CHAPTER FOURTEEN

                                    

                                          
TW : this chapter is similar to my Mia chapter and talks about childloss, death and gore. 
If you're sensitive to these topics, please scroll <3
(If you are struggling with any of this, you can always talk to me 🫶🏻)
—
A crash.
A thud. 
A scream. 
And it sounded like a child.
Mia jerked awake, looking into concerned blue eyes as she winced and pressed a hand to her head, trying to soothe the throbbing gash. Charlotte's eyes flickered with shock as Autumn raced out of the room, thudding up the stairs as Reece abruptly followed. 
Charlotte eased Mia onto the bed, giving her a quick kiss to the forehead as she bounded out of the room too, shuffling up to where her children slept. 
She started to weep as she saw Reece desperately trying the golden knob, Autumn banging on the locked door in attempt to get it open. Charlotte could hear her children crying, their breathing coming in shaky gasps.
"Remie, Eleni, please, what's happening?" She started to hammer on the door too, her pleas desperate and heart-wrenching, "Please open the door. Tell me what's going on!"
A scream was let out that silenced everyone, leading to violent sobs that escaped Char's mouth. She listened intently as a loud thud echoed through the door as a small child could be heard whimpering. 
With one final blow, Autumn kicked the door with her heel, wood chips flying as it fell to the floor. 
Charlotte's youngest, Remie, immediately leapt into her arms, her cries soft and muffled against Char's chest as she held her daughter close. Rocking backwards and forewards, her thumb tracing patterns soothingly on her back, all air was shoved out of her lungs at the sight before her. 
Her daughters' bedroom had been completely wrecked, smashed glass scattered across the bloody carpet, toys and drawings disabled and broken, pieces scrawled among the wreckage. 
Charlotte's daughter lay limp in the middle, her eyelashes lying peacefully on her sodden cheeks, one arm spread out to reveal a long cut where a knife had struck. Char reached out a shaky hand, pressing it gently to the cut to feel the cold radiate off of her only nine year old child, plaits sprinkled next to her head. She felt her chest heave as she crumbled to the floor, the crimson substance warm on her hand. 
Blood. 
She had felt her baby. 
And her baby was cold. 
                               * * *
Charlotte felt empty.
Never again could she hold the little girl she once called herself the mother to, the small being that had moulded her into who she was today. The many memories of her growing up; the childish smiles morphing into one of a beautiful young girl, a face she'd never see again. 
Never feel again. 
Never kiss goodnight again.
Charlotte stared at one of the drawings hanging limp against her fridge, a drawing Eleni had done a few years before, the crayon she had used smudged in messy lines. She tore her eyes away, not baring to be reminded about the light that was once there, now blown out.