Lost love

Chapter 5

Thatcher dropped Meredith off at school after a silent morning, Meredith not daring to open her mouth to speak to her dad. They were almost late, but they made it in time just as the bell rang, her little legs ran across the yard carrying her backpack and her small pink lunch box, she nearly tripped as her feet tripped over one another but she managed to keep herself up.

"Good morning everyone, can you all get out your spelling homework please." Mrs Adams asked their class as soon as everyone was settled down.

Meredith reached into her bag and grabbed her spelling book, pulling out the page that contained her homework. Mrs Adams was going around to each child individually and checking their work, giving them stickers if they got their homework all correct. Once she got to Meredith, she looked down at her piece of paper frowning with concern when she saw ink splashes, like tears had dropped over her writing.

"Are you okay Meredith?" She bent to her level.

It didn't take Kathleen long to notice the bruise that sat on Meredith's cheek, as she looked at her, she couldn't help but notice that the girl didn't look up from her desk once, she was obviously trying to hide herself not wanting people to ask questions about her face.

"I didn't finish the spellings." Meredith cried quietly. "I forgot."

The truth was she didn't forget, she knew she had homework but her bag was downstairs in the kitchen and she didn't want to go back downstairs after she'd been sent to her bedroom.

"Don't worry about it Meredith, it's okay." She grabbed the tiny hand letting go as she heard a wince come from Meredith.

Looking down at her hand she saw the purple mark around her wrist that peeled out from under her long sleeve. She took a deep breath and asked Meredith to step outside with her, she watched as the panic splashed on Meredith's face. She thought she was in trouble for not doing her spellings.

"I'm sorry, I will do them next time, I'm sorry." Meredith cried as her small body shook in the hallway. Kathleen pulled her into a hug and stroked the back of her hair.

"Meredith you're not in any trouble I promise you, you have done nothing wrong." She soothed, trying to calm her down.

Her heart ached for the girl, she was such a polite, funny, smart and beautiful girl, without jumping to conclusions about where the bruise came from she knew she would have to talk with Meredith and try and get her to talk, it was part of her job, the safeguarding of children and in the pit of her stomach told her that she needed to look out for Meredith.

"What happened to your face Meredith? And your arm, did you hurt your wrist?" She asked, gently holding her hands.

"No. No." Meredith shook her head.

"Amelia told me that you were friends now." She smiled gently knowing she was going to have to take a different approach if she wanted Meredith to talk.

Meredith nodded her head, "and Derek."

"And Derek too yes, did you play outside with them?" Meredith nodded again. "Did you fall over when you was outside?" Meredith shook her head no.

"I- I fell at the bottom of the stairs.. I tripped." She lied.

Kathleen knew she was lying as their eye contact was lost, she watched Meredith's shoulders flatten as she thought she had dealt with the situation.

"Did you hit your head?" She questioned.

"Yeah."

"Did you daddy take you to the hospital to get it checked out?" Meredith shook her head, her shoulders tightening again. "Well, we have to take you then and get you checked out Meredith, if you hit your head you might have an injury."

Her idea was that if she could get Meredith into a hospital, she could get a paediatric doctor to assess the situation and her thoughts, they would know what injuries to look out for and they might be able to tell her how Meredith got the injuries without asking her directly.

"No! No! I can't go to the hospital, my mommy will shout!" She raised her voice shocking Kathleen a little. "Please Mrs Adams, don't make me go."

"You need to tell me the truth then Mer." She looked deeply into her eyes, seeing the lines appear on Meredith's small forehead as she frowned wondering how she didn't believe her.

"Did someone grab your wrist?" Meredith's withering lip told her all she needed to know, "and your face? What happened?"

"I was bad." Meredith replied, a lone tear leaving her eyes. "I left the house, I was bad."

Meredith turned and ran into the bathroom across the hall before she could say anymore, she felt like she couldn't breathe and she had no idea why. Looking back into her class, Kathleen knew she had to run after Meredith. She followed her into the bathroom seeing her sat against the wall failing to catch her breath. She was having a panic attack. A 6-year-old was having a panic attack.

"Okay Meredith, copy my breathing." She sat eye level in front of her, taking deep breaths in and out.

"C-cant. I-I c-c breathe."

"Yes you can, you're okay. You're okay."

Meredith couldn't follow her breaths so she ran back to her classroom as fast as she could and grabbed a paper bag, once she got back handing it to the girl and instructing her to breathe into it. Kathleen sat behind her, holding her tightly as she felt her chest slow down. Shortly after her breaths calmed down and she relaxed, she fell asleep against Kathleen who didn't have the heart to wake her and instead called for the school nurse who took her and let her sleep on the bed.