The Struggle Of Our Lives

Chapter 17: What Now?

She looked like a zombie. Completely devastated to the point where she couldn't move.

I knew. At that moment, hearing her quiet sobbing, seeing Theodore shaking Charlotte so hard she might've fallen over.

Teddy had long since been crying, probably from frustration that the other half of him looked so destroyed.

That's when I lost it. I started sobbing almost completely uncontrollably as I fell on my knees and held her hands in mine.

"Lotte." My voice cracked, as if under the pressure I felt in my heart and mind. I took a deep breath before trying to speak again.

"Did someone touch you?" I asked. It seemed that all she could do was nod.

"Did someone rape you?" I asked, my voice trembling. All I wanted in that moment was to be wrong.

She nodded.

"Who-?" That was all I could get out before I completely lost my voice. She finally made eye contact with me.

The only times she was away from me was when she was at school. My heart dropped into my stomach.

"Was it a kid from school?" She shook her head.

I felt as if I was dying at that moment. All I wanted was for me to be wrong.

All I wanted.

"Was it a teacher? Or- or a janitor? Any adult?"
I asked.

She.. She nodded.

At that point, all I could do was cry. I leaned forward and grabbed hold of Charlotte, hugging her tighter than I ever had before, and she cried into my shoulder. Teddy leaned on top of us and cried too.

Soon the grief faded away.

There was anger.

So much fucking anger.

She was late for her period. Had he really raped an underage girl with no protection?

All I could feel was rage. Boiling hot rage.

I moved off of her and held her hands once more. "We will get through this together." I began.

"I will fix this. I'll do whatever it takes."

——-

Charlotte was up in the loft bed sound asleep. Teddy and I sat together on the couch, not saying much. We had all lost our appetites and Char decided today had been long enough for her.

I kissed her goodnight as per usual, but Teddy and I couldn't sleep. Not now.

"What do we do?" He asked me, still visibly shaken over the evenings events.

"We call the cops. Call the school's superintendent. Call anybody." I replied.

"What if the cops make us go back to Mom?" He asked. I rested my hand on his shoulder.

"They can't." I replied. "How?"

I sighed slightly and retold the story of how we ran away in the first place. On our second night in the alleyway, I had gone back inside the corner store after the two had gone to bed and asked the cashier to use her phone.

That's when I called the police.

I gave a fake name, fake age, and the town I was in before telling the 911 operator that my mother had killed my older brother. They had sent several squad cars to our house and two ambulances to retrieve John and our parents.

I saw on the news a few months later that Trinity had been charged with murder in the first degree, along with child endangerment and negligence charges, while Gregory was charged with aggravated manslaughter, negligence and conspiracy to murder.

They'd be in jail for the rest of their lives, thankfully. While Gregory was given possibility of parole, Trinity had not been so fortunate.

If we had lived in another state, like Pennsylvania or Cali, they probably would've been given the death penalty.

In the end, the state payed for a small funeral and proper burial for John. We couldn't see our parents again, even if we wanted to.

Theodore listened intently as I explained our situation. Technically speaking, I'm what's called a de facto guardian, meaning I'm not the twins' legal guardian, but I act as a parental unit for them.

For example, If Tedd's math teacher needed a parent or guardian to talk with him about his grades, I'd do that.

However, I can't file the twins as dependents in my taxes. Pretty straight forward.

"What if they put us in fostercare? Or make us get adopted?" He asked. "What if they separate us?" I shook my head and replied in the only manor I could.

"You don't need to worry about that."