ Mum says.