Back to reality

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

Ok, so I am the world's worst sequel up-loader, if there's such thing, lol. But here is the first chapter! I've had it for a while now, but I wasn't sure what you guys would think of it. Finger's crossed that you'll like it! So I won't stall you any longer, read on!

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Chapter 1:

The young woman gasped shakily, putting her hand to her forehead and bringing it back down to find quite a bit of blood on it. She looked at the grubby man next to her. He was bleeding from his mouth and a little from his ears. The floor was covered in the remains of the windscreen and a large tree trunk was now filling its space. The young girl grabbed a bag off the floor and left the car. She looked back at the man she'd hitchhiked with. 'Serves the bastard right.' She thought bitterly. It had been his fault they'd crashed, since he, like many others before him, had tried to make a move on her. Only this time the idiot had taken a hand off the wheel to touch her up and lost control of the car. She set off walking up the long narrow road. Someone would find the wreck eventually.

After a tiring hours walk she found a gas station. She pulled some money out of the bag. She didn't have much left since selling the car. It's not like she'd wanted to sell her uncles car, but she would've died of starvation otherwise, and besides, she had no money to fill it up. She bought a big bottle of coke and a big pack of crisps, deciding to hang around the gas station until she found someone else to hitchhike with. She hoped they'd come quick this time, though, she knew she was nearly there.

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The handsome young blonde exhaled slowly. While everyone else was busying themselves with important jobs around him, he was lost deep in thought. It had been about a year now, a year since she took off, without a single word. She'd left so much behind. Her boyfriend, home, friends, family, and most importantly, her son! Never in a million years did he think she would do that.

"You think you know a person." He muttered under his breath.

"Brae, baby, can you help me with some of these plates?" The cheery young brunette asked, smiling.

"Sure, Cal." He said, perking up a little and giving her a quick kiss. He picked up a plate of party food in each hand and made his way out into the garden where a table was set up, already overflowing with food.

"Here's the birthday boy!" Ava said happily, emerging from the house with baby Sean rested on her hip.

"Come here, big boy!" Bradin said, taking his son in his arms and kissing him on the forehead.

"I can't believe he's one already! He's grown so fast!" Susannah said, beaming at the two of them. At that moment Nikki walked out of the house with a birthday cake, one lit candle on it. They sang 'Happy birthday' and Bradin blew out the candle for Sean.

"Mam." Sean said, reaching out his arms to Callie and repeatedly opening and closing his hands. She chuckled as Bradin passed his son to her, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"No way in hell is my son calling you 'mam'." Everyone turned in shock to look at the source of the voice. Stood at the bottom of the garden was a very worn out looking Demi with only a bag in her hand. Nobody spoke. Demi ignored the uncomfortable feeling as everyone gawped at her. She walked slowly towards them, towards Callie and Sean. Callie didn't try to stop Demi when she lifted Sean out of her arms. "Happy birthday, baby." She said, tears forming in her eyes as she hugged him. The hug lasted no longer than 2 seconds when Sean pushed away, beginning to moan, his bottom lip trembling. "W-what's wrong?"

"He doesn't know you." Bradin said, speaking up for the first time. He took Sean back off her, who rested his head on his dad's shoulder, shying away from the stranger. Bradin's words stung. Of course, she should've expected this. She had taken off and left him for almost a year, how was he supposed to know her? But she'd never planned on this, she never thought she'd be gone this long. She just needed a break! But it was just so hard to get back to normal, she just kept on putting it off until she couldn't avoid it anymore. The thought that she had a son who needed her kept her going all this time, and the fact that he nearly cried when she held him destroyed her.

"Maybe we should go inside, Demi." Johnny said. She looked up at her uncle, surprised at the look she was receiving. He just stared blankly at her, and spoke sternly. She gave a little nod and followed him into the house, able to feel everyone's eyes on her as she walked. He led her to her old room. It looked similar to the way she left it, in the way that her double bed was still there and a lot of her stuff was in the corner, but the rest of it had been invaded by Sean and all of his things, toys littering the floor. "Where've you been, Demi?" He sounded angry, but when Demi looked at it from his point of view, he had every right.

"I-I'm sorry, uncle Johnny, you have every right to be angry."

"Demi I'm furious." He said coldly. "Where've you been? What's gotten into you?"

"I've been going around the country, mostly. At first I was just driving aimlessly, but then I ran out of money and- I'm so sorry, uncle Johnny- I kinda had to sell your car. I've been hitchhiking wherever I could go, but for ages now my only aim was to get home, to you, to Sean," more tears formed in her eyes as she said his name. "to everyone."

"We were all worried sick. You just took off, leaving a son behind!" Johnny shouted, his anger continuing to build. Tears fell down Demi's cheeks. She was determined not to sob, to be as brave as she could. "We've phoned the police and said you're a missing person, put up fliers, went searching for you night after night. We didn't know if you were ever coming back, you could've been dead for all we knew!"

"I know. I can never apologise enough-"

"You're damn right you can't. I can't even begin to tell you how worried we all were. Bradin lost his girlfriend, I lost my niece, Sean lost his mother! You missed the first year of your son's life!"

"I wanted to be there," Demi said with a sob. "but it was just so hard to get back. Every time I thought about it I felt like I'd left it too late. Half the time I didn't even know where the hell I was, but all I've thought about for ages now is getting back home to Sean. You don't know how messed up I was when I left, no one knows what I was going through. I've just been so scared to come home. But all I want now is to get my life back together, back to how it was. At the very least I just want to be in my son's life again." Johnny studied the sobbing Demi. He was still as angry as hell, but he appreciated how sincere she was being.

"At least now we know you're safe." Johnny said with a slightly defeated sigh, trying to find a bright side. He still loved Demi, he had to, he was her uncle. But that doesn't mean that her incredibly stupid mistake should be forgotten. "We missed you Demi. But why didn't you just talk to one of us, before you ran off in a stupid attempt to escape the world."

"No one knows what I was going through. I can't even begin to describe it, uncle Johnny. It was just so hard, losing Adam, mom trying to kill me. Truth is, ever since she pointed that gun at me, I've been different, terrified most of the time, even now." Demi said, looking down sadly, her tears decreasing. Johnny pulled his niece into his arms. He knows it must have been hard for her on that day, but he'd just hoped she'd pull through, that they'd all be able to help her get over it. But that still, obviously, doesn't excuse what she did. "I'm so, so sorry, uncle Johnny."

"I know, but I'm not the only one who you need to be apologising to." Johnny told her, breaking away from the embrace finally.

"Bradin will never forgive me." Demi said with a sniff, fighting off more tears.

"It would certainly take a hell of a long time… but never say never." Johnny said with a little smile.

"Thanks. Uncle Johnny. Um… by the way, I feel kinda weird asking this, but since I don't quite know where I stand with anything at the moment, can I stay here tonight? I'll get a job and move out as soon as I can and everything-"

"You can stay here." Johnny chuckled.

"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, how long did my mom get in prison?"

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about her for a long, long time." Johnny told her, smiling. "I'll leave you to get settled back into your room." He closed the door behind himself with a 'click' and made his way back to the small crowd of muttering people.

"So what's going on?" Ava asked quietly so no one else would hear.

"I left Demi in her old room to get settled for a while. That's ok with you, right?" Johnny asked nervously.

"Well, I guess we have no other option at the moment, besides, she's got nowhere else to go, and I understand that you can't just put her out on the street, her family has let her down enough already."

"Thanks." Johnny said, quickly kissing her.

"Hey, are you guys coming? I've decided to take us all out to a restaurant, what with the sudden turn of events." Bradin asked Ava and Johnny, not completely masking the anger in his voice.

"Um… sure, honey, we'll just tell Demi we're going out." Ava told him with a forced smile. Bradin began to walk off, telling them to meet him in the car, clearly wanting to get away as soon as possible. Within minutes Demi was home alone, having a couple of hours to herself to settle in.

P/S: Ok, I know it's kinda short, but it's only the first chapter, right? What did you think? Good? Bad? Should I continue? Click that little button and let me know :D