A New Life
It’s been four months since the truth came out. If Sandra hadn’t told Hughes what happened then I would be up for felony charges of torture.
Hughes covered up what I did and he put across what happened realistically in court. The court bought it and didn’t question him. It backed up with my story that me, Hughes and my lawyer, Gillian put together.
I was charged with trespassing, but because it was my first official offence, I was let off with a warning, which I was surprised about.
Sandra also backed me up and submitted the recorded file to the court which they listened to. They heard the screams and the shouting and questioned me. I said that I was threatening and aggressive but I did not harm them. When they heard Andrew’s cries they questioned why he screamed and as Gillian told me to say, I said: ‘no comment’.
The outcome was, with a lack of evidence, they could not charge me with torture. But the recording of Tanya and Andrew’s confession and the confession of Simon Cann and Sandra’s version of events was more than enough to send Tanya, Andrew, Simon and Shola all down for a long time.
If it wasn’t for Sandra coming to see me in the institution I would not be here now. I’d be in there or worse. I wish I could thank her properly, but I haven’t seen her since.
If Hughes hadn’t helped me before the police came, I’d be in prison. I did however send him some money to say thanks.
Of course Gillian was a great lawyer who also got a fat pay check for her good work.
Everything is good and more importantly, I got custody of the kids but with the eye of social services watching me - which I can deal with.
As we walk along the river in Surrey, the kids see a park.
“Ah Dad can we go to the park?” Alex shouts, jumping up and down in front of me.
“Well I don’t know; have you been good enough for me?” I say.
“Yes we’ve been so good.”
“Our school reports were really, really, really, really good!” Sammy shouts.
“Were they?” I ask.
“Yes!” They both shout.
“I don’t know, I can’t remember any school reports.”
“Daddy, yeah you do!” Alex shouts running up to me. He grips my hand and looks up to me; his brown eyes glisten. “Please.” He smiles, showing his new grown adult teeth.
“I suppose so, go on then.”
They both scream and run to the park ahead of us.
I jog to keep up with them as they climb over the fence. I walk in through the gate.
“There’s a gate here.” I shout to them.
They giggle and run straight to the climbing frame.
As I walk over to the bench to sit down, I see a blonde woman walking her little dog. But it’s not just any woman, it’s Sandra.
“Kids, stay in the park for a second, do not leave okay?”
“Yes daddy.” They both shout.
I hop over the fence to hear them both shout: “There’s a gate,” with the deepest tone they can manage.
I walk over to her. “Sandy?”
As I say it, she looks up.
“Oh my god, Ryan!” She runs up to me, arms akimbo. I pull her in and hug her tightly.
She pulls her head away from my chest but still keeps a hold of my waist.
“How are you?” She asks.
“I’m great thank you, everything is really good actually. I got the kids back.” I say, pointing to the park. “But it’s all thanks to you Sandy. I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”
“Ryan don’t worry about it. You don’t need to thank me,” she says.
I nod my head and gaze into her tired eyes. “How are you Sandra?” I ask her.
“I’m okay. My divorce went through. Sam’s absolutely gutted about what his dad did, but apart from that it’s all good. I’m so glad to have bumped into you. I’ve been thinking about you so much recently and I’ve needed a friend,” she says.
“Well I’m here for you Sandy and I don’t want to lose contact this time.” I smile and stare into her eyes. “Why don’t you come over and meet the kids? They’ll love you.”
“Oh no I’m sure you won’t want me ruining your day.”
“Oh no you’ve made my day so much better. Please come over, you can come round mine and we’ll have a proper catch up together.”
Sandra looks away and then back at me and then past my shoulder to the kids and then back at me. “Okay why not,” she says smiling.
“Great, come on then, I’ll introduce you to them.” We walk back to the park. Side by side, we wander, letting our hands knock against each other and our shoulders rub, but neither of us pull away, if anything, we edge closer together.
The End