Young Writers Society

This is my latest entry to Tracy Beaker Returns that I have made. It is my prediction to what I think will happen in Friday's episode on the 20th of January 2012.



Liam stepped out into the sunshine of a Wednesday morning, off to his life of scamming and troublemaking. He wasn’t with Frank because he had to go with Gina to a Special Needs centre. Now, where to start today? As he trailed along the streets, no ideas coming to his head, he saw a figure ahead. This person was holding some stuff and talking to some people.

“Aha!” exclaimed Liam. He had never gone to the business of piracy, and now was the time to begin. He strolled his way over to the man, who he saw was also carrying a transparent polythene bag of DVDs. The man turned around and saw him:

“Wanna buy?”

“Actually, no,” Liam replied. “You see, in fact, I want to help you run this. I know a few people who might want to buy that stash of films, but if you want me to help you, then I should get some of the earnings.”

The people who the man was talking to briskly walked away, while he looked disappointed.

“See, you just made me lose potential customers...”

“Oh sorry,” said, Liam, not looking contrite at all. “But there are things that you should know. Never deal illegal things around here. The police have been keeping watch in this area ever since I tried to joyride the van from Argos.”

“What?” the man looked puzzled. “Look, let’s talk about this somewhere else. If you want me to bring you into the pirate-DVD-selling experience, then it’s best not to tell your parents. Come, I’ll take you to my boss. He’s just ‘round the corner.”

A man, in his late twenties, wearing sunglasses was the boss. He saw two people going towards him. One of them was his partner-in-crime.

“Hey, Josh, who’s your friend?”

The man replied “Er, this is...”

“Liam,” continued Liam. “And I noticed that your friend over here was not doing well in his selling-DVDs-on-the-street routine. I think that I have to teach him a few things.”

The boss looked at Liam. “You... look a bit familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?”

Liam uttered, “No one recognises me here unless they’re a copper. Hang on; is my picture in any wanted posters? Already?”

The man took off his sunglasses. “I know you. Liam O’Donovan. I’m your brother!”

*

At the Dumping Ground office, Tracy was speaking to the man who had claimed that Liam was his brother.

“Are you totally sure of this? Because I have been reading Liam’s file ever since I first came here and it never mentioned any siblings of his.” Mike also added, “And how did you even find Liam?” The man, who named himself as Gary, spoke up.

“I was only 14 when Liam was born. He got taken into care when he was about four years old, so that’s why he probably didn’t remember me. I have been trying to find him all these years, but I was in and out of prison, so I couldn’t. I still currently am in prison.”

Tracy’s eyes widened. “What? Have you just done a runner?”

“No, no, look.” He lifted a trouser leg, which revealed an electronic tag. Mike stood up from his chair. “You should not me here any longer. We do not know why you’ve been sent to prison...”

“GBH,” Gary interrupted. “That’s grievous Bodily Harm. I knifed a guy a few years back...” Now it was Tracy’s turn to interrupt. “OK. You have to go now. You’re a danger to the kids here. You might not even be Liam’s brother.”

“He is,” said a voice from the door. Liam had walked in, carrying a photograph. “Look,” he showed Mike and Tracy. “It’s a picture of me when I was really young.” The photo showed a picture of a family composed of 3 people: a boy of 2 years (Liam), a teenager and a single parent, a mother. The teenager had a striking resemblance to Gary.

“It was always a mystery to me,” continued Liam. “I never knew who the other boy in the photo was.”

*

The kids from Elm Tree House had heard the news. “I wouldn’t want to talk to him if he was my brother,” said Tyler. “He appears after like, ten years, and Liam doesn’t even know him.”

“That’s cos he was in prison,” said Tee. “He probably didn’t even know where Liam was all this time.”

“Does that mean that Liam doesn’t have to live here anymore because he’s got his brother?” asked Carmen.

“No,” said Tracy, coming into the living room. “He’s on electronic tag which means that he has to go back to prison soon.”

“Tracy! Tracy!” Gus came into the room frantically. “There’s a body in the garden!”

Everyone rushed to the garden, Gus pointed to the area where they had found a bag load of money the year before. Tracy said, “Stand back everyone, I’m going to check what’s there.” She cautiously crept through the bushed and found a man lying on the floor. He was not dead though, but he looked it. There was blood all over his face and it looked like someone had stabbed him repeatedly.

Tracy said, “It’s alright, I’ll just get some help.” She went back to everyone who was standing in the centre of the garden.

“Everyone, he’s not dead. Call the police, he’s badly hurt.”

*

After the ambulance arrived, Tracy went with them to ask the man a few questions. But he couldn’t answer until after they stitched him.

At the Dumping Ground, Liam went out with Gary so that they could scam people with pirate DVDs.

“The way I do it,” explained Liam, “is that we go to people’s house and sell them. We say that the money goes to help the orphanage.”

“Good idea,” said Gary. “Where shall we start?”

Liam said, “Let’s try the neighbourhood near Cliffside.”

They walked down the suburban streets and found some houses. Liam knocked on one door. A lady who was about 30-something years old answered. “Hello?”

Liam said, “Hi, we’re selling some DVDs to people to help save the local orphanage. Would you like to buy any? It’s only £5.”

The lady dropped her mug of tea. “You—!” she looked past Liam and recognised Gary. “What are you doing here? You tried to kill my brother!”

“What?” Liam looked at Gary. Gary said, “Quick, we better get out of here.” They ran out of those streets, and returned to the shopping centre.

“Liam,” said Gary. “A few years ago, I used to be involved with some gangs and stuff. We used to go around starting trouble, and one day I eventually stabbed someone. I got in a lot of trouble for it, which is why I went to prison. I didn’t know that relatives of the man that I stabbed lived in that area, so it’s not safe for me to go back there. There are people out to get me, and I can’t afford another accident now that I’m out on tag.”

Liam stopped for a moment. “Why did you even have to be in gangs in the first place? If you really had a brother that you were looking for, you wouldn’t have wasted all your time. If you found me earlier, I could have been out of here years ago instead of going with Frank to places where we could scam people. I heard you tell Mike and Tracy that you were in and out of prison all these years. Why?”

Gary said, “I didn’t know if I was going to find you again. Especially after our mum ran away to live with her new boyfriend.”

Liam had a shocked expression on his face. “Mum ran away? In my first care hoe, they told me that mum died!”

“I never knew that. I don’t know how to explain it to you, but mum got so sick of us that she left. I came back one day from college one day and the whole house was empty. There wasn’t any note saying where you had gone...”

*

In the hospital, the victim finally spoke to Tracy. “It was a man. He had two knives on him. He said he was going to kill me.”

Tracy asked, “What were you even doing outside Elm Tree House anyway?”

He replied, “I was meant to be a new social worker for one of the residents. His name’s Liam O’Donovan.”

Tracy said, “What? His brother’s just been around the house because he’s finally met him. Could that be anything got to do with your attack? Gary’s just been out of prison.”

The man said, “What? If his brother’s really found him, then Liam is in danger. He can’t be with him, the government even made a court order that rules against Gary from even speaking to Liam.”

“Why?” asked Tracy quizzically.

“He’s violent! That’s why he was in prison in the first place. In his prison file, it clearly states that he must not be in contact with any members of his family, if he has any. He came that close to nearly killing his last victim.”

“One more thing. Can you describe the man who attacked you?”

“Well, he was quite short and he was wearing as green hoodie. And he had a scar on his forehead. He was asking why I was going to the Elm Tree House. I told him that it was none of his business; I was just going to be anew social worker for a boy called Liam. That’s when he attacked me.”

*

At the Dumping Ground, Tracy spoke to Gina and Mike. “... and he said that he was Liam’s new social worker. I explained that Liam had just gone out with his brother when he mentioned something about a court order. I don’t even think that we should have let Liam go with him.”

Gina said “So what do we do now? Call the police? They could be anywhere!”

Just then, there was a knock on the front door. Tracy rushed to answer it and saw that it was Liam and Gary. “You!” Tracy pointed at Gary. “You never told us about tat Court order. You’re gonna have to leave. Don’t come in.” He came in anyway. “You can’t be here!” Tracy protested.

Mike said, “I’ll take over.” He turned to Liam.” Liam, your social worker was going to arrive here, but on his way he got attacked by a man with two knives. He also said...”

Liam interrupted. “What did the man look like?”

Tracy described him the way the social worker did. “

“Josh,” whispered Gary.

“What did you say?” inquired Tracy.

Liam said, “He said Josh. His partner in crime. He’s the guy that led me to Gary. And he did have a scar above his forehead!”

“Don’t even think of running away,” Tracy said to Gary.”You’re on tag; the police will find you so easily.”

The police arrived soon. Just before they took away Gary, Liam asked him, “Why would you tell josh to kill anyone who would interfere between us? That’s no right.”

Gary said, “If it wasn’t for him, they would have told you about that court order. And we’d never see each other.”

Liam said, “I found out about the court order anyway. I didn’t know you could be so violent. Then again, I didn’t know you at all until today. I mean, you lived a life of crime ever since you were like a teenager. I know I’ve done a lot of bad stud, but I’d never use a knife on someone.”

One female policewoman took him away and the male one said, “We’ve taken your description of ‘Josh’. We’ll find him soon, and he’ll be in the nick.”

Elektra came downstairs. “At least I don’t have n older brother. I wouldn’t need anyone else to protect me.”

“Shut it,” said Liam, who was more disappointed that he didn’t get to sell any DVDs.

“For Liam’s safety,” said Tracy, “Is it better to send him to another care home?”

“I wouldn’t think so," answered Mike. “His brother’s going back to prison, and Liam might not even hear from him again.”

Liam, in his room, looked out of his window as the police van took his brother away.