Episode one - The beginning

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From the day I was born until the age of 6, my life was filled with love, encouragement and happiness, it  was just me, my mum and my dad we were content, we lived in a semidetached house in Workington, Cumbria nothing special it had a driveway, a back garden, and my favorite thing was it had a beautiful blossom tree that only ever bloomed in spring, I used to love it when the petals began to fall off they it was like pink confetti covering the whole garden, my mum and dad told me tales of animals talking, of a mermaid becoming human in order to marry a prince, a beast who met a maid fell in love and as  always they LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER! isn't that how the stories and tale's end.  Well, mine was just beginning, and it turned to be the worst day of my life when I found myself alone.  I woke up as usual, hopped out of bed, made sure I had Gus, Gus my teddy penguin with me, wherever I went he  went, I put my favorite blue slippers on granted they were on the wrong feet but still I put them on I was always getting mixed up between left and right, my mummy said as long as I put them on I could work out which feet were the right feet later, I ran to my parents room for a snuggle as always, but when I got there, they weren't there, so I began to walk down the stairs, "mummy!? ... daddy!?" I shouted but no one answered, I carried on walking down the stairs, as I reached the bottom, everything was a mess and  smashed up, it looked like a heard of elephants had run through the bottom half of the house, as I walked around, I shouted for my mum and dad again but again no one was there, I sat on the bottom step of the stairs and snuggled into Gus, Gus, then I remembered what my mum had told me 'If you ever find yourself alone and scared, phone the police'. I walked towards the telephone and began to push the buttons, a woman answered  "Hello, my name is Sarah, can I ask what your emergency is please?!" a woman said as she answered the phone  "hello" I said softly  "Hello who is it I am speaking to?" she asked me  "My name is Elisha willow; my mummy and daddy have disappeared and ... and... the house is broken" I said  "OK sweetheart how old are you?" she asked  "I'm 6... I am... I'm" (I begin to cry and sniffle) "I'm really scared I want my mammy and daddy" I said through my tears  "it's OK sweetheart, I'll get someone to come and make sure your OK do you know where you live?!" she said concerned  "36 Wilson Street" I said  "Good girl... Well, done sweetheart you're a clever girl, I have sent a police car round to your house OK?! do you think you can you stay on the telephone and talk to me until they come?!" she asked  "OK" I answered  "So, Elisha can you tell me if anything different happened last night with your mummy and daddy before you went to sleep?!" she asked me  I paused to think about it for a moment "no it was the same, we played in the garden until it went dark, and daddy carried me to bed" I said  "OK sweetheart that's fine, so what is your favorite thing to do with mummy and daddy, ?!" she asked me I smiled  "I love lots of things, but my daddy tells lots of jokes that mummy never gets, and mummy always makes me and daddy breakfast in bed because when daddy makes it, he burns the toast, and we all snuggle together!" I said then went quiet, a sad expression formed on my face  "Elisha are you still their sweetheart?!" Sarah said worried I had gotten off the phone  "Will I see my mummy and daddy again?!" I said between sniffing and wiping my eyes,  "Oh, sweetie I don't know but I promise you we will do everything we can to find them" she said  suddenly there was a knock at the door,  "Sarah there is someone knocking on the door" I told her  "Right sweetie you put the phone on the table and open the door and give the police officer the phone when you come back so I can talk to him?!" Sarah instructed me,  "OK" I said  "Good girl" I placed the phone on the table, and I walked to the door pulled a chair so could reach the latch and opened it, I moved the chair out of the  way, waiting on the other side was a man and a woman in their uniform, the police officer bent down and  said "hello sweetheart, my name is Luke, and this is my friend, Emily can we come in to check and see if you are, OK?" I ran straight to him giving him a hug, I wanted to feel safe and the way he looked at me, I knew I felt safe he held on to me tight and I cried, Emily walked in to answer the phone and Luke stood up with me and brought me into the house, Emily finished on the phone with Sarah and she placed the phone back on its stand and began to look around, they saw that everything was a mess, there were books everywhere glass from drinking glasses and photo frames all over the place she also seen stains and knew exactly  what they were, she radioed in for a CSI team, back up and an ambulance, by the time they turned up, I was asleep in Luke's arms, I woke up, I was laid on my bed with Luke and Emily looking at me  "Hey, sleeping beauty" Luke said softly  I smiled "hi... have you found my mummy and daddy yet"  "No not yet sweetie but we will do everything we can to find them ...Elisha Emily and I have found out that you have an aunt who does not live that far from here, she lives in the lakes, on Lake Windermere, so because your only little that is where we must take you until we find out what happened here, why  don't you go with Emily and pick out your favorite clothes to put in a bag" I nodded jump down from my bed took hold of Emily's hand and we began gathering things to take with me, Emily found a suitcase, I was filling my backpack up, Emily pulled clothes out of the draws and packed them in the suitcase for me, I ran to my mum and dads room I took a few things and put them in with my clothes, and the last  thing I picked up was a photo frame with a picture of all of us in it, it always sat next to my bed, Emily took my hand again and helped me down the stairs, when we reached the bottom, Luke was waiting for us, he picked me up and carried me to the car, he placed me in the car put my back pack and huge suitcase in the back and we set off to go to my aunts,  I never knew I had and aunt, I wonder what she is like... Still in the police car with Emily and Luke, we began to drive down a Lonning, we reached 2 huge iron gates that were open already, we drove into the driveway, it was in the shape of a ring, a huge fountain stood  in the middle of a grass island on the driveway, the fountain was very modern the top part of the fountain had a huge, crescent moon and what looked like a wolf with wings cut out into it, the water flowed from the top of it, the house well it looked more like a hotel than a house, it was symmetrical in its design there  we are nothing but glass doors along the bottom half of the house front and back and I say front to back, because you could see straight through to the garden and what looked like a lake that the house overlooked, there were  large windows for the bedrooms, some had balcony's, some didn't and there was a huge rectangular window above the door also front and back with staircases and landings leading to the 11 different floors, the front door was made of oak it had small boxes cut out that were filled with glass and a silver bar handle, there were stone steps leading up to the door, and beside the stone steps there were two huge doors one which was a garage for the house, the other was the kitchen and servant quarters, Luke helped me out, got my case and backpack, Emily came around the car and joined us in front of the house, we looked in awe and climbed the staircase up to the door Luke pressed the door bell, an older woman wearing black pants, a white shirt, an apron and black shoes answered the door, she was and older looking woman, her hair was a beautiful chocolate brown color, her eyes were blue, she was shorter than Luke but taller that Emily,  "Hello, my name is Anna can I help you?!" she said  "Hello Anna yes is the lady of the house in Mrs. Scarlett Williams?!" Luke asked her "yes come in and I will go and get her for you" she replied I watched as she walked off towards what looked like a sofa,  Luke, Emily and I stepped into the house. it was very grand all modern decor, it was one huge room that was set to areas, sectioned and standing in the middle that greeted us all as we walked in was the  grandest staircase I have ever seen, it was white marble steps which led to the huge window, that sat at the top of the stairs there was curtains that hung either side and what looked like a window seat set back from the landing at the top of the stairs, I was about to ask Emily a question when anna came back with someone I could only assume was my aunt, she was very stern in her expression and body language, she wore a rather tight, short black dress, thigh boots and a long shawl which was dropped over her shoulders, she had purple eyes, her make-up was exaggerated, her nails were like knives pointed in shape  "Mrs. scarlet Williams?!" Luke asked  "Yes, what can I do for you?" yes, she said unamused  "My name is constable Luke Rowell, this is my colleague constable Emily Thrift, we have some news about your sister and her husband, they have disappeared, this little girl is your niece, she has  only you to look after her, we are opening an investigation, looking into how your sister and brother-in-law have disappeared and if we can bring them home" Luke explained  scarlet looked at me in disgust, Luke finished what he was saying, she looked at each of us in turn, we waited for what felt like a lifetime, she finally spoke  "My sister and I have not spoken for 8 years; I despise my sister her husband and her rat offspring (looking at me) I will not bring this child into my home she will disrupt my life" scarlet said sternly  "But if you do not take her, she will go into the system and go into Foster care" Luke said  Scarlet filled with rage "I DO NOT CARE THAT LITTLE s**t IS NOT STAYING HERE A MOMENT LONGER NEITHER ARE YOU NOW GET OUT!!!" she shouted at the top of her voice  "We are very sorry to have bothered you, we will take our leave" Luke said and looked at Emily then at me,  we were about to take our leave when scarlet changed her mind suddenly,  scarlet "er ... you! ...wait hold on a moment I am sorry for my outburst but there is a lot of bad blood between my sister and I, however that in no way should affect me in the way I treat my niece, it isn't her fault I will take her in until her parents can be found if they are not found then we can come to a different decision"  "Your very kind" Emily stated  "come girl, see me and Anna" I was reluctant to go to them something about scarlet did not ring true with me but Anna made a funny face I smiled and walked over to her she gave me a hug and took the bag from Emily, Luke placed my suitcase beside Anna and he kneeled in front of me "well little bud this is where we part ways but I will be in touch with your aunt to update her on the case," he held out his hand as a high 5, I excitedly gave him a hi 5 back,  Emily gave me a hug and they both left waving from the car, soon they left a were driving down the road. Scarlet looked at me with disgust and anger in her eyes, she grabbed me from Anna and grabbed hold of my hair forcefully  "Right, you little brat you will do as your told and never disobey me" she then let go of me I was crying the next thing I felt was a hand across my face the slap echoed against the walls of the huge room we were standing in "STOP CRYING YOU LITTLE RAT! Anna takes her to the attic room get her set up and she will work with you" scarlet said  "Yes ma'am'" Anna answered  Anna took my hand, my suitcase and walked up the stairs with me, up to the attic when Anna knew we were far enough away from scarlet she began to talk to me.  "So, what's your name little one?!" she asked me I sniffle and said "Elisha"  "What a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl?" I smiled a little  I looked up at her she smiled back  "Thank you" I said  we carried on going up to the attic another 10 floors later we reached the attic it was a storage room for things like Christmas decorations, old beds from the many bedrooms and old mattresses, in the corner stood two huge copper containers with a metal fence around them, the best part was on the  back of the house a huge Velux window with a small balcony outside, it was unused and needed a little TLC, it stood overlooking lake Windermere it was the largest lake in the lake district, I  stood taking in my surroundings Anna watched me, I looked up at her, "I know it's not a lot of sweethearts, but I'll make sure you have some comforts, it can be our little secret?!" she said I nodded and said "OK"  Anna, helped me set a bed well if you could call it that it was more like a cot it was the only thing we could put together, the parts of bed and mattress that we had in the room had parts missing and weren't able to fit together to make one bed so we improvised, all I needed was some sheets to go on it, "stay here I will go and get some blankets and sheets" Anna said as she walked away, when Anna returned she found a set of drawers that were in the back of the attic and began to unpack my clothes in to them, I sat on my bed with Gus, Gus looking at the photo I brought with me, I began to  cry, Anna heard me and came over to see what the matter was "aww come on sweetheart" as she came and sat on the bed with me "your mummy and daddy  will be back for you when the time is right, you be a brave girl and be patient and they will be back" I nodded my head and wiped the tears from eyes.  "Come on why don't we go to the kitchen and meet everyone, and do some baking" she asked I nodded, and my face lit up like it always did whenever mum mentioned baking with her and my dad...  I walked into the kitchen with Anna, there were people bustling around getting ready for the evening  ahead, Anna stood beside me squeezed my hand a little to reassure me that I would be safe, then a man  walked over to us, "Elisha this is my husband Billy, he is the chef" Anna said "hello" I said to Billy  "Well, hello little one, it is very nice to meet you (he looked at Gus Gus) and who do we have here?!" he asked  "Gus, Gus is my bestest friend in the whole world, he likes to be very cold"  "Well, you let me know if Gus, Gus gets hot and will let him use my freezer over there" he said Billy was very kind he had white/grey hair well from what I could see dangling from under his chef's hat with green eyes, he was very tall, he wore a chef's uniform and Billy embroidered on his jacket,  I nodded and said "thank you" that afternoon we baked biscuits and pastries for the guest that were to arrive that night I met everyone who worked at the house of course there was Anna, and Billy, together they had Jake he is 10 years old and very tall for his age, he has brown hair, Hazel eyes, he loves to play football, and is captain of his team at school, next there was George or Georgie as I called him he's the chauffeur he drives scarlet around where she wants to go and in the words of George he never enjoys the trips, he was very tall, very funny, brown hair, brown eyes he also helped Billy in the kitchen cooking, Emily is a maid at the Manor, she came from London, a few months ago she and Anna were the only girls until I turned up, Emily was so kind to me when I first came, she was only 18 years old, she has shoulder length blonde hair, blue eyes, she has some freckles across the tops of her cheeks and she is very petite, last but not least is Allister he is like Georgie, a chauffeur or butler whatever scarlet wanted at the time, he was tall skinny, anna told me he was what many would call albino he had pure white hair and brown eyes I instantly loved each of them,  Jake and me instantly became best friends, we began playing,  hide and seek, I wandered into the main hall and didn't realize I had, I walked over to Scarlett at the table, she was surrounded by all of her guests, I tugged on her dress she looked at me, she got up, some of her guests had spotted me so when scarlet turned around she instantly got mad "would you excuse me for just one second" she said to her guests she smiled through gritted teeth as she, grabbed hold of my arm held my arm so tight, I had begun to cry, when we were out of sight she slapped me across the face and pushed me to the ground I was so frightened, my face hurt and it was bleeding,  "You are never to do that again do you hear me" she said so angry at me for disturbing her, I never spoke a word I just nodded. Once scarlet walked away, I ran to the kitchen, I had begun to cry, scarlet had burst my nose and lip and had  gave me an already bruising eye, when Anna seen me, she ran to me and hoisted me up in her arms  "Elisha sweetie what happened?!" Anna asked me  "The lady upstairs did it ... she hurt my face; I was playing with Jake.... I was hiding, I thinked she had saw him" I said  Anna looked at me then Billy then back at me "OK sweetheart how about we get some cream to go on your little face you have your dinner, a bath and bedtime" Anna said to me, I nodded sniffing still tears falling down my cheeks  "Elisha sweetheart Scarlet isn't like mummy OK so from now on how about we try and keep out of her way?!" I nodded and said "OK"  After Anna cleaned my lip and my nose, she put a cold compress on my eye and once she had finished sorting me out, she took me upstairs to her room I washed myself while Anna washed and brushed my hair, then she helped me dress for bed she carried me upstairs with Jake, she tucked me in we said our good nights soon after,  I fell straight into a deep sleep... 
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