Julie was 14 and she had lived with her big brother since they had been orphaned five years ago. Dave was ten years her senior and they had built a very good relationship. Julie had always been quite attention seeking but Dave put that down to losing their parents when she was so young. He concentrated all his spare time and affection on Julie, he was the only one who knew exactly how she felt and this gave them a very tight bond.
As she became a teenager, Dave found he just didn't know how to cope with Julie's mood swings and the constant pushing of the boundaries. Dave started to confide in his work mate, Sophie, and over time they became very close and started dating.
Sophie was a very friendly girl and hoped she could help the siblings get on a little better; perhaps Julie just needed another girl to talk to. Sophie really liked Dave and hoped they could have a future together. Happily Dave felt the same about Sophie; it was lovely to have an adult to share his thoughts and time with.
Julie, however, did not share these thoughts, she loathed everything about Sophie, jealousy oozed out of every blocked pore that Julie had. She had absolutely no intention of sharing her brother with anyone let alone that stupid bitch. She was mortified when she caught the couple doing a 'tonsil tango' as Julie called it; how disgusting!
Dave found himself in an awful situation, he loved them both and he really needed to start living again. Since their parents died Sophie was the first girl he had dated and he had fallen madly in love with her. Surely Julie would come round and would love Sophie too.
Sophie tried everything she could think of to befriend Julie but nothing worked, even if Julie was interested in anything Sophie suggested she wasn't going to let her know it. The only thing Julie wanted was Sophie off the scene, but Dave wouldn't listen. It was the first time that had really locked horns. So Julie made sure she was never in a room on her own with Sophie; storming off and slamming doors were a regular occurrence. The worse the atmosphere became the more triumphant Julie was. She spent more and more time in her bedroom, steeped in resentment and hatred.
The young couple thought it was a good idea to give Julie some space. Julie spent most evenings online chatting. She had made a new friend, a lad called John who said he was 17 and lived in London. Julie felt that he was the only person who understood her, her school friends had become bored with her constant moaning about Sophie. As time passed Julie spent all her time when not at school upstairs on the computer.
Dave and Sophie were relieved that the tantrums had stopped; they thought Julie had knuckled down to getting on with her schoolwork, and had accepted their relationship. This gave them the time to enjoy each other without Julie spoiling things. They always invited her along when they went out, but she never came, saying she had homework to do.
Later on Dave and Sophie would come to regret taking their eye off the ball and not monitoring Julie more closely. After a couple of months Sophie moved in; that was the final straw.
With her fingers flying over the keyboard Julie told John how much she hated her home life; he suggested that she came to visit him in London. Julie was overjoyed but didn't have much money. So over the next two weeks she kept stealing from the local shops and selling the items on at school. She finally had enough money to get a coach to London, John said she wouldn't need any more money as he would look after her once she got there.
Julie decided that to throw everyone off the scent she would sit and endure an evening downstairs, she ate all her dinner and thanked Sophie for it, and even watched a really boring telly programme with them, and then she went off to bed. Dave and Sophie were so happy, finally the ice was thawing. Julie was starting to grow up and things would get better.
The next day Julie got up and behaved perfectly normally, grunted through breakfast and set off for school. Except she had no intention of going to school, she caught the first coach to London. Dave and Sophie didn't realise anything was wrong until around 7 o'clock when they got home from work. By then it was too late, Julie had gone, just disappeared, none of her friends knew where she was.
The young couple were distraught, they contacted the police and a big investigation started, but no information came forward. It was as if Julie had disappeared off the face of the earth.
Three months later and they still had no news. Julie had met John who wasn't 17 he was 43 and he had introduced her to drugs and made her prostitute herself for drug money, even if Julie wanted to go back home she was too ashamed to contact her brother, she dearly wished she could turn the clock back.
Dave and Sophie were heartbroken. All they could do was wait and wonder when or if the three of them would meet again.