Chapter 10
Cheryl stormed out of the hospital and started pushing her way through the paparazi. ‘Cheryl…Is it true about you and Nadine?...Did Ashley actually beat you?’ were the questions being thrown at her left, right and center. She felt the tears start to fall and quickly started wiping them away hoping that the press hadn’t noticed. She ran until she couldn’t run anymore, her ribs felt like they were on fire and were screaming at her to slow down. She sat on the bench overlooking the park, she watched as the children played on the swings and played a game of tag. She watched as they ran around and span round on the roundabout. She thought about her and Ashley and how much she had always wanted a baby but he had crushed those dreams by raising a thist. She squeezed her eyes shut desperately trying to rid herself of the tears. She couldn’t bare to think of what Nadine was thinking. Nadine had always been scared of commitment, she had never wanted her own children so why would she want that with her and why would she want to help her bring up Ashley’s baby.
She needed some time alone to think but she knew that she wasn’t going to get it here. She slowly picked up her phone and dialed in a number, James? Yeah, it’s Cheryl…I was just wondering if you could drive me back to Newcastle for a few days…Yeah yeah I’m fine…I promise….Thankyou…Yeah I’ll meet you at mine…Thanks again. She finally hung up the phone before getting up and leaving the park. She walked towards her house whilst clutching her ribs that were seriously starting to hurt.She made her way through the gates, she glanced towards the garage that was still smashed in from Nadine’s earlier crash. She took a deep breath as her shoes crunched throyugh the gravel and she made her way towards the front door. Her hand gripped the door handle as she unlocked it and let herself in.
‘Ashley stop’ Cheryl cried, She could feel his grip on her hair getting tighter as he yanked her hair all the way back and pulled her towards the bed. He threw her onto it before clambering on top of her, she could smell the stench of stale beer on his breath as he pushed himself closer to her and sucked on her neck. ‘Now everyone will know that you are mine’ he laughed as tears sprang from Cheryl’s eyes. ‘Please Ashley’ she cried, he just laughed before grabbing her wrists and holding her arms above her head.
The flashback was so vivid as she stepped through the threshold and into the hallway of the home that brought so many bad memories. She quickly ran upstairs as even the shadows in that house scared her. She found herself looking over her shoulder constantly as if she thought someone was going to jump out and attack her. She darted into her bedroom and grabbed a suitcase, chucking as many clothes into it as possible, hoping to get out of that house as quickly as possible. She quickly pulled the suitcase down the stairs and let herself out of the house before making her way towards the waiting car. James loaded her suitcase into the boot whilst Cheryl climbed into the back of the car. She stared at the large mansion as the car slowly moved through the gates and headed towards the signs stating NORTH.
Nadine cuddled into Kim’s arms as she continued to cry, ‘find her Kimba, please’ she cried as she desperately tried to wipe her tears away. Sarah and Nicola watched on in sympathy as Kim held Nadine. Kim looked up and glanced towards them helplessly, Nicola nodded before getting up and taking Kimberley’s place as Kim exited the bare white hospital room. Kim walked out of the hospital and breathed in the fresh air before pushing her way through the many paparazi that were surrounding the doors. She got to her car and climbed into the front seat, she knew exactly where Cheryl would have headed but she wanted to find out for sure before she got Nadine’s hopes up. She took a deep breath before dialing in a number that she knew so well.
