Chapter 2

The world seemed to take years to swim into focus when she opened her eyes the next morning. She tried to get up but the dull throbbing persisted all over. As she lay her head back down on the pillow, a flood of remembrance burst the dam of unacceptance in her mind and drowned her face with tears. The tears came slowly at first, as did the memories. Crystal drops of pain dropped from her eyelashes and skated nervously down the bridge of her nose. More and more images of the night before filled her mind and soon her body was racked with sobs. Through her tears she heard pensive footsteps on the landing outside her bedroom door. ‘Seren?’ her grandmother’s voice inquired, ‘Are you alright?’ At first Seren was shocked by this rare show of concern on the part of her grandmother. When she’d recovered from the surprise, she attempted to muster as much cheer in her voice as she could. ‘I’m fine Nan. I’ll be down soon. She held her breath until she heard her grandmother walked down the stairs muttering to herself. How on earth was she going to tell her grandmother about last night, thought Seren. How on earth am I going to tell her that I was raped? Raped. The word echoed around her head. Her grandmother would say that she was lying. Or if by some chance she did believe her, she’d say that she had led him on and that she was a whore. She’s definitely kick her out of the house. She had always been bitter towards Seren. Seren had been dumped on her after her son, Seren’s father had dies in a coalmining accident. Seren’s mother had run away with a group of ‘hippies’, leaving Seren with her grandmother in the small terraced house in the mining village.

Seren sighed. She looked up through her blurry eyes at the Beatles posters on the walls. Help me Beatles, she whispered under her breath, what am I going to do? She had to escape. Staring into the smiling Beatle eyes on her wall, plans started to form in her head. She had plenty of money in her bank account from her job. She’d been saving up to go to university, something her grandmother disapproved of entirely, but this was more important, this was now. She had enough money, she had good O-Level results, work experience that would help her id a job. Thinking about it, she had the world at her feet. Where could she go? She looked up again at the Beatles poster on the wall. Their smiles promised that there was a world of escape and adventure waiting out there for her. The Beatles would make everything alright, she suddenly thought. They had been a guiding light for her for so long, ever since she’d been a small girl of 11 dancing to I Wanna Hold your Hand, and to the girl of 17 she was now in 1969, trying to find meaning in the world around her. She had to meet the Beatles. She knew she was being stupid, her grandmother’s cynicism had affected her, but she didn’t care. Apple Scruffs. Isn’t that what they called them? The girls who sat around waiting for them? That’s what she’d do.

She knew she’d have to do it now, today, before this new found determination left her. She grabbed her little brown suitcase she’d had since she was a child and started to stuff her belongings into it. It reminded her of when she was a small girl threatening to run away if she’d had an argument with her grandmother or something. But now she really was going away! She zipped the suitcase, looked around the bedroom she’d known all her life, sighed, and shut the door. She’d expected to feel sadder than this. But she felt elated. She ran down the stairs into the kitchen. ‘Nan?’ she asked, searching for her grandmother. It was a Saturday morning. Her grandmother had gone to the market. She breathed a sigh of relief. She hastily scribbled a note.

Nan,

Gone to London to find a job. I will call you as soon as I get there.
Seren

The note was brief. She couldn’t really think of anything else to say. She didn’t know anything else! She knew she was being stupid, running away, no job, nowhere to stay. But with her four guardian angels, she knew she’d be all right. She ran out of the door, took a quick last look at the house, and without a drop of remorse, ran to the bus station.

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