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No one noticed the girl as she walked to her locker at the school. Her long black hair covered the scar on her eye, the one that caused her left eye to be useless. She pushed her hair behind her ear, hitting the newest piercing in it, the fourth, which had become infected. She winced but did not cry out. She unlocked her locker, and pulled her bag out and the books that she would need for the weekend. “Move Jamie” A voice said sharply from behind. Jamie turned to see Keira, the girl who was always on her back, giving her more crap then any other. Jamie ignored her, and closed her locker slowly. She then walked away. “Hey I want to talk to you” Kirra called.
Jamie continued to walk away. Keira, becoming angry, pushed Jamie down the step. Jamie turned and punched out at Keira, catching her in the chest, hard. Keira collapsed, unable to breath. Jamie continued on her way.

She pulled out her C.D collection, and browsed through them. She found her Meteora album, by Linkin Park, and put it into the walkman. Jamie looked into her mirror. She smiled, a little and her whole face changed. She looked hotter, according to her boyfriend, Thomas, when she smiled. She could not see why people would say that, but she did not argue with him. Her mobile rang, and she looked at it, it was Tomas. “Hey Tommy” Jamie said, as she picked up
“Hey babe, are you coming to Lauren’s party tonight?”
“Yeah… I think I might…. Herron’s going too right?”
“She is”
“Ok, well I’ll see you when you pick me up at seven” Jamie said
“If not sooner” Tommy said with a laugh. “See you”

Luke was a cruel man. Sarah, Jamie’s mother, loved him, and was never going to leave him, but Jamie hated him. She believed Luke treated the animals better then he treated her, and it made her angry. If anyone could read her stories, her diary, they would see a completely different side to the girl who was known at school as ‘Emo freak’, or ‘Goth’. In reality, she was neither of these things, but trying to get people to see how she felt, was difficult. She could not scream it had been taken from her a long time ago. Jamie was trapped in the darkness. She had run away from home on numerous occasions, making herself well known to the police. But to Jamie it seemed as if they did not care. They just took her home, and the cycle just began again. There was not ever going to be an end. So after awhile she had stopped running away.  Luke was not her father. He was not even her stepfather, even though he had been with Jamie’s mother for almost seventeen years. Jamie’s father was an unknown person, and if Jamie was honest with herself, she did not really care. Luke was telling her that, as usual, she looked like a slut, and that the guys would be paying to sleep with her. With an up-yours gesture at him, and at her mother, who was giggling at her boyfriends comment, Jamie headed for the door. Luke was too fast for her. He pushed her against the wall and punched her good eye “Never make that gesture at your mother and I again, understand” Luke hissed, punching her in the stomach. Jamie replied in kind, spitting in his face. She then opened the door, and walked out to the car, where Tommy was waiting.
“He beat you again,” Tommy said, seeing the silent fury in Jamie’s eyes.
“Shut up and drive,” She snapped. The decision had been made, in Jamie’s eyes. There was no going back now.

Dt. Manuel Rhode, the newest member of the Outreach City Police Station, looked at the girl who had been brought in. She had been identified by a number of his co-workers as Jamie Nathanial, a trouble-making run away. They’d suggested for Manuel to just take her home, and forget about her until the next time they had to pick her up, But Rhode was new, and still believed in ‘Serve and Protect’. Jamie could not believe that the new detective was planning to talk to her. She was high though, on E, and Heroin, and she did not really give. But she was coming down now, and it was worse than usual. Jamie was kicking herself for mixing the E with the alcohol Herron had brought her. Heroin with alcohol that was fine for her, but E was a bad idea. She just finished injecting more heroin into her system when the detective walked in with some coffee. “Extra strong” He said placing it in front of her. She downed it, and put the cup forcefully on the table where she was sitting. “Having fun coming down?” He asked
“Screw you,” Jamie said.
“Well, if you want to spend the rest of the year in a Juvenile detention centre, then keep this nice behaviour up” detective Rhode told her.
Jamie looked at him surprised “You’re not going to just take me home? Keller won’t be happy about that.” Keller was the officer in charge of Outreach City Police Station, and was Jamie’s worst nightmare. “Keller will get over it” Rhode said
Jamie grinned. Through the drugged haze, this guy seemed all right. ‘Course he was green, and the green ones were always ‘alright’. Her head began to fall onto the table. “Hey!”
Rhode said poking her. Jamie stopped breathing, and Rhode yelled for an ambulance.

“She aint worth all this trouble” Luke grumbled as they waited for the doctors to finish checking over Jamie. “He’s right” Sarah agreed “We can’t afford any of this… let her die”
“This is your daughter, and your saying just let her die?” Manuel said angrily “No wonder the girls out of control. I’d charge you with neglect, but that would be actually the understatement of the centaury I think”
“We’ve fed her and given her a roof over her head, that’s all a kid needs. If they get more than that then she’s bloody spoilt if you ask me” Luke said. “That walkman, all her clothes, she paid for them herself since she’s been old enough to work... kid’s gotta learn the world’s crap so get over it”
Manuel knew that Luke was just trying to get him angry. It was working, but he still had the badge on, and so had to keep his temper. He sighed, and walked away from Luke and went to the waiting room. He placed his head onto the vending machine and pressed the buttons for a chocolate bar. He sighed as he noticed his phone begin to ring. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” her voice was harsh, angry even.
“Eliza, A case came up… I’m sorry”
“A case? Our future is less important than a case? Well it’s nice to know where I stand”
Manuel sighed, “I don’t have time for this right now. A girl is in hospital from a drug ovedose, Her parents don’t give a damn, and I have to get a statement off her, So I’ll call you later”
Eliza seemed a little more sullen when Manuel said this “Bye”
Manuel walked back to wait for news on Jamie.

Hours later Jamie managed to wake up. Pain was quick to catch up with her. She groaned. “Nice to see you again” Detective Rhode said.
“You still trying to question me?”
“Yes, well you rudely passed out before we got to talk, didn’t you. Lucky for you I was lucky enough to meet your parents”
“Parent” Jamie immediately corrected. “And parent’s partner”
“Parent and parent’s partner” Rhode agreed. “They were far more pleasant then you”
Jamie picked up on the sarcasm and decided to fight fire with fire “Your not so bad yourself”
Detective Rhode smiled, and nodded “I’ll give you that… How about you and I begin again?”
Jamie nodded “Alright” She agreed.

Jamie was let out of hospital a day later. The moment she got home she went into her room and began to chuck the belongings that she needed into the bag that had been packed since Luke moved in. “What are you doing?” Sarah asked
“I’m moving out”
“Your not old enough to live on your own” Sarah told her
“Too bad” Jamie snapped. “I’m out of here”

Manuel had one of the stupid ‘don’t get into any trouble’ speeches at the local high school. He hated them because he knew the kids only went to them to get out of class. It was the same way he’d felt a few years ago, when he’d been at school. The best way to keep the kids interested, was to shock them, so a few months earlier, at his last post, he had made a video of what he did in a day. He’d chosen one of the worst days on record, when a whole family had died because a drunk, high, teenager had hit them. The kid himself hadn’t survived either. The video showed the viewer everything he’d seen that day. Manuel was surprised, however, to see Jamie in the crowd. He’d figured her to be a skipper, down the street harassing shop owners not at school. He put the video on.

Jamie wandered back into the auditorium as Detective Rhode was packing his stuff up “Cool video” Jamie said. The detective turned and gave her a grin. “Thanks, do you think it worked?”
Jamie shrugged. “Sorry no idea about the others, but I’ll be thinking twice next time I decide to shoot up”
“Good… What were you doing while the video was playing?”
“Writing a song” she said, shrugging.
“You write songs?”
“Yeah… perform them too, at the Jabber bar on Saturday nights”
“Cool” Jamie watched the detective grin. “So You ok?” he asked
“I’m fine” She said. The detective nodded “Good… well because of you I have a huge load of paperwork, so I need to get going.”
“See ya” Jamie watched the Detective leave.

The Jarra bar was the meeting place of all of the worst types of people. Frequent raids on the place, revealed many wanted persons, and loads of drugs, illegal weapons, and other interesting things. Once they had uncovered a graveyard, full of murdered bodies. Another time, people who had been trafficked from many other countries were found in a shed out the back. But it was where Jamie worked, and where, for some reason, she felt safest. As well as the singing, Jamie also served drinks. Sure, she was underage, but as long as she didn’t drink any it wasn’t against the law. According to her boss, Henry. “Hey, Jamie, you nearly ready?” Reed, one of Jamie’s co-workers, asked
“Yep, gimme five.” She said to him. He nodded and walked out of the room. Jamie looked into the mirror, and sighed. She’d decided against having E tonight and was regretting it already.  She stood and walked onto the stage. She was surprised to see Detective Rhode there sitting with a young woman. She figured date. She shook her head and began playing.

She finished her set and went to the bar to get a drink of Josh, the bartender. “best set ever” he said, pouring her drink, Coke mixed with vodka. She may be underage, but if they asked it was just coke. Manuel walked over to her. “Hi” He said
“Hey” Jamie gave him a small smile, and sipped her drink.
“Liked your set.. Your not bad”
“Thanks” She looked over at the girl. “Who’s she?”
“My wife, Eliza”
“She’s hot… if you’re into chicks which I’m not,”
Manuel laughed. “I owed her a date… I got held up last week when I was supposed to take her out”
Jamie laughed “I gotta serve tables for my supper, so I’ll have to get my ass into gear. See you around, Detective.”
“Bye Jamie” The way he said her name, made her think that maybe he really did give a damn she shook it off quickly, and walked behind the bar.

Jamie felt only two subjects were worth her time. Music and Art. She loved them both, but if she had to choose, Art would be her first preference. What more about music could they teach her? Art, on the other hand was full of learning, and Kirra was not in this class. Somehow, all except art they were together. The only thing that she disliked about art was that she had to move her book around so much, because she could not see anything on her left side. The drawing she was working on now was an angel, with cuts and bruises all over her. The Angel’s hair covered the ground, and her eyes were shaded black. The teacher had actually shuddered at the sight of it. Jamie always loved making a teacher feel uncomfortable, so had drawn blood coming from the angels wrists, and a bloody knife on the bottom of the drawing. She’d named it ‘The forgotten one,” and was her pride and joy.  Jamie gently brushed white paint over the wings of the angel. “Mrs Farr? I need to borrow a stapler for Mr King” Kirra said coming into the room. She bumped the white paint over Jamie’s work. Jamie immediately stood, and punched Kirra hard “You ugly stupid…” Jamie screamed at Kirra “I’ll kill you I swear”
Kirra pushed Jamie back and Jamie’s hand went to Kirra’s hair. Jamie pulled hard and ripped it out. Kirra screamed. The teacher finally made it through the crowd of kids that had crowded around them. By the time Jamie and Kirra were separated, Kirra had a black eye; her wrists were bleeding from scratches. Jamie was just looking angry. She suddenly ran out of the room.

Manuel was surprised to find a letter for him at the station a few days after Jamie’s fight with Kirra.
Hey Detective
Guess you didn’t expect to see a letter from me on your desk huh? It’s Jamie by the way, if you didn’t glance at the bottom yet. I just wanted to show you the song that I wrote during your presentation the other day. I think you should see it anyway.

Manuel looked at the next page.

End of the road
Little girl stands quietly
People all around but can not see her
Too busy trying to save her.
No one can see her life is gone

This is the end of the road
This is All that’s her
The body of the little girl

He looks around,
Watching the people try to save her life.
His life depends on it now
His future on hold because of a stupid mistake

This is the end of the road
This is all that’s her
The body of the little girl
This is the end of the road
His whole life gone in a moment

How can you be so stupid?
How could of you been so blind
Just cause you didn’t say no to your friends
Two futures are destroyed forever

This is the end of the road
This is all that’s her
The body of the little girl
This is the end of the road
His whole life gone in a moment
Just because of the body of the little girl

Manuel always hated the rain. It depressed him beyond belief at times, and this weather was no exception. He could hardly see five meters in front of him, and when he climbed out of the car near the bridge, where he suspected Jamie was, he found that visibility was worse than he suspected. He climbed over the barrier and slid down the hill. Jamie was cleverly sitting under the bridge, her arms tightly around her legs.  He joined her. She didn’t notice him, because he’d come up on her left side. “Jamie” he said, touching her arm. She jumped and her hand went to the small army knife hidden in her bra. “Relax, it’s me detective Rhode”
“Oh right, sorry” she pushed the knife back into it’s spot and turned to look at him “Your wet” she said
“You know, you could easily have my job with observational skills like that”
Jamie grinned. “What do you want?”
“I liked your song” He said “I was wondering if you were interested in recording it”
“are you kidding? Of course I am!” Jamie exclaimed.
“There’s a condition, though”
“There always is” Jamie mumbled, sighing “What is it”
“You have to be clean for 12 months, and that means completely clean, no Heroin, no E, no alcohol, nothing”
Jamie thought about the deal. She nodded after a moment.

Jamie watched Manuel prepare for his presentation to a year 12 class at the private school. He was solemn, the same as he always was before these presentations. He put the DVD into the player, ready for the class as they began streaming into the door. After all the introductions were done Manuel pressed play. She smiled hearing her song being played in the background. It would never be heard by anyone but the people in here, and in all the classes that Manuel took, but it wasn’t as if she minded. Jamie watched the class leave after then walked over to him “You didn’t ask”
“No” he said. Jamie grinned at him. Over the last few years, since their deal under the bridge, She and Manuel had become close friends. Jamie appreciated having the now chief of Outreach city police as a friend. She had begun a youth refuge center a few months ago, somewhere where kids who were almost as messed up as she’d been could stay if they felt like they couldn’t go home. She loved working there. Her life, had finally taken some turns for the better, and she knew, in the end, she might be ok

THE END