Secrets

Chapter 17 ~ Alesha's PoV

The // means a time skip
All of this has happened to my daughter and nobody knew about it. How did this happen? Somebody should have noticed it. What if someone did notice and didn't say anything? Her dad promised to protect her and he has broken that promise. Why? She was meant to live a normal life with her dad and his family and she hasn't. She got abused by her 'friend'. I left her with them so that they would look after her and protect her from things like this. I didn't want what happened to me to happen to my own daughter, and it has. Why can't life be simple and things like this never happen to anyone in the world?
"Baby girl why didn't you tell anyone? Surely someone would listen to you, this must have been such a hard thing to keep to yourself." Tears were now streaming down both of our faces.
"I couldn't! He would have hurt me even more if I had of told anyone. He said no one would believe me and they'd call me a little liar." Rachel sobbed. I can't believe this man, he is so cruel. Who would hurt a child? Especially at a young age. It would be classed as rape as she was not and still isn't at the legal age to take things further. As her absent mother I feel partially responsible as I wasn't there to protect my baby.
"Rachel darling, your mum would have listened to you. You can tell that she cares about you as her own child. Plus what right would you have to lie about being abused." It's so disgusting that this sicko man has hurt my little girl and put nasty thoughts in her head. She is young and innocent, any young person is likely to believe an older peer.
"Momma I had to keep it quiet or else who knows what he would have done. He might have hurt my family or my friends, I didn't want that to happen." Rachel is crying so much now and I don't know how to calm her down, I have never been in this situation with her before, due to not having her grow up with me around. I just pull her close and rock back and forth with her. She is so fragile. First she was bullied, then she was abused and now she has found out her mum isn't actually her real mother. My poor girl. I sit there holding her and stroking her hair for a while until her crying starts to ease. Mandy walks in and looks at us with a smile on her face but then frowns a bit at seeing Rachel crying and me with a few tears down my face.
"Sorry to disturb you two, but Leesha, you have a job to do. We can't exactly carry on without you." Mandy had to interrupt us didn't she. Well it's not her fault. I should have waited until after work to tell Rachel then I would have been able to get on with my job. Actually I should have kept her and then none of this mess would have happened. She would have been with me and I could have supported her.
"Go on then Momma. I'll be right behind you." Rachel nods towards the door. We stand up and go back to the judges panel. As I sit down Mandy nudges me.
"Did Rachel just call you 'Momma'?" She asks. I guess it sounds so natural that I didn't realise until now. Wow, Rachel called me her mum. This is amazing. I honestly thought she wouldn't adapt to it and would continue calling me 'Leesha' but clearly she has realised its true. Not only did she say it once though. Twice! It was two times I was called 'Momma' by my own daughter. Well if you count the time she said it when she was one then three times. But two times since I told her today.//
There has been about 3 acts since I came back from talking with Rachel, I haven't really focused on their performances as my mind keeps wandering to other places. None of them have gotten through, and when it came to the comments I just used what Amanda said and put it into my own words. This next act better be good, they are dragging on a bit now. A ginger haired boy wearing a suit, walks onto the stage.
"Hello darling, what's your name and how old are you?" Amanda asks.
"Hi, I am Spencer Boyak, I am 18 and I live in Essex."
He looks familiar, why does he look familiar? I can't put my finger on it. Maybe I've seen him on the street somewhere. Or I might have seen him around when I have gone to Essex to see Rachel's dad to talk to him about her.
"Do I know you?" I'm very curious.
"No, I don't think so" He says with a puzzled look on his face.
"Ah ok, never mind." I'm sure I recognise him, I'll probably kick myself when I remember where I've seen him before.
//Spencer did his act, he sung 2 become 1 by the Spice Girls. I thought he was a bit weird, he sort of gave this weird smirk whilst singing it, it was as if he was singing it to someone in the audience. Simon pressed his golden buzzer for Spencer, I don't think that was a good decision, he is an okay singer but he wasn't amazing. I looked around to the audience to check that Rachel was alright, just as Spencer was almost finished singing but she wasn't there. Maybe she didn't really like his song either and went to the toilet during his performance.
"Guys can we have a break, I need the loo." I said to the other judges. I need to find my daughter and check that nothing is wrong.
"Yeah, me too, if I don't go soon then I'll pee on the chair." Amanda said slightly laughing about it.
"Okay, back here in 10 minutes." Simon bluntly stated.
Now to find my little girl.
Authors Note: Well HI.. It's been a long while since I wrote a chapter for my book, I have now finished school for good, so have more time to write my book now. Hope you liked this chapter ❤️