Save Me

Chapter 2

I slowly walk downstairs. The person is still knocking. I open the door and do not expect to see who is standing there...

It's a policewoman. Immediately I am terrified. What have I done? What have my parents done? "Y-y-yes?" I stutter.

"Are you Hayley Roberts?" She asks kindly. I nod slowly. "I am Constable Gemma Williams. You can call me Gemma. May I come in?" I move to the side to let her in. She shuts the door behind her. I am glad I cleaned up the house before. "Let's go sit down shall we?" I nod and lead her into the living room. We sit opposite each other.

"How old are you?" Gemma asks me.

"Twelve." I say slowly.

"Hayley. Have you been crying?" I shake my head and I can see she knows that I am lying. I raise my arms to protect my face and move back into the seat.

"Hayley what are you doing?" She asks concerned.

"I-I-I thought you were going to hit me because I lied." I say lowering my arms slowly.

"Sweetie. I would never hit you. But now that you thought I was going to, I would like to ask you some questions before I tell you what I came here for. Is that alright?"

"Bu-but what if my parents come home?" I reply really scared.

"Or I could tell you now. Sweetie. Your parents were in a car accident and they both died on the way to hospital." She says sadly. In that moment I felt everything come crashing down on me. My parents are dead. I know they are horrible but they are my parents. Now I'm going to have to live in an orphanage or something.

I run upstairs to the bathroom and lock the door. I burst into tears and reach for my blade. Just as I was about to place the blade on my wrist, I hear a knock on the door. I drop the blade. "Hayley. Can you please unlock the door. I know you're upset but I need you to come out please." She says desperately. I slowly get up and unlock the door. She looks and me and I just stand there with tears rolling down my face. She looks at the floor and I know she sees my blade. Shit. She takes my hand and guides me back downstairs.

"Hayley." She says. I don't respond. She walks over to me and wraps me in a hug. I just start crying even harder. "Sshhh. It's alright. It's going to be okay." She whispers to me.

I pull away and ask her "What's gonna happen to me?"

"We can talk about that later. Right now I want to ask you some questions okay?" I nod and she gets out her phone to record everything. "Are you ready?" She asks. I nod. She presses record.

"Did your parents abuse you?" She asks.

"Y-y-yes."

"Physically or verbally?"

"B-b-both." She noticed that my breathing was beginning to get faster so she turned the recorder off and came over to me.

"Hayley sweetie. Breathe. Match my breathing. In. Out. In. Out." My breathing slows. "Good girl. I don't think I'll record anymore. How does that sound?"

I just nod.

"Hayley I have another question and I want you to answer honestly okay?" I gulp. It's going to be about my blade. I know it. I slowly nod.

"Hayley do you self harm?"

I burst into tears again and she pulls me into a hug. "Sshhh." She tries to pick me up but I pull away knowing that I'm too heavy and I'll hurt her. "Hayley I'm just gonna pick you up and put you into your bed and we can talk about where you're going to live, in the morning." She goes to pick me up again.

"No." I whisper. "I don't want to hurt you. I'm too heavy."

"No sweetie. You're not. Come here." I sigh and walk over to her. It's weird. I trust her more than anyone and I've known her for less than ten minutes. She picks me up and carries me up to my room. She places me down on my bed and suddenly I'm scared. My breathing speeds up again and I'm trying to hold on to Gemma. I panic. "Please don't leave me. Stay. I'm scared. Please stay. Don't leave. Plea-"

"Hayley. Hayley calm down. It's okay I'll stay here. I promise." She hugs me until my breathing calms down and I fall asleep.

~Next Morning~

I wake up and walk downstairs expecting to see my parents drunk and passed out on the couch. Instead I see a policewoman?

Gemma. It all comes rushing back to me and I begin to cry. Gemma turns around and walks up to me. She kneels down to my height and looks me in the eye.

"Everything is going to be okay. I promise. Why don't we sit down, get you something to eat and talk about where you're going to live?" She asks kindly.

"I-I-I'm not hungry." I stutter.

"Hayley you have to eat something."

"I will later." I say. Obviously I won't.

She sighs. "Okay." She leads me to the couch and we sit down. "Okay Hayley you probably already figured this out but you are going to be living in an orphanage. Sunshine Home for Girls. A nice family will adopt you and you will be happy."

I nod and try not to cry. Gemma hugs me. "Why don't we go upstairs and pack your things?"

I nod and she follows me upstairs.

I get all our suitcases out and I basically pack everything I can. "Can you wait outside a minute while I get changed." I ask.

She nods and leaves the room. I quickly get changed into skinny jeans, a black singlet top, a "Love" sweatshirt and black converse. I open the door.

"I'm ready." I say.

"Alright let's go. You can keep the key in case you've forgotten anything. In about a month I will contact you again to sort out the will and what we are going to do about the house."

I nod. I set the alarm and lock the door. It's like saying goodbye to my whole childhood. I get into Gemma's police car. It's a mufti car so it won't draw attention to us. She turns on the radio and begins to drive. Just as she has backed out of my driveway I hear "And up next we have Nightingale by Demi Lovato."

I scream. "TURN IT UP! TURN IT UP!"

Gemma looks a bit alarmed but she turns it up. I begin to sing perfectly in tune.

The song ends and I am crying.

"Hayley. You have a really good voice." Gemma says.

I shrug. "Thanks."

"So you like Demi Lovato?" She asks.

"She's my life. My everything. My inspiration. I don't know what I would do without her. Let's just say, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her."

Gemma nods and we arrive at Sunshine Home for Girls. What a happy name for such a bad place. I can already tell I am going to hate it...