I took seat next to Jacob, after Dianna had ran upstairs calling after my dad. Sadness washed over me. I felt a finger poke at my arm and turned towards it.

"You're really Thomas' daughter?! I thought you were lost or something."

I ignored him and turned away again.

"Hey, sorry about that." He said, again. "I'm Jacob." He held out his hand and I took it hesitantly.

"Thomas really does love you, you know. He would always talk about you while I was growing up. Can't understand why he went back upstairs. Don't you worry he'll probably be right down."

I smiled at him as thanks for his comforting words.

"So are you my half brother then?"

Jacob nodded "A bit of a scandal to my grandparents - they were very religious - but they accepted it as my mum's problem and now treat me like a broken kid or something."

Oh, poor Jacob and Dianna.

The tapping of heels came followed by my dad. He looked at me blankly and leaned against the sink. I gulped, not another awkward family moment.

"Mr Harvey, before you left I was introducing you or should I say reintroducing you to-"

"I know who my daughter is dammit." Dad snapped and then stood facing away from all of us. Matthew spite of being interrupted, shut his mouth firmly and looked at my dad. In the end dad mumbled sorry under his breath and conversation continued.

"Vanessa needs a place to stay and while her mother is happy to take her, it is usually advised that the child chooses provided both parents are willing."

"She needs to stay here. I mean, officer can she stay here." Dad said quickly.

Before Matthew could answer for me I said, "Yeah, that's fine. I'll just have to tell mum." Matthew nodded.

"You'll be okay here Vanessa?" I nodded. "Okay, well I best be going, I'll be back to check up on her tomorrow morning and run a few mandatory tests and ask a few questions, if that's okay."

"Yes, that's fine officer. And thank you for bringing her back." Matthew glanced at me one last time before exiting the house.

That night we ate dinner and then Dianna gave me an inflatable mattress, night wear and a few blankets. Dad didn't speak to me much that night. Nobody did. But I was fine with it, there wasn't much to say after so many years.

+++

I had woken up at 4am for no particular reason but chose to spend a few hours making myself look presentable.

It was weird. I never normally had to do this. It felt weird brushing my fingers through my hair and putting my old outfit back on.

When dad walked into the room he found me sitting on the mattress ready to be called downstairs. Matthew (along with Dianna and Jacob) was already downstairs when I got there with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand.

"Vanessa!" He said in a friendly voice. "Did you sleep alright?" I nodded smiling back at him.

We all exchanged pleasantries and then real conversation began.

"Vanessa we really need to discuss your future and what's going to happen to you." Matthew started. "I've discussed it with your mother and father and I'm going to get you checked up today to make sure you're okay in the nutrition department."

"Okay." I said quietly in answer.

"Then of course your education. We would normally wait and have you start in the new school year, but you're a good four years of education so we think it's best for you to go in for the last summer term. Another thing regarding your education. We think we should put you back a year or two so you can catch up-"

My face fell at the thought and everything else Matthew said was a blur. I knew I would have to go back to school but how could I forget that I'm four years dumber than everyone else.

"Can I stay in my year? Can I stay in year ten?" Matthew looked at me as did my dad.

"Vanessa I don't mean to offend you but you are not fit to be put in that year. It would be much better to move you back and it would be better on the stress of catching up."

"Please. Matthew please." I didn't want to be known as the girl who was kidnapped. I didn't want to be known as the girl who was kidnapped and sent back a year or two. Matthew was still looking at me thoughts swirling around his mind.

"I could tutor you?"

"Yes. Yes please. Thank you so much." I said almost crying about how happy I was. Matthew smiled at me.

"I'll get you applied to the same school as Jacob so you have some familiarity and I'll set a tutor plan for you later." I nodded sighing a breath of relief, I didn't know I was holding back.

I watched Jacob dump his bowl and spoon in the sink as he slinked past me and whispered in my ear. "You shoulda stayed behind a year. Year tens always get the worst teachers."

I raised an eyebrow at him but he shrugged and walked back upstairs, presumably to his room.

+++

I was hungry. I don't know if it was just my hormones or if it was because I had only been given the scraps of the food my captors didn't like.

I almost jumped with joy when I heard the door open and saw Finn come in with a sandwich on a paper plate.

He placed it down in front of me and I shoved it in my mouth not bothering to chew.

The next few hours I spent throwing up that awful sandwich and what little food they had fed me, in the small bucket in the corner of my room.

By the time I had finished and decided to look up, Finn and Luca we're both in my room. Finn had a disgusting smirk on his face while Luca looked at me as if he had tasted sour milk.

"I can't believe she actually ate that. Girl didn't even bother to smell the sandwich to check if it was still okay, otherwise she would have none the mayonnaise had gone off for two weeks." Finn then proceeded to laugh at me. I felt like I wanted to be sick again, but this time it wasn't the sandwich.

"Finn, I thought I told you not to give that to her. What part of not dead did you not get?"

"Oh shut up, Luca. You're always such a wet blanket on these things. Plus, we didn't waste any food."

"Fine have your stupid laugh, Finn. But you're cleaning this mess up." Luca said staring at my 'mess'. Luca then exited.

Finn squatted down to where I was kneeling in the ground.

"You're cleaning this up, Vanessa, it's your mess." Finn said to me. "I want it all gone in an hour, the soap's under the kitchen sink."

He then left me feeling somehow worse than I was to start with that morning.

+++

"Vanessa? Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" I shook my head at Matthew and leaned my head against the cool window. The vibrations of the car transferring to my forehead.

Matthew's eyes flickered up at me through the rear view mirror.

We were just coming back from the hospital, which is where I got checked up and that awful memory.

The doctor told me that I was lacking in most essential vitamins, particularly in calcium. She said that my bone structure was so weak that it would only take a small shove to break one of my bones.

The doctor gave me a bunch of vitamin tablets and some extra calcium and iron ones too, along with a guide on how many to take each day and what to do if I eat too many.

"Vanessa?" Matthew called out not looking at me.

"Yeah." I answered meekly.

"I signed you up for school and you've been put in the second top class as they work through their lessons particularly quickly so you'll have extra time to catch up. If you feel like that class is too much then just tell me and I'll arrange to have you put somewhere else."

I nodded at him, not telling him that even if I couldn't keep up with the second top class, I wouldn't say anything anyway.

"Jacob is in your class for some classes. As for your options, you will be put in lots of different classes and have to choose one by the end of the year. I know that's a lot of pressure but at the moment we have to focus on getting you up to scratch and the first step is to know which subjects your going to learn."

Options. I hadn't even thought of that. I knew that I had two main options and then had to choose a humanity and language.

"Is that all okay, Vanessa?" I nodded my head.

"Okay, you start tomorrow. Your uniform and bag have been supplied by the school."

I suddenly felt a huge wave of regret. Maybe I should've chosen to move down a year or two.

a/n: I know it's been a long time but I have just had the half termly assessments and let me tell you they are no walk in the park. Oh, how fun GCSEs will be!

And I think that I'm going to give up on that alternating stories thing. Cause I've already lost track of which story I'm meant to be updating.

chapter release date = 22/03/19