Echoes in the Woods by Georgina Scott (ebook reader web txt) 📕

and didn’t speak much to each other. It was the little things at first, with not drying the plates properly, for that you got a poke and a tongue lashing, “Do it again,” Mrs Currie would shout.

The kids didn’t have time to play like other children outside the hours of school. From morning to night, they had constant chores in and outside of the house. Overtime, the pokes turned into slaps, and then the slaps turned into punches. Sometimes they would be whipped with a cane for no reason. The bruising, cuts and sores were missed or ignored by the school and Social Services.

Mr and Mrs Currie were pillars of the community. She worked part-time and he was a councillor. Everyone said they were brave taking in three foster kids. It was all for show; the only time the boys were allowed to behave like normal children was when they had company and that was not very often. Mr and Mrs Currie didn’t have any children of their own; Mrs Currie could not conceive, they spent thousands on IVF and when that didn’t work they paid for a surrogate, Mrs Currie was traumatised and bereft with grief when the baby was stillborn.

Over time, she became desperate, bitter and very sad. She turned to the Catholic Church for support and guidance. The church was on good terms with the care home and introduced Mr and Mrs Currie to the idea of fostering. They both agreed to take a stern harsh approach when it came to raising the boys; they didn’t realise they took it too far and turned their punishment into cruelty.

One of the boys decided he had had enough and ran away. The police picked him up two and a half hours later. He showed and told the authorities of the cruelty and punishments and said he wouldn’t go back. The police and Social Services opened up an investigation; they were shocked by what they discovered. The three boys were separated and placed back into the care system.

Wilf was again almost immediately placed with his second fostered family, Mr and Mrs Jameson and had been with them now for almost three years. He liked the Jamesons; again they had no children of their own. They were good people and didn’t believe in punishments but rather a bohemian approach to parenting, you sat around the kitchen table and talked things through. There wasn’t really any rules or boundaries, but three things Mr Jameson insisted on and that was that Wilf must attend school; dinner was at 5 pm and not to be missed, and he must be home for 9 pm.

After school was his time and at weekends they would do family stuff together like going to parks, cycling, hiking, museums and anything that had a historical interest, they would go and see. Wilf, however, was bored most of the time when going to these places of interest but he indulged them.

Jake monitored him over the week and discovered that Wilf and Heather were becoming close. When the others were out of sight they would hold hands down the street, on the way to Heather’s house but would take the longer route. Wilf then pecked her on the cheek before heading home himself.

Wilf and Heather both met up again after 6 pm to 8:30 pm, both walking hand in hand along the canal, talking and laughing; the rest of the gang were nowhere to be seen.

***

Natasha Cley was a really pretty girl; pot doll looks with long blonde hair and a slim frame. The boys drooled over her and the girls hated her, not because of the way she looked but because she was a horrible person. This was her third school, expelled from two private schools for bullying and violence towards other pupils, there was also a rumour of a sexual relationship with the maths teacher, Mr Bone, but that was just a rumour. Due to her appalling reputation no other private school would take her, no matter how much money her parents offered them. She had no other option but to be enrolled into the local comprehensive school, where she felt superior to everyone else.

Both of her parents were solicitors and financially comfortable. They were at the top of their profession, both senior partners. They lived at Cathedral View, which used to be an old barn and sat on ten-acres, now converted into a four bedroom with indoor swimming pool and library. She had her own walk-in wardrobe and bathroom. She was the second of three girls. Her sisters, Felicity and Penelope, equally attractive, would tease her and pull her hair for being expelled and had to go to the local comprehensive.

She hated the teasing which made her feel insecure and depressed. She isolated herself from her family and would, most days, stay in her room when she was home. Her old friends wouldn’t have anything to do with her and she wasn’t invited to parties as now they considered her not one of them, which depressed her even more. The only enjoyment she had was riding her horse.

Kruger was a big horse with two-tone colouring of brown and black. He was a feisty fucker with a bad temperament; they both understood each other, he wouldn’t let anyone else ride him, and he was the only thing she cared about. They would ride for hours, she would muck out his stable, feed and groom him.

Natasha always acted like butter wouldn’t melt when she was with her parents. Her sisters on the other hand, knew exactly what she was like and weren’t fooled by her sneaky antics. To get her own back on her sisters, sometimes she would put cat litter or horse shit and smothered it into their bed linen. Her sisters would get their own back by sticking her head down the toilet into pee water then flushing it.

Her father was always shouting at the three of them, sometimes he would have to walk out of