Little Angel

7

Sam

"Charlie?", I asked him, as he paced around the bedroom, picking his nails with his teeth and staring, not speaking to me as he was deep in thought. I clutched onto Arktos as I watched him. He would stop and peek out of the window, as if he was looking for something or someone.

A knock on the bedroom door stopped him in his tracks, giving me a little warning look so I knew to just sit and stay quiet. I crossed my legs and tucked up in the large blanket, staring at Charlie as he opened the door.

The foster dad was stood on the other side, his eyes huge and the veins were bulging, the smell of whiskey filling the small attic. 

"You little dick", He said with a slur, Charlie went to close the door but the foster dad quickly put his huge boots in the way before he could. Charlie just stared at him with annoyance.

"Yes?", Charlie asked him, the foster dad giving me a long glare but Charlie got into his eyesight, right in the way. I didn't like him staring at me, he had cruel eyes.

"I got a call today, from your social worker, who is a right bitch by the way", He said in disgust.

"Watch your language around Sam", Charlie said instantly as the foster dad just rolled his eyes. The smell filled the room, travelling right into my nose, causing me to pull the blanket to cover my mouth.

"She can't stay innocent forever you know?", He said, smiling with his yellow teeth, decayed from his constant smoking and drinking. Charlie just glared at him, looking back at me for a moment and giving me a look of reassurance.

"What do you want?", Charlie asked in an annoyed tone. Foster-dad just snorted at him and shook his head. 

"As I was saying about that bitch, I got a call, pack your shit, your moving tomorrow, thank fuck. No more little rats in my house", He said in a pissed off tone, obvious that he didn't like us leaving, probably because more kids would move in. 

"Yeah we know, bye then", Charlie said in a more annoyed tone, going to slam the door on him once more but the foster-dad put his arm in the way. 

"Look you little brat, no telling lies around the new fosters, heard their pretty dangerous folk, would be better to stay with me to be honest, these people you don't fuck with", He said quietly to Charlie, as he looked back at me. 

So they were bad people? Illegal stuff it is. Might ask James to look into it, he was good at stalking people and finding stuff out.

I never thought our foster dad was a bad man, just sad and lonely. He had a daughter my age but she died from cancer and his wife left him, so I never blamed him for being mean to me and Charlie, he wasn't mean, he was just sad. He always liked me anyway, Charlie just didn't like him, thought he was a creeper, I just thought I reminded him of his daughter.

"Yeah we know, its our brothers, old man, we don't have a choice get it? We have to leave.", Charlie said sharply as the foster-dad just sighed and shook his head. He removed his foot and clumsily walked down the stairs, nearly falling down the stairs. Charlie just slammed the door and went over to grab some black bags.

It was a foster kid thing, a joke. Charlie use to tell it at the kids home and they would laugh. How do you spot a foster kid? They have all their belongings on their back. Sad but true. It made me feel like they didn't care about us, that everything we own is garbage. We were worth way more than that. 

Charlie just threw all of his clothes and quilt into a few plastic bags and got the suitcase from under the bed. We only had one as Charlie used his own money to buy it. He started to neatly fold all my clothes into it as he spoke to me about rules.

"You need to follow these rules Sam, I need to be able to trust that you will be safe when I'm not in the house", He said as he put some stuff in my school bag, some of my books, my science stuff as well as all the normal things. I just nodded at him as I watched, making sure he put the things away correctly.

"One, do not talk to the others when I'm not there, I don't want to scare you but they easily can loose their temper and I don't want you to get hurt alright?", He said quietly, my heart raced a little faster but I could see the worry fill his face as he stopped and stared.

"Look I know your scared, hunny I'm not going to lie to you, I'm also scared, but if we stick together, when I turn 18 I will move out and you can come as well, I'll adopt you! I promise", He said with a weak smile. I smiled at him with a nod. 

"Alright then, rule 2, don't go in their rooms at any time. You don't want to break something and they angry at you for it?", Charlie asked me with a serious face as I just nodded. He sighed and just continued packing. 

"Three. Before you eat something, please ask me so I know if its good for you or not, or if you want something to eat I'll just make it for you okay?", He asked me as I just nodded once again, it now hit me that I would have to live with these strangers.

"Four. Have manners and be kind. I know you don't like them, especially Aiden, Max and Chris, but Raymond you will like I promise , he loves science just like you, he always has since we were kids! You guys will get along well, but the others, please stay away.", Charlie said with a small smile.

Raymond? I guess we will have to see then.

"And the final rule. Don't piss Adam off. Just do as your told and if you don't want to just come straight to me alright?", Charlie asked me as I nodded once more. He sighed and put my hands in his. I tried to pull away but he gently held onto them.

"I'm really sorry Sam. I know you hate this and trust me I hate it too, but they won't let us live peacefully if we don't. I'll protect you from them, I promise with my heart and soul, the moons and the stars", He said with a huge smile. I couldn't tell if he was faking it or not, but either way I felt safe knowing he was going to be with me.

"Okay", I said quietly to him, as he gave me a small kiss on the forehead and went back to packing. I quickly wiped the kiss away without him seeing, god knows when the last time he brushed his teeth.

He put his headphones in and started listening to music, it was so loud I could hear it from where I was sat on the bed. As he turned around I quickly nipped to the bathroom, took away the toilet lid which was very heavy but I managed to scrape it very slowly away from the top. 

I grabbed the plastic bag with a picture of me and my mother in it from when I was born. I don't know why I hid it from Charlie, but it was mine and only mine. It was the only photo I have of her as Charlie didn't have any either, not that I knew of anyway. 

I got it from a social worker we had a while back, she gave it to me in secret when I was 8, telling me to keep it safe as I would love it when I was older. I looked a lot like my mother, same nose, eyes, even smile. My teeth shape were even the same even though they are still falling out. 

I looked at the photo with a huge smile, mirroring the same one my mother had in the photo, looking down at me all bundled up. I was wrapped in a white shawl, one I'm sure Charlie kept over the years.

These brothers had no idea who I was or who Charlie was, and I sure as hell wasn't going to fall into their tricks like Charlie said. I'll stick by Charlie, always stay by Charlie.

I came back into the room to find Charlie, I needed him right now just to know it was going to be alright. When I came back in, I saw him on his bed, pretending to play air guitar and singing. 

Everything was going to alright as long as he is there to protect me, but these boys don't seem to be able to fight off a 10 year old anyway.

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