The Jones family were a happy group of individuals who came in two distinct shapes and sizes. The parents were the same age as each other and after their marriage they had had, what was called a “planned” family, with around two years between each of their three eldest offspring. Then, later, they had not one, but two “whoops” children. Our tale mainly revolves around the two younger siblings, but it is probably easiest for them to relate their story themselves.

So, sit back, get yourself comfy with whatever your favourite beverage may be, hot or cold, alcoholic or not, and read about the adventures that were to present these seven individuals with more challenges than they ever expected.

The tale is told from several different points of view, so the character associated most closely with the thoughts, words and deeds of the subsequent text has their name highlighted in brackets at the start of each segment. I hope this makes sense, and does not drive readers to distraction nor is not too confusing.

Our main protagonist (Jessie) is the youngest of the seven members of this family unit, and, being this is mainly their story to tell, we will let Jessie start to tell us about their tale, in their own words and in their own way, but with, as I say, additional help and dialogue from others along the way.

Chapter One – From small beginnings.

(Jessie.)

I was named Jessie Jocelyn Jones. Yes, I know it is a lot of J’s but the whole family shared the same name structure, Jessie thought their parents, parents started it by accident, but I think it had got more than a little bit out of hand.

My father is Jeffrey Jonathan Jones, whilst my mother is Jennifer Jaqueline, (nee Johnson), so they were known as the three J’s and they both thought it would be amusing to continue that trend with any children they might have, however, five children later, the novelty factor has worn thin, especially for me, the youngest and last in the line.

My two brothers, Jeffrey Jonathan Jr, and Jason James are twelve and ten years older than me respectively. Then came my two sisters, Jaqueline Jennifer eight years my senior and then Jenna Juliette just eleven months older then little old me, Jessie Jocelyn, named after both my grandmothers.

My mother had quite a difficult pregnancy with me, which included excessive morning sickness, preeclampsia, anaemia and a few other complications. It was no surprise that I was born four weeks prematurely, quite underweight and undersized. My mother suffered other complications as a result of my birth and was told she should not have any further children, so, I was named after both my parents’ mothers as a final gesture to that generation of my family.

I spent the first weeks of my life in the neo-natal intensive care unit and was not really expected to survive. But being stubborn and determined to prove everyone wrong, not that I knew any of that of course, but survive I did. Unfortunately, I suffered from lung problems throughout my childhood and the term, “Runt of the litter!” could have been coined for me.

Also being a boy, with those names did not do me any favours with my future classmates either.

Still, let me introduce my family in detail.

My father Jeff is a huge man, just over six foot four inches tall and built like the proverbial brick outhouse for want of a better term. He loved to play rugby and cricket but most of all he really enjoyed his work.

A man’s man.

He’d inherited his father’s lorry repair, accident recovery and servicing business and by dint of hard work and long hours he’d built it up into one of the largest such businesses in the area.

My mother Jenny is a very pretty. petite woman. She had met my father when they were in school together and married when they were both twenty-five. By this time, she had attended university and earned degrees in marketing and business administration and accountancy. She proved she was an excellent administrator and was well known as a hardnosed businesswoman.

She was to us however, first and foremost, the world’s best Mum as well as busy wife. Giving birth to me really sapped her strength for a while though, and my father found it difficult to run the company, but with her limited help and advice they survived this hiccup they went on from strength to strength.

My two brothers Jeff Jr and Jason, were both were almost carbon copies of our father, and as soon as they were strong enough to lift a spanner or wield a hefty hammer, they were out in the service bays learning the trade of heavy vehicle maintenance and repair.

They also loved the same sports as Jeff Snr and both went on to compete in the school and county teams, they were, as the saying goes, as happy as pigs in muck following in our dad’s footsteps.

My oldest sister Jacqui was almost as tall as my brothers and she loved sports too, playing both netball and basketball up to county standards as well as going on to represent her university. She developed her love of business administration from our mother, becoming a certified accountant with her own practice.

My other sister Jenna is only eleven months older than me. My parents assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that a mother who is breastfeeding her baby cannot get pregnant.

Jenna is small and very pretty, just like our mother, and she is my best friend. Jenna has trained as a children’s nurse and is what used to be known as a Ward Sister but is now called a Ward Manager.

Then, there is little old me, Jessie! As I have said, I was born prematurely and along with various health problems, mainly respiratory in nature. All this meant I was very small and petite like my mother and Jenna.

Although my three eldest siblings had little in common with Jenna and I, they certainly watched out for us as we grew up, especially me, as I had major problems with bullies throughout my early school life.

Jenna and I were almost classed as twins, in fact some people found it hard to tell us apart, and many thought we were sisters when we were out and about. We played together, shared a bedroom and were inseparable and always knew what the other was thinking. Life was generally good, and the seven of us were a relatively happy family.

But that happiness was almost destroyed when I was eleven years old. My world crashed and burned one dark, wet Thursday November evening just after Bonfire night (November 5th).

Jenna and I generally walked to and from school together with a group of her friends. Jenna was in the year above me at school. Because of my size and perceived feminine nature, I had no real friends of my own, none of the boys wanted to be associated with me, which to be fair, suited me down to the ground, and most girls thought me to be a weird little freak who would impact on their social standing.

This particular night I was walking home alone as Jenna and her friends were having a drama club meeting after school. I was not old enough to join the club yet and instead of waiting for them at the back of the school hall like I usually did, I told Jenna that I didn’t feel well and was going to walk home. She wanted to come with me, but they were to be reading audition pieces for an upcoming play, Romeo and Juliet, and she was almost assured of one of the leading rolls.

My stomach was sore, and I had kept getting pulses of pain and nausea all day. However, I assured Jenna I would be okay and I would wait for her at home. I zipped up my coat, thrust my hands into my pockets and with my book bag thrown over my shoulders, I started to walk the fifteen minutes it would take for my little legs to get me home, to my warm comfortable bed, however it would be over three weeks before I would see my bed once again!

Chapter Two – All hell breaks out!

(Jenna)

I watched Jessie leave the school hall, I’m worried as Jessie is complaining about their stomach once again and looked really pale. I’m waiting to read for the part I’ve been asked to audition for, but I can’t help but notice an increasing level of fear and apprehension building up inside me, and one thing I have learned, is to trust my instincts.

Perhaps I am just anxious about this audition, I wish I could just start reading the audition piece, but I am really worried about how ill Jessie looked. The more I thought about it, this, this is different, this isn’t performance jitters. With an increasing sense of dread I can no longer ignore, I stand, pull on my coat and start to stuff my books into my bag.

“And where do you think you are going Miss Jones?” snootily demanded Mr. Frost our drama teacher.

“I am sorry sir, I have to leave, I am worried about Jessie!”

“Weil Miss Jones, if you leave now, you will forego your chance to audition for this part, and I shall be reluctant to consider you for any further roles, I demand full dedication from my cast members, so I suggest you sit down and calmly await your turn!”

“Well, I am sorry you feel that way Mr. Frost, but the wellbeing of Jessie is more important to me than any play, so, with respect Mr. Frost, you can stuff your play and if you are petty enough to bear me a grudge in the future, well, we shall see what my parents have to say!”

“Are you threatening me Miss Jo….”

At that moment the doors at the back of the hall crash open, and Beverley and Grace, two of my classmate’s rush into the hall in a state of great distress.

“Jenna, JENNA, come quickly, we’ve just overheard Alan and Brian Bromley, Dennis Knott and Martin Hines saying they have just seen Jessie leaving school on their own, and they are going to ‘Teach the queer bastard a lesson!’, but Jenna, I am sure I saw a least one of them carrying a knife!” screams Beverley.

I am horrified and start running towards the rear door. I’m rummaging for my phone in my pocket as I do, but which, in my panic, I fumble with it and it drops to the ground where I accidentally kick it and it flies across the floor.

I am now in tears with fear and scramble to pick it up. I finally get my fingers to work properly, picking the phone up from the back corner of the hall, then speed-dial the workshop where our parents and brothers are working.
Mum answers the phone, each of us kids have been programmed into the workshop system with a unique ringtone, so Mum knows it’s me that’s calling.

“Hi Jenna sweetheart, did you ge…”

“MUM, MUM!” I screamed into the mouthpiece. “Jessie’s not feeling well and has gone home on her own and four thugs have just run out of school saying they are going to teach her a lesson, BUT ONE OF THEM HAS A KNIFE!!!” MUM HELP, PLEASE HELP!” the phone slips out of my hand again but this time I don’t have time to stop to pick it up, but I race out of the school entrance, I must get to Jessie.

I didn’t realise it, but Grace has seen where my phone lands, she snatched it up and raced from the school in hot pursuit of me, with Bev close on her heels. Grace realises Mum is still on the phone, so she repeats what she heard and saw. Grace can hear lots of shouting in the background and realises Jenna’s Mum is already in a vehicle.

Mr. Frost, hearing the exchange between Jenna, Beverley and Grace gets his phone out, he quickly dials 999. When the operator answers he asks for a police response to a potential knife attack in the vicinity of High Street or Castle Drive which he knew would be the likely route Jessie Jones would take to get home.

Then shouting auditions were cancelled for that session, he too raced out the door continuing to give what little information he had to the emergency services operator. On hearing the four names mentioned, he realised how serious the threat to Jessie is.

These four individuals had been behind increasing amounts of trouble and anti-social behaviour that they have caused over several school years. The headteacher had continually turned a blind eye to the increasing mayhem these four inflicted on others, simply because they were fundamental to the run of success the school rugby team was enjoying.

Sadly, that attitude could be about to have catastrophic consequences, especially for the intended victim, but also the perpetrators too!

(Jennifer).

With her phone jammed to her ear she’s run out into the large workshop screaming “Jessie is in trouble! Four thugs armed with a knife are hunting for them, we need to track Jessie down before they get to them! Quickly, QUICKLY!”

Within moments Jennifer, along with the two Jeff’s, Jason and a couple of other mechanics are in the works minibus and are hurtling towards the likely area where Jessie is walking home, tears are streaming down her face in abject fear for her baby, her Jessie, but Jennifer is also curious as to why Jenna repeatedly referred to Jessie as “her”. But that question could wait for now.

Jeff Snr has the van speeding down the road, everyone frantically scanning the surroundings for Jessie or any sign of mayhem.

(Alan.)

“Come on guys, that little bastard can’t be too far in front of us, we’ll teach the little git a lesson he’ll never forget, plus we owe his bitch of a sister some pain for trying to humiliate us!”

“Yeah bro!” replied Brian Bromley, “Doesn’t she know how important we are, we’ll teach them Jones’s a lesson they won’t soon forget. They might have been the big shot rugby players at one time, but we’re better than they ever were!”

Yeah boys, besides my Uncle will have our back, it pays to have friends in high places that’s for sure!” huffed Dennis Knott as he ran to keep pace with the brothers.

“Yeah Den, having the headmaster in our back pocket has certainly made our lives easier, especially as we know he likes screwing little fairies like Jessie Jones, I wonder if he has had him yet?” all four laughed at the inside joke. Alan was going to turn the Jones kid into an even bigger freak one way or another as he slid the knife, that had been up his sleeve, into the palm of his left hand.

“Freaks like that kid make me sick to my stomach!” yelled Martin Hines, “We’ll give him a good kicking at the very least. Look! There it is!!!”